For a moment, she almost didn't go in, sensing his need to be alone, but decided against it.

''What are you doing? '' She asked, closing on him, both knowing the question was not in any way related to where the conversation was heading.

Cisco's shoulders tensed up, but he kept on working for a moment, until he realized the reporter wasn't going anywhere. Capitulating, he stopped what he was doing, his back still turned on her.

''How is he?''

''He's shivering badly right now, but dad says it's a good sign, sign he's warming up. He started mumbling a little in his sleep too. ''

''That's…good. And Caitlin?''

''Still out. ''

Moving forward, the journalist halved the distance separating her from her tech-enabled friend.

''What are you really doing here, Cisco? Why aren't you with your friends? Barry and Caitlin should wake up soon.''

Approaching the desk once more, just as Cisco started to turned the chair around the face her, she caught a glimpse of a picture on the desk, a picture of Dante. Oh. Now she understood. After what happened earlier, it seemed like what Killer Frost said and Cisco anger didn't exist anymore, lost in the urgency of the situation, but now that Barry was out of the danger zone, everything was sinking in.

''I just don't know what I'm going to say when Barry wakes up, when they both do. I almost lost both of my friends today.''

Lowering his head, he acted like he was scratching his nose, but Iris could clearly see the tears being wiped at the same time. The engineer wasn't the only one not knowing how to feel right now: as much as she just wanted everything to go back to normal and how bad her heart felt torn for seeing Barry so miserable earlier in the speed lab, she couldn't blame Cisco either. She didn't even want to put herself in his shoes and imagine that Flashpoint had caused Wally's death instead of Dante's.

''Cisco...''

He turned his back on her again, shoulders lowering, slightly shaking.

''I'm sorry.'' She simply said, walking away, unknowing what else to do or say.

***FLASHFLASHFLASH***

By the time Iris came back, the frozen hero's temperature was up again, hitting 90 Fahrenheit (32 Celsius), slowly but surely leaving the hypothermia stage as his shivering kept on decreasing, in a good way this time. His powers might have been affected by the cold, but as his temperature was rising up, they were slowly coming back to help him recover faster than normal people. It still took another full hour before he was finally ready to come back to them, opening his eyes when Joe was back at Wally's bedside, leaving Iris all alone with him.

She observed with concern as confused eyes passed her quickly, Barry's head slowly turning around to look at the other side of the bed.

''Barry?'' She hesitantly called. ''Do you hear me?''

Barry's head slowly but surely turned back to her after a hesitation.

''I…r…is?'' He faintly said, between shivers, fighting some tremors. ''C-c-c-c-c-ol-d-d-d…'' He stuttered.

Iris smiled, relieved to see that his mind looked fine while she wrapped the blankets a bit tighter on the Flash. ''Do you remember what happened?'' She softly asked.

''Caitlin?''

For a moment, Iris wondered if he was asking about Caitlin's whereabouts or if she was the one who did this to him. Deciding it was the first option, she proceeded into filling the blanks.

''Cisco was able to stop her before she could kill you, she's locked down in the pipeline.''

Barry nodded sadly before scanning the room around him once more, looking for something specific, or someone maybe.

''Where's Cisco?'' He finally asked, his voice stronger, the shaking reduced.

''He's in his lab. '' She started uncomfortably, not really wanting to discuss it with Barry.

The pitiful look she got for an answer was all she needed to confirm that there was no more explanation required, they both knew why Cisco wasn't around.

''I'm sorry.'' She felt the need of adding. ''I tried talking to him.''

''S'ok. '' Barely awake for a couple of moments, Barry already pressed his palms against the mattress and pushed up in an effort to sit up, prompting Iris to jump on her feet and put her own hands on his shoulder to try and restrain him.

''Where do you think you're going?''

''Need…t-talk to Caitlin…make things r…ri..right.''

''You're still recovering, and she's still unconscious. It'll have to wait.''

