"Oh god, what am I gonna tell Harry?!" Barry almost screamed. He wanted to. He really did. But one look at his girlfriend kept his lungs short of that kind of air.

"Seriously, Jess! How am I gonna tell him?! I'm not worried about you; he won't kill you. Me, on the other hand..."

Jesse giggled and walked up to him, a smile on her face that could put the sun to shame. "It's okay, Barry. I'm sure he'll be okay with it." She reached out and gently cupped his face in her hands.

"What am I gonna do?! I mean, Harry doesn't like me very much..." Barry's heart rate was going 90 in a flooded road of "Shit, I'm dead!"

Jesse stood on her toes and kissed his lips gently. "My dad doesn't really like anybody, anyway...well, except for Cisco."
"Gee... Thanks... Thanks a heap, Jess. You just made my point." The response was deadpan blunt. Jesse, sweet Jesse, lowered herself down until her bare heels were on the carpet of Barry's apartment. She laughed at the expression of horror and fear of death on her boyfriend's face as she pressed a hand against her slight belly. It was still early enough that she could still hide it under sweaters and jackets.

"Oh, come on. He'll forgive you eventually. He's never said it, but he's hoped for grandkids before."

Barry face palms himself and sighs heavily. "Sure. He'll forgive me...after he puts me in the med bay."

Jesse giggles and sits down on the couch. She grabs at a blue blanket covered in poke balls; a gift from Cisco to Barry when he came out of his coma. Barry watched her lean back on the couch under it and his hands go to his hips.

He was in trouble.

Cisco parked himself at his workbench and whined heavily. He was hurting. Royally. If it were possible to solder circuit boards lying flat on his stomach on the floor, he'd be doing that right now.

''Dammit, Harry,'' he groaned quietly.

A heavy gust of wind smacked him in the back, and he ever so slowly turned his chair around. Barry came into his view, and Cisco had to pause at the look on his face. It was almost a comical form of horror.

"Cisco, can we talk?" Barry asked, clearly nervous about something. He was fidgeting and rubbed the back of his neck for comfort.

The engineer smiled and folded his arms. ''Sure, Bear. What's bugging ya?'' This was gonna be fun. Cisco could feel a lot of radars going off in his head. And all of them were labeled ''Barry Fucked Up Somewhere.''

''You're with Harry more than anyone else... How do you think he'd take it if... ...'' Barry stopped completely. There was a risk here, telling the rather chatty engineer that Jesse was pregnant. Cisco had an awfully hard time keeping his mouth shut on things like this.

Honestly, the only way to keep Cisco quiet was to fill his mouth. But there was no tequila in Star Labs, and currently, Harry is still in bed. Berry felt his skin heat a bit at that realization, Cisco missed it entirely.

''If... If what, Barry?'' the engineer pressed. Something has clearly happened. His brain was playing roulette with the list of probable causes for Barry being so nervous.

Barry sighed, and Cisco kicked Harry's empty chair toward him, regretting the action of jerking his leg like that with such a sore ass. The speedster stared at it, but eventually sat down in it. He leveled a look at Cisco, wary of the gossip meters in the boy's head.

Oh, hell. May as well be blunt.

''I got Jesse pregnant,'' he finally barked out... ...

Cisco stared at him, and before Barry knew it, the boy's shoulders were shaking with cackling laughter. The engineer threw his head back, an ''Oh, man!'' buried in his cackles and giggles.

Barry groaned and his face fell. But he managed a question. ''How do you think Harry would take it if he found out?"

The engineer continued laughing, spinning his chair around in a few circles. Barry already feared for his life. This wasn't helping. Abruptly, he shot out of the chair and grabbed at the arms of Cisco's, ceasing all motion. And the engineer's shoulders were still rolling with laughter.

"Cisco, please!"

Said male finally forced himself to calm down and even wiped a tear from his eye. Yes, he'd been laughing that hard. He looked up at Barry and chuckled some more.

"Dude, you're toast."

Barry sighed loudly and ran off, red electricity trailing behind. Cisco found himself giggling again.

From there, the day dragged on slowly. Cisco was unable to bring himself to full functioning capacity until late in the afternoon. It was Harry's arrival that snapped his mouth shut. The man seemed to be glowing once Cisco factored in that, well, his ass was sore for a reason.

''Sleep well, Ramon?'' the older man asked knowingly, turning the engineer's face to a deep scarlet. He smiled though. But he turned away because it was really tempting to tell the man his daughter was pregnant. That wasn't Cisco's secret to tell, though. He began to wonder what Harry's reaction would be to the idea of Jesse with a baby.

