Barry remained unconscious for 36 hours. Caitlin ran many tests to try and figure out what was wrong. She saw how skinny he was, and knew that his metabolism was the source of his issues, but when his results came back within reason- it was his blood sugar that was out of whack, she knew he'd been not eating enough. She also looked up his nose to see what was wrong with it, and took a swabbing of it. Examining the results, she had to run them again- three times to be sure. Once she knew, she was shocked. Barry never seemed like the type to do drugs, but then again, everyone had been surprising her these days.

Joe rushed home to find out how Barry was doing. Caitlin withheld the information of the cocaine, she couldn't break that news to Joe, it was too much for her. How she had managed to not tell anyone was impressive- it was a very large secret. When Barry finally did wake up, he was showing signs of withdrawal. She'd pushed everyone out into the cortex and said she needed to run tests. Barry could tell by the look of her face that she knew.

"Why?" she asked.

"I…it's been a long time since…I last used…I…had a lapse in judgement and let myself go. Its so addicting, and…it makes everything better. It makes the pain go away."

"Barry, when did you start using?"

"I was in my first year of college. I started smoking weed with my roommate, one thing led to another, he had coke, we tried it and we all got hooked. I was so addicted for nearly two years. I tried so many different drugs, I hid it from joe. It…it wasn't until I OD-ed that I got better. Joe never knew. One of the kids we hung out with, he died shortly after I started getting clean. He OD, and Mike got caught for cooking and dealing. I told them I was studying abroad, but I went to rehab to get clean."

"Oh Barry." Caitlin said with tears.

"I…there was a reason I turned to drugs and everything that I did. I couldn't deal with the memories."

"Losing your mom was hard on you, there's no denying that-." she started.

"There's so much more, secrets I never told, secrets I suppressed for the last 10 years that when they came out, they turned me into that 20 year old junkie kid trying to get his next high."

"Barry- I don't know what to say."

"I made my decisions, I had to live with them and when I couldn't I got whatever would make me forget. And I did so good at pretending that part of my life never happened, and then it all comes back, like a dam being broke, and the water flooding, drowning everyone, and every time it surfaces, it takes a part of me with it."

"You're going to have to get clean, and that's going to be hard. I have no clue if you will go through withdrawal, and how bad it could get." Caitlin said with a frown.

"I…Please don't tell joe."

"I won't tell joe, but you have to. And if you don't and he finds out, that's on you." She warned him.

"I'll tell him, I promise."

"We're also going to talk about your weight, and the fact that you're currently a walking skeleton."

"I…in order to actually get high, I had to push my powers away. My metabolism would kill it before it even started, but by pushing myself to extremes, I was able to get high. I'd run to wear myself out, once I was past the threshold, I was able to get high, able to get drunk."

"So by not eating and overworking yourself, you managed to curb your metabolism in order for the drugs to work, let alone last?"

"correct, and It worked, for awhile."

"So by you eating, and putting you back into a healthy spot, the drugs wont work." She summarized.

Barry nodded. The though of eating made him want to be sick, despite not eating in days.

"The IV will stay in until I say so. I know its uncomfortable, but its necessary."

"Caitlin."

"Barry, you're nearly a skeleton. You've always been thin, but now, now you're a skeleton- literally. You look like a time wraith. You need the IV to get you to a good starting point. But you're going to have to eat regardless."

"I…I cant do this Cait. Its too much."

"Barry, I am here for you, every step of the way, so is Cisco, Joe, Iris, Harry."

Barry shook his head, they couldn't know.

"They cant know, they can't know about the drugs, or the eating."

"Barry, they know you passed out, You were out for nearly TWO days. They can look at you snd know you're severely underweight."

Barry was panicking. His breathing quickened and soon he was having a panic attack. When he wasn't calming down, Caitlin put a light sedative in his IV. Within a few minutes he was asleep. Cisco walked in once Barry was asleep.

"I heard it all." was all he said.

"Don't tell him you know." She told him sternly.

"I wont- but there is no way that once Joe walks through that door, he wont know. He looks like he'll disappear right in front of us. His hair is falling out, he is paler than the sheets he is laying on, and he ways what, all of 110 pounds when he should be like 150 at least." Cisco said as he ran a hand through his hair.

"We've already given him 75 IVs with nutrients and that got him to wake up momentarily after 36 hours before I had to sedate him. How do we counter act the drugs? You cant cut Xanax cold turkey, it'll kill you normally, but his metabolism changes the game. We have no idea what it does to his system when he's on it. "

"I guess that leaves one thing we can do…Give it to him, but control the use. We lean him off it and give him more food slowly, that way it cuts the use and the effects. By a certain point, he'll be off the drugs and we can pump more food into him until he resembles a living person and not a corpse, and we monitor him closely to see how its affecting him." Cisco suggested.

"What about Iris and Joe?"

