A/N: Right, so I know it's been a millennium since I posted a chapter, but I have not forgotten this or any of my other Flash stories. I've been busy trying to write for all of my Flash stories as well as balance school and life so you'll have to forgive me for not updating as often as many people would like (or as much as I'd like to for that matter).

Anyhow, here is chapter 4 of Blitzkrieg.

PS ::-:: stands for a text message just FYI.

-BG

Despite the initial awkwardness, Eddie was enjoying every second of the impromptu get-together. A few embarrassing stories later and they had moved on to more pleasant conversations.

"So how did you guys all meet?" Eddie asked finally.

"Funny story actually," said Jamie, "I ran to Jitter's for some coffee and I ran into Cisco and Caitlin there. We talked for a little while and then there was this attempted robbery there-"

"You were there when it happened?" Iris' eyes widened. "Oh my gosh! I heard about that over the radio today. They said a metahuman jumped in and stopped the robbery before anything could happen."

"Yeah, they did. It was this woman there with some sort of energy powers," said Cisco, "It was pretty wicked cool."

Eddie grimaced. "I heard about that from some of the officers today. They say she just vanished before they could even talk to her."

"Interesting." Eddie could practically see his girlfriend's mind whirling. "Mind if I quote you guys?"

"Maybe you should wait for more info to come out on the meta before you write anything," said Eddie, "Besides, I'm not sure it'd be such a good idea to quote two cops, especially when Jamie just transferred."

Iris nodded, her nose wrinkling as it often did when she agreed with the logic of a statement, but not wanting to actually follow through with the logic. Honestly, Eddie found it adorable, but Iris was as stubborn as they came. He gave her a pleading look, watching her expression melt. "Ok. Fine. But…I would like to quote Cisco if he doesn't mind."

"Not at all," said Cisco. He looked at Jamie, giving her a soft smile, which she returned with a knowing look. It was so similar to the way Eddie and Iris shared looks that he almost thought that-

Eddie blinked, finally noticing that the two were sitting quite close together, hands nearly touching. There was no way…was there? "Jamie, are you dating Cisco?"

A blush crept onto Jamie's cheeks and she looked at Cisco who looked just as flushed. "You noticed?"

"You could say that," said Eddie, amused, "How did this happen?"

"Well…before the robbery thing happened, Cisco asked me out and…I said yes. Then we went to the Lab and I met Barry and Dr. Wells and then we decided to go out for lunch."

"I'm guessing you went to the Lab because Caitlin wanted to make sure you were ok after the lightning strike," said Eddie.

Iris' head whipped around to face Eddie, eyes alarmed and curious. "Lightning strike?"

Jamie winced. "Yeah, I was visiting my grandmother here in Central City on the night of the particle accelerator incident and when I went to go restart the backup generator at the nursing home after it shorted out, I was struck by lightning in the process. Woke up when the nurses realized what had happened and found me out cold in the rain."

Iris glanced between Barry, Jamie and Eddie, her eyes finally settling on her boyfriend. "You never said…"

Eddie felt himself flush. "I…I didn't think I should say anything about it to you or Joe. The two of you were so busy with Barry, I didn't want to mention Jamie. I thought it would make you mad that she had ended up being ok for the most part while Barry was in a coma…"

Jamie turned to Barry, alarmed. "You were in a coma?"

Barry nodded. "For nine months."

Jamie grimaced. "Damn… Sorry. I can't imagine-"

"It's ok," said Barry quickly, "I'm ok now. That's what matters."

Iris was still looking at Eddie with that oh so particular look of hers that made him want to crawl into a corner and die. It was beginning to make the detective feel quite uncomfortable. "Eddie, you could have told me…"

Eddie looked down. "I wanted to, but then we started dating and…and it never seemed to be the right time to mention it…"

Iris gave him a firm look. Shit. He was- "Eddie, you know you can tell me anything and everything, whenever you want. I'm not mad at you, but I am disappointed."

"I'm sorry, Iris," said Eddie.

"I know. Just remember that for next time." Iris gave Eddie a small smile and kissed him, sending a wave of relief through the detective. "…but you're still not off the hook."

Eddie felt his cheeks grow red and glanced towards their friends. Needless to say, they all looked particularly amused at the couple's conversation and Eddie's predicament. Jamie in particular had a glimmer in her eyes that said she wasn't ever going to forget about this.

