Joe walked back into the medbay a few hours later, slowly looking over Jacob as he lay in the bed. The heart monitor beeped steadily, filling the room with an electronic echo. Caitlin sat in a chair right next to him, leaning over and fast asleep on the bed. He gently laid his hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.
"Caitlin," he whispered, giving her a little shake.
She sat up and mumbled before shaking her chestnut ringlets around and squinting at Joe.
"I brought you some coffee." he whispered, offering a styrofoam cup with the logo for CC Jitters emblazoned on the side.
She smiled sleepily, sitting up and accepting the cup. Taking a drink she sighed and wiped the sleep from her eyes. Joe smiled at her fondly before moving to the other side of the bed, to better get a look at the man.
"So that's my grandson…." he whispered, staring down at Jacob.
"Technically." Caitlin corrected, blinking herself awake. "He's not blood related and he's from.."
"Another earth," Joe finished. "Iris and Cisco told me. All this metaphysical stuff is just strange."
"How's he doing?" he asked as she yawned and stood up, stretching.
"Medically, he's fine." She answered, walking over to Jacobs heart monitor and checking the readings. "Thankfully whatever that blast was did not damage any of his internal organs and didn't cause any further physical damage. Now i would suspect there could be some mental damage."
"What do you mean?" Joe asked worried.
"Well," She started, picking up a tablet and pulling up a cranial scan of Jacobs brain. "You see this area here? This is the section of the brain that handles fear, the fight or flight response."
Joe nodded, barely understanding.
"It seems to be overactive." she continued.
"He's scared?" Joe asked, looking confused.
"He's terrified." She corrected, setting the tablet down and stroking Jacobs cheek. "I've kept him on a solution of alpha blockers to stabilize the constant adrenaline influx, that way his heart doesn't give out."
"Can't you just, wake him up?" He asked, shrugging.
"Easily," she affirmed. "But i don't know how it would affect his mental state right now."
"What do we do then?" Joe asked, looking helpless.
"I might be able to help with that." Cisco interjected, walking up with a small speaker and setting it on Jacobs bedside. With a few taps on the tablet he carried in his other hand, gentle music began playing; the melody filled the medbay.
"I know that song…" Joe said smiling. Both Caitlin and Cisco froze for a second. "It's from that old gangster movie. You know the one with…"
"Yea," Cisco butted in. "Our friend here said his mother used to sing it to him. I thought maybe it would calm him enough for Caitlin to lower the Alpha blockers."
"That's sweet Cisco," she said, smiling at him.
Joe nodded his head, humming the tune under his breath.
"Why don't you sing to him?" Caitlin asked Joe.
"Me?" he laughed, smiling sadly. "When she was a kid, Iris used to say i couldn't carry a tune in a bucket with a lid on it."
"Come on," She pleaded.
"Dude, we've never heard you sing…" Cisco insisted.
"Alright," he sighed. "You asked for it."
With a cough, he cleared his throat and took a breath. He started to sing along with the music, first off key, but then his deep voice found the right pitch and the air was filled with a beautiful harmony. Cisco's face showed his surprise, while Caitlin smiled and began swaying gently along with the music. He continued on, closing his eyes and emotion flooding his singing as Iris walked up the steps and leaned against the doorframe. Caitlin looked down at her tablet and smiled happily, before quietly clapping along with Cisco.
"That did it Joe," She whispered, showing him the results on the screen. "His adrenaline levels are decreasing."
"That's good right?" He asked, looking from the monitor to the bed.
"That's very good," she replied smiling, giving him a hug. "I can decrease the Alpha blockers and hopefully wake him up soon."
Joe nodded, eyes starting to tear up as Iris walked up to him and gave him a warm hug.
"That was beautiful dad," she said into his shoulders as he gave her a squeeze.
Jacob sleepily opened his eyes and looked around the room. He was laying on the couch in Laurels apartment. Candles burned in the fireplace, giving the whole room a warm feel and the smell of vanilla wafted through the air. The curtains lazily danced in the window as the pale moonlight shown through. An old style record player sat close by, the disc on it spinning in circles and static playing through the speaker. He slowly got up and walked over towards it, flicking the switch and watching as the disk slowly spun to a stop. He turned around and saw Joe sitting at the table in between the kitchen and the living room, staring at a stack of papers with a tumblr of what he could only assume was whiskey sitting beside him.
"Well hey there sleepy head," Joe drawled, smiling at him as he walked over.
"Joe?" He asked, confused.
"Joe?" Joe called back, laughing and pushing out a chair for jacob to sit in. "Since when are you too old to call me Paw Paw?"
Jacob sat down in the chair, bewildered.
"Where am i?" he asked, staring around the room.
"What do you mean?" Joe asked back, not looking up. "You're home son."
"But i... " he started to say, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes.
"What's wrong?" Joe asked, this time looking up to see the bewildered expression on Jacobs face. "You and Wally rough housin' again? You hit your head or something?"
"Wally? Where's Wally?" He asked, twisting in his chair to look around the apartment.
"It's Tuesday," Joe replied, flipping a few pieces of paper over and pulling some photographs out of an envelope on his left. "He's with Barry and Iris today, you know this."
"Joe really," he said panicking, grabbing his arm and shaking it. "Somethings wrong."
Joe slid his chair out slightly and looked up at Jacob, concern showing on his face.
"I had this weird dream," Jacob started, gripping Joe's arm tighter. "It was after my wedding and everything went wrong. Everyone was dead and then i was on this different earth. I met everyone all over again and things were different. Ollie and Laurel werent married. Harrison was still alive."
"Woah woah woah," he stammered. "Calm down son. It was just a dream."
"But it felt so real," Jacob insisted.
"It's over now," Joe soothed, standing up and wrapping his arms around Jacobs shoulders.
"It…." He started, shaking a little.
"You need to wake up now son…..You need to wake up…"
Jacob felt the warmth and weight of Joes hug disappear as his voice slowly faded away. He blinked a few times as the room too started to fade away. He tried to stand but it felt like a massive weight had suddenly been placed on his legs as he fell forward onto his chest.
"You need to wake up…...wake up son…"
Joe's voice echoed a few more times before it faded completely, leaving Jacob in a crumpled heap, unable to move. After a few seconds, everything turned to black.