FIC: Whatever Happens Here, We Remain ~ CW's The Flash ~ ColdFlashWave ~ Mature ~ Pt 3/3

[batsutousai]

Title: Whatever Happens Here, We Remain
Series: Overprotective Criminals 'Verse
Fandom: CW's The Flash
Author: Batsutousai
Rating: Mature
Pairings: Barry Allen/Mick Rory/Leonard Snart, Eddie Thawne/Iris West
Warnings: Established relationship, polyamory, canon-typical violence, Joe's A+ parenting, Lewis' A+ parenting, relationship reveal, canon character death, grief and depression
Summary: With what Barry hopes is the final battle with Wells on the horizon, there are only two people he really trusts to help him take out the other speedster. Getting them to come will be easy – they've been wanting a crack at him since Christmas – but getting the rest of his team to accept their help? That's going to be a little more difficult.

A/N: I've got one more multi-part fic for this series that's mostly done (no promise about when it'll get posted; also, fyi, it's VERY OC-heavy), and Singh's fic is probably about halfway done. StillNotGinger10 is trying to get me to write a fic where Felicity finally meets the boys, and I'll probably start working on that after Singh's fic. Other than that, I don't think I have any other ideas for this series. Maybe something for Family of Rogues, dunno. We'll see. (I make no promises. :P)

You can also read this at Archive of Our Own or LiveJournal.

-0-
-0-

By the time he makes it back to Central City, the sun is rising. Inside S.T.A.R. Labs, he finds everyone sitting on the array of couches and chairs in the break room down the hall from the cortex, a massive pile of breakfast sandwiches sat on the table in the middle of the room. By the wrappers in the bin, Barry suspects the others have already had their fill, which is proven by none of them trying to stop him as he speeds through eating the first half of the pile. He slows down for the second half, if only to be polite, and glances around, trying to decide where to sit.

Joe, Eddie, and Iris are seated on one side of the room, Iris' head resting on Eddie's shoulder and Eddie's head resting against the top of hers, while Joe sits up straight and stiff, throwing occasional glares across the room. Len, Mick, and Lisa, who he's glaring at, are all feigning relaxation, sprawled across the couch they've claimed in just such a way, Barry knows, that they can snap up and into action without much difficulty. Len is, of course, throwing occasional smirks at Joe, between picking at his nails, while the other two are a little less suicidal.

Caitlin, Ronnie, Cisco, and Dr Stein are seated in a line against the wall across from the door, all of them looking a little uncertain at being stuck between the angry cop and smug criminal. Which, honestly, Barry totally gets that.

He's seriously considering tugging a chair over to sit next to Cisco – picking the neutral party seems like the smartest choice, right now – when Iris asks, "How are your friends?"

Caitlin and Cisco both straighten, looking a mix of worried and hopeful. "Iris said something about the Arrow calling?" Caitlin says, glancing uncertainly towards the three criminals.

Barry sighs and nods as he unwraps another sandwich. "Yeah. I don't have the full story, but his team were locked up in the dungeon of the League of Assassins' base. With Malcolm Merlyn." Which was just so unbelievably weird.

Len whistles while Cisco and Caitlin trade wide-eyed looks. "That's a nasty place to go on holiday," Len says, just cheerful enough to make Cisco and Caitlin throw glares at him.

Barry sighs. "I didn't see the Arrow, but the rest of them are headed back to Starling. I guess he's already headed there." Which would explain why he hadn't been able to let them out himself. Well, partially explain that; Barry fully intends to ring Felicity as soon as everything sounds like it's calmed down in Starling and grill her until she fills in all of the holes. "I did get to knock out and tie up a bunch of scary assassins, though."

That earns him a strained laugh from the three scientists, Ronnie, Iris, and Eddie. Joe just scowls a little harder, while Len and Lisa put on amused smirks and Mick gives a subtle little eyeroll.

"Well," Len drawls, "now that Robin Hood and his merry team are back to terrorizing the streets of Starling City once more and the Flash has filled his personal black hole–" Barry makes a face at him, which Len ignores "–perhaps we can get on with the making Wells confess so I can ice him, hm?"

