Chapter 3

Catching Up

The fact that her uncle could help her with any sort of trouble she could get into wasn't lost on Sage. Hell, she knew she wouldn't hesitate to use her connections with her family to get any sort of record expunged. It wasn't like she was speeding to get to the Police Department. Part of the way she could get her motorcycle was that she followed every rule of the road (that she could remember anyway) and she had stuck by them so far. But, at the same time, she wasn't moving at a snail's pace to get there to see that Barry was awake in person.

It had been nine months after all. Nine months that her friend had been in a coma—sleeping, she reasoned, to make it sound better—and now he was finally awake. But so much time had moved on without him. She wasn't the same as she was before. Not exactly. Would he be the same or would he be different? He was the one who missed out on events more than they did but there was a sense of loss on both ends. Not the same sort of loss but loss nonetheless.

Sage hoped that their reunion would seal the hole that was left wide open and pulsated in a way that neither eating nor binge watching shows on Netflix could cure. It was strange not having Barry around those nine months. It almost felt as if he had merely been on a long vacation. What could they talk about now? Would he rather be treated differently or like nothing had changed? There were so many questions and not enough answers.

It didn't take long for her reach the parking lot of the police department. She shut off the vibrating vehicle between her legs and balanced on her tip toes on the ground. She ducked her head to remove her helmet and looked up at the large building. She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. This was it. Barry was inside and he was awake and alive and everything would go back to normal.

To: Iris
Coming in now. Also –
how much potential trouble will
I be in for admitting to running
a red light on my way here? Oops!

Slipping her phone back into her pocket she quickly came up with an excuse that she was just so excited at Barry being awake that she couldn't wait to get there to see him. They had to believe that. It was almost as good as an excuse as rushing to bring a wife going into labor to the hospital. Some people got police escorts even! Sage was sure her excuse could be hand waved and taken care of.

Swinging a leg over her bike, she shoved her keys into her pocket and jogged in towards the large building. She darted this way and that to avoid those that milled about on the sidewalk but her little dance to maneuver around those in her way only lasted for so long. She didn't have enough time to stop herself from crashing into a man that had stepped in her way.

"Whoa! Sorry dude! Er, sir. Sorry sir!" Sage apologized, stumbling to keep her balance. "Sorry. I just…someone's waiting for me in there and I'm excited to see him." She pressed her lips together, feeling the onslaught of words building up in her mouth and bouncing off her clenched teeth. He didn't need to be bored with details that didn't pertain to him. Then, a second later, she realized what she had said and opened her mouth, releasing the flood gates. "Not that they're in jail or anything! 'Cause they're not! They didn't do anything bad! I don't have friends that are criminals or anything of the sort."

The man stared at her, the blank expression on his face not changing. His cold, steel-like eyes bored into her and made her words die off as if an invisible hand was squeezing her throat, cutting off all noise. A bead of sweat collected at the side of her head from the mere intensity of his stare. Her body began to tremble. Sweat flooded her palms and pooled under her arms. Why was he staring at her like that?

She managed to breathe out and then her eyes widened at the sight of her cloud-like breath. Curling her fingers into fists, she could already feel a chilling sensation start at her fingertips and slowly crawl up towards her palm. "Sorry—I gotta go!"

Sage turned and flew up the stairs into the police department. She managed to slip past the security guard standing by the door, of which she always found funny. It was a building already filled with police officers, why did they need another one standing by the door to guard them all? It just didn't make sense.

"Ah, Ms. Moreaux. I bet I know why you're here," the security guard greeted her with a smile. "Go on up, they're all waiting for you." He tilted his head in the direction of the stairs as a smile appeared on his face. It was contagious; in the next second Sage was beaming from ear to ear and her brief encounter with the strange staring man was a thing of the past as she darted towards the stairs. She met up with Joe and Eddie who were coming down on her way up.

"Hey! Uncle Joe, Pretty Boy, where are you headed?" she asked, pausing on the stairs.

"Bank robbery in progress," Joe replied, briefly stopping on the stairs to lean over and kiss her forehead. "Might be late tonight. Leftovers are in the fridge."

