OUT OF TIME , barry allen✔️

43. A proposal

I woke up peacefully next to Barry in our bedroom. I tried not to wake him up by sitting up and smiled in satisfaction as he continued to sleep. My hand softly left a trail from his neck and to his chest before my eyes suddenly flashed. "Zoe? Zoe, what's happening?" Storm voiced and I teleported myself into the bathroom. "Storm?" I called out as a growing ringing in my ears blocked out my connection to Storm.

After a few more minutes pressing my hand against my head, the ringing slowly got quieter and I sighed in relief as it disappeared. "Zoe, are you okay?" Storm asked and I raised my eyebrows in confusion. "I thought I lost you." I whispered back. "Never. Now, are you?" She asked and I smiled before nodding my head. "Yes, Storm. I'm perfectly okay." I answered.

☇

Iris and I stood in her new apartment after she and I moved her final stuff in. "How are you guys? You know, with- with Mania gone and Nora back here?" I sighed and sat down with her. "I- I'm finally at a good place now that Mania is gone, you know? It's just... Barry slowly warms up to her again and that's great but ever since Nora's back, the team is so cautious. Also, since I know that Barry was going to propose-" Iris gasped slightly but then sighed defeatedly.

"Okay. Who told you?" She demanded. "Felicity did accidently when I visited her and Oliver in Star City. Does this mean everyone knew but me?" Iris chuckled and grinned. "Well, that's kind of the point, Z." She said and I shook my head. "What about you, Iris? I mean, are you seeing someone?" I asked and she smirked. "Well, there is this guy I'm seeing. But it's nothing too serious yet." She said and I smiled. "That's great." I said and she nodded, agreeing with me.

"Yeah, it's nice to hang out with someone who doesn't a mask all the time." She said and I sighed deeply. "I'm afraid that Barry and I will always be just that. Our masks. Flash and Storm." I whispered and let my head hang before looking up again after a few minutes. "He loves being The Flash and Storm loves being a hero and use those powers for good, but sometimes I feel like that's all there is." I said and looked up to Iris.

"That's not true. You're Barry and Zoe, you're more than your alter-egos. You have a daughter. You have a life together." As soon as Iris spoke that last sentence, I began to feel shivers running down my spine and I sigh deeply. "For now." I whispered and Iris moved closer to my side. "Don't give up hope. We won't lose him." She whispered and put her arm around me. "I can't lose him... and I won't. And I'll do whatever it takes to ensure that." I whispered determined.

☇

A week later, I was arriving at Star Labs when I saw a familiar looking brunette with Barry.
"Cora?" I asked. "Zoe. Oh thank god." She whispered as she turned and walked toward me before she put her arms around me. We stood there for a few minutes before we pulled away from eachother.

"Hey, are you okay? What happened? Where were you?" I asked before the three of us went into the cortex. "Oh, I had a few emergencies in Star City, but I'm here now and I'm not leaving any time soon." She said and I fully turned to the team. "Good, because we need you on this team." Cisco said.

"The last week was surprisingly without any big incidents and Barry suggested that we should celebrate our victory." Caitlin said and smiled. Just then Nora, followed by Oliver, Felicity, Kara, Thea, Iris, my Earth-2 counterpart, Harry, Wally and Joe walked into the cortex.

We all hugged eachother before Barry and Joe went to get the glasses and bottles. Ten minutes later I figured that Barry did things a little slower than usual today because it took them longer than I thought.

While they got everything, I was in a conversation with Thea about the old times. "Look at us. A vigilante and a meta-human. Our lifes took great turns." Thea said and I chuckled lightly. "Yeah, they did." I said and Thea smiled at me. "I missed you, Z." She said and hugged me. "Oh." I made in surprise and then smiled. "I missed you, too." I said in a low voice and then we parted. Just then Barry and Joe returned and Barry held a thank you speech for the part they played in defeating Mania.

As Barry ended his speech I watched him move towards me before taking my hand in his own. "Zoe Black." He said and got down on one knee. As I realized what he was planning to do, tears formed in my eyes and I quietly gasped. "As The Flash, I'm always running. But with you I feel like I can finally slow down. I have found my utter and complete happiness with you and I promise to love you every day so that if I'm gone you will know that I love you deeply. You have been my best friend, my partner and I would be the happiest man on all earths in the multiverse if you would do me the honour of becoming my wife." He said and then pulled out a small box that he opened to reveal a familiar looking ring. "My mother's ring..." I whispered and felt tears slipping down my cheeks. "She left it with Dad's suit after she told you the truth about me." Nora said and I looked over my shoulder to see the others standing there in awe.

I looked back to Barry, his smile slowly turned into a frown before I nodded quickly. "Yes, of course I'll marry you. A thousands times yes!" I exclaimed and he slipped the ring on my finger after he got up on his feet. Then he swept me off my feet and embraced me with a deep kiss.

When we parted from eachother, I heard applause breaking out behind us. "I've been waiting for that since I got here." Nora said as we embraced her in a long hug before I was hugging my earth-2 counterpart. "Guess we'll both gonna be named Black-Allen now. Unless you're not into-" I took me a second before I exclaimed, "You're married to the Barry on your earth!?" It was too loud because everyone else turned around to us and Zoe chuckled. "Well, guess it's fate, huh?" She said.

☇

Zoe, Kara, Oliver, Thea and Felicity were brought back home after we celebrated into the night at Star Labs. Unfortunately, the bad guys didn't care if we were tired or not because there was a bank heist involving several rogue metas. We stood infront of the bank while Barry, Caitlin, Wally and I analyzed the situation. I got into the air and looked down on the street before saying into the coms, "Kid Flash, second ally to your left and then on the roof." Wally sped and caught the meta. Barry got inside the wall and Caitlin followed him, leaving me alone out here.

Wally brought the meta down on the street and the woman had the power-dampening cuffs on her. I got back onto the ground and used my powers to slow down time around me. I looked around and tried to take in every detail before teleporting myself into the bank, only to notice a bomb. There was barely time to defuse it, so I took the bomb and teleported myself back out on the street. I knew the risks but I had to try.

I

rose up into the air and stopped slowing time as I had to get up faster and that wouldn't work well with my time manipulation powers. Barry and Caitlin were already outside from what I could see and as I levitated myself, Caitlin used her icey powers to get herself high up into the night sky as well. "Caitlin, no!" I yelled in distress as I went up farther. "I'm not gonna let you do this and die." Frost yelled back and got on my level. "And I'm not gonna let you endanger yourself for me." I said as I broke the icey road and let Caitlin fall down softly on the ground. I look down on the bomb to see that it was reaching the ten second count and I urged my powers to get up farther into the sky so it when the bomb would explode, it wouldn't endanger high buildings and the people in there.

When it was safe to say that I reached a safe place, I used my powers to let the bomb get even higher before it exploded. When it did, the explosion send me falling down head first and I tried to use my powers once again to keep me from going down that fast. "Come on!" I grunted as I began to see top of the buildings around me.

Just then I was caught by a yellow lightning blur and set down on the ground. "Are you okay?" Wally asked and I nodded. "Yeah. Are the metas-" "Back in Iron Heights." Barry said and helped me up to hug me. "You're crazy." He said and I chuckled as we parted. "Um, yeah, I pretty much am." I said and he hugged me again. My eyes flashed as we parted and I felt Storm feeling different than usual. "You're getting married?! Why am I the last to know?" She exclaimed and the heroes laughed.