A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews! I hadn't planned to update so quickly, but the reviews encouraged me to write more and quickly. So I hope this meets your expectations. Thank you again for reading!
Joe's phone rang again as soon as he got to his car.
"Dad," Iris's voice shook on the word.
"I know, Baby. He's alive. I'm headed over to Star now." There was a moment of silence on the other line and Joe could tell Iris was fighting back tears.
"I'll see you there," she responded, ending the connection and taking a deep breath. "Hang on, Barry," she whispered, pressing down harder on the accelerator as she raced to Star Labs.
"There's too much blood!" Caitlin yelled in frustration, looking across to Wells, for a brief moment seeing him as her former mentor instead of the cold-blooded murderer or the stranger from Earth 2. She had her hands over the wound on Barry's chest, applying pressure to stem the bleeding from where Zoom had sliced a jagged gash with his bony, razor sharp finger.
To her surprise, Wells had returned quickly after chasing Zoom out, coming to Caitlin's and Cisco's aid as they struggled to save their friend. "What have we got?" he'd asked, taking Cisco's place and kneeling down across from Caitlin. He began mentally cataloging the multitude of injuries visible on the young man's body, wondering what other injuries lay hidden beneath the surface.
Caitlin didn't answer immediately. She could hear Cisco talking to Joe. "Get here as soon as you can," he'd said, and she felt tears prickling at her eyes. She shook them away, composing herself. "He's barely breathing," Caitlin whispered, feeling the faint rise and fall of Barry's chest. The CPR she'd performed on Barry immediately after Zoom had left the lab had been successful, but she was worried his heart would stop again. He was in such bad shape. "No, no, stay with me, Barry," she pleaded when his chest failed to rise at all. She placed two fingers to the pulse point at his carotid, desperately hoping for a beat. "He doesn't have a pulse!" She knew she should remain calm for Barry's sake. But the threat of losing him was too real and seeing her friend like this, so destroyed by Zoom, had shaken her to the core.
"Cisco, get the defibrillator," Wells commanded, tearing open Barry's suit to expose his chest. Cisco grabbed the device, running back to Wells and handing it to him. The scientist swiftly placed the paddles on Barry's chest. "Stand back, Doctor Snow." Caitlin nodded, removing her hands from the still-bleeding wound. "Charge to 360," he instructed.
"Charging in 3, 2, 1," she confirmed.
"Clear!" Wells yelled, delivering a shock to the young man's heart. Barry arched off the floor but showed no signs of moving, and Caitlin knelt back down beside him, searching for a pulse. She shook her head at Well's questioning look.
"Come on, Barry," she whispered.
"Charge it to 400, Caitlin."
Caitlin nodded, giving him the go-ahead when it was charged.
"Barry!" Iris shouted, running into the lab just as Wells delivered the second shock. "Oh my God," she whispered, seeing her best friend lying lifeless and beaten on the ground. Her mind automatically returned to the days after Barry was struck by lightning, when she'd watched the medical teams struggle to keep him alive. "I watched you die, Barry," she'd told him when he'd come to see her at Jitters. "You kept dying, your heart kept stopping." He'd grinned, placing her hand over his heart. "It's still beating." Iris couldn't help but smile at the memory. She needed to feel that heartbeat again. Iris was jolted from her reverie by Caitlin's voice.
"Again!" Caitlin shouted, desperate. Harrison nodded and tried once more. Iris felt a strong arm around her and she leaned into it, turning to see her father's worried face.
"We've got a heartbeat," Wells stated calmly, and everyone in the lab seemed to let out a collective sigh of relief. Iris crumpled into her father's embrace and he squeezed her back.
"He's going to be okay, Iris." She nodded into his chest, not sure if she believed it this time.
"Let's move, people," Harrison announced. "Detective, get the stretcher. Dr. Snow, what else do you need?"
Caitlin was applying pressure to the wound again, though the bleeding had slowed considerably. She hoped that meant his body was starting to heal. "Umm," she paused, surveying her friend. "I need a cervical collar, now! We need to be careful. We're lucky if Zoom didn't break his neck." Iris ran off to get the collar and Caitlin took the time to finish her examination. Her fingers skirted over the gashes that marked his body and the bruises that were beginning to appear. There seemed to be no part of him that was unscathed.
"Here's the collar," Iris said, kneeling beside Caitlin. "What can I do?"
Caitlin handed over the towel she'd been pressing to Barry's chest. "Keep pressure on the wound," she instructed, taking the collar from Iris and sliding it around Barry's neck. He had yet to make a sound but at least he was breathing again.
"Let's get him on the stretcher," Wells suggested. "He needs to be on monitors."
Caitlin nodded in agreement. "Let me see," she said to Iris gently, lifting up the towel. The bleeding appeared to have stopped. "Okay, I think we can stop applying pressure." Iris nodded and stood up, watching as her dad and Cisco moved to help get Barry on the stretcher.
"You'll need to log-roll him. If he does have any fractures in his spine, we need to be careful," Caitlin warned. Joe and Cisco carefully turned Barry onto his side and then slid him onto the stretcher as Wells hooked up the monitors.
"He needs oxygen," Caitlin announced once his O2 levels had registered. She placed a nasal cannula under his nose, satisfied when his oxygen levels improved. Caitlin returned to the examination she'd been performing, relieved to hear Joe ushering Iris and Cisco out of the room. She didn't need the added emotions in the room, not when hers were already so high.
After ten minutes, Caitlin was satisfied that she had treated all of the injuries that needed treating. Barry's vitals had stabilized somewhat and she was cautiously optimistic that he would pull through this.
"What's the damage?" Joe asked when she'd stepped away from the stretcher.
"Five broken ribs, a left lung contusion, and numerous internal injuries. Hairline fracture of his skull…" she trailed off, seeing the looks on Iris and Joe's faces and deciding they didn't need to hear every detail of the damage Zoom had done. "But he'll be okay, I think," she reassured them. "He's past the worst part, at least. And he's stable. He just needs time for his body to heal. So now all we can do is wait for him to wake up."
"Okay," Iris breathed. "I'll take the first shift."
Thoughts? I think this means I'm writing another chapter, cause this didn't feel like a sufficient ending point. The next update probably won't be as fast, but I'll try. If anyone has any requests for the next chapter, please let me know - I like to write but I'm not the most creative person. Thank you for sticking with me!