Title: Even Heroes Need Saviours Sometimes
Author: an-alternate-world
Rating: T
Characters/Pairing: Barry Allen, Eddie Thawne, Hartley Rathaway
Word Count: 4,632
Summary: With Hartley Rathaway on the loose again, Barry makes it his personal mission to hunt him down and save him from himself. When his life is put in danger, he receives help from someone who's avoided him for months.
Warnings/Spoilers: A metahuman causing harm to our favourite scarlet speedster.
Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with The Flash, The CW, DC Comics or anything else related to the universe.

Anonymous on Tumblr prompted: Thallen + Hurt!Barry and Eddie knows?

This essentially became a mostly-unintended sequel to Trapped, since I had a number of requests for more. You don't have to have read that story first since there are mentions to occurrences in that story here, but it would definitely give more background to the relationship development in this story.

At first, Barry is furious with Cisco for taking Rathaway out of the secure chambers beneath the labs. He could have accepted Cisco's stupid decision if he had enlisted some help from him or Caitlin to ensure Rathaway had less of a chance to escape but Cisco had thought he could handle it and now they had a madman on the loose. After Rathaway had gotten away, Barry began searching through all the material he could find on the former STAR Labs protégé. He spent a lot of time studying Rathaway's STAR Labs personnel file and any reports he could find online about Rathaway or his family. He tried to understand what motivated Rathaway to be so cruel and tear other people apart. He began to think it boiled down to Rathaway's rejection by his own family when he came out but…it still seemed inconceivable to Barry that someone could be so determined to harm others. Even after all the metahumans he'd put away, he wasn't sure he'd ever truly understand how or why people decided to use their gifts for the wrong reasons.

Cisco understands his obsession with Rathaway but he doesn't support it because as far as he's concerned, "Rathaway's a raving lunatic, Barry". Caitlin observes his constant computer searching and bites her lower lip a lot but she doesn't outwardly express her dislike of his latest hobby which seems like permission to keep going. Harrison and Joe have definitely made their concerns known but he ignores it because he wants to stop Rathaway, he wants to find him and bring him in and he wants them to be able to accept Rathaway and steer him onto the path of being a good guy, a helper, rather than a victim of rejection which has turned him into a villain. Eddie still isn't really talking to him. Barry thinks Eddie's still wary about the discovery that he's The Flash and is afraid for his safety as well as Iris', but Barry suspects Eddie knows what's going on through Joe. There are a couple of times he's spied Eddie lingering in the doorway of his lab above the bustling precinct and Barry's not sure if he should acknowledge the detective's presence or not. Just when he starts to think Eddie's been there long enough that he should say something, he hears a quiet sigh and Eddie's figure in the doorway disappears. He tends to believe that Eddie doesn't agree with his choices but that the detective is too polite or too afraid to confront him.

The waiting game for Rathaway to emerge lasts several weeks. He ran out of material to read on Rathaway ages ago and has since read the same details countless times. When Joe finally wakes him in the middle of the night, he's almost relieved by the knowledge that Rathaway is back. Joe reports that a bridge has collapsed despite no known geological or structural fault and considering the last major encounter Barry had with the Pied Piper, he figures it has to be Rathaway messing with the frequency of objects again. Without a trace of doubt, Barry knows Rathaway has to be stopped, he has to be bundled into a chamber and offered support and maybe, maybe, Rathaway won't be such a vindictive thorn in his side after that.

He messages Cisco and Caitlin before swapping from his pyjamas into his suit. He spends a few seconds searching among the pockets of his past outfits for the earbuds Cisco had specifically designed to block the frequencies Rathaway was capable of producing and, after pressing them into his ears, conceals them with the hood of his suit. He catches sight of himself in the mirror, swathed in shadows that make him almost appear sinister, and realises he's not entirely certain who the man is that stares back at him. The man in the suit looks like someone closer to being an alien than Barry Allen, like someone who would be in Starling City fighting alongside the hooded vigilantes than a man with metahumans abilities that helps him save lives. He wonders if he should tell Caitlin that he just doesn't feel 'right', but he thinks she'll probably just fret more than she already does. Not to mention how wrapped up she's been in spending time with Ronnie lately now that he's been split from Professor Stein.

He darts out of his apartment, racing for the bridge and freeing a couple of survivors who were trapped in badly damaged cars. He wishes he had additional strength to be able to haul the slabs of concrete around and check no one else had been crushed but even if he had been capable of such a feat, no one could have survived tons of concrete and steel collapsing on their car. He can only hope that the extremely early hour means minimal cars had been on the road and bridge and no one else was affected.

