"She's alive?" Barry asked in surprise as he stared at the monitor Cisco was on.
"Yeah, and she's in the same place Eiling shot her at."
"I'm gonna go get her, and see if she remembers anything."
Barry sped out of the cortex and onto the streets without another word. He sped to a halt at the waterfront where Bette was. He couldn't believe his eyes. He hadn't seen her in nearly a decade and she had exploded in a purple energy blast. And he remembered how he let her die.
Guilt pooled at his stomach as he halted in front of her, his throat tight with emotion and grief for letting Eiling shoot her in the chest. She was about to tell him about Eobard, about to say to him who he really was and that he was the one who put her up to this.
Their eyes met and Bette recognized him. It was a weird world after Crisis. But it couldn't get any weirder than this.
"Bette? Do you remember me?"
"S-stay back!"
"You're alive, it's okay."
"I-I..."
She looked down, blood did not soak her shirt anymore, she remembered being shot and about to tell Barry about Wells but then she lost consciousness. She looked around, trying to look for Eiling not knowing he wasn't there. He hasn't been there or even in the city for a long long time.
"It's okay, general Eliling won't be a problem anymore. You're safe."
Bette breathed a sigh of relief, her memory was flooding back to her, she was standing in front of Barry. But he wore a different suit this time, it differed much from the one that he wore when she last saw him. She felt dizzy and weak all over.
"Barry... that was your name, right?"
"Yes, Bette, this is a new world, there are things we still don't understand, I don't know how you're still alive. But, I'm thankful."
Bette smiled at him, she then lost her footing but before she could hit the ground Barry sped towards her and caught her in his arms.
"N-no don't! If I touch you-"
"Nothing happened, Bette, it's okay," Barry murmured softly.
Their eyes met and Bette smiled again, Barry's lips curled upward in a bright smile as well. Bette then fainted in his arms. Barry tried to wake her but to no avail, he checked her pulse to find that it was still there. He sped her to STAR Labs hoping that he could fix whatever was wrong with her.
...
Bette opened her eyes slowly, she groaned, burying her head into one of the pillows on her bed. Where the hell was she? Well, she was in a bed, that much was obvious. A long-haired guy dressed in a Pac-Man shirt and jeans stood at the foot of the bed smiling at her.
"Look who's awake!" He said excitedly.
He walked to the side and Bette tried to sit up.
"No, no wait, Bette," The guy said pushing her down by the shoulders trying to get her to lay down again.
She got scared, she threw him off of her as she sat up. Something was wrong, she felt different. Why wasn't the bed about to explode? She was very very volatile when she was panicking, and she was panicking right now. Her breathing became erratic when walls were closing in for her. Her head pounded like a drum.
"I feel... I feel-" She was going to throw up.
Her vision swam. Her hands gripped her head as memories rushed into her head. Eling shot her, and she felt warm, surprisingly warm, and then darkness.
"Please, Bette, lay back down, you're tearing your stitches!" A feminine voice came from her side, a brunette with wide doe eyes and a concerned expression looked at her.
She began to fight the man, trying to get out of bed. She needed to go, to leave before she touched something she shouldn't and explode the whole building she was in. She saw the brunette fill a syringe with sedative and she snarled.
"I am not going back into that fucking box!" She screamed.
"Hold her down Cisco!" She yelled.
As soon as she heard her, she threw them both off of her and jumped from the bed, stumbling into the hallway. She needed air, but the winding hallways appeared to circle around in an insane maze in the shape of a circle.
"Bette!" She heard a familiar voice call to her from afar.
She was in too much pain to care. Her body was in fight or flight mode, and right now she wanted to run. She slumped to the floor, her nausea and the pounding in her head overtook her. A warm and comforting hand settled on her shoulder and Bette looked up into a pair of hazel eyes.
"Barry?" She murmured unsurely.
Before she could say more, she felt a needle poke into her arm, and she saw darkness.
...
Barry gently picked up the unconscious plastique and carried her back to the infirmary.
"Her stitches tore," Caitlin said as she prepared to redo them.
"For some reason, I thought she'd be a lot weaker now that we suppressed that part of her meta gene where she explodes everything she touches," Cisco wheezed out.
"Why would you assume that? She can still explode things but now it isn't compulsive," Caitlin told him.
"Well, she's not supposed to be this strong."
"You're just a little baby, admit she's stronger than you, she's been in the military, not in a lab inhaling cheese whiz."
"Guys, not now!" Barry interrupted.
Caitlin got her onto her back and pulled on her latex gloves. Barry laid a hand on Cisco's shoulder.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine, just a bruise."
Barry went to help Caitlin and she held a hand up.
"I can do this, Barry. You have a meeting in the precinct in 2 hours."
