Hello everyone! Happy Sunday! How has everyone's weekend been? More eventful than mine, I'm sure. Please, relay me with all the details of your exciting lives, because mine is painfully boring at the moment :C
*~*~ToL~*~*
"You don't have to wait here for me," Barry reassures Persephone as she pulls up at the doors of the Lab. "I can get another ride."
Raising a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at him as he exits the stylish car, she shrugs and replies, "If you're sure."
He is surprised that she doesn't argue wanting to stay and wait for him a little harder, and he can barely get the door closed before she zooms away into the waning sunlight.
He frowns at her tail-lights. He knows he hurt her by refusing to tell her what has happened to him – but he can't expect her to understand. He doesn't understand himself! All he knows right now is the people here at S.T.A.R. Labs have not been completely truthful to him. Mardon is alive! And he has a strange ability as well, meaning there is no way Barry is the only one affected by what happened with the particle accelerator.
His steps speed up as he reaches the automatic steel doors, the frown not receding from his face. They have a lot of explain to do...
*~*~ToL~*~*
Persephone doesn't drive very far, only a few blocks, before she slams on her breaks. Her vision is impaired from the tears that fill her eyes, and she slams her fists so hard into her steering wheel that they throb.
She had been so naïve…! To think that Barry would immediately tell her what had happened to him without hesitation, was such a childish notion. She had hoped beyond hopes that her "best-friend" card would allow him to tell her…
She understands why he refused to tell her though. How can she be angry at him, when she couldn't even bring herself to tell him, or her father, or even her twin? How do you tell someone who has known you your whole life that one event has changed your very physiology, and expect them to look at you as the same person?
She understands why he wouldn't tell her, but that doesn't stop her heart from hurting.
Sniffing slightly, she angrily wipes away the few tears that cling to her eyelashes and in a split-second decision, swerves the car around back to S.T.A.R. Labs. She is glad that the neighborhood around the Lab is completely deserted, and no one can see her driving like a maniac.
Parking further away so that Barry wouldn't notice her car, she hurriedly keys off the engine and races into the building, going straight for the main hall where she can usually find Caitlyn and Cisco.
As she approaches, she can hear Dr. Wells soft voice, and Barry's agitated one. Slowing down a tad, she bites at her lip as she tries to strain her ears to hear their conversation.
"-we have to stop him!" she hears Barry yell. Okay, so no straining needed…
"That's a job for the police," Dr. Wells replies, obviously getting annoyed at Barry for suggesting it's his duty to stop the super-powered criminal.
"Yeah, I work for the police." Persephone can almost see the "no-duh" expression on her best friend's face.
She has to move closer to catch Dr. Wells, retort, and she almost misses it with how soft his voice has gotten, "As a forensic assistant."
"Look, you're responsible for this. For him."
She flinches as Well's voice rings through the air, sharp and unyielding, "What's important is you! Not me. I've lost everything my company, my reputation, my freedom. Then you broke your arm and it healed in three hours. Inside your body could be a map to a whole new world, and we cannot risk losing everything because you want to go out and play hero!
"You're not a hero," he continues, his voice softer than it has been all night, but loud enough for everyone present to hear clearly. "You're just a young man who was struck by lightning."
What is today, "Kick Barry Allen while he's down" Day? She frustratedly thinks, having half a mind to walk in there, mindless of Barry's presence, and kick Wells in the shin. Not that he would feel it, the bastard.
The athletic woman barely has time to press herself against the wall and be as invisible as possible before the doors slide open and Barry storms out, too furious to notice her presence. She waits till she can hear him stomp his way out of the building, before sighing heavily and entering the room he just left.
The tense silence weighs heavily on her shoulders as she crosses the threshold. The occupants look up at her from their various positions of anger/frustration, obviously surprised to see her there.
"If that was your way of keeping him from fighting," she says, not bothering to hide the fact that she heard every word of their interaction, "you just failed epically. All you've done now is made him a very determined man."
Dr. Wells doesn't vocally respond, but slips the glasses off his face and turns his wheelchair away from her direction. Scoffing slightly, she takes a seat next to Cisco, who still looks stunned at her presence.
"You didn't tell him?" Caitlyn asks, her lips pursed in confusion and surprise.