"Sage, you know my name is Eddie," he said, his mouth twisting to the side. "Do you have to keep calling me Pretty Boy?"

"Do you have to look as good as you do?" she shot back. She smiled when he appeared torn between being amused and frustrated. "If you didn't catch that, the answer is yes. I have to call you Pretty Boy. Anyway, I'm not here to stare at you—"

"Thankfully," he muttered.

"—I have a Barry to see. How's he look?"

"Exactly the same," Joe replied. "Boy gets struck by lightning, doesn't look any different from the day he was hit."

Sage pouted. "No scars? No lightning trees? No disfiguration?" Joe shook his head. "What a bummer!" Joe and Eddie exchanged a look before turning it to Sage. A few seconds of their incredulous gaze and her body jolted with realization. "Not that I want anything to actually be wrong with him of course," she stated, hastily waving her hands. Though it would make him much more interesting, she added in her mind. "Go catch some bad guys!"

She turned on her heel and jogged up the rest of the stairs before Joe or Eddie could say anything to her. She took them two at a time and easily navigated her way to the offices where she had to dodge police personnel moving around minding their own business. She burst into the office and looked around. Her eyes easily sought out her tall friend who stood by Iris.

"Barry!" she yelled so loudly that it made some people stop and look to see who was yelling. But she didn't care. There he was, in the flesh. She closed the distance between them in an instant and threw her arms around his neck. She expected him to smell like charred bacon or something but he still smelled the same way: like a combination of sweet cologne and dryer sheets.

"Sage! Oh, it's so good to see you!" Barry said as he squeezed her back. Her feet left the ground as he hugged her tight and he beamed down at her once her feet touched the ground once more. "Look at you. You look great."

"You do too, Mr. I Was Struck By Lightning," she agreed, punching him on the arm. "Hell, you even look well rested. Maybe we all should get struck."

"Not with the way static frizzes my hair," Iris commented, running her hand over her own hair to smooth it down.

"With how long you take in the bathroom with your flatiron I didn't think it was possible for you to ever get frizzy hair," Sage teased, sticking out her tongue. "But really," she continued, turning to Barry, "are you okay? You wake up out of nowhere and you're walking and you're fine?"

"Yeah," he replied, shrugging. "I've never been better. Really."

"And there's no side effects? No twitching? No spasms? No sensitivity to light? Nothing?" With every suggestion Sage poked Barry in the arm, as if waiting for something to happen, like for antlers to grow out of his head or wings to pop out of his back.

"Do you…want something to be wrong with me?" Barry asked, chuckling.

"There already is something wrong with you," Sage pointed out in a teasing tone, "you think Science is fun."

"Hey, there's always something new being discovered or something new to learn," Barry protested. "It's one of the more interesting subjects out there. I mean, with math you have certain limitations on what you can do. History, everything has happened and you can't really learn anything new with something that has already occurred. Not in the same sense, anyway. But Science! There are no limitations whatsoever! You can do anything! You can make anything! The cure to cancer can be discovered tomorrow."

Iris and Sage exchanged a look at Barry's gushing before smiling. Watching his face light up and that sparkle appear in his eye was something Sage didn't know she had missed until that moment. It made hear heart squeeze. So what if she had to listen to him rant about something she didn't care for and knew nothing about? Just hearing him talk again sent a batch of warm fuzzies flying through her body. Her heart jumped and her lips curled up into a smile. It was the same ol' Barry alright. No lightning strike could ever change that.

"Oh! But enough about me, Joe says you suffered from the explosion too," Barry said, turning his attention to Sage. He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye, as if waiting for her to start to mutate beneath his gaze. "You were in the hospital? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just hypothermia. I'm fine," Sage replied, shrugging him off. "No a big deal compared to you. Iris and Uncle Joe helped nurse me back to health. Just a bit sensitive to the cold now." And then some, she mentally added.

"Is that what the gloves are for?" he asked, motioning to them. "Uh, interesting fashion statement."

"I convince her to get a manicure one time and the next thing I know it's like she's trying to preserve it," Iris said with a roll of her eyes although a smile sat on her face.

