Barry

Barry and Parker were scheduled for a date night. The plan was to bowl at the old alley that Iris and Barry used to visit when they were younger.

Barry had already arrived, grabbed his shoes and lingered by the entrance for Parker. When twenty minutes passed and there was no sign of her, he called to check in.

She answered, but there were no words, only the sound of gagging.

"Parker? Are you puking?"

"I'm so sorry," Parker coughed.

"No, baby, it's okay, it's okay. No worries. I'll be there in a second," Barry promised, already moving to return his shoes.

"Don't you dare! You really wanted to bowl, you bowl. Just pretend like I'm there."

Barry sighed, sitting down at a lane. He looked lonely and a little lame all by himself, while everyone else was in groups of two or more. The fun was sucked out of the night without Parker.

"Hey, and tonight was the night I was going to admit it.."

"Admit..?" Barry tried to claify.

Parker's breathing was short for some parts, and long, dragging in others. It took a minute to get out, due to her nervousness for the actual confession.

"I never really knew how to know that I was in love, but then I met you and well.."

Barry's mouth dropped. Never once in his life had someone admitted they were in love with him. There was a million things he was thinking, but the reoccuring one was that he didn't believe her.

"You're in.." he trailed off.

Quite grossly, Parker gagged before answering. "Love.."

"With--"

"You. You, Barry Allen. Yes, I am."

Not many of their romantic moments or milestones in their relationship were ruined, but that night, they were.

On Parker's side, Caitlin found her in the S.T.A.R. Labs bathroom.

"How long have you been in there?" Barry heard from Parker's phone. "Oh, my God! Do you want to go to the hospital? I'll take you home and take care of you, poor girl. Why didn't you--"

He was deprived of saying the words back to Parker because of Iris West. She bumped into him on accident, he dropped his cell phone and it was crushed by Iris stepping on it. Her hands slapped over her mouth in shock.

Iris felt so bad for breaking his phone that she invited Barry to bowl with her and Eddie.

After he explained why Parker wasn't present, she let him borrow her phone to call her, but it only went to voicemail.

Eddie, Iris and Barry bowled together that night. It went on for a couple hours until Eddie had to leave, curtesy to a break in at the morgue. He waved a goodbye to Iris and Barry, then left.

"The morgue is an odd place to attack," Iris mused. "You might be needed there, now that I think about it. You work on dead bodies."

Barry tipped his hand, in a fifty/fifty motion. "Yes, but at the same time no. I'll see you later."

>>>>

Parker

Caitlin grabbed Parker's phone from her hand and set it on the back of the toilet seat, hanging up on whoever she was talking to. She wrapped an arm around Parker's waist, helping the dizzy girl to her feet.

The girls took their time walking upstairs to the Cortex. Caitlin kept her arm wrapped around Parker's waist and another in front of her stomach in case she fell forward.

Dr.Wells and Cisco looked up from their computer screens when the Cortex doors slid open. They were sitting at the desk, one seat seperating them.

"What happened to you?" Cisco wondered.

Dr.Wells held the chair still until Parker had curled up in it, her hands clenching the hem of her shirt.

"We went to 7/11 earlier. You two got slushies and I got--"

"--a hot dog. Food poisoning?" Cisco guessed.

Caitlin shook her head. "Nope. Food poisoning takes longer than twenty minutes to show symptoms. I would guess--"

"I choked," Parker interupted, not in the mood for them to misdiagnose her. "The hot dog went down the wrong pipe and I panicked, so I stuck my finger down my throat and threw it up."

Dr.Wells and Caitlin looked mildly concerned. Cisco just looked plain disapointed.

"I thought it was going to be better story," he admitted.

Barry sped into the room, his shoes skidding across the floor as he came to a quick stop in front of the scientists and his girlfriend.

No greetings were exchanged. Barry went straight into the point: Clyde Mardon had a brother, Mark Mardon, and Mark hadn't died in the plane crash. He was alive and he wanted revenge on Joe West for killing his brother.

