Bee Yourself (2/2)

Barry was sitting on the little twin bed, staring at the metal wall, his head slowly, inevitably lolling to the side as he fell asleep. Everything was fuzzy around the edges and he could already hear voices in the back of his head like he was dreaming, except he wasn't, not yet, because the music wouldn't let him. Just as his eye lids shut, it cranked up and he startled back to full consciousness with a sob. He was so tired he hurt. His head hurt, his eyes burned, he was stiff and sore, because lying down only made him succumb to the need for sleep faster and no matter how much he needed it, that wasn't going to happen.

His hands shook against his arms and he pulled tighter into himself, rocking on the hard mattress as the volume lowered to a more manageable level. This was torture, plain and simple. He'd thought the starvation and isolation, the beatings were bad, but this… he was going to lose his mind. He had to sleep. He'd read about a rat who died when they deprived it of enough sleep.

He couldn't do this. There was no way of knowing how long he'd been there. He could hazard a guess at six months, but he'd be wrong and he knew it. Longer or shorter, it was impossible to tell. Just like he didn't know how long he'd been awake, but he knew it had to be days, because he had never been this tired before. Or maybe not. Maybe it was a combination of too little food and too little sleep. He hadn't had anything other then water since this started.

Barry dropped his head against the wall and fought the urge to cry. Not like it would be the first time, or even the second. He'd been crying a lot recently, actually, and begging, except the man in yellow didn't like begging and he didn't like crying and Barry was trying not to piss him off again. He was trying to be good, but he still wasn't really sure what constituted 'good' there.

His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. Water would be good. He might not have food readily available, but the faucet meant that at least there was always water. Of course to do that he'd actually have to drag himself off the bed and walking the few feet to the bathroom. Then he'd have to stay upright and tilt his head under the faucet without falling over, because he didn't have a cup and his hands were shaking so bad they were useless.

The music stopped, cutting off so abruptly Barry found his lungs stopped working with it. Change was never good. Change was always bad. Still, a part of him, small and desperate, really hoped that meant he was going to be allowed to sleep. The rest of him knew better and all traces of exhaustion were gone with the anticipation of what it meant.

When the doors opened, he kept his lips tightly closed against the urge to beg. Be good. There had to be a way to make it stop, make it better, make it bearable. There had to be something.

The man in yellow stepped in, just enough to let the opening close behind him – the tiles loud in the now silent room. Barry pressed back into the wall behind him. His legs started to pull up before he realized what he was doing and he moved them off the bed instead, slipping down into a crouch with the mattress between him and the man at the door. He'd meant to stand, but the head rush drove him to his knees.

The masked head tilted and behind the blur Barry couldn't make out the expression. He dragged air in and used the bed to pull himself up along the wall. He expected the man to lunge at him, to close the distance with his too-fast speed, but he didn't. Instead, he walked with slow, even steps to stand in front of Barry and that was… that was almost more terrifying than the speed.

The blurred image looked down the few inches that separated them, studying him with a tilt of the head.

"What are…"

A finger moved to press into his lips and Barry hit his head against the wall as he pulled away from it. Stupid, he knew better than that. No talking, no running – especially no running – but he seemed to love it when Barry fought back, not that it earned him any kind of favors. Whether Barry was doing as he was told or pissing him off, either way this was going to hurt.

His eyes focused on the finger less than an inch from his face. It stayed there for several seconds before landing softly against Barry's lips and he waited for it to hurt. He waited for the vibration to split his chapped, dehydrated lips, but it just tingled. Not pleasant, but not painful.

This close, he could see the curl of the man's lip into a sneer as the hand moved to rest against the side of Barry's face and Barry waited for it. The shock of electric pain or the vibrations that shook his bones and made them grind against each other, sometimes to the point of breaking.

It didn't happen. Nothing happened, just that strange, numbing tingle, like when he went to the dentist and came out with one side of his face numb. Despite knowing better, Barry glanced at the arm. "I don't underst…"

He was cut off when both his arms were grabbed, pulling him away from and then back into the wall hard enough to leave him seeing white, but not fast, or, well, not faster then he could follow, not even a fraction of the speed Barry knew the man in yellow was capable of and then the man growled, low and angry.

It wasn't like Barry hadn't seen him angry before. He'd seen his captor angry plenty of times, but there was something different about this. "I'm sorry. Whatever I did, I'm…"

His back hit the wall again and he bit his tongue by accident, then on purpose to keep from saying anything else. The hands on his arms tightened, but still didn't hurt, not really, not the way he was used to.

He was pulled away from the wall again, only instead of being pushed back, he found himself thrown face first on the bed. The grip on his arms was gone, but when Barry tried to turn over, a forearm rested against his back, just below his shoulder blades and pressed down in warning.

Being bent over the bed wasn't new. There had been this one time he'd done something so monumentally stupid that he'd been put over the bed and beaten with a belt until his back was a bloody mess. He hadn't done anything this time, though. He hadn't thrown anything, or bitten anyone, or tried to run.

What was new, was when a gloved hand grabbed the back of his pants and pulled them down, underwear and all. There was the sound of a belt being undone and Barry bit down into his forearm to muffle the screams that were sure to come when that belt tore into him. If this was even a fraction of what he'd gotten last time, he wasn't going to be able to sit down for weeks. He might not even be able to walk.

Instead of the belt, though, something warm and firm and decidedly flesh pressed against his bare ass and he didn't get it, not at first, not until it shifted and nudged against his crack, slightly damp and…

The music started again, but it wasn't opera, it was… the theme song for Star Wars?

Barry's eyes snapped open. He was staring up at a white ceiling in a dark room and there was someone on top of him, shifting against his chest and between his legs, mumbling "The hell?" Not the room, he wasn't there, that wasn't the Reverse-Flash. It was Cisco's voice. He was in Cisco's apartment and that was Cisco's phone going off.

