neighbors | barry allen//the flash

twenty | hypothetical

Clara laid pretty low the next few days. Not that she really had a choice; she felt so miserable she could barely move. Her swollen throat healed up in a few days of taking antibiotics, but her cough and runny nose persisted, so she was pretty damn sure she had a viral infection on top of the stupid strep throat. However, Mercury Labs didn't keep a lot of easily accessible viruses, so she was pretty sure she couldn't blame that on on Evan. After missing four days of work, four days out of her paycheck, Clara popped some DayQuil and vitamin C tablets and trudged into work.  

"Glad you're back," Alice smiled in greeting as Clara swiped into the lab. 

"Sorry you had to go so long without me," Clara cracked a smile herself. "I figured I should be a decent human being and wait until I wasn't contagious before returning." She shot a pointed look at Evan, but he wasn't paying attention.

"Or you just felt like throwing a pity party for yourself and crying for four days." Evan muttered, not looking up from his work. 

"That was totally uncalled for," Clara said under her breath. She reigned herself in before she walked over and slugged Evan. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. I'm going to be the better person." Clara squared her shoulders and got to work. 

Despite her best intentions, she caught herself watching Evan for any indication, any misstep, any suspicious activity, that could prove her theory of him infecting her. Unfortunately, those kind of clues were more elusive than the Flash. She fought herself through the entire day, but she finished victorious, and went home without laying a hand on Evan. She definitely considered that much more of an accomplishment than she should have.

Upon arriving home, she made more coffee, took a few more DayQuil, and sat down at her desk. While she had a long list of directions on her Flash list, she hadn't transferred all of them to her map yet. Sticking the Sharpie cap in her mouth, she drew in arrows for each inquiry she had made. Finally, after weeks of nothing, she was beginning to see a pattern. There was about six square blocks that all the arrows seemed to be pointing to. The Flash had to have some kind of hideout or lair or home base, and it had to be somewhere in there. Of course, it was still a lot of possibilities in those six square blocks- was he underground somewhere, or in a hidden room in a building?- but this was certainly a lot better than looking around the entire city. Proud of her work, Clara sat back in her chair and took a large gulp of water, just as she heard a knock at the door. She quickly sat up, and coughed on the water she had almost breathed in. She opened the door to find Barry standing in the hallway. Unlike every other night the past few days, he wasn't holding a paper bag with soup in it. 

"Hey, are you feeling any better?" Barry asked, running his hands through his hair. 

"I am, actually," She nodded. "I was choking on water a few seconds ago, I promise I wasn't actually coughing because I'm sick." 

"Oh," Barry gave her a both confused and concerned look. 

"You know what," She frowned, "I shouldn't have said that. Forget about that. Anyways, whats up?"

"Are you free tonight?" He raised his eyebrows hopefully, and ran his fingers through his hair once again. It must have been some kind of nervous habit. Then again, why was Barry nervous around her?

"Yeah, I don't have any plans," Clara shrugged. "Why?"

"Do you wanna try that sushi place?" Barry grinned hopefully. "I mean, if you're not up for it, I totally understand, since you've been sick and recovering and stuff but-" 

"No, it's fine!" Clara interrupted him. "That would be great! Let me grab my coat and purse really quick." Clara disappeared for a few seconds, then popped back in her door wearing her long black coat, purse in hand. "I'm ready."