A/N: Shoutout to the last remaining reader of this story; Zainab Hamza! Thanks for sticking 'til the end and supporting this story, you really are amazing!

The fast clicking of high heels rushing on the concrete ground was the first clue Iris and Jay had that someone was quickly approaching their position in the medical bay. Sure enough, a few moments later, the door opened to reveal Caitlin who had obviously put on her white blouse and black pants in a hurry. Even her hair was a mess with many rebellious locks dancing loosely out of her ponytail. To complete her I'm-late-for-work fashion, Caitlin had locked the top button of her blouse in the second hole on the opposite side which screwed up the whole order and left the last button orphaned at the bottom. And here Iris thought it wasn't possible to do this without noticing it right away.

Maybe Caitlin did realize her mistake but was in too much of a hurry to fix it since she was late, very late. To be exact, the doctor arrived over three hours later than her usual schedule, and it was almost noon now. Under these circumstances, it was no surprise to see the scientist being out of breath.

"I'm so sorry I'm late; I didn't even hear my alarm this morning. I slept past it by way too much," tried to explain Caitlin.

"No worry," calmly answered Iris before turning her attention back to her husband. Gently, she stroked the hero's forehead for a second before passing a hand in his hair.

Barry was now resting with an oxygen mask on his face and a pulse oximeter on the tip of his right index to keep an eye of his most essential vitals. Except, to be honest, they had been pretty dull to look at recently.

"You slept well?" Inquired Jay while scrutinizing the woman's face and expression.

"I did," answered Caitlin who slightly relaxed after she took a good look at the vitals on the monitor of her peacefully resting patient. "I'm sorry I didn't arrive earlier."

"Nonsense, you deserved the rest," said Iris who turned her head to look at her friend while taking hold on Barry's hand. "You haven't had a good night's sleep in the last two weeks."

The instant the last word left her lips, Barry's wife turned her head once more to look at the selfless hero whose head, hands and everything below his knees were the only parts of his body that wasn't all covered by bandages.

After Lily's last intervention, the speedster's vitals started finally getting stronger and more stable. Some colour was slowly returned to his pale cheeks, both his kidneys returned to their average strength, and his lungs kicked back in. All this slow, but continuous, improvements allowed the doctor to finally work on less urgent issues like piercing, emptying and cleaning all the pocket of pus distributed all over Barry's body before covering them with bandages. It wasn't the most beautiful job, and the lab smelled like dead at the end, but it would surely help Flash's metabolism to recover faster.

Right now, his vitals were all in the normal range with only one exception; the speed-force's activity in his cells was still really low. While it was undoubtedly abnormal, it wasn't concerning Caitlin who was almost sure it was going to kick back in soon enough. The only problem with this was that it was delaying Barry's recovering.

"We would've called you if anything had changed in his condition. You do know that right?" Iris assured the doctor who walked next to her and pressed her fingers against Barry's wrist.

It's not that she didn't trust her equipment; it just was reassuring and more humane to feel the beating pulse underneath the speedster' skin for herself. Strong and regular.

Caitlin was supposed to come back early in the morning like usual, but she ended up sleeping almost twelve hours straight. There was no denying the doctor had been running on fumes these past few weeks. Iris and Jay were right, she needed that rest, and she deserved it. Plus, as they said, it wasn't essential for her to stay glued on her patients at all time since Barry had significantly been improving and Lily finally woke up yesterday after being down for the count for days.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. How's Lily?" Finally asked Caitlin, letting go of Barry and turning around to look at the senior speedster.

"She was out of her room when I arrived a few moments ago, but Joe told me on his way out that he saw her walking around with your friend," he answered instantly, "I think he likes her."

"Friend?" Repeating Caitlin as she scanned around the room for a second, only realizing now that Cisco wasn't anywhere to be seen. Her motion only lasted for a second or so 'till her mind clicked and realized Jay wasn't talking about Cisco. Of course. She smiled; things were finally coming back to normal.

"Ralph, right?" She guessed. It had to be him.

"He knows she's too smart for him," commented Iris, smirking.

Snorting, Caitlin moved closer to the desk and grabbed the clean syringe needed for the daily blood analyses she scheduled earlier this week to keep a close eye on Barry's progress. If she was right, his speed healing was about to kick back in at any time now, if it hadn't already happened in the last few hours.

It was only when her eyes were glued to the microscope to meticulously examine the newly taken blood sample that the door of the lab opened and she heard Lily's tired but happy voice;

"I thought you were back on Earth 3," said the lady in S.T.A.R grey t-shirt and comfortable black pants to her mentor.

"I was waiting to see how you were before leaving," he answered, leaning forward to take the shortest and smallest woman in his arms.

"I'm in good hands," assured Olivia, "go. We'll come to get you as soon as there's any change in Barry's condition."

