Chapter 4

Hartley is exhausted. He has no idea if the glitter gun he's designing is in any way decent and he's about one more yawn away from negotiating some nap time. He's stressed out and he just...

He doesn't know if Cisco is okay or not.

Presumably in retaliation for Hartley prying into his relationship with Cisco, Dante has been poking around at the Pied Piper thing, which... Hartley's not exactly thrilled that Dante knows that, so thanks Snart. Technically Hartley is wanted for his acts of vandalism and destruction of police property, given that he did blow out a windshield or rear window or two just to really sell the impression that the Pied Piper was a job for the Flash to deal with. Dante doesn't seem any more impressed with Hartley's vendetta against Dr. Wells than Hartley is with Dante's treatment of Cisco, but the two aren't exactly comparable in the long run. Though at least the elder Ramon sibling seemed suitably appalled that someone would knowingly turn on a device that was certain to destroy a significant percentage of the city.

"I need a break," Hartley finally said, putting down his pencil.

"You need to finish up that last gun for my sister," Snart said, gesturing with his Cold Gun.

"Look, you don't have half the parts I'm going to need and while insomnia is an old friend of mine, I do usually get at least a few hours of sleep every night, if not the recommended eight. My eyes are blurring, I can't tell if I just fucked up the equation I wrote down for the pyrite intake because the neighbors alarm clocks started going off and tipped me over towards a stress headache. You want your sister to have a gun, great. I can do that. You want her to have one that isn't going to explode in her hands? So do I, considering my own life is in the balance over this. So here's a list of the parts I've identified I'll need thus far." He gestured to a scribbled set of notes he'd been keeping. "I also need at least three hours of sleep, something to eat, and more coffee if you expect me to finish this up today. Considering you'll need to go steal all the shit on that list, presumably it won't hurt to use at least some of that time to get some fucking sleep."

He should probably stop cussing at the guy who was proud of his resume full of murders and thefts, but if Snart hadn't shot him yet... well, Hartley was going to keep his vocabulary where it was.

"Mick, take him to one of the bedrooms and tie one of his hands to the headboard." Snart smirked, adding, "you can get some sleep, but just know you're not going anywhere."

"Kinky," Hartley drawled.

Mick snorted in amusement. "Sorry, but you ain't my type, kid."

"Oh no, however shall I recover from such rejection," Hartley drawled, a little amused himself.

Under different circumstances... Leonard Snart scared the hell out of Hartley, but Mick Rory and Lisa Snart weren't completely awful. And, to be fair, what scared Hartley most about the elder Snart was that he knew about Jerrie. If things had gone differently and Hartley'd been forced to escape from STAR Labs rather than risk being sent to Iron Heights, he'd have happily been recruited by these three to further his vendetta against Harrison and the Flash.

Lisa snickered. "Oh, Mick, you heartbreaker."

And that was when Hartley heard the sound in the distance, quickly growing closer. The sort of... whooshing noise of a person running faster than should be humanly possible. The sound of the Flash.

It was ridiculous to think that Barry could find them here and yet... Hartley had gotten accustomed to the comings and goings of the Flash at STAR Labs. He knew that sound all too well.

So Hartley stood up and meekly followed Mick out into the hall towards what was likely a guest room and, right as they entered the room, Mick Rory dropped like a stone, yellow lightning flickering into the shape of Barry Allen in a red suit behind the fallen thief.

"Hartley," Barry hissed softly, stepping over Rory's unconscious body, "are you okay?"

"Unharmed. Same for Dante, but he's still down the hall with the two Snarts. Is Cisco... is he okay?"

Barry nodded. "Cisco is okay. I'm going to grab Dante and then get both of you to safety."

"Snart has a new and functional Cold Gun and Lisa has access to the finished Heat Gun," Hartley warned.

"Got it. Stay here." Barry ran down the hall, leaving Hartley alone with Mick Rory, who could easily wake up any second.

So Hartley knelt down and retrieved the regular gun the thief had on him. Then he got back up and went to the nearest doorway that gave him a good view of both Mick and the room where the Snart siblings were. There was a commotion in that room and Leonard Snart sounded pissed as the door opened and...

