A/N: Olá! I updated last chapter to make it better because I posted it WAY too quickly without checking for errors (that's what happens when you get excited about something and you speed write). If you're a fan of Teen Wolf, you can go check out my story Parachutes! I quite like it. I think it's not too terrible.

Disclaimer: Hey, I don't own The Flash. Give me a break. *cries in a corner*

Ch 2

3 Months after the accident

The groggy sounds of an EKG and busy hallways became clearer as I gasped and opened my eyes.

But I couldn't see.

"I can't see. I can't see! Why can't I see?" I reached up and felt a strip of cloth taped over my eye area. I felt a gentle hand on my arm, but it was unexpected, so I flinched and recoiled from the hand.

"Ma'am? Miss Steele? You're alright, just breathe. I'm Mrs. Geller, a nurse here at Central City Medical. Let me go get your doctor really quickly, just stay here, okay?"

Well, where the hell am I supposed to go, lady? I snarked in my head. I huffed as I heard footsteps going away from me. Taking a second to adjust to my surroundings, I slowly ran my fingertips along my immediate surroundings. I felt a blanket, sheets, and a railing, all I assumed were parts of my hospital bed. I reached up and out, but all that was felt was air.

Multiple pairs of footsteps rushed into my room and I heard a deep voice ask, "Well, Miss Steele, welcome back to the land of the living. How are you feeling? Nauseous? Dizzy?" I wanted to pound my fist into the thin mattress I was on as they skirted around probably the most obvious question.

"What is going on? What happened to me? Why can't I see?" I told them in a firm voice, because I needed answers now. I heard a sigh and then the deep voice started to explain.

"The day that STAR Labs' particle accelerator went online, there was a problem that caused several casualties all over the city and hundreds to be injured. You were one of those people. But, you fell into a coma instead of gaining consciousness again after a week or two like most of the accident patients have."

I'm sure if my eyes could widen, they would. "A coma? How long have I been out?"

"Only for three months." THREE MONTHS?

I took a deep breath and braced myself to address the elephant in the room. "Okay, why is there a cloth over my eyes?"

"Oh, don't worry, you're not blind." I sighed in relief, purely because that means I still had a job. "It's just to help your eyes heal. When you were first admitted, you did have the vision of a legally blind person (for someone who was comatose, anyways), but over time, your eyes seemed to…well… fix themselves. We've calculated your healing rate and your sight should be fully restored in about two to three weeks." There was a pounding sound as I heard my father's voice grow louder.

"I heard she's awake, is she? I was just down in the cafeteria when I heard it on someone's pager." I guess that's when he saw me, because I felt familiar arms wrap around my shoulder. I immediately melted into my father's embrace, happy to see him. But then I pulled back suddenly, worried.

"Dad, did you spend all three months here? What about your job in Virginia? What about Ella?" Our family lived in Virginia, and I had moved to Central City permanently after college. It was a change of scenery, but I grew to love my new home.

I felt a kiss to my temple. "Oh, no, sweetheart. I requested a week's vacation time to come and visit you. I did spend the first month or so commuting back and forth." My mouth dropped open.

"Commuting? Dad, that's a lot of flights to take. You could have used those air miles for something else."

"No. I didn't want to become distant with you like I was with your mom, so I've been spending as much time with you as I could. Ella's been up a couple of times, when she's on break from school." I hugged my father tightly. While I was conversing with my father, I had completely forgotten that there was two other people in the room.

"There's another call for Allen. He's flatlined again, I've gotta go." My heart stopped at the name that came from the doctor's mouth.

"Wait, Allen? Barry Allen? What's wrong with him?" I started to get more scared as there was silence following my question. "Dad?" I squeaked out, hoping that the news wasn't too terrible.

Hearing another sigh, I prepared myself. My Dad started explaining. "That night, when everything went bizarre here, Barry was struck by lightning in his lab." I gasped, but he continued. "I talked to Joe and he said that there's something wrong with Barry's heart, it keeps stopping and having to be revived. He's in a coma as well."

I felt a tear trail down my cheek. My heart overflowed with sympathy and worry for Barry and the West's. I was obviously torn apart at the news, but Iris and Joe had to be taking the news the worst. I looked in what I guess was my father's general direction. "But he's gonna be okay, right? He'll get better eventually?"

