Taking it Slow
When Barry woke up the next morning, he could sense a presence hovering over him, just like he had yesterday with Cisco and Dr. Snow when they had been standing near his bedside. When he opened his eyes, it was to find Iris staring at him, her face only maybe a foot away from his own.
"Jesus!" Barry gasped, putting a hand to his heart.
Iris leaned back then, jumping slightly at his outburst.
"You're awake!" she declared happily.
"I am now," he said irritably, "Why were you leaning over me like that?"
"Bar, you have no idea how badly I've wanted to shake you awake all morning, but I promised Caitlin I'd let you sleep."
"I would rather you just wake me up next time," Barry said, "Just poke me or something. Don't…don't hover over me like that. It's creepy."
"Sorry, Bar," she laughed, "It's a hard habit to break. I've been hovering over your bedside for nine months."
Barry shuddered slightly. It wasn't so much the thought of Joe or Iris staying near his bedside that bothered him. It was everyone else. The thought of laying in a bed, no control over his body, made him feel vulnerable. The thought of people touching him, handling his lifeless body as they cared for him was kind of creepy when he really thought about it.
Or maybe it was just the first impressions he had gotten from the STAR Labs team. Cisco seemed alright, but the other two…Dr. Snow looked at Barry as if he was some sort of interesting specimen to be studied. He appreciated her taking care of him, but there was something about her that seemed…hard. Businesslike. She seemed more like a research scientist to him than she did a caretaker.
And Dr. Wells.
Barry didn't know how to feel about Dr. Wells. The man had been his lifelong idol for years, but upon meeting him, Barry couldn't help but feel uncomfortable around the doctor. Maybe it was just nerves. After years of waiting to meet him, of course it would be nerve-wracking to be around him at first. Also, it didn't help that Barry had met him when he was going through a very stressful and emotional moment of his life. Who wants to meet their idol when they've just woken up from a nine-month coma and their whole world had just been flipped upside down?
There was something else about Wells, though. A look in his eye. An edge to his voice. Something about him creeped Barry out. He looked at Barry with an almost possessive look in his eyes, and Barry often found himself internally recoiling under his gaze. There was something really off about Harrison Wells. Anyone who spent more than two seconds with the guy could tell you that.
"How are you feeling?" Iris asked him nervously.
"Tired," Barry grumbled, closing his eyes with half a mind to go back to sleep.
"Oh no," Iris said, as if reading his mind, "You've wasted enough time sleeping, Barry Allen. I want to enjoy some time with you while you're conscious."
"Dr. Snow told you to let me sleep," Barry groaned, still not opening his eyes.
"Yes, but I'm too impatient," she said, "And it's past ten. You've slept long enough."
"'m still tired," he mumbled, covering his eyes.
"How can you possibly be tired?!" she asked incredulously, "You've been sleeping for nine months!"
"Yeah, well I didn't sleep too well last night," he said quietly, covering his eyes with his arm.
He remembered then what had kept him up, and he pulled his hands away from his face to look at them. They were completely still. No vibrating. No shaking. Not even a slight tremor. When he looked up, it was to find Iris frowning at him.
"Caitlin said you were having muscle spasms last night," she said seriously.
"Yeah, they kept me up for a bit," he admitted, "But I don't seem to have any right now, so that's good."
"It's not going to get you out of a physical, though," Dr. Snow said as she entered the room, "I'm going to have to run all my tests again."
"I'll just leave for a bit then," Iris said awkwardly before standing up to leave and give them some privacy.
Barry was grateful. He had a feeling he hadn't been given too much privacy when he was in a coma. They didn't even have him in a separate room. His bed was set out in the main lab area, which he thought was strange. They all were just going about their business, working in the lab around his unconscious body? That was just weird. The doctor assured him it was only so they could keep a close eye on him, but Barry still didn't like the idea. They had a medical bay. They should have set up his bed in there. It would have been way more private.
The doctor spent the entire morning running all her tests. Barry was grateful when she finally removed his catheter, and he was extremely thankful to find that he didn't have any issues with bladder control. He had enough things going on right now without adding incontinence to the list. That would have been so embarrassing.
"You must take your job very seriously," Barry said to the doctor as she was assessing his range of motion.
"That's a good thing, right?" she said stiffly.
"Yeah, I guess," he said, "I just noticed you don't really smile a lot."
She looked at him seriously then.
