.:7:.


"Barry, I need to see you now."

Barry blinked in surprise when Joe—who had just walked by him with Eddie at his side—waved him over, not breaking his stride. Clutching his morning coffee tighter in his hand, Barry glanced over his shoulder before scurrying after them.

"Uh, did I already do something?" He asked. "Because I just got here." He glanced at his watch. "On time for once."

Joe shot him a look then his eyes traveled down to the coffee that rested in Barry's hand. The speedy metahuman slowly moved it behind his back as he fell in-step behind his pseudo-father. "I can see that," Joe said. His right eyebrow rose. "And I see that you didn't bother to get a cup of coffee for me."

Barry mimicked a fish for a few moments before he finally found his voice. "I was just talking to Iris…trying to apologize for our fight," he explained. "I'm sorry, I didn't think to—"

"Barry, I was kidding," Joe reassured him. He glanced at Eddie, who was still striding at a good pace ahead of them. "And I know things are still hard between you and Iris. Not only are you trying to keep her safe but that girl is as stubborn as a damn mule. How do you think she managed to break me down and finally buy her that Easy Bake Oven?"

"Those cakes were pretty sweet," Barry agreed. "It's still hard to believe that one tiny light bulb can make things so small." He held up his hand and held his fingers a few inches apart. "And not only that, but considering how dangerous the melting plastic could've been the fact it managed to sell so many units despite complaints about burns and…" he trailed off, noticing the funny looks Joe and Eddie were sending his way. He slowed to a stop. "What?"

"I just didn't know you were so into Easy Bake Ovens, Barry," Eddie said with an amused smile. He reached over and patted the twenty-five year old on the arm. "Tell you what, next time we have a Police Gala, we'll have you set up on desserts, huh?"

Barry twisted his mouth to the side, frowning as Joe chuckled to himself, trying to hide it from his foster son. "I was totally kidding," he said unconvincingly. "I mean action figures were where it was at, right?" Joe laughed even harder, causing Barry's frown to increase. "Yeah…so…what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Eddie waved an arm and led the three into an empty room. Barry brought his cup of coffee up to his lips and took a long swig, feeling it immediately wake up his senses in a quick zap—thank god for increased metabolism—and waited as Joe closed the door behind the three men and dropped a file onto the empty desk. He leaned against it, crossing his arms over his chest.

"We've finally got the go ahead to talk to Michael Bloom," Joe explained. "As we have said before, we're going to let him go afterwards as, for the moment, we don't have anything that we can pin against him other than potential kidnapping and even then, we don't particularly know what his role in the case is."

Barry looked back and forth between Joe and Eddie. He wasn't sure exactly why they were looking at him like that, but he suddenly felt like a bug under a microscope. He looked over at Eddie, who gaze back at him, almost looking through him. Barry wasn't really sure what to make of Eddie. His jealousy of his relationship with Iris aside, he wasn't a bad guy. He had a good sense of humor, from what Barry had seen at times, though he wasn't sure how he felt about Barry's relationship with Iris. Things were always sort of awkward between the two of them. In fact, he was pretty sure that Eddie was purposefully making fun of him in sort of a way to establish his dominance. Not that he knew for sure, he had bullies picking on him for so long he didn't stop to question it much anymore.

"What…does that have to do with me?"

"We think that there's a better chance of you or your friend Cadence, to get a confession out of him," Joe continued. "There's hardly a chance he'll talk to the police about everything he's done, especially if he does have recent arrests. If we put a wire or a hidden microphone on one of you, we think we can nab him as well as those he may be working with."

Barry shrugged. "OK, yeah, it's no problem."

"But we need to find Cadence as well," Eddie broke in, eyes boring straight into Barry. Barry's eyebrows furrowed together as he looked back at Officer Pretty-Boy. He tried not to smirk, thinking of the name that had been given to the young Detective. Not only was he annoyed with the name, especially considering Iris was the one that had brought it up the first time while she was secretly dating him, but now Barry used it—mentally—in a way to subtly break down the guy. It was still frustrating to know there was really nothing the disliked about the guy when he was trying so hard to find it.

