❝ You make
me nervous. ❞
───────
FOUR | THE RUNAWAY SCIENTIST
The elevator doors opened and my eyes met the pristine and familiar reception counter with a nurse sitting behind it. I stepped out of the elevator, straightening my bag on my shoulder and brushing my hands on my jacket as I made my way through the hallway. The door to Barry's room was open and new people had gathered around him, my eyebrows knitted together as my eyes fell onto a young man with shoulder-length hair and a keep-calm-be-a-geek t-shirt, he stood at the foot of the bed while an auburn-haired woman checked up on Barry and exchanged words with a man in a wheelchair, as for Joe and Iris, they were nowhere to be seen.
"What is going on?" My voice broke into the room, making everyone turn their heads to the door; I took a few steps forward, trying to understand what was happening.
"Wow, you're so pretty," the guy said, making me frown at him.
"Stay away from him," I ordered in a over-protective tone I didn't know I was able to produce and the guy with shoulder-length hair rose his hands in surrender. They stood still as I spoke, "who are you and what are you doing here?" They looked at each other and remained quiet, "If you don't tell me why are you here I'll call-"
"That is not necessary," the man in the wheelchair said.
"Who are you?" I questioned again. He approached with a hum of his wheelchair and I recognised his face from every newspaper in Central City, "Oh, my God, you're him . . ." I uttered between gritted teeth and almost inaudible.
"My name is Harrison Wells, this is Doctor Caitlin Snow and this is Cisco Ramon," the guy waved at me shyly, "they work for me at S.T.A.R. Labs . . . or what remains of it," Doctor Wells mumbled the last part, "we came as soon as we heard from Mister Allen's condition and your friends, Detective West and his daughter just gave me permission to take him there," I blinked, comprehending. In that exact moment Iris showed up, a cup of coffee from the cafeteria in her hand, "Everything is going to be okay now," he added.
"Are you taking Barry to that place?" I asked her, still not believing it. She walked up to me and sighed quietly, grabbing my hand and taking me with her to the window, "I can't believe you guys are doing this," I muttered.
"Harlow, it's the only thing we can do to save him," I shook my head, comprehending, "he's going to have better medical attention there," she said softly.
"What? Why? I thought he was doing just fine here, they said he was stable-"
"He had another episode last night," I gasped quietly and looked over to Barry, then lowered my head and placed my hand on my forehead, "Harlow, nothing's gonna improve if he stays here."
"Why didn't you tell me? You said you'd keep me updated. And, S.T.A.R. Labs? The place is categorized as a class four hazardous location," I butted in, "I know the decision is for you to make, you're his family, but, I don't know, look what that man did to the city, there's something that isn't right about all this, I just don't trust him," I whispered.
"He's giving us the opportunity to save Barry, and I want Barry back, Harlow, it is our last hope," I bit my lower lip, I wanted Barry back as much as she did, "we have to try . . ." she added, I nodded at her and she pulled me into a hug, "okay, I'll call dad to tell him we're ready," she said as she unwrapped her arms from me and I watched her pull out her phone and go out of the room, leaving me standing there awkwardly. I crossed my arms over my chest and my eyes met Doctor Wells, who approached with a swift movement of his wheelchair, stopping right beside me. I let out a sigh before I spoke to him, "Are you taking him with you today?" I asked, mistrust was more than obvious.
"The sooner the better," he said, making a short pause as I observed Doctor Snow typing something into the computer with a S.T.A.R. Labs sticker on it, "you have the best doctors in the city, but they don't know what's going on, and the reason for that is what's happening inside Barry is a mystery, and they don't have the tools to solve it and I do. I have the technology to do so," I looked at him, "they can't save him, but I can, Miss Steel," his hands clasped together and I nodded absentmindedly, walking closer to the bed, wondering if he could really do that.
"So, you know what's wrong with him?" I asked and Doctor Snow looked at me.
"We don't know yet," she said, "he has experienced seizures in the past few weeks, which is odd since he didn't have heart rhythm when the episodes occurred. We hope to run as many analyses as we can in order to determine what's going on and help him," she gave me a small smile at the end. I remained standing there for a while, thinking and trying to convince myself that they were really going to save Barry.
"Everything is going to be okay from now on," Doctor Wells said from the other side of the room, his voice reflected confidence.
"I heard you the first time," I uttered, not even looking at him and I heard him letting out a soft chuckle and I glared at him.
"You don't trust me, do you?"
"No, I don't. And I'm glad it shows," I crossed my arms over my chest and walked up to him, "you did this, you put him in this bed, you put hundreds of people in danger. Now you show up here, trying to redeem yourself, offering your help, that's alright, but that won't change what you did, you killed people," he pushed his glasses back with his fingers and sighed quietly.
