Prompt: Angst, Character A is poisoned and dying, Character B realises their feelings for character A, but is it two late?
Despite his usual composure he couldn't help the shudder as the poison entered his system. Pain seeped through every cell in his body as the poison spread rapidly. The cold gun clattered to the floor as his muscles seized. Leonard collapsed back against the wall gasping for breath as the poison reached his lungs causing them to constrict. His vision blurred and swam.
"Lenny!" Lisa cried out. If it wasn't for the gun that was being aimed at her she would have run over to him. She cursed herself, it was her fault they were in this mess. She had been distracted and had let these assholes disarm her. There was too many off them to take out without her gun and Lenny couldn't make a move with her effectively being held hostage. And now he had been poisoned. She silently pressed her panic button, something Cisco had given her when they had started dating. At the time she had laughed and said she would never use it, but now she was hoping desperately that it would work.
One of the men stepped forward, clearly the leader "It was about time someone got rid Snart."
He smirked at Lisa "Don't worry, you will join him soon."
Lisa gritted her teeth, her fists clenched. "I'll kill you." She growled.
At Star Labs an alarm went off, lights flashing. Barry races into the room "What is it?"
Cisco looked at the computer and frowns "Its Lisa."
Barry raises an eyebrow "Lisa? What's she up to?"
Cisco gets up from the chair, grabbing his gloves and goggles "Its her panic button."
Barry raced into his suit "Since when does she have a panic button?"
Cisco gives Barry a look "Since we started dating. I didn't think she'd ever use it but I gave it to her in case something really bad happened."
Cisco opens a breach and jumps through it followed closely by Barry. Cisco takes one look at the man holding a gun to Lisa's head and vibe blasts him. Barry taking in the situation decides to take out the other gang members.
Lisa almost sighed in relief when Cisco's breach opened up and he came through followed by the Flash.
She takes advantage of the distraction to drop to the ground, kicking out the legs of one of the gang and grabbing her gun. She leaps up, gun at the ready to see that the Flash has already taken out the rest of the gang. Lowering her weapon, she runs over to her brother.
Leonard had slid down the wall, his eyes dazed and unfocused. He was shaking and barely breathing.
"Lenny? Stay with me ok." Lisa crouched down next to him, her eyes wide with worry. She looks up at Cisco and the Flash "He was poisoned."
Barry didn't hesitate "Cisco, open a breach."
He scooped up Leonard and flashed through the breach taking Len to the Star Labs Med Bay. "Caitlin!"
Barry put him down on the gurney, to Barry's horror he started convulsing.
Caitlin comes running into the room, she frowns spotting Captain Cold. "What happened?"
"He's been poisoned." Barry answered.
Caitlin nods "I need to take a blood sample. You'll need to hold him down."
She quickly took the sample and ran a couple of tests. "It's strychnine poisoning."
She frowned, grabbing a bunch of things off the shelves "You need to turn off the lights."
Barry flashed over to the lights and turned them off.
"And no doing that." She said not looking up from the mixture she was stirring.
She carefully filled a needle "Okay this is diazepam, which should help with the seizures. I'm also going to give him dantrolene. I'll have to flush out his system, to rid off any of the poison that hasn't yet been absorbed into his blood."
She carefully injects both the diazepam and the dantrolene, placing the needles on a nearby metal tray. "He is struggling to breath. I am going to have to intubate him."
She proceeds to do so, "Barry, you should go and wait outside. I'll be out in a moment and explain it to you."
To Barry it felt like hours before she came back out, he kept thinking about how his world had seemed to stop the instant he had seen Leonard. He had know instantly that the situation wasn't good. Barry felt like his heart had skipped a beat. He didn't want Snart to die.
He was barely even aware of Lisa and Cisco who were also there. Lisa was standing still, her fists clenched, worry clear on her face. Cisco was hovering beside her, wanting to comfort her but not really knowing how.
Caitlin quietly opened the door and walked over to them. She looked at Barry and then turned her attention to Lisa "I don't know how familiar you are with strychnine poisoning?"
Lisa's eyes widened "It's strychnine?" Her voice was low and full of dread.
Caitlin nods "Yes." She looks over at Barry "There is no antidote for strychnine. I've done everything I can for him. Now it's just a waiting game, generally if a victim of strychnine poisoning can survive 12 hours then they will make a full recovery. Until then we have to keep him in the dark and keep the noise levels to a minimum to avoid triggering more seizures. I'm going to keep an eye on him. Lisa you can come in, but you have to keep as quiet as possible."
With that Caitlin heads back into the med Bay to monitor Snart's condition. Lisa looks at Cisco, clearly distraught. Cisco takes her hands "Hey its going to be ok. Your brother is tough and Caitlin is an amazing doctor. He'll make it through this." She nods "Thanks Cisco." She turns, releasing his hands, and quietly heads into the med Bay.
Caitlin sat down on a chair, keeping an eye on Snart's readings but trying to give Lisa some space. She wanted to be positive but the amount of strychnine that had shown up in his blood was extremely high.
Lisa sat down next to the bed, watching her brother. Her hands were in her lap as she was fidgeting anxiously. "You better not leave me." She whispered.
Barry had been pacing anxiously until Cisco had asked him to stop. Barry sat in one of the chairs, trying not to fidget. He was still wearing the Flash suit, with the mask off. Barry sighed running his hand through his hair. He hadn't realised how much he cared about Snart, sure he like him. Fights with Captain Cold were probably his favourite, especially since the deal which meant he didn't have to worry about anyone getting killed. The puns just always made him smile. Barry had hoped that one day he'd be able to get Snart to acknowledge the good in himself and maybe Snart would join the heroes. But now it seemed like Snarts life was hanging by a thread and Barry realised that his feelings towards the other man were more than just that.