Thankfully, Iris changed the subject before anyone could say anything regarding their conversation. "So, Jamie, how did you get struck by lightning and make it out unscathed?"

Jamie grimaced slightly. "I'm afraid I didn't." She pulled back her sleeve, allowing for Iris to see the scars running up her arm. "They're called Lichtenburg Figure scars. It's a typical side effect of being struck by lightning."

"Can I…?" Iris gestured to Jamie's arm.

"Yeah." Jamie held her arm out to Iris who examined the scars. "Most people think I got a tattoo or something."

"I can see why," commented Iris, "It's beautiful."

Jamie winced. "They're really not."

"They really are," said Caitlin, "I've seen Lichtenburg Figure scarring before, but yours are quite intricate. You shouldn't be ashamed of them. Besides, scars shouldn't be something you hide. They're a part of life."

Jamie raised an eyebrow. "…I thought you were a doctor, not a psychologist…"

"I dabble," admitted Caitlin with a smirk and Jamie grinned. It must have been contagious because soon enough the whole table was grinning, Eddie included.

"Well you're pretty good at it." Jamie took her arm back from Iris, pulling her sleeve down again.

Iris suddenly glanced at her watch and straightened instantly in her chair. "Oh my gosh! I have to go! My shift starts in ten minutes!"

"Do you need a lift?" asked Eddie quickly.

"No, it's ok, Eddie. It just a few minutes away, but I have to run." Iris stood, throwing on her coat and grabbing her purse before giving Eddie a quick kiss. "See you tonight?"

"Definitely," said Eddie, "Have a good day at work."

"You too." Iris turned to the others. "It was nice to see you all and a pleasure to meet you, Jamie."

"Likewise," said Jamie, "We should do this again."

"Agreed." Iris grinned. "Bye." She waved as she left them, stepping out the door and disappearing into the foot traffic.

"Wow…" said Jamie, turning to Eddie, "I like her."

"Good." Eddie relaxed a bit. "I should mention that she's Detective West's daughter…"

"You're kidding me." Jamie gave him an amused look. "Why aren't you in a body bag yet or WITSEC for that matter?"

"Yeah!" Eddie frowned and smacked his cousin in the arm. "I'm not some nutcase!"

"Still…" Jamie smirked. "How'd you get away with that?"

"By being a gentleman and proving to Joe that I could balance being his partner as well as his daughter's boyfriend without them interfering with each other occupation." Eddie shook his head at his cousin. "Speaking of occupations, what happened to you looking at heading to Coast City PD?"

Jamie shrugged. "Just not for me. I took a short trip there, but it just didn't seem to fit. Plus, I kind of felt a bit homesick. So I sent in an application to Central City PD and they took me up on it, despite my review."

"Review?" asked Barry, confused.

Jamie's expression went grave and Eddie quickly put a hand on his cousin's arm. She gave him a weak smile before returning her attentions to the others. "My last case of the Keystone PD was a vice bust that ended up going south. We'd had some leaks going on in my unit and I worked with my commanding officer and my partner to set up a trap during the bust." Jamie took a deep breath. "The bust turned into an ambush. My commanding officer also turned out to be one of two moles on the team and had set us up. He killed my partner and I had to shoot my commanding officer. There was a review to make sure that I hadn't been involved in the corruption and that I was justified in my shooting of my commanding officer. I was cleared. He's set for trial soon."

"Oh…" Barry looked entirely embarrassed for prying, his face going beet red. "Sorry…"

"It's fine. Had to come up sooner or later. Besides, I did my job just like I was supposed to. Hopefully, my testimony in a month or two helps put my commanding officer behind bars for life." Jamie took a sip of her soda, the straw making a gurgling noise as she finished it off. "So… You need to get back to work, Eddie?"

"Yeah… I should get going before Singh hands me my ass. He's a good boss, but he's a hard man to please," said Eddie as he slung on his jacket.

"Here, here," said Barry bitterly before hiding himself in his hot chocolate. Eddie merely nodded to the CSI with a slight grimace. Lord only knew how hard Singh was on the young man and the ever increasing workload couldn't have made things any easier.

"I'll have to stop in sometime this week. Maybe you can give me a tour so I'm not absolutely clueless on my first day on the job," commented Jamie.