More silence.

"They don't know, Katie." And that's when my mood turned sour.

Because my father only calls me Katie when the situation looks grim.

5 months after the accident

I was sat in my apartment, watching reruns of the most recent winter olympics. The skater currently performing was beautiful and graceful, her jumps and turns were sharp and precise, her dance moves melting into the routine.

I didn't take my sight for granted anymore, now that it was fully restored. I cherished photography even more than I did before, movies are my favorite pastime now, along with nature watching. Although the doctors said that my vision was practically perfect now, I did get this tingling sensation behind my eyes every once in a while. But I ignored reporting it as it wasn't annoying or painful.

The skater finished her routine, waving to the judges and gliding off of the rink effortlessly. My cell phone rang and I got off of my couch to answer it. Leaning against my fridge, I answered my phone.

"Hello?" I pulled out a stick of celery and started munching on it.

"Hey Kate," Iris' voice chirped through the speaker. "Some of the staff at Jitters are going ice skating, you wanna come?"

I swallowed, "I don't know…I don't really know your coworkers that well, plus I haven't been skating in so long. I'm probably terrible!"

Iris giggled lightly. "Well, that's the point of this, going out and meeting new people. Besides, no one expects you to be a pro skater." She was met with my silence as I pondered the pros and cons.

"Please Kate, please? For me?" I rolled my eyes as I imagined Iris' face set in a very persuasive pout. I huffed again, chomping down on the last few inches of celery.

"Fine, okay. I'll go." I had to hold the phone a few inches away from my ear to save my eardrums from Iris' squeals of joy.

"Okay, meet us at the rink in 30 minutes." She hung up and I started scrambling around my bedroom for proper skating clothes. Eventually deciding on a pair of thick jeggings and a purple long sleeved shirt and black vest, I deemed myself ready for public embarrassment. Slipping on my black boots and grabbing my phone, wallet, and house key, I ran down the staircase leading out of my apartment complex and started walking to the indoor rink.

Stepping through the doors of the rink, a blast of cold air made me shiver. I scanned the outer part of the rink, looking for Iris. I soon spotted her waving hands and speed walked over to her, happy to have a familiar face in a crowd of strangers.

"Okay, so this is Tammy, Denton, Lana, Delia, Shelby, and Rob." She pointed to each person while introducing them and they waved. "Guys, this is Kate." Iris then pointed to me and everyone waved again. I decided to break the ice between us and joke around.

"You guys might wanna have EMTs on hand because I haven't skated in forever, so be prepared to see me go splat on the ice." Some of the group chuckled and Iris pointed back to the skate rental booth.

"Let's go get our skates!" After checking out skates for each of us and strapping them on, we all wobbled up to the entrance. I held shakily on to the edge of the rink as I stepped out onto the smooth ice. After stepping a few times, I got more comfortable skating away from the edge. Soon, I was skating smoothly around the rink, stopping and starting like it was embedded in my blood.

I skated towards the middle of the rink and wanted to turn towards the group that I came to skate with when suddenly my body propelled into the air, twirling, and landing perfectly on one skate with my back leg out. Suddenly after the first landing, I jumped and twirled again. I uprighted myself and skidded to a stop, wondering what just happened.

I heard a bout of whoops and cheers as Iris and her coworkers skated up to me. "Oh my gosh, that was amazing! How did you do that?" I scanned my body with wide eyes as I looked at Iris.

"I have no idea." One of the girls came up with her phone in hand, and shoved the screen in my face.

"You just pulled off a perfect triple lutz and a double toe, back to back! I thought you said you hadn't skated much before?" The whole group looked at me with wide, expecting eyes. I didn't even understand the terminology that was just spouted to me.

"I haven't, really."

Lana scoffed, "Well, this video certainly says otherwise." She shoved her phone into my face and the screen showed me several minutes before my jumps and it turns out that I had been pulling off lots of footwork and weaving my skates in and out and around each other as I glided around the ice.

The routine looked very familiar.

"Hey, can you send that to me?" Lana nodded as I typed my number in on her phone and she instantly went to clicking away. My heart was racing as my confusion rose at the what just happened.