Once the drivers have been aided to a safe side of the road, he begins a search of the area surrounding the bridge for Rathaway. As he runs, his annoyance builds at Rathaway's callous disregard for other people's lives. How did anyone not care about the harm they could inflict on other humans? How did anyone not care about the terror they could imbue in a city? How did anyone feel better about themselves after doing cruel acts instead of kind?

"Oh Flaaaaa-aaaaash."

The sing-song tone makes him pause at the cracked line of collapsed bridge. He turns his head and frowns, struggling to pinpoint the direction the sound is coming from with the earbuds dampening his hearing ability.

"I see the boys in blue are arriving. How many of their cars do you think I can smash together while they're still inside?"

He looks down, past the exposed concrete and steel, to the flashing red and blue lights below. He has no doubt Joe is in one of those cars with Eddie. Singh might be down there too. There are countless other officers who are good men, men who are just trying to serve their city, just trying to help other people affected by Rathaway's madness.

"Don't hurt them," he pleads, searching among the cars for the one that might have Joe and Eddie inside. It's hard to tell one car from another at this distance but he's afraid to move in case Rathaway starts destroying things.

Rathaway tuts and he looks over his shoulder because it feels like it's right against his ear, but the young man isn't there and he feels like he's going crazy. "You're in no position to be begging for their lives, Flash."

He opens his mouth to argue when he sees one of the cars crumple and fly sideways into a wall, as if an invisible fist has smashed into it and hurled it like a toy. The lights on top go dark and he can hear the squeal of other cars' tires, can see the way they dive in all directions around the other car. He can imagine officers taking cover, weapons drawn, searching for the cause of the destruction but seeing nothing.

He's more use protecting them than he is trying to bargain with the demented mind of Hartley Rathaway.

He races along the bridge and down the stairs, appearing among the slew of officers pointing weapons at the damaged patrol car milliseconds later. He hears a few yelps around him at his sudden appearance as he investigates the overturned car. It looks like a section of concrete had fallen onto it and crushed it before it had been flung sideways – only there's no concrete slab around him. He doubts the officers inside have survived the impact but he doesn't want to look too closely. His investigative stance might give away his identity to others on the force who are nearby.

"Flash!"

He releases a shaky sigh when he hears Joe's voice and looks over his shoulder, making eye contact with his surrogate father and giving a small nod of reassurance. He'll be safe. He'll be okay. Joe just needs to stay out of the way too. He hates it when Joe is nearby and there's a lunatic on the loose, metahuman or not.

"I never knew you cared so much about the police." Rathaway's words are laced with sinister intentions that make his skin crawl. He looks around him, desperate to work out the location of the voice before the owner of it does harm to more people – especially those he cares about. "Oh Flash, are you looking for me? I'm touched."

He grits his teeth and darts away from the scene of the crushed car, beginning a new grid search of the surrounding streets. Rathaway has to be somewhere nearby, speaking words at a pitch he could hear, watching him survey the car and the police, but-

"Which one of these officers should I toss a car at first?"

He falters in his steps and ends up tumbling along an empty street. He groans when he attempts to pick himself up, rotating his shoulder back into position and rubbing asphalt off his suit and cheek before he remembers the threat Rathaway had suggested. He looks around frantically, knowing Rathaway has to be closer than he thought.

"It's not them you want though, is it? It's me," he says as calmly as possible.

"Very good," Rathaway coos and a shiver runs down his spine. "The hardest part is finding me."

He starts to walk slowly towards where the police have a crime scene cordoned off, probably waiting for Barry Allen to arrive and start collecting evidence. Maybe he's more use to standing in front of the officers as Barry Allen than running around the streets blindly. Cisco and Caitlin were probably still en route to STAR Labs so he only had his own skills to rely on, and they weren't nearly as good at narrowing down a location for Rathaway.

"Why would I want to find you?" he finally asks, curiosity nagging at him stronger than Caitlin telling him to be safe.

"Because that's the only way you'll stop me from hurting more people."

There's a distant boom that clashes with the beat of his heart. He almost feels like he's been punched in the gut with the pain that travels through him. Distantly, he hears shouts and screams.

"What did you do?" he gasps, starting to jog towards the street where the incident crew have set up. For the first time, he actually feels afraid of Hartley Rathaway. He almost seems deserving of being given up on, a lunatic filled with hatred who is too evil to continue living. Maybe Oliver is right. Maybe some people do deserve to be killed in the interests of the greater good.

