Birthday

Barry wasn't really one for birthdays.

Especially his own birthday.

Usually, he forgot his birthday and only remembered because Iris and Joe had gotten him a cake and gifts.

This year was no exception.

Barry got up early, ignored the calendar as usual, and started on his way to work.

***** AT THE PRECINCT *****

"Balloons?"

"Check."

"Bree's brownies?"

"Check."

"Allen?"

"Nope."

"Perfect."

The Captain and Joe were checking off things for Barry's party. The police station loved celebrating their peoples' birthdays. And everyone already loved Barry so much that they wanted this one to be the better than anyone else's.

Bree had made a big batch of her famous brownies, the bull pen was decked out with some simple but festive decorations.

But of course, Barry wasn't there yet. He was late as per the norm, but this time they were ok with it.

Soon enough though, the stairwell door opened, and Barry came in.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARRY!" everyone yelled.

Barry jumped in surprise and looked around.

He frowned, "It's not my birthday."

Joe smiled, "It's definitely your birthday." He started to pull up a calendar.

"Give me a calendar," Barry said, "it's not my birthday and I will prove it to- oh. Never mind. Happy birthday to me."

Laughter danced around the bullpen and someone piped up.

"I know you look 14, but how old are you now? 23? 24?"

Barry had the decency to blush a little and mumbled, "20..."

"Are you actually joking?" Otto piped up, "You can't even drink yet?"

Barry shook his head sheepishly.

"That's a shame, I wanted to take you out drinking." Otto sighed.

Margot whacked her cousin upside the head, "You may not get poor Barry drunk."

"I wasn't going toooo," he whined, "besides he's not even 21."

"Got any plans for your birthday Allen?" Singh asked, with more softness in his voice than normal. But you've gotta be nice to people on their birthday.

Not that Barry cared. If anything, he just found it weird.

He thought you should be nice to people all the time, not just on special occasions. But maybe that was just him.

Barry shrugged, "I'm sure Iris will want to see me since it's my birthday. And I suppose I'll go over to Joe's for dinner."

Joe gave a long sideways glance to the captain, "He supposes."

Barry shifted uncomfortably; God he hated his birthday. "So..." he said awkwardly, "crime doesn't stop just cause people were born today. I oughta get to work... Thanks everyone!" he added with some false enthusiasm.

Joe sighed as he watched his surrogate son retreat. Singh, Otto, Bree, and Margot gave Joe a questioning look as everyone else resumed their normal day. "I'm gonna go talk to him," Joe said, "he's never been a fan of his own birthday, but Iris and I have been really trying to get him past that. Otto, if you could just wait a minute or two so I can talk to him I'd appreciate it."

Otto nodded, and Joe walked upstairs to the lab.

"Thanks Iris. Yeah. I'll see you there at one. Love you too. Bye." Barry hung up the phone just as Joe walked in.

"That Iris?" He asked.

"Mmhm."

"You meeting for lunch?"

"Mhm."

"You sound so excited."

"Oh come one Joe," Barry sighed, "You guys do this every year. I'm just not a birthday person and you know this. I haven't been since I was 11."

Joe let out a deep breath, "I know Barry, but we still want to try. We want to try and help you still feel like you can celebrate and know that you're loved and we're happy you're here. I know you're not a fan and so does Iris. But I want you to ask yourself bud.... if we did nothing, how would you feel?"

Barry stared down at his toes and said nothing. Joe gave him a firm pat on the shoulder and turned to walk out, "Have a nice lunch with Iris."

"Thanks Joe."

**********

Barry let out a hefty sigh as he walked towards Jitters, where he and Iris were meeting. He always sighed a lot on his birthday. It was a day of sighing. He probably did a whole month's worth of sighing in one day. Short sighs. Long sighs. He-

Barry was snapped out of his musings as he was yanked roughly to the side into an alley and back behind a building.

Of course, Barry sighed... again, this might as well happen.

"Hand over your wallet." A low voice demanded.

Barry turned around; his hands held in the universal 'don't shoot' position. "Look man, I have maybe 20 bucks on me, if you try again tomorrow, I'll make sure I have more like $50."

"Don't get smart with me kid," The thug snapped, sliding a gun out from under his coat. He was a burly man, and he hadn't bothered to cover his face at all, so Barry could stare right into his cold, furious eyes.

Barry started slowly reaching for his wallet, "You know, if your plan is to steal my identity, I don't think it'll work very well. We don't really look alike, you and I."

Barry heard the unfortunately familiar click of a gun getting ready to shoot.

"I told you not to get smart with me boy. I'm not in the mood."

Barry huffed and threw his wallet on the ground, "Well neither am I man. Not exactly on my birthday to-do list to get mugged in an alleyway. You didn't even have the decency to be funny or good-looking."

This seemed to tip the already angry man over the edge. He grabbed Barry by the front of his shirt and slammed him against the alley wall. Barry's vision swam as his head smacked against the brick.