"I got a better idea," Joe snarls, pointing his Sig Sauer at Len, "why don't the three of you get out of here while we handle Wells the right way?"

"Joe!" Barry shouts, rushing forward to stand in the way of Joe's shot. "Put it down!"

"You condoning murder now, Bare?" Joe demands, standing. He does point the gun at the floor, though, clearly unwilling to leave it aimed at Barry. "You want your dad out, we do things the right way. The legal way."

"Oh?" Len says as the couch creaks behind Barry, because he doesn't know when to quit. "Are you actually suggesting we put a mass murderer with superspeed from the future into the oh-so capable hands of the modern justice system?"

"Iron Heights can handle him," Joe insists.

"And who helped build those precious meta-blockers?" Len asks, an icy edge to his voice that makes Barry think he should maybe be focusing more on protecting Joe than protecting Len.

"They're working on him now."

"Are they? What's to say he isn't just playing along until the Flash does what he wants?"

Joe turns to Cisco and Caitlin for support, but they trade uncertain looks; clearly, neither of them had thought about the possibility of Wells having some way to negate the cell. (Honestly, neither had Barry.)

"But, then," Len says, clearly sensing his victory and going in for the kill, "perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps Wells really is stuck with no back-up plan. Perhaps your precious justice system will work, for once, and Henry Allen–" Joe stiffens, like he hadn't expected Len to know Dad's name "–will be traded for the man pretending to be Harrison Wells. The man who, let me remind you, knows the Flash's identity."

Barry flinches, sees Joe do the same, and he knows they're not the only ones. That hadn't even occurred to him as a potential danger, because the handful of metas who had seen Barry out of costume while he was fighting them had all died before they would have been able to tell anyone else. Wells, for all that he's kept Barry's secret so far, won't have much cause to do so once he's thrown into Iron Heights. Hell, he might well tell it all during his trial, just for the sheer pleasure of watching Barry be tossed into Iron Heights for vigilantism as his father is being broken out. And, just like what happened to Roy Harper in Starling City, the minute the inmates realize they've got the Flash in their grasp, they'll kill him.

Len steps right up to Barry's back, close enough he can feel his body heat through the thin shirt he'd changed into upon his return to the labs. "If you care about Barry at all, Detective," Len breathes, low and violent, "you'll stand back and let me kill Wells the second he's finished singing."

Joe's got his gun up and pointing over Barry's shoulder almost faster than Barry can react, and he snarls, "Get the hell away from my son."

Barry grabs the gun and wrenches it out of Joe's hand, then twists and shoves both of them back a couple of steps. "Both of you quit it!" he shouts, angry and stressed. When Len opens his mouth, clearly intent on continuing his pissing match with Joe, Barry calls, "Mick!"

Mick leans forward and grabs the back of Len's shirt, using it to tug him back towards the couch. Len goes with a huff and settles back down into his original seat with that particular expression that Barry knows means he's only giving in for the moment.

Well, hopefully Len will behave long enough for Barry to get Joe to back down. Which, on that note, Barry says, "Joe," as he turns back to his foster father, only to freeze, his stomach jumping into his throat and making it impossible to speak, because he knows that expression. He'd seen it one terrible morning seven years ago, right before Joe completely shredded his heart.

Iris is already getting up, her face twisting with dread, clearly reading something in Barry's expression, when Joe says, his voice laced with anger and disappointment, "Barry, tell me you're not sleeping with those two crooks."

Barry can't move.

"Dad–" Iris starts.

Joe spins to glare at her. "You knew?!"

And Iris – brave, wonderful Iris – crosses her arms over her chest and stands straight and proud and says, "Of course I knew. Barry isn't afraid of what I'll do."

Oh, god. How did everything go so wrong?

"Yes, Detective," Len says, voice coldly intent in a way that doesn't bode well. "Some people in your family don't threaten to send their children to prison."