An arm flew past his face as Cisco reached for the phone balanced next to Barry's head and ended up knocking it off instead. There was a moment where Barry saw arms and legs flying past him and then Cisco was in the bedroom, mumbling hello into the phone.

Just a dream. It was just a dream. Or a nightmare or a flashback or whatever, but it wasn't real. He closed his eyes, breathing deep. He could still feel hands on him, touching him in places he didn't want to think about. Back in the bedroom, Cisco's voice filtered in through the open door, too low to hear clearly over the feed of the background music from Lego Star Wars which was apparently still on. He cracks open his eye to look at the game. It wasn't even paused. Cisco must have fallen asleep playing it.

It had been at least a month since he'd had a dream that vivid and he hadn't dreams about that since… a while now. He could usually trace his nightmare flashbacks to something that had happened. There were very specific and usually obvious triggers. When he'd almost suffocated on Nimbus, he'd had several reoccurring dreams of being held under water until he'd passed out. When he'd faced down Tony, he'd recalled some of his worst beating, ones that left him with cracked ribs, unable to move or even breathe without pain.

Bree hadn't been going around sexually assaulting people with her army of mechanical bees. Actually, that was a profoundly disturbing thought. Refocus. So, not Bree, but if not her, then who? Him. He'd been thinking about sex all day and, of course, that would lead to dreams about… that. The tightness in his chest eased, but didn't go away completely.

Cisco came back in, looking at his phone with sleep blurred confusion. "So, that was…" He looked up from his screen and stopped mid-sentence. "Are you all right, dude?"

Barry pushed himself up to sitting hastily. "What?No,I'mfine,justabaddream."

The words came out rushed, faster than he'd intended and lending absolutely no credence to what he was saying, which Cisco confirmed when he raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, okay, how about you try that again only you don't use your super speed and I can actually understand what you're saying."

Barry gripped the edge of the sofa cushion under him and tried again. "So, who was on the phone?"

"…That is so not what you said." Barry waited for further argument, but Cisco looked at his phone again with a frown. "That was my brother. He, uh… he needs a hand with something if, um… you really sure you're okay?"

No, not really. His hands were shaking, but at least they weren't vibrating, his heart was beating too fast, even for him, and he could still feel the leather clad hands on him, but he couldn't talk about that, not yet. Not after he'd just told Cisco where he wanted their relationship to go. If he talked about the dream now, Cisco might take that to mean Barry wasn't ready to make that decision.

Instead of answering, he stuck with diversionary tactics, provided by a quick glance at the clock. "What does he need help with at five thirty in the morning?"

Cisco's frown only deepened and Barry wasn't even sure if it was aimed at him, because Cisco kept looking at his phone. It was like he was missing something. Was that how people felt when they talked to him? He should work on that, because it was seriously disconcerting.

Another thirty seconds stretched out and Barry was just about to ask again, when Cisco put his phone in his back pocket. "Sorry, yeah, no, it's early, but we should go."

"We?"

"Yeah, we. You should, uh, you should come too." There was something distracted in the way Cisco was running around, pulling on his shoes, grabbing his over-shirt, then tossing Barry's shoes at the foot of the sofa, without looking up once. "Put those on, we have to go."

"Is he okay?"

"What?" Cisco stopped with the door already open, patting his back pocket for his keys. "Oh, Yes. Well, no. I don't know."

Barry raised an eyebrow, because, seriously, what the hell was going on? He could be a little naive sometimes, but he'd have to be willfully blind not to notice that something wasn't right.

Cisco licked his lip and narrowed his eyes at Barry, who was still sitting on the couch, shoes next to his bare feet. "You really don't look good. Maybe you should stay here."

Barry had his shoes on and was at the door in a second. "I'm good."

"You're not good."

Fair enough. "I'm good enough."

"Right." Cisco sighed and nodded to himself. "We're talking about this later."

Barry stepped out into the hall and let Cisco close and lock the door. It didn't occur to him that they weren't heading for the parking garage until they'd stepped past the night receptionist and onto the street. "Are we walking? I thought your brother lived in the suburbs?"

Cisco looked up and down the street, then pulled Barry away from the front door and dropped his voice low so anyone walking past couldn't hear them. Not that anyone was walking past them at 5:30 in the morning. "Here's the thing. My brother doesn't need help with anything."

"Then why are we going over there?"

"We aren't. That was Caitlin. She wants us to meet her at her place."

"What?" Why hadn't he just said that in the first place?

"Yeah, and that's not even the weirdest part."

"Cisco, Barry, thank you for coming eleven flights up a fire escape, balancing on the railing, stretching out the apparently three feet that separates said railing from my bathroom window, and climbing through that window at five forty in the morning, thus proving that my apartment is not nearly as secure as I thought it was."

Barry's polite nod was interrupted by a yawn, which earned him a slap on the thigh from Cisco when his own yawn overtook him. The run over had calmed his nerves. He was still a little shaky, but mostly just exhausted and really, really hungry. Caitlin was standing by her door, wearing rumbled, pink and red plaid pajamas. Cisco had taken a seat on the toilet lid with Barry leaning against the wall next to him. All three of them looked ready to fall over at any given moment.

He noted Caitlin stifling a yawn of her own as he tried to comfort her. "If it makes you feel any better, I was moving at super speed."

"Considering our enemies, it doesn't, but the sentiment is appreciated."

Right, because if no one had noticed Barry, they certainly weren't going to notice Thawne, who could move even faster and Barry doubted something as small as an eleven floor walk up would be much of a deterrent for meta-humans like peak-a-boo or any of the Rogues.

He looked around the room and redirected to the task at hand. "So, why are we all in your bathroom? It's a very nice bathroom, by the way. Spacious."

