Strangely enough, Barry's lips taste like vanilla.
Delicious.
A deep chuckle fills my ears as Barry pulls away, and I can't help grinning because of the musical sound. That and, well, I kinda just got kissed by my fictional crush.
"Glad you think so." He says.
"God, I said that out loud?" I bury my face in my hands. I'm so embarrassing. Ugh.
"It's okay, you taste good too." He chuckles again, trying to gently pull my hands away from my face. He succeeds and I look up at him with questioning eyes, silently asking what's going to happen now.
Please just kiss me again.
He smiles, but then his eyes widen.
"Y-you just--" He looks shocked... Or maybe terrified. What's he talking about?
Elise, you projected. Barry Allen has made your emotions get the best of you. Your guard is still up, but your thoughts are not staying in your head.
"Oh my god." I gasp, hands flying to my mouth. Shit. Fuck. Shit-fuck. Fuckity-shit. "Barry, I swear I can ex--"
"YOU'RE A META?!" In a flash, he's on his feet, pacing up and down behind the couch we've been sitting on, hands pulling at his hair anxiously. "Why didn't you say anything?"
Fuck.
"I was scared. I thought you might treat me like all the other metas you've taken down. I... I didn't want you to treat me differently." I rush out, rambling the most ridiculous lies, but its the best I can come up with.
Get out. He wishes to take you back to the labs. We cannot allow that.
I quickly whistle for Wolfgang to come as I lift myself into my wheelchair. My hands are shaking and I can feel tears welling up because I don't know what to do. He wasn't meant to find out this way.
"Cara, wait." Barry's in front of me, his hands on the armrests of my wheelchair and his face mere inches from mine. "What exactly can you do?"
"Please Barry, just let me leave." My voice is shaking and weak, and he visibly relaxes. For a few seconds, he stares into my teary eyes with such compassion and care that I want to tell him everything.
But only for a few seconds.
After that, he picks me, my wheelchair and a growling Wolfgang up and the floating sensation takes over my body once again. This time, instead of joy and a want to be closer to Barry, I feel sick and I'm trying to push myself away from him, even if it means I'll hurt myself from falling at such a great speed.
"What're you guys doing here? I thought you were gonna have a movie night or something." Caitlin looks disappointed, and even the fact that she's evidently shipping Barry and I doesn't change my mood.
"Cara's a meta." Barry states bluntly. Moving to the other side of the room and folding his arms over his chest angrily.
You are afraid.
Now is really not a good time, Robin.
You let us back into your head? Voluntarily?
I don't know what to do. It wasn't meant to happen this way. I was going to sit them all down and come clean about everything, but I can't now. Because I got caught up. I got too close to him. I was stupid.
I'm an idiot.
"Um, sorry, I must be hearing things; for a second it sounded like you said Cara's a meta." Caitlin says after a few seconds of shock. Barry just looks at her with a blank expression and her gaze turns to me. "You're a meta? Why didn't you say anything?"
I open my mouth to repeat the same things I said to Barry just minutes ago, but he beats me to it.
"She thought we'd lock her up like the others." He sounds doubtful. I guess I would be too if he was keeping some huge secret from me and I somehow found out. Although, I think I'd be a bit more welcoming and open-minded.
"Oh, Barry, you're back. And you brought Cara." Wells looks surprised and disappointed as he wheels into the room, an expression matching Caitlin's.
"She's a meta." Barry states again.
"If that's the case, I think Mr Ramon should be here for this." Wells says without hesitation, calm as ever. Barry's about to run off when the paraplegic man speaks again. "Until we know the extent of her abilities, it might be a good idea to contain Miss Quick."
A second later, I'm in a cell in the Pipeline, the doors closing in front of me. I make no effort to leave -mainly because I no longer have my wheelchair- and simply fold my arms over my chest with a frown set firmly on my face.
You are frustrated. Why?
"They just proved my point about them locking me up. This is the reason why no meta wants to show themselves to the world."
You feel very strongly about this.
"I'm locked in a cell for metahumans that want to hurt people. Of course I'm 'passionate' about it."
They approach.
"Barry, what the hell?" Cisco appears, wearing a party hat and an annoyed expression. He notices me sitting in my cell and looks utterly confused. "Cara? Why're you in a cell?"
"She's a meta." Wells says loudly as he and Caitlin arrive. Barry appears with Joe and Wolfgang a second later. Yippee; the whole gang's here.