Persephone shrugs slightly, not really feeling like going into detail. "Neither did you guys." The shifty eyes and Cisco's not-so-subtle glance to his boss tell her exactly who ordered them to keep their mouths shut about her abilities. Despite disagreeing with him on several issues that concerned Barry, and despite the fact that he gave her a weird vibe, the athletic woman can honestly tell herself she respects how headstrong he is. He is very much like Barry in that aspect.
Standing, Persephone stretches her arms above her head, pulling at the tight ball of muscles in her back. After only slightly relaxing her back muscles, she strides over to the disabled scientist, giving him a winning smile.
"Take a walk with me, Dr. Wells?" she requests, her smile getting wider.
He looks at her suspiciously, as if he is trying to figure out what motive she has to talk to him in private. His eyes pierce into her, and it takes everything in her not squirm.
The silence stretches on, but he answers her just when she is desperate to clap a blindfold over the man. "Of course, Ms. West," he murmurs, turning his chair closer to her and towards the doors. "After you."
*~*~ToL~*~*
They don't stroll very far from the Lab before Persephone gets right to the chase.
"Barry is licking his wounds, but he's going to be back," she informs the man, but she has the feeling he already knows this. Wells acknowledges her words with a terse nod, a visible question forming in his eyes. Before he can respond however, the dark-skinned woman ploughs through,
"He's only been awake for a day, less than that even! He can't fight. All those other metas have months of practicing against him. Even I'm stronger than him and all I can do is turn my entire body into a liquid state.
"I need you to not be his enemy right now. Right now, the only people he thinks he can talk to about what happened to him are you and your employees. You are the only ones that can help him understand how all of this is supposed to work now. When he comes back, I need you to agree to help him fight, and help him get stronger. Please."
She isn't standing anymore. Persephone is crouched down, her weight pressed down on the balls of her feet, and her hands gripping at Dr. Wells' armrests to maintain her balance. The paler man looks initially surprised, then awfully uncomfortable at her proximity to him, but she doesn't let up on him. She has a point to make.
"Tell me that when we get back to the Lab, your next words to Barry are going to be words of encouragement, rather than trying to shut him down," she breathes, her eyes wide and pleading.
Wells nods, a strange jerking motion of head that tells Persephone that he is only agreeing mainly to get her away from his personal bubble, but that is more than enough for her. The smile that gives him is blinding, and satisfied, she starts to pull away from the scientist, ready to head back and find her way into her bed.
She is cut short when his arms snap up from his lap, and with a strength she didn't imagine he possessed, kept her crouched down to his level. Startled, she flails slightly, and has no choice but to grip Well's thighs to stop herself from face-planting into his crotch.
"What the f-" she exclaims, more out of surprise than anger, but before she can continue with the string of expletives that pop into her mind, Wells begins talking.
"I am going to help him get stronger, because you asked me to," his voice is rough and low, and Persephone refuses to acknowledge the thrill of arousal that runs through her. "But I'm not doing it out of the kindness of my heart. From now on, after I train and help him with Caitlyn and Francisco, I will personally train you – no, listen to me!" He orders when she tries to pull away once more, his deceptively strong fingers gripping her shoulders tightly, keeping her in place.
She stills, underneath his hands, eyes wide and lips parted in a small 'o'. She has never seen this side of Harrison Wells before, and for some reason, it strikes a chord in her like no one ever has.
Pleased that she is keeping still, Wells loosens his grip on her bare shoulders, but doesn't let her go. "Good," he smiles smugly.
Has he always been that handsome? Persephone isn't sure how she didn't realize it before.
"While he trains with them, I will train you to be stronger. Despite what I have told you about keeping yourself out of danger, I fear that just like your friend, you are too headstrong, and you will find yourself running into danger for him," he explained.
"I need to be sure you don't get hurt out there. However, there is still the issue of Barry not knowing about your abilities – which I'd like to keep that way, and I believe you will agree with me there. That will not stop you from helping him when he is at his most dire situation however, but it will stop you from training with him."
She blinks, and licks her lips nervously. Her brain is too fritzed to notice how the scientist's eyes follow her tongue's movements, enthralled. "So…I train with you privately? To get stronger for Barry?" she summarizes.