"we tell them that he got a speedster sickness and it'll take time to recover. I'll call Felicity and have her send someone over to keep watch while Barry's out of commission." Cisco said as he reached for his phone and headed out into the cortex.

It didn't take long for Felicity to redirect satellites and have an overwatch of the city. Cisco tried to not reveal too much information, but he ended up word- vomiting and alluded that Barry was sick, and wouldn't be better any time soon. Of course with how it sounded, Felicity was instantly worried, which in turn did worry Oliver who wouldn't openly admit it. So, roughly 6 or so hours later, Cisco was joined by Felicity and Oliver, as well as Joe. Caitlin handed telling Joe and Felicity while Cisco took Oliver aside and told him the truth. Felicity had a habit of spilling the truth unintentionally, and Caitlin and Cisco didn't want Iris or Joe to find out.

Cisco then gave Oliver the names to look up, the ones from Barry's past and told him to do whatever he felt necessary. Oliver had Diggle search up the people, Mike, Barry's old roommate got involved with The Count, and was someone Oliver put in Arrow in at one point. Santiago was out in a different city, he'd mostly got his life together- had a few DUIs and drug charges, but for the most part, he was doing ok. Joe, the other kid from the group was about the same- he didn't do much with his life either. Caesar, he was one who acted as if he was relevant on social media, despite no one caring. He acted as if he was the best hunter, the best marksmen, and bragged about things no one should be proud of. He was a filthy disgusting man, and the further they looked into him, the more shady he was. He was interested in being a Marine, but he was too overweight, and diagnosed as bat shit crazy- he would never make it in the service. So he bitched and complained, acted as if he were the victim, and blamed others for his problems. He lost contact with the others- they'd cut ties with him years before. For his obnoxious behavior was too much for all of them.

There was evidence pointing that Caesar had bragged about what he did to Barry on social media. He never said it outright, but he alluded to it in social media posts.

"When you had the most fucked up kid in school wrapped around your finger and your dick.😈💀👌 👀"

Then he found a picture of Barry, or what he thought was Barry but the image was blurred, with his mouth on this person's genitals, but emoji covering his face. Mostly everything was covered except his eyes, which pleaded for help. The comments on it were disgusting. Then there was a picture of what he assumed to be Barry in college, and only an emoji covering his face, tied to a bed covered in bruises.

"Found him after all this time, no one feels as good as he does, even if he is a screamer."

Oliver saw rage. Once he had an address, he grabbed his suit- he'd brought it with him, and put it on. Felicity was confused to see him storm off with his arrow, but knew he would be unstoppable. She looked to Diggle for any sign that he knew what was going on, and he shook his head, it was a 'not now' look.

Iris ran in and appeared to be oh so worried, but Felicity knew, she knew that at the end of the day, Barry didn't love her like he did before. After everything that had gone down, she'd seen how Barry turned to Oliver. It was the same thing she did, and while it hurt, she knew that Oliver would be the one to mend Barry's brokenness, and Barry would heal Oliver's scars and traumas. They could push each other past each other's limits and still be okay. They could handle each other in only a way that they could. She'd seen it coming for months now, it was no surprise to her at all. Hell, one time when Barry was far out of it due to pain, he'd admitted he'd suck up his injuries so that he wouldn't look weak in front of the other man, despite how much pain he was in. Barry had so many oliver-isms in him now that it was like looking in a mirror. Barry had aged in his time since waking up from his coma, and it showed in the way his shoulders sagged and his head hung low.

Felicity followed Diggle out and asked, all he said was, "Oliver went to put an Arrow in someone who deserved it years ago. I want you to delete every trace that this person existed, he doesn't deserve to be remembered, not at all." Felicity nodded and took the information she was given and went to work. As she hacked her way through, she saw his social media accounts, and stumbled across what Oliver had seen earlier. With anger in her, she deleted every and all traces of this person, donating every last dollar he had to charity, no one would remember the scum that Caesar Lopez was. Her heart also broke for Barry, who carried this trauma and event with him for the last 15 or so years, never once breathing a word of it to anyone.

Oliver returned two hours later and Felicity nodded to him to go to the other room. "Its done, he doesn't exist, he's john doe, with no family."

Oliver thanked her and took a seat at Barry's bedside. Knowing the truth behind his health hurt. He knew that on the surface, Barry had fucked up badly, but there was so much more to it. Just seeing the pictures from when Barry was 15 showed to him how Broken Barry was, and how well he had hidden it for years. He'd never suspected the abuse and trauma the kid went through. But knowing what he did, he saw how it weighed Barry down, and how he struggled. It made sense that Barry fell apart, it was a matter of time before he'd cracked, it only took 14 years for it to happen. Iris pleaded for Barry to get better. Oliver knew he was awake and pretending to be asleep. Caitlin knew as well, she took Iris to go get some coffee, and closed the door for Oliver.