Taking the biggest gasp of breath I could muster, Barry soon zoomed off into the distance, stopping after a while to take my directions and let me breathe. I guess running with someone else in your arms makes you a little slower. As we rounded the corner towards my apartment, I gave him a nudge, telling him to slow down.
"We're nearly here," I said, my voice a little croaky.
"You got your keys?" He asked, raising his eyebrow at me.
"Ha, no. I climb through the window every night," I laughed, my brain making a distorted third-person view of a strangely clad girl climbing up the gutter and practically falling into her window nearly every other night.
"Um, sorry, what?"
"I should have enough energy to fly us both up, hang on." We walked around to the side of my apartment building, the red brick looking daunting in the winter darkness. "Don't be alarmed," I cooed, a smirk on my face as I raised us both up to my window.
"This feels so weird, oh my God," Barry cried, flapping his arms around as he tried not to get himself into a panic.
"You get used to it. It gets weirder the higher you go or, the longer you fly for," I explained, shrugging my shoulders as I hadn't ever considered the physics of it all.
"Is that why you get a bit dizzy?" Barry inquired, feeling uneasy as we were still floating in mid-air.
"I'm also not the best with heights," I admitted, smiling at him. "It's getting easier with practice."
"That's surprising; you seem so comfortable up here." I pulled my window open using the small gap which always remained open.
"I guess I'm at peace with myself when I'm on my own. I wouldn't recommend flying in a commercial flight path, though."
"Can't imagine it was that pleasurable, especially with that cape," he muttered, sighing in relief once his feet were firmly placed on the ground.
"It certainly wasn't. Anyway, welcome to mi casa, make yourself feel at home and what not." I was glad that I had turned some of the picture frames over, removing any sign of my identity in my house, apart from the massive cardboard cut out of me as Baloo from my school production days. I kept my fingers crossed that he wouldn't notice it was me in the darkly lit room, considering the colour of my face paint was pretty dark.
"It's nice. Not what I imagined from you but it's really nice," he shrugged, trying not to chuckle.
"You thought I, of all people, would have bad taste, Bacon Boy?" I dramatically gasped, my hand flying to my chest in shock before I remembered the searing pain in my side, causing me to hiss slightly.
"So, I'm assuming that this nickname is not going away anytime soon," he groaned, as he raised an eyebrow at me sceptically. I realised how close we were, him holding me up so I didn't have to worry about my side hurting.
"I sure wouldn't bet on it. I mean, it's better than Ben, right?"
"Now there's something we can agree on."
"By the way, are your earpieces still in? Surely Cisco and Caitlin are probably listening to us through them," I muttered, looking towards his ears.
"Oh, yeah, they probably are." He then proceeded to press something on his ear, looking like he was turning it off. "There we go, no more of them listening in." He moved his hand back down to my waist, lightly pressing his fingers underneath the cosy sweatshirt.
"That would be a first," I snorted, shaking my head at the thought.
"You know, it feels weird that I don't know anything about you, yet I'd call you my friend."
"I have one associate, but he's new. I've got a lair, but I'm not telling you where it is since you're standing in my apartment," I vaguely replied, trying to give him the message that I wasn't in the mood for sharing.
"I don't mean you as a superhero, I mean you as a person, the person under that mask."
"Well, what do you want to know? Other than my identity, that is," I reasoned, realising that he wasn't going to give in.
"Damn, well, how about you tell me something that nobody else knows about you?"
"I, um, I don't know. It's kind of hard to with someone else living in your head," I thought aloud, trying to figure out what there was that nobody knew about me, given that Eve knew almost everything.
"What?" Barry asked, his head turning to directly face me.
"Oh, it's a psychic thing," I shrugged off, not really wanting to divulge everything about myself.
"Whenever you say, 'It's a psychic thing,' you're talking about your powers, right?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm not exactly into sharing information about myself. I guess it makes me feel weaker," I clarified.
"That's understandable since this profession can be particularly dangerous at times." His eyes flickered down to my side before coming straight back up to meet my eyes. He held my gaze for what seemed like forever before he went back to looking around my apartment.
"That's why I try not to involve anyone who can't handle it."
"But, you know I can handle it," he insisted.
"Fine, I'll tell you something. Ask me what your heart desires, Flash." He looked at me straight in the eye once more as the hand on my waist shifted.
"So, are you, um, are you in a relationship?" He literally asked me what his heart desires.
"No, no I'm not. As I said, I don't like to involve anyone who can't handle me running away every night wearing a cape and a really tiny suit." I didn't smirk; I didn't make any snide comments, only answering his question. There just wasn't any need to make him feel any more awkward about asking questions.
