Silence. Sometimes it can be therapeutic but other times, it can feel suffocating almost, like it's to eerie and it puts you on edge. For Santana, silence was something she never enjoyed. With Brittany at Mckinley High making the final decisions about the nearing prom, it had been complete and utter silence throughout the house.

Sighing to herself, she grabbed her phone and was shocked to read some messages from a certain non-gay Warbler.

Santana Barry? I can tell you're freaking out over text

Sebastian give me one good reason as to why I shouldn't

Santana how about you first tell me what's going the heck on before I find you and go all Lima Heights on your ass

Sebastian well, my Captain wants me and my foster father to help with the robberies so we're coming to Ohio and we will land in about an hour

Santana A) why didn't you tell me this sooner and B) why do all the planes you fly on have WiFi?

Sebastian A) because I fount out 3-4 hours ago and B) because I have some mad good luck

Santana now, why are you freaking out exactly?

Sebastian well, we all know that I haven't sorted things with everyone and my foster dad doesn't know anything about my time in Ohio

Santana how about we tell him together? Also, when you land give me a call because I know that the Smythe's are out of town

Sebastian they never left me home alone. Why did they with Stacey?

Santana because you're a walking occupational hazard

Sebastian did you just quote that How to Train your dragon movie?

Santana shut up and call me when you land

Sebastian looks like Auntie Sinxx is still there

Santana you know it ;)

Sebastian text you soon, Satan

Santana see you later Twink :)

As confused as she was, ultimately, she was concerned about Seb. She knew that something was troubling him and with Stacey saying somethings wrong but not saying what, she couldn't help but let her mind drift to all the possibilities.

Was he hurt?

Did he have an illness?

The only two logical possibilities linked back to the night he was struck by lightning, the day Stacey felt her world get set on fire. Santana was the only other person to have heard Barry's story, not the entire thing but more then most. She was so deep in thought that she never noticed Brittany walk in with Rachel, Quinn, Sam, Mercedes and Artie.

"Earth to Santana" Brittany said, clapping in her fiancée's face.

"Huh? When did you guys get here?" She asked, jumping from the sudden glances everyone was giving her.

"We got here a couple of minutes ago. We've been trying to get your attention for the past 5 minutes. What were you thinking about?" Quinn asked, feeling a bit of concern for the ex-cheerleader.

"Well. I'm worried, about Stacey and Bas. Even over text I can tell there's something wrong with him but I just don't know what" Santana half lied, she was telling the truth about there being something wrong with Seb but she knew that him fearing of what his foster father would think was currently outweighing the other issues.

"Everything will be okay. Besides, it's Sebastian Smythe right? What could've happened for him to not be okay?" Mercedes asked, trying to lighten the mood but it didn't work, it only made Santana's head work double time to see if she could make a reasonable yet over the top excuse as to why the 'rich, spoiled brat' was not himself.

"Yeah, what could've happened?" Santana mumbled, leaning into Brittany, who had her arm wrapped around her.

FLASHFLASHFLASHFLASHFLASHFLASHFLASHFLASHFLASHFLASHFLASHFLASH

To say Barry was nervous was an understatement. He was a complete mess. Not only was everyone he cared about in danger, he now had to protect everyone in Westerville as well as support Stacey like any 'older brother' would during a death.

"Bear?.. Bear? You with us?" Joe asked, lightly shaking Barry who was too deep in thought to notice that everyone was looking at him with some sort of concern evident. Even Harry and he only really showed any emotions towards Jesse.

"Huh? What?" Barry asked, suddenly being responsive after a couple more seconds.

"Our car is here" Cisco said, looking down at Barry to realise he was sitting on his suitcase.

Nodding, Barry stood up and dusted his clothes and grabbed his suitcase, trailing behind as everyone else stuffed their stuff into the mini van.

They sat in the van with Joe driving, Barry in the passenger seat, Harry, Iris and Caitlin next to each other behind them and then Wally, Jesse and Cisco taking the back 3 seats.

The entire drive to the Smythe residence was in utter silence with the radio lightly playing in the background. Everyone was dealing with Henry's death still, it's what added to the awkward/sad tension building in the mini van.