She nodded with a tense smile. "Thank you."

Cisco shook his head. "No, no, no, I want to know why he's here." He pointed at Hartley, who was sitting a good ten feet away on the side of tub, dressed in his Pied Piper outfit, from the hooded cape to the boots. "How the hell do you manage to show up to every meeting we have, even when it's in Caitlin's bathroom at five in the morning? Seriously, man, how?"

"Maybe you're just that predictable."

Before Cisco could lash back, Caitlin spoke up. "Actually, Hartley's the reason we're here."

With Hartley pretty much a constant for the last month, Barry had gotten used to him being around and it hadn't even occurred to him to question the scientist's presence in Caitlin's bathroom, which, now that he thought about it, was a little strange. Especially since Caitlin had agreed with them that they couldn't trust him. Barry really looked at Hartley and for the first time since he'd arrived, noticed the tension in the smaller man's body. His posture was relaxed, but every line was tight, like he was ready to get up and move at a moment's notice. Whatever was about to happen, he didn't expect it to be taken well.

Caitlin glanced at Barry, hesitating for just a moment longer. "Thawne has our apartments wired."

The silence was stifling. Cisco stared at her in open shock before looking at Hartley, then back to Caitlin and asked, "Wired?"

She nodded gravely. "Not just our apartments. The lab, Detective West's house, the police station, Jitters, even Iris's works."

Barry couldn't… he couldn't breathe. He automatically glanced up at the corners of the bathroom, noting the absence of the pinpoints of red light, but then whatever cameras Thawne was using to spy on them, must not have those, or they would have noticed them by now.

Distantly, he heard Hartley saying, "The only places he doesn't put cameras are the bathrooms, because apparently, that's where he draws the line. Trust me, I'm as shocked as you are. And closets. He doesn't really bother with closets."

It was bad enough having the safety of S.T.A.R. Labs violated, but Cisco's apartment? His room at Joe's? Even Jitters? Where was he supposed to go after this? He looked at the door to the bathroom, closed and barred by Caitlin. The cameras were just on the other side of that, probably watching that door, waiting for it to open.

The Reverse-Flash hadn't come to take him back, because he didn't need to. He'd always known where Barry was, even when he wasn't at S.T.A.R. Labs. He'd been watching and just the thought made Barry's skin crawl. Had he been watching the last week, while Barry had been tentatively feeling out the boundaries of his new relationship with Cisco? How much had he seen?

Oh, god, he probably had one in Dr. Rayburn's office.

While he tried to wade through the barrage of emotions flooding over him – shock, anger, fear, all suffocating him – Cisco stayed where he was seating, his voice low with suspicion. "And you know about this how?"

"I've been working with him." Hartley hadn't hesitated, but there wouldn't have been a point. There was only one way he could know about those cameras and still be alive.

"For how long?"

Caitlin stood straighter. "Cisco…"

"How long?"

"Since I came back after you were taken." He didn't even sound ashamed and Barry wanted to be angry with him, he really did, but he just felt sick.

Cisco stood, his eyes narrow. "Eres hombre muerto."

Hartley stood too, more defensive then aggressive, spouting rapid fire Spanish that Barry couldn't hope to follow with his limited knowledge of the language. He might not have understood the exact words they were shouting at each other, but he understood the sentiment well enough. Cisco was yelling accusations and threats, Hartley was making excuses. From the escalation, Barry wouldn't doubt there were insults on both sides.

Did the cameras have speakers? Would Thawne be able to hear what was being said even if he couldn't see it? Did he speak Spanish? Probably, not that it mattered. There were only so many reasons the four of them would sneak into Caitlin's bathroom this early in the morning. Or ever.

Caitlin had moved to stand in front of Cisco, preventing him from advancing further across the room. Barry should help, if Cisco really decided to go for it, he wasn't sure Caitlin would be able stop him, but Barry couldn't make himself move.

Caitlin pressed her hands into Cisco's shoulders firmly. "Cisco, this isn't helping."

"I don't care if it helps. I'm going beat the shi…"

"Cisco!" He stepped back at her raised voice. "Just hear him out."

"Why? He betrayed us."

"I didn't betray anyone." Hartley sounded so goddamn smug. "I never said anything about being part of Team Flash. I said I was bored, I offered to make myself useful. That's a far cry from any kind of loyalty."

Barry clenched his hands into fists so tight they vibrated. Every instinct in him said to run. Thawne was always two, sometimes three steps ahead of them and this was why. He'd been watching, waiting, planning while they'd been scrambling around in the dark. He wouldn't be surprised if Thawne had known Barry was going to change the timeline, if that's what he'd wanted in the first place. The bigger question was, as always, why.

A few feet away, Caitlin was still standing between them, trying to get Cisco to listen to reason, or Hartley to stop making it worse with snide comments. Barry couldn't quite keep the laugh in. There really wasn't anything funny about any of this, but a month ago it was him holding Caitlin back from offering to trade Hartley for Cisco and there was a tiny little vicious part of him that almost regretted not letting her. Of course, if they'd done that, they never would have found out about the cameras at all, or at least, not until Thawne wanted them to, but that didn't exclude the possibility that this whole thing was an orchestrated set up. Hartley might have come on his own but he might not have and even if he had, that didn't mean Thawne didn't want him to do exactly what he was doing.

His head was swimming, but on the plus side, everyone had stopped yelling. Barry slid down the wall into a crouch, because his legs were shaking and it was either sit down or fall. He'd just started to fist his hands into his hair when familiar fingers pried them open and pulled Barry's hands down.

"Hey, man, I'm sorry. I got mad, I wasn't thinking. Are you okay?" He shook his head, more to say it wasn't Cisco's fault. "Barry, you gotta look at me. You're hyperventilating."

