"Why are you here?" A voice barked at me as Barry and I had arrived at Iron Heights.
"Nice to see you too, Eddie," I groaned, rolling my eyes as I crossed my arms over my chest.
"I'm serious, Emily. You can't just show up with your boyfriend to a crime scene."
"I'm here on scientific grounds on behalf of S.T.A.R Labs regarding metahuman activity. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some science to see to," I smiled, shoving my Lab ID into his face as I stared down at him slightly since the heel of my boots made me taller than him, as I walked past to where Joe was waiting for us.
"And I thought you were meant to be better at being on time, Barry," Joe muttered, raising an eyebrow at him.
"And I thought that Barry didn't work on Saturdays, but here we are," I grumbled.
"I was about to ask why you were here, actually," Joe asked, eyeing me suspiciously.
"Well, for starters, this all interrupted date day," I said out loud, before adding into Joe's head, "And I thought you might need some of my other skills, in case any of the prisoners aren't very willing to surrender any information."
"Come on you two; I'll show you where it is," Joe agreed as I gave Barry a high five as soon as Joe had turned around and started walking towards the scene. "Emily, can I borrow you for a minute? We'll let you get set up, Bar."
"All right, I'll see you in a few," Barry said to me, giving me a small kiss on the cheek before heading off to the cell while Joe took me aside.
"Do you think that you can get some ideas about what happened here from some of the prisoners?" Joe asked me.
"Sure, I'll have a try," I smiled as he nodded in response, passing me a pen and a piece of paper.
I walked back down the line of cells, ignoring the wolf whistles from the prisoners and peered into some of the cells. Most of the prisoners didn't know much, apart from that there was a woman who broke Clay out of prison. I noted down everything that I could, trying to get a name for the mystery woman but it seemed that nobody knew who she was.
I froze in place as I reached one cell. I could hardly breathe as I saw the stubble, now greying from being locked up in here for so long. He was smirking at me once he saw the tears in my eyes. I felt sick to my stomach at the sound of his low, rumbling laughter. My grip on Joe's notepad had intensified as he stood up from his bunk bed and leant on the bars.
"My, my, if it isn't little Emilia Stone, how you have grown," the familiar French accent burned through my ears as I stayed silent, gripping Joe's pen in my hand until I heard the metal crack inside my fist. "What's up little mouse, cat got your tongue?" He taunted. My chest was tight, my eyes were wide with fear and were rapidly gaining in moisture.
"What happened to that fiery sister of yours? She always did more talking that you, sweet little mouse. I heard your father moved away after he won his case. Poor little mouse left all alone."
"Why don't you shut the hell up and be grateful you escaped the death penalty, little mouse?" I shouted, narrowing my eyes at him.
"Ah, there we are. The fire that burns within a victim's family. Tell me, little mouse, how is your mother? Still hanging on? I bet you wished that she had been put out of her misery and died like she was supposed to, no?" He gibed, his eyes as dark as they were on the day of his sentencing. My tears finally spilt over as I walked away from his cell.
"Run away, little mouse. Run! For the lions will be released from their den soon, and they'll be coming straight for you," he threatened as others around him cheered. He was to be let out of prison later this year, following a nine-year sentence.
I continued walking, some of the prisoners sticking their hands out of the bars to tug on my hair, more tears falling as I quickly jogged back to the safety of Joe and Barry in Clay's empty cell. I couldn't slow my breathing down as I felt the room spin around me. I couldn't breathe. My lungs felt as if they were on fire, along with my brain as my vision blurred.
"Emily? Woah, woah, what's happened?" Joe soothed as he steadied my shoulders. I looked at his face, which blurred into three separate images as I felt my feet tingling as I stumbled against the wall.
"He's here," I choked, my hands gripping the sides of my head as a wave of nausea and an intense headache flowed over me.
"Who? Clay?" Barry asked, kneeling down beside me.
"No, no, no. The guy who-" I paused, breathing heavily in and out as I remembered standing in the wings on his trial, watching him cackle as the judge read out his sentence. He was laughing all the way to Iron Heights, the media reported. "He said I'm next," I cried out, as images from his head were sucked into mine as what he would do to me.
"No, Em. We'll keep you safe, Joe and I will," Barry cooed as he took off his gloves and hugged me.
"You need to tell me who did this to you, Em," Joe asked me, his serious Detective mode switched on.
"Cell 289, Matthieu Nicollier," I choked out as Joe walked out, giving me a stern nod. I knew that it would only make the situation worse for me in the long run, but at this moment, I really didn't care.
