Chapter Text
Mornings had become her favorite part of the day. No matter what day it was, whether it was a weekend or one of the work days, whether she could sleep in till its edge or whether she had to be up at its dawn, she loved it regardless.
She loved the quiet, the peace, the melodic whistling of the birds, the small breeze that made its way inside her bedroom through the slightly open window, the ethereal beam of the sun against her skin, the way the morning was all soft and no chaos, all serene and no intensity.
Mostly, she loved waking up in Barry’s arms. That was the best part.
Because mornings with him were lazy. But a good kind of lazy. The kind of lazy that made her feel like the world ran slow, the world took its time to let her catch up and adjust. The kind of lazy that gave her a chance to catch her breath and reflect on the little things, like flowers and chocolate. The kind of lazy that made her feel really really safe.
He made her feel safe. All the time. In a way she never knew she was missing. Like he was protecting her but not overbearingly so. Like he was a partner.
And a friend. And a lover.
And on this Saturday morning, with his lips coming alive against the side of her neck, she knew the day would go by at a lethargic pace and they’d dance along through it because today was their day off. It was their day together. And she was glad it came, because she couldn’t get enough of her boyfriend.
So she turns around as soon as his lips graze a particularly ticklish spot on her neck, and he uses that as leverage to pin her underneath him, before snaking his hands along her naked waist and leaning down to kiss the sweetness of her lips.
Iris hums a mellifluous tune into his lips and her own hands come to wrap around his neck, pulling him closer to her, holding him tight, relishing in his warmth.
“Morning,” Barry says, between kisses.
She mutters a hmmm, finding it pointless to talk and better to touch so she feels him all the way up and lets her tongue meander into his mouth while her fingers tickle the nape of his neck, which elicits a small moan from him.
And this was her kind of morning; the best kind of morning. Spending it with him, making out lazily in bed, giggling and laughing and nibbling like they had all the time in the world, like it was only the two of them, now and forever, and this was bliss.
Two months usually wasn’t long enough to give her an indication of whether a relationship was going to last. But this was Barry. Barry, the boy who loved her all his life, the boy who dropped everything the moment she needed him, the boy who loved her like no other had ever, the boy who told her she was everything to him and that she kept him going. And she knew that this was it for her. That he was it for her. That she never wanted to hold anyone else besides him. That he was the person she wanted to steal touches and kisses from for the rest of her life. That she wanted to wake up next to him everyday and fall asleep in his arms every night. And sometimes that scared her a lot, to realize the amount of love she had for him, but if the way his mouth moved along her skin was any indication of his feelings, she knew he felt the same way.
“Barry,” Iris breathes, pulling his head back up to her, stopping him from kissing little patterns along her stomach.
He groans at the action, but that displeasure quickly gets replaced with a smile as soon as he meets her eyes.
“Too early?” he smirks. “Just a little,” she smiles.
Barry doesn’t say a word, only let his lips meet hers again.
He breaks their kiss to pull away and look at her again, and all of a sudden, she feels incredibly shy because he’s looking at her with piercing but soft eyes, like she’s his entire world, so she turns her head to bury it in the pillow, away from his gaze.
Sometimes it took her by surprise how emotional she got around him. “Stop doing that,” he whispers, propping himself up by the elbows.
Iris doesn’t answer, so Barry gently caresses her cheek, and she knows he’s waiting for her to turn back to face him.
“Iris…” he says again, and she feels his lips gingerly press down against her cheek.
Iris sighs into the pillow, hand coming to cover her eyes, which he tenderly pulls away.
When he sees her eyes still shut, he nuzzles his nose into the crook of her neck, giving her some space.
So she takes a few more seconds of quiet before whispering “sorry.”
“No,” he shakes his head, coming up to meet her eyes again, “you don’t have to be sorry.” “It’s just a lot sometimes.”
“Me?"
“Not you,” she assures, hand coming to play with his hair, “this...us...sometimes, it throws me off guard.”
“Why?”