"My fiancé just died," she said flatly, "My once promising career in bioengineering is over. And my boss is in a wheelchair for the rest of his life."
"Oh," Barry said.
He thought about everything she had told him for a moment, trying to understand.
"What happened?" he asked quietly.
She looked at him with a confused expression.
"I mean," he said awkwardly, "I noticed that you guys seem to be the only ones here at STAR Labs now, and of course I noticed that Dr. Wells was in a wheelchair now, but I didn't want to ask."
"Oh," she said, understanding, "I forgot. Of course, you wouldn't know about what happened."
She bit her lip, not sure how to tell him.
"The same night you were struck by lightning, the particle accelerator exploded."
Barry's eyes widened.
"W-what?" he said, shocked, "It exploded?"
He had been trying to remember what happened the night he was struck. The last thing he remembered was being in his lab. Now the memory came rushing back to him. He vaguely remembered a news report of the particle accelerator malfunctioning, of STAR Labs scrambling to shut it down. And then, nothing. He must have been struck right at the same time. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it wasn't a coincidence.
"Did the lightning striking me have something to do with the particle accelerator?" he asked quietly.
The doctor bit her lip and looked away from him.
"Did it?" he asked, louder this time.
She looked him in the eye then and nodded, giving him a sad look.
"I'm so sorry, Barry," she said, "We don't know anything for sure, but we suspect that the lightning was formed by the particle accelerator."
Barry nodded thoughtfully, looking away from her then. At least she was being honest with him. He didn't really know how to feel about it. These people had saved his life, yes, but what she was essentially telling him was that they were the ones who had done this to him in the first place.
"I hurt a lot of people that night," a voice said from the doorway.
Barry looked over to see Dr. Wells entering the room. He seemed to have a strange habit of sneaking up on people, of joining in their conversations without announcing his presence first. It really just kind of added to his creepiness factor.
Dr. Wells wheeled over to them then, to where Barry was sitting upright on the edge of his bed.
"I can't tell you how sorry I am, Mr. Allen," he said, "I only ever intended to do good with my invention. I never intended for any of this to happen. I was recovering myself at St. Andrews when I heard about your case and decided to help you. I saw it as a chance to help at least one person I had hurt."
Barry nodded at him.
"I know you didn't mean for this to happen," Barry said quietly, "I forgive you."
Did he, though? Dr. Wells may have only had good intentions, but that didn't change the fact that his failure had cost Barry nine months of his life. That wasn't something that was easily forgiven and forgotten. They had saved his life, though, so Barry wasn't going to hold it against them—at least not openly.
Caitlin finished her assessment and then left to find Iris to tell her she could return to Barry's bedside. She found Iris in Cisco's workshop. None of them knew Iris very well, but Cisco probably knew her the best. They weren't super close or anything, but they had gotten to a point where they were at least comfortable in each other's company.
Iris had spent so much time at STAR Labs that the others had gotten quite used to her presence. It was strange. They knew Iris better than they knew Barry. Barry had been there the entire time, but obviously they hadn't gotten much of a chance to get to know him. To them, Barry was somewhat of a stranger, and they only knew what Iris had told them about him.
"Iris," Caitlin said, "I need to talk to you quick before you go back by Barry."
Iris looked at her seriously, a worried expression on her face.
"Is something wrong?" she asked immediately.
"No," Caitlin assured her quickly, "No, nothing's wrong. I just realized, I've talked to you and Joe a lot about how to care for a patient in a prolonged coma, but I've never discussed with either of you what to expect in the post-coma stage. We never talked about what would happen when Barry wakes up."
"What do you mean?" she asked, "Barry's awake now. What's to discuss?"
"We have to anticipate some side effects," Caitlin said, "He said he was having muscle spasms. There might be other effects from the lightning or the coma."
"Like what?" Iris asked nervously.
"Balance seems to still be an issue for him," the doctor told her, "He's still pretty unsteady on his feet, and it may take him a while before his motor functions come back. The big thing, though, is the mental effects from the coma. He seems to be swallowing fine and speaking clearly, so that's good, and he doesn't seem confused or anything. His memory is excellent, which is surprising. I expected him to be a bit more confused. However, it's common for coma patients to have some other problems when they first wake up."
"What kinds of problems?" Iris asked worriedly.
"In many cases, post coma patients sometimes may express anger, suspicious behavior, irrational fear, or abnormal expressions of sexuality," the doctor told her, "Those are the most common problems at least. Now, I haven't observed any of these in Barry so far, but I don't know him as well as you do. Have you noticed anything different about Barry? Anything that seems out of character for him?"