"I might have collapsed a building," Rathaway chirps, sounding pleased with himself which makes Barry feel sick. "Don't worry. It was really ugly and really old and condemned anyway."

Barry's hands curl into fists as he rounds the corner. He can see Joe and Eddie studying a map or blueprints on the hood of a car while other officers scurry around them. He tries to breathe a sigh of relief but he's not feeling very relieved. Rathaway is still nearby, still causing destruction and mayhem and chaos.

"What is it you want, Hartley?" he says, moving down the street towards Joe and Eddie. Maybe he can glean some information from them, maybe he can shield them from the danger they don't even know they're in.

"Haven't you wondered yet how I can talk to you? How I can hear you?" Rathaway laughs and the sound is so chilling that Barry's blood runs cold. "Cisco isn't as clever as me, remember? I hacked your suit and those ridiculous earbuds he gave you. I'm everywhere and nowhere."

Barry stops in the middle of the street, his eyes widening. Ahead of him, he sees Joe's head rise. Panic courses through him when he realises he's wearing something that isn't capable of protecting him the way that he and Cisco had predicted. Is Rathaway going to target him or the police? He tries to calculate the damage inflicted, the risk involved, but Rathaway isn't making any of the moves he'd expected and it leaves him floundering.

"What is it you want?" he repeats, desperate for answers when he starts to feel his fear mingling with fury. He suspects he's walking into a trap. Rathaway is playing mindgames with rules that keep changing by the second. He's not able to predict Rathaway's next moves the same way Harrison can, despite all his intense studying of Rathaway's life for the past month. He's way out of his depth and all he can do is hope to do something that will stop Rathaway from-

"To watch you die."

Rathaway's cackling increases his terror and his rage. He pushes his fingers past the hood of his suit to peel the earbuds out and crushes them in his palm, refusing to listen to any more of Rathaway's taunts. He looks around, certain that Rathaway has to be close, that there has to be eyes on him, that there must-

"Flash?"

During his wild whirling around, he catches sight of a shadow in a window two buildings down and at least seven stories up. His eyes narrow as the figure raises a hand, as if to wave, as if to mock him further. He can be up the stairs in seconds.

"He's up there," he tells Joe when his surrogate father jogs up to him with Eddie a couple of feet behind him. "He's-"

He doubles over in agony, a scream staining his lips as his body trembles beyond his control. He understands what's happening a split second after it begins but he's unable to stop it because Rathaway's frequency is completely crippling. His knees buckle, his hands claw at his ears, his mouth spews blood against the asphalt.

A hand grips his upper arm but he's barely able to stop himself from crumpling against the ground, coughing and choking on pain and blood. He thinks he can hear someone calling his name but his vision is white with searing agony ravaging his system. He's pretty sure the fibres of his organs are pulling apart and he's not sure if he's screaming in pain or the screaming is just in his head. He thinks he can taste the coppery blood on his tongue but it throbs with his frantic heartbeat and he's not convinced it isn't because his teeth have clashed against the inside of his mouth.

He's disabled by the frequency, little more than a heap of flesh and bones and blood held together by a suit that can't protect him on the asphalt. He's pretty sure his heart is starting to tear at the seams when it stops.

Everything stops.

There's silence.

Blood pools in his throat that he can't get out because he can't move. He struggles to cough, the blood gurgling in his lungs and throat and mouth, when he senses he's being rolled onto his side. Two fingers prise open his lips, firm and certain of their actions. It allows the liquid to spill onto the roadway and cool air to race into his tattered lungs. He accepts that whoever is with him will keep him safe and surrenders his body to the care of the hands keeping him on his side.

The painless blackness that embraces him is a welcome relief.

He stirs awake to a hand on his and a headache the size of Jupiter ricocheting around his skull. He struggles to move his fingers to his eyes, barely stifling a groan of pain at the lingering aches embedded within his muscles. Thankfully, the lights are off in his room and he tilts his head to crack open his eyes and take in-

"Eddie?" he rasps, swallowing with difficulty when his throat seems to be dryer than the Atacama Desert in Chile.

The detective offers a weak smile that catches the faint light peeking through the blinds, his blue eyes glittering black in the darkness. "I was afraid of you," Eddie admits, his voice quiet and hesitant as he raises his other hand to cradle Barry's. It's surprisingly gentle and comforting. "I thought you were dangerous."

Shame burns across Barry's cheeks and he shuts his eyes. He's glad for the limited light because it probably means most of his expression is hidden in shadows.

