⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
but I stay when you're lost, and I'm
scared, and you're turning away

⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

THE FIRST TIME it happened, Juliet brushed it off. It wasn't unlike Barry to get nightmares — after all, all the shit he had to deal with in his life was bound to catch up with him. Juliet had been there for many of his nightmares when they were kids. He hadn't had much ever since they started dating, just a couple every once in a while — pretty inconsistent.

But then came the second nightmare, then the third, then the fourth, then the fifth, when Juliet realized that something new was going on.

Barry had stayed over her apartment the last few nights, which explained why Juliet knew about his nightmares. She laid on her side, her head resting comfortably on Barry's chest and her hand on top of his stomach, covered by the fabric of his shirt. Juliet wasn't a light sleeper at all, but she was driven out of her slumber by Barry's chest rising and falling rapidly. Her eyes fluttered open and she lifted her head up, only to see Barry slightly twitching in his sleep, his body going rigid and gleaming with sweat.

"Hey," Juliet began softly, reaching out and holding onto his shoulder, even though he flinched. "Barry."

Barry then gasped, his eyes flying open as he sat up. He frantically looked around the room, and once his eyes set on her, tension drained from him. Juliet watched in concern as he let out a sigh of relief and slumped back against the pillows in exhaustion.

"Another nightmare, huh?"

"Yeah," Barry answered. "I'm fine, it's good."

Juliet gave him a look. "Baby, this has been your fifth nightmare in a row. As the role of a girlfriend, I'm officially worried." She reached up and brushed some hair away from his forehead, Barry slightly leaning into the touch. "What's got you so freaked out?"

"Nothing."

Juliet recognized this — a classic Barry Allen, building up walls so high nobody could even think about tearing them down. "Barry, you don't have to be guarded. Not with me."

"J, drop it," Barry stated firmly. He then froze, his eyes softening as he saw the frown on her face. Barry sighed, rubbing his hands over his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Juliet responded. She settled herself back down, her head going to lean on his chest again. "Listen, I know the New Years are a tough time for you because of your mom, okay? I get it. You'll tell me when you're ready."

Juliet would be lying if she said she got anymore sleep after that. Even if Barry's breathing did even out and he went back to sleep, Juliet didn't. Worry ultimately kept her awake until the sunrise when the two of them got ready for work. Barry, as always, had gotten ready much faster with her and gave her a fleeting kiss as she was still trying to detangle the knots in her hair and wrangle it back into a French braid.

The elevator doors opened, and she walked into the precinct. Joe and Iris were standing there. Wally was walking away from them, and she gave him a small smile that was not reciprocated as she went towards them. Juliet sighed as she took a sip of the coffee she had gotten at Jitters.

"Well, good morning, sunshine," Iris greeted. "You look tired."

"I feel tired," Juliet agreed. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," Joe responded. "What's up, Jules?"

Juliet blinked at him. "Not that I wouldn't love fatherly advice, but I meant Iris."

Iris gave him a teasing grin. "Yeah, you're not needed."

"I am needed," Joe insisted. "Somewhere. I'ma . . . go there."

Juliet let out a small laugh as he walked off. "A girl is going crazy. It's me, I'm the girl."

"Aren't we all a little crazy?" Iris countered as the two of them slowly made their way to the stairs.

"Yeah, but it's Barry that's making me crazy."

"In like, a good way, or . . ."

"No," Juliet answered. She then stopped and thought about it. "Well, yes, but in this case, no. We all know Barry's impossible to read, even for us, blah blah blah. But he's doing that guarded thing again, and he's having nightmares and won't tell me about them. I get it, I want him to be ready when he tells me, but . . . I'm just—"

"Concerned," Iris finished, and Juliet nodded in agreement. "You and I both know Barry has a bad habit of carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, especially burdens that aren't even his to bear. Trust me, you do that, too, even if it's not to his extent. It must be a hero thing."

"I've tried telling him that, but he won't listen."

"Jules, if there's one person that Barry will always listen to in this world, it's you. Just keep gently trying to push your way in, and he'll open up to you. Promise."