"Cisco said he would give you your new suit when Caitlin says you're able to get back to helping people," Barry said, trying to change the subject.
"Oh, that's great, give him my thanks, would you?" I smiled.
"I'm pretty sure he's infatuated with you so he'll be thrilled," he grumbled in a monotone voice.
"Fingers crossed my suit doesn't get any smaller then. Funny story - I actually didn't buy enough fabric, so I had to make it into a body suit instead." He looked down at me, a silly smile on his face which revealed his near perfect set of teeth.
"Typical Cosmo," he laughed, shaking his head.
"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?" I lightly slapped his chest, a small laugh escaping my mouth.
"Oh, nothing, nothing. So, what nickname do I get to call you then?" He replied with a bright smile on his face.
"I don't come up with my own nicknames, that job is on you, Flash," I insisted, poking him in the chest.
"Okay, I'll come up with something, I promise," he brushed off. "Do you plan on erasing my memory?"
"Do you want me to?" I asked.
"No, no I don't."
"Then I won't. I trust you enough not to break down my door or stalk me while I'm in civilian mode," I responded, giving him a small smile as he nodded in understanding.
"Thank you, that means a lot coming from somebody who doesn't trust people easily."
"You're welcome, sweet cheeks," I said, mimicking his voice.
"That's my nickname for you," he whispered into my ear, his hold shifting on my waist.
"Looks like you've lived up to that promise then," I whispered back, daring to look up at his face.
"We better get you to bed, you're looking tired," Barry instructed, noticing me yawn and seeing the bags under my eyes.
"I'll go and get changed, all right?"
"Do you need any help?"
"I'll be okay, promise."
"I'm waiting outside the door," he said before I gently closed it. I quickly hid all of the pictures of Eve, Mum and I before slipping off the remains of my costume, putting on a pair of fluffy pyjama bottoms instead. I accidentally let out a small squeak of pain as I bent down to pull my pants up.
"M'done," I called out climbing into bed carefully, trying not to strain my stomach muscles when getting in. I saw the door open slightly, light streaming into the room from the lamp down the hallway.
"How are you feeling?" Barry asked, only his outline visible.
"Sore, but I'm sure it'll heal soon enough."
"All right. I need to get back to S.T.A.R Labs now but make sure not to do anything too demanding on yourself."
"Goodnight, Bacon Boy."
"Night, sweet cheeks."
And in a flash, he was gone.
~
As soon as I woke up, my side was hurting like an absolute bitch. I could hardly move out of bed, my side burning every time I even attempted to shift myself. In the end, I had levitated myself out and into the kitchen in search of my phone. Brendan: eight messages and twelve missed calls. I quickly rang him back and after two rings, he picked up.
"Emily Stone, you have some explaining to do young lady!" Brendan exclaimed down the phone, causing me to shudder in response as I moved my phone away from my ear.
"Sorry, Brendan. The earpiece broke because I got punched and thrown against a wall. I've got three broken ribs and a suspected bruised spleen, so I can't do any work for two weeks," I replied, a frown on my face.
"Oh, well I guess that's a pretty good excuse."
"The Flash and his team helped me get back to health. I tried to get one of them to trace the signal on the earpiece, but it was too smashed up to get anything from."
"Geez, Em. I'm really sorry. Do you need any help around the house?"
"Nah, I'm all right thanks. I've got my powers to help me out."
"Okay, I'm glad you're on the mend now, Emily. I'll call in again later to check on you when it's not so busy here. Your friends Barry and Eddie are here and my God, they are useless."
"I know. How do they seem?" I chuckled, his tone exasperated by their complete lack of talent.
"That Allen kid seems a little too happy, something I should know about?" Brendan replied as I could hear the teasing smile on his face.
"I don't think so. I'll let you know if anything crops up."
"Maybe I should train this kid better if he's gonna have a chance with you, ha!"
"Speak to you later, Brendan," I said with a laugh.
"You get better, ya hear?"
"Yeah, yeah." I put the phone down, looking around my kitchen. I quickly sent another text to Barry to remind him to ask Wells if he would reconsider offering me a job.
I went off to get dressed in my regular attire, knowing where I had to go today. I carefully got into my car, driving to the unfamiliar destination of the Central City Cemetery. I felt a little guilty that I hadn't visited Eve's grave since she had died but it soon washed away as soon as I got out of the car.
"Nice of you to finally show up, loser," Eve said while inspecting her nails. I could see her, a physical, paler version of the Eve I remembered.
"Why can I see you? In person? It's like you're not even dead, I can literally see you standing in front of me," I gasped, taking a step backwards as I pressed my back against my car.
"Look around, bozo. You can see everyone who's buried here."
