Jacob sat bolt upright from the bed with a gasp, looking around the med bay in panic. The leads to the heart monitor stretched and snapped with the movement, causing the machine to flatline and emit an irritating squeal.
"Caitlin!" Joe shouted, trying to force Jacob to lay back down as he tore at the leads and the IV tube stuck in his arm. "Relax kid!"
"Jacob calm down!" Caitlin called, rushing over and placing her hands on either side of his thrashing face. "Look its me, you're ok, you're safe!"
He stared at her, calming down and blinking rapidly. He slowly stopped tearing at the attachments and stopped thrashing, body shaking and breathing rapidly. Joe warily let go of him and sat down.
"Cait...lin…?" He asked in between heaving breaths.
She nodded and slowly took her hands away from his face, dropping one to where his hands sat at his side.
"What happened?" he asked, his breathing becoming more stable.
"We're not sure," she admitted, looking worriedly into his eyes. "Gypsy touched you and there was this red energy wave rolling off of you both. Then there was a red breach trying to form."
He gazed back, clearly confused.
"What do you remember?" Joe asked, leaning forward slightly.
"I…." Jacob started before pausing. "Nothing after she touched me, just pain and then nothing."
"Your heart stopped…" Caitlin whispered, staring at him.
"Are you sure you don't remember anything?" Joe asked again.
"Nothing," Jacob repeated, shaking his head. "How's Gypsy?"
"She's with Cisco," Caitlin replied, squeezing his hand before unwrapping the tangled mess of wires and IV tubes from around him. "Whatever happened, you were on the receiving end of the worst of it."
"Can i see her?" he asked, moving to stand up from the bed.
"Ohhh noo," She scolded, pushing him firmly back down on the bed as she stood up. "You're going to sit right here for a few minutes."
He looked at Joe for help but Joe just smiled and held up his hands.
"I'm not fighting with the Doctor," Joe chuckled. "I'll bring you something to eat though."
Jacob groaned and laid back as Joe laughed and headed out of the med bay. Caitlin shook her head, sending her chestnut curls in a flutter as she tossed the remaining IV tubes onto the counter and sighing to herself.
"You scared the crap out of me," she whispered turning around to face him and laying a cool hand on his forehead.
"Relax doc," he chuckled, nuzling at her cool touch. "I'm not giving up that easy."
She smiled down at him as he reached for her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. A cliche cough made them both look up to the entryway, where Harrison Wells stood awkwardly. He stepped forward with a small device in his hands.
"Doctor Wells," Jacob called, trying to sit up.
"Please," he muttered, shuffling his feet. "Harry."
He took a second, scratching his head and avoiding looking directly at Jacob before he spoke again.
"I…" He stammered, before coughing again. "Your tech was a bit crude, despite some impressive innovation. I...we..made a few adjustments and well.."
He handed Jacob the device and took a step backwards.
"That should work for what you told Cisco you were trying to do," He muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. "That program you wrote…"
"Thank you," Jacob cut in, turning it over in his hands. "How do i activate it?"
"Just hit the button on the side, give it a few seconds to fully broadcast and that should do it."
"Perfect," Jacob replied smiling. "Thank you again."
Harry grunted something inaudible before giving a small smile and stepping back out of the med bay.
"It wasn't your fault," Jacob called as Harry walked away. He hesitated a step before shuffling faster away.
"That's about as close as your going to get for an apology," Caitlin muttured, shaking her head.
"I dont blame him," Jacob retorted, looking down at the device. "He couldn't have known what would've happened."
"Well," She sighed changing the subject. "What's that he gave you?"
"A door," he muttered in response before closing his eyes and gripping the device tightly in his hand.
She looked at him with a questioning look before shaking her head and gently shaking his shoulder.
"You really shouldn't try to sleep again," She urged gently. "I need run a few tests to see if there's any cognitive damage."
"Cognitive damage?" He asked, opening his eyes and sitting up.
"Head trauma," She explained picking up her tablet with the earlier readings displayed. "Your brain was overactive in dangerous regions, i need to check and see if those heightened states did any permanent damage."
"Oh…" he replied, not understanding completely.
"Come to think of it," she muttered. "A full body scan wouldn't be too much of a stretch, would give me a chance to check of your mobility responses as well."
"You're the doc, doc." He chuckled, swinging his legs over the edge and preparing to stand up.
"Slowly now," She urged, gently grabbing his arm and placing a hand on his back.
With shaky movement, Jacob managed to stand and took a step. He smiled whenever he managed to not pitch forward, Cailin throwing a hand to his bare chest causing him to shiver slightly.
"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.
"Your hand," he chuckled. "Its cold."
"Im sorry," she whispered shly, removing it and stepping back.
"Don't be," He replied with a coy grin. "I like it."
She blushed and went silent, waving her hand to where the body scanner sat a few steps away. He laughed to himself silently and slowly stepped over towards it, his bare feet barely making a sound on the floor. WIth a grunt, he sat down carefully lifted his legs onto the patient tray that slid out from the chamber.
"Should i be worried about anything metal in here?" He asked, his voice slightly echoing from where his head sat partly inside the chamber.
"No," She laughed, with a smile. "It doesn't run on any sort of magnetic energy, you'll be fine."
"Good, someone already removed my belt anyway," He replied, touching the side of his hip.
He could practically hear her blushing again, causing him to smile.
"Just try to sit still and relax, it shouldn't take long," She called as the tray slowly slid into the chamber.
Lights started to slowly flicker on around him as it slid completely inside, giving the whole chamber a bluish glow. After a few seconds, he could hear a low hum start to build up and became steady.
"How does this thing work exactly?" He asked, trying not to move.
