A/N Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! I appreciate the feedback, and am glad that a few of you are really enjoying it. I'm writing this for me, so I'm really happy that others are getting enjoyment out of it as well. Let me hear your thoughts!

Central City was different than Starling. It had more of a small town feel to it. There was plenty of people, don't get me wrong, but they didn't seem as rushed as everyone in Starling did.

Pulling up to STAR labs, Felicity told Ray and I to wait downstairs while she went and told Barry we were here.

"How's your head?" Ray fidgeted with the stitches Oliver had done.

"Fine. Better if you'd get your dirty fingers out of it." I playfully slapped his hand away from my face.

"You would tell me right, if you weren't okay? I mean, if things were too much, inside your head…you'd let me know, wouldn't you?" Surprised by the seriousness of his question, I wasn't sure what to say. I knew Ray was worried about me, but he had never asked me anything like this before. He was always so careful about not bringing anything up that might offend me, or trigger me.

"Things have always been 'too much' inside my brain, Ray, you know that. But I can handle it. It's hard, and I haven't really dealt with any of it yet, not really. But I'm trying to find a way to both move on and come to terms with everything."

"And Oliver, he's uh, helping with that?" His gaze drifted down to his shoes, as it usually did when he talked 'boys' with me. I smiled.

"Yeah. Yeah, he is." I expected him to be happy, or a little relieved, that I was getting help from somewhere. But instead, he seemed sadder. His eyes tightened and he only slightly shook his head. "What's wrong?"

"No, nothing."

"Ray."

"It's just, it's stupid really. I'm being inconsiderate and selfish."

"How? You've been there for me for almost ten years now."

"That's the whole point!" I was taken aback slightly by his tone of voice. He seemed…angry with me. "I've been there for you! But now, you've run off and found someone else to confide in instead. When it should be me, Ben, it should be me that you feel safe enough to talk to. I just don't understand what I did wrong or-oh, please don't cry. I didn't want to make you cry, Ben."

I had been trying so hard not to hurt him. Everything I did, or didn't do, I was thinking of him. I didn't even see it until now but I was already hurting him, by making him believe I didn't trust him with my secrets. I tried to wipe the tears before they fell, but it was a feeble attempt.

"I never wanted this, Ray. I tried so hard not to hurt you." He opened his mouth to speak but something behind me caught his eye. Felicity. With a crowd of people. Trying and failing again to wipe my eyes, Ray went over to shake hands with one of the men.

"Bennett, is everything okay?" Felicity placed her hand on my arm.

"Yeah, yeah. Everything's fine." I swallowed the lump in my throat and packed up the pain in my heart away with everything else.

'Okay, well guys, this is my boyfriend. Ray Palmer. And Bennett, his sister. Ray needs your help." Confused, I looked to Ray but he wasn't looking at me.

"Hi, I'm Cisco. It's a pleasure to meet you." A boy, or rather young man, came up to me, hand outstretched.

"Likewise." I also met Kaitlyn, Dr. Wells in his chair, and Barry.

We rode the elevator up to the lab, Ray carrying a rather large box on a dolly. I wanted to ask him what it was, but things felt weird between us. We hadn't resolved our discussion earlier. I felt awkward, and out of place.

"This is what I need your help with. Cisco, I think you will find this interesting." Ray opened the box and Cisco's eyes lit up. I managed a peek into the box, and saw what looked like a body inside. A metal body. A suit. What in the world has Ray been up to? Is this what he's been staying at work late for? I still didn't feel ready to ask questions. I felt like I was intruding. As the guys started rattling off data and tech specs, Felicity took Barry aside. I suddenly felt like the kid in the lunchroom with no friends who had to go eat their lunch in the bathroom.

I made my way through a separate room off to the side with some computers and gadgets in it. Drawn as always to the windows, I took a peak outside. The glass seemed thick and tinted, so I couldn't really see out. It made me feel claustrophobic. Trapped. I closed my eyes and tried to take deep, slow breaths.

My hands hate being idle, so I started pilfering through some gadgets on the table.

"Are you a techie, as well, Bennett?" I turned to see Dr. Wells sliding down a ramp into the room. He seemed nice, but something in his eyes bothered me. Maybe it was the way he looked at me like he was dissecting me. Pulling apart my cells and peering in the cracks between.

"Oh, not really. I know basic stuff, maybe a little more from hearing Ray talk, but I didn't go to school for it or anything."

"Did you go to school for something else?"

"Umm, I took a few semesters out west. I never decided on a major, but I was thinking about going to law school eventually."

"Law school. Wow. Impressive. Why'd you stop going?"

"I took a few years off. Being in school, sitting in a classroom all day, didn't feel like enough."

"Ah, yes. I know what that feels like."

"Dr. Wells! Get in here!" Kaitlyn called from the main room.

"Excuse me." He glided back up the ramp and everyone hovered around the computer screens. I slowly entered the room and tried to gather what the commotion was about.

"They're not actually bees, they're robots. Look."

"Do we know where they came from? Or what kind of frequency they run on?"

Cisco and Felicity debated back and forth.

Barry seemed agitated. He snapped at Felicity.

"Ray, why don't you stay here with Cisco and work on your suit. Barry, Bennett, why don't we go get some coffee?" I didn't think Barry really wanted to go anywhere, but he looked at me, then agreed. A few blocks away there was a coffee shop that both of them seemed familiar with. "Why don't you two go get us a table and I'll order some drinks."

I was unsure about being alone with Barry, but I didn't really know what else to do. He picked a spot in the corner, thankfully by a window.