Barry's eyebrows lifted. "You…got a manicure?" he asked. Sage shrugged her shoulders while bobbing her head in an affirmative nod. He blew out a breath and ran a hand through his short hair. "Wow…I've been out of it for a while then, huh? To miss something like that."

"S'not that big of a deal, Bare," Sage mumbled. She bit her lip as Iris looked down at her feet and Barry shoved his hands into his pockets. An elephant landed smack dab in the middle of the room thanks to Barry bringing it up. Sage was fine with the hints here and there. The only constant reminder that Barry hadn't been there was…Barry not being there. Otherwise they had gone on with their lives perfectly fine.

Well, not perfectly fine. There were times at dinner that Iris had to excuse herself to go cry. She had taken time every day to visit him at the hospital and then at S.T.A.R. Labs when he had been moved. It was all so easy for her to get up and go. After getting out of the hospital Iris had to practically drag Sage to visit Barry which, at the time, had put a strain on their relationship. It wasn't that she didn't want to see Barry, but it was that she couldn't.

She couldn't stop wondering if things had been different had she gone with them. Had she not made fun of his interests so much and tried to take her own interest in the subject. Had she not decided to go along with her friends for a night of partying. Would they have stayed longer? Would they have been out of harm's way and not end up where they were now?

"Hey," Barry said quietly. Sage lifted her head, not noticing that her attention had shifted to their feet. Smiling, he grasped her gloved hand and then grabbed Iris's free hand and gave them a squeeze. Her cousin looked almost as troubled as she did. "Guys, I'm okay. I'm alive and well. See?" He dropped their hands and did a little jig on the spot that made the two girls crack smiles. "I'm alright. Everything will be fine."

"Alright, Sunshine," Sage said with a roll of her eyes. "How about a round of coffees? We can catch up."

Barry laughed. "Nice to know you're still as obsessed with coffee as before."

"It's her lifeline," Iris teased.

No kidding. Sage stuck her tongue out at the two who smiled at her. Barry's smile quickly faded as he turned and his eyes rested on the memorial for Chyre. Iris explained what happened to him, how he had gotten shot when they were trying to catch the Mardon brothers when Chyre had gotten fatally shot.

Sage remembered his funeral. It was nice as far as funerals go; everyone had good memories of him and something nice to say. But his children didn't fully understand what was going on, them being so young. That's what made Sage's heart ache that day, more so than Joe's partner having been taken away from them. A father had been taken away from his children and as far as they knew it was for no reason. Had it been hers, she didn't know what she'd feel.

Sage blinked and was brought back to the present when a strange gust of wind displaced her hair and Barry appeared troubled and quick sick. He was breathing heavily and his face was slick with a light coating of sweat. A captured criminal was shouting as two police officers lead him away in handcuffs.

"Barry, are you alright?" Iris asked, her words laced with concern.

"I-I'm fine," Barry stammered, his eyes darting around. "I'll call you later, okay? Meet up with you two for that coffee." He barely muttered an excuse me before he brushed past them and ran off.

"Well, lightning didn't zap his weirdness, that's for sure," Sage commented.

"Sage, be nice," Iris chastised her. "He just woke up from a long coma. Cut him some slack. It may take him a while to readjust." Offering up a smile she looped her cousin's arm with her own. "Come on; let's get started on that coffee."

The two girls left the offices and walked arm in arm out of the building. Iris began talking to her about a customer she had that morning that didn't seem to like anything she did to make his perfect cup of coffee. It was too hot, it was too cold, there was too much foam, there was not enough foam, the milk tasted funny, and she was skimping on the whipped cream. But Sage was only half listening as the two girls descended the front stairs of the police department. Her attention had landed on the man from before, who was standing in the entrance of the diner across the street, Motorcar. His eyes bored into her and made her falter. Her foot missed a step and her heart jumped up into her throat as she stumbled forward. She managed to catch her balance before taking a large tumble down the stairs.

"Are you alright?" Iris asked, helping Sage back to her feet.

"Yeah. I, uh, always miss that step. I'm good," Sage replied, getting to her feet. She brushed dirt off her knees and looked across the street from beneath her fringe.

The man was gone.