⊱ ──────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ──────── ⊰

𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥

CHAPTER NINETEEN
merry christmas, you have a son!

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WHILE THEY HAD been dealing with Savage, things had been anything but calm back in S.T.A.R. Labs. Jay had returned, Caitlin developed a speed serum called Velocity-Six, Patty had shot Harry in the chest, and Jay used said speed serum to get the bullet out of him to save his life. It seemed like the universe never slowed down, not even when they were dealing with a fucking immortal.

But it was Christmas time now, which was Juliet's most favorite time of the year. As per usual, they were celebrating Christmas at the West house. Her little sister, Noelle, was set to come in on Christmas Eve. Although her parents couldn't come this year, Juliet was just glad to see her sister again. And considering what happened last year with the Reverse Flash at Christmas, Juliet only hoped that things would be less crazy.

Currently, Juliet was in the midst of decorating her and Barry's lab for the holiday. In her words, their lab was boring and plain. And for a time of year that wasn't boring and plain, she decided to dress their lab up a little bit. Of course, not too much that it obstructed their work stations.

"And for you," Juliet stated, placing a mini Christmas tree down on Barry's desk. "Merry Christmas."

He glanced from the Christmas tree to her, leaning back in his chair a bit to give her a smile. "Is this my Christmas gift?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Juliet then put her hands on her hips. "What do you want for Christmas, though?

His eyes glinted. "You."

Juliet squinted at him. "That was incredibly cheesy." She started to drift away towards her own desk. "Not that I don't love a good Mariah Carey reference, but—"

She was immediately cut off by two strong arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her back. Juliet shrieked from the sudden movement, and Barry re-adjusted his arms, pulling her in much tighter so her back was flush with his chest. Barry then leaned down and started to press multiple, feather-light kisses on the side and back of her neck. Juliet giggled at the feeling before squirming around, trying to get out of his embrace.

"Okay, okay, I get it," Juliet let out with a laugh, finally turning her whole body around so she could look up at her boyfriend, who had a lovestruck look on his face. "I'll just get you a Scarlet action figure. Technically then you're getting me for Christmas."

Barry rolled his eyes fondly. "As if you could get them. They're impossible to get."

"Wrong," Iris' voice announced, and Juliet glanced over to see her walking into her lab. "I just snagged one Flash and one Scarlet action figure when Christmas is only, like, three days away, so nothing is impossible."

Juliet untangled herself from Barry's embrace, immediately regretting it from the lack of warmth and comfort it gave her. "I'm actually so impressed. I mean, I knew your shopping abilities were unmatched, but . . ."

Her voice suddenly went quiet. Juliet wasn't quite sure what happened in the span of twenty seconds talking about shopping, but Iris' brown eyes filled with tears. She frowned in concern.

"Are you okay?" Barry asked, immediately jumping in once he noticed Iris' state. "What's wrong?"

"Jules," Iris practically whimpered. "I can't hold it in anymore."

She didn't even have to elaborate. Juliet already knew what she meant. It was the secret the two of them had been keeping from everyone for months.

"Okay," Juliet agreed softly.

"I know I was so mad at you two and dad for not telling me that you were the Flash and Scarlet, but when I found out about this, I didn't know what to do," Iris continued. "I freaked out and only told Juliet about it. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, too, but Jules—"

Barry glanced in between them. "No, I get it. What's going on?"

"When Francine came back, my dad told me not to trust her, and he was right. I didn't know how much." Iris took a deep breath. "When my mother left us, she was pregnant. She had a son. Joe's son, my brother."

"What's his name?" Barry questioned gently.

"Wally," Iris answered. "Wally West. When I found out, I told her to leave and never come back and to never tell my dad, but I feel — I feel like this is hollowing me out. Every time I look at dad, I feel like I'm hurting him. I don't — I don't know what to do."

"'Ris," Juliet began, moving to stand near her. "You know what you have to do. It's what we should've done this whole time."

Iris shook her head. "I can't. It's gonna kill him."

"No, it won't," Barry insisted. "You don't have to do this alone. We can tell him together."

Juliet nodded. "All three of us."

"Thank you," Iris whispered.

She then reached forwards and pulled Iris into a tight hug. Barry wrapped his arms around the two of them, bringing them all in close. Juliet could feel Iris' tears soaking into her shirt, but she didn't care.

"Hey, look," Barry stated. "Snow."

Juliet let go of her tight grip on Iris and picked her head up. Sure enough, snow had started to fall outside. Juliet watched it paint Central City white, a small smile on her face.

"Maybe it'll be a white Christmas."

