Within Seconds // Barry Allen

Gone Girl

Barry and Parker sprung apart when his cell phone rang. He dug his phone from his pocket. "Cisco?" he sighed. "Hey. Yeah, I was busy, but... I guess. Parker and I will be there. See you."

"What am I being dragged to?" asked Parker.  

"They want to test my ability some more. Cisco wants you there. If you want to be," said Barry. 

"Yeah. I'll go," she agreed. "Excuse me."

Parker shuffled into the kitchen. Hands tangled nervously in her hair, she paced, trying to calm her erratically beating heart. When she was breathing normally, she poured Barry a glass of orange juice. She knew how much Caitlin got on him about keeping his vitamins up. 

"Funny," said Barry dryly when he took it from her. 

Parker smiled. "Oh, you used my computer again?"

"I did, yes. Hit the lights."

A song started to play when the lights were dimmed. 

"Now, I'm sure Iris told you I had two left feet. That is true. Therefore, you're going to lead. Eventually, I'll get the hang of it," he told her. 

Parker opened her arms for him to embrace her. "All right. Good hold. Now, you just kind of sway," she guided.

Barry took a full step to the right. 

Parker laughed. She brought him into place again, then shook her head. For him, she demonstrated the correct way to softly sway. He grabbed her waist and pulled her to him, moving like she'd previously taught him.

"Guess the lightning didn't speed up your ability to learn, did it?" she joked.

Barry scoffed as she giggled. He locked his hands on the small of her back, bringing them into a close proximity. He felt her hands hovering above his chest, unsure of whether or not she should touch him. Gently sliding his hands off her waist, Barry took her frail hands. He forced her fingers to emerge from the palms of her hand. He set her hands on his chest, his arms returning to the spot on above her bottom.

"It's okay to let yourself fall, Park," he whispered.

"I'm only afraid you won't catch me."

The two stopped. Burning pizza flew past their noses. Parker didn't have to tell him for him to speed into the kitchen. He dropped two plates on the coffee table, then resumed their position, as though he'd never left.

"Smooth," muttered Parker. 

"Shut up."

"What?" she chuckled. "I wasn't kidding."

"You're always kidding."

"Well, Barry, I'm not kidding when I say that I am foolishly, completely falling..."

"Parker..."

"Nah, I was kidding."

××××

The morning after was designated as a training session for Barry. They tested his ability to multitask. Each member of the team chose to play games. Barry's task was to fly around the room when it was his turn in the specific game. 

Parker took the first move in their game of Mancala. Her side of the bowl was filled with six marbles when she finished. She called his name. 

Barry smacked the ping pong ball at Cisco, then zipped to Parker. With a crack and a gust of wind, he was back playing ping pong. Parker pondered her next move.

Yet another buzz rang through the room, following by Caitlin's frustrated, "This isn't even remotely anatomically correct!"

"That's not the point, Dr. Snow," said Barry. He plucked the tweezers from her hand and pried an ice cream cone from the operation table.