^no relation to this particular chapter, just in general with Barry and Pippin, this is probably what Barry looks like half the time when he's with her
'This girl'
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Thanks for boarding the Crimson train, get ready for a lot of crazy
Choo-choo
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"Are you sure you're not in pain?"
Pippin rolled her eyes for the hundredth time since she'd stepped in the car.
Well, more like carried.
After four weeks of pills, nurses, doctors, tests, check-ups, proving, and prodding, Pippin had been declared free.
She could see Oliver's blue eyes glance at her through the car mirror, his eyes creased in worry.
"For the last time, Oliver, I'm perfectly fine."
Barry's arm that was wrapped around her shoulders tightened.
"Not you too." She hissed, her gray eyes meeting Barry's.
"We just want to make sure you're okay." Felicity decided to add her own opinion which made Pippin huff in annoyance.
"If the doctor didn't think I was okay, I wouldn't be here, would I?" She retorted with a pointed look at Barry who looked ready to refute.
"But-"
"Oliver, I will clip you over the head with my crutches." Pippin threatened, eyes blazing as she jiggled the crutch in the rearview mirror's direction.
"Fine, fine." Oliver looked more amused than scared which made Pippin scowl.
The frown slipped off of her face as they pulled up in front of Barry's house.
"Finally." Pippin made a move to get out of the car but Barry grabbed her arm.
She glanced at him, sighing as she read the look in her eyes.
"Sometimes I dislike you all very much."
Oliver chuckled as he swung Pippin's door open.
"Milady."
Pippin smacked his outstretched hand, swaying as she stood out of the car.
Despite her efforts to stand on herself, she was forced to clutch Oliver's forearm when her balance faltered.
Barry popped up behind Oliver, making Pippin wonder when he had gotten out of the car.
"I can help her to the house."
Before Pippin could protest, Barry had scooped her up in his arms.
"Barry." She squeaked, clutching his shirt as he grinned, coyly.
"Yes?" He drew out the word while Pippin rolled her eyes at him, although a small smile crawled on her lips too.
"We're finally home."
Pippin's heart warmed as he said those few words, watching him nudge the door open miraculously.
He let her down carefully on the sofa, propping her up with a few pillows.
"Promise me you'll stay put for now?" He narrowed his eyes as she opened her mouth to protest.
His rough, warm fingers brushed against her chin, closing her mouth for her.
"No arguing about this one."
Pippin froze as he tucked a blanket around her sides and placed a small kiss on her forehead.
"I see you've found a way to stop her from arguing with you." Oliver watched from the doorway in amusement, carrying Pippin's bags as if they were feathers.
"Fortunately."
Pippin snapped out of her daze in time to give Barry a sharp glare which made him smile even wider.
"When is your dad coming?" She decided to change the subject as Felicity sat down near her feet.
Apparently, Joe's flights had been delayed several times and he had gotten back only the week before to plunge immediately into work.
Barry had explained that his dad hadn't wanted to visit Pippin just yet to give her time to recuperate and decided to stay with Iris since Halle was out of town on a business trip.
"He is bringing his stuff down from Iris's. I think he'll be here around noon-ish." Barry disappeared into the kitchen, reappearing by Pippin's side with her pill bottle and a glass of water.
"Really?" She frowned, noticing Oliver stiffen and look at her out of the corner of her eye.
"Doctor said to get a few hours of rest before doing anything heavy." He dropped the pills in her hand with a small smile.
"Yes, let me go lift a firetruck right now." Pippin snorted, sinking back against the cushions of the couch.
"I was hoping the medicine would dull your sarcasm." Barry retorted as he stood in front of her with a no-nonsense look in his eye.
"Be glad I think highly of you, Allen." She downed the pills while keeping her eyes trained on him.
The drowsiness that came with the pills hit almost immediately, making Pippin yawn.
"But I don't want to go to sleep." She tried to blink the fogginess away, noticing that Oliver and Felicity had disappeared like they usually did.
Barry wordlessly perched on the edge of the sofa, resting his head on her chin.
"I'll stay with you until you do." His voice seemed a little deeper than it had been a second ago and it sent a small shiver down her spine.
She rested her cheek on his sweater, feeling his chest rise and fall reassuringly.
The minutes and hours slowly blurred together as she only felt his fingers combing through her hair to rest briefly on the back of her neck then back again.
Slowly, her eyelids drooped until they closed, enveloping her in a comfortable darkness.
"They look so cute asleep."
Pippin curled tighter against her source of warmth, her fingers gripping soft fabric.
