(no subject)

[lvpd_sidle]

As usual, the weather in Las Vegas is sunny and hot. The streets are teeming with traffic and people, all going about their normal business.

Sara turns to look at Barry and grins. He looks utterly enthralled with the chaos around them. "Let's stash your stuff in my apartment for now--we can come back later." He nods in agreement, and soon she's driving them to the crime lab.

Sitting in the parking lot, she hesitates before getting out.

"Is everything all right?" His concern touches her, as it always does.

"Yes--it's just a little strange to be here as a visitor."

He takes her hand, squeezing it comfortingly, before they head into the building.

Comments

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

It seems so weird to Barry to be back in the world. To be under a real sun - blazing hot though it may be - to breathe the polluted air of the industrial age, to see a city and so many people.

Normally, he would hate being in a car. Especially in the traffic. But he feels strangely comfortable. The world is out there. They are in here. At some level he knows that this world - or the one that he came from, so much like this one - is not his anymore. Oh, he can leave sometimes, but in the end, he can't stay. And yet Sara knows this, and still loves him. He smiles.

"What's with the smile?" she asks not far from the lab.

"Oh, nothing," he says as the smile gets bigger. He is sure he doesn't need to tell her.

Arriving at the lab, Barry feels at home immediately. The smells are less intense that he recalls in the blast of the air conditioner, but they are those of his life. Someplace here there are forensics. Someplace here there is justice.

But someplace here there is also a budget. "Wow. Nice place."

[lvpd_sidle]

"We like it," she quips, leading them over to the registration desk. The secretary looks up and smiles, recognizing her. Inane pleasantries are exchanged while she fills out their paperwork and they receive their passes.

"I should warn you--AD Ecklie is planning on coming in at some point this afternoon." Sara thanks her before giving Barry a somewhat resigned look.

"Oh well--shall we?" Taking his hand, she leads him down the hall.

In one of the many glass-enshrouded rooms, she sees Warrick Brown bent over a piece of tire. He glances up, grins hugely, and gives her a hug. "Damn, it's great to see you, girl. What do you make of this?" Noticing Barry, he steps back a pace.

"Sorry, man, I didn't mean to seem rude. Warrick Brown."

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

"It's okay. Barry Allen." He offers his hand, and Warrick takes it. He feels the callouses and bruises of Warrick's hand, and realizes that he has lost that since coming to the Bar.

"And it seems to be a tire. Or part of one. Blow-out? Accident?"

He looks around at the clean, modern facility. Oh, what he could have done with this place.

[lvpd_sidle]

"According to the owner, this tire is brand new and there was no reason for it to blow. Caused a six-car pile up on I-15," he says, studying Barry warily.

"Really? Mind if I look?" Sara takes part of the tire and examines it under one of the larger microscopes.

"Sabotage," she says a few minutes later. "There are half a dozen needle punctures on this piece alone. Barry?" She moves aside.

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

"Thanks." His heart races as he looks at the tire under the scope. When was the last time he got to do this? No magic, no Phantoms, no Joker, just plain observation.

"Yes, defitinely sabotage. Guess whoever did this counted on the blame being placed on the tire company or just rush hour traffic." He turns to Sara and Warrick, and looks at the latter.

"I used to do this sort of thing myself. Been a while since I have. Hope you don't mind.

"Er, no. Where was your lab?"

"Small city in the Midwest. Central City. Doubt you've heard of it." Barry smiles at Sara, hoping he isn't stretching the truth too much.

[lvpd_sidle]

"Hey, we're always glad to get help from fellow CSIs, no matter where you're from. Quote me on that to Catherine, I'll deny it." Warrick grins, peering into the scope himself. "I'll dust the sections for prints, see if anyone is locally involved. That pile-up killed 4 people--two of them kids." His voice goes rough.

Sara squeezes his shoulder for a minute. "You'll find them, 'Rick. Anyway, I promised Barry a tour. We'll see you around?" He nods, still looking through the scope.

With a smile she walks out of the room.

"Barry?" Warrick calls. "You treat her right, you hear me?"

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

He turns and grins at Warrick. "Oh, don't worry. I do. She's the best." He keeps up with Sara.

"Nice guy. And fairly perceptive, too, since I don't recall doing anything to tell him we're seeing each other.

"Or has it become that obvious?"

And since he really doesn't care who knows, he grabs her hand for a second, still smiling.

"Lead on, MacDuff."

[lvpd_sidle]

"Warrick's one of the best CSIs I've ever worked with. It's funny--I was initially called out here to investigate him. Water under the bridge, as they say."

She smiles when he takes her hand, wandering further down the halls until they reach the Trace lab.

David Hodges is perched by one of the machines, flipping through a magazine. "You aren't backed up, David? I find that hard to believe."

She is rather satisfied when he jumps, making an indignant sound.

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

Barry suppresses a laugh.

"I guess every lab needs someone to goof off." and then Barry studies the lab, and feels completely at home.

"You know something, as much as I like having the magic lab in a box, I really miss having this. I have to talk to Tim and bigby about this again. Nothing beats the real thing."

