Hi guys! I'm so, so sorry that I have kept you waiting for so long (especially after this mean cliffhanger) but I got kind of stuck at first and then didn't have as much time as I wanted to... But anyway, thanks for sticking around and your awesome reviews! I hope you'll enjoy!
The Fog Is Lifting
Iris immediately took out her cellphone and dialed her dad's phone number, already darting outside the house, carelessly slamming the front door shut with a loud 'wham'. Wally picked up right after the first ringing, Iris could hear his sniffling before he managed out a piteous "hey".
"Hey Wally, I'm here," Iris said in a soothing voice, jerking the car door open. "It's gonna be alright, you hear me?" she added, putting the phone on speaker and clumsily setting it in the phone holder so she had her hands free. With trembling fingers Iris put the key into the ignition, fumbling. On the other end of line, Wally let out another hiccup. Iris started the engine, almost forgetting to put on her seat-belt.
"Okay, Wally, I'm on my way," Iris told her nephew who still had been completely silent apart from sniffles and the occasional hiccup, "But I need you to describe where exactly you are at the park, okay?"
"Mhm," Wally hummed nervously, then began describing his and Joe's location. He did a really good job, because Iris could tell after the first few features where her nephew was at but she decided to let him keep on talking as it gave him something to do and really helped calming him down (even the hiccups had stopped).
After only a few minutes (the park really wasn't far away from their house; also, Iris may have exceeded the assigned speed limit just a bit), the reporter arrived at the east entrance of Sheldon Park, an ambulance already there. Iris quickly pulled over and hurried towards Wally who was standing close to the ambulance, forlorn, worriedly watching the paramedics do their work.
"Wally!" Iris called out, attracting the boy's attention to herself. Wally ran towards her, wrapping his arms around her middle tightly. Iris returned the hug, combing a hand through her nephew's hair soothingly.
"It's gonna be okay," Iris assured Wally again, then went over to the EMTs to find out to which hospital they were going to take her dad. After a quick exchange with the paramedics, Iris returned to Wally, wrapping an arm around her nephew and guided him to her car.
When they both finally had gotten into the blue Ford (and Iris made sure they both did not forget to buckle their seat-belts this time), the ambulance was already on its way to Central City Hospital.
Iris examined Wally (who was sitting in the back) via the rearview mirror; the 8-year-old appeared to be calmer than he had sounded at the beginning of their phone call, though it seemed that he was starting to become more nervous again from just sitting there.
Remembering how Wally had become a bit more relaxed when he had been busy describing his and Joe's location, Iris decided to give that tactic another try: "So...what did exactly happen, Wally?"
The boy's eyebrows knitted together, obviously trying hard to recall as much as possible.
"We just had arrived at the park and had started playing and I had missed the ball Grandpa had tossed my way," Wally started his report, his nervousness ebbing away, replaced by pure concentration, "So I went to the bench it had rolled behind and when I came back, there was this strange guy walking up to Grandpa. He wore like a weird dark gray pajama-kinda-thing. And he was ghostly pale, like he hadn't seen the sun for ages. He had no hair, not even eyebrows!" The kid added, apparently still completely bewildered by that, "And his eyes were really creepy. Very dark and with dark circles underneath them. And he said something to Grandpa, but I couldn't hear... That guy looked very scary while saying whatever he said and Grandpa looked really surprised and afraid – I've never seen Grandpa so afraid before! And Grandpa spotted me and motioned for me not to come closer and then... then the creepy guy just... turned into a cloud of green smoke! And the smoke moved by itself! Gas doesn't normally do that, right? It normally just... disperses or something like that." Wally scrunched up his nose in confusion before he turned his attention back to his narration, "But that green smoke didn't. Instead it moved... inside Grandpa, through his mouth and nose... and Grandpa gasped for air, but couldn't... "Wally's own breathing hitched a little, making his aunt feel bad for having him retell this horrible event, "couldn't breathe... and then the smoke moved out of Grandpa... and he fell to the ground and started shaking... and that smoke turned back into a man and he gave me a really creepy stare..."
The 8-year-old shuddered at this memory, "And then he turned around and just... walked away," Wally whispered, incredulous how anybody could do such a thing in cold blood.
"But then the Flash appeared, right?" Iris threw in, not wanting for Wally to dwell too long on this disturbing aspect of his story.
The mention of Wally's favorite hero really did the trick and the boy's face lightened up considerably: "Yeah! He just appeared with a loud 'whoosh' as soon as that gas-guy was out of hearing range! He had a syringe in his hand and injected grandpa with some red liquid – and right after the injection, grandpa stopped shaking and started to breathe normally again. And then he turned to me and said that I should call 911... but I was still too shocked to react," the boy admitted ashamedly, "and then the Flash had picked up grandpa's cellphone from the ground and pressed it into my hand and put his other hand on my shoulder and he repeated his words and I finally could move again and he sped away, following the creepy guy – and wait!" Wally stopped for a moment, a bewildered look on his face.