"Oh!" Barry added with a second thought, snapping his fingers. "He can control the weather, more precise than Clyde."

"You'd have to be a weather wizard to do that," Cisco cleverly said. "I've been waiting since week one to use that one!"

"Guys, why are we just hearing about his brother? Didn't we make a list of people affected by the explosion?" Parker asked.

Dr.Wells pulled said list from behind the computer he sat at. He handed it to Parker.

"You would be correct. However, we all were led to believe Mark Mardon was dead," Dr.Wells said.

Parker sat forward in her chair, turning on the computer. She had to complete a mission of her own now: finding a casualty list from the explosion and adding those names to the list.

Cisco snatched his red slushie off the counter and took an extra long drag, his cheeks caving in. A second later, his body froze and he released a quiet groan.

"Trigeminal headache?" Caitlin asked.

"What?" Parker asked, craning her head behind her to see Cisco.

"Trigeminal headache; brain freeze," Caitlin clarified.

"Then, why don't you just call it a brain freeze?" Cisco muttered, shaking his head at her.

Parker locked eyes with her boyfriend, a thought crossing her mind.

"We can't repeat what happened last time. If Mark is smart, he knows that a twister is no way to go," she mused.

Cisco made a noise, drawing the attention to him. "During week one, I was tinkering with something that could gather unbound atmospheric electrons."

"Like a grounding mechanism?" Barry tried.

"Yeah, 'cause Mardon can only control the weather if he can tap into the atmospheres natural electrical circuit."

For Parker's sake, Dr.Wells laid a hand on her arm and in a low voice explained by saying, "By using the wand, it'll generate clear skies and then, no problem."

Cisco and Barry took a walk to find the wand in his tech room on another floor.

Caitlin decided to retrieve her slushie from the fridge and Dr.Wells followed her, set on making a snack.

There were a lot of people Parker never expected calls from: all of her brothers, any famous people, etc. Eddie Thawne was on that list for the longest time, until that day.

When Parker saw his name on her buzzing cell phone, she thought it was a prank call.

"Please don't prank me," she answered.

"Prank you? Why would I prank you?" Eddie asked.

"This is like the first time you've called me. I'm suspicious."

Eddie gave a short laugh. "No, Parker. I need to talk to you about a problem I have. If you are willing to listen."

Eddie was really trying to connect with her. The day Iris moved out of her childhood house, Parker had sworn a friendship between them, and remembering that, he hoped she could help him. She was just about the only one who would understand.

A small smile on her face, she nodded, then realized Eddie couldn't see and verbally accepted the challenge.

Eddie explained that only an hour earlier, Barry joined him and Iris for a date. Eddie was fine with it, considering Barry would end up being the third wheel, but that wasn't the case. Like Iris and Barry unintentionally did, they made Eddie feel unwanted and like a stranger.

"I totally get where you're coming from. I can't say I've lived it, because I'm a girl and we used to kick Barry out, but I know what you're talking about."

"It's not just that," Eddie admitted.

"Oh?" Parker egged on, taking a sip of her drink.

"Wasn't Barry in love with her at one point?"

Parker laughed, nodding her head. "Oh, yes. Basically their entire childhood and then I came back to Central City."

"He stopped liking her when you came back, yeah. That's what Iris said too. But have you ever thought that maybe.."

"Dude, no. She'll always be his first love, but he proved to me he was over her before we started dating."

"Yeah, yeah. That was crazy, sorry."

"No worries. But to respond to your dilemma, I'd say you should mention this to Iris. And next time, I'll come and join you so we can make them jealous."

"Sounds good. Thank you, Parker. Really."

"We're buddies now, Eddie. Bro's for life."

Coincidentally, after she ended the call with Eddie, the group rejoined in the Cortex.

Cisco and Barry entered first, then Dr.Wells and Caitlin a few minutes later. Everyone except Cisco (and Dr.Wells, considering he was already stationary) took a seats, their attention on Cisco.

"I call it the Wizards Wand," he introduced.

"Subtle," Caitlin giggled.

