AN: Intro completed. Thank you for bearing with me for the precursor for this fanfic. While I have never been a long winded writer, and don't expect 3,000 word chapters, they will be a more acceptable length from here out J

Rated M: For mother fuckin' language.

Chapter 4

A soft knock rattled the steel door of the studio Dr. Wells had renovated. She looked at where the noise originated from and called out, "you can come in Caitlyn."

The door opened softly and the click-clack of high heels entered the foyer. "How do you always know who it is?" She said politely.

Emilie laughed. "Unless you've hired another woman on the team or Cisco is moonlighting as a drag queen, I'm fairly certain your heels give it away."

She chuckled and Emilie felt her sit on the couch close to her. "You left so quickly, I wanted to check to see if you were alright."

Emilie let out a sigh. Was she alright? How can Emilie explain how her world had turned upside down without seeming completely self-centered? Barry woke up! Today should be a day of celebration but she couldn't help but feel that it's the beginning of the end of her time here at STAR Labs. As long as Barry had been in a coma, Emilie had felt like just another patient. Her place, firmly rooted, her therapy a scheduled and longsuffering event. Now… she was alone. Abandoned, albeit inadvertently, and perhaps she was now imposing. And if she was not imposing today, when would she be? Tomorrow? Next week? How much longer could STAR Labs focus on her rehabilitation when she was the sole patient?

For whatever reason, Dr. Wells has worked hard to take care of Barry and Emilie. How hard will he work when it's just Emilie?

"Yes… I'm fine Caitlyn. I just felt very out of sorts. You all are the professionals, I would just be in the way as you helped Barry so I wanted to give you all space."

"No no!", Caitlyn put her hand on Emilies. "Please don't feel that way." She urged. "You are very important to our team."

"Caitlyn, I'm not on your team. I'm your patient remember?"

"Yes, but that doesn't make you less important." She paused, "Hey, why don't we go to Jitters and get a coffee? A little liquid caffeine sounds pretty good right about now."

"What about Barry?" Emilie lightly touched the tablet next to her reading the time displayed on the braille surface, it had only been an hour since he woke up, she was sure Caitlyn had a million tests she would rather be doing. Barry was like a Christmas present that came early. Medically speaking.

"Well, Barry left."

Emilie's jaw slacked open. "What do you mean left? He just woke up!"

She took her hand away and Emilie heard her smoothing out her dress. "Yes well, he was very insistent. Help me take my mind off the fact that a man who was in a coma for 9 months got up and walked out of my clinic?"

Emilie laughed. "Well, when you put it that way." She put down her book and tablet and grabbed her cane, "Let's refuel."

But things did change. Over the next few weeks rehabilitation sessions were cut short or cancelled completely. Caitlyn and Cisco became increasingly distant and preoccupied while even Dr. Wells would disappear for long periods of time.

After a while Emilie just stopped going to sessions all together. She would order her meals in her suite and keep up on current events with her tablet. She started making small trips outside to Jitters, testing out the limitations of her cane and rehabilitation. Small achievements felt monumental and she took solace that Cisco and Caitlyn had helped her enough to feel confident in her limited independence.

The warmth of Central City hit her face as soon as she walked out of STAR Labs. She was excited for her daily trip to Jitters and leaving the stale laboratory confines. At first Caitlyn had insisted she take her with her on these short excursions but it didn't take long for Caitlyn to realize Emilie was at least able to do this small task solo.

It was an easy enough trek. Three blocks north, two lights, turn right, one stop sign the 26 paces to the door. She was never an analytical thinker, she rather enjoyed spontaneity and taking problems as they came but that method no longer worked. She relied on her memorization and qualifying problems before they happened. She wouldn't even have recognized herself a year ago.

Emilie paused as she opened the door to Jitters. The aroma of coffee came pouring out of the café and she almost sighed, she loved this place. She walked over to her favorite window-side table and waited for her favorite barista to notice her. Having known Emilie before the accident, many of the barista's went out of their way to accommodate her blindness. After a few incidents of Emilie hitting customers with her cane, they had asked her to find a table and they would personally serve her. While she felt embarrassed at first, she was ultimately grateful for their hospitality and she was sure the other patrons were just glad she wasn't hitting them anymore.

"And how's my favorite blind woman today?" A chipper voice asked from behind Emilie.

Emilie smiled and laughed softly, "Do you even know any other blind people Iris?"

"Well, no, but even if I did, you would be my favorite!"

"I'm good. Today will be a good day. I feel it."

This time it was Iris' turn to laugh. "That's just because you can't see. It looks like a storm's coming out there!"

"Oh really? Well better make my order to go then, I don't want to try navigating home in the rain."

"You got it Em." Iris squeezed her shoulder and went to get Emilie's usual white chocolate mocha.

It had only been a few minutes when the air started to get thick and wind began to ruffle Emilie's hair. Did someone leave the door opened? She hear a loud scream and was roughly pushed over by someone running past. What was going on? "Iris?" She yelled cautiously. "Iris?" Again after she didn't answer the first time.

A large body pushed Emilie to the ground though she had barely gotten up from the previous incident and she anxiously searched for her cane that was separated from. "IRIS?!" Panic clawed at Emilie and she felt her insides tighten.

Her voice sounded miles away but Emilie heard Iris yell out her name. The wind became unbearable and navigating through the storm seemed impossible. Storm? She was still inside Jitters right? None of this made any sense!

She found her cane and walked over to where she knew the counter would be. "Iris?" She was searching her surroundings with her left hand and using the cane with her right, the air became so thick she started to have trouble breathing. A series of coughs spasmed out of her chest as she tried to regain her composure. "IRIS?" It was getting harder to breathe and she began choking back tears of panic. Even without her sight, she had never felt so alone and vulnerable as she did in that moment. In the safe confines of STAR Labs, Emilie had become accustom to her blindness and the predictability Caitlyn and Cisco offered. This was different. This was unfamiliar. Unfamiliar and dangerous.

When sounds of heavy footsteps echoed in front of her, she quickly reached out splaying her fingers to grab on to whomever was coming. A pair of rough hands grabbed her painfully by the shoulders and lifted her up. She let out a surprised gasp and tried to kick herself free.

"Looks like today is my lucky day." A gruff voice whispered in her ear.