Chapter One

Glass doors slid open, revealing Dr. Harrison Wells to no one but the unconscious girl in her usual place on the large hospital bed. What had once been a messy pixie cut accenting her girlish face had grown out to her elbows. Her features had matured, and she no longer looked like a girl, but as a young woman; she still, however, held a sense of youthfulness.

Dr. Wells wondered, as he did every day, when the girl called Ronnie was finally going to wake up. He had seen the power she had been blessed with, and he knew she had the potential to be virtually unstoppable. With the proper training and upbringing, they would have a very valuable asset on their hands.

He also thought about his team and how they would react to his metachild. He knew they'd be furious that he'd kept her a secret for nearly two years. Harrison had planned on many occasions to finally come clean to Caitlin and Cisco, but every time the opportunity arose, his primal instinct to keep his secret overcame his desire to be honest and he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He knew they'd be hurt; he would lose their trust and he couldn't bare to think of how that would feel.

Though they'd never spoken, the doctor held a special fondness for Ronnie and considered her his own. He'd searched for her parents, using a DNA sample, but they had been killed by a head on collision the night of the particle accelerator explosion. He felt it was his duty to care for her, as her parents death was caused partially by his invention. He waited patiently for her to wake up, but couldn't help but feel a little frustrated from time to time concerning her unexplained, prolonged nap.

As he gave her the daily vitamin shots she required, a loud 'blip' rang out from the computer. He glanced over, not expecting to see much, and gasped at the change in brain wave patterns. Her heart beat picked up speed and her breathing quickened. He reached for a stethoscope, but only grabbed air as the item in question began to levitate.

She was finally waking up.

"I've told you a thousand times, Cisco," Barry Allen assured his friend, "I love the suit. I've loved the suit for almost a year and I will continue loving the suit. If that changes, you will be the first to know."

Cisco turned a critical eye towards the Flash suit. It was a great suit, but that didn't mean that there wasn't room for improvement; everything had potential for improvement.

Caitlin looked up from Barry's blood sample and smiled at her boys. They never failed to amuse her.

"Have either of you seen Dr. Wells today?" She asked them. They shook their heads, and Caitlin shrugged it off. As a naturally mothering figure, she sometimes had to remember that the doctor was perfectly capable of taking care of himself and didn't usually need her to worry over him.

As they continued their bickering, Caitlin continued to analyze the blood sample. She did this every morning, just to make sure Barry was still operating healthily and normally. As she went to reach for the computer mouse to input the data, she let out a little shriek as the mouse and several other items around the lab abandoned the laws of gravity.

The boys, alerted by Caitlin's shriek, gasped at floating objects around them. Barry poked a beaker, sending it spinning away from him at the impact of his touch; Cisco looked around with a grin on his face, watching the situation happening around him with childlike excitement.

Caitlin wasted no time calling Dr. Wells over the intercom. "Dr. Wells, we have a situation up here," she shouted, "Objects are levitating, please tell me this is your fault!"

A couple seconds passed without reply, until finally the doctor's deep voice cackled over the intercom. "Children, I need you to come down to my private lab immediately," he said, sounding both excited and nervous. "Ignore the floating objects and be prepared for a bit of a metaphorical shock."

Though confused at the pet name and situation taking place, the three wasted no time in hurrying down to Harrison's private lab. They had never been allowed down there, much less invited. The glass doors slid open and allowed them inside, but they all stopped short at the pair of bright blue eyes that greeted them.

"Who are you?" Caitlin asked immediately, feeling very cautious of the intruder. Was she an intruder?

"My name is Ronnie McArthur," she murmured, her voice raspy and weak, like she'd just woken up. Before any other conversation could be made, Dr. Wells came rolling in on his electric wheelchair.

No one spoke. His team had questions; many questions that he had to answer. This experience was so new - never had he ever felt that he owed anyone an explanation. He'd never been that close with anyone, save his late wife. Now he had three young people who thrived contentedly under his care, trusting him - and now he had to fracture that trust.

"Almost two years ago, when Barry was in his coma and you two had gone home for the night, I found Ronnie stumbling around these halls," Harrison began. "She was confused and hurt. The explosion affected her, she can control matter - something known as telekinesis - as you've already seen. I meant to tell you, I honestly did," he was quick to say, seeing the disbelief if their eyes - Caitlin's in particular. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you when it happened."

"What if she'd been a crazed killer, Harrison?" Caitlin scolded, absolutely furious. "I understand that you have your secrets and that's fine, we all do, but this is too much. You put us all in danger, including yourself." Too angry to continue, she turned and stormed out of the lab. Barry didn't know what to say and quietly excused himself, speeding out in a streak of red light.

Dr. Wells sighed deeply and removed his glasses from his face, rubbing his tired eyes. Ronnie watched him with concern, and looked over at Cisco, as if to imply, Do something.

Cisco wasn't sure what to think. On one hand, she didn't look like a danger, and Dr. Wells usually knew what he was doing; but they were a team. Teams did not hide huge, potentially dangerous secrets from each other. He remembered a time when he'd been in the doctor's position, upon creating a cryonic gun as a fail-safe in case Barry turned out to be a psycho killer. The whole thing went awry, and while the doctor had been strict with him, he'd also forgiven him. Cisco appreciated that more than Dr. Wells knew.

"I'm...a little hurt that you were caring for a metahuman without telling us," Cisco said slowly. "It really could have turned out badly. But she seems nice enough," he looked over at Ronnie and smiled, receiving a shy smile from girl in return, "and I too have made the mistake of putting you all at risk all because I didn't want to admit that I'd done something dangerous." He bent down and hugged the doctor, receiving a firm embrace in return. "So I totally forgive you, Dr. Wells."

Harrison smiled and felt relief flood his system. "Thank you, Cisco," he uttered softly, not

giving his voice the chance to crack. When the young engineer stood straight again, he pretended not to notice the slight shine in the doctor's eyes.

"I really am proud of you, I hope you know that," Dr. Wells added. "You've grown so much in the short years I've known you, both in who you are and as a mechanical engineer. You and Caitlin leave me speechless at least once a week."

Cisco laughed and grinned, feeling a blush creep up his neck. Deciding to change the subject (as compliments were difficult for him to accept), he hopped up onto the hospital bed beside Ronnie.

"I'm Cisco," he said, holding out his hand. "I'm the coolest guy here, in this crazy institution."

Ronnie giggled and put her hand in his. Harrison watched the two converse for a while before leaving them to seek out his other surrogate child - one who was not so easy swayed to forgiveness.