I turned to Iris. "I think I'm gonna go. I have work early tomorrow and I'm gonna visit Barry after, so I don't wanna be tired for that."

Iris pouted and slouched, "Aw, but you just got here! Are you sure?" I nodded, and she gave me a hug. I said my goodbyes to the rest of the group and skated off of the rink area. I practically threw my skates at the employee in my rush to get out of there.

I pushed the door open and looked side to side quickly before walking briskly to my apartment complex. Shutting and locking the door once I reached my apartment, I turned to see that my tv was still on. Grabbing the remote, I pressed the rewind button all the way until I saw the skater from earlier. My phone vibrated, and I pulled it out of my pocket to see that I had a message from Lana. It was the video from tonight.

I opened it and watched myself skate. I pressed play on the remote and the skater started skating her routine again. Putting the phone into view right next to the tv, my eyes widened at what I saw. They were the exact same moves.

I whispered in shock, "What the hell?"

7 months after the accident

I walked into Captain Singh's office, plopping the file from our most recent case on his desk. He flipped through the folder and looked up at me incredulously, like it was my fault that I didn't have all of the answers right away. Because my degree included a minor in Forensic Science, I automatically had to take over Barry's position in his absence. While maintaining my job at the same time.

I shrugged my shoulders. "That's all I got, sorry." Singh sighed and wiped his hands down his face frustratedly.

"I never thought I'd say this, but, we need Allen. Badly." I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, I think I noticed that." I sassed. "He's kind of too busy fighting for his life at the moment, so I'm sorry if I can't give you all of the answers right away like Barry can!" Singh looked at me wide-eyed and I froze, realizing that I'd just blown up on my Captain.

I deflated instantly, plopping down in one of the chairs in front of his desk "I'm sorry. It's just everyone's dumping twice the workload on me now and I'm still worried about Barry and I'm stressed out to the point that I can't handle this anymore." Not only that, but I've been freaked out ever since the ice skating incidence. I originally brushed it off, but after I chopped up a pile of vegetables like a master sushi chef I saw on tv, I've been closed off more than usual.

It felt like I had no control over my body anymore, and I liked a little bit of control in my life.

"Take the rest of the day off." I looked up from where my hands were covering my face, my red hair a curtain around me. Singh looked completely serious.

"What? But it's only 11:00am…"

"You heard me, take the day. I know the signs of stress and sleep deprivation when I see it. Go home, rest, come back tomorrow ready to work." I slowly stood up, nodding graciously at my superior.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." I started towards the door. Singh looked at me sternly and I scrambled out of the office so that I wouldn't get in his way.

After locking up my office, I walked out on to the sidewalks of Central City. I figured that I had enough time to waste, so I went in the direction of STAR Labs. The mechanical doors glided open and I darted inside. Turning a couple of corners and a long hallway, I ended in the room where they were treating Barry. He was sleeping soundly, as he had been ever since they transferred him here a month ago. Dr. Caitlin Snow was by him with a touchpad, looking at a few levers and tapping something on the pad.

"Any changes?" I decided to speak up. Caitlin jumped and turned around, seemingly startled by my quiet entrance. I approached his bedside and sat in the lone chair for visitors, holding Barry's hand for moral support.

"Not so far, his vitals are more stable, but still at the same levels they were a couple of months ago." The doctor explained distractedly as she typed some more on the pad.

"So, his vital levels are enough to be alive, but not enough to come out of a coma?" I elaborated sadly.

Caitlin nodded. "Exactly."

"Hey, it's my favorite lightning-strike-victim-coma-patient visitor!" I heard a cheerful voice from behind me.

I turned around and smiled. "That's kind of a mouthful, Cisco." He smiled back at me and clapped a hand on my shoulder. "This is a short visit anyways, I need to go home and sleep." He nodded and pulled Caitlin out of the room, who was reaching longingly for the equipment as Cisco dragged her out of hearing range.

I pulled my chair closer to Barry's bed. As I laid my head on my crossed arms, I thought of what exactly I was going to say.