"I know. It's the reality I live every day and I think about it every day. But, I'm only telling you the truth, I'm sure we can help your friend and that everything will improve from now on, we'll take good care of him," he said, "there's nothing to be afraid of," he stated, I let out a chuckle and shook my head.
"Is that what you told everyone when you turned on the particle accelerator?" He stared at me, taking his glasses off, "just because my friends trust in you doesn't mean I do."
"I just hope you give me a chance."
"I wouldn't get my hopes up," he kept staring with a small smile on his lips. Our little staring contest was interrupted by Iris and Joe, they walked into the room accompanied by a group of doctors, who began to talk to Doctor Wells. Joe walked up to me and put his hand on my shoulder and Iris followed him. We stood there and saw them hook Barry to a portable monitor, ready to take him to S.T.A.R. Labs.
---
Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and with them going by, a little bit of hope I kept inevitably died, it was impossible not to consider the possibility that Barry would never wake up. I hated to think about it so found a way to get my mind off it -I focused on work and on finding more about the man that murdered that kid's parents. I had a notebook with everything and anything I thought that could lead me to find the killer, so far, I hadn't found a thing.
I would sit in front of the board where Barry kept information related to his mother's case for hours, hoping for ideas to come up; sometimes I would just come out with a terrible headache instead of ideas.
I was sitting at my desk staring absentmindedly at the mess on it. The moonlight filtered through the skylight and the sounds of the city we're heard in the distance.
"Do you ever sleep?" The voice startled me greatly. It was almost midnight and the lab was completely dark except for the desk lamp to my left. Eddie came out of the dark. After cursing under my breath I sighed, leading my hand to my chest.
"Tell me, do you?" I asked, still recovering. He smiled and grabbed one of the bunch of papers that were scattered on the desk.
"I was about to leave, then I saw the door open, I imagined it would be you," he put the page down and crossed his arms over his chest, "and I was right. What are you up to?"
"Nothing, really," I uttered, "nothing but zoning out."
"I see. You have been working nonstop this week and you've become a bit of a night owl, haven't you?" I smiled.
"You could say so, I guess."
"Iris says you haven't been yourself lately, I've noticed that too," I sighed loudly, "you should go home and get some sleep, don't you think?"
"Oh, boy. Let's not have this conversation now, please? Joe already preached me about it this morning, okay?"
"Because he's worried about you," he added, "you hardly ever leave this room and when you do it's only to go to a crime scene or S.T.A.R. Labs, what do you do here anyway?"
"Nothing, just going through random cases," I said, "to distract myself."
"Then find another way to distract yourself, because the only thing you're doing is stressing out in colossal measures," he walked closer, "listen, I know this is as hard for you as it is for Joe and Iris but you need to take a break, you should go home and get some sleep-"
"I would if I could, but nope, I can't, I just lie there staring at the ceiling, so I come here where I can do something useful or try at least. And, Singh won't give me a day off because my vacations are in three weeks, he'll tell me to wait. But I admit that I really need some sleep," I said, getting on my feet. Honestly, I was feeling kind of grumpy and tired all the time, headaches had become an every day thing; I thought it could be PMS, then I cringed when I realized I almost told Eddie I was probably just PMS-ing.
"Well, sleeping pills do exist," the blond said, I chuckled and so did he. He took a deep breath and it turned into a yawn, "I should be going, I'm dead tired. Today was a long day," he said, scratching the back of his neck, "this case is taking forever."
"What about the Sanders case?" I asked, "Any news?" He observed me, and stuck his hands inside his pockets.
"I'm sorry," he paused, "I'm not supposed to tell you, I have orders," I nodded in acknowledgement. I looked at the papers on my desk, the screen with a newspaper article staring back at me and felt overwhelmed. He was right, I was falling apart. I quickly looked for an excuse to be absent the next day, I needed a break.
"I understand. Well, I think I should go home then, it's late anyway," I grabbed my jacket from the back of the chair.
"Do you need a ride?"
"Mmm, I'll take a taxi. I'd like to drop by S.T.A.R. Labs, for a moment. I'd like to see Barry, I haven't visited him since Tuesday. I should go now, even though it's late," I grabbed my bag.
"I drive past S.T.A.R. Labs, I can drop you," he said and I smiled.
The ride was quiet. Eddie had always been a quiet one while driving. I didn't mind really, considering that I'm a quiet one too. I was really hoping that some time off from work was what I needed, maybe I just needed to get out of Central City. Now I couldn't get that idea out of my head.
During the car trip, I planned to go to Coast City with the hope to find some peace by going to the place where I grew up.
I thanked Eddie for the ride and stayed outside for a moment, watching how his car pulled away. Eventually, I got in the building and headed to the elevator. I waited patiently with my back resting against the wall as it went up.
