She laughs.

"Hi. Carita Nelson, pleased to meet you."

"Likewise. I'm Barry Allen."

He gives her a charming smile.

"Thank you for inviting me to dinner." 

"You're welcome! Come in, make yourself comfortable—how was your first patrol?" she asks her sons.

"So apparently there's this villain called Heat Wave who likes setting stuff on fire with his awesome homemade flamethrower. I said hi and geeked out about his cool gadgets while the other two were off rescuing everybody."

"Providing a very effective distraction," Barry adds. 

"I'll have to try that trick myself sometime, although I suspect it won't work so well for me." 

"It's a very Merry trick."

"I am getting that sense," Barry agrees.

"Oh, and we should discuss your public identity as superheroes, since you've been caught on camera now." 

"What goes into having a public identity as a superhero? And how long can I get away with never talking to the press? I don't wanna talk to the press. I bet Merry's fine with talking to the press but I'm not."

"You can let Merry do the talking for both of you," Barry reassures him.

"I'm sure he'll do a great job. I'm talking about things like...when and how we make it known that you two are my sidekicks, for example. I managed to avoid mentioning it today, and even avoided giving away that there are two of you, but we can't expect to keep that up forever." 

"I don't mind if people find out I exist, I just don't wanna have to talk to them."

Barry nods.

"Merry? You're being uncharacteristically quiet," he jokes. "Any thoughts?" 

He laughs.

"I actually don't super wanna talk to the press a lot either? I'll do it but I'd rather not make a habit of it. It seems like it's a really different skill from talking to specific people."

"We can tell them to leave you alone after the first interview, especially since you're under eighteen. But that'll be a lot easier if they've had one interview," Barry explains.

"I can be standing right next to you the whole time, if that'll help. I know how to talk to the press; I've been doing it for years." 

"Sure, sounds good."

He looks at Carita. 

"What do you think of all this, Mrs - sorry, it's Ms Nelson, isn't it?" 

"Yes, but I prefer Carita." She smiles. "What are you looking for my input on, exactly?"

"Your sons being superheroes?" he suggests.

"The fact that it's very likely they'll be famous soon, although hopefully only in their superhero identities?" 

"Seems like they're doing pretty well so far."

"Well of course we are."

Barry beams at Merry, pride shining in his face. 

"Your mom is great," he stage-whispers.

"I know," he whispers back.

Carita laughs.

"Anyway, as I'm sure you've discovered, superspeed is hungry work," Barry says to Carita. 

"I expect all three of us are ready for a good meal after that patrol." 

"In that case, you're in luck!"

She shows Barry to the dining room and has the boys help her serve a very substantial dinner.

Barry is very appreciative!

As Carita probably anticipated given that she's been feeding two speedsters for a while, he eats substantially more than one might expect from a man in such good shape. 

"Mmm, this is good."