chapter four ; the beginning fall

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The smell of warmed maple syrup wafted through Natalie's new home as she took the bottle out of the microwave and poured the pancake batter on the griddle. After she had woken up due to the sun shining through her window, she had gotten ready for the day and attempted to wipe the appearance of exhaustion from her face.

As she patiently waited for the pancakes to cook, Nat realized she had nothing to do besides unpack, which she wanted to put off for as long as she could. Deciding nothing would be better than cousin bonding time, she called Caitlyn.

On the 3rd ring, she heard her cousin's voice sound from the speaker, "Hey Nat,"

"Hey Cait! I was thinking, maybe I could come and hang out with you at your work today. Isn't it S.T.A.R. Labs still?" Nat asked, flipping the pancakes on their uncooked side.

When she didn't hear a response, Nat abandoned the pancakes and grabbed her phone from the counter, holding the base of it to her mouth. "Caitlyn? You still there?"

"Uh yeah, I'm here. Don't come. I'm..I'm busy. But I'll swing by later and we can grab dinner. Okay?" Caitlyn said, stuttering into her phone.

A frown formed on Natalie's face as she finished cooking the pancakes, "Alright," she said, disappointment filling her voice.

"I'm sorry," Caitlyn said before she hung up.

Natalie ate her breakfast in silence as she sat on the couch with her legs criss-crossed. The silence gave her time to think and wallow in her thoughts.

She had no idea what she was going to do once she got to Central City and now that she was here, she still had no clue. She had no job which meant no income, which meant that soon she wouldn't be able to pay bills. Natalie didn't want to ask Caitlyn for help getting a job at S.T.A.R. Labs, she was no where near qualified for that, and it seemed too soon to ask one of her new friends.

Friends, Natalie didn't really have "friends" in Central City, they were more like acquaintances. She had only just met Cisco, Barry, and Iris. She doubted they would want to help a stranger get a job.

Natalie felt overwhelmed by her thoughts and emotions and kept telling herself to breathe. Everything was going to work out fine.

She attempted to clear her thoughts, but seeing as that wasn't working, Natalie decided to go running and changed into yoga pants and an old high school sweatshirt.

As she began running down the street of her neighborhood, her thoughts of possible troubles were whisked away by the pounding of her heart, working hard and strong.

Slowing down to a jog once her throat began to dry and breathing became harder, Nat wasn't focused enough to see the person in front of we before the pair collided.

It was a pretty nasty fall. Whoever it was, her little body had managed to knock the other to the ground. The person writhed and groaned from underneath of her as she pushed herself off and repeatedly asked if they were okay. "I am so sorry. I-I didn't see you. Oh my god. I really am sorry, are you okay?"

The person she ran into pushed themselves into a siting position on the ground and ran their hands over their face. From what Natalie could tell, the person was male and had brown hair. The guy, still sitting down, mumbled an "I'm fine" before he finally stood up and looked at Natalie.

"Barry? I pushed you- oh my, sorry-" Nat rushed out as soon as she realized that guy was Barry.

He waved his hands and eventually gripped her shoulders and gave we a little shake to get her to stop talking, "Natalie, I said it was fine. It was an accident. And you might want to clean that up?" Barry said before releasing her shoulders.

"Clean up what?" Natalie said, confused on what Barry could mean.

He pointed down at her hands and she saw they were scrapped up from the fall, she hadn't even noticed.

"Oh," was all she could say before he forced out a small laugh.

Barry looked at we for a second before jerking his head and turning around, "C'mon, we can get that cleaned up back at my lab. I was heading there anyways."

Nat simply said nothing and followed Barry. She had gone on this run to get rid of unwanted thoughts and emotions, which temporarily worked, but now new ones were replaced. Here she was, following a guy she just met and all she could think about was how attractive he was, even though she had strong suspicions he was already in love.

Once they reached Barry's lab, he motioned for her to sit down in a chair while he grabbed the first aid kit.

Walking in, Natalie spun around in a circle, taking in everything in awe, "Half of this stuff.. I don't even know what they are."