"Felicity, are you going to start fangirling again?"
She could hear the faint, muffled sound of pots clanging together.
"Oliver, you're going to wake them up!"
She heard a sigh by her ear, a frown flitting across her forehead before she cracked an eye open.
Barry had moved during the time they had fallen asleep, his head was now resting on her shoulder.
His arms were wrapped loosely around her waist, caging her against his body.
Not that she minded.
She smiled at the peace on his face as he breathed evenly and deeply.
"You're not very subtle when you check a guy out."
Pippin tensed as she heard his voice, deep and foggy with sleep.
He removed one arm from her waist, rubbing at his eyes before a lazy smile perched on his lips.
"Good morning."
Pippin rolled her eyes at his remark , although she made no sarcastic remark.
"You look better when you're asleep." She could feel his body stretching the sleep away against hers.
Somehow his legs and her one good leg had become entangled together but neither of them did anything to disentangle them.
"Should I be scared that you noticed that?"
His face was so close that she could his green eyes so well.
Pippin wondered if emerald was now her favorite color.
She could see the darker flecks of forest green scattered around his iris as well as a ring of hazel around the pupil of his eye.
After a while, the realization that she was indeed checking him out made her cheeks turn the slightest shade of pink.
Then she noticed Barry was doing the exact same.
The playful smile on his face had slowly slipped off until it was just him studying, observing.
And that scared her.
With a sharp intake of breath and a fake smile, she stretched, turning on her back.
"Joe should be here any minute." She murmured, feeling Barry's arm tighten the slightest across her waist before he let go.
"Are you two lovebirds finally awake?" A smug Felicity popped into the room, both Barry and Pippin shooting her unamused looks.
"That's right, keep denying it but I know better." Felicity tapped her temple in a knowing gesture.
Barry chuckled breathlessly before standing up with a grunt.
Pippin met his curious gaze with a blank one, breaking away first.
"I'm going to take a shower." He ran a hand through his hair while stumbling off in the direction of the stairs.
"What was that about?" Felicity sat down near Pippin who had swung her legs over the couch's cushion.
"What was what about?" Pippin managed a smile when Felicity shot her a no-nonsense look.
"You can stop denying the two of you are attracted to each other, the romantic tension between you could be cut with a knife."
Felicity snorted.
"He was at your bedside for four weeks! You've gotten along with him longer than you've gotten along with anyone that isn't Oliver, Diggle, Roy, Thea, or me."
She started to count off the reasons on her fingers.
"He legit saved you from a collapsing building that was on fire!"
"Legit?" Pippin sent her a look to which Felicity responded by narrowing her eyes.
"Don't try to change the subject on me, Alexandria."
Blazing gray eyes met equally fiery green.
"We agreed never to call me that." Pippin chided, Felicity rolling her eyes.
"It is your given name." She added, receiving another look from Pippin.
"You're trying to change the subject, aren't you?" Felicity finally realized, poking Pippin's side in accusation.
"Look, Pippin, as much as you don't want to accept it, you're involved in some deep romance."
Pippin noticed the softer tone that Felicity's voice took.
"I can't be involved in this." She ran a hand through her hair, a frown playing on her forehead.
"Why?"
The question brought Pippin's gaze back to Felicity's.
"Because I'm messed up, Fel. And I'm not dragging Barry into that."
"Dragging me into what?" At the sound of Barry's voice, both girls jumped a little.
"How many times have I told you not to do that?" Pippin scolded, gently slapping his hand away as it landed on her shoulder.
"Too many times for me to count." Barry grinned, his gaze switching from Pippin to Felicity.
"Were you guys talking about me?" His crystalline eyes narrowed before he fixed them on Felicity who fidgeted.
Pippin rolled her eyes in annoyance.
Felicity had many various talents but being discreet was not one of them.
"It's some get-together that Felicity wants to plan. Since it's going to be Thanksgiving soon."
Pippin waved it away, Barry's face brightening before he took a seat next to her on the sofa.
His hand never left her shoulder.
"Sounds fun."
Excitement as well as amusement tinged his tone as he caught Pippin's pained look.
"Pippin doesn't like socializing." Felicity jabbed her cousin in the ribs to which Pippin only sighed.
"There's just so many people."
Barry laughed at her response, his arm curling its way past her other shoulder.
"True but I think this could be fun, Pip."
She tensed a little as he drew her closer into his side with another smile.
"Let's just see how this pasta thing goes." Pippin managed a small smile just as the doorbell rang.