And then he chuckled slightly at another image. Harry could be so grumpy at times that Disney could sue him for copyright infringement. So it was very hard to picture the man as a grandfather. Again, he chuckled.

"Something funny, Ramon?" Harry asked, looking in his direction. Clearly, the engineer had something on his mind. Cisco's shoulders jerked up a bit at being heard.

"...no?" The attempt of denial was so pathetic that Harry set down whatever it was he was doing and stalked over to the boy, standing behind him and gripping his shoulders tightly. "Are you sure there isn't something you'd like to tell me?"

Cisco shook his head quickly and yelped when one of Harry's hands came around and he leaned in, biting at the side of his neck. Cisco whimpered. He needed to keep his mouth shut at all costs. "...I can't tell you, okay?"

Harry was quiet, but let it go.

"Barry, we're gonna have to tell him," Jesse prodded, "He'll want some explanation for me suddenly hanging up my cowl, so to speak."

Barry groaned and buried his face in his hands, but finally relented after several hours of gentle arguing. "Okay," he sighed, "which of us is going to tell him?"

There were a few options. They could both be there; that was the correct way to do it. Or one could confess it while the other, namely Barry, hides. Jesse liked the sound of them both being there; it would force Harry to not lose control of himself and throttle the male speedster. Personally, Barry preferred the other of the two, hiding in some nook or cranny in the lab to deal with Harry's inevitable raging fit at a later date.

Although, with his luck, Cisco would find him first and rat him out.

"We're both going to tell him. Besides, look at the bright side of things. If he hits you, you'll be fine in an hour," Jesse stated. This earned a glare and Barry moved to sink into the couch. "Wow. Your concern for my well-being is just heartwarming, Jess."

All in all, Jesse was taking the situation rather lightly. A little too lightly, in Barry's opinion. A set of keys jingled and he whined. "Shall we?" Jesse asked, moving for the door. She was secretly excited to tell her father. Barry was obviously against the whole thing. He got up and went to the door, taking the house keys from her. Leaving and securing the apartment was quick, and Barry stuffed the keys into his pocket.

He turned towards her, still showing fear in his eyes. Jesse stood on her toes again and gave another kiss to his lips.

"It'll be fine," she assures him before she wraps her arms around his neck. Barry managed a small smile, returned the kiss, wrapped his arms around her, and carried her off in a burst of electricity.

Harry was busy scribbling on the whiteboard when a burst a wind stronger than normal blew into his workstation. He turned around and his eyes met Jesse and Barry, his arms around her waist. This made him raise a brow and grit his teeth. His papa-bear mode started kicking in, eyes burning and blood running faster, more heated at the sight of someone touching his daughter.

Barry saw the glare, and was suddenly cowering behind Jesse, using her as a shield. ''What's going on here?'' He was calm in his demand, but his voice rose and fell in warning. Jesse felt a little unsure suddenly. Barry's arms were gone, and he was shaking so badly there was an occasional spark running up and down his frame.

''Well, we have something to,'' Jesse's hair blew into her face, some strands fell into her mouth and she sighed as the warmth of Barry's body was gone, ''I have something to tell you.'' She took a shy step forward and her father matched it, every sense on high alert.

"I'm pregnant."

...the silence that fell upon the room was smothering. Jesse was beginning to feel upset at Harry's lack of response. He instead stared at her, mouth gaping slightly and eyes wide. Her heart was beating dangerously now. She ducked her head and chewed on her bottom lip.

And suddenly, Jesse couldn't breath. Fingers were tangled tightly in her hair and her spine was being crushed by an arm wrapped too tightly around her back. Harry was hugging her close, seemingly fearful of losing her and what she carried. Jesse closed her eyes happily and relaxed. "Barry's scared shitless of you, y' know."

Harry kept his hold on her as a dark chuckle rippled through him. "He should be. He's been rolling around in bed with my little girl without telling me," he whispered.

Jesse finally shifted a bit, earning some freedom. "Aren't you happy for me?" she asked.

Harry laughed this time. "Of course I'm happy for you. But it's standard practice that I have a few...words with him.'' Jesse gave a bright smile. At least, to Jesse's delight, Harry didn't charge at Barry when he first saw him. But Barry had run off, and neither of them had a clue where.

...

''Oh no,'' Cisco snapped, ''you're not hiding in my storage closet. Get out of there!''

