The Scarlet Speedster's New Daughter

Chapter 8

Barry's P.O.V.

I woke up and saw Birdie was awake as well so instead of going back to sleep, I decided to stay awake and talk to her.

"Good morning." I smiled.

She winced and her eyes flickered over to where I was.

"Good morning." She smiled softly.
"How are you feeling?"
"It hurts like hell." She said groaning. "And I have to pee."

I chuckled and shook my head. "Okay well. You can just pee there and we'll get you changed."
"I'm not peeing on myself dad." She said furrowing her eyebrows.
"It hurts if you move. How are we going to get you to the bathroom?"

She shrugged and I sighed.

"Alright. Let's get you up." I said standing up.
"I can't feel my legs."
"What?" I asked my heart beating rapidly.
"I can't move my legs." She said touching her legs. "Dad, why can't I feel my legs?"
"Shh, it's okay." I said brushing her hair. "It's probably not fully healed yet."
"Well, I guess I'm peeing on myself then." She sighed.

I laughed and she smiled.

"Can you maybe bring me some diapers? Or not. You know what, yeah. Bring them."
"Sure." I chuckled.

I went home and got ready for the day, asked Caitlin to bring Birdie's clothes when she came, since she had slept over at her house the night before this whole thing happened, called Iris to come help me with Birdie and brought some personal items for Birdie.

"Okay. Iris here is going to help me with you. Is that okay?"
"Yeah." She whispered.
"Okay, you go outside while I help her get changed. Then you can help her with whatever else she needs."

I nodded and sat around the cortex while they were done. Caitlin arrived a few minutes later and looked at me curiously.

"Good morning."
"Hey." I smiled.
"Here's your daughter's bag. Everything okay?"
"She told me she can't move her legs."
"What?" She asked, her face going dead serious. "She should've been fine by now."
"She told me she's in a lot of pain and she can't move her legs. I tried to not make a big deal about it cause I don't want to scare her."
"Yeah." She sighed. "Where is she?"
"Iris is helping her get changed and stuff. She peed on herself cause I told her too. I mean she can't walk."
"How'd she take it?" She asked smiling.
"She didn't want to at first but since she can't move she agreed to it. Asked me to buy her some diapers."

She chuckled and shook her head. "That kid is really something."
"Yeah. She is." I smiled.
"Okay. We're all done." Iris said coming out.
"I'm gonna go check on her." Caitlin said.

Iris and I both nodded and stayed in the cortex.

"So, Birdie." She said walking towards me.
"Yeah?"
"I heard she isn't our daughter. Just yours."
"Did Nora tell you?"
"Yeah."
"Look Iris, I would never do anything to hurt you and you know that. I love you too much to do so. And I also love Nora. Let's just not worry about it until whatever happened happens, yeah?"
"Yeah." She nodded.

We sat around the cortex and waited for Caitlin to tell us what was wrong. Cisco and Ralph arrived a while later and just as they were arriving Caitlin came out with a not so good look on her face.

"What's going on?" Cisco asked.
"I just checked Birdie and she isn't healing."
"What do you mean?" Ralph asked.
"She has hyper healing right?" Cisco asked.
"She must have it if she's Barry's daughter." Iris said.
"Not necessarily. Something is wrong with her DNA. Everything should be going at immense speed and it isn't."
"I don't understand. I mean how can she run that fast then?" I asked.
"I think it's just been slowed down at the moment."
"Maybe the metal had something to do with it?" Cisco said.

She shrugged and sighed. "I can maybe use Barry's blood to give her a little boost."
"Can you do that?" Iris asked.
"She lost a lot of blood and if Barry's blood is compatible with hers, I think I can do it." She nodded.
"Okay. Then let's do it." I nodded.

We went to the med bay and found Birdie asleep.

"At least she's sleeping." I said looking at her.
"I gave her some medicine for the pain."
"But she slept all night last night."
"Did she?"
"Yeah." I nodded.
"Maybe it's because you were here." She said setting everything up.
"But you were there with her when she was sleeping and she's gotten very close with you."
"I'm not her dad."
"I'm sure that's not it Cait."
"Well then what else can it be?"

I started thinking about what I was afraid of when I was a kid and I thought for a while until I remembered something that I was terrified of.

"The dark." I whispered.
"What?"
"She's afraid of the dark." I said looking at Caitlin.
"When I was a kid, I used to be scared of sleeping with the lights off. Maybe that's what scares her."
"Makes sense. I turn off the light when I sleep and you slept with the light on last night so."
"Why would she be scared of it though?"
"Could be PTSD."
"Yeah." I nodded.

She drew some blood from me and proceeded with everything else that needed to be done. Birdie woke up two hours later and wasn't in so much pain anymore.