Within Seconds // Barry Allen

If I Lose You

"Is there time to change into your suit?" Parker inquired, tilting her head to look up at Barry. "Are you going to have the earpiece on? Because I won't let you fight him alone. You aren't ready."

"I'm going to have to be."

"Barry Allen--"

"Sorry, what do I do?" Eddie interrupted. His voice was registered by Parker and Barry, but they were too busy having a stare-down to turn their heads.

"Wells threatened Iris. If something goes wrong here, keep an eye on her until he's neutralized," Joe filled him in.

"I'll always keep Iris safe, Joe."

Barry was the one to break eye contact with Parker, distracted by Eddie walking away from the group. Victorious, Parker clapped her hands together.

"It's settled, you're wearing the damn earpiece. I'll give you mine so you don't have to put on the suit, and I'll just use Cisco's," Parker informed.

Barry rolled his eyes. "I let you win because I love you."

"Really?" Parker gasped sarcastically. "I had no clue!"

>>>>>>

There was quite a bit of waiting to occur before Dr.Wells arrived back at the Lab. Caitlin was upstairs in the Cortex doing who knows what; Joe and Barry were having a heated conversation in the corner of the bunker; Cisco played on his laptop; Parker sat against the wall, tying and retying her shoelaces.

Every time she looked at the clock, hoping it was an hour closer to the confrontation, the reality would be that only a minute passed. The longest she went without checking the clock was seven minutes.

"Is anyone else dying of boredom?" Cisco groaned.

"Yes," Parker answered immediately.

"What do you wanna do?" Cisco wondered, spinning his chair to face her.

"Honestly, stress eat."

Cisco nodded knowingly. He rose from his chair and helped her up from the floor.

"C'mon, we'll go feed the metas," Cisco said.

"Metas?" Barry called. "Can I come?"

"If you must."

The three ventured to the kitchen. Parker held the bottles of water in her arms, Cisco and Barry each carried pairs of potato chips and sandwiches.

"Don't forget the Stunna Shades," Cisco reminded Parker, pushing the sunglasses onto her face.

His Stunna Shades were for protection against Roy Bivolo, made with reflective glass to avoid getting angry.

Cisco was more inventive than Parker thought. During the months Barry was in the coma, there was honestly nothing to do. With the metas, his inventive brain was off the charts.

One of the bees from Brie Larvan was left at the Lab and Cisco got control of it, using it to bring vitamins to the prisoned metas.

Kyle Nimbus broke it, is what Parker found out later. She was glad about it, not that Cisco knew. She didn't want a repeat of the S.T.A.R. Labs teddy bears.

"Kinda wish I still had those teddy bears. They could deliver food for us," Cisco muttered.

"Mention the damn teddy bears again and I'll skin all of them."

Barry raised his eyebrows, chuckling. "Whoa, what am I missing?"

Cisco grinned and dove deep into the origin story of the S.T.A.R. Labs. Meanwhile, Parker relived her greatest nightmare.