But he was a good detective, as it had been shown to him, time and time again.

"So if you could get her to meet up with us, that'd be great as well."

"No problem." Barry took a step back. "In fact, I'll go find her now, unless I have something else I need to do…?" He looked back and forth between Joe and Eddie, frowning when he noticed them exchange a glance. "What? What is it?"

"It's nothing, Barry, don't worry," Joe dismissed after a moment of silence. He scratched the back of his head. "Just…just go find your friend and please meet us at the hospital."

Barry's eyes narrowed yet he still turned on his heel and swiftly walked out of CCPD headquarters. There was something they weren't telling him and he couldn't exactly figure out what it was. Something that Eddie was in on. So it couldn't be his father that much was a relief. How much more could his father, Henry Allen, go through? He already lost his wife, lost his son, and lost the rest of his life to jail where he would rot. And what would happen if he did manage to get out? Who would believe that there was a man in yellow that had killed his mother as opposed to the man that had already been called out for it? He wouldn't be able to go back to work, he would constantly be known as the man that killed his wife, despite the possibility of being proven wrong.

And forever, Barry would be known as 'the son of the doctor that killed his wife' and he'd still be proud of it. He was proud to know that he was one of the few people standing up for his father and he would continue to do so, no matter what anyone had to say about it.

So if it didn't have to do with his father…what could it be?

Walking down the street a few feet, Barry steeled himself, ready to start using his abilities to get to Cadence, then stopped when it suddenly hit him. Literally. He stopped so quickly that he started and fell to the ground, arms out stretched in front of him. His bag swung around and struck him in the stomach, crushing against him and knocking the wind out of him as he fell. And while he laid on the pavement, trying to catch his breath, he understood what had happened.

Something happened to the woman that had been brought to the hospital after the domestic abuse at her house. Had something happened to the kid too? Barry climbed to his feet and started off down the street. He zoomed to the front of the hospital and walked inside, surprised to find Cadence conversing with a tall, blond haired man. The two appeared to be in some sort of argument, as the man was standing over her, almost menacingly leaning into her. Cadence had her hands pressed against her hips and was listening to him, though appeared just as incensed as he was, eyes narrowed into a glare. Finally, she said something that seemed to appease the guy for he smiled and backed away from her.

He walked towards the entrance of the hospital and noticed Barry. His blue eyes flickered over towards Barry's green ones and he looked him up and down before disappearing out the front doors. Cadence turned and watched him leave, her own eyes landing on Barry.

"Are you stalking me now?" She asked him. "Checking up on me? Making sure I don't send bolts of fiery electricity all over the place?" Now she crossed her arms over her chest as she walked over to him.

"I wanted to talk to you, actually." The words came out of Barry's mouth slowly as he looked over his shoulder. There was something off with that guy, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it. There was just something about him…He turned back to Cadence, whose face had softened. "Was that guy…bothering you?"

"Lucas?" Her eyebrows rose. "No, we're always fighting about something. It's stupid." She waved a hand, dismissing him and the conversation. "Actually, I wanted to tell you something." She took a deep breath before breaking the news. "That woman that was brought in here…the one that had been beaten…she passed this morning."

Once again, Barry felt like the wind had been knocked out him.

"…There were some complications…she didn't come out of her coma and the doctors had to pull the plug." Cadence continued to watch Barry as he lowered his gaze to the floor. "As for the son…there's an Aunt in Ohio that he's going to be going to." She continued to watch him as his face then contorted to relief, though there was still pain that was evident as he ran a hand over his mouth. "You thinking about your Mom?"

Barry nodded silently. He couldn't imagine the way the boy was probably feeling. Barry was lucky to still have his father around; despite the fact he was in jail, he was lucky to have Joe and Iris to fall back on and to be able to keep the relatively normal life he had. But this boy had lost both of his parents; he was going to become uprooted and move to another state and have to start all over. He would be known as the kid whose parents died, he would be treated differently, maybe even as an outcast.

He clenched his hands into fists tight enough his nails made little crescents in his palms. How? Why? What did that little boy do to deserve the pain he was going to feel for the rest of his life? What had he done for his mother to have been killed, for his father to have been sent to jail?