He managed a shaky nod and now that Cisco pointed it out, he was right. Barry's chest was heaving, his vision was tunneled. Breathe in, hold, count to ten, release. Breathe in, hold, count to nine, release. Focus on something else. Cisco's hands, warm against his, fingers laced together.

On the other side of the room, Hartley sighed. "I told you we should have kept him out of this."

Cisco turned away long enough to glare at Hartley before putting his attention back on Barry. Caitlin rounded on the other scientist with ice cold anger. "And I told you that wasn't going to happen. He has a right to know."

"Yes, after the cameras were off. After we had our answers. Look at him. There's no way he can walk in there like this, let alone…"

"I can do it." Barry looked past Cisco to Hartley. "Whatever… whatever it is, I can do it."

Hartley sneered. "I doubt that."

Pulling his hands away from Cisco, Barry pushed himself up to his feet and met the sneer with determination. "I can do it."

"Really?" Hartley raised his eyebrows and moved to step forward, only to have Caitlin get between him and Barry. He barely afforded her a glance. "I want to destroy Eobard, or more to the point, I want to destroy whatever it is he's trying to achieve here, but I can't do that if I don't know what it is."

Cisco interrupted. "Get to the point, Hartley."

"He has a computer, future tech, AI, highly intelligent. Everything I need to know, everything you want to know is in there. I can't access it, Barry can."

The entire room went silent. Barry's heart was still beating too fast, but he was frozen in place. How the hell was he supposed to access something Hartley couldn't? Hartley Rathaway was a genius. He was right up there with Cisco and Barry knew stuff, he'd read books and Cisco and Caitlin were teaching him as they went, but he lacked the practical experience Hartley had and especially with something that he was referring to as future tech…

"What do you think Barry can do that you can't?" Apparently, Cisco was thinking the same thing.

Hartley didn't break eye contact with Barry. "I said it was future tech, as in Eobard brought it back with him from the future. According to the computer, it was created by you, Barry Allen, the Flash, and it will answer any questions you ask."

Cisco looked back at Barry with wide eyes and Barry shrugged helplessly. It wasn't like he had some super secret computer schematics lying around the apartment. He still wasn't entirely convinced he could get through a single day on a college campus without breaking down, let alone get far enough in his education to be able to build an artificially intelligent computer that was apparently advanced enough for Thawne to bring it with him from the future.

That was… he didn't even know what that was.

"Okay, so, I ask it questions. How? Where is it?" Would Thawne keep something like that linked to the computer at S.T.A.R. Labs, or were they going to have to break into his house? Was he even at his house? It wasn't like they'd been staking the place out. They'd checked it out immediately after, but there had been more important things to deal with.

There was a heavy pause before Hartley finally answered, his expression saying 'I told you so' before he'd even spoken. "His secret room in S.T.A.R. Labs. The primary one."

"Yeah, that'll be a no." Cisco spoke before Barry could even process what he'd heard.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I not make myself clear? If you want answers, this is how we get them. I've tried everything else, Cisco. It's not like he keeps a thumb drive lying around with all his evil plans on it."

"Maybe you should have thought about that before you lied to us."

"Boys!" Caitlin took a deep breath that sounded more like a sigh. "Cisco, you need to calm down and listen. I may not agree with what Hartley's done, but he's right. We need answers and that's the best way to get them. Hartley, stop being antagonistic, it isn't helping."

It was a lot to take in. Not just the idea of walking in there again, he'd been building up to that and maybe he wasn't as ready as he'd have liked to be, but he could do it if he had to. No, it was everything else on top of that. The dream and the cameras. He couldn't stop glancing up into the corners, even though he knew they weren't there. Strangely enough, he thought Hartley may have been right. They probably shouldn't have told him about that until after it was done.

He wanted answers, though. Cisco had managed to get some in his time with Thawne, but those only left him with more questions. He'd orchestrated turning Barry into the Flash, but why? And why let him go after?

Barry was painfully aware of how broken he had been at the end. Even with access to the same kind of speed Thawne had, Barry wouldn't have stood a chance against him, if only because he didn't think he could do it. Thawne could have kept him there easily and with S.T.A.R. Labs more or less abandoned, he'd have all the time in the world to convince Barry to go along with whatever he wanted. Not to sound ungrateful, but why hadn't he?

Hartley said he wanted to stop whatever Eobard was planning and Barry believed him for the most part. That put them on the same team. He met Hartley's eyes and nodded. "You have a plan?"

There was a little surprise in the cock of Hartley's head and the quirk of his lips. "The three of you go down to the room, talk to Gideon."

"Gideon?"

"The AI. Its name is Gideon, but you'll have to be specific. It's a computer, so it takes things very literally. Find out what Thawne is planning, in detail. I need something I can use. Then ask whatever you want. I can give you ten, maybe fifteen minutes if I get creative."

It sounded easy enough, probably a little too easy, which made Barry wonder. "Where will you be?"

Hartley ducked his head for just a second and when he looked up, he was smiling, but there was nothing pleasant about it. "I'll be keeping Eobard… distracted."

A stifling silence filled the room. Caitlin was looking at the floor, Hartley stared back at Barry with unwavering eye contact, like a dare, but what could he possibly… It hit Barry with a sick certainty, about the same time he heard Cisco say, "Distracted, as in…?"

Hartley wagged his eyebrows suggestively and Barry's stomach twisted. Just the idea of Hartley doing that with Thawne made him want to take a hot shower and scrub several layers of skin off. Of all the things Hartley had been honest about so far, Barry was really, really wishing he'd lied about that. Not that they would have believed it, but why couldn't Hartley have said he was going to play a quick game of chess or something, anything but the truth?

Cisco took a step back, his arm brushing against Barry's as the implication hit him. "What the hell, man? How can you…?"