Jay shared a meaningful look with the doctor who looked up from her work and smiled, "what she said. I'm taking care of them. You can rest easy."

It's been a long moment now since the Earth 3's Flash and Lady Indigo disappeared on their earth and some criminals were starting to rise with the wishful thinking both speedsters were gone for good. Somebody needed to take care of that growing mess and, now that Barry and Lily were out of the danger zone, Jay could finally focus on his game.

Good thing this earth had Vibe and Elongated Man patrolling the town to ensure this situation wasn't going to happen on Earth 1. Speaking of, at this very instant, Cisco was assisting Joe and the CCPD on a robbery in progress. They had everything under control.

"Alright, I'll see you around," said Jay before saluting the crowd by tipping his hat. Without more ceremony, he took off in the next instant. No need for never-ending farewell as the speedster was planning to come back to say his thanks and goodbyes to Barry once the man would be in a better position to talk.

"And you, shouldn't you be resting?" Asked Caitlin to Lily who shrugged and approached the bed.

"I had enough of that for a while; I've been sleeping fo-"

"You've been unconscious for days, not sleeping. There's an important difference," softly, but sternly noted Caitlin who wasn't in the mood to start a fight but still deeply cared about the health of all her patients. She was just trying to be a friend, not a tyrannous doctor. "I'll make you a deal; if you go rest for at least four extra hours today, you can have the next night shift to look after Barry," she added, causing Lily smiled to widen.

"Before I go, can we go grab some pizza for lunch?" Suggested Olivia with enthusiasm. "with jalapenos, pepperoni, and..."

"And some olives maybe?" Suggested Caitlin, earning a broader smile.

That was Barry's favourite pizza and the one the hero would always bring back from that place in Keystone when he was in charge of getting food. For some reason, Caitlin had a feeling that Olivia and Barry could become good friends with time. It was almost a shame that Lily was going to leave and go back to her earth once she would be wholly recovered; it was nice having her around. At least it was easy to travel between dimensions.

Bringing back her attention in the present, and to the computers that just finished his analysis, Caitlin smiled. The results did confirm her hypothesis about Barry's speed-force; it was becoming active again. The hero truly was on his way to recovery.

Physical, at least.

The only concern left was how Barry was going to be, mentally, when he'll wake up after all the trauma he endured and the numerous close calls he had with death since he fought with Lily and Jay a week and a half ago. Plus, who knew if the Galway's serum was going to have long term effects?

Thankfully, they didn't have to wait too long to find out. At first, it wasn't much; Barry's fingers slightly twitched after Olivia's hand landed on his bandages covered shoulder and a pained grunt followed closely.

"Shh, it's okay, Barry. You're okay"

It was late at night, and Lily was alone with him. Or, more accurately, she was the only one awake and keeping watch since Joe was dozing in a chair in the back of the room.

Both these responses weren't too unusual from the speedster who's been having them a few times in the last couple of days. Usually, these reactions would go away pretty quickly, but, this time, it wasn't stopping. They didn't stop after a few seconds, nor thirty of them. Instead, Barry's groans grew stronger, and he weakly started shifting on his bed before tensing up all over which caused Lily to move her hand from his shoulder to his chest.

"Hey, take it easy," she gently said, trying to ease the sick man's suffering by massaging the bandage over his chest as gently as she could.

"Ooww," moaned the voice on the bed as Barry's whole body tensed intensively. Obviously, the lady speedster's motion wasn't smooth enough,

"I'm sorry," she swiftly apologized before taking her hand off him.

Barry's right hand went to grab her arm with a slow and weak motion. Well, it wasn't much of a movement at all considering how Flash's arm barely lifted from the mattress, but it was enough for Lily to notice it and gasp. Could it be? Her head moved so fast, to glance at Joe, that her single long blonde and red braid moved over the opposite shoulder.

"Joe, Joe!" She urgently called, daring for one second to look away. When she moved back her piercing glance, it was to find two green eyes staring at her in confusion, "Joe!" She called again.

She heard jostling behind her and, mere seconds later, the older man suddenly appeared by her side.

"Oh God, Barr, can you hear me?"

The sick speedster's expressionless eyes seemed glued on the first person to talk to him, Lily. His reaction pushed Joe's anxiety a tad higher. He needed to calm down; Barry had been sleeping for a very long time, so it was no surprise the hero was confused.

"Can you-"

"I'll go get Caitlin," interrupted Olivia before taking off running at normal speed since she hadn't been cleared to use her powers yet and the situation didn't seem urgent enough to break that order.

Once the young lady was gone, Flash's eyes finally decided to look straight at Joe and acknowledge his presence with his eyelids quickly closing and opening, which was tearing them up. Meanwhile, his lips were starting to shake under the oxygen mask.

"It's over, son, you're back," started to say Joe while taking a hold on the mask and lowering it down Barry's neck upon seeing the moving lips trying to form words.