Whilst everyone else had either fallen back asleep or were listening to the music, Joe placed his hand onto Barry's knee, glad to know that it was still there. If Barry wasn't in visible sight or physically there, it scared Joe half to death but he didn't know why, it was just how he was feeling.

"Hey, Dad. Can you turn this song up please?" Iris asked, breaking the tension with her gigantic smile.

"Sure, baby girl" Joe replied, turning the radio up to quite a loud setting, instantly waking Barry who had dozed off.

"Glad to see your finally awake, sleeping beauty" Jesse joked, making everyone else chuckle lightly.

Joe rubbed small, comforting circles into Barry's knee, almost making him doze off again. This was the second time he managed to get to sleep without any nightmares, the first time was the night before with Joe holding him to keep them away.

"Baby you light up my world like nobody else" Iris sang along with Caitlin, the pair of them squealing like teenage girls fangirling over how hot Zac Efron was.

"Please, some of us would like to keep our eardrums in one piece please" Harry begged, gaining a chuckle from Joe who shot Barry a glance, noticing he was lightly singing along.

"You don't know you're beautiful" Barry and Joe sang lightly, putting a bright smile onto both of their faces.

It was times like these that they just wanted to forget that Zoom and the Reverse-Flash were out there, to forget that Barry's father had been murdered. They all felt free from any burdens they had weighing on them. It felt fucking great.

"Hey, when we get to the Smythe household, be on your best behaviour. Do you all hear me?" Joe exclaimed once the singing—that to Barry sounded like a bunch of dying cats—had died down.

"Okay" Everyone except Barry and Joe agreed, nodding their heads and allowing silence to take over again.

Suddenly, Barry's phone broke the silence, confused, he picked it up and Joe pulled over, knowing that Barry would rather have this conversation outside then with everyone in the car.

"There's a park just up there," Joe pointed out, "whilst Barry's on the phone go spend some time there to get fresh air. We've been travelling all morning"

They all got out, leaving Joe and Barry to wait for them all to leave before he called back the number.

Barry sat on the edge of the car, glancing at the number, he would recognise it from anywhere. Sighing, he readied himself for the lecture he was bound to receive.

"Hey, Thad" he spoke, not sure whether to be happy that Thad had called him or not.

"When were you going to tell your best friend that you were back in Ohio?" His voice sounded hurt, just great.

Barry rolled his eyes, "because, I fount out I was coming here like hours ago"

"Well, when New Direction rehearsal is over I'm dropping Stacey off and then you, myself and Wes are heading to Lima Bean like usual whenever we know one of our brothers is upset" Thad explained, ending the call immediately after. He really can't catch a break today. First Finn, then Santana (although he texted her first) and finally Thad.

FLASHFLASHFLASHFLASHFLASHFLASHFLASHFLASHFLASHFLASHFLASHFLASH

"Has Barry been acting differently now that he's here or is it just me?" Iris asked, she knew that Barry's uncle was Mr Smythe so that's why they were staying with him but that's all she knew.

"Yeah, he has. He's been a lot more secretive" Cisco admitted, sitting down on one of the benches littered around the park.

"Maybe he has his reasons," Wally reasoned, "I mean, he kept him being the Flash away from not only myself but from Iris until she fount out herself"

"I just hope that those secrets aren't what Zoom uses against him. It would rip him to shreads more then any of this has" Iris mumbled, twiddling her thumbs together until Barry walked towards them.

Barry climbed the little jungle gym and sat next to Iris, his arm finding its way around her shoulders, allowing her to soak in his warmth.

"Well the Smythe's are out of town until later tonight so we will have the place to just us and my younger cousin, Stacey" Barry whispered to Iris, who moved onto Barry's lap, letting his arms wrap around her waist.

"Okay" she replied, leaning back in the embrace, letting Barry kiss her neck slightly.

"Okay everyone. Let's go get settled and then relax until later tonight" Joe's voice was demanding but soft, it wasn't too hard but it wasn't too gentle for them all.

They all nodded, getting up—or in Iris' and Barry's case, remaining where they were until Joe threatened to get his gun out— and making their way towards the Mini Van.

Barry thought to himself, 'this is gonna be a long ass day'

A/N: I am going to be uploading both this story and the original story onto my Wattpad, where I have 9 other books and only like 2 or 3 of them are completed because why not.

My Wattpad is: @ifeellikeiamamidget