Juliet squinted at her at her as she took another sip of her coffee. "How do you have such a way with words?"

Iris shrugged casually. "I'm a reporter. But seriously, Jules." Iris put a hand on her shoulder. "You've got this."

Juliet nodded at her before going upstairs. She gave Barry a kiss on the head as she passed him, earning a slight smile in response. The two of them worked on a couple things for cases until Cisco called them to S.T.A.R. Labs, saying it was urgent. Juliet teleported them into the cortex, where she leaned against the desk of computers with her arms crossed as Cisco set up the screens to get whatever point he had across.

"As some of you may well know, I've been deeply embroiled in a secret, one-sided battle with an invisible enemy," Cisco revealed.

"No, not the Turtle again," Caitlin complained.

"What?" Barry asked. "What is the—"

"Or who is the Turtle?" Jay cut in.

"It's Cisco's white whale," Caitlin responded.

"Half whale, half turtle."

Juliet pictured the image in her head. "I think that would kind of look like a dinosaur."

Cisco stared at them. "No. Do you see what you're doing, Caitlin? Everybody's confused now."

"Get to it," Harry instructed.

"I stumbled upon a few of these cases when we were looking for the Reverse Flash, robberies that were seemingly committed at high speed." Cisco, with a click of a button, pulled up multiple news articles on the screen. "People holding their beloved items one second, those items were gone the next. Tell me what you see."

He pulled up a video. People were in a museum, just milling around, until they suddenly froze. A person wearing a hooded coat walked through all of them perfectly fine, almost like the people were statues.

"So, he can . . . what, stop time?" Caitlin guessed.

"No, no, no," Cisco replied. "Look at the time code. It's still running."

"Yeah, okay, so if he's not stopping time, what is he doing?" Barry questioned.

The man grabbed an item from inside. Once he disappeared, all of the people unfroze and resumed what they were doing.

"He's slowing down everything around him," Cisco explained. "And that is why we call him the Turtle."

"So you're only mentioning him now because . . . ?" Juliet inquired.

"Oh, I don't know, I think we've just been a little distracted, you know, what with Captain Cold and the Weather Wizard and Gorilla Grodd. Do I need to go on?"

"Okay, so, if we can catch him, figure out how he uses his powers—" Jay began.

"Maybe we can show Zoom what life is like in the slow lane," Cisco finished.

"How would you even know where to find him?" Harry asked.

Barry rounded around the desk and looked at the computer. "Well, the robberies in the videos all correspond with police reports that were dismissed as lost or missing items instead of thefts."

"The suspect's M.O. being . . ." Jay trailed off.

"Items of immense personal value."

Barry sped-typed for a moment before he straightened up. "J, we've gotta go."

Juliet didn't ask any questions. "And off we go."

She teleported into her suit. Barry then sped forwards, and in a flash of yellow lightning, he got into his suit and picked up Juliet. Juliet felt the familiar sensation of wind whipping through her hair and across her face before it stopped. She got set down, only to find herself standing on the balcony of CCPD. Down below, Captain Singh was addressing a crowd of reporters — a press conference.

"The perpetrators who committed this heartless crime have been apprehended and are now in our custody," Captain Singh announced. "And we're happy to report that the famed Vandervoort diamonds have been returned to their rightful owner."

"The real gem is the return of my great-grandfather's ring," a man standing beside Captain Singh added. "Getting that returned to the family is what's most priceless to me.

"Gotcha," Barry whispered, staring at a guy down below.

Juliet barely had time to blink before he sped off down the stairs. The next second, Barry was standing in one of the halls adjacent to the main room. He looked panicked and confused. Juliet locked eyes with him, hopelessly confused.

"The ring is gone," Captain Singh stated. "What happened to it? Lock this place down, no one leaves this room. Sweep the precinct!"

Barry nodded his head towards the door. Juliet nodded. She teleported away from her spot back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Juliet got back into her regular clothes, and Barry did as well before starting to get checked out by Caitlin. According to Barry, he had been caught up in the Turtle's powers, totally helpless as the guy stole the ring. Which explained why Juliet didn't see it — she didn't have super speed to combat it.

