Always you

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The day Barry Allen moved into the West household was a day of mixed emotions for everyone.

Barry was 11 years old and was tired. He was physically tired, he was emotionally tired and all he wanted was a bedroom where he could hide from the world and never come out again, Joe West had offered him that.

Joe West was also tired, but not in the same way as Barry. The pair of them had spent the whole night at the police station, Joe comforting a screaming Barry whilst he protested that his dad hadn't done anything wrong. Barry's mother had just been murdered and the father was the only suspect.

Barry has witnessed it happen and screamed and cried that his father was innocent, that the man in the lighting had killed his mother. But who could believe a young boy who was shouting the impossible.

Joe offered to take Barry to his home, to raise him as his own. He couldn't let the boy he'd known for so long, the boy who'd spent many days after school round his end up in the care system. So he did what he thought was best, he took him home.

He explained to Iris the consequences, the reason her friend had come to stay. He told her that it was going to be hard for Barry to adjust but he'd need her. She said nothing in return, she only smiled and took her friends hand, welcoming him into the family.

The next few years were hard on everyone. Barry had tried relentless times to run away to see his dad and in the end Joe had to allow him to make regular visits. Eventually he began to smile, to laugh again and it wasn't long before he became part of the family. It wasn't long before Joe began to love him the way he loved Iris.

And it wasn't long before Barry fell in love with Iris.

Barry and Iris grew up and eventually Barry went off to college and got his degree in forensic science before becoming part of the CSI. That was how he expected his life to stay normal enough as he lived in a normal apartment with a normal job and a normal routine...