"Oh my God, I'm Charlie St. Cloud, aren't I? I'm some weird character in a book who can see dead people or something," I gasped, watching the rest of the dead people walk around and chat to one another.
"Well, you got something right," Eve snorted, rolling her eyes as we began walking together, side by side.
"Is that-" I began, looking over at a ginger-haired woman who seemed eerily familiar.
"Her name's Nora," Eve replied, interrupting me as she gathered what I was going to say.
"She looks really lonely, should we go and talk to her?"
"Well, I know her already, but you're welcome to. Don't startle too many of the other people here, all right? How are the ribs doing?" Eve replied, raising her eyebrows.
"They hurt more than when you fell from the trampoline onto me when I was sat on the grass looking at the wildebeests," I groaned.
"Geez, sorry about that — even I wasn't expecting that punch."
"Don't worry about it, Eve. It's an occupational hazard. Cisco said he'd make me a new suit, though, sorry."
"But that suit looked so hot," Eve whined.
"Yeah, that's why I told him to make it look similar."
"Nice job."
"Are you going to introduce me then?" I asked, looking to Eve for assistance. She knew that I always preferred to be introduced rather than just barging in.
"Come on then." I walked alongside Eve's ghost, which was just as weird as it sounded.
"Nora? Nora, it's me, Eve."
"Oh, Eve, it's so nice to see you again. Who's this?" Nora said, spinning around and dropping the daisy she had picked.
"This is my twin, Emily. She can see and hear you."
"Oh, you can? That's extremely unusual — even my son can't see me," Nora mumbled before looking at her fallen flower with dismay.
"I'm sort of different. I'm assumed you've heard about the particle accelerator and how it's affected them. Since Eve died that night, I guess we've been connected since we were born so when she died and whatever particles that were released bonded to that connection and strengthened it so much that she's still alive in my head and apparently I can see all of you as well." I explained, giving her a friendly smile.
"I see, that's understandable. Eve's told me a lot about you since I first met her. Apparently, you're friends with Barry."
"Yes, he's really very nice. That reminds me, I need to call him soon."
"Does he know about your abilities?" Nora asked.
"No, he doesn't. The only person who knows is my boxing coach since I needed someone to tell and he fitted the bill."
"Brendan's cool," Eve said.
"Yeah, he's built me a lair and everything."
"Nice one, Doc," my twin said, sounding impressed.
"Doc?" Nora queried.
"I'm a qualified doctor, but I focus my time on research, particularly in genetics and neurology since our mother has locked-in syndrome."
"How unfortunate for you two, I'm terribly sorry. My Barry hasn't been dealing with my death at all well. Eve tells me that he's a CSI now, and I have to wonder whether that decision has been based on his quest to seek for the truth about what happened that night," Nora sighed as she swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat.
"Do you, do you remember what happened that night?" I asked.
"We don't remember our deaths; we're only meant to remember the happy times," Nora replied, smiling weakly at us.
"Maybe it's better that way otherwise surely you'd all be moping all the time that you're dead?" I suggested.
"I do that anyway since I'm with you while you're living," Eve said.
"There's not much I can do, Eve, you know that."
"So, are you just friends with Barry?" Nora asked, a smile on her face as I widened my eyes in surprise.
"You, you told her?" I gasped, turning to Eve.
"No, she didn't, but I guess I know now. Don't worry about it; you're actually similar but very different, so I think you'll make a perfect pair. No doubt Henry will like you as well since you're a doctor."
"It feels sort of strange to be meeting a parent so soon after I've met Barry but I'm glad that I got to."
Eve, Nora and I chatted on for a while longer before I said farewell as I had to go and pick up the gift I had ordered for Caitlin as a thank you for yesterday. It turns out that I do, in fact, have fast healing capabilities which I should probably note in the future. Sometimes it feels like I have the number of abilities for two people, although they all seemed to have been condensed all onto my body.
I made my way to the florists, picking up the hamper that I had bought which happened to be stuffed full of Caitlin's favourite foods and flowers which I had found by reading her. I know it's a little creepy and that I shouldn't do it often, which I won't, but I felt that in this case, it was a kind gesture. I went straight to the couriers afterwards to get them to send the hamper for me since I didn't exactly want to deliver it myself as I didn't have a suit to hide behind.
It turned out that Brendan did not visit my apartment or call me back as he had promised but I did, however, get a reply from a particular Allen boy, saying that we should definitely do lunch tomorrow. Needless to say, I was actually fairly excited to see him after not being around him, as Emily, for about a week.
A/N
Got all dem feels bruh, poor Nora
Don't forget to vote, comment and share if you liked this chapter!
See you on the dark side,
Charis xo