Sighing, resigned, Barry let his adoptive sister guide him back onto the bed. To be honest, the physical restraints and the cold in his bones weren't the biggest reasons for his decision to stay right here, what weighted the most was the conviction that right now, he didn't have a clue what to do or say to either of his friends. Was he ever going to get Caitlin back? Was Cisco ever going to forgive him? He hoped it with every single of his molecules, but he couldn't see how he was going to be a strong enough leader and friend to accomplish that…

Maybe it was just fate, maybe he deserved everything that was happening. After all, he did caused it all.

***FLASHFLASHFLASH***

It didn't take long after that for Barry to finally feel well and warm enough to get out of bed and back on his feet, just in time to join the whole team down as Caitlin was about to wake up.

At the end of what felt like the longest day he's ever gone through, Barry just felt the urgent need to have some time on his own, sitting in a chair behind the computers in the speed lab. Everything worked out at the end; Caitlin was back, Wally was alive and well, and a speedster none the less…well, everything except his relationship with Cisco. His mind kept on replaying the 3 months he got to live with his parents, torturing him with the fact that he didn't even search his friends during that period of time, not until Wally ended up in the trash. What kind of friend just forget about the people he supposedly cared about for so long? How could he change the timeline like that without thinking about the consequences of his actions on the people closest to him? Maybe he didn't deserve the friendship Caitlin and Cisco gave him, maybe he never did and his punishment was well-deserved.

His head went up when he heard footsteps entering the speed lab, looking up just in time to see Caitlin's figure appear, freezing in her steps.

''Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't think there was anyone here at this time. '' She said, hesitantly, looking ready to turn around in a second.

''It's ok, come in.'' He pushed the chair next to his away from the computer to leave enough place for a person to sit in it. After a hesitation, Caitlin closed the gap and took the seat in silence. The room was oozing with discomfort.

''Hey, you ok?'' Finally asked Barry to break the silence.

''I guess.'' Caitlin said pensively, looking down, before turning to her friend. ''Barry, I'm so sorry about what I said. '' Barry frowned at her, unsure what exactly she was talking about, she said many awful things tonight, not that he really blamed her for anything. ''For what I said about Dante.''

Oh, that. Turning his head around to look straight ahead, Barry sighed, making Caitlin's heart tighten at the sight, fearing he had resentment toward her for that.

''I was just so angry at you.'' She continued, desperate to explain herself. ''Just wanted vengeance for…''

''Caitlin.'' He interrupted her, turning his attention back to his friend. ''It's ok, it's not your fault, I'm not blaming you, I'm blaming myself. I started all of this when I went back in time. ''

What was she supposed to answer back? Technically, it was his fault, he took it upon himself to go back and save his own family, but even if he caused destruction around, there was no malignant intention behind it, no desire to hurt anyone.

''I should've said something …hell, I shouldn't have messed with time, that was stupid. '' He continued, beating himself up.

''You made a mistake, a massive one, but you can't blame yourself and beat yourself up for the rest of your life. You have to move on, we all do.'' As Barry nodded without conviction, she kept going. ''Bedside, we all decided, we didn't want to hear about our Flashpoint lives and the ones we had before that. It's not your fault for not telling us that Dante was alive before or that I didn't have powers or even Wally having powers in Flashpoint.''

A smile appeared at the corner of Barry's mouth, whether he believed it or not wasn't as important right now as the fact that Caitlin did believe in that. Her and Iris. That's what really mattered. Hopefully, one day, Cisco would believe it too.

''Thank you. '' He simply said, softly.

Caitlin smiled back, knowing the struggle inside the hero's head, knowing it would be a while before she could convince him, but being reconciled, not being all alone, was all they needed right now.

The End


A/N: Thanks for sticking 'til the end. Leave a comment and let me know what you thought of the last chapter.

I'll be back on Friday with a new Wounds of the Soul chapter and I'll move on to What it takes to be a hero. Stay tuned.