Chapter 2

Nine Months After

Sage hated hospitals. After being in and out of them as a child, she couldn't stand the smell, the sights, and the sounds. And yet, after the particle accelerator exploded she found herself stuck back in the same place that only showed up in her nightmares. She only remembered flashes of that night: someone performing CPR on her while red and white lights flashed above her head, rolling down a brightly lit hallway with people in white coats yelling at her that she would be alright, Iris and Uncle Joe looming over her, tears staining their cheeks. It was almost as if she had dreamt the event.

But the medical charts were a little too real to be a dream. You know how they use big words when it comes to telling you your diagnosis? Sage hated it when the doctors did that. When she woke up and was conscious long enough to get the full story on what happened they danced around the subject until she finally couldn't take it anymore.

"What's wrong with me?" Sage had asked. Her voice was raspy from lack of use. She would have laughed due to sounding like an old lady but she was too confused. She sucked in a breath which was followed by a few quick and hard coughs.

"Well, due to you being exposed to unfavorably cold temperatures for an extended period of time it seems that you body has gone into a moderate hypothermic state. Your body temperature has dropped to a concerning low and your blood vessels have gone into vasoconstriction in an attempt to retain your body heat. Your shivering should subside as we get you warm. We believe that you may also be suffering from Bradycardia but we will perform some tests to be sure. We have no cause to believe that you have suffered from frostbite." The doctor smiled and placed a latex covered hand atop of her head. Something about the gesture warmed her up, though not in the way that she wished the scratchy blanket that was tucked around her would. "Don't worry. You will be up on your feet soon."

"Soon" had to be a relative saying for the doctors because it took a little over two weeks for her to finally be released from the hospital. It didn't take long to get her warmed up – they kept her covered in blankets and made her lie in bed with a heating pad and every now and then feed some weird looking stuff through an IV in the back fo her hand– but that wasn't the cause of concern to keep her there longer than they anticipated. It was the fact that her body temperature would drop right back down a few hours later and her heart rate was still at a low level as expected in a senior citizen and not an otherwise healthy twenty-year-old.

But even then that still wasn't what made her hate hospitals. It was receiving the news that Barry was there too, that Barry had gotten struck by lightning and they didn't know anything about his condition and that they wouldn't let her visit him as soon as she heard the news. Surely wasn't a good idea to keep a panicking, worried, concerned patient essentially locked up.

But when she was finally freed she was hesitant. How would he look? Would he be charred? Would he look different? Act different? Be different? And what if he didn't wake up? What if he never woke up? No, she couldn't bear that. Couldn't go and face him so the waiting room became her regular haunt. They finally got her out of bed and yet, there she was, curled up in the waiting room. And that was when Iris and Joe convinced her to come. Otherwise she was back at the West house, catching up on her homework, answering the phone whenever he called. Nothing new went on with him for the most aprt; he usually laid there as if he was just…peacefully sleeping. As if whatever dream he was having was much better than coming back to reality to be with them. After all, who was Sage without her Barfolomew to tease and make fun of and then turn around and beg for his help to translate her bio homework?

Time went on the longer Barry stayed under and she had to move on with her life. It was hard, of course, pretending that everything was okay when it really wasn't. But her grades were slipping and she needed to keep them up if she was going to keep her work-study position and she needed that position or else her mother would get her on the next plane back to Montreal and she couldn't have that. Wouldn't have that. She'd rather die than go back home.

It was like watching years flash before her eyes in those nine months. Uncle Joe's old partner was replaced with "Pretty Boy" aka Eddie Thawne. Rookie cop at the time, she met him a few times at the prescient whenever she stopped by to give Joe some lunch. She found him aesthetically pleasing, much like Iris did, but that was as far as that went. He was a bit too pretty for her and besides, he was a temporary distraction to an ongoing problem. And maybe he was what Iris needed but it didn't make Sage feel any better. Iris was always the lucky one.

Her busy days were filled with intruding, horrible thoughts about Barry. What if he didn't wake up? What if he was permanently stuck in his coma? What if he came out different? What if he wasn't Barry anymore? What if he wasn't the same science-loving, forensic researching, constantly-running-late, insufferably dorky Barry? Maybe if she had gone with them then none of that would have happened…

Sage shook her head and ran her hand through her hair, trying to dislodge those thoughts. She frowned when her fingers snagged on her hair. Huffing, she reached her other hand up and detangled her hair right as Iris approached with her coffee in a to-go cup. Her mouth watered at the caramel scent that wafted through the opening.

"You're going to take your hair out if you don't take off those gloves," Iris commented, crossing her arms.

"They're for protection, silly," Sage replied, flexing her fingers in the tight leather gloves.

"Yeah, when you're on your motorcycle. You're not riding one now," Iris pointed out.

Sage's eyes shifted around Jitters until they rested on her coffee. "Yeah, but my hands are in the vicinity of coffee. Scalding hot flavored water. If I just so happened to knock this over onto my delicate hands I could end up with second degree burns. And you wouldn't want that for your favorite cousin, right?"