"How does it work?" Barry asked.

"Point it at the sky and it'll suck up whatever energy is floating around it like a sponge."

"It'll stop Mardon?" Barry asked. He took it and swung it around his hand, getting a feel for its weight.

"Slow him down at the least. If there's no atmospheric electrons, he's powerless," Dr.Wells said. "Great work, Cisco. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to stretch my legs."

Parker returned the smile she recieved from Dr.Wells. As soon as he went past her, her face dropped, almost seething with disgust.

Barry caught her look and raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

Parker trusted Barry with a lot of things, but a secret about his boss and idol was not one she could share with him.

Barry wasn't good at acting natural, for one thing, and if he knew about the investigation on Wells, he would be anything but natural.

"No. Something is wrong with you, though," Parker decided. She stood up and walked to him, her fingers wiggling as a joke. "My Barry senses are tingling."

"Someone at Picture News got into Iris' head and created the suspicion that something is going on with Wells."

Overhearing the conversation, Cisco scooted his chair closer to the couple and asked, "Like what?"

"That he knows what happened to Simon Stagg. Apparently no has seen him since the night we stopped Danton Black."

Cisco desperately wanted to glance at Parker. He kept his eyes on Barry, and kept a confused look on his face. If he wanted to please Parker and keep the secret on the DL, his acting had to pass by Barry.

"What did you tell her?" Parker slowly asked.

Everyone else glanced at her as she spoke, so Cisco did as well. They locked eyes, a single message being confirmed through the glance: we need to talk later.

"That she is wrong. And she is," Barry said.

Caitlin was the first to wander away from the group. Cisco stayed, wanting to talk to Parker, but Barry lingered.

"Can you meet me around the corner in a second? I have to show you something," Barry asked.

Parker nodded, her face amused by the eager look on his face. He pecked her forehead and his legs carried him out of the room, faster than the speed of light.

Cisco looked at Parker, no words coming from his mouth, but the panicked look on his face saying everything.

"You need to learn how to act calm," Parker said.

"If Iris is starting to figure something out--"

Parker held her hand up, silencing Cisco.

"Later, I'll tell you all about how important it is to remain calm. Do not worry. Now, take that wand and be ready to leave when I come back in here. We're going to speak with Joe."

Parker walked outside the doors and around the corner. Barry stood with a single rose in his hand.

"Hello, I love you," Barry rushed out.

Parker grinned. "I think that's a song too."

Barry rolled his eyes and handed her the rose. She carefully set it in the butt pocket of her jeans and took a fistful of Barry's shirt, bringing him down to meet her lips.

"Good to hear. Thank you."

And he kissed her again.

It was a complete moment ruiner, but Parker couldn't help herself from thinking about what Eddie had said.

"How many girls have you told before?"

As soon as it left her lips, she regretted it. She took a step back from Barry and locked her hands together, holding them against her chest nervously.

Barry tilted his head, wondering what provoked her to ask that.

"One," He answered.

"Was it Iris?"

"Yes. But-"

"When?"

Barry's long, unsure pause was enough for Parker to take another step back. There was only one way for the rest of their talk to go: badly.

She wanted to curse herself for asking in the first place. He admitted he loved her, and she ruined it by bringing up a past love, something she shouldn't have done.

"A few days before Christmas."

In those words, Parker's feelings on the subject changed. Her eyelids couldn't stop flickering, her mind twisting and churning, trying to fathom what had just came out of his mouth. Then, it all clicked.

"Barry, we.. You and I.. we.." Her voice cracked at the end of her sentence. Unable to continue, she slapped a hand over her mouth.

"We started dating on Christmas," Barry recalled. He tried to fix what had been undone, but by explaining, he dug himself a deeper hole. "I do love Iris, as a sister. I thought it was a romantic thing, but that was just because I hadn't known you as well as I do now. I'm in love with you, Park. Please believe me, I--"

Parker whimpered when he tried to reach for her. She took quick steps back, away from him.