Hartley made a split second decision to point the gun at Mick. Shooting at Snart would mean a high likelihood the guy would shoot the Cold Gun and freeze both Hartley and the bullet he'd just shot, rendering the bullet useless and Hartley dead. Shooting at Mick meant that though Snart might freeze Hartley to death, Hartley would have still shot Mick. Which would put them in a stand off, hopefully long enough for Barry to put Dante somewhere safe and come back for Hartley.

But it turned out Hartley didn't even have to wait that long. He saw Leonard Snart in the doorway, Cold Gun starting to rise, and then... a familiar blur of motion that Hartley hadn't seen since he'd attacked his parent's place of business.

And then he was at STAR Labs.

Cisco was there, speaking quietly to Dante, but when he saw Hartley... Hartley almost could have believed Cisco had a little super speed himself given how fast the engineer crossed the space between them to pull Hartley into a hug.

Clinging tightly to Cisco, Hartley felt some of his tension slowly ebb away. Cisco was here and alive and safe; the day's ordeal was over.

Hartley was home.

The address, it turns out, actually isn't all that far from STAR Labs. So Barry runs out and grabs Dante first, dropping him off in the cortex near Cisco and then disappearing again.

"Oh my god," Dante said, voice panicky and higher pitched than normal. "Where the hell am I now?"

"STAR Labs," Cisco replied. "Here just hold still and..." he moved behind Dante and undid the ropes on his wrists. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"I'm fine. Rathaway looked after me," Dante admitted. "What about you, Cisco? You collapsed right in front of us..."

There's another blur from Barry and... Hartley is left behind this time. And it's incredibly rude of Cisco to just... abandon Dante mid conversation to rush across the room to throw his arms around Hartley. Cisco doesn't care.

He saw Hartley die in his nightmares. That's not... Cisco isn't getting over that any time soon. (Especially given the implications of his vision in the lab...) Cisco clings to him, burrowing as close to Hartley's chest in order to relish the feeling of Hartley's chest rising and falling as he breathed, the soft thump-thump thump-thump of Hartley's heartbeat...

Hartley clings on to Cisco just as tightly. Like neither of them want to ever let go.

But, eventually, Hartley pulls back and runs his hands up and down Cisco's arms, not quite willing to completely let go. Which Cisco is good with. "Cisco, are you okay?"

"Um... Caitlin and Dr. Nguyen from the hospital, who examined me after Lisa Snart dropped me off... they think I had a transient ischemic attack," Cisco admitted.

Hartley frowned, glanced around - maybe for Caitlin, but she was busy running the comms with Dr. Wells - and then said, "yeah, I've got no idea what that is."

"At least I'm not the only one," Dante muttered, having apparently come over to join them.

"It's, uh..." Cisco hesitated. "It's apparently more commonly called a mini-stroke."

"Well fuck," Hartley and Dante muttered in unison. Then they froze and glared at each other.

Cisco couldn't help it. He laughed and hugged Hartley again and then, whether Dante liked it or not, hugged him too. "I am so glad you're both okay."

"Can we talk? Privately?" Dante asked and it should have been an easy answer.

But the idea of leaving Hartley alone in the same room as Dr. Wells...

Caitlin was here. Barry was on the comms. Hartley was safe.

"Y-yeah. Sure. Come on." Cisco took Hartley's hands in his for a moment, giving them a gentle squeeze before letting go. "Be right back, okay?"

Hartley nodded silently.

Cisco almost asks him to keep his distance from Dr. Wells, but... if Wells is the Reverse Flash, then distance won't matter right now. But Wells should leave Hartley alone so long as he doesn't realize that Hartley's a threat to his secret identity.

It's still agony walking out of the room with Dante.

They head into Cisco's lab and Dante fidgets, but doesn't actually say anything. Which means it's up to Cisco.

Great.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"I'm sorry."

Cisco blinked, hard. Had he just... misheard? "Um... what?"

"I've... I've been an awful brother. To you and to Armando." Dante hesitated and then plowed on. "Rathaway kind of shoved it in my face while we were both kidnapped. He's an asshole."

"That he is. But he's got a good heart. What did he say that was so... enlightening?" Because after years of trying to get through to Dante, it was a little unfair that Hartley'd found the right thin to say. But, he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth either.