I wondered if the Level 600 displayed on the elevator panel did really mean anything. I wondered if they really had 600 different levels or it just stood for 6th floor. The building, was fairly tall, but the fact of having 600 levels was unbelievable, also the elevator was too slow to reach such level in one minute. Maybe there we're a few underground floors that would explain a lot, but still, it would be insane.
The doors opened when it reached the 'Level 600' and I made my way through the corridor. My footsteps echoed throughout the facility. I straightened the strap of my bag as I kept walking and reached the door to what they called The Cortex.
"Oh, my God!" Cisco shouted, standing up from his chair and throwing a bag of extra, long Twizzlers up in the air, "How did you get in?!" He asked.
"Uh, Doctor Wheels gave me this thing," I showed him the key card in my hand, "are you okay?" He bent over to pick up the candies.
"Yeah, yeah, I think I just had a mini heart attack," he slouched back in his chair, taking deep breaths and with closed eyes, "good nickname, by the way," I smiled and approached.
"What are you watching?" I asked, standing beside him.
"Mama," he said, "suddenly I don't want to watch this movie anymore," I chuckled, "you just scared me to death, I think I've had enough."
"Why would you watch a horror movie all alone?" I asked.
"I get bored, now I'll have to watch one of those Barbie movies to be able to sleep," he said and I shook my head whilst smiling. I liked him, he was really nice and so was Caitlin -even though she was a little angry sometimes. I admired how they cared about Barry's well being, they even took turns to keep an eye on him by night, "do you have any suggestions?" Cisco asked.
"Uh, let me see . . . how about, 'Barbie and the magic of Pegasus'?" I said with a small chuckle, as I walked towards Barry.
"I'll keep it in mind," I heard him say. I sighed and sat down beside Barry, giving his vitals a quick look, I observed his chest rising and falling with every breath he took by himself. It was great that he didn't need a ventilator anymore, that was a big step. I took Barry's hand in mine and began to caress it with my thumb. As soon as I did the monitor with his vitals went crazy and the lights flickered once or twice, I turned to see Cisco.
"What's going on?" I asked, frantic with worry and Cisco walked up to me. We saw how the screen glitched. Cisco's brow furrowed and I squeezed Barry's hand, "Cisco?" He pulled out his phone and stared at the screen, "What is it?"
"It's in my phone too," he said, "it looks like radio-frequency interference, I'm not sure where is it coming from. Don't worry, Barry is okay. The system is designed to resist all kinds of things and it can handle a bit of interference, I need to know what's generating it, though," he walked towards the computer, "this has never happened, I have no idea what could be causing it."
I frowned and my eyes began to wander around The Cortex as I noticed another strange thing, "do you hear that?" I asked.
"Hear what?" He asked, his eyes glued to the computer.
"That sound," I said, Cisco stopped to listen carefully, "can't you hear it? It's like a heavy metal creaking sound," I whispered the last part, looking up at the ceiling.
"I hear nothing but total silence," he said, I tried to identify the source of the sound since I seemed to be the only one able to hear it. I stood up and let go of Barry's hand, "look, it stopped," Cisco said and I looked at him after glancing at the monitor with Barry's vitals, "wow, now that was spooky, I'm not watching horror movies alone anymore, ha-ha, hell no," my hand went to my head as a sharp pain hit me, "hey, you okay?"
"Yeah, it's just a headache," I stated, "that was, weird, like really weird," I rubbed my hands together.
"Sure it was," he said and I looked at Barry.
"Was it Barry?" Cisco shrugged and approached, "You said something similar happened at the hospital, that machines went crazy and he was the reason."
"What?" He laughed, "Who told you that?"
"Oh, come on! I overheard you and Doctor Wells when you thought I was asleep the other day."
"Pff! I don't remember having such conversation. Maybe you were just dreaming," he said, turning around and I scoffed, yet I wasn't sure, he was probably right. He noticed the concern on my face, "Don't worry, Barry is gonna be okay, trust me, it was just some kind of interference, nothing serious." I nodded. "Good! All this made me hungry. Caitlin usually has pizza pockets in the freezer, I can microwave some for us, are you up for it?"
"No thanks, maybe a glass of water?"
"A glass of water for the lady, immediately!" He said cheerfully and soon after he disappeared through the door. I stood there looking at my surroundings.
"What the hell was that?" I muttered to myself and walked up to the bed. I took a deep breath and sat beside Barry again. A small smile popped up on my face, "Hey," I said softly to Barry, "still hanging in there? I'm so sorry for not coming these past few days, it hasn't been a good week for me, or month . . . uh, forget I said that. So! I'm here to tell you that I'll be out of the city for a while, maybe one day or two," I fidgeted with my hands, making short pauses every time I completed a sentence.
