Barry leaned against the cool glass of the Cortex window, the phone pressed to his ear. The sounds of the celebration behind him—Cisco's laughter, the beeping of the game—faded into a distant hum. All that mattered was the voice on the other end of the line.
"I'm just glad you're safe," Patty said, her voice laced with a relief that mirrored his own. "It was crazy out there. For a second, I thought… well, you know."
"Yeah," Barry said softly, his eyes tracing the lights of the city. "I know." He took a deep breath, his grip tightening on the phone. "Patty… there's something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you a long time ago."
There was a slight pause on her end. "Okay…? You sound serious. What is it?"
"It's not something I can say over the phone. It's… big. And it's kind of hard to explain." He straightened up, a new resolve settling over him. "Where are you right now?"
"I'm at my apartment. 144B, Harrison Street. Why?"
"Stay there," Barry said, a faint, almost nervous smile touching his lips. "I'll be there in a flash."
He ended the call before she could respond. For a moment, he just stood there, watching his friends. Bruce and Oliver were actually talking, their masks off, their postures less like statues. It gave him the final push of courage he needed. He took a step, and the world blurred into streaks of light and color.
---
Patty stared at her phone, the dial tone buzzing in her ear. I'll be there in a flash? That was a weird thing to say. She shook her head, a small, confused smile on her face. Barry could be so dramatic sometimes.
She had just set the phone down on her kitchen counter when a gentle gust of wind rustled the papers on her coffee table. She turned, and her breath caught in her throat.
Barry Allen was standing in the middle of her living room.
He wasn't out of breath. He wasn't sweating. He was just… there. As if he'd been there all along. The street was fifteen miles from STAR Labs. It was impossible.
"Barry?" she whispered, her eyes wide. "How did you…?"
He looked different. The usual easy-going lab tech was gone, replaced by someone with a weary weight on his shoulders. He was still in his dark jeans and a STAR Labs shirt, but he stood with a new kind of certainty.
"I, uh… I ran," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"You… ran." Patty blinked, her mind refusing to connect the dots. "From STAR Labs? That's not possible. I just hung up with you five seconds ago."
"It's possible for me," he said, his voice quiet but steady. He looked around her cozy apartment—the books stacked on the floor, the framed photo of her and her dad on the wall—then his gaze returned to her. "This is what I needed to tell you."
A cold knot of understanding began to form in Patty's stomach, but she fought it. "Barry, what are you talking about?"
He took a slow step forward. "The night the particle accelerator exploded. I was in my lab. I was struck by lightning, doused in a cocktail of chemicals… and I didn't die. I woke up from a nine-month coma, and the world had slowed down." He met her eyes, his own full of a painful honesty. "Because I hadn't. I was fast."
Patty took an involuntary step back, her hand reaching for the counter to steady herself. The stories. The blur of red she'd seen on the news. The scarlet lightning that had saved her life just hours ago.
"No," she breathed, shaking her head. "That's… that's crazy."
"I know it sounds crazy," Barry said, his voice pleading for her to understand. "But think about it. My 'late' excuses. Always disappearing right before The Flash shows up. How I knew you were okay tonight before anyone else could."
He gestured to the space between them. "How I got here."
The pieces slammed together in her mind with the force of a physical blow. The friendly, clumsy, brilliant Barry Allen. The mythic, impossible speedster. They were the same person. The room felt like it was tilting.
"You…" she stammered, pointing a trembling finger at him. "You're… him? You're The Flash?"
Barry just nodded, his expression open and vulnerable, waiting for her judgment.
All the air seemed to leave Patty's lungs. She slid down to sit on the floor, her back against the kitchen cabinets. She stared at him, really seeing him for the first time. The subtle strength in his frame she'd never noticed before. The faint scars on his hands. The profound tiredness in his eyes that wasn't just from a long night at the lab.
"All this time," she whispered, her voice shaky. "All those times I talked about him… about how amazing he was… you were just… standing there."
"I wanted to tell you," Barry said, his voice thick with emotion. He came and sat on the floor a few feet away, not crowding her, just being there. "Every single day, I wanted to. But this secret… it doesn't just belong to me. Knowing it puts a target on your back. I was trying to protect you."
Tears welled in Patty's eyes, a confusing mix of betrayal, awe, and fear. "The man who saved me tonight… that was you."
"That will always be me," he said softly. "If you're ever in danger, I will always come for you. No matter what."
She hugged her knees to her chest, trying to process it all. The world had just gotten infinitely bigger and more terrifying. The quiet, normal life she was trying to build felt like a distant memory.
"Why now?" she finally asked, wiping at her eyes. "Why tell me now?"
"Because almost losing you tonight made me realize that keeping you in the dark wasn't protecting you," he said. "It was just pushing you away. And I… I don't want to do that anymore."
They sat in silence for a long moment, the only sound the faint hum of her refrigerator. The hero and the cop, sitting on a scuffed wooden floor in a pool of lamplight.
Slowly, Patty uncurled herself. She reached out, her hand hesitating for a second before she laid it on top of his. His skin was warm.
"Okay," she said, her voice still a little unsteady, but firm.
Barry looked at her, hope flickering in his eyes. "Okay?"
"Okay," she repeated, squeezing his hand. "It's a lot to… well, a lot to everything. And I'm probably going to have about a million questions. But… okay."
A real, genuine smile finally broke through Barry's anxious expression. It was like the sun coming out. He laced his fingers with hers.
"I'll answer every single one," he promised.
Outside, the city was quiet, finally at peace. And in a small apartment on Harrison Street, a new beginning, built on a foundation of truth, was just starting to dawn.