He couldn't get the words out, but the meaning was more then obvious to everyone in the room. Hartley didn't seem particularly phased by Cisco's obvious disgust. "I needed him to think I was desperate to be in his good graces. Nothing says desperate like getting on your knees to…"

Cisco held up a hand, turning away. "No, no, that's… just, no. TMI, dude."

Hartley smirked and continued on with his plan while Cisco shuddered with his arms wrapped protectively around himself. "You all go about your normal morning routines. Breakfast, shower, early morning cuddles, do your best not to look too traumatized. Then head to the lab around nine. I'll message you when I'm ready. Make it quick and he'll know you've been in there, so we get one shot at this."

Go about their normal morning routine, knowing he could be watching them. Barry wasn't entirely sure he could do that and look convincing, but it wasn't like he had a choice. Then again, as long as he could keep himself from actively looking for cameras, he would probably be okay. Any strange behavior on his part could be explained away as simply Barry having an off day. It was going to be harder on Caitlin and Cisco, who didn't have a handy excuse for slipping.

More importantly, was how far Barry was willing to trust Hartley. There was just enough desperation in Hartley's defensive tactics to convince Barry they were genuine, but it still might be better to have backup.

"Cisco?"

Cisco sighed heavily, but nodded. "I'm in if you're in."

"Caitlin?"

"It's up to you."

Barry turned back to Hartley. "I've got one condition."

Don't look up.

That was Barry's entire plan for pretending he didn't know. It was a lot harder then it sounded. He had to focus on his hands, his food, close his eyes sometimes, anything to stop from scanning the room for indications of where the cameras might be.

Every fiber of his body itched to search the room at super speed and find them. Knowing they were there and doing nothing reminded him of being in the room. He'd spent hours glaring at the cameras, making rude gestures, yelling sometimes even though he was never really certain he was being heard. Later, in his more petulant moments, he'd hidden under the sheets or the bed itself.

It was been nerve racking to sit or stand around the apartment for hours, not knowing if he was being watched. Hell, Thawne could be taking a nap for all they knew and Hartley refused to tell them where the evil bastard was hiding because, in his words, "You're a hero, Barry. You'll forget the plan and try to catch him yourself and you'll fail and then he'll get away and I'll lose any chance I had of getting my answers. Not to mention, I'll probably end up dead. As it is, I have culpable deniability and I'm a good lay."

Barry hadn't pushed the issue, mostly because he was afraid Hartley would elaborate on what he meant by 'a good lay,' if only because he knew that would shut Barry up.

After two and a half hours of forcing himself to stay still, Felicity finally messaged him back, asking if he was up so they could meet for coffee before she and Ray drove back to Starling. This was it, his one condition. He didn't think Hartley was lying, but he needed to be sure there wasn't more that he wasn't telling them. Barry could do his part with the AI, but he wanted someone to hack Thawne's personal computer at S.T.A.R. Labs and there wasn't anyone better at hacking then Felicity Smoak. The problem was letting her in on the plan.

Not Jitters. We're on our way to S.T.A.R. Labs, meet us there.

While he waited for the response, he knocked on the bathroom door. When he heard the shower curtain sliding open along the rod, he called through the door. "Hey, Felicity texted."

His phone vibrated with her reply. We'll pick up java on the way. You want anything?

He started to type out I'm good, but second guessed himself. It might look suspicious. One of those caramel things with loads of calories.

"You want anything from Jiiiii…." He was still staring at his phone as he talked through the closed door, so when it opened midway through his sentence, he hadn't been expecting it. More importantly, he hadn't been expecting to see Cisco standing in the door in nothing but a towel.

It wasn't like he'd never seen that before. It was more that he'd never really looked. Sometimes, when Cisco was in a hurry, he forgot to take his clothes with him into the bathroom, or sometimes he didn't realize Barry was there, because super speed meant he could get in and out without being heard. Mostly, though, when that happened, Barry just kept doing whatever he was doing and didn't think anything of it. It was just a thing that happened.

That was before.

Before he kissed Cisco, before they started dating, before he'd called Cisco his boyfriend, and, most importantly, before he'd come to the decision that he wanted to have sex with said boyfriend. Who was standing in front of him naked except for a towel, which, again, shouldn't be a big deal, but it suddenly really, really was. It was suddenly really hard not to stare at the dark wet hair dropping water onto Cisco's bare shoulders, or follow that water as it made wet tracks down Cisco's chest and abdomen on its way to…

"What was that?"

Barry blinked, looking back up from where his eyes had started moving down. "What?"

"You were saying something? About Felicity."

"Oh, right." He gulped back the rise of panic. It wasn't the normal kind. In fact, it reminded him strongly of when he'd wanted to kiss Cisco, but he didn't have time to analyze that now. "Felicity and Ray are picking up coffee on their way to S.T.A.R. Labs. You want anything?"

Cisco shrugged, raking his fingers through his hair to get it out of his face, his expression tight and uncomfortable. "Nah, I'm good. I'll catch up."

What was…? Oh, god, the cameras. He'd completely forgotten. How had he forgotten? "Right, so… I'll go on ahead."

Cisco nodded, obviously distracted as he made his way to the closet. As hard as it was for Barry to pretend everything was normal, it had to be harder on Cisco and Caitlin. Barry's moods fluctuated on a fairly regular basis, something his therapist assured him was perfectly normal. Good days, bad days. He could wake up in the morning just happy to be outside and go to bed wanting to shut himself away and never set foot outside the door ever again. Not that Cisco had gotten out of his stay with Thawne completely unscathed, but it was mostly things like putting a white noise maker in the bedroom because he couldn't sleep if it was too quiet.

Thankfully, they only had to get through the next few hours and it would be over. They could take down the cameras and without those they might actually stand a chance of stopping Thawne, especially if they were able get answers from Gideon.