A few hours had passed mostly uneventfully when suddenly one of the monitors started beeping. Caitlin whipped around, scrambling off her chair. "Oh that's not good."
Lisa tensed and looked at her anxiously "What is it?"
Caitlin glanced at her briefly "You need to leave."
Lisa went to protest but saw the look on Caitlin's face and with one last look at her brother she left.
Caitlin was grateful that Lisa hadn't argued with her, not that she had much time to be grateful considering Snart was going into cardiac arrest. Which was a really bad sign.
He flat lined and Caitlin immediately grabbed the defibrillator. Counting in her head, she charged the paddles and tried to restart his heart. She looked at the monitor "negative". She tried again and again. Nothing. He was gone. She stood staring at the monitor for a moment, still holding the defibrillator paddles. She blinked rapidly and took a deep breath. Almost entirely running on auto she put the paddles down and turned off first the defibrillator and then the monitor. She sat down at her bench, filling out the time of death as per routine. When she finished she put her pen down and stared at the wall. She was going to have to tell the others, she was going to have to tell Lisa. She rubbed her forehead. She got up, taking a deep breath. She removed the IV and the intubation tube. With a shaky hand she gently closed his eyes. She never really like Leonard Snart, probably had something to do with him kidnapping her. But he didn't deserve to die, definitely not like this. She sighed, readying herself to break the news to the others.
Caitlin came out of the medbay, her face sombre. She bit her lip, eyes downcast. Lisa knew, she knew instantly. She stepped back, trembling "No." Her voice was choked with emotions, eyes.
Caitlin looked up and made eye contact with Lisa "I'm so sorry. He didn't make it."
Lisa gasped as if all the air in her lungs had been knocked out of her. She crumpled to the ground, her eyes welling with tears. "No, no. He can't be." She wrapped her arms around herself, unable to hold herself together. She was shaking with sobs. Cisco sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her. Barry looked like he was in shock.
"I can't lose him. He's my family." She choked out between sobs. Cisco just held her, he knew there was nothing he could say that would make things better. She cried for a few minutes before she was able to pull herself together enough to be able to stand up. Lisa walked shakily towards the med Bay, Cisco close behind her. She hesitated, her hand on the door. She closed her eyes, taking a shuddery deep breath and opened the door.
She bit her lip, hard enough to draw blood. Her eyes filled with tears as she walked over "Lenny, I am so sorry. This is all my fault. I'm so sorry." She reached out with a shaky hand, gently touching his hand. "I can't- I can't do this without you." She trembled, tears streaming down her face.
Barry felt overwhelmed and flashed out of the med bay. He stopped on the roof of Star Labs, sitting on the edge. His eyes welled with tears which he roughly rubbed away. "It's not fair." "Why do I always lose everyone?" He choked out, his voice thick with emotion.
It was probably half an hour later before Barry got up and headed back to the Cortex walking at normal speed. When he walked into the Cortex the last thing he expected was to see Leonard Snart leaning back in a chair, his feet on the bench. One hand was resting on his cold gun but apart from that he looked completely at ease and very much alive. Barry froze, his mind stuttered unable to make sense of the situation. "Snart!?" He yelped eyes wide.
Leonard smirked, eyes sparkling with amusement. "Barry." He mimicked.
"You look like you've seen a ghost." Leonard remarked calmly, not moving from his position.
Barry stared at him, still in shock "Bu-But you...!?"
"Died?" Leonard finished for him. "Yes I did."
Barry continued staring at him, confusion written all over his face. "How?"
Leonard shifted, removing his feet from the bench and leaning forward in his chair slightly. He deliberately misinterpreted the question. "How? Quite painfully actually. Strychnine poisoning, not a fun way to go." He said casually.
Barry frowned slightly "No. How are you alive?"
Leonard stood up "Ah the million dollar question." He said, the amusement gone from his eyes despite the smile that remained on his face. "That is my secret." He said lightly. Then he made to walk out of the room, brushing past Barry as he did so. "Anyways, I have people to deal with." His tone had shifted, growing colder, darker.
Barry's frown deepened "Wait!"
Leonard paused, turning back with a raised eyebrow.
Barry hesitated, there was so many things he wanted to ask and say. After a moment Barry just said "I'm glad you're ok."
"Aww Flash, I didn't know you cared." Leonard drawled. Which was a lie, Len knew Barry cared. Barry somehow cared about everyone, even a criminal like him.
Before Barry could say anything else Leonard started walking away down the hallway "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a sister to talk to."
Normally Barry would have left it at that, and just watched Snart leave. But all he could think of the way he had felt when he thought Snart was going to die. On an impulse he flashed forward, pausing just a moment in front of Leonard before hugging him.
Leonard stiffened, going incredibly tense. He made no move to return the gesture. When he spoke his voice was completely neutral "Barry. What are you doing?"
Barry stepped backwards, his arms dropping to his sides. He silently looked at Snart for a moment.
Then with a grin he said "It's called a hug Snart."
Leonard eyed him warily "I know what a hug is Barry, what I want to know is what possessed you to 'hug' me?" He said with his usual drawl.
Barry's grin dropped, he sighed, looking at the ground. "I thought you had died. And I-I'm really glad you aren't." Barry could feel Snart's gaze, he looked up at him.
Leonard's face was completely neutral, any emotions completely masked. "Well technically I did die."
"But you are here now, and that makes me happy." Barry said with a smile.
Barry saw something flicker in Snart's eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared.
After a moment Leonard seemed to relax slightly "I need to go talk to my sister." But before he left He gave Barry a small smile "Thank you." Then he really did leave.