"Is that Joe?" She attempted to stand and almost fell down if Barry hadn't stabilized her with his hands.
"Do you want to come to the door with me?"
Barry smiled as Pippin sent him a look.
"Is that really a question?" Pippin hung onto Barry's forearm as he paused by the door, shooting her a comforting smile.
"Barry."
A tall, dark-skinned man entered the house, tossing a few suitcases in a corner behind the door before enveloping Barry in a hug.
"Dad, we missed you." Barry clapped the hand that wasn't holding Pippin's on Joe's back in an affectionate gesture.
"Is this the Pippin I've heard so much about?"
Joe turned his welcoming eyes to Pippin who managed a nervous smile.
"I feel like I know you. Barry told me all about you, Mr. West." Pippin outstretched her hand almost shyly, Joe chuckling in response.
"Come here, darling." He wrapped her in a tight hug which made Pippin's eyes widen.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you." He broke away, rubbing a hand on her back.
"You okay?"
Pippin was staring at Joe in surprise, missing Barry's question.
"Earth to Pippin?" Barry chuckled, waving a hand in front of her eyes.
"Oh, yeah, likewise, Mr. West. Sorry, I guess I just wasn't expecting that."
Joe smiled, waving it off. "Don't worry about it and it's Joe, Pippin. Mr. West was my father."
Pippin returned his smile, nodding her head.
"Welcome to the family, my dear."
Joe didn't notice the blonde freeze as he passed by, shouting out a warm welcome to Oliver and Felicity.
"What's wrong?" Barry held her shoulders with both of his hands.
"I've just,"
She felt her eyes sting as she looked up at Barry.
"Never been welcomed like that before."
Barry offered a smile, enveloping her in warm hug that made her head spin.
He didn't say anything for a few seconds before simply kissing the top of her head.
In a whiz of an hour, they were all seated around the dinner table, amongst large quantities of pasta that Felicity and Oliver had cooked up.
Right now, Joe was retelling one of his many memories of Barry as a kid.
"And get this, he thought a spaghetti volcano was a good thing to make me on my birthday."
Joe spooned some lasagna onto Pippin's plate, passing it off to Barry who set it in front of her.
"Joe, please!" Barry turned the slightest shade of pink while everyone turned to look at him, the whole table laughing.
"Let's just say, we weren't able to use the stovetop for two weeks because of the amount of pasta sauce stuck to the top of it." Joe laughed, clapping a hand on Barry's back while he recalled the tale.
"Aren't you the epitome of grace in motion, Barry?" Pippin teased, poking his cheek playfully.
"And I haven't even started with all those middle school projects."
"That's where I draw the line." Barry interjected, Felicity trying to hide a smile.
"We passed that line when Joe handed out your baby pictures." Pippin handed him one of the pictures that had passed around the table, laughing at the picture of Barry covered in brownie batter while a young Iris grinned at the camera with a spatula in her hand.
"Joe."
The whole table burst into laughter again, Barry turning a darker shade of pink.
A ringing cut into the laughter.
"That's me." Joe fished his phone out of his pocket when Barry's started ringing.
"Something wrong?" Pippin whispered to him, searching the side of his face as he answered the call.
His chair screeched against the floor as he stood up, murmuring in soft tones to whoever was on the other side.
That was never a good sign.
Barry always paced when he was nervous or when he was receiving some unpleasant news.
"Are you sure?" Joe mirrored Barry's actions, attracting the attention to himself when he abruptly ended the call.
"We have a problem."
"The fire," Pippin turned her gaze to Barry, sucking in a deep breath.
"The source of the fire were the heaters that exploded." With his gaze trained on Pippin, he walked slowly towards his chair.
She felt the air become harder to breath as memories of the explosion came back to her.
The scream, Reese looking back at her in worry, then the feeling of flying through the air and-
"They found evidence that the heaters had been tampered with."
The words made Pippin's gaze go dotty, the room spinning around in like a wild carousel.
She gripped the edge of the table until her knuckles turned a pale white.
"What are you trying to say, Barry?" Oliver stood up, his hand hovering on Felicity's shoulder as he spoke.
By this time, the carefree and light atmosphere has morphed into a heavy, stifling one.
"It means the grocery store wasn't an accident." Joe piped up, his eyes flickering to Pippin in concern as she stared at her hand which had started to shake.
Her gaze met Barry's as he clutched the phone in his hands at would could be called anger.
An emotion Pippin had never really seen in his eyes.
"It means that someone tried to murder Pippin."