Iris scoffed. "Maybe cutting down on the coffee would help with that. Isn't this your third cup this morning?"

"You're talking to me like I'm some sort of alcoholic," Sage said, her words a low grumble. "And! If I ever murdered someone or needed to break in somewhere, I would never get caught because bam! No finger prints!" She wiggled her fingers in the air.

"And if there is a string of thefts and murders without fingerprints I know who to stick my boyfriend on," Iris pointed out. Sage muttered something about having connections which made Iris laugh. "At any rate, I'm surprised you manage to sleep with how wired you must be. Your light is on past two. I hear you scrambling around in the kitchen like a rat at four."

"Hey, I take offense to that!"

"Well, I mean, you do like your sweets—"

"I meant the 'rat' part," Sage interrupted her. She reached forward and picked up her to-go cup and took a sip of her coffee. "I take offense to that. Rats are disgusting and I, for one, am not disgusting."

"Have you seen yourself devour cake?" Sage tried to hold her frustrated pout but Iris's laugh made her mask break and she started laughing as well. "D'you work today?" Iris continued.

"Yeah, just some IT stuff after school and then I'm done for the day," Sage replied. Iris didn't miss the bored tone latched to her cousin's words and lifted her eyebrows. "Some of the people who bring their stuff in really don't need my help. It's annoying! I actually had to take time to teach a professor to insert a page break."

"And…that's not part of your job?" Iris asked.

"Well, I was troubleshooting why their computer was running slow – it was connection issues rather than their computer – and they asked me about a book they were writing and the formatting. Long story short, I'm now giving her a crash course on Microsoft Word shortcuts." Sage clicked her tongue and said in an unenthusiastic manner, "Yay me."

"Not everyone grew up in our internet generation," Iris pointed out. "Anyway, I have to get back to work. Have a good day and we can have dinner later."

"Alright. Call me if you hear any news about Barry," Sage replied. It made both girls take pause. They didn't expect to hear anything anytime soon. There was no change in the past eight months and some days, what would be different about today? "See ya."

"See ya."

Sage picked up her coffee, waved to her cousin and Tracy, the other barista, and moved past an incoming customer to leave. Once outside, she tightened her grip on her drink, feeling a tremble start to course through her body. This one didn't last long and, thankfully, she didn't spill anything this time. She took another sip of her coffee only to make a face at the small burn on the tip of her tongue. How had she missed that before? Glancing around she then removed the lid from her cup and then used her teeth to pull off one glove. She briefly dipped her index finger into the coffee and then removed it. She licked away the whipped cream on top and then took a sip. The temperature was perfect. Now if only she could stop shivering.

# # #

"Wait! So you can copy and paste without having to highlight and click?" Professor Adams asked, his eyes wide behind his coke bottle glasses. His eyes appeared two times larger as they widened in awe.

"Yes. There are a lot of shortcuts in Microsoft word and internet browsers to make your work that much simpler," Sage replied. Her voice was tight but despite that she kept a smile on her face as she hovered over Professor Adams' shoulder. He was old, after all, he didn't know any better. "For example, if you make a mistake and want to undo what you just did, hold the control button and then push Z and it will take it all back."

As soon as those words left her mouth she knew she would live to regret it. Professor Adams sat in his chair for the next five minutes typing random sentences only to remove them using the shortcut. Sage huffed and glanced at the clock on the wall. At this rate she wouldn't be able to leave for the next two hours. Especially with Professor Adams's hunt and peck technique. They hadn't even breeched the subject on what was really wrong with his computer. Which didn't seem like it was going to be that hard to fix. Which was the problem. All of it could have been taken care of over the phone.

"Sir, if we could get back to your source code problem—"

"This is magnificent!" Professor Adams gushed, ignoring Sage's efforts to get her work done. "Who knew so many things could be done just with a few taps on the keyboard! You learn something new every day." He laughed and looked up at Sage. "I guess it is possible to teach and old dog some new tricks."

"Hey, even an old dog has a certain zest for life, right?" Sage asked, shrugging her shoulders. She exhaled and shoved her hands into her pockets as best as she could. Her gloves sometimes got caught on the way into her pockets.

A nearby door swung open. A few students, classmates of Sage's, walked out of the room, talking and laughing over something. Sage locked eyes with one of the girls whose smile froze on her face. Then her eyes jumped back to her friends to form the trio who followed her gaze back to Sage. Sage was the one to look away. It was easier to deal with their comments when she didn't have to look at them.

"That's her. She's so weird. Always wearing those gloves."

"Are her hands disfigured or something?"

"Yuck. I'd wear gloves too if that was that case."

"I asked her about it once. She said it was to protect her manicure. Can you believe that?"

"Ugh, how self-centered."

"I know."

Her fingers curled in her gloves, making them emit a light creaking sound. She pressed her lips together and exhaled through her nose. Anything to calm down. Though the anger swelling through her did help her heart a little bit; its beating pace quicked and felt as if it had returned to somewhat normal. Whatever that was. It's been nine months and she didn't remember what her heartbeat – a normal heartbeat – was supposed to feel like.