"Len," Barry manages to choke out, though he's pretty sure the horrified gasps from the scientific/engineering peanut gallery drown him out.

Joe's eyes go wide for a brief second, but then he rallies, narrowing his eyes in Len's direction and snarling, "I clearly made the wrong comparison, didn't I, Snart, since you're the one who deserves being stuck in there with his no-good father."

Barry doesn't even realize he's moved until after he hears the impact of flesh-on-flesh and sees Joe stumbling back, one hand going up to cover his nose. "Don't you dare," Barry whispers, so angry, he's sort of impressed that he didn't do worse that punch Joe in the face at a normal speed.

And then warm hands are curling around his upper arms and he's being pulled back, away from Joe. "Make yerself scarce, West," Mick suggests, his voice low with the same rage burning through Barry's veins.

Joe makes a quick retreat, evidently aware that this is one insult-slinging match that he won't be winning.

"Doc," Mick says, still clearly angry, but trying to hide it, "ya might wanna go after 'im. Make sure Barry didn't break nothin'."

"I– Yes. Good idea," Caitlin says, stuttering just a bit.

"I'll help you," Ronnie is quick to say, and both he and Dr Stein rush to their feet, clearly intending to take the excuse to get out while they can.

Ronnie and Dr Stein hurry past Barry and Mick without looking at them, but Caitlin hesitates for a moment in front of Barry, sending an uncertain look at Mick. Just before Barry closes his eyes in defeat, resigned to losing one of his friends – he'd known it would come to this – she says, "Fuck it," and hugs Barry.

Barry's not certain what noise he makes, but he's fairly certain he should be embarrassed by it. He isn't, though, because Mick lets go, clearly crowded out by Cisco and Iris joining the hug, and maybe everything hasn't gone so horribly wrong, after all.

"Dude," Cisco says, sounding maybe a little disbelieving, "how did I miss all the flirting?"

Iris laughs, then, and Caitlin lets out one of her more inelegant snorts and Lisa, somewhere behind Barry, lets out a loud, delighted cackle and says, "Oh, I am keeping him."

"Do something about her," Cisco hisses, looking a little wild. "She's, like, your sister-in-law or something, right? She wants me to make her a gun that shoots gold, man."

Barry chokes on a laugh and shakes his head. "I have zero control over Lisa, sorry."

"You're on your own," Iris says with a sparkle in her eyes, as though she's as aware as Barry that Cisco is going to end up making the requested gun eventually. (Because what Lisa Snart wants, Lisa Snart gets; Len probably spoilt her a little too much after Lewis got sent to prison the last time.)

Len. Lewis.

Barry twists, distracted from the relief that he hadn't lost Caitlin and Cisco by concern for his boyfriend.

Len is still seated on the couch, and he's wearing an amused smirk that's probably intended to fool everyone around him into thinking he's brushed off Joe's comment. But, well, Barry knows Len, and he's been on the receiving end of Joe's vitriol before; there's a tenseness in his shoulders and a shadow in his eyes that makes Barry want to go punch Joe again. (Or punch Lewis; don't think that hadn't become all the more tempting once he realized he could vibrate through walls.)

"Come on, Cisco. You can help me," Caitlin says, and she and Cisco leave the room together.

Iris leans up and kisses Barry's cheek, taking Joe's gun from him, then heads out with Eddie, leaving Barry alone with his boyfriends and Lisa.

Barry's never quite certain how to handle Len when it comes to Lewis, because his default response to seeing someone he loves in pain is to hug them, but Len has never really done hugs, and he really doesn't do hugs when it comes to his father.

And then an idea occurs to Barry. "I'll be right back!" he calls, and speeds out of the room and down the corridor to the employee kitchen. There, hidden all the way at the top in the back of the right-most cupboard – where none of the others are likely to go looking for it because Barry's got half a head on both Caitlin and Cisco, and Wells had been rolling around in a wheelchair – there's a twenty ounce tin of Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix, which Barry saves for especially bad days. He sets the electric kettle heating, then goes in search of mini marshmallows. When he comes up empty – very likely, Cisco polished off the last bag Barry bought – he makes a quick run to the nearest grocery, getting back just as the water's starting to boil.