Iris let her head fall on Juliet's shoulder. "That'd be nice."

Hey, remember when Juliet said she hoped that this Christmas, things would be less crazy?

Well, she was absolutely wrong. So fucking wrong. Literally the worst of the worst happened. Mark Mardon — Weather Wizard — used his powers to create that snowstorm he had seen, and he did it to break Snart and James Jesse — the Trickster — out of Iron Heights.

The last time Juliet was down here in this section of Iron Heights, they had been questioning the Trickster about a potential bomb that was going to destroy Central City which was actually a decoy from another Trickster. That situation had been crazy complicated, and this one seemed even more complicated.

"I fucking hate this," Juliet complained, walking down the hallway towards Jesse's cell. "Hey, you know, at least I don't have to put Twizzlers in my pocket this time."

"Please tell me this is not happening," Barry said to Joe.

"It's official, Santa hates us," Joe responded. "This sudden blizzard took out cameras and the security system. I mean, thank God nobody was killed, but there's no trace of Mardon, Jesse, or Snart. Uh, speaking of which, with Mardon back on the scene . . ."

"Yeah?"

"Patty might not be thinking so clearly."

Juliet frowned. "She's usually so level-headed. What about Mardon sets her off?"

A pretty big fucking thing, actually. Mardon had been the one to kill her father, which is why she wanted to join the Metahuman task force. It wasn't really a shock to Juliet when she walked into Jesse's cell and saw Patty's rigid stance.

Patty stood back up from examining ice on the ground. "The unexpected drop in barometric pressure had to mean Mardon's back in town."

"Patty—" Barry began.

"Jesse was on full communication lockdown, but that doesn't mean Mardon and Snart weren't in contact."

"Hey," Juliet cut in softly, staring at her in concern. "Joe told us what Mardon did."

Patty gave Joe a disbelieving look before shaking her head. "I . . . I have to go."

Juliet sighed as she watched the blonde walk away for a moment. "Give me a sec." She followed after Patty into the hallway. "God, you walk fast."

"Jules, you're a really nice person, but you have no idea what's really going on in this city. I mean, you don't even know that Harrison Wells—" Patty suddenly stopped and turned back to face her. "I'm sorry, I don't have time to bring you up to speed."

"Listen, I know we're not like, close, or anything, but we work together," Juliet voiced. "There's a part of me that cares about you, and that very part of me doesn't want you to do anything reckless."

"I'm a cop," Patty protested. "Going after criminals is in my job description. It's not reckless. And powers or not, Mardon's gonna answer for what he's done."

Juliet's frown only deepened when Patty fully walked away this time. She understood Patty's train of thought, but she was worried what would happen if Patty truly saw Mardon. Things would probably go off the rails. She only knows that because she saw what happened with Barry and Dr. Wells — Eobard Thawne.

She let out a sigh and turned back around. Juliet, as much as she didn't want to, went into the cell again. She shook her head at Barry and Joe's questioning looks. Juliet's eyes immediately went to the inside of Jesse's cell. The wall was covered with crayon drawings as her and Barry as Scarlet and the Flash.

"Oh dear God," Juliet commented, shuddering a bit.

Once they finished canvassing the scene, Juliet and Barry went back to S.T.A.R. Labs to tell the others what happened. Cisco pulled up the mugshots of all three of them — Snart and Mardon with stone-cold expressions, Jesse with a devious smile.

Cisco laughed. "Oh, yeah. Weather Wizard, Captain Cold, and the Trickster."

"There's three of them and two of you," Caitlin stated. "The odds are kind of even, but I still don't like them."

"And I'm gonna be no help without my speed, so . . ." Jay trailed off.

"Oh, oh, light bulb up here," Cisco admitted, pointing to his head. "I have an idea. Most weather phenomena are marked, no pun intended, by the change of electric charge and pressure in the atmosphere. We could just map out those fluctuations—"

"To pinpoint his location," Barry continued.

"Right, it would just be a matter of removing all—"

"All the electricity from his immediate surroundings."

"Attracting it—"

"To one spot," the two chorused.

"The same way a lightning rod does," Cisco finished. "Only instead of a lightning rod, we could use—"

"A wand?" Barry guessed.

Juliet blinked at her boyfriend — how did he know all of that? "What the fuck?"

"Have we already had this conversation?" Cisco inquired.

Barry nodded. "Kind of."

"What does that mean?" Harry asked.

"Uh, all right, so the last time Mardon attacked, he, um, generated a tidal wave that destroyed all of Central City."

"So why are you not all sleeping with the fishes?"

"Earth-Two has The Godfather?" Cisco questioned.