[lvpd_sidle]

"Normally, it would be Greg in DNA, however since he's now out in the field as a CSI, Hodges takes up the slack."

The man in question gives her a mildly disgusted look before turning to his tests.

Taking Barry by the arm, she leads him down further. "Needless to say, he and I were never friends."

She nods. "I miss that too in many ways. Coming here is almost like coming home. It's worth pursuing, I think."

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

"This is sort of like coming home for me, too. Even with all the changes from my day. I half expect my boss to come running through the door and tell me that there's been a break in a case and that I have to get down there right away and make sure the evidence is handled perfectly." He touches the walls, as if to assure himself this is real.

"What I really want to see, however, is the DNA lab."

[lvpd_sidle]

"Can do." And they continue to walk. "This place keeps growing--it's like a maze." She quiets when they pass one section of wall--recently repaired. "That was the old DNA lab--destroyed in the accident a couple of years back."

"And this is the new one." Two technicians, both unfamiliar to her, are at work. One is using a pipet to remove liquid from a tube, another setting up the centrifuge.

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

He watches like a kid let into the candy factory. Again, some it seems familiar, but this time he feels like science has left him behind. A whole lab, brand new, just for DNA.

And as he watches, he made a note to ask about the accident in the old lab. But he wasn't going to ruin the moment. If science was a religion for Barry - though he would deny this - then he was in a temple.

[lvpd_sidle]

Several hours pass in simple, uncomplicated enjoyment of the afternoon and each other's company.

Sara glances at her watch again. "The club will be opening in an hour and a half or so--think we should head back and get ready?"

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

"Oh, definitely. Unless there's a chance that they'll let us in like this." He smirks, and rises to his feet, helping Sara up as he often does.

On stage, a quartet plays something new but fairly retro, and Barry finds himslef humming along as the couple make their way back to the Denali.

"Did you like the music, my dear"

[lvpd_sidle]

"It's nice--the kind I would listen to while reviewing cold cases." She laughs at his look. "Sorry--bad analogy, I suppose. It's soothing to my mind, at least."

They get in and she drives swiftly back to her apartment. "Spare bedroom is that way," she points, heading into the bathroom."

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

He changes in the spare bedroom, and thinks. Thinks about how things have changed for him. Thinks about that day not all that long ago when a pretty young woman with a gun showed up at the Bar and he struck up a little chat since he missed all his friends from the force.

And thinks about the night ahead. He doesn't notice that his smile is quite bright. Or that he takes his time dressing. No speed tricks today.

A few minutes later, the shoes polished, the studs and tie in place, Barry emerges to the living room and waits.

[lvpd_sidle]

For once, the batte to tame her hair goes in her favor. Makeup, light perfume, jewelry, and other appropriate accessories.

She comes out, wearing the dress she wore to Mike and Indy's housewarming party, smiling. "Ready?"

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

His heart skips a good number of beats.

"Yes. Shall we?" He offers his arm again, and they head out.

On the drive there, he pays as much attention to her stunning outfit as to the city they pass by. Approaching the hotel, he sees more of the lively city, of the casinos and the clubs, of the masses of tourists. It's not quite the Vegas of his youth, but it's still Las Vegas, the glitter quite apparent.

And even with the late day traffic, the trip doesn't take too long.

[lvpd_sidle]

The club has only been open half an hour, but there is already a sizable crowd. They make their way in, securing a table and ordering drinks.

She smiles. "Today's been nice, Ecklie not withstanding."

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

Barry treats himself to something a little fancier than usual, having a screwdriver. He suspects that he will feel intoxicated no matter what.

"Today has been quite wonderful. You are a very good tour guide. And the night, as they say, is young."

He looks over the crowd. Seems different, somehow, than the one he sees in the Bar. More real? Or is that just his imagination wondering how life would seem if he couldn't go back to the Bar and hobnob with ghostbusters and wizards and Jedi knights.

"Shall we order dinner first, or are you ready to cut a rug?"

[lvpd_sidle]

"Let's eat while we're here." She grins, gesturing for a server.

"Their pasta primavera and the prime rib are supposed to be very good. Get whatever you like."

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

"Let's see if the Bar has spoiled me." He studies the menu, and takes Sara's recommendation for prime rib, well-done, with baked potatoes and a salad.

"And what will you have, my lady?"

[lvpd_sidle]

"The pasta primavera, steamed vegetables, and a small salad," she tells the server, handing back over the menus."

"Only difference between here and the Bar is we will actually have to wait to eat."

[silverageflash.livejournal.com]

"And none of the chefs can turn into fauns. I think. I mean, this is Vegas." He smirks, and that is the last he says about Gil, or any of the others he's worried about back home.

Back home...funny how he thinks of the Bar as home without even thinking about it.

While they wait, Barry instead talks of friends, of Jaina's birthday and how Clarice has invited him to the stables and how Ray named a coffee demon - "Don't ask. It seemed normal to me by now." - DiMaggio. He laughs and grins and sometimes just gets lost in her eyes.

And when dinner comes they eat slowly, enjoying the conversation as much as the food.