Chapter Text
She was awake well before her alarm went off the next morning, all dressed and ready to go....okay so maybe she was primping in the mirror, playing with her hair. Should she get a trim...?
When her alarm went off, she grabbed her bag and headed out to work, only pausing to break up a couple muggings and rescuing a couple dogs that got off their leashes on the way in.
There were more than a couple double-takes as Carrie breezed into work on time and walking as though floating on air. More than one person discreetly checked the news for signs of an oncoming apocalypse.
And the found nothing.
The hell?
Meanwhile, Carrie was up in her lab, wrapping up the loose ends of the Bivilo case and a couple cold cases she was reviewing. Not that a lot of brain power was involved in the Bivilo case and she was running DNA in the cold cases, which meant the machines were doing most the work.
Even as she stared at the case file from one of the cold cases, her mind started to wander, which meant she was daydreaming a bit when Joe stopped in to see her.
“Care-bear?” he was eyeing her in concern; she was staring out at nothing when he walked in and she had just about fell off her chair in surprise when he called her name. “You didn't answer your phone last night,” he said. “I was wanting to see how you were feeling after well...”
“Oh I'm fine! Great even,” she replied, a faintly goofy grin crossing her face.
He looked vaguely alarmed. “Really?”
She hand-waved him, blushing. “I...well, Dr Wells and I talked about what I said when I was...not really myself. It went really well.”
“...it did?”
Allowing herself an eye-roll she spun in her chair to face him. “We're a pair of adults. Who had an adult conversation abut my feelings for him. And his for me.”
“His for you?” There was a strangled quality to Joe's voice. “Carrie, he's too old---”
“I know. He said the same thing,” she interrupted him as she stood. “He also brought up his current social standing and the fact he's wheelchair bound for the near foreseeable future. And Lie I told him, I'll tell you – none of that bothers me. I have feelings for him and he has feelings for me that he has been trying to ignore. He wasn't wanting to take advantage of me, 'cause I wasn't hiding how I felt.”
“Uh, Carrie? Joe?” Standing uneasily at the lab's door was Hunter: in his hands was a large crystal vase containing a bouquet of flowers – sunflowers, daisies, and red chrysanthemums.
They turned, looking at him and then at the flowers.
“Hunter...?”
“These were just left for you at the front desk,” he explained, entering the Lab and setting them on her desk.
“...really? For me?' she was by his side – barely remembering to not use her true speed - and touching the flowers in awe. “...I've never received flowers before...”
“Really?” Hunter blinked in surprise and glanced at Joe for confirmation; he nodded, his lips a tight line of disapproval as he glared at the cheerful flowers.
There was a card hidden in the flowers, with familiar hand writing: Would you like to go out to dinner tomorrow night?
A grin crossed her face and she squealed in glee, hugging the card to her chest.
“What'd it say?” Joe asked warily.
“...he wants to know if I want to go out to dinner tomorrow night,” she replied.
“Who?” Hunter blinked. Was Richard Grayson back in town? Eddie didn't mention it....
“Do you remember Dr Wells from STAR Labs?”
“The guy whose particle accelerator put you in a coma? Yeah.”
“Well after I woke up, STAR Labs kept with me to make sure I was fully recovered. That's how I ended up becoming friends with Caitlin and Cisco. Sometimes STAR Labs helps with their much nicer lab if we have some particularly difficult evidence to process,” she explained. “I had a bit of a crush on him before...everything that happened. And being able to work with him, those feelings deepened. A lot. And apparently, for him...he started to have feelings for me to.” As Joe opened his mouth, she glared at him in exasperation as she added: “Even though he tried not to.”
“So he says,” her father muttered sourly.
“We're taking things slow and seeing where it ends up and he's been nothing but a gentleman and a professional the entire time we've interacted. You act like he's asking me to move in with him,” she huffed.
“Does he make you happy?” Hunter asked her.
Her smile was radiant and goofy, a blush appearing on her cheeks. “Yes.”
Joe stormed off muttering about his daughters picking men who'd deliberately piss him off. She rolled her eyes at Hunter who gave a shrug.
“If he treats you right and makes you happy, I say...go for it. If he messes up and hurts you....well there's a buncha of people who'll make him sorry,” he said. “Joe'll come around. I think he just needs to realize his daughters are women.”
“I hope he does it soon, I'm getting hints from Iris that she and Eddie might be thinking about making a commitment,” she sighed.
“He is,” Hunter winked at her conspiratorially.
“Oh?” her back straightened in interest.
“Not telling anymore than that,” he chuckled. “And...if you get a chance to slip out early I say do it. The holidays are coming up and you should make the most of 'em.”
Her head tilted as she studied him; his parents were dead and he had just gone through a nasty divorce... “Will you be alright during the holidays?”
A hand was waved. “I'm fine! I'm covering for some of the others so they can have the time off during the season. Keeps me busy and helps them out at the same time.”
“You're always welcome to join us...”
“I might, depends on how quiet things are,” he replied.
She watched him go before turning back to stare at the flowers Harrison – oh how nice it felt to call him that at last! - had sent her, reaching up to touch one of the sunflowers.
Outside the lab, Hunter leaned against the wall in the hallway, a hand clenched into a fist on his leg. The cold weather made his bad knee hurt but that was the least of his problems. He'd blown a chance with a very nice young woman, being too hung up on all of the what-ifs and coulda-beens in his and Ashley's wrecked relationship...
Dr Wells better make her very happy, he decided, pushing himself away from the wall and walking off.