"Wait what?" Iris asked, also confused.
Wally's eyes met his aunt's in the rearview mirror: "I think he called me by my name... Isn't that weird? Hmm..." the 8-year-old mulled over his new-found realization.
Iris had a pretty clear idea how the Scarlet Speedster had come to know about her nephew's name, though she wasn't entirely sure how Wally would take to that – not that she had a real confirmation of her theory anyway...
Wally came up with another explanation: "Do you think the Flash knows about my Flash Fan Club?"
Iris couldn't help but smile at that, "I suppose so," she agreed (and if her theory was correct, the Flash actually did know about Wally's fan club).
"Huh... well, his voice sounded really strange... distorted somehow... and his face was blurred... Isn't that weird? That he blurs his face although he is already wearing a mask?" the young boy observed.
Iris didn't know what she should say about that – luckily, she didn't have to as they arrived at the hospital just at that moment. They quickly got out of the car and hurriedly made their way into the building.
The completely unfazed woman at the hospital's reception desk informed them that Joe was currently being examined by a doctor, handing Iris some forms that needed to be filled out. Aunt and nephew sat down in the waiting area, Iris wrestling with the seemingly endless amount of questions and Wally squirming in the uncomfortable chair.
Soon after they had sat down, a familiar voice made Iris look up from the form she was impatiently filling out – Eddie Thawne approached the two Wests, apparently on duty (he and Joe had been working the case about the mysterious gas attacks, after all). He looked worried, asking about Joe; unfortunately, Iris and Wally couldn't tell him much yet, so he returned back to the original reason for his appearance... his job. Eddie explained apologetically that he had hoped to be able to interview Wally about Joe's attack, so the CCPD could finally catch the maniac responsible for this.
After Wally reassured his aunt that he really was okay with doing that right now, she continued filling out the papers she had been given, keeping a keen eye on the detective and her nephew nevertheless.
Iris watched Wally repeat his story to Eddie, the cop knitting his brows when the 8-year-old came to the part about Nimbus' transformation (her dad's partner had confirmed Iris's suspicions that Wally's description of the strange smoke-man matched Kyle Nimbus's mugshot), but making no objections while writing it down. Because, really, if there was a red-clad hero running around the city who could break the sound barrier without breaking into a sweat, why couldn't there also be a criminal who turned into smoke?
The nonchalance that was displayed upon hearing the madness that her nephew was just describing made Iris think how just fifteen years ago, another young boy had told an equally impossible story – and nobody had believed a single word he'd said. The young reporter could only imagine how hard that must have been for Barry and was more than glad that at least Wally didn't have to deal with people telling him he was making his story up.
Iris had finally managed to fill out all the forms and handed them to the receptionist, when a doctor came up to talk to her. He assured Iris that her father seemed to be fine (they still would have to wait and see for the blood analysis and another medical examination, but for now it looked like there were no aftereffects to be worried about) – Joe had been given some hundred percent oxygen for the mild hypoxemia he had suffered and needed a lot of rest due to extreme exhaustion but it seemed that the antidote the Flash had injected Iris's father with had worked perfectly. Joe needed to stay for medical observation tonight, though.
Iris thanked the doctor wholeheartedly and returned to Wally and Eddie (the detective was just getting ready to head back for the precinct) to tell them the good news. Wally grinned from one ear to the other, hugging his aunt tightly and Eddie looked really relieved when he said his good-byes, promising to keep in touch (he was Joe's partner, after all).
After that, Iris made use of her persistence to find out to what room her father was being transferred to. It took a bit of nagging but in the end, the now rather unnerved receptionist told Iris the room number (probably just that quickly to get Iris off her back... but at least it had worked).
After nearly getting lost twice in the long and mazelike hallways of Central City Hospital, Wally and Iris finally found room 403, where Joe had been transferred to.
Joe was lying in the hospital bed, asleep. Wally raced over to his grandfather's side, eyeing him intently as if a just intense enough stare from the 8-year-old could make his grandpa wake up and assure them he was fine.
Iris walked over to Wally, understanding the boy's anxiousness; she didn't like the sight of her strong father in a hospital bed... it made him look weaker than she knew he was.
"It's gonna be alright. Grandpa will be fine," Iris smiled down reassuringly at her nephew, ruffling his hair, "The doctor said that he is just exhausted and needs a lot of rest. He's going to have to stay tonight for medical observation, but he should be good to go home tomorrow."
Wally smiled up at his aunt with bleary eyes, the adrenalin from earlier wearing off, leaving the 8-year-old exhausted.
"I'm gonna get a coffee. Do you want me to get you something? Something to drink? Or eat ?" Wally just shook his head no and curled up on the chair closest to the hospital bed.
"I'll be right back." Iris promised and left the room in search of a vending machine.