He makes four mugs and arrays them on a shiny silver tray he's fairly certain belongs to the med bay, shaking a massive number of marshmallows into a bowl he sets in the middle, then makes his careful way back to the break room.

Mick sees him first and he snorts, his mouth twisting with a fond smile. Lisa lets out a startled laugh, clearly familiar with her brother's reliance on hot chocolate, but likely unfamiliar with how much of a thing it had become for them.

Len, though, he looks startled for a moment, then he smiles, wide and grateful. When Barry brings him a mug after setting the tray down on the table and dumping a handful of marshmallows on top, Len catches the front of his shirt in one hand and tugs until Barry leans down for the kiss, both of them smiling.

Len lets him go to collect his own mug, and Lisa tosses marshmallows at both Barry and Len, muttering about 'unnecessary PDA'. Which, of course, just makes Len tug Mick in for a kiss. He catches the next marshmallow she throws at him in his mouth, somehow managing not to slosh his hot chocolate, and Mick just tosses the marshmallow she throws at him back at her.

Barry rolls his eyes and settles onto the couch next to Len, leaving a careful barrier of space between them, in case Len needs it. Len doesn't shift closer, but he does take Barry's right hand, long fingers playing over his knuckles. "You punched your cop-dad for me," he murmurs, and Barry can't quite tell from his voice or expression how he feels about that.

"He was out of line," Barry responds, because it's true.

Len lets out a noncommittal hum as he kisses Barry's knuckles, then he threads their fingers together and focuses on drinking his hot chocolate while watching Mick and Lisa toss marshmallows and familiar insults back and forth.

Once the hot chocolate is gone and marshmallows are dotting the floor, Len turns to Barry and says, "I expect you have some sort of recording equipment for this confession of Wells'."

Barry nods. "Yeah. Each of the cells are equipped with audio and video recording devices, so we could keep an eye on the metas when we were keeping them here. It should already be recording him, but I can stop past the cortex on my way down and make sure it's saving the recording somewhere readily accessible."

" 'Our'," Len says.

Barry blinks at him, confused.

"Yer not goin' down t' talk t'im alone," Mick translates.

When Barry opens his mouth to argue, Len covers it with one hand and says in a quiet, serious tone, "This man is a master manipulator whose favorite game is chess and who apparently requires you in some way that involves the particle accelerator; you're not going down to talk to him alone."

Put that way, the order sounds perfectly reasonable.

Barry sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "Yeah, okay. I suppose that's not a bad idea. But, then, no one should go down alone. Just to be on the safe side."

"Acceptable," Len agrees, and Barry suspects he isn't anticipating Wells living long enough for that to matter.

(Then again, if Len and Mick have their way – and Barry's nearly certain they will, after Len's earlier speech about the dangers of letting him live – Wells will be dead as soon as they have a recording they're certain will be able to stand up to the scrutiny of the legal system.)

Barry's already halfway decided he'd rather have Mick with him than Len – better a silent sentinel at his back than someone who thinks biting sarcasm is helpful, and watching people underestimate Mick's intelligence never gets old – by the time they all get to the cortex and find Joe waiting with everyone else, white bandaging standing out like a beacon on his nose.

Barry doesn't need to look behind him to know Mick is glaring at Joe and probably mentally debating the best way to break something else. Len and Lisa, though, they'll plot their revenge for some time in future, keeping tally of all the perceived wrongs Joe does and making him regret them all at once. (If Barry's still angry enough when it happens, he might just make sure Joe makes it to the next heist before Len and Mick make their getaway.)

Simply put, if he leaves Mick in the same room as Joe right now, there'll be blood spilt, no matter who's there to get in the way; much wiser to bring him down to the accelerator and leave Len and Lisa to form a united front if Joe starts in about them again.

Iris sidles over to Barry, casting a worried look at Mick. "Dad says he's gonna stick this out to the end. No matter what," she explains.