"I've finished up here, so why don't we get the hell out of here," Barry said, peppering the top of my head with small kisses, mumbling especially as words of affection to soothe me, and admittedly it was working more than anything.
"Please," I begged as Barry collected his gear and we headed out of the prison without having to walk past the cells until we were out of the security camera's sights.
"Where do you want me to take you?"
"Central City General," I replied before blowing my nose on a tissue Barry had handed me.
"Are you really feeling that bad?" He asked, steadying me by my shoulders.
"Did you leave your brain in there? No, I want to see my mum," I dismissed, shaking my head at him.
"How are you sassy even after all of that?"
"It never leaves me," I sighed, playing with the ends of my hair to distract me from myself.
"Let's get going. Otherwise visiting hours will be over."
"I think I'll be okay for a run there."
"Okay, just take a big breath."
"Helpful," I muttered before he hooked his arm underneath my legs and propped me up against him. I latched my arms around his neck before inhaling a large breath, as per Barry's instructions, before he started running off.
We arrived down a back alley behind the hospital to avoid being seen. I straightened out my skirt, still feeling a little shaky on the inside from seeing Matthieu. Even after him being in jail for years, he could still rattle me. He used to torment me while the trial was taking place, often singling me out for being next. I put it down to the fact that I had been playing detective and was the one who figured out that he did it since the police weren't putting it as a high priority case due to the lack of evidence.
"Em? Earth to Emily?" Barry asked, still clutching my shoulders.
"Sorry, what?" I said, blinking as I looked him in the eyes. He was concerned, and I didn't blame him. He was completely in the dark about what had happened between my family and Matthieu Nicollier, though I was surprised that Barry hadn't searched for me online to find the articles about my mother's case since my dad was a high profile lawyer.
"I asked if you were ready to go?"
"Oh, right. Um, this way," I mumbled, taking his hand as I guided us to my mother's ward on when we were inside the hospital. "Just a warning, don't be alarmed when you see her because I'm very aware that she's getting worse. And, sometimes I'm a little quiet, but that's normal since I kind of just watch her and think about conversations we would have. You're welcome to talk to her, though."
"Hi, Emily. Oh, you've never bought a visitor other than your sister with you before," Angela, the regular nurse at the reception desk, began to say as she had a smile on her face.
"This is Barry; my boyfriend, and I thought it was about time he met my mother," I replied, looking at Barry.
"Well, it'll be nice for Sandy to see a new face," Angela smiled as we signed the visitors' book and walked off towards my mother's room.
"There's no way your mom is called Sandy Stone," Barry said in disbelief, a teasing smile on his face.
"You better believe it," I mumbled as I pushed the door open into the gloomy hospital room.
"Hey, Mum, I bought Barry with me, if you don't mind," I told her, sitting on the chair closest to her as Barry scooted next to me.
"Hi, Mrs Stone, it's nice to meet you," Barry greeted as he gave my hand a squeeze.
"He's cute, and he's polite?" Mum asked, laughing at me.
I could imagine us coming to her house and her greeting us by giving both Barry and I a hug. I could imagine with smiles all around as my mother would have offered us tea and Barry would've politely accepted, even though he preferred coffee.
"I still haven't told him." I thought, staring at her.
"So, Mum," I said, clearing my throat, "I, uh, had one of those things again. Though you wouldn't know about them because they started during your trial and when Dad left, and it was just Eve, our housekeeper, and I. Well, you might know about them because I've told you about them before, but I'm not sure if you remember," I rambled, looking down at my fingers which had knotted themselves between others.
"What brought it on?"
"I went to Iron Heights with Barry on a case, and I walked by his cell."
"Why didn't you realise it sooner?"
"I didn't know he was in that wing. He said that he's coming for me next since he heard about Eve's death in the papers," I sniffled, wiping my nose with the tissue which Barry passed to me.
"So, Mrs Stone, I'm Barry, though, you probably already knew that. I wanted to tell you that I'm very lucky to have met Emily. We met on the off chance that I overheard a conversation Emily was having with her sister, and we became friends. After Emily's coma, my best friend, Iris, insisted that she stay with us while she recovered, and I guess that's how we got to know each other," Barry explained, starting to ramble slightly as I chuckled softly and brought him out of his burst of speech.
"You're sharing your rambles, I see," Mum said as I could imagine her laughing. It was like I could hear her laughter in the room, though, it was just a memory.
"It's all happened a bit quickly, you could say, but I wouldn't change anything," I replied, smiling at him. "Apart from telling him sooner," I added in my head as I tried not to look guilty.
A knock sounding from the door brought me out of my head. Barry and I turned to see the ward's senior nurse. "Sorry to interrupt your session, but do you mind if I talk to you, Emily?"