She looks at him with glistening eyes and ponders his question. And there were so many answers she wanted to give. Because you’re perfect. Because we’re perfect together. Because I love you with all of me. Because you buy me flower displays that spell out my name and take me dancing in a place only we know. Because you smile so big every time you see me and it makes me smile no matter what mood I’m in. Because the sound of your voice and your arms around me are home. Because this love knocks the wind out of me sometimes. Because I’ve never felt so in love before, no one has ever made me feel this way. Because you’re my best friend. Because you’re my home. Because what if one day you’re not here and I have to wake up without you. Because I don’t ever want to lose you. Because sometimes I get scared...because I’m scared.
She doesn’t say any of that. Instead, she gives him a weak smile and he smiles back, offers her a tacit I love you before resting his head on her chest.
And she knows she’ll have to tell him all of this one day. But today, she wasn’t ready. So instead, her hand rubs circles along his back and she dots kisses to the top of his head while her other hand grazes his cheek.
Which is when the shrill of her phone jolts them both out of bed.
“It’s 7 a.m. on a Saturday,” Barry frowns against her chest, “who is it?”
Iris reaches over for the device, grabs it and momentarily stares at the screen before hitting the green icon. “Linda.”
“Iris!” Linda says as soon as the phone connects their call.
“Hey Li-”
“I am freaking the hell out! I don’t know what to do. How did they found my address? I’m going out of my mi-”
“Wait wait,” Iris says, sitting up in bed, trying to keep up with the reporter and Barry catches onto her worry, “slow down, what’s going on?”
Linda lets out a deep exhale, continuing to pace back and forth in her living room, letter clutched in her hand. “I think someone’s blackmailing me.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” Linda stutters, “I just got in, I was out with a few friends last night. And when I got to the door, there was a letter hung on its frame. Iris this person knows my name, my number, my address, where I work…”
She stops, much to Iris’s continued worry.
“What else Lin?” Iris questions, brows furrowing together.
“I can’t do this over the phone. Can we meet somewhere?”
Iris locks eyes with Barry, giving him an affirmative nod, “Barry will come pick you up right now and bring you over.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.” Iris concludes before hanging up. She turns to her boyfriend who has a look of confusion and panic on his face. “Just stall long enough so I can put clothes on,” she adds.
“Noted,” Barry answers, pecking her lips before speeding out of the room.
So much for my lazy Saturday, Iris thinks, promptly rushing out of bed in search of her bra and shirt.
Barry and Iris read the letter a few times over before finally setting it down and looking at Linda. She’d managed to sit on the couch longer than 3 minutes, thanks to the coffee, which Iris was sure was calming her shaking hands and nerves, despite Barry’s insistence not to let Linda drink it, because she doesn’t need a stimulant, Iris.
Iris walks over to Linda, taking a seat next to her, rubbing her back in attempts to mollify her worries.
“So, you found it this morning?” Barry questions, still standing, letter in his hand.
“Yeah.” Linda answers, the mug nearly falling out of her grip. Iris hurriedly takes it out of her hand and places it back on the table, before continuing to rub circles along her back. “It has to be someone from CCPN. That’s all I know.”
“Why?” he asks.
“Because no one else knows my doppelgänger is Dr. Light, unless they were watching or at CCPN the night she attacked. And this person purposely added that in there, saying that they knew about different earths and that they knew I had some connection to metahumans.”
“Are you sure they’re not bluffing?” Iris offers.
“I don’t think so. I mean, this isn’t the first incident; I’ve been getting these weird calls lately, sometimes as late as 4 a.m. It’s always the same three rings. I answered it once, but all I heard was silence.”
“Linda, why didn’t you tell us about this sooner?” Barry looks at her, now concern really intensifying.
She shakes her head. “Because I thought it was some joke or somebody had gotten my number by accident. Then yesterday, before leaving CCPN, I found this random picture of me, Dr. Light and Iris on my desk, from the night of the attack. Before you and” - Linda looks over to Iris who gives her a gentle nod - “you and Patty came to see us.”
Barry notices that little interaction between them and he can’t help but wonder if Linda knew something about Iris’s feelings that he didn’t. But he quickly pushes those thoughts aside for later and goes back to concentrating on Linda’s explanation.
“Anyway,” she continues, “I freaked out a bit, wondering how it got there, but I just kept it with me, figured I’d worry about it in the morning. And then I came home, and I saw that” - she gestures to Barry’s hand holding the letter - “on my door. I just don’t know why I’d be of concern to anyone.”