Barry nods – Iris got her stubbornness from Joe, and it beating out self-preservation is another trait they share – and raises his voice to tell everyone in the room, "I want to make sure the recording equipment in the cell is working and saving everything to the server, then Mick and I are heading down to talk to him."

Cisco, Caitlin, and Ronnie all quickly make their ways to the seats in front of the computer terminals to run the necessary checks, while everyone else spreads out a bit, Joe very obviously refusing to look at Barry or his boyfriends, yet still somehow managing to keep on the opposite side of the room, even when Len starts prowling around the edge of the room, eventually stopped by Iris, who just shakes her head at him, her expression pinched.

As soon as all the checks are done, Cisco throws the video feed up on one of the wall screens. Wells still looks a little battered, his accelerated healing evidently blocked in the cell, but he's awake and staring up at the camera.

"That's kinda creepy," Cisco says, and Barry nods; it hadn't been a secret to any of the metas where the camera was in their cell, but they'd all pretty much ignored it, beyond showing it the occasional finger. Wells, though, seemed perfectly content to stare at it until he got a response.

"We're recording," Caitlin offers, twisting in her chair to give Barry a strained smile.

"Okay. Mick?" Barry says, looking at his boyfriend.

Mick grunts, tosses one last angry glare at Joe's back, then leads the way out of the cortex.

When they get down to the pipeline, Wells is waiting for them with a smile. Which falters slightly when he notices Mick. "Ah," he says, tilting his head to one side and focusing on Barry. "I should have guessed it, really. Captain Cold and Heatwave, two of the Flash's most constant rivals. Friendly rivals, it's often said. Why not lovers? It will never last, you realize."

"Shut up," Barry snaps, crossing his arms tight over his chest and taking strength from the familiar sense of Mick at his back. Not quite close enough to feel the heat of him, but still plenty aware of his presence. "You're the one who told me not to change things if I go back in time; this is one of your consequences, so deal with it."

Wells narrows his eyes, dropping the affable father-figure act. "No, I don't think I will. You really think, Flash, that you can stomach living with two murderers? You, with your moral code and great care for the Geneva Conventions?"

Barry snorts, because Mick was the one to take him to task for not doing his part to get the metas out of their tiny cells; honestly, Barry had been scarily content to toss them in and forget they were down here. And, for all Wells thinks he knows him, he really has no clue how much Barry will let Mick and Len get away with; he's known they're murderers since before he moved in with them, and while he much prefers them avoiding casualties, he knows they'll both kill to keep him or Lisa or each other safe. Not unlike how Len had used Barry's safety to justify his intention to kill Wells.

He's not here to justify his relationship, though, certainly not to this pretend Wells, so he demands, "Who killed Nora Allen?"

Wells considers him for a moment, then looks up at the camera recording him. He smiles and turns back to Barry. "Oh, that's cute. You're hoping for a recorded confession and then, what? Toss me into Iron Heights?"

"Something like that," Barry agrees tightly, because he doesn't really want it recorded that Len and Mick won't be letting him back out of the cell alive.

"Ah. But what if I could trade you something better? Something you want even more: Your mother, alive."

Barry chokes because what?

"You can save her, Barry," Wells says, his voice going low and smooth. "It's such a simple, little thing."

And then Mick is standing between them, a solid block of angry, protective muscle. " 'N what'll you be gettin' outta it, ya sick fuck?" he demands.

Barry swallows and shakes his head; Wells almost had him, hadn't he? He keeps probing at all the potential cracks in Barry's armor, looking for the one that will give. Master manipulator indeed.

Wells spreads his hands wide. "Why, I'll get to go home. Back to the future. My future." He puts on a nasty smile and meets Barry's eyes over Mick's shoulder. "Flash and all, more the shame."

"Mick!" Len snaps through the intercom. "Get him out of there!"

