WestAllen Love Story (Book 1)

Chapter 6: Aftermath

It had been a couple of weeks since the explosion at Star Labs, since something had gone wrong.  Caitlin was in the most shock of them all.  Her and Ronnie, another member of the team, had been talking about plans for getting married.  And now, because he had to be there to save her, and the whole of Central City, he was gone.  Caitlin stood staring off into space in the middle of the hall, towards the direction of the accelerator.  She was too focused on the memories to hear someone was behind her.  She closed her eyes to try and forget the memories.

"Caitlin?  What are you doing out here?"  She heard Cisco's voice from behind her.  She turned around to look at Cisco still with a blank expression on her face.  "I don't know what went wrong Cisco...  I've checked everything to make sure that something like this wouldn't happen..."  Cisco sighed a little.  He knew she was taking Ronnie's death hard.  He slowly stepped closer and wrapped his arms around her hugging Caitlin.  "It's not your fault Caitlin.  Sometimes in Science things go wrong...  Ronnie would've done whatever he could to keep you safe.  You know that..  Come on..  Let's go inside the lab..."  Cisco slowly pulls back from his hug but keeps his arm around Caitlin to keep her comforted and motions for her to walk in the lab with him...

Once Iris had her break, she hopped into the car and made her way to the hospital.  She still couldn't believe what all had happened.  And now Barry was trying to fight for his life, because of Star Labs.  Because they weren't quite ready.  They had made a mistake and now Barry was paying for it.  Though it had been a couple of weeks and there was no result, Iris was always worried something was going to happen to him.  He had already had two close calls.  Or she was worried she wouldn't be there for him when he woke up.

Once she got into the room, she saw her dad still sitting in the chair.  "Dad?"  Joe glances up looking somewhat ragged.  "Hey baby girl..."  She sighed a little.  "How long have you been here?  Have you stayed here since I left last night?"  "Yeah...."  Joe said giving a one word response.  Iris walks over to her dad and places a hand on his shoulder.  "You should get home.  Get some rest.  I'll stay with him..  I'll call you if anything changes."  Joe looks hesitant and worried for a moment.  "Alright.  But promise me.."  Iris wrapped her arms around him hugging him.  "I promise dad.  Right now I'm more worried about you."  He wrapped his arms around her hugging her in return.  "I'll be fine...  Alright.  I'll be back in a couple of hours.."  He says as she pulls away so he could stand up.  "Thank you Iris.."  He stands up leaving the room so he can go back home.

Iris sits down in the chair her dad was just sitting in and slowly places her hand over Barry's.  "Let's see.  Where did I leave off?"  She asks talking to Barry as if he could really hear her.  As she continued talking to him about her day, she heard the monitor suddenly start to flutter and Barry once again trying to go into shock.  She lets go of Barry's hand quickly and rushes out the door.  "Help!  I need help in here!"  She called towards the nurse's station.  One of the nurses nearby quickly pulled her head up and rushed into the room.  She paged quickly for one of the doctors as another nurse followed her inside.  "Someone take her out!"  The one nurse said pointing to Iris.  Iris shook her head being stubborn.  "No!  I'm family!"  She cried out trying to stop the one nurse from shoving her out of the room so they could work.  Iris watched as they began to work on Barry.  She dialed for Joe's number.  "Dad!"  She cried out. Once she explained what had happened, Joe hung up and quickly made his way to the hospital.

By the time that Joe had gotten there, Barry seemed to be stable for the time being.  "Iris hey..."  He said rushing down the hall to her.  "Dad!.."  She wrapped her arms around him hugging him tight.

"Perhaps I might be able to be of some assistance?"  Iris and Joe let go of the hug and both turned to see a dark haired man with glasses in a wheelchair.  "My name is Dr..." He began to explain but Joe cut him off.  "Yeah.  I know exactly who you are.  How are you going to help Barry?  Why do you think I would let you help him when you're one of the reasons he's here in the first place!?"

"Dad..."  Iris says looking over at him.  Harrison shakes his head slightly.  "It's alright.  I understand.."  Joe glared at the man.  "No..  I don't think you do..."  Iris pulls her dad aside.  "Look. Let me talk to him okay?  You can't blame him for what happened at Star labs dad..  Accidents happen..."  Iris watched Joe to see his response.  "At least give him a chance to explain.  Consider the options..."  Joe looks at Iris and takes a deep breath.  "Alright.."  He follows Iris back down the hall to where Dr. Wells was waiting for them.

"You have ten minutes to explain to me to get me to change my mind."  Joe said in a stern voice. Iris rarely heard her father get mad.  She knew that a lot of people detested Star labs for what had happened.  And in a way she did too..  But she knew that for now someone had to be reasonable.

Iris waited nervously outside Barry's room.  He was steady once again.  But the nurses said it was getting harder and harder for them to keep him stable.  Iris leaned her back against the wall and closed her eyes.  A few minutes later, Joe returned.  As she hears footsteps she opens her eyes.  "Well?"  She asked a bit anxious to hear what her father had to say.  Joe took a deep breath and explained everything that Dr. Wells had told him.  "Do you really think?.."  She asks not wanting to finish the sentence.  "It has to."  Joe said quietly.  "I'm going to talk to the nurses and hopefully they will be able to help move him to the lab come morning.

"Is there anything that I can do to help?"  Iris asks looking at her dad. "For now, just help keep an eye on him till I can get the release papers set."  He leans in to give her a quick kiss on the forehead before going back down the hall to the nurse's station.  Once they were all set, a team of doctors helped get Barry moved from the hospital over to the lab. 

"I promise you.  I will do whatever it takes to get him back."  Dr. Wells said to Iris and Joe as they had made their way into the lab.  Iris looks over at Dr. Wells and gives a small nod.  "I know you will.  And thank you."  After they had been there for some time, Joe turns to Iris.  "I think we should get back to the house.  Get some rest.  We've all had a pretty big day, and Dr. Wells will call us if something comes up.."  Iris shook her head.  "No.  I want to stay here.  I don't want Barry to be alone.."

Joe let out a small sigh.  "Iris..."  Before Joe could say anything else, Dr.Wells interrupted.  "Barry won't be alone.  I'll stay with him.  And I promise you I won't rest until he wakes..."  Iris glances over at Harrison and raises her eye slightly.  "That's a pretty big promise Dr. Wells."  "I don't make promises I can't keep miss West."  He says giving a small grin.

Iris hesitates a few minutes then gives a small nod in defeat.  "Alright". She says letting out a small sigh.  "Come on baby girl."  Joe said wrapping an arm around Iris leading her to the car so they could go home.  Once the two of them get into the car, Joe glances over at Iris.  "Barry will be okay..  He is quite strong."  He said giving a small smile to reassure her.  Iris glances back over at him and smiles a little.  "I know he is.  And I hope you're right."  She goes silent and glances out the window as Joe makes his way back to the house.

As the two of them make their way inside, they both notice the empty feeling, like something is missing. Iris sighs a little as she walks in.  It wasn't the same without Barry here anymore.  He had to make it out.  She couldn't lose him.  Not now..  "I'm going to bed."  She said turning slightly to her dad.  "You should too it's been a long day.."  "I will be going soon.  Goodnight sweetie."  Iris makes her way upstairs to her room and crawls in bed, but doesn't exactly fall asleep.  She couldn't.  She was too worried.  After some time has passed, sleep decided to take over and Iris finally had drifted off into a deep sleep.