"Cisco, what are you doing?" Hayley inquired as she watched her best friend/longtime crush meticulously place a pair of headphones over the ears of Barry Allen, the man they'd been taking care of for the past nine months. She could hear strains of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face," while she checked his heart monitor.

They'd all gotten oddly attached to the guy, considering he was in a coma 24/7 and was terrible at making conversation.

"What? He likes this song!" Cisco said, gnawing on a strawberry Twizzler.

"How could you possibly know that?" Caitlin demanded.

"I checked his Facebook page," Cisco answered cheerfully. "I mean, he can hear everything, right?"

"Auditory functions are the last sensory faculties to degenerate," Caitlin conceded.

"Wait, you checked his Facebook page?" Hayley commented. "That's kind of stalker-ish, Cisco."

Cisco shrugged and began to walk back over to the console, singing "Poker Face" under his breath.

"Can't read my, no he can't read my poker-"

Barry suddenly sat up with a gasp, eyes wide. Despite only having four people in the room, the Cortex sprang into chaos,

"Oh my God!" Cisco exclaimed, spinning around.

"Where am I?" Barry asked, staring wildly around the room.

"He's up," Caitlin announced.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Hayley said as Cisco scrambled for a walkie-talkie.

"Dr. Wells, get down to the Cortex, like right now!"

"-over 110, pulse 120, pupils equally reactive to light," Caitlin rattled off data, shining a bright light into Barry's eyes while simultaneously trying to pin him down, the poor man trying to escape, utterly confused. "Look at me. Look at me," she ordered.

"Caitlin, hold up. You're freaking him out," Hayley said, putting a hand on her friend's arm, who backed off long enough for Cisco to stroll up. Barry was now breathing like he was about to have an asthma attack.

"Hey, hey, relax; everything's okay, man," Cisco said, clapping a reassuring hand onto Barry's shoulder. "You're at S.T.A.R. Labs."

"S.T.A.R. Labs?" Barry echoed, bewildered. "Who-who are you?"

Cisco beamed and instantly began gesturing with his Twizzler. "I'm Cisco Ramon, that's Hayley Poole, and that's Caitlin-Dr. Snow-"

"I need you to urinate in this," Caitlin said, holding up a plastic jar, deadly serious.

"Not this second!" Cisco chided her, plucking the jar from her grasp as Hayley wrinkled her nose.

"Wait, what is happening? What is going on?" Barry reeled away from the three of them.

"You were struck by lightning, dude," Cisco explained, though the excitement in his voice betrayed the total seriousness of the statement.

"Wh-" Barry seemed at a loss for words and turned away from them, only to stop still in front of a mirror.

"Lightning...gave me abs?"

"Your muscles should be atrophied, but instead they're in a chronic and unexplained state of cellular regeneration," Caitlin noted, starting to experimentally poke Barry.

"Hey, come over here. Have a seat," Hayley said, and she and Cisco both guided him over to the hospital bed, and Barry sat, stunned.

Hayley was about to gently explain the whole situation, but Cisco beat her to it with a blunt "You were in a coma."

"Cisco!" she scolded. Barry stared up at Cisco incredulously.

"What? For how long?"

"Nine months," a voice answered from the doorway, and out of habit, Hayley straightened up as they all turned to face Harrison Wells, who somehow managed to look totally in control of the universe while sitting in a wheelchair. "Welcome back, Mr. Allen," Wells said genially. "We have a lot to discuss."

Wells began to lead Barry away, explaining what had happened over the last nine months, leaving Cisco, Caitlin, and Hayley behind. For a few minutes, no one said anything.

"He woke up," Hayley said, the full weight of what had just happened sinking in. "Guys, he woke up. From a nine months coma."

"I know!" Cisco said excitedly. "This is so cool! Hey, do you think he likes Star Wars?"

"Everyone likes Star Wars, Cisco," Hayley said.

"Yeah, but really likes Star Wars. And what if his favorite movie was Attack Of The Clones?" Cisco shuddered.

"No self-respecting, true Star Wars fan favors Attack of The Clones over Empire Strikes Back," Hayley scoffed, and Cisco nodded in acknowledgement.

The doors to the Cortex opened, and Wells and Barry came back in.

"-Now, I'm not the most popular person in town these days but, Detective West and his daughter gave me permission to bring you here, where - we were able to stabilize you," Wells finished.

"Wait, Iris?" Barry said, and Hayley wondered, was she mistaken, or had Barry's voice taken on a wistful tone?