Barry doesn't fight him as Mick herds him out of the pipeline and hits the door control. His mind is too busy slotting together all of the puzzle pieces he's been picking up over the past seven months, finally getting something like a coherent picture: All the comments during their first fight in the stadium, like they'd been fighting far longer; calling himself the Reverse-Flash; the two speedsters in his home the night Mom died, one of them apparently Barry himself, and the way Barry found himself streets away, safely out of harm's way; his parting comment, like there could have been a future where Barry didn't exist.

"He showed up fifteen years ago to kill me?" he whispers under the echoing of pounding feet coming closer.

Mick's hand tightens on his shoulder, but he doesn't speak, and Barry knows he's come to the same conclusion.

But, if Wells wants him dead, why has he been trying to get Barry faster? Why play the part of mentor and try so hard to keep him alive?

No, Barry knows that answer, Wells has implied enough for him to fill in the missing pieces: He needs the particle accelerator functioning and for Barry to go into the past, save his mom, while Wells goes back to the future.

Why the particle accelerator? Why Barry? Why can't Wells just go forward on his own? Is it something that takes two speedsters?

"Barry!" Iris shouts, and then she's pulling him into a hug, away from Mick, with Cisco and Caitlin right on her heels.

It isn't until Barry hears the whir of the cold gun coming to life and Len ordering, "Open the door," that he realizes what's going on.

"Len, no!" he shouts, tugging out of his friends' grasp and turning to face where Len and Mick are stepping through the opening door into the pipeline, while Lisa mans the controls. "He didn't confess!"

"I said one chance, Barry," Len reminds him, his tone flat and cold. Then he motions to Lisa and the door starts closing behind them.

Barry wants to race after them – there's still plenty of time before the door closes – but Iris has his arm again, holding tight, and Lisa is poised to try to stop him. And he knows better than to think he can win when they team up.

"Bare," Iris says quietly while he slumps backwards, into the waiting arms of Cisco and Caitlin, like they'd been waiting to catch him. "Henry, if he heard Wells taunting you like that, trying to get under your skin, to make you play his game..." She meets his eyes, her own wet with tears. "He'd say it's not worth it."

Iris hasn't seen or spoken to Dad in years, but Barry suspects she's just the messenger, sent by either Joe or Len. He closes his eyes and tries to ignore how it hurts, knowing his last chance at freeing his dad is dying behind the accelerator door. That everything he's built his life on, every promise he ever whispered through that terrible pane of glass, is gone, destroyed by the hands of the two people he loves the most in the world.

It's just like Wells said: Does he really think he can continue living with – loving – a couple of murderers?

When Lisa turns to open the door and let Len and Mick out, Barry rips himself out of his friends' hands and races out of the hallway, out of the lab, out of the city.

He runs and runs and runs, wishing, desperately, that he could find a way to outrun the way his heart feels like it's falling to pieces. That he could run fast enough to reset time, do it all again, but differently.

(How differently? What would he change? What would be the consequences? Who would he lose to save his dad?)

Finally, eventually, he can't run any more. He flops down on a beach, staring across the waves, and it takes him a long moment to realize why it looks familiar.

He's in Sun City.

He laughs a bit, then he cries a bit. And then, finally, he finds the nearest Big Belly Burger, buys enough food to get him to the closest of the safehouses he remembers from college, and honestly doesn't remember how he makes it up the long flight of stairs, past the door he doesn't have the key for with him, and into the musty bed that hasn't been used by anyone in years.

-0-

It takes them almost a week, but Len and Mick do find him, walking through the familiar-not-familiar streets of his college town like a ghost. They take him back to a different safehouse than the one he's been crashing at, one that looks and smells a little more lived in. Len gets him into the shower and cleans him, and Mick cooks something that tastes so much better than whatever crap food he'd been eating, but Barry honestly can't remember what it is once it's gone. And then they stick him between them on the couch and Len queues up Singin' In the Rain on a laptop he sets on the shipping crate that's serving as a coffee table.

Barry falls asleep in the middle of The Duelling Cavalier's screening, and when he wakes back up, they've all three been moved to the bed, still dressed, with him still in the middle of Len and Mick.