"I won't tell anyone that I'm taking a train to Coast City tomorrow, I know I could do it over the weekend, but I can't wait any longer, I want to leave tomorrow. No one knows about this, no one but you. So, guess who's faking food poisoning?" I said with a smile, "I'm sure they can call a substitute from Starling if I call in sick. Plus, my foster parents still live in Coast City and I think they'll be happy if I paid them a visit, it's been a while."
Their house -my old house- was located in the quietest area of the coast, away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
I sighed, "Captain Singh will be furious and Joe too, but unlike you, they won't catch me," I told him, recalling when he faked food poisoning to go to Starling City, "you know what would be amazing?" I asked, imagining what would it be like, "Going to the lighthouse," a small chuckle left my lips, "Will, my foster father, used to work there when I was twelve, he was the lighthouse keeper, he'd take me there when I was sad. You'd love the view. Oh, and there's a hill that is always blooming with dandelions, those are my favourite, you'd love it too . . ." I trailed off.
He laid there, unresponsive. Gone into a deep sleep, trapped inside his own body while I spoke. I lowered my gaze and closed my eyes for a second before speaking again and adapting a more serious tone.
"Can I tell you something?" I asked, still knowing he wouldn't answer, "You are the greatest person I've ever met. If only I had been brave enough to tell you this before," I uttered, observing his face under the nasal oxygen cannula, "but I can't let another day to go by without telling you this, because -who knows- it could be too late tomorrow, so, I'm just gonna say it . . ." I swallowed hard and took a deep breath, I felt my heart pounding and my hands going sweaty and cold, I had the words stuck in my throat and managed to get them out, "I love you, Barry Allen and, I think I've always have," I said, staring at his face, I smiled, "I never told you because you only have eyes for one girl, and that girl isn't me, that's how things are -it's a serious case of unrequited love."
I made a pause.
"It would be so awkward if you woke up right now, I'd have to explain why I'm staring at you like this," I chuckled, the small smile on my lips faded, "are you listening to me? I know I ask you this all the time, but if you have actually listened to me all this time, if you have listened to all my whining, I'm so sorry," I said with a soft laugh, "you know what happens when I'm nervous -I talk too much- and, well, now you know that you happen to make me nervous, even like this, in this state. It's still you. Anyway, you might be pretty annoyed," I waited for a flutter of his eyes or something, but nothing happened, "but I just can't help it," I said softly.
I wondered how much was it going to last, we couldn't handle it anymore, we needed him back. I cleared my throat and looked over my shoulder.
"I- uhm . . . it's getting late," I told him, standing up, "I have to go now, believe me, I wish I could stay with you all the time, I really do," I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear before fluffing his pillow and fixing his blanket, "I'll see you soon, I promise," I took his hand, I felt a tingling sensation running all over it and the lights flickered again, also the monitor froze again, I immediately let go of him and stepped back, a bit scared, then everything came back to normal. It was weird. I began to walk, determined to find Cisco and tell him I had to leave and, actually, I found him at the end of the corridor. He had a plate with four pizza pockets in one hand and a glass of water in the other.
"Did you see that? It happened again," I told him as soon as I saw him.
"I did, don't worry, it's like when your phone signal interferes with a speaker system, electromagnetic interference, something like that. It's harmless."
"You sure?"
"Pretty sure."
"Oh, okay. Well, I need to go."
"What? I though you'd stay longer," I called the elevator, it didn't take long for the doors to open. I grabbed the glass and drank the entire thing, handing the brown-eyed boy the empty glass when I finished.
"I'm sorry," I said, using the back of my hand to wipe the water off my lips, "I can't stay any longer," I told him with smile, "please, take care of Barry," he nodded. I stepped in the elevator, "thanks for the water," I waved at him.
"Bye, I guess," he said, staring at me with a puzzled look in his eyes before the doors closed and the elevator made its way down. As it slowly went down, I looked down at my hand, my brow furrowed as I touched my palm with my fingers, asking myself what the hell happened up there.
It was only the beginning and I didn't even know.
───────
AUTHOR'S NOTE :
i know, i know, i'm a horrible person for not updating. i can explain, firstly, my phone broke and couldn't afford one, it took me almost two months to get another one. secondly, i had another book i wanted to finish so i focused on it and now that said book is finished business i can focus on this one, yay! i apologize, but i'm back and i am aiming to update more frequently 😆 by the way, go follow my other account -wolfbane more books coming soon! and, new cover by the wonderful reichenbachfalls if you need a cover for your book you can ask her, she's amazing!
thanks for reading, voting and commenting!
▷ sorry for any typos ◁