"So, how do you like Central City?" He smiled down at me. He had the look on his face. The pitiful, wary, over-careful look. I mentally groaned at the memory of Felicity pulling Barry aside. Was it to tell him what a damaged lunatic I was?

"Well I haven't really seen a lot of it yet, but I like what I have seen so far. Did you grow up here?"

"Yup. It's a really great place. Where did you and Ray grow up?"

"Uh-" Thank God Felicity showed up then carrying three coffees and I didn't have to answer and awkward question.

"Sorry it took so long. They made the wrong drink the first time."

"Thank you, Felicity."

Barry and Felicity chatted about different things. About people and places I didn't know. A man in the back corner of the shop caught my eye. He was reading the paper with a baseball hat on. I found it odd someone would wear a hat indoors while trying to read.

A barista dropped a mug on the way to the kitchen, and Felicity immediately turned to me and grabbed my arm.

"You okay?" Unfortunately, I think I scarred her from the vase incident. Now she thought I was just as fragile as the glass was.

"Yeah, I'm good." Felicity glanced at Barry, who glanced at me, and then back to his coffee.

"So, Barry, are you going to tell me why you've been acting so weird? What's going on with you?"

"What? It's nothing. It's just work…stuff…you know." He looked at me, then back to Felicity, who looked at me, then back to him.

"Oh, you can tell Bennett. She knows about Oliver and the gang." My stomach felt strange at the sound of Oliver's name. Maybe it was just the coffee.

"What? Does she know about the Flash?"

"Barry is the Flash, Bennett." Felicity rolled her eyes, and brushed it off like this was common knowledge.

"I'm sorry, the Flash? Do you work with Oliver?"

I got a brief explanation of their past, and how Barry became the Flash and started working with the group at STAR labs. It was a lot to take in. But I suppose no more than Ray having a secret suit he was working on.

"Excuse me, I'm going to use the restroom." There was a second door out of the restroom into the street, and for a brief moment I let myself fantasize about running out of it. Running down the street, past STAR labs, past Ray, past Central City, past Starling City, past everything and everyone I knew. I wasn't sure where I was running to. All I knew was what I was running away from.

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Felicity listened as Barry told her about Dr. Wells, and how he suspected him of killing his mother. It was a lot to take in.

"I don't understand, he's been helping you! Why would he have killed your mom?"

"I know. That's why I'm having such a hard time with all of this. I just don't understand any of it." Barry ran his hands through his hair, as he often did when he was stressed. Felicity didn't have any idea how to console him. If Dr. Wells really did kill Nora, then the past several months Barry had spent with him had all been a lie.

Bennett came back from the bathroom, looking tired.

"How's your head?"

"Fine. I've had worse." Bennett strained as she tried to smile at them. Yes, she probably had had much, much worse. Felicity stole a peak at Barry to see if he was looking at Bennett. He was. She tried to decipher his face and see if he was interested in her, but she couldn't tell. She felt a slight singe of guilt when she caught herself hoping he was into Bennett. Her intentions were less to make Barry happy and more to keep Oliver out of the picture. Her guilt trip was interrupted when Barry's phone rang.

"It's Kaitlyn, they found something out about the bees."

"Let's go."

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Back at the lab, the guys and Kaitlyn were discussing something about radio frequencies and nanobytes, so I occupied myself elsewhere. I thought of what they were trying to accomplish here at STAR labs, and with the Flash. Saving people. Protecting the city. The same thing Oliver was trying so hard to do.

It was something I had tried to do also. Except it wasn't just a city, it was an entire population. All the women and children bought and sold everyday to horrible men with no conscience or souls. I saw flashes of their faces in my mind, and a shiver ran through my body. There were all out there helpless now without me fighting for them. Alone, and invisible to the rest of the world that chose to focus more on celebrities and diet plans.

The familiar pain of anger coursed through me. Boiling my blood and squeezing my heart until it hurt. My hands shook so I clenched them into fists. I had a fleeting thought that I had never had before.

"I wish Oliver was here." I wasn't sure how I felt about it, or what it meant. But I wondered if he had ever had that same thought about me.

"Bennett." I turned to see Ray behind me. "We're going after the bees."

"We? What do you mean?"

"I'm going to help." Help? What in the world was he going to do? The image of the metal suit surfaced.

"That's what the suit's for?" Surely he wasn't serious.

"Yes." I guess he was. No way was I letting him do this alone.

"I'm coming with you." I heard him protesting behind me, but I walked around him and joined the others. Barry was already gone.

It took some convincing, but they finally agreed that I could come as long as I stayed in the van with Cisco.

So there I was. Begrudgingly doing nothing in the van.

"Uh, Cisco, I can't stop myself." Ray's voice cracked over the speakers.

"We can stop you. We'll catch you, in the van. Turn left on 52nd."

"Catch him? What do you mean catch him?"

"You'll see." Cisco moved to the back of the truck and opened up the back doors. A few moments later, Ray crashed into the back along side him.

"It worked! Yes!" Kaitlyn stopped the car and we all got out.

"Ray! Are you alright?" I rushed to his side. He removed the helmet and I checked to make sure he wasn't hurt.

"I'm fine. Nice driving, Kaitlyn."

"Thanks, I guess."

I heard a slight buzzing sound near my left ear. I turned just in time to see a final robotic bee flying straight for Cisco.

"Cisco!" I bolted forward, trying to push him out of the way when I felt it. The stinger plunged into my neck and the toxin oozed into my bloodstream. Within seconds I was paralyzed, and a few seconds later I felt my consciousness slipping.

"Bennett! Benny! Cisco, Kaitlyn, do something!" Ray's voice was the last thing I remembered.

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