"To put it simply, yes. He cannot rely on you constantly because he will not get stronger if he can always fall back to you, but he will most definitely need your assistance sooner or later when he comes across something to much for him to handle. And you will be there to save him."
To save Barry...well, that sounds wonderful to her. For all the years of being by his side, Persephone had never been able to save Barry from any of the pain or heartache he had to endure. This was her chance to start.
"Yes, of course, Dr. Wells," she agrees without hesitation. "I have to get stronger for him."
*~*~ToL~*~*
They talk some more, and begin to leisurely head back to the Lab. By the time they return, Cisco and Caitlyn are on comms with Barry, who is fighting Clyde Mardon and not exactly winning, judging by the anxious looks on their faces. Before she can ask what exactly is happening to him, Cisco winces, and hurrying over, Persephone sees a three-dimensional replica of Barry on both of their screens, and Caitlyn's is currently flashing red ominously.
"What's wrong?" she demands, hands clutching at the back of the bioengineer's chair.
"He's going to be okay," Cisco assures her, despite he himself clutching at his hands in nervousness. "I know he is."
"It's too strong!" Barry exclaims from the speakers, panting harshly.
Desperate, Persephone turns to Dr. Wells, motioning for him. "Do something!" she exclaims, frantic. "Tell him something!"
The man in question forces himself to not roll his eyes, but obliges her request, steering himself to the spare microphone connected to Barry's comms, leaning in to encourage him, "You can do this Barry. You were right: I am responsible for all this. So many people have been hurt because of me, and when I looked at you, all I saw was another potential victim of my hubris. And yes, I created this madness, but you Barry, you can stop it. You can do this, now run Barry! Run!"
The pep talk seems to be enough. Persephone walks over to Wells, placing a hand on his shoulder, looking at the screen depicting the freak tornado that Barry was trying to unravel.
"It's working," she whispered, elated.
There is a long, pained yell, a muted boom, then god-awful silence. The four of them wait, tense, trying to hear something from his end.
"Barry?" Caitlyn calls out, but he can't reply. They hear someone else call out to him, and a Southern accent fills the speakers.
"I didn't think there was anyone else like me," he says, breathing hard. It's not hard for them to figure out who that is.
"I'm not like you," Barry replies, panting just as harshly. "You're a murderer."
Mardon doesn't respond, and everyone jumps at the sound of a gunshot. Persephone tightens her grip on the scientist's shoulder, and he winces slightly.
"Barry?" Caitlyn's next call out is more urgent, more anxious.
"I'm okay," he answers her. "It's over."
Caitlyn, Cisco and Persephone break into cheers, while Dr. Wells smiles smugly.
"God, that was terrifying," Persephone mutters, and Cisco jumps out of his chair to face her. The grin on his face could not possibly get any larger.
"That was amazing! He was such a badass!"
"Wasn't he?" her reply is dreamy, but everyone is too elated to comment on it.
"He'll be coming here to return that suit," Wells forewarns the love-stricken woman. "You should go before he gets here."
Her hair falls into chaos as she nods, hugging both Cisco and Caitlyn briefly before heading towards the door. "I'm exhausted anyway…I'll see you guys later?"
The trio waves their goodbyes, and she hurries to her car. Any luck and she'll be able to get some sleep before she has to go in to work tomorrow…
*~*~ToL~*~*
Unfortunately for Persephone, her body has other ideas when she reaches her apartment, and she spends about half an hour tossing and turning in her bed before she gives up and kicks the blankets off her.
Sighing despondently, her feet shuffle their way into her fuzzy bunny slippers – a house-warming gift from Barry – and she makes her way into her kitchen. She might as well start her day early if she's not going to get any sleep.
Half-way through making some omelets and watching the last hour of Adult Swim, she hears a rattling on her door. Pausing her furious mixing of egg yolk, she peers out of her kitchen and to the front door, which is indeed shaking.
Her eyebrows go up. Is someone trying to rob her? Not only did they bother themselves by coming to the top floor first, but they picked the wrong apartment. Grinning to herself, she sets down the bowl and the whisk, and grabs the rolling pin from its place on the wall as she hears her door finally slide open for the intruder.
Turning around, she plans to run in and give them a good whack on the head, but as she charges at them, they turn around and barely have time to grab her arm from doing some serious damage to their cranium.
