710. Chapter 710

Alex is curled up on Maggie’s lap and leaning over to whisper in Iris’s ear as they both giggle about the perks of dating ethical science-y cops or cops adjacent.

Barry is trying (and failing) not to blush, both because he knows exactly what Iris and Alex are giggling about, and because Maggie’s hand is casually slipped up the back of Alex’s sweater, stroking her wife’s skin as she leans back to chat with Barry about the latest advances in forensic science.

Iris is holding her husband’s hand as Alex makes her laugh and laugh, appreciating Barry’s supportive squeeze because she knows that he knows that she knows that he knows that Alex Danvers makes her stomach flutter in much the same way that Oliver Queen does.

Maggie is adjusting her glasses – a habit she’s picked up from her sister-in-law, a new comfort she’s found in being able to take out her contacts in the company of other humans – and peppering Barry with questions about STAR Labs’ latest this or that gadget.

And then all four of them jump, because an oddly-shaped figure suddenly appears right outside their window, rapping on the glass insistently.

Iris nearly topples off of Barry with her laughter, but Alex just groans and shakes her head with a roll of her eyes.

“Does this… happen often?” Barry leans in to ask Maggie, his hands protectively around Iris’s waist so she doesn’t veer sideways onto the floor.

“You’d be surprised,” Maggie smirks as Alex stands and strolls over to the window, still rolling her eyes, but with a smile forming irresistably, now.

She sighs as she opens the window for Kara and Lena.

Lena’s reclined casually in Kara’s arms, bridal style, her arms draped around Kara’s neck and a broad smile on her face.

“Do you two have to travel like that all the time?” Alex teases as she steps back to let Kara fly in, carefully turning sideways so Lena doesn’t hit her feet on the window.

“No better way to travel than with a beautiful woman in your arms,” Kara kisses Lena soundly before putting her down carefully.

“At least it looks good when you carry her,” Iris stands to hug Lena, then Kara. “When Barry carries me, it’s not always pretty.”

“Carrying someone at superspeed’s hard!” Barry protests, standing now too, his hands in the air helplessly.

“And to be fair, when you catch me, you don’t carry me bridal style,” Alex chimes, taking Maggie’s hand as she sits back down and pulling her down on her own lap, this time.

Maggie groans and Lena laughs, collapsing next to her on the couch.

“I know you don’t like when your superhero wife swan dives out of the DEO and waits for my superhero wife to catch her,” she leans into Maggie, pouting playfully. “But you should try it sometime, Detective. It really is quite exhilarating.”

“I’ll pass,” Maggie grins, tapping Alex’s thighs so they can both move to make room on the couch for Barry and Iris, too.

“Wanna sit in my lap this time, babe? Alex and Maggie switched,” Iris sits heavily next to Alex, kissing Barry’s hand as she pulls him tentatively to sit on her lap.

“That’s because Alex and Maggie are – “

“No more words out of you, Little Danvers!” Maggie tickles a pleased shriek out of Kara, who retreats into Lena’s arms, breathlessly laughing.

“I think I might be too heavy for – “

“You’re a stick, Allen!”

“Can’t you just vibrate so you’re holding up your own weight or something?”

“Who wouldn’t want to sit in your wife’s lap, Allen?”

“Okay, okay, I’m sitting, god,” Barry runs a hand over the back of his neck with a smile, perching carefully onto Iris’s lap, making her smile and coo as she rubs her cheek against the back of his shirt.

“Awwww,” Kara beams, leaning even closer into Lena.

“So who’s ordering food?” Maggie asks after a contented moment of silence between the three couples.

“I got it,” Barry offers, getting a kiss from Iris and a squeal from Kara. “It’s only fair,” he grins. “Kara and I’ll eat the first eight pizzas just between the two of us.”

“Does STAR Labs have a food budget for your metabolism?” Lena tilts forward to meet Barry’s eyes across Maggie and Alex’s entangled forms. “Because I’m thinking about setting one up at CatCo for this one, to compliment the DEO’s.”

Alex snorts. “It’s most of our budget.”

“At least potstickers aren’t that expensive!” Kara adjusts her glasses and blushes as Lena peppers her shoulder with kisses.

“Caitlin keeps trying to design something that’ll fill him up that’s tasty, too,” Iris chimes.

Barry shudders good-naturedly. “She’d an amazing doctor, but I think she should work with a chef on this one,” she grins.

“Don’t volunteer my wife for that,” Maggie teases, earning herself four giggles and one mock-dirty look.

It goes on like that, the entire rest of the evening.

Just three couples, one family.

Together, at peace. Teasing and laughing and loving and eating and letting themselves, for the first time in a long time, truly relax.