"Cara, a meta." Cisco looks between Barry and me, utterly confused. "Is that true?" He asks me.
"Yes, and you've just proved my assumption right by locking me up." I glare at Wells, and he stares back at me with a cold, emotionless gaze. Somehow, I get the impression that he isn't surprised by this at all. It's like he knew I was a meta, or at least suspected it.
"Cara, until you tell us what you can do, we have to assume that you're dangerous. We have to leave you in the cell." Caitlin says, a firm expression of betrayal on her face.
"How did you even find out? If she told you in confidence, you just back-stabbed her and we should be locking you up for being a jerk." Cisco defends me as he talks to Barry. Even his body language says he's siding with me; he's standing close to my cell, facing the others with a sassy attitude in his posture.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is proof that Cisco Ramon is the best friend ever.
"She spoke without moving her mouth." Barry stares at me with a mixture of emotions I can't read, roughly patting a struggling Wolfgang.
"You can read minds?" Joe looks like he can't decide whether to be annoyed at me or fascinated by my ability.
"No!" I yell without thinking. I guess I'm just in Defense Mode because they're ganging up on me. "Well, yes, but I don't like to because that's an invasion of privacy." For a second, Barry smiles and the loving expression returns to his face, but then he looks sad and dejected.
"Why'd you do it then? By accident?" He asks. I nod.
"I'm still learning to control it all, and sometimes when I let my emotions have too much sway on what I do, my powers go haywire." I explain honestly; the more I lie, the longer I'll be in here and the more I'll regret it later.
"So you can read minds, and speak to us without moving your mouth..." Cisco trails off in thought. Normally I'd be curious about what's going through his mind, but I have the feeling I'll find out soon enough.
And I need to admit a few more things.
"Those aren't my only abilities." I sigh, knowing I'm about to get more anger thrown my way.
"How can there be more? All metas have one ability and that's linked somehow to whatever they were doing during the particle accelerator explosion. I don't think it's possible to have more than one ability, right Dr Wells?" Caitlin asks, rushing her words out so fast that it takes a moment for my brain to process them.
"That's what we've found so far, yes." Wells leans forward in his chair, leaning on one hand and watching me closely. Something about his gaze feels cold and menacing. It makes me nervous.
"W-well the mind reading thing is, uh..." My brain loses focus for a second when my eyes meet those of Dr Wells, but I quickly look away again and clear my throat. "Its sort of a result of my main ability."
"Which is...?" Cisco looks like a kid being told the most adventurous story of his life, waiting for the next plot twist.
"Opening and closing -or locking and unlocking- anything I want to without touching it. I guess I can open people's minds like I can open a jar of pickles." I explain. Wells leans back in his wheelchair and tilts his head to the side with a distracted look on his face, apparently contemplating something.
"That's how you always manage to open your apartment door without being near it." Barry says with a small smile. Yes. He's accepting it.
Dr Wells has bad intentions.
My eyes wander to the paraplegic man, only to find him sitting up straighter than ever, knuckles white from gripping his armrests so tightly, blank expression only betrayed by the clear anger and hatred in his eyes.
Why am I the only one noticing the poisonous look he's giving me?
"I would like a word with Miss Quick." Wells says calmly, maintaining eye contact with me. Everyone leaves without a word, Cisco hesitating and Barry giving me a strange look that I really don't understand.
"If this is about endangering the team, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." I say as soon as the others leave. Wells presses the button to open my cell, then wheels himself right up to me. His raging gaze is directed down at me and I have never felt so small and hated in my entire life.
"Is this how you knew about Barry being the Flash?" He asks quietly. I frown in confusion.
"What d'you mean? How coul--"
"Did you read his mind?!" Wells' anger gets the best of him for a split second and he yells at me, spit flying everywhere. I flinch away from him, pushing myself into the wall behind me as much as possible. I can almost feel his anger around me, suffocatingly close.
"No. A person's mind is a private place. I would never do it without permission and even then, it'd take a bit of persuading." My voice comes out rushed and shaky, my fear becoming more and more obvious by the second.
"If you've never done it, how do you know you can?" He asks, a smug smirk forming, thinking he's caught me in a lie. What the fuck is this guy's deal?
"I did it to Wolfgang once." A tiny bit of Elise comes out, knowing that the smug smile is now on my face instead of his.
"With or without these morals you claim to have, even you don't know the extent of your abilities; you're a danger to this team. I recommend you spend some time thinking about whether you should continue to assist here or not." Wells says, his voice implying a threat that his words never express. He glares at me for a few more seconds and I stare back helplessly, my heart beating fast and my breathing unsteady.