It wasn't fair.

"It…I just know how hard it's going to be for him," Barry finally managed to get out, doing his best to keep his composure. "But, I guess it's better than not knowing if she'll wake up." He cleared his throat and looked down at Cadence, suddenly realizing that she was much shorter than he. He took a step back to be able to look her directly in the eyes. "I was told to come look for you, Detective West and Detective Thawne are going to be speaking to Michael Bloom today, they want us to put on some wires to see if he'll confess something while we're in there, to find Brady."

Cheek twitching, Cadence looked away from him for a moment. "In my experience, he's very careful about whomever he's talking to, I think he'll see right through it."

"We have to try, otherwise he's going to be let go because he helped with the investigation. Other than potentially knowing where your brother is, he doesn't appear to have any priors, not any that can be found."

"You're a Forensic Scientist, how would you know that?" Cadence's voice was suddenly sharp, filled with irritation. Her eyes flashed as she looked back at him. "Is it really in your jurisdiction, that you'd be allowed that information?" The air around them suddenly increased in temperature.

"Not usually," Barry admitted. "But Detective West…Joe…he's like my father. He and my best friend Iris were the ones that took me in after what happened to my Mom happened." Cadence held her expressions or irritation for a moment longer before her face softened once more. But her eyes still held suspicion.

"What do I have to do?"

"Just talk to him."

Cadence nodded.

The two waited for Joe and Eddie to arrive—with Eddie blinking at Barry in surprise and noting that he had managed to get there pretty quickly, causing Barry to give a light nervous laugh—before they headed off towards the room that Michael Bloom was in. Once arriving, Joe and Eddie fitted Cadence and Barry with tiny microphones before the four walked into the room. Michael Bloom sat in his hospital bed, arms handcuffed to the railings, smirking at the four as they went inside.

Barry's eyes immediately moved to the burn that was on his shoulder; from the looks of it, the bandages and the seepage that spilled from underneath, it was a nasty burn that must've caused him great pain every time he moved. And as the burn-victim's eyes moved over to Cadence, there was a bit of fear that flashed through them, despite the arrogant mask still holding true on the man's face.

"Michael Bloom," Joe said sternly. "We made an agreement. If you talk…we'll let you go."

"How do I know that you'll keep up your end of the deal?" Michael asked, eyes trained on Cadence. "How do I know that you're not just going to arrest me as soon as I'm discharged from this place."

"Well, we can't arrest you if you don't have any priors," Eddie pointed out. "And sure, you may have the information on the whereabouts of the kid, but that doesn't mean that you were actually involved right?" His voice dripped with sarcasm as he stood by the head of Michael's bed.

Michael glared at the Detectives before looking over at Cadence. "I'll talk to her."

"You don't have that choice," Eddie broke in. "We had a deal."

"And if you don't take this new deal, I won't talk at all," Michael reminded him. Barry exchanged a glance with Joe and immediately recognized the helplessness in the man's eyes. That was what they wanted; Michael was easily falling into their plan. Joe glanced over at Eddie and the two nodded before starting to leave the room. "I said, just the girl!"

"Unless you want police in here, ready to take out your ass, you'll have Barry stay," Joe broke in, motioning to the speedy metahuman. "I don't doubt you'd be willing to do anything to get out of here and I don't intend on putting someone innocent in danger. Unless that's what you want? To be behind bars for the rest of your life."

Michael scowled but didn't say anything more.

Barry watched as Joe and Eddie left the room, and then looked over at Cadence, who reached down into the corner of her scrubs and pulled off the microphone that had been attached to her sleeve. She crushed it in her fist, a light crackling sound emitting from the trinket as she did so. Then, tossing the tiny pieces to the floor, she walked over to Michael and pressed her hand down on his burn.

Barry winced at the scream that had come out of Michael's mouth, and then noticed the seepage that continued to run from the bandage. Moving over to the other side of the bed, Barry looked into Cadence's face and saw there was nothing there; her face was completely blank eyes dull.

When she spoke, she spoke in a low voice.