"Hey, Barry. It's me, Kate. But you can probably tell from the sound of my voice. You should really wake up soon because everyone at the station is going ballistic. I hate how it takes you getting struck by lightning for everyone to realize your importance and contribution to the force. I'd love to say 'I told you so' and dance on their desks but then I wouldn't have a job…" I laughed quietly. Of course, Barry's face stayed impassive, only moving by association of the motion of his chest contracting and expanding with every breath.

"I also need my best friend back, because there's something strange going on with me. It's hard to explain, but I can like… copy people? Their movements? I haven't looked much into it, but you'd probably know the term for it. You would help me figure all of this out because I'm freaking out Barry. I know that I'm supposed to be the calm, collected one who always has a solution for everything, but this time I don't know what to do. So if you would wake up soon, help me figure this out, that'd be great. Movie nights are kinda lonely without you." I smiled a watery smile as all of the stress and anxiety that had built up over the past couple of months started poking holes in my armor.

I kissed Barry's forehead and walked out of the lab. The entire way home I plugged up the emotional breakdown that was bound to happen. Speeding up the staircase and shakily unlocking my door, I entered my apartment. The second the door closed, the dam burst.

I collapsed to the floor and started sobbing. Tears ran rampant down my face as my shoulders shook from being overwhelmed these past few months.

The last time I had cried this hard was when my mother died. Of course I didn't cry in front of my father or sister. I cried later that night when we got the call, my sobs muffled by a thick comforter and a dry wall. Taking my mom's place as the oldest female in our family, I felt a certain responsibility all the time. To be the strong one, the one who always has a solution for every situation, the maternal role model for Ella. Pretty soon, acting just turned into a mindset change, and I became the person I am today.

I don't know how long I cried for exactly, but by the time I sat up, my thighs and butt were sore from sitting on the wooden floors for so long. I collected myself and got up slowly, walking into my bathroom. Turning on the lights and looking in the mirror, a flushed face with swollen eyes stared back at me. My hair was scrunched in a few places and my cheeks sunken in a little.

Over the past few months, the worry with whatever's happening to me and the extra workload at the station has been eating away at me. Crime had gone up since the accident with the particle accelerator and I'd been neglecting breakfast and lunch breaks to get those reports out and filed. Also pushing my brain to think far beyond it's normal speed. Most nights I was lucky if I got two or three hours of sleep. I splashed my face with water, and surveyed myself once more.

"No more." I whispered harshly to myself in the mirror. I couldn't be solely dependent on Barry or waiting on him to get back. He may never wake up. I flinched at the thought. Regardless, I wouldn't stand for not having control of my life anymore "Woman up, ignore whatever's happening to you, and do your job." I told myself.

My ears perked at the sound of a knock at my door. I wasn't expecting any visitors, so I was on the defense. I ran a hand through my hair in an attempt to make it look half decent. I looked through my peephole, rose an eyebrow, then opened the door slowly.

"Dr. Wells?"

The famous (or should I say infamous) man was parked in his wheelchair in front of my doorway, pensive smile on his face.

"Hello, Miss Steele. I do believe that we have something to discuss."

8 months after the accident

I reluctantly took a step into what was deemed the "observation room" at STAR Labs. Dressed in athletic clothes and barefoot, I set myself to work.

Turns out, whenever I was talking to Barry the day of my mental breakdown, Wells was eavesdropping the entire time. Immediately, I was angry at the intrusion of our private moment (even though it was pretty much one-sided). Then he offered to help me "understand my abilities" and to "hone them". I was just surprised that he didn't show up and order me into a strait jacket. He told me to take as long as I needed to take him up on his offer.

Which I did. I figured that I had to get my life back on track before I even thought about training this… "ability" I had. Within about three weeks of my breakdown and conversation with Wells, my life was about as normal as it could be. I took out time for food breaks during my long days solving cases at the station. That, combined with me actually following a proper sleep schedule, lifted my energy and mood by a wide margin, so I moved through cases more efficiently.

Now, it wasn't all peaches and cream. I still got the occasional roadblock, some cases I couldn't explain logically how exactly the criminals did some of their deeds, but I handled them with dignity and collectiveness. I was pretty proud of myself.

Yesterday, I walked into STAR Labs and announced that I would be taking Wells up on his offer. Today, we run general tests.