"Well, the good news is whatever the Turtle did, it only affected you temporarily," Caitlin told him.

"Yo," Cisco called. "What was it like being in Turtle time?"

"Yeah, no, it was weird," Barry admitted. "It was like waves of inertness, like all the energy was suddenly sucked out of my body, and then it would return."

"That's because that's exactly what was happening," Harry said. "He has the ability to transfer all the surrounding kinetic energy into himself."

"Leaving everyone else in a temporary state of potential energy," Jay added.

"That's right."

"So why could I still move?" Barry questioned.

"Your speed," Harry answered. "Your speed allows you to change positions faster than anyone else, which explains why Juliet couldn't see anything."

"So you can convert your stored potential energy back into kinetic energy," Jay voiced.

Cisco pointed at Harry, who was about to go into the treadmill room. "Excuse me, where are you going?"

"I'm trying to figure out how to use this against Zoom," Harry responded simply. "You remember Zoom?"

Cisco stared at the now-shut door. "Cisco, please join me. We'll use your idea and take it to new scientific heights and save the world. Yes, I'd love to!"

"Okay," Caitlin said. "Facial recognition software found us a match from the press conference footage. The Turtle's name is Russell Glosson." She pulled up a mugshot of him on the screen. "He was a small-time thief who stopped thieving after the Particle Accelerator explosion."

Juliet sighed. "The gift that keeps on giving." She extended her hand out to Barry, who took it immediately. "Come on, we should catch Joe up. Cait, let us know if you find anything else."

Barry hit his free hand against the top of the doorway like a fucking teenager as they left. Juliet let out a small laugh and shook her head in amusement.

The two went back to the CCPD. Barry sat in Joe's chair and pulled up the mugshots and police records of Glosson. Juliet sat on the desk, and the two took turns telling Joe what they knew.

"The Turtle," Joe stated. "Cisco's been looking for this guy forever. Singh just put an APB out on him."

"Um, how did everybody know about Glosson before we did?" Barry inquired.

Joe shrugged. "Mm-mm. Cisco's got a whole list of unidentified Metas. The boys around here are calling him Cisco de la Mancha."

"Hmm," Juliet hummed in response before looking at Joe. "Hey, are you okay? You look like you've just had twenty cups of coffee."

"I'm a little anxious. Let's be honest. I'm really nervous about this whole dinner tonight with Wally."

Oh, that. Joe had invited Wally over for Chinese with him, Iris, Juliet, and Barry — a family dinner, he had called it.

"Come on, why — why are you nervous?" Barry urged. "You're, like, the best dad ever. He'll see that."

Joe sighed. "It'll be a whole lot easier, you two being there."

Juliet gave him a reassuring smile. "We wouldn't miss it for the world." She raised up her hand for a high-five, and Joe obliged. "See you later."

He walked away. "All right."

Juliet watched him go for a moment before turning back to her boyfriend, only to see his eyes already on her. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Barry leaned back in his seat a bit. "Can't I admire my girlfriend?"

"Maybe so, but you're giving me puppy-dog eyes, which means you want something." She gently kicked his knee. "What is it?"

"Wanna go out tomorrow night? Dinner, drinks, maybe a kiss?"

Juliet's smile widened. "Only if you're lucky." She pushed herself off Joe's desk and ran her hand through Barry's hair for a moment. "I'd love to. It's a date."

It's with a sinking heart that Juliet realized the family dinner Joe so desperately wanted to have wasn't actually going to happen. The two had arrived to see Joe had ordered a shit ton of Chinese food, like they always do, but only him and Iris were there. Barry had taken a spot on the couch and had used their interlocked hands to pull Juliet next to him. She threw her legs over his lap comfortably, and Barry put a hand on her thigh, which made her skin burn through her jeans. They sat comfortably together as they waited, and waited, and waited . . . for Wally to not show up.

"Okay, I think we can call it," Iris announced, checking her watch when it had been a long time. "Wally is not coming."

"I'm sorry, Joe," Barry voiced. "I know how much this meant to you."