Barry laughed lightly as he searched through his cabinet drawers for the kit. He was amused at her reactions, it was something new to him. Well, for someone he assumed knew relatively nothing about the sciences, but then again she was related to Caitlin so he may be wrong.

Natalie walked to the window and stared out, taking in to her was a breathtaking view of the city, "This is so beautiful. You have one lucky lab space, Mr. Allen."

She finally sat down as Barry had found the first aid kit and he dragged a chair to sit in front of her.

He dabbed a cloth in water before her started to wipe away any dirt and grime from the ground off of her hands, making her clench her teeth. "So what were you doing out anyways and made you decide to bring the both of us to the ground?" Barry joked, breaking the silence.

She shrugged, "Just wanted to go running. It's fun, I mean most people hate it, but I love it. And I'm trying my best to avoid packing."

Barry laughed at the last thing she said, "Well maybe Caitlin, Cisco, and I can help with that. I mean, if you're alright with that, cause its your house and maybe you don't want us to-"

He stopped rambling when he saw Nat's smile through her laugh. It was contagious and he could feel his smile widen. Barry realized he had stopped wiping her hand clean and hurriedly grabbed the rubbing alcohol.

"This might sting a little," Barry said as he held the new dampened cloth over her hands.

Natalie clenched her teeth in the pain as the alcohol burned and hissed slightly, unable to keep it in. "Okay, I am so using this as an excuse to not unpack. Please feel free to bring anyone and everyone to help. The more the merrier," she said in an attempt to lighten the mood after the pain.

As Barry wrapped her hands up, he laughed at we offer and shook his head, "I'm sure Caitlin will help and since we all work together, Cisco will probably come."

"You work at S.T.A.R. Labs?" Natalie asked as she stared at her newly wrapped hands and was playing with her fingers.

"Huh what?" Barry said, caught off guard by her question.

Natalie looked up at him as she rose from her seat, "S.T.A.R. Labs. I thought you worked here though."

"I do. I do work here. But I also go to S.T.A.R. Labs. They're..my doctors! Yeah, my doctors," Barry said quickly.

"Doctors?"

Barry turned around and slightly shook his head. Natalie sure was a curious one.

"Yeah, a while ago I was struck by lightening, in fact in this very lab, and S.T.A.R. Labs saved me. Caitlin had a big part of that." Barry said as he scratched the back of his neck and turned back around to face Natalie. He was shocked by the smile on her face.

"You were struck by lightening? Do you have a scar? I remember reading somewhere that a lot of people who were struck by lightening and survived had a scar that resembles a lightening strike," she rambled, her eyes widening in excitement.

This quickly died down as she saw the shocked expression on Barry's face, "Oh I'm so sorry. I mean I'm really glad you're okay, but I just..thought that would had been..interesting."

Barry's shocked expression grew io a smile as he recognized the look of curiosity of science involved things that Caitlin usually gets on her face.

"It's, it's fine. But no. No scar. Just normal old me. Yup, nothing more," Barry finally said.

The two stood in the room in an awkward silence. Both not wanting to lose the company and also not wanting to be the one to speak first. Fortunately, they were both saved by Barry's phone ringing.

"Hello? Oh hey, Caitlin."

Natalie raised her eyebrows as she heard Barry say her cousin's name.

"No I'm actually with Natalie right now.

It's a long story. How about we both just meet you and Cisco at Jitters? Sounds great."

"Jitters again? Why do I have a feeling that is going to be my most popular spot here?" Natalie asked as Barry held open the door and they walked down the stairs together.

"Oh come on, Jitters is a great place! You will end up loving it." Barry said, jogging ahead to press the elevator buttons.

Natalie just smiled as they waited and Barry couldn't stop thinking about it, but he quickly shook his head.

No, he loved Iris. He told her that, but did he really love her or does he just think that. Iris didn't love him. Not that way. But today was the first time that he noticed a girl other than Iris, really noticed. He liked Natalie's smile. As they rode the elevator down and began to walk to Jitters, Barry silently hoped that he would be able to see more of that smile.