No Waiting Room

[Tom Harriman]

Tom frowned. He'd assumed that it was some kind of blunder or slip of the tongue. Hell, he'd probably just thought something he shouldn't have, and Emma had over-reacted. He probably shouldn't blame Emma for getting upset without knowing what it was; but he probably shouldn't blame the clueless kid for being, well, a clueless kid.

The sheer horror in his expression was surprising: like the prospect of Emma being angry at him was too much for him to bear. Was there more going on than Tom realised? Some personal history between the two? Or was Kid Flash just zooming off way too far ahead of the game, and getting all upset about blowing a chance that he'd never really had to start with?

"Tulips."

The word tumbled from his mouth before he'd even decided what he was going to say. It made sense, though. He distinctly remembered a conversation where Emma had said something about tulips. Sure, flowers were a cliché apology; but getting specifically those flowers showed background research, and women always loved it when guys went to the effort of doing background research on these sorts of things.

He nodded sagely. "Buy her tulips. And -"

He hesitated, glancing over his shoulder to make sure that they were definaltely alone, before dropping his voice into a conspiratorial whisper. "- whatever happened, don't take it too hard. This isn't the first time she's been like this. In fact, last time was twenty-eight days ago, if you catch my drift."

[Jim Lewinski]

Narrowed eyes pinged left then right, then his expression changed dramatically, incandescent with the light of an epiphany.

"Ohhh!" he said, giving Tom a knowing nod, "Now it makes sense! Phew!"

In his relief, he wiped his brow with melodramatic flair. Shouldering his rucksack, and feeling as light and springy as ever, Jim considered his plan of action. Tomorrow, straight after his trip to El Toro - he was going to El Toro! - he'd sweep by the best florists in town and snatch up the biggest bunch of tulips he could carry. That was sure to get him back into the lovely Emma's good books.

"Tulips," he said, happily, "Emma's a real sweetheart, eh? Tulips. That's nice!"

There was nothing more to be done. Tom led Jim out of the lab, but not before the excitable youngster allowed himself one last parting glance of the little slice of nerd nirvana, he sighed. Once inside the elevator, Jim took a glance over his snappy attire and frowned.

"Hey Doc, just one last thing, is there anything you need me to bring along tomorra? Please-tell-me-the-monkey-suit-can-stay-at-home!"