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"Shayera? It's so beautiful in here. There's a force, the speed force. It's calling me home. I have to go now... Barry?"
"No! Wally! Take my hand!” Shayera reaches her hand into the glowing blue energy of the speed force, trying to pull Wally from its grasp.
John Stewart grabs Shayera’s other hand. ”I'm here too Wally. We're all here! You gotta come back to us.” One by one the Justice League team grabs on to one another pulling as hard as they can.
Slowly, the team manages to pull Wally out of the speed force. However, Wally has someone else with him who is wearing a very familiar red and yellow suit. Wally and stranger are finally out of the speed force, the portal closed after.
Wally, breathing quickly on the ground looks up and manages to say, "I can never go that fast again." He take a moment to rest then remembers the person he brought with him.
"Uncle Barry! Omg is it really you?! We thought you weredeadbutyou'renotandyouwerejustinthespeedforcethewholetime-"
"Flash! Slow down we can't understand you." John glared at Wally, then looked over to see Batman watching the other person, "uncle Barry" as Wally said. Said man was looking around slightly confused. Suddenly, Superman rushes over and hugs Barry like the big blue boy scout he is. The stranger speaks up.
"C-clark, you're kind of squishing me here." Superman comes to that realization and lets him go. Barry wobbles a little, but manages to keep standing. He continues to look at Superman then brings his hand to his head. He pulled off his cowl to show blond hair and sky blue eyes.
Diana gasps, Clark looks beyond happy, Batman and J'onn just looked mildly surprised, and Wally looked ready to run around the globe again. Shayera and John look on in confusion, having never met Barry before.
Barry looked to John, recognizing the green symbol on his suit and asked, "Where's Hal?"
Clark became uneasy and glanced about for someone to explain it to Barry. Wally stood up and looked to Barry, telling him, “You’ve been gone for a few years uncle Barry. After you disappeared, Hal was heart broken. He's been living at Oa, but comes back during the holidays. We're going to have the JLA holiday party in a few weeks and he'll stop by the earth to say hello."
Barry was both relieved that Hal was still alive but also distraught that Hal wasn't there now.
"You can stay at my place though uncle Barry. There's a lot I have to catch you up on."
"Yeah. Like why you're wearing my suit."
=+=+=+=+=
"After you disappeared the rouges went on a crime spree. So I decided to take up the mantle of Flash to lower crime. I guess since then it stuck." Barry and Wally were sitting at Wally's kitchen table discussing everything that Barry had missed. Wally avoided the subject of Hal knowing it was hard to talk about with Hal not actually being there.
"Arthur left for Atlantis to be their king full time. And Shayera joined the league after that. Batman is still overly serious, Clark is still a complete boy scout, and I still don't know anything about J'onn."
Barry thought over this for awhile before talking. "You said Hal was at Oa?"
"Yes..."
"When he left, John joined the league as Green Lantern then?"
"Yeah. He by no means replaced uncle Hal though! Listen, it's only two more weeks until the party and you'll get to see him at the Watchtower."
=+=+=+=+=
At the Watchtower John was asking Clark questions. Batman had gone back to Gotham, J'onn was at the monitors, and Shayera was listening to John and Clark talk.
"So what does this Barry kid have to do with Hal?"Clark was debating if it was his place to tell and ended up with the conclusion that because Hal was the previous Green Lantern, John deserves to know."Barry and Hal were dating. They really should have been married with how they acted together. Hal practically lived at Barry's house."
"Hal likes men? He's always flirting with every girl he sees. And he's been with Carol before."
"Well he does but never seriously. With Barry however, he was completely smitten. I was on monitor duty one day and Hal wouldn't stop talking about Barry. He kept going on and on, even saying that he might propose to Barry in a few weeks. That was before he had a month long mission from the guardians. He told me once he gets back that he would finally ask Barry. Then, only a week after Hal left, Barry disappeared. When Hal came back he was heartbroken. He only stayed for about three months before deciding to stay at Oa."
"That's why Wally never wears the Flash suit when Hal visits." Both Clark and John looked over to Shayera who had spoken up.
"Does he not? I've never noticed."
"Neither did I." Clark responds solemnly.
=+=+=+=+=
"I'm so glad you're fine!" Iris was hugging Barry so tight, Barry thought she was stronger than Clark.
She suddenly let go and hit Barry on the head. "But how dare you disappear and freak me out like that." And once again she hugged Barry.
"Does Hal know yet?" Awkward silence filled the room.
"No... but when he comes back for holidays Barry is going to surprise him." Said Wally.
"Oh! And I have something you can give him." With that Iris walked into her bedroom and came back with a small, pocket sized green box.
"You are not allowed to open this Barry, but Hal left it with Wally before... you know... Of course I couldn't expect Wally not to lose it, so I've held onto it for him."
Barry looked at the little box wishing he had Clark's X-ray vision. After he was done trying to glare holes into it, he gently slipped it into his pocket. "Thank you Iris."
"No problem! Now, lets go get some coffee from Jitters."
=+=+=+=+=
The holiday party finally came around and the Watchtower was bustling with activity. Even previous non active members of the league where there such as Arthur Curry and Alan Scott. Everyone was in civvies sharing stories and drinking eggnog that Jason Todd totally didn't secretly spike.
Barry was wearing a vanilla colored sweater vest and khakis. He was holding a cup of eggnog and was looking dejected.
Wally noticed Barry's mood and ran over to John.
"Hal should have showed up by now. Can you call him with your ring or something?"
"I can try" John started messing with his ring. He finally got through to Hal, his ring showing a holographic image.
"Hal where are you! You're never this late for a party."