The caramel-skinned athlete blinks. "Barry?" she says incredulously, not removing her arm from his grasp. "What the hell are you doing?"
"I could say the same to you, psycho!" he exclaims, giving her a once-over. Her mass of curls is braided into two cute pigtails, and underneath her apron she's wearing a short, revealing nightgown.
She flushes, "I couldn't sleep. I was making omelets," she mutters, wrenching her hand from his grasp. She eyes him warily, "Why are you sneaking into my apartment like some stalker?"
Barry chuckles nervously, "You gave me a key, remember? Also…I don't have an apartment anymore. It's hard to pay rent when you're in a coma. They contacted Joe and all my stuff is in storage."
"Oh," she says blankly, then it hits her. "Oh! You need a place to crash! Why didn't you just say so in the first place?" She pulls from away from the doorway and lets it slide closed behind him.
"Because you came at me with a rolling pin, you nutter," he says under his breath as he takes off his sneakers, but she hears him anyway.
"Well, if you would have called like any normal person, I could have been expecting you," she said over the sound of the television, crossing the large living area and re-entering the kitchen.
"Well, I thought you would have been asleep, like any normal person," he bites back, following her to the kitchen, and smirking when he sees the middle finger she has waiting for him.
"Omelets?" she offers as she turns on her fancy electric stove.
"Sure," he is famished from today's activities, not that he can tell her that.
Even before the coma, it's been awhile since he's been inside his best friend's apartment. It's still an impressive sight, with all the dark leather upholstery, the dark chocolate wood and the steel appliances. He doesn't know how she does it, but she keeps it looking like something out of an IKEA magazine.
There's plenty of pictures of them together, along with several others of her and Iris, her and Joe, and all four of them together. Barry smiles warmly at one of his favorite pictures: he and Persephone sitting back-to-back in a park, both of them holding their Wii 3DS consoles and pushing buttons frantically.
"Come sit," her soft voice pulls him out of memory lane, and he obliges her request, settling at the island where there is a tower of food waiting for him.
"Were you going to eat this all yourself?" he asks incredulously, eyeing her waistline critically.
Noticing his actions, she reaches over and smacks him on his forehead. "No, ass," she replies as she pulls off her apron finally, then walks over to join him. "I just pulled those eggs out and made more for you."
Barry has another smart comment for her, but his throat goes dry as she walks over without the apron hiding her physique anymore. Persephone has never been shy about her body, which is understandable, she has a great body, but after junior year of high school, Barry tried his best to avoid scenarios that would leave him lost for words. Like this one.
The nightgown isn't silk, but it seems to still wrap around her sensually. The vines of ink that decorate her arms and cover her shoulders don't end there, he realizes as he follows their path into the dip in his chest. Quickly trying to avert his eyes, he trails downwards, but that turns out to be a mistake as well. Her hips are pronounced underneath the flimsy fabric, and he swears the gown does almost nothing to protect prying eyes (like yours, his brain helpfully supplies) from her pelvic area. His brain once again scoffs at him, but Barry ignores it.
Not noticing that she is being checked out, Persephone settles on the chair next to Barry and reaches for the pile immediately. "Eat up," she demands, placing some of the omelets on his plate and passing him some cutlery, "they're way better warm."
Barry is wrenched from his thoughts, and flushes deeply. He can't believe he was just checking out his best friend! As he digs in, he watches her from the corner of his eye, grateful she didn't notice what he had been doing. She would have smacked him for sure.
Still though, the meta-human can't help but think as the object of his thoughts automatically pushes her curls from her face, he's not sure how he didn't realize she was so…
Gorgeous, is the only word his brain can come up with.
Sighing inwardly in frustration, Barry realizes that staying with Persephone for the next few weeks till he finds a new apartment won't be as easy and convenient as he had first thought.
*~*~ToL~*~*
Aw, poor Barry! All he wants is to be a gentleman and not ogle Persi, but's it's hard to do that when she's so fiinnneee! Also, can you say "eeep!" to sexy, dominant Harrison Wells? Because that's all I wanna do. Just "eep" at him. He's too attractive for his own good. That doesn't mean he IS good though...
Anyway thoughts? Questions? What do you think is gonna happen next? How is Barry going to survive, seeing Persephone walking around half-naked constantly? Review please!