They didn't understand what it was like. Sage exhaled again, turning back to look over Professor Adams' shoulder. He sat up straight in his chair and looked around. His large, wrinkled hand rubbed the back of his neck.

"Is there a draft in here?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed together. "I just got quite a chill."

Sage breathed out again. A cloud came out of her mouth, as if she were standing in a freezer or out in the cold. Her eyes widened and her chest heaved. More visible puffs of air came out of her mouth. No, not now. Not here.

"Professor Adams, I have to go," Sage muttered, hastily grabbing her papers and books and shoved them into her bag. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to help with your computer today but I'll get to it tomorrow, I promise. I just…something came up."

Her scrambling became more frantic as the seconds wore on. She tried to clench her fingers but they moved much slower than they did before. The tips of her fingers tingled, as if circulation was beginning to get cut off. She didn't have much time left.

"Oh, not to worry Ms. Moreaux," Professor Adams said as he stood. He smoothed his tie down with his hands over his rotund stomach. "We can do this another time. You have already taught me something new, you have done your part."

"Yeah, great, thanks," Sage muttered, grabbing her helmet off the nearby table. She stumbled a little over the wires of the computers lined up in the open-area computer lab at the top of the science building they occupied. She managed to regain her balance by running forward and slung her bag over her shoulder. "See you tomorrow."

"Ah, god speed Ms. Moreaux."

"Yeah yeah. Live long and perspire," Sage threw over her shoulder. The words barely fell out of her mouth before she was taking off down the spiral staircase in the middle of the room. She nearly fell down the last few of the stairs due to tripping on the loose laces of her boots in her haste but she managed to get out the front door to the building.

She ran around the side of the building, glancing over her shoulder to see if she had been followed or anyone was looking in her direction. The sidewalks surrounding the building were crowded with people bustling about. Gritting her teeth, feeling her temples pound, Sage ran until she made it to an emptied alleyway.

All of Uncle Joe's warnings sounded off like alarm bells in her head but there was one louder noise – a warning siren – that eclipsed the alarm bells. Throwing her helmet aside, Sage bit the tops of her gloves to pull them off. It was much faster than if she had used her hands. Besides, she was sure that she could take on anyone who would try and cross her at the moment.

"Please no, please no," she gasped, staring at her shaking hands. Her normally tan skin was pale on her hands. The veins in the back appeared bluer than they were before and they wouldn't stop shaking. They were cool to the touch as she rubbed them together, trying to generate some heat to them. But that was all for naught as they shook harder. "No, no, no!"

Then it happened. A light blue glow appeared around her hands and then a split second later a bright beam, the same color of her hands, shot out and struck the nearby metal trashcan. The force of the blast knocked her off her feet and she landed on her back with a hard thud. Cracks, pops, and squeaks pierced the air. Rolling onto her stomach, Sage made sure not to touch her face with her still glowing hands as she glanced over at the object of her destruction.

The metal garbage can bounced bright sunlight not from its metallic body but from the layer of ice sitting atop of it. The ground beneath the garbage can was slick with an invisible layer of ice, cracks marred the surface. Icicles hung from the handle of the garbage can and dripped water droplets due to the warm sun.

Beads of sweat lined Sage's forehead as her hands steadily went back to their normal temperature. The glow faded and the natural pigment to her skin returned back to normal. She pushed against the ground and got to her feet, doing her best to stand up on her shaky legs. The throbbing in her head subsided and she ran her tongue across her dry lips as she approached the garbage can. The ice wasn't too thick, thankfully. The sun could take care of that. She was just glad it wasn't another person this time.

Grabbing her abandoned gloves off the ground, she pulled them back over her hands right as her cell phone rang. She removed it from her pocket, glanced at the caller icon on her screen, and lifted the phone to her ear.

"What's up, Cuz?" she addressed Iris.

"It's Barry!" Iris nearly shouted into the phone. Sage jerked it away from her ear, blinking rapidly. When she finally brought her phone back to her ear she could hear Iris yelling, "awake! He's awake! He's here!"

Sage's breath caught in her throat. Her heart beat hard against her chest. A ringing sounded in her ear. But this wasn't a cause for concern. Not this time.

Barry Allen was awake.

a/n - 1) Whoa! Guys! Thanks so much for your feedback! I didn't expect to get this much of a response when I posted this story but eleven reviews for the last chapter? Thanks so much! And Barry's awake! What will happen next? You have to wait for the next chapter to find out.

2) Also, that Flarrow crossover. What did you guys think? I loved the Flash part of the crossover, the Arrow part, to me, didn't exactly live up to the Flash but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Barry geeking out over the Arrow was adorable!

3) This Flash story crosses over with Arrow at a few points but I didn't feel it would be so important to the point I needed to put it in the crossover category. But Team Arrow will appear!

That's all! Didn't mean for the author's note to get this long. Please leave a review, I'd love to hear what you all think!