"Now, you and I both know that I could make this a lot worse or heal it within a matter of minutes," she murmured. Barry scratched at his neck, being careful to cover the microphone that was attached to his own shirt, knowing that Eddie and Joe were listening to every word they said. "So you have the option to be under the worst agonizing pain you've ever felt, or you can walk out of here a free man, with your shoulder healed."

"Cadence," Barry said. She looked over at him and she pulled her hand back, crossing her arms. He looked over at Michael and stared hard at him, the man looked back and then his eyes widened, and he knew the man had recognized him. "Yeah, I was there that night, too. You'd be dead if it weren't for me." He pointed over towards Cadence. "She would've killed you…because you took her brother from her."

"Is that what she told you?" Michael asked, snorting.

Barry ignored the question, leaning closer towards his face. He removed his hand from the microphone. There was no chance of Eddie and Joe hearing them talk about their powers, now. "Think about this…you took a child from its mother and father."

"I didn't take the kid!" Michael snapped. "That wasn't my job."

"So what was it?" Cadence demanded. "To follow me around for days, figure out my schedule, wait to see what was the best way for you to get him to get to me?" She shook he head. "I know you're working for someone else, I know this may have nothing to do with you, but you're still in it."

"And if you want to stay safe," Barry agreed. "Then you're going to cooperate. Just tell us where he is and we'll let you go. The police have nothing to charge you on." He crossed his arms. "But if you don't…then there's going to be some consequences."

"Listen, zippy—"

Barry moved as quick as lightning, grabbing the front of Michael's hospital gown. He curled his fist around the fabric and pulled him up into a sitting position until his face was directly in the older man's. Michael winced and whimpered, pain traveling from his arm through the rest of his body as quickly as Barry could move. The Flash's eyes bored into Michael's and the man glanced over at Cadence, who continued to listen quietly, then nodded.

A few seconds passed and Barry let go of Michael's hospital gown allowing him to slowly and carefully lean back into his pillows. He sucked in a couple of deep breaths, waiting for the pain to subside.

"Okay… okay…" Michael hissed. "He's…being held in the rundown apartment building…at the outskirts of the city."

"That building is notorious for drug dealers and crack heads," Barry said.

"We thought no one would look there," Michael continued. "Especially not the police, not for that reason. There was going to be a ransom, however things have fallen apart once people started to back out, once they realized what could happen…" his eyes shifted to the burn on his shoulder. "I don't know who planned the whole thing; I don't know anything other than my part, to lure you to Central City."

Barry glanced at Cadence, who hadn't reacted otherwise. She said she wanted to meet me, he thought, checking it off as another thing that was a bit off about her. Then again, if it were me I don't know how much I'd like to tell someone I just met.

"That's all I know, I swear!" Michael continued.

Barry looked deep into Michael's eyes. He prided himself on being someone that could really read people and in this case, the guy was telling the truth, it was all he knew. He nodded and motioned for Cadence to leave the room. She grabbed onto his arm, stopping him in the doorway.

Turning, Barry watched as Cadence's eyes welled up with grateful tears.

"Thank you," she said sincerely.


Quietly, carefully, Cadence reached out and opened the door to her darkened apartment. She nudged it open with her foot and cradled Brady against her body as she slipped through the door, and closed and locked it behind her. She walked to the bedroom, shadows elongated by the darkness of night followed her, and gently laid him down on the bed, pulling back the covers and placing him inside.

As his head hit the pillow, Brady stirred and looked up at Cadence. "Mommy?" He asked.

Cadence smiled and ran her hand down his cheek. "Yeah, sweetie?"

"Where'd you go? I was looking for you," he said sleepily. "Those guys said you weren't coming back for me."

"Don't worry about them, they're not going to hurt you again, I promise." Cadence pulled up the blankets of the bed so that they completely covered him. He snuggled into the pillow, letting out a soft sigh. "Do you want me to sleep here tonight?"

Brady nodded and Cadence crawled into the bed beside her son, gently stroking his hair until he fell asleep.

She stayed up, watching, hoping he wouldn't be taken away again.

She wouldn't let him.