There was no response, just the sound of the door lock clicking. Cisco's eyes widened. ''Barry, I don't have a key for this door!''

Silence.

Cisco sighed, realizing he would have to play hardball. "What's Jesse gonna think of you for hiding like this?" he asked, folding his arms. There was some clattering, and the lock mechanism in the door started clicking. Another minute passed and Barry opened the door. He looked like he was going to have a panic attack. Cisco just glared.

"Dude, you're gonna be a father. This," he motioned towards the speedster half hiding behind the door, "is pretty pathetic. I'll try to keep Harry under control, okay?"

Barry leaned against the doorway, still expressing fear of Harrison Wells. There was some comfort to be had in Cisco being there when Harry finally confronted him. "Trust me, there are things down the road scarier than telling Harry you're doing the horizontal mambo with Jesse." Cisco was serious, too.

Barry cringed at Cisco's bluntness, and his cheeks reddened a little at the particular choice of words. Give the guy credit; when he was straightforward, his words could be so blunt they'd hurt.

"Alright," he sighed and gave up, stepping out of the closet. Time to face the music.

Jesse had scampered off to Caitlin to discuss her pregnancy, getting a near back breaking hug along the way. An hour or so later, Barry came into the workspace Harry and Cisco shared, practically tiptoeing his way in.

Cisco sat down in a chair off to the side, wanting to let Harry loose steam without getting in the way.

"So," Harry started, facing Cisco first, "you knew my daughter was knocked up and refused to tell me?"

Cisco nibbled on his lower lip for a minute before supplying, "Not my place to tell."

Harry sighed quite heavily, shoulders stiffening significantly. "Fine. Get lost."

"But-"

"-Stuff it, Ramon. I'll deal with you later. Scram."

Barry nearly whimpered as Cisco got up slowly, cringing and then blushing slightly, but left the room on his lover's orders. He exchanged a look with Barry that was something along the lines of, "You're on your own, pal," and the speedster gulped.

Harry patiently waited until Cisco was out of earshot, then snarled quietly. "She's barely twenty, Allen. Are you out of your mind?"

"She's not a kid anymore. She can handle it," Barry replied hesitantly.

Harry turned around and face the marker board, burying his face in his hands. No. Jesse wasn't a kid anymore. But in his mind, she always would be. And that was the problem. He knew it, recognized it for what it was. He was still reluctant to hand her off to someone. Barry wasn't necessarily a problem. It was the idea of handing his little girl off to anyone. Period.

Adult, he reminded himself, though he doubted it would stick in his brain for a while. Harry liked to separate himself from other people's behaviors altogether, thinking himself not really better than others, just entirely different. Robotic. He didn't think he would or could experience most of the common emotions, especially to a situation like this.

But he was. He was experiencing the classic, fatherly emotion that his adult daughter would always be little in his mind, and no man on any earth was good enough for her.

"Can you handle it, Flash?" Harry turned around and folded his arms, "Can you handle what's ahead of you?"

Barry looked at him, some determination present. And there was some fear.

"Raising a child is no easy feat."

"I think I'll be fine," Barry answered calmly.

"Mm." Harry grabbed a marker from a nearby table and started beating it against his opposite hand, itching to throw a solid punch or three. Barry would be healed in about an hour from the bruises, but he still craved that satisfaction of decking a young man for getting his little girl pregnant.

Grown woman, he reminded himself again.

"So you didn't drop him?" Cisco remarked with some surprise when Harry came into the cortex, knuckles the same color they typically were.

Harry sighed and plopped himself down in a chair next to the young man. He didn't respond. He didn't really need to. His knuckles weren't purple. The defense rests.

Cisco went back to what he was doing, and Harry tuned everything out with his brain.

Being a grandfather... It was a hell of a thing to wrap his head around. He hadn't expected it. He'd been hoping for it, since his own grandparents were dead by the time he was two. Not long after he started Star Labs on Earth-2, his parents were gone, so Jesse never got to meet them. And here he was; he was alive, healthy, and realizing he could experience what a lot people in his family tree never could.

"Harry, are you okay?"

The man blinked and realized Cisco was in his personal space, eyeing him with concern.

He smiled a bit. "Just thinking about everything."

Cisco leaned away. "You still owe Barry a good punch though."

Harry chuckled here. "You want me to hit him?"

The engineer turned in his chair a bit to get comfortable. "It's your job as Jesse's dad, isn't it?" he asked. There was a small smirk on his face.

Harry couldn't help but match it with his own. "Yes, it most certainly is."