"Sounds like a good idea," said Eddie, "I'll let you know if I have a chance to do that."

"Awesome."

Eddie turned to Barry. "Need a lift back to the station, Allen?"

Barry shrugged and stood slowly. "If you wouldn't mind. Beats walking back in this weather."

"We should be heading back to the Lab too," said Caitlin, standing followed by Cisco and Jamie, "It was lovely having lunch with you and Iris. We should do this again sometime soon."

"Agreed." Eddie stepped around the table to give Jamie a quick hug. "Try to stay out of trouble, ok? You're in for enough as it is with all the crazy stuff that happens here in Central City."

"I look forward to it," said Jamie with a wide grin, "Just keep your head down until I get there so I can cover your ass."

Eddie chuckled. "I'll try." He fished in the inner pocket of his jacket, pulling his keys out as he turned to Barry. "Well, we should get going, right Barry?"

"Right," said Barry, putting on his own jacket rather clumsily. He turned to Cisco, Caitlin and Jamie. "I'll see you guys around."

"Definitely." Cisco led the quintet out of the diner, holding the door for them.

Eddie lingered behind as they exited the diner, stopping next to Cisco as the young scientist closed the door. "Cisco. Can I have a word with you?"

Cisco looked nervously after the others who continued toward the parking lot, not realizing the two men were still standing outside the door. "Sure…"

Eddie sighed. From what he could tell, Cisco was a good guy who was a bit strange at times, but still seemed to have a good heart. If Jamie was going to date anyone, it might as well be Cisco. Still… "Look, I'm not going to read you the riot act or anything, but Jamie is the closest thing I have to a sister and we've always looked out for each other as if we were siblings, not cousins. Just…don't hurt her…"

"…or nobody will ever find my body?" said Cisco warily.

Eddie gave a small smile at the scientist. "No, I'll come up with something more creative and less deadly than that." Cisco blanched still and Eddie chuckled softly, noting that Cisco seemed to relax a bit. "Look, Cisco, I know you're a good guy and Jamie really seems to like you which is amazing. I've never seen her look at anybody the way she looks at you and it's wonderful. I just…"

Cisco nodded. "She's family. I got it. And you have my word. I'd never do anything to hurt her."

Eddie nodded and patted Cisco on the shoulder. "I know. I still had to do that though. Seriously, it's the first time Jamie's ever had a boyfriend and the only person I'll ever get to do this for until I have kids of my own someday so…"

Cisco managed a smirk at this, a familiar look of amusement forming in his eyes. "I totally understand that. And it's all cool."

"Good. We should get going before Jamie figures out what I'm doing. She'd never let me live it down." Cisco nodded in agreement with Eddie and the duo started toward the parking lot where their friends were waiting for them.

The glimmer in Jamie's eyes as they approached told Eddie that she knew exactly what he'd been doing with Cisco and quickly stepped forward to give Cisco a kiss on the cheek, shooting her cousin a look which Eddie could only grin at, knowing she was doing this on purpose just to try to irk him. It didn't matter though. Everything seemed to be going right for once and Eddie was going to enjoy it while it lasted.

"So where to now?" asked Jamie as Cisco pulled away from the diner.

"Well, Cisco and I need to get back to the lab… You could come with us and we could do your MRI or maybe Cisco can see about making you a costume," said Caitlin, "Dr. Wells has probably finished going through the data by now though so you might just be sitting around for a little while…"

"That's fine," said Jamie, "I had nothing planned for today anyway. Might as well get to know you all a little better and see what you guys do."

"Sounds good to me," said Cisco, shooting a grin at Jamie which had Caitlin shaking her head in amusement over the love-struck look passing between the newly minted couple.

Caitlin's thoughts drifted as Cisco and Jamie began discussing more costume ideas, only to be jolted back to reality as her phone buzzed. She pulled it out, expecting a text from Barry or Dr. Wells. Surprisingly, it was a text from Detective Thawne.

::Thank you for what you said to Jamie about her scars. I know it meant a lot to her.::

Caitlin smiled, typing a quick message back to him. ::No problem. I hope it helps.::

Eddie replied not a minute later. ::Believe me. It did.::

Caitlin let her grin widen slightly at this and put her phone back in her purse, Cisco and Jamie too involved in their conversation to notice the shift in her mood. Today was turning out to be an amazing day.