"He's a kid, right?" Joe replied, trying to play it off. "I get it."

"A call would've been nice," Juliet insisted.

"Well, there could be a number of reasons why he didn't." He picked up his jacket and walked up to Iris, pulling her in for a hug. "Thank you for being here. I love you."

Iris hugged him back. "Love you."

Joe extended a hand out to Barry. "See you in the morning, Barr."

Barry clapped his hand against Joe's. "Yeah."

Joe then leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of Juliet's head. "Night, Jules."

"Goodnight," Juliet responded quietly.

Iris sighed, starting to pick up the plates on the table. "Well, West family two-point-oh is not really off to a great start. Barry, you've been quiet all evening. The Turtle?"

Juliet's mouth fell open in shock. "We are so out of the loop."

Barry's eyebrows knit in confusion. "How do you know about him? No, um . . . no, I've just had a lot on my mind."

"Juliet?" Iris guessed.

Barry slowly looked over at Juliet, a slightly incredulous look on his face.

"Hey, don't give me that," Juliet protested. "We tell each other things. Hence best friends."

"Come on," Iris interrupted. "Jules is just worried about you, and after what she said to me, so am I. What are these nightmares that you're having?"

Barry shook his head. "I don't . . . I can't . . ."

"Hey," Juliet interjected softly, putting a hand on his knee. "You don't have to say anything you don't want. But it's you, me, and Iris in the living room, just like always. This place is safe — sacred even."

Barry's eyes flashed with something that was familiar — fear. "My nightmares . . . they're about Zoom. Killing you."

Juliet's expression softened — so that's why Barry always looked so relieved when he saw her. "Baby." She reached out, pulling him into her tightly. "You really think I'd let that motherfucker kill me so easily?"

"True," Iris agreed, wandering over and sitting on the coffee table in front of them. "It'd take a lot to kill her."

"They feel so real," Barry muttered.

"I'm not going anywhere," Juliet stated firmly. "I promise."

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THE NEXT DAY, after Barry's confession of his nightmares, Juliet was convinced to linger around Barry more. She knew that when he got anxious about these sorts of things he tended to stick to her side like glue. So it wasn't uncommon that they walked into S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry's arm slung around Juliet's shoulder, keeping her close.

"Hey," Barry greeted. "You guys got anything?"

"I think we found the next target for our thirty-something, Metahuman, not-a-ninja-Turtle," Cisco admitted.

"How long did it take you to come up with that one?" Caitlin asked.

"It just came out of my mouth. Did you see that? That was amazing."

"That was nice," Barry commented.

"Central City Museum is hosting a special black tie event tonight showcasing The Crystal Ball," Cisco revealed.

Juliet tilted her head in confusion. "What?"

"It's a famous painting, apparently, recently recovered from Markovia," Jay explained.

"The painting is on loan to the museum from the Silverberg family," Cisco continued. "Jacob Silverberg himself said, The painting's safe return means more to us than all the money in the world. It's like their begging Turtle to rob it."

"Okay, yes, this is a plan," Barry agreed, removing his arm from around Juliet and walking around the desk. "So the Turtle will make his move, and we can be there waiting to take him down."

Caitlin looked at Jay. "How do you look in a tux?"

"Come on, he's six-two, he's square-jawed, and he's jacked," Cisco interjected. "He thinks he looks fine."

"I'm six-four," Jay corrected.

Barry gasped. "Oh my God." He looked at Juliet in panic, suddenly remembering. "J."

Juliet raised an eyebrow. "Dinner, drinks, a kiss if you're lucky?"

Barry shrugged a little, an innocent grin growing on his face. "Wanna do a romantic night with art?"

She laughed slightly. "Count me in, babe."

"Does that mean I get to see you in a dress?"

"Sure does, handsome."

Barry perked up a little. "I get to see Juliet in a dress."

All she did was roll her eyes fondly. She really couldn't argue with his logic, though, because she got to see him in a suit.

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I think I have a thing for guys wearing converse high-tops . . . like first barry allen and then ricky bowen? UGH sign me up