He can finally see through the fog that had been filling his head for the past week again, and he feels like a complete asshole for running like he had. There's still a wave of grief for the lost chance to free his dad waiting to swamp him, but he can see past it, now, can realize he'd let Wells fuck with his head, just like Len and Mick had warned him he'd try.

Barry can admit that he's damn lucky they came after him, rather than just cutting their losses. But, then, perhaps the three of them have got so used to chasing after each other, they'll never be able to stop.

(Selfishly, Barry thinks that's the best possible outcome, because he cannot lose them. Not now that he's lost all hope for his dad. Not that he honestly thinks he'd have managed if he'd lost them before the lightning.)

Somehow, he manages to slip out of the bed without waking either of them. Which should be an accomplishment – neither of them are light sleepers, and the faster he goes, the more the mattress moves – except he can see all the signs of long, sleepless nights on their faces, for all they've relaxed into sleep, and guilty shame makes his stomach roll.

He thinks of another person who's probably suffering her share of sleepless nights and grabs one of the burners left on the rickety dresser as he slips out of the room to relieve his bladder.

When he finally works up the nerves to dial the familiar number, he's curled up on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate, sans marshmallows, because that clearly hadn't been a priority the last time this safehouse had seen a grocery run.

"Hello?" Iris answers, sounding drained in a way that makes Barry hunch in on himself a little more.

"Iris?" he replies, wincing when his voice cracks with disuse; other than ordering food to go, he hasn't been doing a lot of talking.

"Barry," she breathes, sounding so relieved. And then she starts to cry.

Barry closes his eyes and wishes he could give voice to the words that will make this better, but every time he opens his mouth, he comes up empty. So he makes himself listen to her cry like some sort of punishment.

Something shifts on the other end of the phone line, Iris' sobbing going distant, and Eddie, sounding like he's expecting bad news, says, "Hello?"

Barry swallows against a massive clog in his throat and says, "It's Barry."

"Oh, god, Barry," Eddie says, and he sounds relieved, but also maybe a little angry. "Where have you been? Everyone's been looking everywhere for you."

Barry stares into the darkness of the flat, not really seeing it. "I don't know," he admits. "I'm not sure I was really here."

Eddie doesn't seem to have a response for that.

"Len and Mick found me," he offers, because he thinks Iris, at least, would like to know that.

Eddie lets out a long breath, then says, clearly to Iris, "Rory and Snart found him." And then, to Barry, "Captain Singh approved some leave for you – guess you've been looking pretty stressed – but you've probably only got another three days or so before he starts talking about firing you."

Barry can make a pretty good guess about who put in for his leave, given Joe couldn't look at him last time they were in the same room, so he says, "Thanks, Eddie."

"Yeah. Get back soon, won't you? I'm tired of waiting for my lab results."

"Eddie," Iris complains in the background.

Barry's kind of surprised to catch himself smiling, and he reaches up to touch his mouth like a part of him isn't certain it's real.

"We'll see you whenever you get back," Eddie amends.

"Yeah. Soon," Barry agrees. "I should go."

"Thanks for calling," Eddie tells him. "Even if it did make Iris cry."

Barry hangs up on the sounds of their play-fighting, warmed a little to have heard their voices, to be assured they're getting by okay.

He takes his time finishing his hot chocolate, staring down at the burner and debating ringing one of the others. In the end, though, he doesn't bother calling anyone else. Instead, he returns his mug to the kitchen, then climbs back into the bed between his boyfriends.

"Barry?" Len mumbles, one arm snaking around him and tugging him closer.

"Yeah," he whispers and presses a kiss against Len's forehead. "I'm sorry."

And that, inexplicably, is the moment Barry starts to cry.

The bed shifts around him and Barry's pulled into the familiar circle of Len's arms, hiding his face against his shoulder, and Mick's pressing up close behind him, his arms going around both him and Len. It feels a little like they've been expecting this, had maybe even practiced the move just in case, and the thought is strange and warming and Barry clings tight to Len, sobbing out all the grief and loss that had chased him halfway across the country.