"It's a modification of a computed tomography scanner that we got from Palmer Tech," she explained, her voice echoing inside to him. "Cisco and Ray both worked on it so we could get a better look at Barry's physiology. There will be a red light passing over you a few times, try not to look right into it when it reaches your head."
He grunted in response, fighting the urge to lift his head and look. A warm sensation started at his toes and worked its way up his body slowly.
"Why does it feel warm?" he asked as the feeling crept up his chest.
"Dont worry," she called. "It's all very sciencey but i can assure you, it's perfectly safe."
He noticed the red light pass over the tip of his nose before he shut his eyes, the sensation passing over and leaving the hair on his head tingling slightly. The light passed over his body a few more times before finally settling on this forehead. With a loud hum and a slower movement, it inched along.
"Why's it moving so slow?" He asked trying not to twitch as it tingled his scalp.
"In depth craniological scan," She explained. "Try not to move."
He closed his eyes, trying to divert his attention away from the warm tingle the light was causing. After a few minutes, it passed and the red light disappeared completely. The blue hue slowly gave way to the normal white from the overhead lights as the tray slowly slid his body out of the chamber.
Caitlin stood a few feet to his left as he slid out, a deep frown on her face. Her eyes darted back and forth across the tablet screen, fingers flicking what he could only assume were his test results back and forth.
"That's not a good look," he muttered, maneuvering into a sitting position.
"But its not bad either," She answered, not looking up.
"Well give me the good news then doc," he sighed, standing up and stretching.
"Right," she said with a shake of her head. "Your heart and muscular structure are all healthy and fine, aside from your most recent injuries. Your brain scan doesn't show any lasting damage as well."
"And the bad news?"
"There are residual particles in your blood and coursing through your cerebral fluid that i can't identify," she replied biting her lip.
"What do you mean?" he asked, peeking over the tablets screen.
"I need to take a sample of your blood," she muttered, grabbing his hand and pulling him back into the medbay.
With a light push, she nudged him to sit down on the bed and grabbed a tourniquet. He lifted his arm as she wrapped it around and pulled it firmly She grabbed a pair of gloves, snapped them on and produced a needle from a drawer. With a few light taps to his arm, a vein showed itself prominently. A quick poke later, she pulled the needle free and unsnapped the tourniquet.
"Hold that," she muttured, stuffiing a cottonball overtop the needle hole and adjusting his arm.
"Here i thought i'd get to poke you," he whispered under his breath.
She either didn't hear him, or chose to ignore the comment. Instead, she took the vial of blood over to a centrifuge and inserted it into the chamber. With a few quick taps on the machine screen, it began to whir to life; spinning the vial in a small circle. She sighed and turned around to face him.
"It shouldn't take too long," she announced, walking over towards him and taking the cotton ball away. "Hopefully i can separate what's in your blood and identify it."
He grunted, as she taped a small chunk of gauze to his arm and brushed the tape down gently.
"And i heard that comment," she muttered, looking into his eyes directly.
"You did?" he laughed, scratching the back of his neck with his free hand.
She smiled and nodded, leaning in to kiss him
A loud cough and the rustle of a paper bag snapped the two to attention. Caitlin gave a small jump and turned around sharply, stepping back over to the centrifuge and hiding her mortified face. Jacob mumbled something and Joe walked over, setting the bag of food on the bed.
"Hope you like Big Belly Burger," Joe muttered, sitting a tray of drinks down and picking one out for himself. "There's some here for you as well Caitlin."
Jacob dug in, unwrapping a random sandwich and taking a big bite.
"Thanks Joe," he sighed through a mouthful of food.
"I'll be right back," Caitlin muttured, rushing from the med bay.
Joe looked from her exit to Jacob with a raised eyebrow before grabbing out a sandwich from the bag for himself and sitting back in the chair he had fallen asleep in.
"What's going on between you two?" He asked after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.
Jacob nearly choked on a mouthful of food. He sputtered, reaching over towards the tray for a drink as Joe stared at him. Jacob took a drink, coughed a few times and avoided Joe's stare.
"Its kinda complicated," he replied scratching the back of his neck.
"Son," Joe drawled, crumpling up his empty sandwich wrapper and tossing it into the wastebasket nearby. "The entirety of this whole situation is complicated."
Jacob smiled, memories coming back to him in a good way.
"Guess you have a point there," he admitted.
Joe raised his eyebrows and spread his hands out in a do continue motion.
"When i was a kid, the Caitlin on my earth was always so kind to me. At first she was just the kind doctor lady that was always there to patch us up after a scrape, but when the teenage years hit me, things changed. There were all sorts of mixed feelings. By the time i could get my head on straight, she had become Killer Frost and went on a massive crime spree. Uncle Barry had to lock her up in the meta wing of Iron Heights and we never saw her again."
"Uncle Barry?" Joe asked laughing.
"Yea." He replied smiling. "Just like here, Barry was The Flash, the first one to hold the title at least."
"Well what's going on here?" He asked.
"Like i said, it's complicated," Jacob replied with a shrug. "She's so familiar here and those feelings are coming back. The way she looks at me, she's hard to resist."
"Alright, alright," Joe dismissed, waving his hands. "I don't need all the details. She's been through some rough stuff here, don't you mess with her head."
"Cause you'll defend her?" He asked, rolling his eyes. "I don't plan to."
"Ah hell no," Joe drawled standing up. "That girl can defend herself. You mess with her in the wrong way and shell freeze bits off of you."
"Ok thats fair," Jacob admitted, smiling.
"And don't you roll your eyes at me boy," Joe said sternly, giving jacob a squeeze on the shoulder before walking out of the medbay. "Eat your food."
"Yes sir," he muttered back, stuffing a french fry into his mouth.
Joe left the cortex and walked out into the hall chuckling to himself.