Her quest for coffee wasn't very fruitful, unfortunately, as the only coffee vending machine Iris found was out of of order. She decided to call off the search, not wanting to leave Wally alone for too long. Iris was just one hallway away from the room her father was staying in, when she suddenly heard a very familiar voice mutter "Room 403, 403..."
Iris peeked around the corner and yes, there he was: "Barry!"
The young man spun around, spotting her: "Iris! I came as soon as I could... Is your dad okay?" Iris smiled widely, flinging her arms around Barry's neck, hugging him so tightly that he stumbled a bit backwards before regaining his balance again.
"My dad is fine, the doctor says there are no residual aftereffects!" Iris beamed at Barry who looked just as glad and relieved as she was feeling. In that moment Iris decided to throw all caution in the wind, gave Barry a short but sweet peck on the mouth and looked him straight in the eye: "Thank you for saving him, Barry."
Iris could feel his body tense at her words. "I... I don't know what you're talking about," Barry stuttered, eyes widening in alarm.
Iris couldn't help but roll hers, "I know, Barry. I mean you just called mere seconds before my father got attacked by some madman, that's not exactly subtle. Besides, there were other signs... Oh, and you are one terrible liar." She couldn't suppress a giggle when she saw the flabbergasted look on his face.
"I...," Barry started, sporting the same facial expression he always wore when he tried to come up with some lame excuse but then shook his head, giving Iris a sheepish smile instead, "I like to think that I'm not that terrible at lying... I guess you're just too perceptive."
"If that makes you feel better," Iris teased, a bit surprised that he was taking her knowing about his alter ego so well.
"Caitlin already predicted that you would find out if I wasn't careful enough... Aww, man.. I'm definitely in for an 'I told you so' from her," Barry grimaced. "Oh and it was Caitlin who developed that antidote I used on your dad, by the way. I can't take credit for that."
"I'll thank her for that later. Definitely. So you, Caitlin and Cisco were talking about Kyle Nimbus in your lab yesterday, weren't you?"
Barry stared at Iris, totally baffled, "How do you know about Nimbus?"
"I investigated the case of the gas attacks. The only connection I found between Judge Howard and the Darbinyan crime family-"
"Was Nimbus." The forensic scientist finished the sentence for her.
Iris nodded: "Correct."
Barry looked at her in disbelief completely taken aback. But then he remembered something, furrowing his brow: "But Nimbus was thought to be-"
"Dead, I know. That's what threw me off from pursuing that lead at first." the journalist admitted, "but the date of the day he was sent to the gas chamber kept nagging me and I realized that it was the same day that-"
"The particle accelerator exploded."
Iris grinned proudly, "Exactly. And since I also kind of suspected you to be... y'know, the infamous fleet feet... and you got hit by lightning the exact same day, I just... took that into consideration. Plus, Wally's description of the attacker matched the mugshot I saw of Nimbus, so..." Iris shrugged nonchalantly.
Barry shook his head, utterly impressed: "You know when I said that your were a great journalist?" Iris nodded, beaming.
"That was a total understatement. You are an amazing journalist, Iris. This is incredible."
Iris couldn't help the blush forming on her cheeks. She was pretty sure that if she smiled any wider, her face would split into two. "Thanks, Bear."
Iris watched Barry's face light up again at her use of that nickname (it was kind of adorable, really), when she remembered why he had come here in the first place.
"Come on, let's head inside," she said, grabbing his hand, motioning towards the door of room 403, "I promised Wally I'd be back soon, though he's probably asleep by now anyway; he was pretty exhausted."
The two young adults entered the room and, as Iris had predicted, found a dozing Wally in the chair next to the hospital bed. But Wally sleeping wasn't the only thing that had changed since Iris had set out for her coffee quest: Joe was awake now, watching his grandson sleep.
"Dad!" Iris exclaimed happily, barely remembering to keep her voice down so she wouldn't wake up Wally just yet.
"Baby, I'm fine, don't worry," Joe said, returning Iris's bear hug. The cop sent Barry an odd look over his daughter's shoulder,"luckily, the Flash was there right on time..."
Barry tried telling himself that he was just seeing things due to his exhaustion from fighting Nimbus, but that strange glint in Joe's eyes remained. And he'd seen that look on the detective's face only when he was facing a particular difficult case... And it's common knowledge that Joe West always solves his cases... Oh boy...
Soo... it's the final countdown... ;) Hopefully, I didn't completely mess up the entire hospital part... Luckily, it's been some time since I've been in a hospital as a visitor or patient... My sister gave me some suggestions for that (she's been the one to watch ER ;), plus she came up with the title...
I hope that I'll be able to post the epilogue soon (I'm aiming for this weekend - also because exams start next week ^^; ) I'm kinda sad to see this story end... but on the other hand I'm excited to finish it because this is the longest fanfiction I've ever written and actually completed! See you soon!
