Please don't leave me...

Don't leave him??

Really....

The audacity of that statement startles the girl for a few seconds.  Until she shakes her head and finds her voice again.

Hushed tones though, to not draw unwanted attention.

"Don't leave you??  Since when do you care what I do?  You haven't considered my feelings, my real feelings in years Seb...  Barry."

"Please, stop calling me Barry. I know you only do that when you're mad at me. Always emphasizing THAT name."

She crosses her arms defensively in front of her chest. This is going down hill fast and she really, really needs to leave now before she loses her nerve.

"Everyone else here calls you that. Why can't I?"

He narrows his green eyes at her and she sighs. Giving in to him.

Again.

"Fine Bastian. Happy now?? I'm still moving home though. We both know that is what is best in this situation. You know it and I know it."

Barry's fingers flex as he reaches a hand out towards her, the one with his wedding ring gleaming prominently on it. But he stops short of grabbing for her wrist. Green eyes widening in surprise at a spot over her shoulder. And when Shannon turns around she understands why.

Iris is watching them from across the room. Her head tilted inquisitively.

Shannon sighs as she turns back around to face that tall green eyed man.

"See... this is why I can't anymore. Your life is here. With her and your.... your kids. So...."

He shakes his head and reaches for her wrist again, determined look on his face as his long fingers wrap around her skin.

"No Shannon. We NEED to talk about this. Not here. But we have to."

Barry doesn't give her a chance to respond before he is striding out of the room, pulling her firmly yet gently after him. Not stopping until he leads her into the speed lab.

She shakes her hand out of his grasp when they finally come to a stop.

"That was uncalled for and you know it."

Barry crosses the room to face her.  Eyes blazing.  Voice finally raising above the hushed whispers they were sharing in the other room.

"No.  No it wasn't.  I want to know why you're going back there!  You swore you'd never go back there. That you'd stay here, with me. Remember?"

Shannon laughs bitterly as she backs up some, putting some distance between them before she responds.  Because when he looks at her with that much intensity in his gaze only two thoughts ever run through her head.  And neither of them are good considering he is a married man.

"When I made that promise to you we were both different people.  You weren't the Bartholomew Henry Allen that all those people in the other room know.  You were Bartholomew Henry Sebastian Antoine Smythe-Allen. MY Sebastian Antoine Smythe.  MINE.  Remember him??  Because sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who does."

The fire dies out in his eyes as he runs a hand through his hair, unwittingly mussing the style up just so. That if she squints, he resembles that boy he was so long ago.

"I'm still him Shann, I am."

She shakes her head.

"You're not though. You're super nerdy CSI turned the Flash and I'm proud of you for that. I am. But you're also Iris's husband. You're not my snarky bad boy with that sweet smile anymore. The one who I had to defend towards my friends, because you were one of our rivals and for what you did to Blaine. This you never would have lasted trying to stand up to my brother, explaining why you were ultimately good enough for me."

Barry sits down on the steps facing her, expression solemn.

"I still remember that day. My palms were sweating so badly but I couldn't drop my guard. Puckerman was a scary scary man, even then."

Shannon nods as she remembers as well.

"And he's even worse now that he's a marine especially with his little sister. Which is why he doesn't know any of this. But you were amazing back then. Standing up to everyone. When they insulted you at my prom. When you swept me off my feet at yours. Seducing me with whispers of French."

Barry smiles slightly, his eyes crinkling up in the corners as he recalls the events as clearly as she does.

"That WAS an amazing night wasn't it?"

It was...

It really was.

Shannon sighs and shakes her head, refusing to give into that memory. Or the alluring smile of a married man.

"Bas.... back then I followed you because I thought I mattered, that WE mattered. When you chased your physics dreams to Columbia, I came to New York too. When you got the job back here, I followed you. I sobbed uncontrollably for months on end at your bedside after you got struck by lightening because I thought I lost you for good. And I promised I'd never leave you. But you left me. You left me the instant Iris FINALLY decided to notice you. Even though I'd been there all along..."

She pauses as the tears finally begin to overflow.

"I watched you get married Seb. I watched you get married to someone else. Have children with someone else. Do you not realize how much that broke me inside?? To see the boy I loved... the man I love.... end up with someone else. THAT, that is why I have to leave."

And he gets it.

He does.

As he rises to his feet, crossing the small distance to stand in front of the crying girl. Hands gently reaching out to cup her face. Wiping away her tears.

Voice soft.

Sweet.

"I'm sorry Shann. I'm really really sorry..."

And then he bends down and captures her lips with his own.