Iris shook her head slowly.
"No," she said, "I mean, he seemed a bit irritable when he woke up this morning, but I was kind of hovering over him and stopping him from going back to sleep, so I don't think it was necessarily unwarranted."
"Okay," Caitlin said, nodding thoughtfully, "Just be on the lookout for any strange behavior, okay? Watch him closely and let me know if he starts acting strangely, even after he leaves here and you take him home."
Iris nodded.
"I will," she said.
They were all distracted from their discussion, though, when they suddenly heard a loud crash come from the cortex.
Both of the doctors had left the room after his checkup, and Barry had assumed Dr. Snow had left to go get Iris, but it was taking her a while. Feeling impatient—and also really wanting to stretch his stiff legs—Barry decided to stand up and walk over to find them, himself. They couldn't have gone that far, right? Besides, he had only seen the cortex so far, and he was anxious to finally see the rest of STAR Labs. He had waited half his life to finally see the facility, after all.
He also had a jittery restlessness in him he couldn't quite explain. A moment ago, he had been tired and wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep. Now, he suddenly had an irrational urge to move, like he had all this pent up energy that he need to expend. As soon as he stood up, Barry felt that energy increase. It was a strange feeling, but it felt good. Kind of like the little caffeine high you get from your coffee in the morning. Energetic, but just a little bit jittery and uncomfortable at the same time. It was different, though. It was a feeling he had never felt before. He felt like he could do anything, like he could run a marathon or something.
After carefully making sure he had gotten his balance, Barry took a step forward to go search for the others. The next thing he knew he was across the room, slamming into the desk and knocking one of the computer monitors to the floor with an earsplitting crash—falling over, himself, in the process.
From where he was on the floor, Barry looked back behind him to where the bed was. He had crossed the room in what seemed like a second. His arm was bleeding from where the IV had ripped out of it. He had meant to pull the IV stand along with him, but now he could see it laying on the floor, having tipped over when he crossed the room.
Barry had only a couple seconds to wrap his mind around it, though, before the others came running into the room.
"Oh, my God!" Iris said, rushing over to where he was on the floor, "Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah," Barry said shakily, "I don't know what happened. I just ended up on the floor. I don't…"
He was so confused. He didn't even remember crossing the room. One second he was by the bed. The next he was crashing into the desk. It was like he blacked out somewhere in between.
"I think I may have hit my head," he confessed to them, "I don't remember crossing the room. Something must have happened."
The other three all exchanged worried looks.
"Come on, Barry," Caitlin said, helping him up, "Let's get you back to bed. I'm sorry. We shouldn't have left you alone."
"No, I'm sorry," he apologized, sitting down on the bed and rubbing his eyes, "I knew I wasn't supposed to get up on my own. I didn't think it'd be a big deal. I'm so sorry about the computer. I still don't know how I knocked it over. I really don't remember crossing the room. One minute I was standing by the bed, and the next…I must have blacked out or something."
Had he lost his balance? Had he been deliriously stumbling around knocking stuff over without remembering it? That must have been what happened. It was the only explanation. It wasn't the balance thing that scared Barry, though. It was the fact that he didn't remember it. He didn't remember tipping over the IV stand or crossing the room. He remembered hitting the desk, though. That had hurt like hell. He must have hit it pretty damn hard. He must have hit his head, too. That was why he couldn't remember it.
Caitlin palpated his head gently, but she didn't feel any bumps, and Barry didn't feel any places that were tender when she pressed on them.
"Barry, I don't think you hit your head," she said gently, "I think you just had a lapse in memory. Your brain is still healing, and it's to be expected."
Barry frowned at her.
"But I feel fine," he said, "I still feel like myself, and I was fine all day yesterday. I…"
He was so confused. He really did feel fine, and here she was telling him he had some kind of mental problem. He wanted to deny it, but deep down, he knew he couldn't. Deep down, he knew something was very wrong. What had just happened to him was not normal, and the doctor's explanation was the only one that made sense.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of, dude," Cisco said, "You just woke up from a coma. You're allowed to be confused."
Dr. Snow nodded.
"It's a very common side effect in coma patients, Barry," she said, "You only just woke up yesterday. You need to give your brain time to heal."
Barry nodded and looked down at his lap. He felt so stupid, sitting there all confused with the three of them looking at him. He felt like a child or something.