"Yeah, I'm not really feeling up to a party John."
"What? Why not? What happened out there?"
"A failed mission. Listen John it's no big deal. I just won't be coming."John was struggling to find a way to get Hal here without spoiling that Barry was there.
"I think a party will do you good Hal. It'll get your mind off of things. And I think it'll be different this year. Just stop by at least? You don't have to stay if you don't want to."
Wally decided to call bomb just then.
"Come on uncle Hal! It's not the same here without you! You're missing Dinah showing everyone embarrassing photos of Oliver!"
A sigh could be heard through the ring. "Fine. I'll be there soon. Don't let Ollie drink all the eggnog." The ring turned the call off and Wally was super speeding over to Barry to cheer him up.
=+=+=+=+=
The last mission Hal was on ended with a sun going supernova and destroying 2 planets with multiple casualties. He wasn't in any mood to visit the Watchtower let alone a party.
However, he told Wally he would come and he wasn't about to turn his back on him. Wally was like a son to Hal. He and Barry practically raised him. At least, they did until Barry’s disappearance. Hal never had much to look forwards to visiting earth besides Wally. Hal would always be there for him.
Hal flew over to the main power battery sticking his ring hand in. Thinking of sector 2814 he teleported near Jupiter.
He's been more reckless since Barry died. It was as if nothing else mattered anymore. His life was going to change for the better after he came back from the corps mission and propose to Barry. But the opposite happened and the universe decided to be cruel to him, taking away his only hope. So there he was moping about life and flying over to a giant space station orbiting earth. A completely normal day.
Hal remotely opened the hangar door and flew in. He walked down the halls of the Watchtower, powering down his suit into his pilot's jacket and jeans. It was just another league gathering with Oliver getting over drunk, Bruce scowling at everyone, Clark's over cheery attitude, and J'onn trying to make sense of it all.
He walked into the common room where a group of them were around Dinah's phone laughing at embarrassing photos of Oliver. Arthur was sitting by a few empty cups requesting to have more "Nog of eggs."
Hal looked around for Wally, then saw him sitting on the couches talking to someone with blond hair. They were hunched over a little and had a somber air to him. Guess he wasn't the only one not feeling the holiday cheer. But as Hal walked around to the front to sit with Wally the blond looked up.
Hal froze in place. The person sitting there had bright blue eyes and was looking at Hal with that same look that he fell in love with.
Said man stood up and continued to look at Hal. Hal could feel tears in his eyes, he didn't know what to do seeing this person in front of him again. He was afraid that if he blinked it would all disappear. It wouldn't be the first time Hal hallucinated. That was one of the reasons he stayed away from Earth.
Before he knew what was happening, he was hugging the man.
"Hey Hal." Hal knew he wasn't hallucinating this.
"Bear bear..." This was the first time Hal had ever been chocked up on emotions to be speechless. All conversations around stopped and attention was on the two hugging. Even drunk Oliver shut up to watch them.
Hal had closed his eyes and planned to never let go of Barry.
By now Wally was standing as well and walked over to join the hug. Hal looked over to Wally.
"Happy holidays uncle Hal."
Hal hugged Barry and Wally a little tighter replying, "Thank you Wally."
=+=+=+=+=
The night continued in full holiday cheer and Hal refusing to leave Barry's side. Clark had left with Kara back to Smallville, Jason showed up and left with Dick, and Arthur left back to Atlantis. It was Hal, Barry, Wally, John, Oliver, and Bruce sitting on the couches talking.
"-And so Roy created an arrow with a boxing glove on it. I didn't expect it to work but it did. At this point nothing is going to surprise me from that boy." Oliver was still drunk but less than before.
"Hey that's what you should do bats! Create a batarang with a boxing glove on it. Scarecrow sure wouldn't expect it." And that's what happens when a drunk Oliver invents things.
John threw in his own quip, ”You better not give any ideas to Dick. He would actually create one." Laughter filled the room, minus Bruce and J'onn obviously.
"So, how long have you been here Barry?" Barry looked to Hal who was leaning on his shoulder.
"About two weeks-"
"WHAT?!" Hal quickly sat up straight. "And no one called me right when you were back?"
"I was thinking about contacting you Hal, but I didn't want to end up calling while you were busy at a mission. And we figured since you always show up for the party Barry could just surprise you when you came by." Wally replied.
"Still. I would have liked to know sooner." Hal crossed his arms.
"You can't have distractions while with the corps. You know that." Bruce said, and was of course right.
"Oh shut up spooky." Hal was now pouting.
Barry could feel the box in his pocket and decided to bring it up. "Hey Hal? Iris said this was yours." He plucked the little green box out of his pocket and handed it to Hal who looked shocked to see it.
Taking it from Barry he said, "You didn't look inside right?"
"Nope. Iris told me not to."
Hal turned away from Barry and opened it to check inside. Closing it he replied, "Well I guess now is as good of a time as any. I've put this off for too long."Oliver was gaping at the scene in front of him. “Are you about to prop-“ Wally quickly sped over and slapped his hand over Oliver’s mouth.
Barry watched Hal get up from the couch and reposition to be kneeling in front of him.
"I meant to ask you this a long ago but, Barry." Hal was blushing now and completely flustered. Coughing he continued, "Will you marry me?"
When Hal opened the box there was a ring with a silver band and an aquamarine stone in the center. This was the last thing Barry expected. After all, he only now got to see Hal again. But it explained why Iris didn't want Barry to look inside.
"I-" Barry was speechless. "I... Yes Hal. Of course!" Barry pulled Hal back up to the couch next to him and kissed him, making up for the lost time together.