"It wasn't what he said... it's what I said. I started listing out all the reasons we don't get along any more and... never actually said any of it out loud. Funny how something can seem so reasonable in your thoughts and then you hear it said out loud and..."

"You realize you're kind of a dick?" Cisco asked when Dante trailed off.

"Yeah."

They both went awkwardly silent. "I have no idea what to do with that," Cisco finally said. "I mean, I really hope this is the start of you trying to do better by us - Armando especially - but, like... a blanket apology doesn't really fix anything. Especially since I have no reason to believe that you won't go home, listen to our parents hype you up and tell you that I'm irresponsible and at fault for everything and then... good bye epiphany, it was nice knowing you while it lasted.

"I'm sorry you got caught up in what happened with the Snarts and Rory. When the guns were stolen, it never occurred to me that they'd end up wanting more or that they'd come after me to make their replacements. I let how bad things are between us and between mom and dad and I that I never even let the three of you know that I've been working with the Flash and the police to help deal with super powered criminals and I put you all in danger by... by keeping that information from you. But I don't know how to do any better either... because I just don't trust the three of you anymore. And I'm not sure when that happened, but it's been a long time."

"You don't want mom and dad knowing about the transient isotope thing, do you?" Dante looked pensive as he asked.

"I've made Caitlin the person in charge of my medical decisions if I can't make them myself for a reason, yes." Cisco shrugged. "I keep hoping things will change with them, but I can't remember the last time I believed they had my best interests at heart. So, no. I don't want them knowing I collapsed. If this turns out to be a bigger medical issue, I'll tell them when I'm ready to."

"Then... I know I'm setting the bar low here, but let me start proving to you I'm really going to change. Mom and dad won't hear about any of this from me. Like... even the parts about Captain Cold. As far as they need to know, I stayed the night on someone's couch." Dante sighed and shook his head. "I'm going to do better, Cisco. I swear."

Cisco would believe it when he saw it in action. But for now... Dante was trying. And Cisco wanted to give him that second chance so badly. So he stepped forward and pulled Dante into a hug.

"That Hartley, guy, though..." Dante gave Cisco an amused look when they pulled apart. "He really cares about you. You sure he's not your boyfriend?"

"I'm sure," Cisco replied with a laugh. "Not that... not that I'd say no if he asked me on a date. And you can't scare this one off by telling him I'm gonna become a priest. Hartley knows better than to fall for that one."

Dante winced. "Yeah, that was... kinda awful of me. Sorry."

"Eh... it's kind of a funny story to me these days. But back then I was super pissed off." Cisco hesitated and then said, "so you're probably going to be asked to come down to the station by Detective Joe West to make a statement about the kidnapping."

"I should probably leave out the part about Snart knowing Hartley's the Pied Piper, then," Dante mused.

"What?!"

"Uh, yeah, Snart seemed to kind of like Hartley? Like... different circumstances, I'm pretty sure he'd have been making a recruitment speech. Dude was really curious about how Rathaway seemed to have some kind of deal with the Flash."

Cisco groaned softly, because that begged the question of exactly what kind of deal Snart was angling to make with the Flash. Lovely. "Yes, please, do not bring up Hartley being the Pied Piper. It's complicated, but Hartley really..."

"His parents sound like assholes, I'm not gonna help solve the mystery of who vandalized their building. Think we'll have to appear in court over this? It'd be kind of cool to be a witness."

"Oh, I hope not." Cisco stretched his arms and rolled his shoulders. "Mind staying here for now? It'd be better if, you know, you didn't accidentally find out who the Flash is or something like that."

Dante looked a bit wistful, but nodded. "Got a computer I can play solitaire on or something?"

Hartley moseyed over to Caitlin and Harrison after Cisco left the room with Dante. "Just how close to STAR Labs were we?" Hartley asked Caitlin in an undertone while Harrison gave Barry advice on his fight against the Snarts and Rory, who'd apparently rejoined the waking not more than a minute after Hartley'd been spirited away.

"A couple of blocks. There's a residential neighborhood just slightly to the north of us," Caitlin replied. "I'm really glad you're okay, Hartley." She sounded like she meant it too.

