distance ? barry allen [1]

02. running back into you

"Sorry, Barry. I've got to run." Joe said, beginning to follow the other cop.

"Do you need my help?" Barry asked.

"No, you need your rest. Spencer can take this one. Let's go partner!"

Spencer looked to Barry who seemed disappointed. But the disappointment changed to confusion when he saw Eddie approach them.

"Hey, Allen. Glad to see you." Eddie greeted.

"Thanks, Eddie." Barry smiled.

Eddie turned to Iris and his smiled widened slightly. "Hey, Iris."

"Detective, you should go. My dad doesn't like to be kept waiting."

Spencer suppressed an eye roll. Eddie and Iris had been dating for months but it was a secret. The only reason she knew was because she'd caught them together at Jitters one morning and pretended not to notice that they were being a little more than friendly.

Eddie finally shifted his gaze to Barry. "Glad you're back." He patted Barry's arm before going off in the direction that Joe went previously.

Spencer turned to Barry. "I'm sorry I kind of stole your job. I swear after this, it'll be all yours again."

"Hey, it's not a problem." Barry gave her a smile that was practically contagious.

She nodded at him and followed after Eddie.

~

Hours later, Spencer found herself in the passenger's seat of Caitlin's car, anxious and confused.

"So, what you're saying is Barry has super human speed?"

"According to Dr. Wells, yes, though I'm not sure I believe it." Caitlin told her.

The two were on their way to an abandoned air field to test Barry's new found power that was apparently a side effect of being struck by lightning. He had gone to STAR Labs after learning about his speed to tell Wells, Caitlin and Cisco. They decided to test it out and Caitlin volunteered to pick Spencer up after a weird day at her other job. Joe had told her not to mention it. 

They pulled into the air field next to the STAR Labs truck. The pair made their way over to Wells and Cisco, who were looking over equipment under the tents they had set up.

"You don't actually believe he can run that fast, do you?" Caitlin questioned their boss as she began tapping away on her tablet.

"Well, I believe anything is possible and in a few minutes, maybe you will too." He answered.

Spencer bounced up and down on her toes. "I for one, cannot wait." Caitlin just rolled her eyes.

Cisco walked up to the truck. "How's it fit?"

Spencer turned around to see Barry walk down the steps of the truck in a skin tight red leotard along with elbow and knee bags as well as a helmet and goggles.

"It's a little snug."

Spencer snorted. "A little?"

"At least you'll be moving so fast, no one will see you." Cisco added.

Barry glared at the two of them and Spencer just let out a laugh, causing Barry's glare to diminish.

Cisco and Barry walked away from the tent. "You see, you thought the world was slowing down but it wasn't. You were moving so fast, it only looked like it was standing still." Cisco explained. "Dr. Wells will be monitoring your energy output and Caitlin and Spencer your vitals."

"What do you do?" Barry asked.

"I make the toys, man. Check it; this is a two way head set with a camera I modified, typically designed to combat battlefield impulse noise, or in your case, potential sonic booms. Which would be awesome." Cisco said excitedly, taking off Barry's helmet.

Spencer followed behind as Caitlin made her way over to Barry each with their own tablet. After tapping a few things on Barry's suit, Caitlin glanced up in confusion. "What?"

"Nothing. I just notice you don't smile too much."

Spencer looked from Barry to Caitlin, afraid of where this conversation was going to go.

Caitlin pushed a piece of hair out of her face. "My once promising career in bio-engineering is over. My boss is in a wheel chair for life. The explosion that put you in a coma, also killed my fiancé. So this blank expression kind of feels like the way to go." After checking one more thing on her tablet, Caitlin walked away.

Taking a deep breath, Spencer stepped in front of Barry. "I'm sorry about that." She whispered, looking over her tablet once more.

Barry shook his head. "No, don't apologize. I can't even imagine how hard everything was for you all."

Spencer nodded. "It was and still is. Her fiancé was also my best friend."

His eyes filled with sympathy. "I'm-"

She cut him off before he could apologize for something that wasn't his fault. "Don't. I don't need you feeling sorry for me. I've had nine months of sympathy to last a life time."

"No, it's not like that. I just...I know what it's like to lose someone you care about." He held eye contact with Spencer for a few seconds. "Maybe we could talk about it sometime? Since it looks like we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

Spencer nodded, with a small smile. She stared into his green eyes for a few more seconds, remembering how she ran into the same guy nine months ago on the street and how hard it was to look away. Forcing her eyes back onto her tablet, she cleared her throat. "Everything looks good. Hopefully it stays that way."

Walking off back over to Caitlin, she heard Barry chuckle to himself causing her to smile.

"Mr. Allen, while I'm extremely eager to determine your full range of abilities, I do caution restraint."

Barry nodded and muttered a "Yeah," before getting in position to start running.

The four scientists watched in anticipation from behind him when suddenly Barry took off in a red blur, knocking Cisco to the ground and causing papers to fly everywhere. Spencer watched in shock as he continued racing around the air field. Spencer practically yanked the binoculars out of Caitlin's hands to get a better look.

"He just passed 200 knots per hour." Cisco announced.

"That's not possible." Caitlin muttered in disbelief.

They continued watching Barry run until he crashed. Spencer cringed. "Maybe on our next group outing we can work on stopping."