"You must be hungry," Iris said, changing the subject quickly as she sensed Barry's discomfort, "Do you want some breakfast? My dad went out to get us some smoothies since you can't have solid food yet."
Barry smiled gratefully at her. He was actually very hungry. Starving actually, even though he had "eaten" last night. Caitlin had him drinking these gross liquid meals, saying it would take him a while before he could eat solid foods again. His digestive system had grown so accustomed to liquid tube feedings, so now he was on a liquid only diet until he transitioned back to a normal diet. That's probably why he was so hungry. Liquid meals are fine calorie-wise, but they don't exactly keep you feeling full for long.
When Joe returned with their smoothies, Barry was grateful they didn't immediately mention his fall. He knew Iris or someone was going to tell him about it eventually, but he was glad that they didn't do it right in front of him. Sure enough, after they had finished their smoothies and Dr. Snow was giving him one of her liquid meals to drink when he said he was still hungry, Barry noticed Iris pull her father aside and could hear them whispering worriedly in the corner.
He tried to block it out, though, as he drank his liquid meal. It was disgusting, but he found that he was still hungry after it. He didn't say anything, though. There was no way he was actually that hungry. His stomach felt full after all. It was just a mental thing, his mind playing tricks on him again. He doubted he could even fit more in his stomach if he wanted to, so he ignored it.
After breakfast, Caitlin took him down to their radiology lab to run another set of scans.
"Strange," she said, "Everything still looks normal. I don't know why you're having cognitive episodes. Your brain scans look fine."
"Maybe it was just a one-time thing," Barry said hopefully, "I mean, I walked here just fine. I didn't even have any balance problems. Maybe it was just because I was still tired and had just woken up."
It wasn't entirely true, though. Barry hadn't felt tired when he had stood up from bed. He had felt the opposite. He had had lots of energy. He didn't tell her that, though. He'd rather believe that that was the reason for his incident and not something else.
"Maybe," she said uncertainly, "I should keep you here longer for observation, though."
"Please, don't," Barry said, frowning, "I really don't want to stay here. No offense or anything, but I really was hoping to go home today."
"I don't know, Barry," she said, "I'd feel better if you let me monitor you for a few days."
"Are my vitals bad?" he asked.
"No," she said slowly, "Your heartrate is still high, but that seems to have become your baseline now. Otherwise, they all seem normal. Great, actually."
"And there was nothing else physically wrong with me?" he continued.
"I guess not," she said uncertainly, "But—"
"Then I should be able to go home if I want to," he insisted, "Joe and Iris can keep an eye on me for any mental stuff. They both took off of work for the rest of the week, and I'm sure they'll be watching me annoyingly closely. They'll tell you if there's anything wrong."
The doctor sighed.
"Fine," she said, "You can go home today, but I expect you to come in for daily checkups. I'm not going to let you just go home without at least coming back for follow up visits."
"Deal," Barry said, smiling.
As they were driving home, Joe asked Barry if he wanted to stop at the precinct to say hi to everybody, but Barry said no. He didn't feel like being swarmed by all of his coworkers right now, especially if he might still be having some cognitive side effects from his coma. Joe nodded understandingly.
"Actually," Barry said suddenly, "I'd really like to go to Iron Heights to see my dad."
Joe sighed heavily.
"Barry…" he said.
"He hasn't seen me for nine months," Barry said firmly, "I need to visit him."
"Barry, I don't know," Joe said, "You should really go home and rest."
"You were all for me going to the precinct two seconds ago," Barry pointed out angrily, "I should be able to go see my dad then. I think that's more important, isn't it?"
"Bar," Joe said painfully.
"Did anyone even call him to tell him I woke up?" Barry asked suddenly, "Did you guys even tell him?"
Joe and Iris both looked at each other. The answer was quite obvious.
"I'm going to see him," Barry said firmly then, and he wouldn't let Joe or Iris talk him out of it.
When they stopped outside of Iron Heights, Joe and Iris eyed Barry nervously. Iris offered to go in with him, neither of them wanting him to go in alone, but Barry insisted he was fine as he got out of the car and walked into the large building on his own. Neither Joe nor Iris had ever gone to visit his father with him, and Barry actually preferred it that way. His visits with his dad were private. It was his special time with his dad, and he didn't like the idea of anyone else intruding on it.