He offered her a smile. "So am I. But..." his smile faded and he glanced towards the Cortex's entryway. "Is Cisco? The most terrifying part of the whole thing was that Cisco collapsed and I didn't know if they'd actually dropped him at a hospital or not."

"They did drop him off at a hospital. I got the sort of phone call no one wants to receive at eleven last night." Caitlin shuddered. "He seems fine now, but I ran a lot of tests on him and have a lot of data to sift through now."

"So then we're all afraid it'll happen again."

Caitlin nodded.

"There's nothing you can do about it now, Barry," Harrison said. "Just vibrate until you break the ice off and then come back to the lab."

"I know it doesn't help now," Hartley said, leaning over the comms for Barry to hear too, "but I was able to add a sort of auto-shut off to the Cold and Heat guns. If they're exposed to a specific frequency range, they'll react like they overheated and take up to five minutes to reboot. I need you to check the room where Dante was when you rescued us, though. They had me designing something for Lisa Snart. I drafted something out - it wasn't a workable design yet, but close enough they could hand it off to someone else to finish and that gun won't have the shut off coded into it. I'm hoping that they left the designs behind when they left."

There was a shattering sound - ice breaking, no doubt. "I'll check," Barry replied. A moment later, "the designs are gone."

Hartley groaned softly. "Well shit. At least the other two guns will shut down for you. I'll make something you can use that's tuned to the right frequency so that the next time they show up, they'll regret it."

"Thanks, Hartley," Barry said, reappearing in the Cortex in a flash of light.

"For what? Thanks to me they have those guns again and now Leonard Snart's little sister has the plans to make herself a shiny Glitter Gun of her own. It'll coat things in a fast-drying metallic slurry." Hartley shrugged when he received three raised eyebrows. "She asked for pretty and toxic, so that's what I went with."

"You kept Cisco and his brother safe," Barry said, tone firm. "You made the right call. And while Snart may have ultimately won this time around, you're the reason he didn't get everything he wanted. And why the next fight is going to blow up in his face. So, seriously. Thank you. I'm glad you're on our side."

Hartley smiled and ducked his head... only to frown as he caught sight of Harrison.

All the evidence Hartley wanted to nail Harrison with... Cisco was probably right. it was gone by now. Certainly Hartley'd found no trace of it in his hacking of the mainframe.

Caitlin and Barry headed out of the room together, leaving Hartley alone with Harrison. Something they wouldn't have dreamed of doing a few weeks ago. And Hartley's rage had cooled, somehow. Harrison's career as a scientist was largely toast. He could publish, but no one was likely to ever collaborate with him on anything again. Except Team Flash, but their regard for Harrison Wells was at a low point from which it might never fully recover. While Hartley's career...

It was never going to be enough to make up for the people who were victimized by the explosion. No matter what Hartley did. So perhaps this reversal of their circumstances would have to suffice. Hartley thought that, maybe, he could live with that.

"I was going to tell Cisco first, but I might as well let you know now," Hartley said, earning a surprised look from Harrison. "I'll be out of your hair soon. Tina offered me a job and I've decided to take it. I've fulfilled my end of things by helping create the Patro-No and I'll be leaving you alone from here on out."

"Hartley, I... it's important to me that you know our friendship wasn't a lie. When you found the flaws in the accelerator... I put my pride... my ego before you and everything this place was built to stand for. I told myself I was protecting Tess' legacy, but the truth is I was protecting myself. And in the end I hurt a lot of people, destroying that very legacy in the process. There are times I wish I'd made a different choice with you. But the past is what it is and nothing can ever make up for or erase it."

Hartley pursed his lips for a moment and then shook his head. "I believe that our friendship meant something to you. But in the end you were just another in a long line of people I cared about more than they cared for me. As for everything else? I'm never going to be able to trust you again. No matter how many mea culpas you make or how much you try show you've changed. Because at your core, you're the same person you were that evening and I think if you could go back to that night, despite knowing what it would lead to, you'd make the same decision. I don't understand why... and to be honest, I don't care anymore. I'm done with you, Harrison."