A crackling of a speaker made me look towards the window, I saw Cisco and Dr. Wells looking at me while Caitlin was speaking into a microphone.

"Okay, Kate, we're tracking your vitals through all of this. Whenever you're ready, you can start." I had watched a video of a girl doing a gymnastics routine on a pair of double bars, and they had monitored me the entire time. Before, they had me do a normal physical diagnostic exam. While watching the video, my eyes would dart towards a certain aspect of the video and Caitlin and Cisco would scribble something down onto a notepad. It was weird being a lab rat.

"Where did you guys even get these? Did you just have them lying around?" I pointed to the double bars.

"We borrowed it from the local gym, don't worry about it." Cisco remarked.

"Why bars? Why not something more… sensible for a first timer? Like a balance beam or just a mat?"

Cisco smirked. "This is more fun." I nodded in sarcastic agreement and looked up at the large piece of equipment.

I breathed in and out, then I started.

My hands snapped upwards as I jumped so I caught myself and swung around on the lower beam. My muscles didn't fail me, as I held myself up easily. Taking a second to assess myself, I looked briefly towards my audience and flashed a nervous smile. Cisco gave me a thumbs up, so I continued. I stood on the lower bar and leaned forward so that I could grab on to the high bar and swing around some more. My body twisted and turned as I maneuvered my way around the double bars, not faltering once. Soon, the time came for my landing and I swung my lower body forward, throwing myself off the high bar, tightening my torso as I spun in mid-air and landed solidly.

My arms were in a straightened position next to my head, and the adrenaline started to wear off from the routine. Arms dropping, I turned to find Cisco and Caitlin's mouths wide open in shock, while Dr. Wells had a wise, almost knowing look on his face.

I stepped out of the observation room and looked at the three scientists.

"So?"

Dr. Wells nodded, "Just as I had suspected. Eidetic Kinesthesia." I shook my head, not understanding. "Or adoptive muscle memory, as most would like to call it. It's the ability to replicate movement after observation." I took off the hand guards required for the use of the double bars, throwing them to the side.

I rubbed at the sweat on the back of my neck, "So if there's a name for it, certainly there must be some other people with the same ability."

But Dr. Wells shook his head. "I'm afraid not. Eidetic kinesthesia has always been a talk of science fiction and fantasy. There have been speculations of the ability being correlated with giftedness, but certain studies have proved otherwise. As of right now, the only human being on Earth with 100% recorded proof of attaining this ability is you, Miss Steele."

"No pressure." I chuckled nervously.

"That is… AWESOME." Cisco seemed to explode with happiness. "This is revolutionary, you do realize that you could learn to fight like Bruce Lee?" I rolled my eyes playfully at Cisco's suggestion. "Oh come on, just watch Enter the Dragon or Fists of Fury and it's like he'll be right here with me." He got this dreamy look in his eyes. "You can be my personal bodyguard!" Caitlin rolled her eyes and whispered something to Dr. Wells before leaving the room.

I patted his shoulder as I passed him on my way to look at the video footage. "Your inner fanboy is revealing itself, Cisco."

I heard him scoff, "Who said I wanted to keep it hidden?" I tilted my head back and forth in acknowledgment.

"Fair point." I muttered as I pressed play on the video. Cisco had edited the screen so the two videos played side by side. Just like the skating video, I was a perfect replica of the original product. "This is just weird." I plopped into a chair, leaning my elbow against the desk.

"Maybe what the world needs is a little weird." Dr. Wells rolled up next to me. I peaked at the brilliant scientist before turning to him.

"What am I supposed to do with this? Become a superhero? Fight crime? Become a professional stunt man or musician? I'm a photographer, that's about as non-athletic as a person can get." I flopped against the desk in frustration.

Dr. Wells seemed to consider his words first before speaking, "No one's asking you to do anything that you do not want to do, we're not asking you to do anything that you don't want to do. What you do with this ability is ultimately up to you." His words calmed me and my shoulders relaxed.

"I'm no Arrow or Superman, but I still think that I could do some good around here." My big toe dragged from side to side on the cold floor as I stared at my feet. "With some time and practice and training."

Dr. Wells nodded, "When the time comes."

That time would come sooner than I thought.

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