Barry was sleeping, his dirt covered face being cleaned by Caitlin as she covered his cuts and scrapes in the silent lab. Barry had collapsed once he knew everyone was safe after stopping the black hole.

He simply said "Is everyone okay?" barely finishing his question before his eyes rolled back into his head and he slammed onto the concrete.

Caitlin had assured everyone that he just needed glucose and rest so she had him in the hospital bed hooked up to and endless supply of IV bags. The speedster was exhausted.

Cisco reminded everyone that he had just run faster than ever before, collided with a hydrogen particle, gone back in time, come back, battled the reverse flash and singlehandedly stopped a singularity from destroying the world. The kid deserved a good rest.

Iris stayed long enough to see that her best friend was okay before being suddenly reminded that someone else was not when she saw Eddie's jacket lying on one of the work tables.

Joe had lost his partner, and Iris her almost fiancé. They went home with Caitlin's promise to keep them updated on Barry's condition.

Sitting beside Barry's bedside with just Caitlin for company in the otherwise empty lab was strange for Cisco. It was almost like when Barry was in his coma, before everything went crazy. Quiet, unmoving. Except everything had changed.

He hardly even knew what the team would do now that the Flash's greatest enemy was defeated. And their leader was gone too. Cisco hated the Reverse Flash but he had been friends with Dr Wells for so long.

Of course they would grieve for Eddie, someone whom they hadn't known very long but were already feeling the loss of. But what about their former Boss? Was it right to grieve for a lost friend if it turned out to be a lie?

Caitlin seemed to know what he was thinking because she came and put a hand on his shoulder. "We don't have to grieve for the person he was but it's okay to grieve for the person we thought he was. We lost someone and it's okay to feel about it. Even if it was Eobard."

Cisco nodded gratefully. "Thanks Caitlin."

…..

Barry didn't wake for two days but finally started to shift in his bed when they had unexpected guests arrive. Oliver and Felicity came to say goodbye to everyone with reassurance that they would be back sometime but came into the now familiar building to find Barry barley conscious with the two young scientists sitting beside him.

Cisco told them what had happened and Caitlin brought tissues as Felicity cried. The Reverse Flash had been defeated but Eddie was gone without even a body to bury and Barry had gone back in time just to hold his mother as she died.

It was going to be a tough few months. Felicity pushed the speedster's hair back on his forehead and pressed a kiss there as the boy looked at her through hazy eyes.

"You're going?" Oliver dropped a hand onto the young man's shoulder.

"Yeah bud, we'll be back but it may be a while." Barry's eyes narrowed as a sly smile slipped onto his face.

"But you guys are together now?" The couple laughed but nodded. Barry's eyes slipped closed again as he smiled wider, seeming content.

"I knew it. Have fun you crazy kids." The two said goodbye and left, leaving the lab quiet once again.

Once Barry gained his strength back he went to visit his dad, telling him of everything that had happened and apologizing for failing to save his mother when that was all he had strived for. And his father would never be released from prison. Everything he had worked his whole life for was for nothing. Barry was heartbroken once again but Henry Allen only told him how proud he was of Barry for saving everyone, the whole planet for God sakes. And as long as his son was alright than he would be too. No matter where he was.

They were all grieving. Losing someone like Eddie, someone you could see everywhere you went. The police station, at home, in the lab. It was an inescapable pain, made even worse but having no body to bury. They didn't even have any proof he was dead. They had to settle for a missing persons report rather than a coffin.

And while losing Eddie was hard enough, Barry also had to deal with the repeated death of his mother and the fact that his entire life was spent on preparing for failure. He couldn't save his mother or free his father and the reverse Flash was defeated by Eddie and now gone.

He didn't know where he would go from here or who he even was without his life mission which had driven him for so long.

But as he pulled a little boy from a collapsing building he was reminded exactly who he was by a brown eyed little boy that looked at him in awe.

"You're The Flash. You're a hero."