"Yes, Iris. She came to see you quite often," Wells smiled.

"She's nice," Hayley said.

"She talks a lot," Caitlin sniffed, handing Wells a thermos.

"Also, she's hot," Cisco grinned, and no one with the exception of Caitlin noticed the way Hayley scowled.

"I need to go," Barry said, rushing towards the exit.

"No, you can't!" Caitlin said scandalized.

"No, no, no Caitlin's right, now that you're awake we need to do more tests; you're still going through changes and there's so much we don't know," Wells tried to persuade him.

"I'll feel fine," Barry insisted. "Really, I feel completely normal, thank you for saving my life!"

"Really?" Caitlin muttered exasperatedly as Barry disappeared around the corner.

Barry's head popped back. "Can I keep the sweatshirt?" he asked sheepishly.

"Yeah, keep the sweatshirt," Wells sighed. Barry nodded and rushed out.

"Now what?" Cisco asked.

"We can't let him meander around the streets, Dr. Wells, he could have been affected!" Caitlin protested.

Before Wells could reply, Hayley stepped in. "He just woke up from a nine-month coma. He should adjust back to familiar surroundings. If he's affected, I'm sure we'll figure something out, right?"

"True enough, Hayley," Wells admitted. "We'll give him a little while."

"Okay, so like I said: now what?" Cisco interjected.

"How about I drive downtown and pick up some stuff from Big Belly Burger?" Hayley suggested. "I think we could all use it."

"Excellent idea, Hayley," Wells said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go over Barry's medical data."

"I'll join," Caitlin said.

"Yo, Hayley, want me to come with?" Cisco asked.

She smiled at him. "Sure. Come on." She grabbed her keys and the two of them strolled out of the Cortex.

Earth-2

Francisco unlocked the door to the apartment, and opened it, noting a small creak of the hinge. Ah, well. He'd fix it later.

"Hayley?" he called, setting his keys down with a jingle on the table.

"Here," she mumbled from the couch, covering her face with a throw pillow.

"Headache?" he asked sympathetically, walking around and kneeling by the couch.

She lifted the pillow off her head and blearily looked sideways at him, eyes red. "Headaches aren't this brutal," she muttered. "It feels like someone took a red hot poker to my brain."

He pressed his lips to her temple. "Any better?" he asked innocently.

She gave a weak laugh. "A little."

"Can we consider you down for the count?"

She sighed. "Yeah, sorry. I know tonight's Movie Night-"

"Hey, you don't feel good. It's okay," he said softly as he scooped her up into his arms and carried her towards the bedroom.

"You should sleep, anyway," he added, setting her down on their bed.

"Mmph. Feels like that's all I do nowadays," she replied.

"You've got the doctor's appointment soon, right? Maybe Dr. Lance can help out."

"Sometimes I don't think Dr. Quentin Lance knows his own head from his ass," Hayley responded dryly, "but maybe."

Francisco smirked and kissed her cheek. "I'll join you soon," he told her. "Just need to take a shower."

"If I didn't feel like complete and utter shit I'd ask to come with," she joked half-heartedly.

"You know I'd let you," he replied without missing a beat.

"I'm going to sleep now."

"Alright. I'll be back."

He left the room, and rubbed his eyes. She'd been having terrible migraines for months now, and it wasn't just her. He did too, some days.

He'd pretended like he was just dehydrated or tired, or something along those lines.

But it wasn't the truth.

And with the headaches came weird hallucinations-no, he just wished they were hallucinations. Instead, he saw things moments before they happened.

Like those two months after what he and Hayley had called the Freak Pass Out, or just the Incident.

He didn't even know what caused it, but the images came.

A humanoid black blur, crackling with blue lightning, weaving between police officers, snapping their necks and shoving what looked like gloved hands into chests until only one remained.

The scene changed, and the police officer that had been left standing was sitting in his own home when the black blur came in and did things Francisco wished he could unsee.

And just like that, he was back, and Hayley was staring in horrified shock at the television as a reporter relayed the same events Francisco had seen first.

He never told her what he saw, because not long after that the black blur ended up openly revealing themselves-well, himself, it seemed.

Zoom was a name the city learned to call him, and he was looking for others with powers. He wanted them to work for him.

There was no way Francisco was going to endanger Hayley or anyone else.

Better to stay hidden.

Better to stay safe.

Better to keep that maniac away from him and the people he cared about.