“Linda,” Iris looks at her, tenderness in her eyes, “do you remember when the calls started?” “Maybe a week ago? It was after I was covering the local basketball game for the women’s team.” “The one they didn’t end up playing?” Barry interjects.
“That’s the one,” she nods, “they staged a sit-in to protest the government’s lack of action of the pollution of the local river. It wasn’t really my territory given there was no game, but I was the only reporter on the spot because no one thought they’d take a stance and blow off the game that night.”
“And you haven’t exactly been quiet about your thoughts on this government’s environmental inattentiveness,” Iris shakes her head.
“I don’t think I’ve said anything in public, though. I’ve talked to you about it. Definitely have had conversations about it with people at CCPN. Which is why it makes sense that the person is an insider.”
“Yeah but that still doesn't add up,” Barry says, trying to piece together the puzzle, “why would someone be after you, threatening to expose you because of some protest?”
Suddenly, realization dawns on Iris’s face and she stands up abruptly, panic setting in.
Both Barry and Linda watch her pace back and forth before she comes to a stop midway between the two. “Barry’s been actively trying to clean the river.”
“Yeah,” Barry adds, “that’s where the lack of funding has been hitting the hardest and I know a lot of families depend on that for their water source, so I’ve been doing what I can.”
Linda stares at Iris, the dots connecting for her as well. “And what if this person knows my involvement with The Flash...?”
“Shit,” Iris hisses, “if that’s the case, then he or she...or they... might use you as leverage to sway the election coming up.”
“Wait a minute,” Barry interrupts, eyes alternating between Iris and Linda, “I need you two to slow down a bit.”
“Barry,” Iris whispers, “the election. It's coming up in a few months. And the mayor of the city has close ties with the governor.
There's been a campaign to indict him, but to no avail. And the federal government isn't getting involved because they don't have jurisdiction over a state issue. Which means -”
“- that locals have the power to influence which way the election sways. And if we get a new government in place - which we most likely will, given public approval rating for the current one is at an all time low - then the policies either get better or worse,” Linda adds.
“Right,” Barry answers, processing the information, “but why would the linchpin be Central City?”
“Because CCPN broke the news!” Linda shouts, “and Iris was the lead reporter on that case!”
“Yeah,” Iris nods, “I broke the story a few months back when I began noticing a lack of funds for environmental efforts. I didn’t think it was going to be a huge scandal that involved our mayor and the governor. But there was evidence that they weren’t following proper protocol for water purification; not only that, they were letting big factories pollute more than the limits the federal government instilled -”
“-ahh, and those are binding,” Barry concludes.
“Exactly. So a team and I basically unravelled the entire story.”
“I remember,” the CSI nods, “you had me test the water to see if levels of microorganisms, chemicals and toxic wastes were imbalanced.”
“Yep, and when I got the yes from you, that was the last piece of evidence we needed.
So I published the article, which garnered a lot of attention, but unfortunately, we haven't been getting a proper response from the federal government. Plus given how many ties those factories have to corporations and big businesses, I doubt anything will come from it. But it did spur a huge
local campaign to force the mayor into resignation. He hasn’t resigned yet but a lot of insiders think he’s not running for reelection.”
“But the guy who’ll take his spot will just continue the same policies,” Barry adds, which garners another nod from Iris.
The three sit in silence for a few minutes, recapping what transpired. Linda was getting blackmailed, and they were all pretty certain it was an insider at CCPN, probably a snitch. This person was using her involvement with The Flash as leverage against her, threatening to expose his identity. Which meant that he or she - or they - was probably someone also working for the mayoral campaign who was designated to be ensure that media comply without fueling efforts of local protestors to stymie the campaign.
“...so,” Linda whispers, shifting their attention back to her after the long pause, “why go after me now? I mean, Iris, you broke the story a month ago. Why would I be the target?”
“Because you were the reporter at the scene of the basketball protest,” Barry interposes, “and that’s what reignited the anger. The news has been covering nothing other than that for the past week. Maybe whoever’s going after you feels cornered? And maybe they’re mad because you brought the spotlight back on this?”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Iris sighs, locking eyes with her boyfriend. She broke the story and her best friend was suffering the consequences. And this whole thing made her wish she could curl up in bed again and restart this entire day.