I haven't felt this kind of fear since Reverse Flash broke into my apartment.
As the cell doors close and Wells disappears down the ramp and around a corner, the red eyes and threatening words of Reverse Flash go through my head once again, only interrupted by Robin.
Dr Harrison Wells is not to be trusted.
I get that feeling too.
You are projecting at us?
Yes, because I know these cells have been designed to contain the powers of metas.
Being direct with us like this may help you strengthen the projecting abilities, and in turn you will be able to project to one being at a time.
So my training continues, even though I'm stuck in this cell.
Robin doesn't comment any further, and I can't help thinking about some of the things Wells said.
I guess in some ways, he's right; until I can control my powers better, I'm a danger to the team.
Maybe I should leave.
But then it won't be so easy to get back to real life.
Holy shit; I'm back to square one.
Why did I ever think kissing Barry would make things go away? If anything, it's only caused me more issues than I had before I realised I was in love with him.
I'm so screwed.
Tears start to gather in my eyes and my breathing picks up again as I start freaking out.
What am I meant to do?
Robin, I'm stuck. Tell me what to do. I can't just leave Barry and the others, especially since they're my ticket home... But I'm dangerous to their whole operation, and they probably don't trust me so much anymore. Wells hates me for sure. I just--
I can't even finish my own thought as tears roll down my cheeks.
My parents. That's all I want. My parents, my friends and my whole life. My life. Not some parallel universe's version of it. I want the original thing. I want the life I was taken from. The life I had before that lightning hit me. The life I should be living right now.
My life.
It is not in our power to return you yet. You must fulfill the deeds you are needed for in the future before you can see your family again. You must train and you must learn. That is all you can do to assist the coming weeks in moving faster. We will help in any way we are needed to.
Thank you, Robin.
It is what we are here for. Now, Elise Quick, you must dry your eyes. The fast one approaches.
The fast one... Oh. Barry. That's the first time it's referred to him as that.
Barely a second after I realise who Robin's referring to, the speedster himself steps into view, still wearing Ben's clothes from earlier.
"Hey." He says softly, a small smile tugging at his lips. "You okay?" I nod, having wiped my eyes and cleaned myself up as well as I could in the mere seconds between Robin's warning and his arrival. "Wolfgang's with Cisco." He gestures back the way he came. I don't comment, not feeling the need to and not really in the mood. "Uh, I'm sorry about locking you in a cell and all that. I kind of overreacted a bit when you did the whole mind thing back at my place."
Barry taps the button to open my cell, and as soon as there's a gap between the two parts of the door, it's enough for my powers to work so I close and lock the doors.
"Leave it." I say firmly, wanting my voice to come out strong and firm, but only succeeding in letting Barry know just how upset I am.
"Cara, I..." He trails off, clearly not knowing what to say. His hand goes to the back of his neck in awkwardness and anxiety. I sigh, knowing I sort of owe him an explanation.
"I don't want to hurt you Barry; I don't know the full extent of my powers yet and I'm scared I'll cause you all pain if I'm out of this cell. It... It hurt when you freaked out, and I never want anyone I care about to be that scared of me ever again. I'm a danger to all of you, so I'm staying in here." I tell him sadly.
Barry looks like he's about to cry too as he comes towards the cell and sits down beside it, looking so much like he wants a hug or something more. The best I can do is sit next to him, the thick glass between us. As I move over, he leans his head on the glass and puts his hand up to it.
"I'm sorry." He says quietly. "This is all my fault. When you feel comfortable with being out of this cell, I'll help you with your powers in any way I can. I promise." I line my fingers up with his, trying to imagine the warmth of his hand on mine. My head leans over and I yawn a little as it gently lands on the glass beside Barry's head.
"It's okay Barry; it's not your fault. I shouldn't have hidden this from you. Now it's me that has to live with that decision, and me that has to figure this all out. I'm sorry." I mutter tiredly. Crying makes me tired. Using my powers makes me tired. Being yelled at and terrified makes me tired. Being awake in the middle of the night makes me tired.
All in all, I'm exhausted.
"Go to sleep, Cara. We can talk about this later." Barry's smiling, I just know it. I lift my heavy head off the glass, eyes meeting his.
"Will you be here when I wake up?" I ask childishly. He has a small, kind smile on his face, and a tenderness in his eyes that I find irresistibly charming.
"Always."