Catalyst (probably not going to update anymore, don't watch the show anymore)

Chapter 52

I met Barry at his office for lunch later that day, post mental-breakdown. The chair I was sitting in next to Barry's desk was painfully uncomfortable, so Barry switched with me because he's too precious for this world.

"Did you sign for the new TV this morning?" I asked, trying to swallow my Caesar salad without choking.

Barry's green eyes widened, and he quickly disappeared to the post office, presumably, to retrieve the package. It took a few seconds, but Barry was back in the seat across from me. "It's on the dining room table," he laughed.

Taking another bite of my salad, I smirked, and Barry took a bite of his sandwich. "Where did you get that sweater from?" He asked, pointing at the black sweater I was wearing. "It doesn't look like one of mine."

I glanced down at the black, wool sweater. "Oh," I said quietly. "It was in the box of stuff from Eobard's house, and I kept it in my office just in case I got cold." That was a lie.

"Really?" Barry laughed, catching my lie. "That's what you're going with?"

I blushed. "You got me," I chuckled.

"Where did you even go after Caitlin ran the blood samples?" Barry asked with a smile. "It was like I turned around for one second and then you were gone."

All the color left my cheeks, and I felt I lump in my throat. "I was in my office," I said quickly.

"Cisco said you looked really upset. Did anything happen?" Barry asked me quietly. My sad eyes darted to the floor, and Barry took that as an incentive to hold my hand gently. "You can tell me anything, you know that, right?"

Tears welled in my eyes just thinking about him, so I placed my head in my free hand so Barry would see how upset I was. "I just can't stop thinking about him," I whimpered.

"Finn," Barry whispered, empathetically.

"I just miss him so much." A few tears escaped from my eyes and dropped down onto my black pants. I whispered, "I'd give up everything just to see him one last time, and I would . . ." I started sobbing. "I just wa-want him to kn-ow that I'm okay."

My phone vibrated on Barry's desk, so I lifted up my head. Cisco had texted me: Where are you?! You're supposed to meet me in my workshop in like negative ten minutes.

"I've got to go," I stated, and I placed my phone back into my purse. I quickly wiped off the tears from my face, and thanked God for waterproof makeup.

Poking her head in, a pretty, tall, blonde women asked awkwardly, "Is this a bad time? I'll just come back later, Barry."

I stood up, putting on a fake smile, and explained, "No, I was just on my way out."

"Oh," the detective smiled, and stepped into Barry's lab. "I'm Patty, by the way. Joe's new partner."

He'd already replaced Eddie, great.

________

"I must admit," Stein chuckled as he tried out the power-cane Cisco and I had made for him, "I never imagined the sphinx's riddle of a man requiring three legs would ever apply to me, but if this device keeps me mobile then I will gratefully oblige."

Caitlin patted Stein on the back, and smiled, "Well, hopefully you won't need for much longer." She pulled up her files on the computer. "There was no agglutination in the blood samples and cross matching was negative from both, and it appears that the dark matter from the particle accelerator explosion mutated their genes in a very similar way it did to yours. I think they're both potential matches."