"J… J… oe," slowly pronounced Barry, with difficulty, before smiling.

"Yeah, it's me, you're back on Earth 1, at S.T.A.R. Labs. It's over," repeated the detective, uncertain if the hero heard it the first time. The way the sick man sighed in relief at these words proved it was the first-time comprehension hit him.

"O… ver," repeated Barry while closing his eyes, but only for an instant before he asked the first thought on his mind. "Everyone?"

You could always count on Barry to worry about the entire world's wellbeing before his own, even when he was in a medical bed. Or, more like, especially if he was laying in one of these.

"Everyone's alright, Barr, you did it. Jay's back on his Earth and his apprentice is at the lab," explained Joe, wincing in sympathy when Barry's hand went to his chest and his whole face tensed up again.

"How are you feeling?" Joe tried to ask, only to get interrupted by Caitlin and Olivia who rushed into the room. The doctor was wearing her pyjamas and walking barefoot on the ground, an outfit that was starting to become an official doctor uniform here.

"Barry, how are you?" The doctor instantly asked, not realizing she was repeating the exact same question that had been sent a mere moment before, nor did she see Cisco approaching, fully dressed. It was hard not to be alerted that something was going on considering how Lily was running and shouting to get Caitlin's attention a moment earlier.

Feeling his anxiety leaving at the sight of his friends, all standing and looking good, Barry laughed in relief, only to get his laughs interrupted by an unexpected series of loud sneezing that was almost resembling choking sounds. His coughing fit lasted long enough for Caitlin to jog to the corner of the room for the water pitcher, prepare a glass in a hurry and come back.

"There, take it," she instructed to the speedster before handing the glass to him.

"Thanks," rasped Barry after his first long gulp, "hope you got their information," he added chuckling.

"Whose information?" Simultaneously asked Joe and Cisco.

"The herd of horses who ran me over," joked The Flash, before taking another gulp and putting the glass on the table next to him. Taking a shaky breath, he tried his best to smile before looking up at his two best friends, now side by side next to him. "I told you I could do this. I told you I wasn't going to die."

The silence that instantly fell in the room was deafening, and everyone surrounding the bed started uncomfortably to look at each other like someone just killed their puppy. Barry's already uneasy breath caught in his throat and a cold shiver passed in his back;

"What?" He weakly rasped.

"You... you didn't make it, Barry," slowly said Caitlin, noticeably avoiding eye contact. "Well, you weren't going to. You were dying." She corrected.

Despite the clean water the speedster just drank a moment earlier, Barry's throat went parched. Wait, what? He didn't feel dead. Trying to get a better view of his team and family without twisting his neck, Barry pushed himself on his forearms, "what happened? How am I still here?"

Looking down on his body, Barry took notice of how he looked. "And why do I look like a mummy? "

"As I predicted; your body couldn't take the shock of the serum feasting on your speedster and the withdrawal symptoms of the V9. Your organs were starting to fail, fast. You've been out for over a week and a half," explained Caitlin, eyeing the quickly increasing blood pressure and pulse of her patient on the monitor as she kept on talking.

"I don't... how… how am I still alive?"

"She d-" started Joe, only to get interrupted by Olivia who was still standing a little further away from the bed than the rest of the team.

"I did it. I saved your life."

"Ho-"

"Like this," said Lily, opening her palms oriented toward the ceiling and allowing the mysterious and beautiful looking, floating, blue energy to envelope her limbs.

"Whoa!" Exclaimed Barry, jostling enough for his weak muscles to fail him and make him fall back entirely on the mattress, a few inches down, where he let out a yell at contact.

"For some reason, Lily here has a second set of power other than her speed. She can transfer part of her healing energy, and her speed-force, into people to exponentially boost their system. She tried a few times before she was able to get you out of the critical zone," said Caitlin.

"She's incredible. We owe her your life, man," approved Cisco.

Still shocked by the news, Barry gasped and shook his head at the same time he was putting himself back in his earlier position. Once that was done, he looked up at the young woman. "I guess thanks are in order."

"You're welcome," Olivia answered whole-heartedly, smiling tenderly to the other speedster who yawned loudly, "I should probably let you rest."

The sick hero's eyelids were quickly flickering in an apparent struggle to stay awake, and he fell back on the bed.

"We'll be there when you wake up, and we'll tell you everything," added Caitlin. She probably should've checked him thoroughly while he was conscious, but that ship had already sailed. Before her sentence was over Barry was already completely slack, getting the sleep he needed and earned.

A/N: See? I can be nice when I want to ;) Leave me your thoughts

I'll post the epilogue tomorrow for my swan song, as I'll probably won't write anymore. If I do change my mind, it won't probably be here considering how there's only one reader left. I'm sorry if it's because my stories went bad for some reasons. It had been a fun ride since my first story years ago. Thanks again Zainab Hamza for being the last reader standing!