When Barry sat down in his usual chair at Iron Heights, he found himself nervous for some reason. Maybe he was still just on edge from whatever had happened this morning at STAR Labs, but it was more than that. It was the fact that his dad hadn't seen him for nine months. To Barry, it had been about a week since he had last seen his father, but to his dad, it had been much longer.
He was nervous to see what affect it had had on him. His dad didn't have anyone else to visit him, and it must have been some of the loneliest nine months of his life, stuck in prison, not knowing if he would ever see his son again.
Barry was the only family he had left. He shuddered to think about what it would have been like for his dad if he had never woken up. His father was the strongest person he knew, but if he had lost his son for good, Barry didn't know if his father's heart would have been able to take it. It would have broken him.
Barry just hoped that he wasn't about to find out that it already had. He hoped his father had held on for these nine months and not lost himself over the uncertainty of not knowing if he was ever going to see him again. After all, with coma patients, the rule generally was that the more time that passes with them not waking up, the less likely they're ever going to come out of it. Barry just hoped his dad hadn't lost hope while he was waiting for him.
His dad burst into tears when he saw Barry sitting there. He quickly picked up the phone as soon as he sat down.
"I didn't even want to dare hope that it was you," he cried into the phone, "When they told me I had a visitor, I was trying not to get my hopes up."
"I'm so sorry for worrying you," Barry said, tears welling in his own eyes, "For not coming to visit you."
"I think you had a pretty good excuse," his dad laughed, wiping his eyes, "When did you wake up?"
"Yesterday," Barry answered.
"Yesterday?!" Henry said, his eyes going wide, "And you're already up and walking around?"
"They said I was okay," Barry told him, "I'll have to take it easy for a while, but they said I could go home."
"The hell kind of doctors are these?" his dad said irritably.
Barry frowned at him.
"Well, if you feel that way, then maybe I'll just go back to STAR Labs," he joked.
Henry laughed.
"No, no," he chuckled, "I'm so happy to see you. It just seems a bit crazy to me. That's all. Don't you dare leave. I've been going crazy for nine months and four days waiting for you to wake up." [1]
Barry was sad to hear that his dad had been counting the days he had been in a coma. It must have occupied his every thought for the last nine months. Joe and Iris had told him that his father hadn't even been allowed to see him. Before they could arrange for a chaperoned visitation, Barry had been transferred to STAR Labs, and prison hospital visitations were only allowed to take place in hospitals. Henry hadn't been allowed to see his comatose son the entire time he was out.
"I'm so sorry I worried you," Barry said sadly.
"It's okay," his father assured him happily, "It's not your fault."
Henry laughed lightly then.
"Although, I'd like to know what you were thinking, holding onto a metal chain during a lightning storm," his dad teased.
The memory came rushing back to Barry then. He had been trying to close his skylight, and he had grabbed onto the metal chain attached to it to close it before too much water got in. The floor had already been soaked, and the power had gone out just after he had heard the news report about STAR Labs scrambling to shut down the accelerator.
He vaguely remembered seeing something outside his window just before everything happened, but he couldn't remember what. It must have been the particle accelerator exploding. He had pulled on the chain only a few times before something had caused him to stop. He had seen something, something impossible, but the memory of it was murky and he couldn't recall it now. Whatever it was, it had scared him, though. He had then heard the rolling of thunder above him before he ever saw any lightning, which was strange because lightning usually precedes thunder, and then…nothing. Everything went blank after that.
"You okay?" his dad asked, no longer laughing.
He was looking at Barry with a concerned expression on his face.
"Fine," Barry said, "The memories of that night are just a little foggy. I'm still trying to piece it together."
His father gave him a sympathetic look.
"How are you feeling?" he asked worriedly, "Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm good," Barry told him, "Just trying to wrap my head around things yet. It's a strange feeling, waking up to find that nine months has passed."
Henry gave him a surveying look, not looking like he really believed him.
"Any side effects?" he pressed, "You just got out of a coma, Barry. You can't possibly expect me to believe that you're completely fine."
Barry sighed.
"I don't know," he said, "It's strange."
"What's strange?" his father asked concernedly.
Barry shook his head.
"I don't know," he said again, "I just…feel different, and…I had a little incident this morning."
"What happened?" his dad asked seriously.
"I blacked out," Barry told him in a strained voice, "I…I don't know. I tried to get out of bed, but I must have still been disoriented. I don't remember what happened. All of a sudden I was on the floor."
"You passed out?" his dad asked worriedly.
Barry shook his head.