"I'll manage," Barry said tiredly.
"Go brew yourself a pot of coffee, you've been up way too long."
"Only if you go home and sleep after this, have Cisco watch over her."
"Don't tell me what to do, Barry."
Barry rolled his eyes playfully before stepping out of the cortex and to the lounge.
...
Barry sat in a comfortable office chair, watching Bette stir in her sleep. As The Flash, he had to be a strong and firm hero, bound by logic and facts, and by numbers. As Barry Allen however, he cherished those moments when he could let down his guard and just enjoy life for what it was. Just like now, he was free to show sadness over his friend's state of mind and appearance.
They had detected a tumor in Bette's back that had grown malignant and was most likely the source of the explosion in 2014. When Eiling shot her, the bullet burst her tumor and caused a chain reaction that led to her exploding. She must have somehow reset because the tumor was intact, when Caitlin pulled it out it was glowing purple, Barry was worried and zoomed out of the lab with it in hand, he threw it into the air and it exploded with great magnitude. Thank god he trusted his instincts there.
A cry of pain immediately woke Barry hours later.
"Bette," Barry whispered as he rushed to her side.
She was trying to get out of bed again, he firmly placed his hands on her shoulders.
"Bette, you need to stay in bed," he said. "You need to rest."
"No, don't touch me!" Bette whimpered.
He knew that she was in pain, he could see it in her eyes. But he also knew that if she didn't rest, she would only get worse.
"I'll help you," He said softly. "Just let me help you."
She finally acquiesced and allowed him to help her back into bed. He stayed with her until she fell asleep, his hand gently stroking her hair.
The next few days were difficult as she battled both the pain and her own stubbornness. But with his help, she slowly began to get better.
And then one day, she woke up feeling better than she had in days. The sun was shining and a gentle breeze was blowing through the window. She looked over at him and saw that he was asleep, his head resting on the pillow next to hers. A smile spread across her face as she watched him sleep peacefully. She dared a chance and reached over and lightly touched his cheek, feeling grateful for him being by her side. Suddenly, she felt a warm glow inside her and she knew that everything was going to be alright, he was the Flash after all, and being personally looked after by him was comforting.
Bette didn't have to hide who she was or run away anymore. Barry understood her because he was a hero and because he was exactly like her. The accident gave them both powers they would have never even thought they would have. They were able to connect because of it.
Barry stirred and then his eyes fluttered open, he smiled up at Bette.
"Hey, you're awake."
"Hey, Barry."
"Wow, you remember my name."
Bette slowly sat up, ignoring the tiny pricks of pain she felt in her legs from not moving them for days.
"Why wouldn't I remember your name?"
"You would have fever dreams and you were awake but did not respond to us and it's like we were strangers to you."
"How long was this for?"
"About 5 days."
"I'm sorry, I don't know what's happening with me," Bette murmured.
"We fixed you Betee, that's what happened."
"You fixed what?"
"The tumor, Caitlin pulled it out, we extracted the dangerous part of the meta DNA you have, isolated the part where everything you touch explodes. We cured you."
"No that can't be, Wells said-"
"He said that nearly a decade ago, Bette, the tech, it's here now."
Bette felt relieved, she smiled, tears welling in her eyes.
"Now that being said, you still have the powers, but now they're voluntary, you have the power to activate them, they don't control you anymore."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Bette reached out and hugged him, now convinced that his clothes wouldn't explode. Tears ran down her cheeks as she was free now.
"Are you ready to walk? It's been nearly a week now."
Bette nodded, Barry stood up and held his hand out. Bette set her feet on the cold laboratory floor, they wobbled for a second, but she regained her footing.
"Careful. Come on, let's take in the sun."
Barry led her by the hand to the corridor, he handed her some shoes and a pair of sweatpants, and a STAR Labs T-shirt. They got into the elevator and Barry pressed the button to take them to the first floor.
"What do I do from this point on?" Bette asked uncertainly as she stared at the elevator door blankly.
"If you're asking me, I'd say you'd live your life on your terms, you were reborn, that doesn't happen every day."
"But I've been out of it for so long, how do I go back to living life?"
"Do you want me to help you?"
Barry admired the way her fiery ginger hair contrasted against the dull blue walls of the elevator, the light reflected off her bright green pupils like emeralds. He smiled warmly at her. Bette felt her face heat up.
"Can you? I mean you? You have so much on your shoulders already. You need to focus on being a hero and saving people, I'll just hold you down."
"Bette, you're not doing any of those things, you're important to me. I was too slow and I couldn't get to you in time. I owe you this."
"You don't owe me anything, you fixed me," She argued.
"I like you, I want to be with you," Barry admitted, his tone came off as stern, but he didn't mean it.