He rushed out the door and through the streets of Central City, not stopping until he was in the back seat of Felicity's car in the parking lot of their hotel. Felicity was already in the front, key in the ignition, while Ray sat in the passenger seat, taking up more then his share of space with his knees crammed uncomfortably against the dash. Barry had just enough time to note that she'd been right about Ray's size in comparison to her car – there was no way the two of them were doing anything other then driving in there – before the whoosh of air alerted them to his presence.

"Oh my god, Barry!" Felicity held a hand up to her chest, then reached back and swatted him a few times before leaning into the driver's side door, panting softly. "That is not okay!"

Ray looked startled, but mostly amused by Felicity's reaction. "Hey, I thought we were meeting you at S.T.A.R. Labs?"

"Yeah, about that."

Caitlin was already at S.T.A.R. Labs when he got there. Cisco showed up ten minutes later and they sat around the cortex trying to act normal while they waited for Felicity and Ray to show. Barry kept himself occupied with his phone, breezing through mahjong and Sudoku at super speed. Caitlin went over her data from tests she'd run weeks ago. Cisco ate candy and stared at his computer screen blankly. If Thawne was watching, it wouldn't take him long to figure out something was up.

Felicity and Ray's arrival helped. They were surprisingly good at pretending everything was normal. With bright smiles and offerings of sweetened caffeine, the two of them talked animatedly about the company, Felicity's new job, what was going on with the Arrow in the Starling City. Barry got the distinct feeling Ray didn't know about Oliver's secret identity, so he let them lead the conversation. Felicity was really, really good at this. Scary good, actually. Barry was going to have to ask her for tips, because he couldn't keep himself still, let alone focus on what he should or shouldn't say.

As soon as the clock rolled over to nine thirty, he sent his text to Hartley. Felicity and Ray stopped by. They're leaving soon.

It took twenty minutes before he got the message back. I'm busy.

Standing, Barry shoved the phone at Cisco with a short nod. "Hey, Felicity, would you mind taking a look at Dr. Wells' computer before you leave?"

She nodded enthusiastically and held her arm out for Ray, who didn't falter as they followed Caitlin. As soon as they were out of sight, Cisco took his queue. "So, I could use some serious moral support if you think you can manage going down to the room. I wanted to see if there was maybe anything we missed."

It was meant to look natural, in case Thawne went back over the feed, which Hartley assured them was more than probably. Felicity and Ray had managed natural. He was pretty sure the conversation between him and Cisco came off as forced and scripted, which is was, but it wasn't like they'd been able to rehearse.

The walk down was tense and quiet. They were just out of the elevator when Cisco took Barry's hand and Barry looked back, a little surprised, but even more so when he saw how pale Cisco was.

"Are you okay?"

Cisco nodded, his hand gripping Barry's a little too tightly. "Yeah, just, you know, I kind of died in there, so… not my favorite place to be."

Barry could have kicked himself. He hadn't even thought about that. With everyone focused on him and whether he could do it, it hadn't even occurred to ask if Cisco was okay with this. He'd like to think Cisco would have told him if he wasn't, but maybe not.

"If you don't want to, I can…"

"What? No! You and me. We do this together, right?"

They'd stopped in front of the wall and Barry stared at it with a sinking feeling. "Right."

"Then we go piss off the military, steal a tank."

It was unexpected enough that Barry couldn't help the burst of laughter and some of the tension eased. The wall lit up under his palm and he reminded himself that as much as it felt like walking back into his prison, it wasn't. This wasn't the room, there weren't any cameras here, because Thawne hadn't been willing to risk them being hacked and someone seeing him.

He squeezed Cisco's hand and they stepped into the room together.

The lights faded on, filling the room with soft light. The Reverse-Flash suit was gone. The podium was there, but the holographic image of the newspaper Cisco had mentioned was missing.

Barry hesitated for just a moment longer. Hartley had told him what to do, but it still felt a little strange talking to an empty room. With a helpless shrug at Cisco, he stepped up to the podium. "Gideon?"

"Good evening, Barry Allen."

Barry stepped back several steps, nearly tripping over Cisco, whose mouth had dropped open. It wasn't like Hartley hadn't warned them that the computer was a vocal interface. Barry fully expected it to talk back to him, what he wasn't expecting was the giant holographic head that appeared directly in front of him.

"You… you're Gideon?"

"Yes, an interactive artificial consciousness."

Cisco stepped up to stand by Barry. "Oh, man, that is sick."

"I, uh… I created you?"

"That is correct."

On the plus side, any anxiety he had about being there had been smothered by the shock. On the other hand, he was having a serious conversation with Hartley about what constituted a fair warning. Vocal interface was one thing. Giant floating head was something else entirely. Cisco gripped his arm, squeezing. "Okay, next semester you are enrolling in some serious computer science courses, but right now, we have to hurry."

"Right, sorry." Direct, specific questions. "Gideon, what does Eobard Thawne want?"

"To return home."

Cisco was moved forward to peer around the head, which shrank back to form a full bodied person and Cisco bit his fist, his other arm crossing his chest in barely contained excitement.

"Home? To the future?"

"Yes."

"He can't go back the way he came?"

"His connection to the Speedforce has been damaged."

Cisco nodded, pointing his finger at Gideon. "Yeah, he said that. He lost his connection, but he said he fixed it."

Gideon looked at Cisco for a moment before turning back to Barry, who was trying to find the best words to get the answers they needed. "Gideon, why can't he use the Speedforce? What's stopping him?"

"His connection to the Speedforce has been damaged."

This was getting them nowhere. Direct questions, direct answers. "How is he going to get home?"

"He's going to use you."

"He's what?"

"He's going to use you."