-0-

When he wakes the next time, the bed is still body-warm on Len's side, but Mick's clearly been up for a while. A familiar snarl and the following yelp from the kitchen tells where they are. He creeps out to look and finds Mick standing over the hob with two spatulas, one clearly meant for the food, while the other is being used to fend off Len. It's a familiar show, and Barry feels himself grinning widely as Len makes another grab for a strip of bacon, snatching his hand back right before the spatula can come down on it.

When Len finally manages to get away with a strip of bacon, Barry speeds forward to snatch it from him, then speeds into one of the seats at the table, slowing to a normal speed to eat it.

His boyfriends are utterly still for a moment, and then Len points at Barry and shouts, "Cheat!"

And then, while Mick's distracted, Len snatches another piece of bacon and shoves it into his mouth, as if that would really keep Barry from stealing it. It certainly doesn't save him from Mick's spatula, but his victorious smirk doesn't falter at the hit.

"Good morning," Len says as he sits across from Barry.

Barry clears his throat and is grateful that his voice is only a little rough when he replies, "Morning."

A glass of orange juice appears on the table in front of him, and Barry sends Mick's retreating back a grateful smile as he takes the hint and takes a drink.

Len rolls his eyes, as if he wouldn't have done the exact same thing if he'd been the one up. "I see you called your sister."

Barry nods and admits, "I needed to hear her voice."

Len tilts his head to the side in that way that means he understands, and Barry knows there are days when Len or Lisa ring each other and spend a couple of hours bitching at each other just because one of them needed to hear the other one being alive.

"I'm sorry," Barry says, the same as he'd started to say in the night. He feels the same threat of tears, but he manages to swallow them down. "I let him get to me. Wells."

Len's long fingers fold together on the tabletop, and Mick won't turn around to look at either of them. "In all fairness," Len says, his voice forced-casual, and Barry hates it, "we did kill him before–"

"He was never going to confess," Barry interrupts. And it's only as he says it that he realizes it's the truth. Because Wells had danced around the topic, had tried to get Barry to go back in time instead, and then he'd taunted him when Mick had got in the way. "He...he was never going to confess," Barry hears himself repeat as though from a great distance.

"No," Len agrees, and he sounds a little like he's hurting just as much as Barry is, "he wasn't."

Barry swallows against the wave of grief that threatens to pull him back under, and when he reaches across the table, desperate for some sort of connection, he's unspeakably grateful that Len threads their fingers together without hesitation. Barry uses the contact to steady himself, then says, "I shouldn't have run."

"All have t' run sum'times," Mick tells him as he brings over three plates, expertly balanced between his hands. Len and Barry let go of each other so they can take their plates, leaving Mick to step around Barry's seat and take the one next to him. "You jest happen t' run further'n the rest of us."

Barry sighs and pokes at the food on his plate, his appetite having left him.

Len reaches across the table and covers his hand with his own. "Barry," he calls quietly, and when Barry looks up, he's pinned by an intent stare. "Just never run so far we can't catch you up."

Mick's hand comes to rest against his nape, warm and familiar.

"I won't," Barry promises.

Len smiles his crooked, fond little smile and Mick's thumb brushes over the fine hairs at the top of Barry's neck. His appetite, miraculously, returns, and Barry finally lets himself relax into the familiar warmth of his home.

Overprotective Criminals 'Verse
Part One: Criminal Partners
Part Two: A Distraction of Ice and Fire
Part Three: Relationship Status
1/Cisco Ramon || 2/David Singh || 3/Felicity Smoak || 4/Eddie Thawne || 5/Henry Allen
Part Four: Whatever Happens Here, We Remain
One ||| Two ||| Three
Part Five: Nobly Save or Meanly Lose
1/Angel's Wings || 2/Damini's Shock || 3/Mini Mia || 4/Kerry's Flame || 5/Jackie's Force
+1/Flash Day
Part Six: The Trials of the Hero's Beleaguered Captain

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