"I was wrong," Eddie continues, the warmth of his hands around Barry's seeping into his skin and bones. Barry supposes Eddie's words are as close as he'll ever get to an apology but he'll accept it. He wouldn't ignore an apology because working with Eddie has been awkward for weeks and he's immensely grateful that Eddie is backtracking on his previously negative judgement about The Flash. "You're still…you, Allen. Fighting for all the right things and getting more hurt than all of us combined."

Barry huffs a small laugh that hurts his ribs but earns his hand a squeeze from Eddie. When he opens his eyes, he can see the hopeful smile tugging at the side of the detective's mouth.

"Can we start over?" Eddie says, his thumb dragging along the squishy parts of Barry's palm. "Can we create a working relationship like you and Joe have when you're in the suit?"

"That depends," Barry whispers, trying to scan Eddie's features and discern if he's being set up, if there's still some level of distrust that he should be concerned about. There's still a lot of mystery about Eddie and Barry's feelings for Iris are known even though he's trying to accept she likes the detective sitting by his bedside. "It depends on if you're going to abandon the witch hunt for The Flash."

"Half the precinct saw The Flash choking on his own blood this morning," Eddie says, his voice surprisingly calm for what was a sight that most probably would have cringed at. "They also saw me clear his airway and give him CPR until Caitlin showed up in an ambulance driven by Cisco. I'm pretty sure Singh already knows what I did. He's not going to let me hunt someone whose life I saved. I'm not going to hunt someone who I actually work with when he's not running around in a red leather suit."

Barry has fuzzy memories of being rolled onto his side and fingers at his mouth to clear the blood from his throat. He had been in too much pain to register that it was Eddie but…he's touched by the gesture which literally saved his life. He's also a bit dumbfounded.

"Thank you," he says, attempting to squeeze his fingers around Eddie's hand. Eddie grips his hand a little tighter in response.

"Don't scare me like that again, Bar."

When Caitlin signs his release forms the next day, Joe drives him home. He still feels weak and tired, the energy expended by his body to heal from such incredible damage taking a while to restore to levels where he can actually do something. Joe's arm around his waist helps him stumble inside the house and up the stairs, the softness of his mattress a welcome relief to trying to coordinate his limbs properly. Joe sits with him for a while, shaking his head with an expression on his face that Barry can only describe as 'stupendously concerned parent'. It makes him smile faintly as he pats Joe's hand.

He's lapsing towards sleep when the doorbell rings and Joe goes to answer it. Barry's eyes close and he tries to listen to the indistinct conversation before there's a quiet thump of feet on the stairs. The door creaks and he struggles with opening his eyes to see Eddie entering the room, sinking into the seat Joe had vacated.

"You're back," he mumbles as Eddie scoots the chair closer.

He watches Eddie lean forward, his eyes fluttering shut when Eddie's fingers move close to his face. Fingertips brush strands of hair from his eyes before moving.

"You've got some colour in your cheeks today," Eddie says, deflecting the conversation away from all the questions Barry can feel brewing within him.

"My room was dark yesterday," he points out, which makes Eddie shrug and settle his hand against Barry's.

"You say that like the light was never on when you were asleep," the detective says, an eyebrow quirking in a challenge Barry can't meet. He wouldn't have a clue what happened after he dozed off. He just hopes that nothing mortifying took place while he was out.

His eyes gradually slip closed again when Eddie starts rubbing soothing circles into the back of his hand. It helps to regulate his breathing and ease the jittery panic of the past months that Eddie fears him. He relaxes into the mattress while Eddie watches over him, teetering on the precipice of sleep but not quite able to tip over the edge.

"What happened to Rathaway?" he says suddenly, his fingertips spreading outwards in an attempt to soak up more of Eddie's comfort. He hopes it just looks like he's stretching his hand against the mattress.

"Uh…" Eddie's hesitation stirs Barry into fighting the shadowy cobwebs that have snared him with exhaustion. Despite the fact he's meant to have superspeed, it proves harder than he'd expected to pull away from the tiredness. Rathaway really did do a number on his cells.

"Eddie…"

"Joe and Mike and Arnie all tasered him," Eddie explains, his mouth drawing downwards as his eyes flit away from meeting Barry's expression. "The surge of electricity meddled with the equipment he had set up which was affecting you."

Barry rolls his eyes. It's pretty obvious that Eddie is avoiding the question and it makes him uncomfortable. He hadn't considered asking Joe what had happened during the quiet drive home earlier. He hadn't considered asking Caitlin this morning either. He was too fatigued by the injuries that had been wrought on his body by Hartley's soundwaves to consider what had happened and why the pain had stopped.