"Well, you didn't have the decency to not be born and carry more than $20 in your wallet. So, I guess we're even smart-ass."

Barry grunted and faintly registered the feeling of the barrel of a gun being pressed into his side.

"HapPy BiRthDaY." He sneered.

And then he shot him.

If he had any breath, Barry would have sighed.

********

"Dad. Barry hasn't shown up yet. Is he still hiding in the lab?"

Joe frowned at his daughter's words over the phone. "Barry left 15 minutes ago."

"Then he should be here..."  Iris let out a small gasp, "Something must have happened to him! We have to go find him."

"Calm down, sweetheart," Joe said, though he was having a very difficult time quenching the own unease growing in his chest, "I'm sure he's just running late, he probably stopped to feed a cat. You know how he is. You stay at Jitters to see if he turns up. I'll follow the route he would've taken to see if he's there."

"Dad-"

"Stay there, Iris. I'll call you if we find him."

Joe hung up the phone and suddenly Otto was in front of him.

"Barry's missing?" He asked, worry tainting his voice.

"Possibly," Joe said, "He left for lunch with Iris 15 minutes ago and hasn't turned up yet."

"And we're going to go look for him, right?"

Joe smiled softly at the other man's concern. Barry had truly, unintentionally, wormed his way into the beloved baby brother position at the precinct. "Yes. I'll let Singh know where we're going."

He walked over to the Captain's office and knocked on the ajar door. "Captain." He said.

Singh looked up from his papers, sensing the unease immediately. "What is it?"

"Otto and I are going to look for Barry. Ha hasn't shown up-"

Singh stopped him there, his own concern swirling in his gut, "I trust your instincts, Joe. Go look for him. Call if you need me."

A short nod, and Joe was out the door.

********

Barry opened his eyes blearily, slumped against the wall, pain pulsing through his head. And then the fire in his side made itself known and Barry gasped in pain. He looked down at his side and his vision swam. Barry could feel the warm, sticky blood seeping from the bullet wound in his gut, and he could see the crimson pool around him.

Black spots danced around his vision, and Barry could feel himself slipping back to the void. The void would be nice, it was painless there.

Barry almost thought he could hear his name being called through the fog, but it seemed so far away. He was in so much pain. And he was so tired....

He let the darkness encompass him.

"Barry!!!"

Otto dashed forward and collapsed by Barry's side, throwing his hands on top of the wound, knees in the puddle of his friend's blood. "Barry wake up!! Come on buddy. Don't do this to me!"

Joe stood frozen for a moment, the sight of his son bleeding out in front of him making him feel faint. He'd seen blood before. Hell, he'd seen Barry's blood before. But this was different... there was so much....

"Joe!"

Otto's holler brought Joe back to cop-mode, and he phoned an ambulance. As if he was detached from himself, he spewed out the location and situation. Otto took his jacket off and pressed it against Barry's side, still begging him to open his eyes and stop being a dramatic bastard.

The paramedics rounded the corner in a haze of action, taking Barry to the bus and away from Otto's quaking figure.

"You can't let your birthday be your death day too Barry," Otto whispered, tears leaking from his eyes, "You've gotta hold on brother."

********

Beep

Beep

Beep

Barry sighed. He knew that sound.

He supposed it was technically a good thing to hear it, because if he didn't that would mean he was dead. It was a sentiment he shared for both his alarm clock and the heart monitor he had a habit of being attached to.

Well, sometimes he'd rather be dead when his alarm clock was going off. But who didn't right?

"Barry?"

"Hmm," Barry hummed.

"Dad! He's awake!"

"Shhhh." Barry mumbled, "m' 'ead hur's."

"I'm sure it does Bar," Joe's voice entered Barry's mind, "You have a massive concussion and less blood in your body than you're supposed to have."

Barry cracked his eyes open to see his adopted family looking at him with tears of relief. Iris looked just about ready to lunge on Barry and wrap him in a hug, and Joe looked like he was ready to collapse from the intense emotions from the last days.

"How long?" Barry asked, coming more aware as the seconds passed.

"One week." Joe sighed, "It was touch and go for a while."

Iris nodded, "But you'll make a full recovery, the doctors said."

"That's good."

"You know Barry," Iris said crossing her arms, a small grin on her face, "next time you want to skip out on your birthday lunch, you can just say so."

Barry let out a laugh and winced, "That's fair."

"Also," Joe said, "Be prepared for Otto. He's probably going to tail you for the next year. You've thoroughly traumatized him."

"Oops."

Otto stuck his head through the door, "Oops? That's all you've got to say to that you jack-ass? I hate you so much."

"Love you too Otto."

***********

A/N - Woopee! Another one before the end of the month! And It's my 20th today so I felt this one was fitting. Sorry of the ending is meh, I have a hard time with endings sometimes.

Stay safe out in the scary world my silly gooslings.

Love y'all! :)