Barry's phone vibrated in Cisco's hand, making both of them jump. "Get to the good stuff, man."

"How? How is he going to use me?"

"He's going to use your connection to the Speedforce to open a wormhole into the time continuum."

Cisco looked at Barry, eyes wide and staring. "You can do that?"

"I don't know!"

"You did change the timeline."

"That was one day!" It was less then a day and it was backwards. How was he supposed to travel hundreds of years into the future and take Thawne with him in the process?

The phone vibrated again and Cisco cringed, rapidly typing out a text into the phone. "We've gotta problem. If we don't want to blow Hartley's cover, Felicity has to cut the feed like now."

Barry took a moment to consider saying screw you to Hartley's cover, but they did kind of owe him. Like a lot and the only way Hartley had agreed to involve Felicity was if she helped him maintain his cover. As soon as they gave the word, she was going to 'stumble' across the camera feed and cut it. The odds were good that Thawne had some kind of alarm rigged to them in case they were tampered with. Hartley had assured them that Thawne wouldn't want to draw attention to himself by going after Felicity, Ray, and Caitlin, but Barry wasn't so sure. He'd rather be there with them, just in case Thawne decided to get vindictive.

"Barry…"

"I know." There was one last thing he needed to do. "Gideon, you'll do anything I tell you?"

"Of course."

"Don't tell Eobard Thawne we talked to you."

Felicity 'stumbled' across the cameras a few minutes after Cisco sent the message. Despite Hartley insisting Thawne wouldn't want to draw attention to himself, Barry still expected some kind of attack when she cut the feed. It didn't come. Hartley showed up half an hour later, saying Eobard's only complaint was that it took them this long to figure it out. Although, he had taken Gideon offline, as expected.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to… be somewhere else while you say your goodbyes."

Barry considered following him, but it wasn't like he didn't know where Hartley was going. There was an office at the other end of the corridor that he'd been using as a room for the past few weeks.

As they walked out to the parking lot, Felicity lagged behind, taking Barry with her. "How are you doing?"

He thought about it. "Okay. For now."

It would sink in later and he'd deal with the ramification then. Not to mention, there was still his nightmare from the night before to deal with and the fact it was probably the first of many. They tended to come in waves.

She held out a thumb drive for him and he took it with a questioning frown. "What's this?"

"For what it's worth, I think you can trust Hartley." He stopped and she did as well, letting the others move head while they talked. "You aren't the only one Thawne liked to watch. I didn't find much on his computer. I'll bet he kept most of his files in that AI of his, but there was one folder that had a few password protected videos. I took a look and they're of him and Hartley, before the explosion."

"I know Hartley lied to you. I know he put Cisco in danger, but if you want my opinion? He was hurt and angry." Barry opened his mouth to argue, but she shook her head. "I may not know Hartley personally, but I do know what it's like to be taken advantage of. I know what it's like to think you know someone and how much it hurts when they disappoint you. Give him a chance."

He tucked the drive into his pocket and tried not to think about it. Once Felicity and Ray were gone, Cisco and Caitlin went with him to take down the cameras – first in S.T.A.R. Labs, then their apartments, Joe's house, Iris met them at her and Eddie's apartment and tried not to look too wigged out as they worked.

What Felicity had said stuck with him, though; the idea that Hartley might have felt betrayed by a person he thought was his friend, his mentor, his lover. The mental image of them together made Barry sick, but how had it made Hartley feel when he'd found out about Barry? Of course, Hartley had tried to kill him that one time, but he hadn't tried since then and it would have been easy – Barry didn't exactly keep his guard up in the lab – and if Hartley hadn't opened up to them about everything? It wasn't as if they were open with him.

By the time they'd finished and carted the tech back to S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry had more or less made up his mind. He waited until Cisco was busy taking apart the first camera, intently examining the circuitry in a way that suggested he was going to be busy for a while then went to find Hartley.

It didn't take long. He was in the bunker, looking over the force field data. "What are you doing?"

Hartley didn't bother looking up from the computer. "Checking the read outs. While you three are busy playing hero, someone needs to keep .R. Labs in the black. Your little antics bleed money. I think there may be something here we can patent and market without compromising Team Flash's ever important ethics."

S.T.A.R. Labs had numerous patents in its names, research and data that still fed money into the company, which was set on an automatic system that kept everyone paid and the building running. However, now that Barry thought about it, none of them had been particularly interested in the business side of things and Hartley was right, between his constantly damaged suits, the medical supplies they used when he got injured, and running the illegal jail, they probably put out more then they pulled in.

"Did you need something?"

"We got the cameras." He pulled the drive out and looked at it for a second before setting it on the table next to the keyboard.

"Felicity found something?"

"Nothing we can use, just a few videos Thawne kept." Hartley's hands froze over the keyboard, just for a moment, but it was enough. "You knew they were there."

Hartley nodded, but didn't move to pick up the drive.

"Why didn't you delete them?"

With a sigh, Hartley stood up to face Barry. "We were never in a relationship, not in the traditional sense, but I did trust him. I kept thinking there had to be something I missed, but… I didn't miss anything. The only thing he ever promised was that if I stayed by his side, we'd make history. It's to my own detriment that I didn't ask for clarification on what that history was." He paused. "I knew Ms. Smoak would find them, but if I'd stopped by his office to wipe the hard drive, he might have noticed."

Which was saying a lot without saying anything. He didn't have to tell them about the cameras to tell them about Gideon and Barry didn't miss the bitterness in Hartley's tone, or the defensiveness of his posture. Hartley was a lot of things and most of them weren't pleasant, but Barry was coming to realization that, just as Felicity had said, he wasn't necessarily a bad person. "The first time we fought, why did you try to kill me?"