"Not a problem," I replied to the nurse as I turned to Barry, "I'll be back in a minute, don't worry." I followed the nurse out of the room and into her office. I got a little nervous when she closed the door behind us and began shuffling through some papers until she found my mother's files.
"Dr. Stone, I'm sure you're aware of your mother's condition and issues regarding it. We've been doing the regular tests, and lately, we've been seeing a decreasing blood pressure and her measurements have started to decline. We've narrowed it down to cachexia, a muscle wasting syndrome more commonly found in older people that are dying of old age," the nurse explained, turning the pieces of paper around for me to analyse. My hands were shaking as the paper rattled between my fingers as I put it down on the desk.
"Dying?" I repeated, my mouth dry as I read the piece of paper.
"Because of your mother's pre-existing tachycardia of over 100 beats per minute, her heart is degenerating faster than you or I's would. Her locked-in only makes matters worse since she cannot exercise, so her heart will slowly become so inefficient that her breathing will reduce to nothing."
"Will it be painful?" I asked, looking up at the woman.
"We can't be sure, honestly," the nurse admitted, handing me a tissue as if she predicted that my eyes were about to resemble Angel Falls.
"How long has she got?" I sobbed, trying to blot my eyes to stop my mascara from smearing. I felt guilty, useless and a failure. She was now, fully and surely dying and there was nothing I could do about it. There was almost no point in trying to find a cure for her locked-in syndrome now. There didn't feel like there was a point to anything anymore. What a useless hero I was trying to be if I couldn't even save my own mother.
"If we go on the current rate of decline, I'd say she won't live out the year, probably a maximum of ten months." I wished I hadn't told Barry not to worry.
The thought of telling Barry about my secret flashed across my mind, though, I quickly dismissed it. I thought that if she was already dying, why would I be worried about a premature death if she was only a few months away from it? I knew I couldn't be taking other people's lives into my own hands for the worse. It shouldn't be my decision as to when my mother died, particularly since we had just reconnected after my powers created a channel between our minds.
"I, uh, thank you for letting me know," I mumbled, sniffling as I got up from the chair and walked out of the room. After some slow breathing and keeping my eyes closed for a couple of minutes, I had regained myself in the quiet waiting room.
The news of my mother's shortened lifespan didn't hit me as hard as I had thought it would. I was considerably more upset when Mum first was attacked, but everything else from there onwards had been severely numbed. I didn't even mourn Eve for long, considering I stumbled across her in my head the day I found out she had died. I don't regret not sobbing my eyes out and feeling heartbroken for days since I wasn't the type to concentrate on the past and what we might have missed.
Walking back to Mum's room to find Barry, I heard him softly talking to her as the door was open. "Honestly, Mrs Stone, I think she's got an addiction, and it's not good for her health. She has at least one a day, maybe two all to herself. I mean, I guess it confirms she's not a vampire, but still, I'm worried. I haven't even told her that I don't like garlic bread yet."
"What do you mean you don't like garlic bread?!" I gasped, glaring at him as he turned around in shock.
"I was going to tell you, I swear," Barry blurted, holding his hands up in surrender. I didn't plan to tell Barry about my mum's sell-by date coming closer to its end than first thought. Though, it was later than we'd all imagined since we thought she would have died from the gunshot wound and stroke she suffered afterwards.
"It just means more for me," I replied, smiling weakly at him as he got up out of his chair and handed me my bag.
"It's been lovely to talk to you, Mrs Stone," Barry bid farewell as we made our way out of the hospital.
In case you were ever wondering, Eve and her gang of heavenly helpers were constantly talking to me, though, I had gotten my powers strong enough to create a mind shield of sorts to block out their nattering when it got on my nerves. I mean, wouldn't having your twin sister stuck in your head and constantly talking annoy you?
"So, what did the nurse say?" Barry asked, looking at me worriedly.
"Oh, nothing really. They give me updates about the tests they run every now and again," I smoothly lied, trying not to think about it for now.
"Where are we off to now?" Barry asked.
"I need a garlic bread and a movie night," I told him, taking charge for once. Normally, I let Barry choose what he wanted to watch as I was a nice girlfriend, plus he didn't make bad choices that often.
"Just one garlic bread?"
"Barry, it's never just one."
A/N
Don't kill me I know it's been like three weeks since I last updated, but whatever.
Also, Comics Alliance do the funniest pictures ever lmaoo
Anyway, there's A MUSICAL EPISODE BETWEEN THE FLASH AND SUPERGIRL IN THE NEXT SEASONS AND I'M SO EXCITED
See you on the dark side,
Charis xo