Chapter Three ϟ Maybe Someday
The next week went by in a flash. Brennan and Barry had a sort of routine down. Bren would come in before him. She'd sit down at her desk and pull out her laptop, checking her all her emails. Then, she'd leave the office, grab two cups of coffee, and head over to Joe's cubical checking in on him while delivering the coffee. After they had a short conversation Brennan would go back upstairs still seeing no sign of Barry Allen in the office.
By this time the captain would have a case and Brennan would either be called down to sketch or an email would be sent to her with a description that she would have to draw from. She preferred to be with the witness in person but as she knew, you don't always get the things you want in life.
Brennan would then begin her work and that is when Mr. Allen would decide to stroll into the office. He always gave her that adorable smile and a hello walking in to which she returned a hello and a tight-lipped smile. They would both work in a comfortable silence until Iris comes in and takes Barry away for some reason, always asking if Brennan would like to join them to which she politely declines. They would leave and Bren would continue to work until she was done for the day. She would gather her things and return to her apartment doing everything her night routine consists of. Then, she'd wake up the next day and repeat the same process.
Today, however, was different. As Brennan walked into the shared office and spotted the brown haired forensic scientist sitting at his computer typing away. For a second, she stared at him in surprise. It must have been a second too long because Barry's typing stopped and his head turned to glance at her. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What?"
"You're here. On time." She stated coming out of her stupor. Heading towards her own desk she slid off her bag and placed it to the floor continuing to gaze at him.
Barry gave her a distracted smile returning to his computer. "Well, this is my job."
Bren suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at his sarcasm. "Yeah, a job that you are always late to." She calmly replied crossing her right leg over her left and leaning back in the chair.
"I'm trying something new." He shrugged, his eyes glued to his computer screen. Bren glanced at what he was searching. It seemed to be some breaking news article about something happening in Starling. She didn't know what Barry's interest in it was, but she made sure not to ask taking her eyes off the screen and getting to work herself.
The two were silent once again for maybe an hour until Barry typed one more thing on his computer before shutting it off and gathering his stuff.
"Where are you going?" Bren questioned placing her sketchbook on her desk.
Barry's eyes widened as if he had forgotten that she was there. "Uh," Brennan could see the gears turning in his head as he tried to formulate a lie.
"I uh, Joe called from downstairs so I, uh, I have to go, there, downstairs." He stuttered out edging his way to the exit.
Brennan's expression changed to one of confusion. She had run into Joe before coming up here and he was out on a case. He said he wouldn't be back until the afternoon. "Oh, really?"
Barry nodded, a little too fast. Brennan didn't need her extra skills of being able to tell when someone was being false to know that Barry was lying. Standing from her chair, she crossed her arms moving to be in front of him.
"Where are you really going Allen?"
To this Barry's shoulders slumped and a sigh left his lips. "You wouldn't understand if I told you."
Sensing the sadness and discomfort in his voice, Brennan dropped the attitude and smiled. "Believe me, I'm pretty good at understanding things."
Barry peaked at her from under his long lashes before a small smile floated onto his lips. "When I was eleven my mom was murdered in front of me."
Brennan took in a sharp gust of air that was inaudible. She knew what that sadness felt like but she let Barry continue. "No one believed me but I saw something in my house that night, something said to be impossible. There was a man in this yellow lightening that killed my mother, however, my dad is now locked up for it because the man disappeared. So, now I follow impossible case to prove..."
"...if those cases are true yet impossible why wouldn't yours be?" Brennan finished. Barry agreed to it with a simple nod.
Not knowing exactly what possessed her to do this, Brennan offered her help. "Okay, so where is this next impossible case."
Barry's gaze stayed on her for a few seconds until a large smile stretched across his mouth. Grabbing a few sheets of paper he handed them to her. "Starling City. There has been a break in at a facility run by Queen Consolidated."
Bren sighed. Guess she was going back to Starling City for the holidays. Turning towards her desk, she grabbed her things. "All right. We better get going then."
"We?" Barry questioned. Bren nodded. "Yep. I have family in Starling and since it's the holidays I figured it would be a good time to stop by. Plus, you are going to need someone to vouch that you got sick at work and now have food poisoning."
Barry continued to grin at her. "Okay, let's go. I just have to stop by my apartment real quick."
The two walked out of the exit heading towards their apartment complex. The whole ride there Bren's leg nervously twitched up and down. Going back to Starling was a big step for her and she didn't know if she was ready, but she guessed now she had to be, for Barry's sake.
ϟ
"Do you know where the building is?" Barry asked as they drove in Brennan's car.
Brennan nodded. "Yes, plus I heard the address come over the wire before we left."
"Pretty and perceptive, interesting." Barry joked causing the two to chuckle. Brennan's smile left Barry almost breathless. He knew she was pretty, hell he would have to be blind not to think the girl was beautiful. He had never seen her smile thought. In the last few weeks, he noticed how she stayed to herself, no matter how many times she was invited out, and was normally very stoic. But right now, with an actual smile on her face at his joke he wondered why she didn't do it more often.
"What?" Brennan asked. The smile had dropped from her face as she expression turned to one of confusion. She noticed Barry staring at her, almost as if he were looking through her, and it sent a weird feeling down her spine that Bren wasn't sure she liked.
Barry's head snapped away from her once he realized he had been caught staring. A faint blush rose to his cheeks. "Nothing. It's just, you don't smile very much."
Bren didn't look at him but Barry noticed her hands grip the wheel just a tad bit tighter. Bren shrugged before answering him. "I don't normally find a lot of things to smile about."
