Hi, everybody! I decided to skip yesterday, our "free day", because of some personal things that arose. But I'm back now! So, Snowbarry Week 2016, day 5! Today's prompt is "law enforcement". Please note this is *VERY* AU. Ye be warned.

Title: holding each other (long after death has taken).

Summary:He had her tucked underneath him, safe. Her eyes were closed; His weren't. She probably died first, he, seconds after. Didn't even know she had gone before him. Though she thinks that even if he had, he wouldn't have let go. She thinks this man loved this woman fiercely, more than he loved anything or anyone, and vice versa. [Snowbarry Week 16. Day 5: Law Enforcement. Oneshot.]

Disclaimer: I do not own The Flash, or any other characters mentioned in this work.

holding each other (long after death has taken).

by clarabella wandering.

When she gets there, the first thing she sees is yellow tape, a sign she's in the right place. She runs a hand through her short hair, a nervous habit of hers, fingering the blonde strands before pulling her hood up; It's cold. "Hello!" She hears a voice and spins around to find a young man with glowing skin facing her. "I'm Eddie Thawne, reporter for the Central City Sun? Are you working on this murder? Can you tell me anything about it?" Eddie raises a recorder up to the opposing girl's mouth.

"Um, not at the moment, but soon." She returns. "Have a nice day." Stumbling away, badge around her neck, she steps over the tape and strides up to the detective standing with his back to her, inspecting the crime scene.

"Hey, Ramon, what's up?" She asks the detective, nudging his shoulder.

"This is up," Ramon (his full name is Francisco Ramon, though on duty he is Detective Ramon, He Who Can Crack A Case Simply By The "Vibes" He Gets -aka his gut instinct. [Off duty he is Cisco, He Who Always Wins at any Video Game No Matter What.]) says, brows furrowing. She can see the skin on his scalp move as he does this; The buzz cut allows every movement to be accented. Detective Ramon points to the house, and they walk into it together.

Inside, Ramon's partner, Laurel Lance, is speaking to a distraught blond girl sitting on the staircase. She pushes her glasses up her nose and then goes back to tightly hugging the puppy in her arms. "Hey, Ramon. Hey, Patty." Laurel flashes them both a smile before resuming her serious act. "This is Ms. Queen. Ms. Queen is the one who found the couple here." Laurel smiles reassuringly at Ms. Queen: "Felicity, can you tell my partner what you were telling me?"

Patty takes this as her cue to begin canvassing the area. "I have a key; my husband and I are close friends." Felicity is saying.

Laurel says, "her husband is Oliver Queen, the famous fiction writer?"

Patty's eyebrows raise, and she kneels down to collect a dry sample of blood before approaching the bodies that are lying on the floor. A broken picture is lying there, too, face up, unlike the victims. It's a picture of the couple. They're cute, Patty thinks to herself, and feels a pang of sorrow for the two lives lost. She pushes it down, though; With her job, she can't dwell on these things too long. Catch the killer. That's how you deal.

Still, she sees green eyes with love in them and gold wedding rings that are shining underneath the sun; The girl is in a sundress. He's in slacks and a nice shirt. They're smiling at each other, like they are the only two people in the world that matter.

"Oh my gosh," Patty hears Felicity Queen say. "What am I going to tell Joe?"

Patty steps back to snap a photo of the body, just as Laurel leads Felicity out of the house. "Hey," Ramon says as he approaches her. "Did you find anything?"

"Yeah," Patty says, holding up the bags she's collected. Snapping another picture, she suddenly realizes something that makes her heart stop. "They were reaching for each other." She says.

Detective Ramon nods. "Yeah; Turns out Captain Wells knew these guys. His daughter went to school with the dude's foster brother. He wants us to catch the murderer. Fast."

"What did Felicity Queen say?" Patty asks, collecting some hair she had eyed by the woman's hand.

"She ID'd the victims. Said that some guy by the name of Joe West is the dude's foster dad, took him in when his parent's died at sixteen. She was a teacher; He was a mechanic. Everyone called him Flash, because he repaired cars way fast. Says they got married two years ago. The girl..." Ramon swallows hard. "The girl was pregnant."

Something shakes Patty's core, and she takes a subtle step backwards, looking at the scene in a new light. She already had a hypothesis, one she tells Ramon: They both fought for a long time; A broken glass thrown clear across the room proves that. When it didn't work, though, he threw himself in front of his wife, probably to protect her from the line of fire. He was driven back, away, and she was shot, too. They went down, the shooter took their money and left, leaving husband, wife, and unborn baby to die.

He had been reaching for her, and had arrived, too. He had her tucked underneath him, safe. Her eyes were closed; His weren't. She probably died first, along with their child, he, seconds after. Didn't even know she had gone before him.

Patty thinks, though, that even if he had, he wouldn't have let go. She thinks that this man probably loved this woman fiercely, more than he loved anything or anyone else, and vice versa.

Ramon makes a displeased sound in the back of his throat. "They're really young, Spivot."

"Who are they?" Patty asks, even though she shouldn't ask. It'll be too personal this way. It's a strange feeling, though; She can't help thinking that she knows them, both of them, from somewhere, a lifetime ago. Shaking her head, she clears the thought, listening to Ramon instead.

"Ms. Queen ID'd them as a Barry Allen and a Caitlin Snow-Allen, twenty-nine and thirty." Ramon watches an officer cover both bodies with sheets, and he turns around. "Hey, Spivot?" He says, voice low.

"Yeah?" Patty asks, turning the names and ages over in her mind.

"Let's catch the asshole who did this."

With that, Ramon walks out of the house to find his partner, a man on a mission, ready to get a vibe on who their man is and where he might be.

Patty turns back to the two bodies, reaching for each other, holding each other in their arms, long after death has taken them.

Barry Allen and Caitlin Snow-Allen.

She swears she knows them from somewhere.