He Struck me as Fast as Lightning

Chapter 7: Barry

"Why are we meeting here? I thought you were a full time reporter now?" I say while vibrating my vocal chords.

"This is kinda our place. Right?" She says.

"Wait back up a second. Did...did you just call me Barry?"

"I did didn't I?" She says. "Now Barry... Now Bartholomew...Henry...Allen, when were you going to tell me you were The Flash?"

'Uh oh... She said my full name. That's never good,' I think to myself.

"Well what are you waiting for. Take the mask off before I take it off myself." She responds to my silence. I really could use the ability to talk to Cisco telepathically. That's what he needs to invent next. I press my finger on my earpiece.

"Yeah Barry I see what your seeing. I think it's time you tell her. You knew this would happen eventually." Cisco says over the comm system and then I hear a slurp. Of course he has another slurpee. I think he has a slurpee addiction.

I slowly pull the mask off my face, but I instinctively vibrate my face. Iris walks over to me and cups her hands on my face, which stops the vibrating. She leans in, about to kiss me. FINALLY! Last time was like the stars had finally aligned. There were fireworks. Well more like waterworks that were going to flood the city. Then I had to go and time travel. I closed my eyes and leaned in. Just then I felt a sharp pain in my cheek. She slapped me! "Ow what was that for?"

"Well I guess slapping you came first." She says. "That was for not telling me. You had every opportunity to speak up. You could've told me that was why you wanted me to stop my blog and I would've listened to you. Makes sense why you suddenly stopped believing in the impossible. You were trying to-"

"To protect you. There are other impossible things out there," I point outside, "that could track you down and seriously harm you because they think you can get to me."

"I'm sorry. But you should be too! You could've stopped a lot of danger by just telling me!"

"I have stopped more danger than you know. Besides I've already told you. Twice." I admitted.

"What? You never told me." Cisco says over the comm.

"Not now Cisco."

"What do you mean? Twice?" Iris asks.

"The first time I told you I just ran so fast that you couldn't even see me. I spoke faster than normal. It was so hard to keep it a secret from you that I just needed to say it aloud. I told you faster than you could finish pouring the sugar into your coffee." I explain.

"And the second?"

"The second time... The second time... The second time was in a different timeline."

"You're doing that thing again where you aren't speaking English"

"Martin Mardon. He took your dad hostage and called you and warned you not to tell anyone. We headed to the waterfront and you were already shaken up. A storm was rolling in, Mardon was creating it. He's like me, but evil. I tried to tell you to leave. You told me you wouldn't leave me. That you have been realizing that you have feelings for me, ever since I told you that I have them for you. You told me that, since then, you could never stop thinking about me. Then we kissed. And I felt like the luckiest man alive. The storm started to pick up and turned into a tsunami. It was going to flood the city. I called Caitlin. She tried telling me something, but I stopped her. I asked her how to stop it. She explained a theoretical way, I won't bore you with the jargon. I would have needed to run back and forth, possibly faster than I could have handled. You wouldn't leave and I was the only one who could stop it. I sped-changed into my suit, which was in a duffel that I was holding. And told you to leave. Then you listened. And I ran, I ran like I never had before. Back and forth. Back and forth. Then it all stopped. I looked around and I saw myself running, a day in the past. I was in the same place that I was the day before at 9:59 pm. I saw the clock change to 10pm. There was no tsunami in sight. And that's why I said I knew you had feelings for me."

"Wow. That's a lot to take in. I think I should call Caitlin. I think it's that Lightning Psychosis thing again."

"Wow Iris, I tell you everything and now.... Wait how did you know it was me?" I ask

"Busted. A friend showed me this picture" she says and then hands me the selfie I took, unmasked, with Cisco, Wells, and Caitlin. Why did we think that this photo would be safe to have in the universe?

"What friend? Who gave you this?"

"An anonymous friend." She says, "so who else knows your identity?"

"Caitlin, Cisco, Wells, Joe, Snart, Your anonymous friend, Eiling, Team Arrow, all of the people in the pipeline-"

"Wow looks like I'm late to the party. I can't believe all of you would keep me in the dark on this. Did you just say team arrow?"

"Nooooooo" I try to lie. That's the thing I'm the worst at now, secrets and lies. Before the explosion, it was ringing. "I'm sorry. It was for your own good."

"For my own good? For my own good?! Look where that got me."

"I know and I'm sorry."

"That's not going to cut it this time, Flash."

"I hate to say it, but you have to pretend to still be in the dark. No one besides you, and me, and well Cisco, who's listening to everything can know that you know my identity."

"And Dr. Snow" I hear Caitlin chip in over the ear piece.

"And Dr. Snow" I add.

"Fine. Most of it make sense now. And it's all because of the lightning?

"Yes."

"So that's why S.T.A.R labs took you in"

"Barry he's uploaded another vlog." Cisco says.

"Iris, I don't have time for this right now. Can I please borrow your laptop? Thanks." I say. As I see she's about to nod, I run over and grab it. I turn it on to see the imposter trickster is making another bomb threat. This time there will be a much bigger BOOM than the last time. "Bye Iris. Remember this is only between us." I say as I run out.