Hartley's mouth quirked into something resembling a smile but dropped just as quickly. "If it's any consolation, I'm glad it didn't work. All I really wanted was to prove I was better than you, that I could beat him at his own game. I just got caught up in it and… like I said, I'm glad it didn't work."

It wasn't an apology, but Barry didn't really need that. What he'd needed was the truth and that was exactly what Hartley had given him. "I get it. You were vulnerable and he used you…"

"I was not…"

"Your parents kicked you out. He took you in. You looked up to him. He took advantage of that. Then when you stood up to him, he threw you out, as well."

He'd spent all day thinking about it and he couldn't imagine how hard that must have been. Barry may have been hurt and abused and outright tortured, but that had been at the hands of a stranger. The people that mattered to him, his friends and family, he had always been able to trust them. Dr. Wells turning out to be the Reverse-Flash had hurt, but in a way, he'd never really trusted him. For Hartley, everyone he was supposed to be able to trust had let him down.

Hartley looked at Barry out of the corner of his eye, tense and expectant. "What do you want, Barry?"

Like this understanding came with an ultimatum or conditions. Felicity was right. "Not much. I'm going to zip out and grab some food then we're having a meeting in the cortex. You're welcome to join."

It was the first time any of them had given Hartley a heads up on a meeting, let alone asked him to join and if Hartley didn't immediately jump on it, Barry hadn't expected him to. Instead, he left without waiting for a reply. He'd extended the invitation and it was up to Hartley to accept it.

"So, we're trusting Hartley now?"

Barry stared up at the ceiling. "We're trusting Hartley."

They were lying next to each other on their bed in the apartment, noise maker filling the room with static, light from the kitchen giving a soft illumination, and neither of them able to get comfortable. Barry couldn't stop looking at the light fixture in the dining room where they'd found the camera, perfectly angled to watch them, whether they were in the bed or on the couch. It was a small apartment, no need for more than one.

"Just so we're clear. I don't agree with it."

"Noted."

Cisco rolled over to face him. "You really think he's on our side?"

"I think he's on his side, which happens to be the same side we're on, for now."

"That's not very reassuring."

No, but it was the truth. Hartley wasn't Team Flash just yet, but he was working with them. He'd been a little disappointed with what they'd gotten from Gideon, but said he could work with it. He'd then mumbled to himself about scenarios and probabilities and needing Cisco's help with something in the morning. It was a start.

Barry turned as well, putting his back to the open bedroom door. He tucked his arm under the head and tried to pretend the need to turn back around wasn't eating at him.

Cisco licked his lip. "Hey, so, what was up this morning?"

It took him a second to pin down that Cisco was talking about his nightmare and then a few more seconds to decide what to say. It wasn't like he didn't want to tell him, but… no, okay, he really didn't want to tell him, but he kind of felt like he had to. Not just for himself, but for Cisco, who deserved to know what he was getting himself into.

"I had a nightmare."

"Yeah?"

Barry faltered. They all knew what had been done to him, but saying it was completely different. He barely talked about it with Dr. Rayburn. "It was about the first time he… I kept asking myself whether I wanted sex and I guess it just, you know, got into my head and…"

He dragged in a deep breath and was relieved when Cisco didn't try and say anything. It was hard enough getting this out without interruption.

"I didn't even understand what he was doing. He'd never hinted at that. I just figured it was another beating and I was too exhausted to really fight him on it until he… and I did fight. When I realized what he was doing I tried to get him off me, but I was half starved and sleep deprived and he was a lot bigger than me back then."

"You were sixteen."

"Maybe seventeen, but it doesn't matter. That's what I was dreaming about when the phone rang."

The room filled with white noise again as Cisco thought it over. "Barry, you can change your mind. I'm okay if…"

"No. No changing my mind." He pushed up onto his elbow. "Besides, first we have to deal with Thawne, then we can figure the rest out."

"No, first we find a new place to live, then we deal with Thawne, and then everything else."

Before Barry could question him on it, Cisco added, "Don't think I haven't noticed. You look over there every thirty seconds and I'm not doing any better. Besides, he was the one that found this place and it's just… creepy. We'll manage tonight, but I really don't want to stay here any longer than I have to."

He could try to argue, but there wasn't much of a point. He wasn't sure he wanted to stay there either. "Your neighbors will be thrilled."

"Not really. Ms. Farrow stopped me the other day and said you were a nice young man and a good influence on me."

"Well, now we have to move. You're reputation is ruined."

It wouldn't be easy finding a new place. Cisco's paychecks weren't as big as they used to be. Back when Barry first woke up, Dr. Wells had put him on the S.T.A.R. Labs' payroll. On paper, he was a lab assistant. In reality, it was a way to help cover his food costs and therapy, because Joe would have gone broke otherwise. Income aside, the lab itself wasn't going to look good on an application for either of them, especially since Dr. Wells wasn't exactly available to vouch for their continuing employment.

There were definitely a few lower income areas of Central City they could check out, but that was going to take time, especially when they took into consideration his needs as the Flash. An idea hit him and it wasn't ideal, but it was maybe better.

"Hey, what about Joe's house?"

Cisco frowned. "What?"

"He keeps saying he's lonely without Iris and the house is too quiet. I know there were cameras there too, but it's… I don't know, home. I've always felt safe there. Just until we find another place?"

"In your old room? I mean, we could get the bed and the television in there, but there's no way my computer fits."

"There's a basement. Joe uses it for storage, but it's mostly finished and there's central air."

At first, he didn't think Cisco would go for it. Not that he blamed him and he wasn't going to push the issue either way. Then Cisco nodded. "Okay, talk to him tomorrow. If he's cool, I'm cool."

"Really?"

"Yeah, why not. He really said the house is too quiet?"

"He did. Repeatedly."

Cisco grinned. "Man, he is so gonna regret that."