Eddie inhales a breath that sounds like he's trying to calm himself down. "He has third degree burns the length of his arms," Eddie says quickly, as if their speed will somehow lessen how painful it is to hear. His voice is steady, evidence that he's delivered bad news to people before. "There's also some unknown damage to his heart as a result of the electrical interference. I think Dr Wells was studying that."

He feels sick at the outcome to Rathaway's body. He couldn't deny that the Piper had inflicted some serious damage to Barry's internal organs but it was nothing he wouldn't heal from. By tomorrow, he'd probably be running around again like normal. Rathaway… As hellbent on Barry's destruction as he'd been, Barry still couldn't believe that Rathaway deserved to endure that sort of torment or torture or tragedy. Rathaway didn't heal at the rate Barry did. Third degree burns were serious. What if Rathaway lost his arms? What if he never regained the full use of them? He was a scientist who might never be able to practise science again.

"Hey. It's not your fault."

Barry manages a weak smile as he tilts his head away from Eddie, working to conceal the expression that must be painted across his face far too clearly. He knew it wasn't his fault but that didn't stop him from feeling like crap about what had happened. Maybe if he'd just stopped Rathaway before he'd used the soundwaves on him to wreck his system? Maybe if he'd just found Rathaway after he'd escaped so no one had gotten hurt? Maybe if he'd just considered looking up at buildings rather than expecting Rathaway to be waiting for him on a street? Maybe if he'd just-

"Allen."

Eddie's exasperated voice and insistent squeeze to his hand draws Barry's eyes back to the blond detective. Barry isn't sure what's the cause of the concern sparkling in the blue eyes is but he does notice the brief flash of hesitation that makes Eddie's lips part, the stain of a half-inhaled breath on his mouth, before it vanishes and he looks calm and composed again, like the detective with a history of delivering bad news again.

"You barely escaped with your life, Barry," Eddie says, squeezing his hand in a way which just makes his heart ache with the damage done to Rathaway and all the things he could have done to avoid it. "Just because you run around in a suit faster than anything else on the planet saving the lives of anyone and everyone doesn't mean there aren't times when someone needs to save you, Bar."

Barry stares at Eddie for a moment, comprehending the words but struggling to accept them. Wasn't he the hero? Wasn't he meant to avoid being hurt? Hadn't Oliver told him that one day he was going to get killed for running in blind? Rathaway's skills had revealed Barry's weaknesses and vulnerabilities, things he needed to develop physical protection from with Cisco and Caitlin and Harrison's help or things which required greater training and mental flexibility to accept that not everything was within his control.

But how is he meant to accept that when it all went to hell, he would allow someone else to save his life?

He's not sure he wants to rely on anyone to save his life. It was easier jut to rely on himself and his speed to get him out of dangerous situations, regardless of how ineffective it sometimes was.

"You don't have to believe it. You just have to remember it, Allen," Eddie says, brushing his thumb against the knuckles of Barry's hand and lulling him towards the precipice of sleep.

"Aren't you still…scared of me?" Barry mumbles, fatigue seeping into his skin and making it difficult to think straight. It's a question that has been lingering with him since yesterday and it seems that now his mental filter is down with the tiredness sweeping in, he's more willing to blurt it out.

"Watching The Flash nearly die in front of you for the second time for no discernible reason makes you realise he's still human and there are things that happen beyond explanation," Eddie muses. Barry's eyes blurrily half-open to see the faint smile on Eddie's face. "Knowing that it was actually you choking on blood… I couldn't give up on you, Barry. I couldn't let you die."

Barry manages a weak smile and he stops fretting that maybe Eddie is just waiting for him to fall asleep so he can smother him with a pillow and keep Iris all to himself. It's an absurd thought but he can still remember the revulsion in Eddie's face when he'd confronted him about being The Flash after the garage collapse. He almost feels like he should say thank you to Rathaway for forcing to Eddie realise he's not so dangerous.

"Thanks for saving my life again," he whispers, trying to squeeze Eddie's hand and giving into the fight he's been waging to stay awake. The last thing he sees is Eddie's small, honest smile, the one he usually wears when his arm is tucked around Iris and she's babbling about something exciting and totally oblivious to the expression her boyfriend is wearing. It's comforting to receive that smile because it thoroughly erases the fears that Eddie remains wary of him. After all, Eddie's saved his life twice now. Eddie wouldn't have cleared his mouth of blood if he preferred to see Barry die.

As he floats off to sleep, he's pretty sure he's never felt so calm.

~FIN~