"Well, I suppose that's fair." Harrison hesitated and then said, "I don't think you'll have that problem with Cisco. When he cares for someone it's with his whole heart. And he cares for you a great deal."

"And I care about him. So if you ever hurt him," Hartley warned, letting Harrison figure out the rest for himself.

"Understood."

It takes what feels like forever, but Cisco finally gets to go back home with Hartley that afternoon. And his whole apartment feels... wrong.

Hartley wrapped an arm around Cisco's shoulders. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I just..." Cisco leaned into Hartley's touch. "I don't know. It's like I'm just... seeing the place for the first time or... like it suddenly isn't home anymore."

"Being assaulted some place that's supposed to be safe can do that," Hartley observed quietly and Cisco wondered if he was remembering being ambushed - and fired - in the STAR Labs pipeline. "If you don't want to stay here, West would probably let us crash at his place. He likes you and he tolerates me, so..."

Cisco turned and burrowed against Hartley's chest. "No. I don't want to let them take my home from me."

"Okay," Hartley murmured, wrapping his arms around Cisco's shoulders. "Okay... we stay. But how about I make dinner tonight?"

It wasn't funny, but Cisco laughed a little wetly anyway. When did he start crying?

"I've got you." Hartley rubbed Cisco's back gently. "I've got you..."

Hartley guided Cisco over to the couch and settled them down there. They just sat there for a long while, until Cisco felt like himself again.

Snuffling, Cisco sat up and snagged a Kleenex box. A few tissues later, Cisco said, "Hartley I need to know something. And maybe it sounds kind of weird but... you were going to tell me something last night. Were you going to tell me that Dr. Wells can still walk?"

Hartley stared at Cisco in surprise. "I... yes. How did you? Did you already know..."

"I... think I saw the day Barry erased..." Cisco hesitated and then said, "when I collapsed, I saw that other day. We were working on a Weather Wand to counter Mark Mardon and worked through lunch. Since I was using the Mardon thing as an excuse to skip Dante's party, we went to a late lunch and you told me about Dr. Wells. And that... was when I realized Dr. Wells is the Reverse Flash. But I wanted to prove it. The last few weeks... the math I've been having you check over for me came from the speedster trap we built for the Reverse Flash. We were led to believe it failed, but it didn't. Only he came down while we were investigating. You made me hide and... when he walked out of the elevator, he killed you."

"That's..." Hartley shook his head. "It must have seem real, Cisco, but how could you have really seen any of that?"

"I didn't think it was real. Just something my brain came up with while I was unconscious. Except then I had another vision. Of the house were Snart relocated you and Dante to. Rory was sitting at a small table with a birthday card on it, but the envelope was covered. When you told him the Heat Gun was ready, he stood up to inspect the gun, he put his hand on the table. Moved the card out of the way so I could see the address. I called Barry afterwards and told him I remembered hearing the address, but I didn't. I saw it. And if that vision was real..." Cisco took a shaky breath, "then so was the other one.

"Do... do you believe me?"

"Yeah. I believe you." Hartley ran a hand through his hair. "They never did mention the address and I didn't... I didn't think to ask how Barry found us. But you... Cisco, you saved us."

"I'm a meta," Cisco said, slowly.

"Welcome to the club," Hartley replied wryly.

"Thanks." Cisco paused a beat. "I'm kind of waiting to freak out about being a meta, but I'm more freaked out about everything else. Like you dying. That... I can't... I close my eyes and you're..."

Hartley wrapped his arms back around Cisco and pressed a soft, barely there kiss against Cisco's forehead. "I'm alive here and now, okay? I promise you, this is real."

"I need to tell all of this to Barry."

"Now or in the morning?"

Cisco settled against Hartley's chest, idly listening to Hartley's heartbeat. "Morning."

"Alright." Hartley started dragging his fingers through Cisco's hair, the motion so soothing that Cisco thought he might fall asleep.

But the idea of waking up and Hartley not being there... "Stay with me, tonight? I don't think I can sleep alone tonight. So please..."

"Of course." Hartley hummed softly. "I'll be right there. Comfy bed instead of an inflatable mattress and a handsome guy who wants to cuddle? Yes, I will definitely be right there."

Cisco snorted in amusement and let his eyes drift closed.