"Care to elaborate?" Barry asked slightly afraid that she might snap at him for being too personal. Brennan was silent for a few seconds as she flicked on her left blinker turning the car in the direction of the QC warehouse.
"Maybe someday Allen," She mumbled pulling the car in park. Her eyes stared at the grey building while the anxiety built in her chest. "Maybe someday."
The two made their way out of Brennan's car and into the warehouse. They entered through the back but almost immediately Brennan spotted multiple police officers scouting the scene with flash lights and latex gloves.
In the distance Brennan immediately spotted Felicity's blonde hair and unfortunately, she caught Oliver's head too. Her attention was directed towards them.
"This is what we could pull off the security tape." The IT man stated showing them a screen. "He was the only guy on the video. The others must have come in after him."
Barry shook his head as he continued to look around. "Actually, it was just one guy. Ah, sorry I'm late. It was uh-" He glanced back at Brennan to see her arms folded over her chest. He coughed into his hand realizing his insult to her driving. "It was traffic."
"Great. Who the hell are you?" Detective Lance interrogated staring at Barry in confusion.
"And do you parents know that you're here." Oliver chipped in causing Brennan to scoff rather loudly.
"Wow Mr. Queen, I didn't know you were so petty you had to divert to bullying. Does your mom know that you're here? Last time I knew, you may be the CEO of QC but you do little to keep it running except use it's money for whenever you see fit to take off to an exotic island." Her voice spit the words out like venom. Felicity and Diggle physically winced at the words. Barry, however, stood confused but slightly grateful that she stuck up for him in front of this billionaire bachelor.
"Brennan." Oliver breathed in surprise that she was actually here.
She ignored him. "This is Barry Allen. He's Central City's forensic scientist with the crime scene investigation unit. We are working on a case with some similar unexplained elements in Central City."
Barry nodded. "Yes, so when the report of your robbery came over the wire, my captain sent us up here."
Everyone just looked at him to which Brennan had to hold back a smile.
"So, you think that one guy ripped through this door like it was tin foil?" Lance questioned again.
"Yes, one very strong guy." Sensing that no one was believing him, Brennan pushed Barry's shoulder. He stared down at her to which she replied with a raise of her eyebrows and a glance around at all the unbelieving faces.
"Oh, okay." Barry fiddled around in his bag before he pulled out his tablet. "Uh, it takes about 1,250 foot pounds of torque to break someone's neck." Flipping around his tablet he showed everyone a picture of the dead guard at the morgue.
"You see the marks on the guards neck? The bruising pattern suggests that the killer only used one hand."
Barry looked up at Oliver. "I'm guessing you don't know how hard it is to break someone's neck."
Oliver glanced up at a joking Barry. "Hm, no. No. I have no idea."
Brennan let out a snort to which Oliver glared at her. She returned that glare with a smirk.
"Uh, we're going to need a list of the entire inventory to see what exactly was stolen." The guy from earlier jutted back in.
"Actually, I think I know what was stolen." Barry pipped up getting everyone's attention. "A centrifuge, an industrial centrifuge. Probably the Cord Enterprises 2BX 900, maybe the sixth series. Both have a three column base."
Barry continued to talk as he directed the group through the warehouse to a piece of machinery. Well, what used to be a piece of machinery. Now, it looked to be ripped out of the floor.
"Here you can see the three sets of broken bolts were the thief just ripped it out of the ground."
"And what exactly is a centrifuge?" Lance asked.
Brennan spoke up this time for Barry. "It separates liquids. The centripetal acceleration causes denser substances to separate out along the radial direction. Lighter objects move to the top."
Brennan concluded her explanation but Barry continued to look at her. He didn't know that she was that smart. He didn't mean to be judgmental but Brennan was absolutely gorgeous and now that she had smarts too Barry couldn't help but be more attracted to her.
Brennan felt the same way but she was better at hiding it. She had always had a thing for the brainiacs but with Barry it just felt like it could be more and it scared her to no end.
Barry staring was interrupted when Oliver harshly nudged him. "Uh, oh, right."
Oliver rolled his eyes at the flirty scientist but Barry continued. "Um, you can see the cracks heading towards the door, footsteps. One guy. Anyway, that's just a theory. One backed up by a lot of evidence."
"There has to be another explanation." Lance spoke up not believing that someone could do this all by themselves.
"Yeah, you're right. I'm sure there is." Barry stated in defeat though he believed in his heart that he was right.
Brennan watched as Lance walked away and asked Felicity to follow. The two said a few sentences to each other before Felicity came back and tapped Oliver on the shoulder motioning to Lance.
Oliver obliged heading over toward the officer. Brennan went back to listening to Barry talk about something sciencey relating to the case.
"What can I help you with Officer Lance?" Oliver questioned stepping up beside him.
"You want to tell me what beef you have going on with Bren and why the hell she is suddenly she is calling you Mr. Queen? Are you the reason she moved the Central City?"
Oliver took a step back at his questions feeling Lance's anger flare up though he was talking very low. Oliver knew Lance thought of Brennan as his own daughter, so this conversation was bound to happen.
The two men looked over at Brennan who was standing with her arms crossed listening to the CSI guy from Central City with no expression on her face and a dull look in her eyes.
"This is the first time I've seen her since...the incident." Oliver stated truthfully. He had a feeling he knew what her problem was but he didn't want to tell Officer Lance this.
"I know that the incident must have been very traumatic for her but right now, looking at that girl, I couldn't tell you who she is. My Brennan had a light to her that I never thought could fade out but she is staying very dull. It's almost as if a rain cloud descended over her and sucked her in." Lance stated roughly as if this was hurting him to say and it was for Oliver to hear.
"I don't know what's wrong, but I am going to find out."