Bet furrowed her brows, she didn't know if he was mad at her or if he was being serious.
"You what?"
Barry calmed down, he forced his lip to stop twitching, a bad reflex he got whenever he got nervous.
"I like you Bette, and I want a chance to be with you."
"I-I'm flattered Barry-"
"Sleep on it, I just needed to tell you that, back in 2014 I started to like you, I didn't know if it was pitty so I didn't act on it, but now that you're here, I think it's more than that, you and me... we're the same, we both got our lives altered."
"Okay, I'll think about it," Bette softly answered.
Barry nodded, the elevator dinged, and they quickly made their way outside. They stepped out onto the steps of the labs, and Bette smiled widely. She spun around glad that the sun's rays hit her face and she felt warm. She reached out to Barry and tugged him down the steps.
"Let's go somewhere!"
"Where?"
"Anywhere!"
"We could go to Paris, maybe Madrid?"
"No, here, in this city."
"Let's go for a walk," Barry offered.
"I'd like that."
He stuck out his hand, and Bette took it. They walked away from STAR Labs and into the city. And after that, morning walks were Bette's favorite thing to do with Barry.
...
MONTHS LATER...
Bette held Barry's hand as they walked along the sidewalk in downtown Central City during the early morning. It was a wonderful morning, perfect to walk outside.
"So, how has your recovery group been doing?" Barry asked Bette, during her stay in Central City the past few months, she had started a recovery group for veterans who were mistreated by their superiors during their service.
"It's good, there are people who really need help and are getting it. There's this guy called Emil Blonksy, he too was used as a test subject by an officer like Eiling, General Ross."
"Both of them are buddies I think," Barry remarked sarcastically.
"Yeah, that's probably a good guess."
They made their way toward their loft, Bette had opted to stay in STAR Labs but Barry insisted she'd stay with him now that they were together. It took a lot of time for them to get used to each other, as each one had a different lifestyle. For example, Bette would get up early in the morning and start her exercise routine which consisted of running a few miles and then some weightlifting. Occasionally she would spar with Barry if he decided to wake up early as she did, but normally he would stay in bed until it was 10 minutes before he started his shift at CCPD.
Bette didn't like that. Barry didn't like the warmth she generated leaving the bed at such an early hour in the morning. But compromises could be made, and that's what they're very good at, it's what occasionally saved their relationship. On weekdays Barry would wake up along with Bette and accompany her in her early morning routine. He would also let Bette do the covers of the bed every morning despite him being able to do it at super speed, but Bette said it was still messy. She was a perfectionist and he was a very laid-back kind of guy. Bette was in the army for a long time though, so Barry wasn't surprised that their bed would be made just like the bunk of a soldier. But, if that satisfied Bette, then it satisfied him.
On the weekends though, it was another story, they would sleep in until late morning. At first, Bette hated it, she felt like she had to do something in the morning to feel more productive. But little by little, with the help of Barry and the hugs and kisses he gave her the more time she spent in bed alongside him, she got used to it. In fact, she yearned for the weekends just to be bundled up with Barry in bed.
Barry unlocked the door to the loft and stepped inside, Bette couldn't notice the smell of the apartment. It smelled like freshly baked pastries and coffee. She smiled at her boyfriend.
"When did you have the time to run to the bakery to get breakfast?"
"Time remnants do come in handy."
Bette rolled her eyes, smiling widely. Her crystal green eyes sparkled with mirth and contentment.
"You're amazing," She added.
"No, you are. Absolutely amazingly beautiful."
Bette looked down, blushing. Barry tilted her chin up, making her look at his face.
"I love you. Bette. And nothing's ever going to change that."
She smiled, it has been a long time since she had anyone who ever loved her like this. A long time since her days in the army, even then it was just comradery. This, however, was different. She could imagine spending the rest of her life with this man in front of him. She could imagine marrying him, carrying his children, nurturing a new generation of heroes, if that's what they wanted of course.
"I love you too, Barry. Thank you for giving me a chance."
"I should be saying that to you, in that elevator, I think that changed my life."
"Let's see how much it changes then, for the better."
Barry leaned down and kissed Bette softly. As out of a fairytale, Bette felt like a princess, and her knight was now placing a chaste kiss on her lips. Bette smiled into the kiss.
"Is it from the bakery down the street?" Bette whispered after both of them parted, their faces still close.
"Yeah, you always liked that place."
"Then what are we waiting for, let's dig in."
Bette turned and walked to the table to sit down, Barry smiled at the redhead. His beautiful girlfriend with fiery hair, a fiery spirit, and fiery eyes could never be substituted or imitated. Now in her immaculate maturity, sitting in front of him, he was more in love with her each day.
"I'm right behind you," He said softly.
He'd always be right behind her.