"Every Earth has The Godfather, Vito," Harry replied.

"So I ran back through time," Barry explained. "One day into the past and I got a do-over and I stopped Mardon before he could hurt anyone."

"You — you shouldn't have messed with the timeline."

"That's what the other Wells said. So the good news is, in that timeline, you created the wand and it worked. So you just got to do it again, for the first time."

"Yeah, no pressure," Cisco responded.

"I can give you a hand," Jay offered.

"Best of both worlds?"

"I like that."

Juliet pointed to Cisco as he left. "Chill it out, take it slow?"

"Then you rock out the show!" Cisco called back, making her laugh.

"You good, Harry?" Barry inquired — Harry did look tense.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Harry voiced.

"Holiday blues?" Caitlin guessed. "It can't be easy knowing Zoom still has his daughter."

Juliet then pulled out her phone and checked the time. "Oh, hey, we have to go." She put her phone back in her pocket and took Barry's outstretched hand. "See you later, Cait."

If Juliet was being honest, she could confidently say she never expected that she would be sitting in her lab, waiting to tell Joe he had a son that he didn't know about. That was a scenario she couldn't have ever dreamed of, yet here she was.

Juliet sat on top of Barry's desk. Barry sat next to her in his chair, absentmindedly playing with one of the molecule figures he had. Iris sat on the stool near them, her face guilty and anxious. The lab was stuck in a tense silence as they waited for Joe to arrive. Finally, Juliet heard footsteps, and she looked up with her heart hammering to see Joe walk in.

"Hey," Joe greeted. His eyes then flickered between the three of them before letting out a chuckle. "Okay, the last time the three of you were looking at me like that was when you took my convertible on a joy ride and wrapped it around that big oak tree on Fairmont Drive."

"Dad, um . . ." Iris began.

"All right, Joe, we have something we need to tell you," Barry admitted.

"No, um . . ." Iris stood up from the stool. "I have something that I need to tell you. It's about Francine." She glanced back for a moment with tears already falling down her cheeks, and Juliet gave her a reassuring nod. "When she left us . . . she was pregnant."

Joe's body instantly froze, shock written across all of his features. He looked to Juliet and Barry, as if wishing them to tell him it wasn't true, but the couple were silent. Joe then brushed past Iris and walked over to the windows. Barry pushed himself up and leaned against his desk next to Juliet, their pinkies brushing against each other's. Juliet stared at Joe, watching as the strongest man she knew started to break down.

"Did she have the baby?" Joe asked.

"Yes," Iris answered. "His name is Wally. Wally West."

"It's short for Wallace. That's what we were gonna name you if you were a boy."

"I only found out a couple weeks ago. Dad, I am so sorry that I didn't tell you sooner. That's why she reached out to us after all of these years. She wanted us to know before . . . she . . ."

Joe nodded in understanding. "Before she died. And I thought Francine was running out of surprises." He suddenly glued himself back together and grabbed his jacket, starting to make his way out of the lab. "I got to get to work."

"Dad, listen," Iris insisted, trying to stop him. "Dad."

Joe held his hand up. "I'm — I'm sorry. Just let me sit with it."

He then left. Juliet's frown deepened and she stood up fully, walking over to Iris. She put an arm around her shoulder and brought her in close. Iris sighed and leaned her head against Juliet's.

"Come on," Juliet urged softly. "Let's go home."

She extended her other hand out to Barry, who took it. Juliet then teleported all three of them back to the West house, where they landed on the front porch. Barry took out his keys and unlocked the door. Iris went in first, trailed by Juliet, who started to shrug off her coat.

"Do you think that he's gonna be okay?" Iris questioned to the two of them.

"I do, yeah, I think," Barry responded. "It's just a lot to take in. He just needs a little time to process it."

Okay, now that she thought about it, all the lights being on when they walked in was a bit suspicious. Now, Juliet realized why. Her eyes immediately widened and her mind went into high alert. Sitting on the armchair next to the fire, holding a reindeer mug, was Snart, looking awfully calm.

"Ho, ho, ho," Snart said. He took a sip from his mug. "Mmm. Cocoa isn't cocoa without the mini marshmallows, and you're out. I checked."

Juliet sighed. "Bitch, what the fuck?"

Before he could do anything else, Barry immediately sped over to Snart. He grabbed his jacket and pushed him up against the fireplace. Juliet tried her best to control the warmth in her face — seriously, she's starting to think she had a thing about Barry pushing people up against walls.

"Are you out of your mind?" Barry demanded. "Breaking into my home?"