"Barry, you told her you were in love with her. While you had a supposed crush on me. Am I just the back-up plan? I'm the other option, because she was already dating Eddie?"

The grimace on Parker's face, the growing crack in her heart, her interpretation of what happened: all were factors in why her brown eyes started to generate tears.

"Parker, you ready to go?" Cisco called.

Parker sucked in a breath and snapped her eyes away from Barry, without saying anything. She took Cisco and left, not staying long enough to hear Barry's last words on the subject.

"I told Iris I wasn't in love with her anymore because I found you.. Because I loved you.."

>>>>>>

If Cisco noticed her tears, he was a good boy and held himself back from saying anything.

To distract her, he talked about how much he didn't want to go to his brother's birthday party the entire drive to the Station.

Once at the destination, he did all the talking about the Wand for Joe.

Parker tried to listen. She tried to talk and add in on the conversation, but every time she tried, all that would exit her lips was a squeak. Holding down her tears was keeping her from talking.

Cisco wasn't finished explaining the Wand, but he was finished showing it off. He handed it to Parker.

In the center of the CCPD, reserved for the Wand, was a pedestal.

She held it carefully in her hands, refraining herself from breaking it. Slowly, it was carefully brought down into its pedastal. In her head, she heard angels singing as she did so.

"Ready to go?" Cisco wondered, swinging the keys around his finger.

"I'm staying here," Parker mumbled.

Cisco patted her back before catching the keys in his palm and heading to the elevator.

Parker started to walk to Joe's desk, needing the extra key for Barry's Lab. She wanted to grab the evidence and her belongings while she could avoid him.

"I heard you were looking for me!" A voice shouted.

Parker glanced over her shoulder at the loud voice. She did a double-take when she found Mark Mardon exiting the elevator.

"Here I am."

Parker heard the faint rumbling of thunder. She saw Mardon's hands twitching, like he was ready to strike at any second.

Mark hadn't noticed her watching. Parker used that to her advantage and walking at a normal pace, not to alert anyone, she found Eddie.

She punched his shoulder repeatedly until he paused the conversation with Captain Singh.

"Park, I'm a little busy--"

"Shut your mouth, and get out your gun slowly. Mark Mardon is here."

Magically, Captain and Eddie realized that the thunder sound was not coming from outside.

"Nobody else needs to get hurt," Joe was saying to Mardon.

"But they will."

Mardon flicked his wrists and sent a gush of wind towards Joe, throwing him across the floor.

Every cop in the work area became aware to the dangerous situation.

Captain Singh raced forward to help Joe to his feet.

Eddie drew his gun, most cops following suit.

In hectic atmosphere, someone yelled, "Take him down!"

"No, don't!" Parker and Joe tried to plead.

Parker hit the floor as the glass shattered and sprinkled across the desks.

When the glass was not flying, Eddie helped her up and pushed her behind him.

Joe was still dead center.

Mardon was creating an orchestra of lightning. Teasingly, he shot around Joe. He paused briefly.

Parker was smart enough to know where Mardon's next hit was. For once, she had enough time to save someone.

She ran from behind Eddie with her arms outstretched, shoving her hands and all of her body weight into Joe.

The worst part was that she almost made it. Joe was out of the frame, and a majority of her body was too. Her legs stayed in the target too long.

Parker could never recall specific details of that moment. She knew she flew through the air, shoved Joe, and when she hit the ground, her right leg was sizzling and the clenched muscles in her leg were loose.

Through those rain drop sized tears and her wailing, she saw Eddie run to her side. He dropped to the floor, bringing her shoulders to rest on his knees. His eyes were wide with panic and uncertainty.

There wasn't anything they could do, considering no one knew a thing about what to do when someone gets struck by lightning and survives.

"I know it hurts, Parker, I know.."

Parker was in the middle of the hardest sob anyone had witnessed. She was awake, being forced to listen to the literal sizzling of her leg, to live through that pain. Parker remembered wanting to pass out, anything to numb the pain.

Eventually, she tried to sit up, failed and smacked her head so hard against the concrete floor that her wish came true.