"No," he said, "I didn't pass out. I just…I don't remember how I got there. One second I was by the bed, and the next I was on the other side of the room. It was like I just didn't remember crossing the room. It seemed to happen so fast for me, like I crossed the room in a second. And last night, I…"
"You what, Barry?"
"I think I was hallucinating," Barry admitted, "Or dreaming or something. My hand, it did this thing. It was shaking and…"
Barry sighed heavily.
"It's stupid," he said quietly, "I was just dreaming. I had to be."
"Did you tell your doctor about it?" Henry asked him seriously.
"She knows," he said, "She said it was just muscle spasms, nothing to worry about."
"Well, I'm worried," his dad said, "It sounds to me like you should still be at STAR Labs."
Barry shook his head.
"No," he said, "Joe and Iris are going to monitor me at home. They're waiting for me in the car right now actually. They're going to take me home after this, and they're probably going to make me rest once I'm there."
"Well, that's good," his dad said, still frowning, though, "You need to make sure you get plenty of rest so your brain can heal. That's extremely important. You're probably going to be a little fatigued at first. Most coma patients need a lot of sleep while they're recovering."
Barry nodded.
"I'm not really all that tired, though," he said, "I feel like I have a lot of energy."
Henry raised his eyebrows.
"That's strange," he said, "But good, I guess. It must mean you're bouncing back pretty quickly."
Barry smiled at him.
"I hope so," he said, "To me, it feels like just a few days ago, everything was normal. For everyone else, nine months has passed. I hope I can get things back to normal again quickly."
"Just make sure you take it easy," his father said gently, "You don't want to run yourself ragged by trying to move too fast."
Barry nodded.
"I'll take it slow," he said.
Henry smiled at him.
"I'm so glad you're okay, son," he said tearfully, "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't woken up."
Barry smiled and put his hand up on the glass between them.
"I love you, dad," he said quietly into the phone.
Henry put his hand up to the glass over Barry's.
"I love you, too, son," he whispered, "I love you, too."
"I'm still hungry," Barry said, frowning at his empty glass.
"Still?!" Iris asked incredulously, "Caitlin said just one of these drinks would fill you up. You just finished your fourth one, and you're still hungry?!"
"I think just one more should do it," Barry told her.
"I don't know, Bar," Joe said unsurely, "I think the hunger is more in your head. I'm afraid if you have another one, you'll puke."
Barry sighed.
"Alright then."
He really did still feel hungry, though. He was probably just tired and was mistaking it for hunger. That energy that he was bursting with this morning had now worn off, and Barry found himself yawning repeatedly as it got into the later evening.
"You're probably just tired," Iris told him, thinking along the same lines, "It's eight o'clock. You haven't rested at all today, and Caitlin said you should rest as much as possible."
"Yeah, my dad said the same thing," Barry said, stifling another yawn.
"You should go to bed," Joe said, "Get a good night's sleep in your own bed for once."
Barry nodded and then got up from his seat at the table to walk towards the stairs.
"Goodnight," he said to them.
They both said their goodnights back to him, and Barry climbed the stairs. As soon as he was gone, Joe looked at his daughter.
"What do you think?" he asked uncertainly.
"I don't know," she said slowly, "He seems like himself for the most part. Maybe just a little off, but nothing too strange, aside from his appetite."
"How many of those liquid meals did he drink today?" Joe asked her.
Iris thought about it for a moment.
"He had one this morning at STAR Labs, two right when we got home, two for lunch, one as a snack, and four just now for dinner," she recalled.
"So he had ten of them in one day?" Joe summarized, his eyes widening slightly.
Iris nodded.
"And Caitlin said just three or four in a day would be enough," she told him.
"That's strange," Joe said seriously, "Something's not right there. He can't possibly be that hungry."
"Maybe it's another cognitive side effect," Iris suggested, "His brain might be telling him he's hungry, even when he's not."
"We'll have to keep an eye on it," Joe said seriously, "And we should tell Dr. Snow about it tomorrow. Barry has an appointment with her in the morning."
Iris nodded her agreement. They were both taking monitoring Barry very seriously. They had just got him back, and they were extremely happy to have him home, but both of them were worried that something else was going to happen, that something would go wrong. Barry may be awake now, but he still had a lot of recovering and readjusting to do, and Joe and Iris were both determined to help him through it any way that they could.
[1] Barry was in a coma for exactly nine months and three days, according to the original pilot script.
