Sealed away (the flash x glee crossover)

2

One memory merged with another, it had to have been at another time, but oh, it was so long ago, who knows?

"Well, Barry, you don't need to worry anymore. I've pulled a few strings and looked into this for you myself. Thaddeus has been placed with a foster family. It's a really good home."

Barry immediately jumped from his chair. He felt the slightest bit of relief. His childish imagination had been running wild on all the possibilities where his beloved baby brother could be after he was taken that night. "When can I see him", he demanded.

"I'm sorry, son, but I am afraid it is not possible. See, they have already started the adoption process. The peculiar nature of your case forbids me from disclosing any more information at the moment. The records are sealed. I'm sorry Joe, but I can't do any more. Not even for you." He seemed to be genuinely compassionate. "It is a really really good family; He has a mom and a dad who love him as their own. He is going to have a wonderful life. You do not need to worry about him. I promise you this, with all my heart. He has everything a child could hope for and more."

"But he doesn't have his brother!" Barrys little fists balled in in anger. Joe had to restrain the boy from attacking his boss.

The scene changed once again and now they were inside the west house. Joe was speaking.

"I talked to the captain again today. There is an update on Teddy. He was adopted. The family chose to go through with it and seal those records permanently. I don't even know how this was possible, and to that extent, but... there is nothing I can do about it Bear. Believe me, I tried."

"No, Joe, please tell me I am going to see him again." Barry cried. He hadn't fully comprehended what all of this meant, yet. "Joe, please! I'm his brother! They know that, right? I'm supposed to be there for him. I have to, or else he'll miss me. Won't he?"

The look on Joe's face crushed all the hopes he had left. "The only way for you to see him again is if he decides to reach out himself... once he turns 18."

"18????!?!" Barry screamed. "I can't, Joe! I can't wait that long! He won't even be able to recognize me then, Joe, I will be 28 when he's that old, I want to see him NOW."

"I know, sweetheart. Me, too." And Joe held Barry tightly in his arms, the boy sobbing unforgivingly as it dawned on him how hopeless the situation really was. The man in the lightning had taken his mom and his dad, and now, he had taken his brother, too. If only someone would believe him.

Joe cried, too. Thaddeus was only a year old, and he knew he couldn't have handled it all. He knew that Barry understood this, he knew that Henry did, too. He was glad the baby was given a new prospect of life. But he still wished he could have done more for Nora and Henry's sons.

___

Joe did always know just the right thing to say. Together with Iris, they got Barry to calm down eventually. They were always there for him, and they were always there with him. This family, they had slowly made everything okay again. Therapy also helped.

Of course, Barry had tried everything he could by himself the moment he started working at the station. He was actually surprised at how little information there was. Jo hadn't lied to him. It had always wondered him that his brother wasn't mentioned in the newspaper articles, while his own name was plastered all over the media alongside his father's. He guessed it was because of his "Lightning-Man". But it wasn't just the media. Even in the files at the force, and everything else he managed to get his hands on, he was lucky if his brother was even mentioned, and if so, the information was redacted. He also looked into every single person in the CCPD Database with the first name Thaddeus, however none of them fit his brother's information or birth date at all. It frustrated him to no end. But legally, there was nothing he could do.

"Barry. Hello? BARRY?" Felicity's voice yanked him back into the present. She was now concerned.

"Yeah, sorry. Hold it right there; I'm coming."

_____

"Please don't ask me how I did it, but I got my hands on an unredacted CPS file about your brother from back in 2000. He went to Alexander and Catherine Smythe. So I went searching from there. Not only did they adopt him fairly quick, but they also moved away and out of state soon after. It was hard to dig up any addresses of where they went over the years. But apparently, the family just moved back to Ohio a few months ago after having resided for an undisclosed amount of time in - get this - Paris. The real Paris, in Europe. But yeah, like I said they are now in Ohio, and I found his name in the enrolment lists of one Dalton Academy in Westerville. It's a prep-school. Hey, do you think he might be a proper fancy french boy now?" (She seemed excited by this.)

All of this was a lot to take in. Thankfully, Barry could process information faster than anyone. He tended to forget the information obtained by speed thinking rather fast, though. But he was going to make sure to remember every single detail he learned today.

"Wow, France. I certainly didn't expect him there."

"Yes, and there is another reason why you couldn't find him." Barry looked up, desperate for more information.

"He's not Thaddeus anymore."

"They changed his name?"

Barry always knew this was a possibility, but still, he had hoped that his brother had at least something that connected him to his birth-family. It stung a little.

"His name is Sebastian Smythe now"

"Sebastian", Barry said, testing out the sound in his mouth. Okay, actually, it stung a lot. "I just can't fathom that my little Teddy is Sebastian now. This will take a while to get used to." He gulped heavily.

"His dad is a super influential state attorney. He works really high-profile cases. Seems to be a person you don't want to cross. And he's super keen on privacy, apparently. That explains why the records were sealed and he wasn't mentioned in any newspaper articles. He must have put a mandamus in place to protect him. He could have a lot of enemies, because of his work. Also, raising the son of a known murderer -sorry Barry- would not be great for anyone's publicity. There is literally no information on Sebastian online, no pictures or anything. This is all I have, It's literally the only thing I could dig up."

"No pictures"

"I'm sorry."

"No, there's nothing you should be sorry for. Thank you so much Felicity." He engulfed her in a tight hug.