"Careful," Snart warned. "I made an upgrade to the cold gun. If I release my grip from the handle, the core goes critical. You might make it, they won't."

Juliet lifted up her hand, focusing right on the cold gun and his hand, holding them in place as both her hand and his got surrounded by red energy. "I wouldn't be so sure."

Snart nodded to her. "Jules."

"I'll let you go if you let the trigger go."

She stared at him strongly. Somewhere, within his eyes, she saw him concede. Juliet let her hand drop, therefore letting her concentration drop. Snart's hand moved off of the trigger, as promised. Barry let him go as well, and Snart readjusted his coat as he stood up straighter. His eyes then slid over to Iris.

"Read your article on the disappearing middle class," Snart told her. "Strong point of view, nice prose style."

"Yeah, well, who needs a Pulitzer when you have a homicidal maniac's seal of approval?" Iris argued.

"Didn't Barry and Juliet tell you? I had a rough childhood."

"Everyone in this room had a rough childhood. Get over it."

"Why are you here, Snart?" Barry inquired angrily.

"I got the Noel spirit, wanted to give you a little gift," Snart revealed. "Mardon broke Jesse and me out to kill you both. Jesse's on board, of course. He's shaking with excitement. Me, I'm gonna pass."

"Oh, how sweet of you," Juliet commented, her eyes narrowing.

"Why?" Iris asked. "You grow a conscience?"

"Mardon wants revenge, Jesse wants chaos," Snart continued. "I'm just not invested like they are."

"You mean there's no money in it for you?"

"I was never much for non-profit work."

"If you're not in with them, then tell J and I where they are," Barry ordered.

Snart pushed himself off of the fireplace. "Nah, consider me more of a secret Santa. Besides, you and your friends love to solve a good mystery."

Barry scoffed. "You are full of it, Snart. I think my friends, Juliet, and I saved your sister's life and you can't stand owing us a marker. I hate to break it to you, but that — that right there is called honor."

"Go on, make your pitch. I can see you're dying to."

"Help us stop them."

"Sorry, I'm not interested in being a hero," Snart replied.

Juliet crossed her arms. "Well, you're not doing so good at being a villain, I would say."

"Merry Christmas, Barry. Merry Christmas, Juliet."

Juliet glared at his figure as he walked out the door. "Merry fucking Christmas, I guess."

ϟ ···················· ϟ ···················· ϟ

JOE HAD BEEN keeping to himself ever since Iris' news, which was completely understandable considering the situation. But when Caitlin said Joe had come to S.T.A.R. Labs and was down in the pipeline, Juliet knew that was their chance to talk to him, at least tell him it wasn't his fault he didn't know.

Hand-in-hand with Barry, Juliet walked into the pipeline. Joe was standing, leaning against one of the pipes on the wall with his hand. He seemed deep in thought.

"Hey," Barry greeted.

"I was just thinking about a big drug bust that me and Singh made about ten years ago," Joe revealed. "Afterward, we went for a steak lunch to treat ourselves for a job well done, and while we were ordering, I got this feeling in my chest. Like my heart was being squeezed. And I knew something wasn't right. So I called your school and the nurse said to me that she was just about to call me. Iris was on her way to the hospital."

Juliet nodded, remembering what happened. "Her appendix burst."

"And I knew it. I could feel it, right here. I knew my kid needed me. So, if I have that feeling as a parent, why didn't I feel it from my son?"

"Joe, I mean, it's not your fault that you didn't know about him," Barry insisted.

"Yeah, it was," Joe countered. "When Francine left rehab that last time, I should've looked for her. I'm a cop, I could've found her. Brought her back here. Tried again. Tried harder."

"You were just protecting Iris," Juliet said.

"I've been telling myself that for twenty years. A twenty year lie, but I wasn't protecting her. I was protecting myself. I couldn't stand it anymore. I couldn't — I hated not being able to help Francine. So it was easier for her to be dead. Out of my life, our of our lives. But it wasn't for Iris. I was being selfish. And that poor boy paid the price."

"Joe . . ." Barry trailed off.

"He never had a father," Joe continued. "To read to him at night, show him how to throw a football, to make him feel safe and loved. Who taught him how to be a man? Him. I can't even say his name. What have I done?"

Juliet stared at him for a moment. "Ever since I met Iris and my parents started sending Noelle and I to your house for sleepovers when you were gone, you've cared for the two of us. Barry, too. If you could've cared for him the exact same way, you would've. I'm sorry that you didn't get the chance to."

In all honesty, Juliet didn't know how to make this better. She wasn't really sure she could, anyways.

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I listened to christmas music while writing this to really get into the spirit <3