Here you go! Hope you enjoy it, thanks for reading! :)

Chapter 7

The next hour went fast. Caitlin assessed Barry's vitals and injury, got an x-ray and MRI, and several other tests. She found a concussion and closed head injury that was already healing. By the time she looked at the x-ray she could hazard a guess that it had been a far worse fractured skull than it appeared now. Barry's healing ability was impressive, but it couldn't heal instantly. It was entirely possible that without his rapidly regenerating cells, he would have been right back in a coma for awhile, even if it was medically induced due to swelling in his brain. It must have been a massively strong man to create such force.

Barry's hood and its reinforced tripolymer had saved him from any kind of laceration on the back of his head. Once Caitlin was satisfied that his body was on the mend and that he would regain consciousness in the near future, she and Cisco put his hood and mask back on. They zipped up his suit, leaving the heart monitor patches with their wires trailing out and still hooked to the monitor. Caitlin was nothing if not cautious. Cisco even went ahead and put a blanket on top. They turned down the lights, especially the ones around the bed. When they had finally done everything they could to make sure he was nothing but The Flash lying in a bed, Caitlin felt she could bring Iris in.

She paused at the door, looking back as Cisco made a final sweep. He was turning off the many monitors that were around displaying graphics and other aspects of their studies on Barry's speed. He spun in a circle to check the whole room, and then gave Caitlin a thumbs up.

"Looks good. I think we are going to make it out of this alive."

Caitlin gave him a grumpy look. "You don't know that. What happens when he wakes up? There is so much that could still go wrong."

Cisco shook his head, grinning. "This is going to work."

Caitlin leaned away from the door she was about to open and lowered her voice. "For the record, I still think it was a bad idea."

Cisco pointed a finger at her. "Hey, you agreed to this. That makes it our bad idea."

Caitlin rolled her eyes and headed out the door.

Iris was still on the other side in the hallway, sitting on the floor with her back to the wall. She had alternated between pacing circles, fighting back tears of worry, and checking her watch the entire hour. When Caitlin appeared she sprang to her feet. "Well?"

Caitlin gave her a reassuring smile. "He's going to be fine. He sustained a head injury but he'll be all right. He should wake up soon. Would you like to see him?"

Iris was through the door before the words "Oh yes please." could even get out of her mouth. She hurried into the room and stopped at the sight of the occupied bed in its darkened area.

The familiarity of the entire scene struck her hard. How often had she come to visit Barry in that same bed? Even the low lights reminded her of the hospital and its unexplained power outages. She remembered having to leave Barry's bedside again and again as his heart stopped and the nurses and doctors moved in to code him, working with generator power. She shook it off and approached the chair that had been placed next to the bed, more at The Flash's legs than his head. She sat in it and stared at him.

Looking at his head, Iris had to admit they'd done a great job. The shadows around his face were as good as any he'd stood in while he was awake. She could make out the outlines but not specific features. His mask was still in place. A quick look up and down the bed confirmed that his suit was on underneath the blankets. She looked up at Caitlin, who was watching with a wary look on her face. "He'll wake up soon?"

Caitlin smiled a little as she replied, "I think so." Cisco let out the breath he was holding in a long exhale.

"You didn't expose his identity?" There was a split second pause before each shook their heads. "Thank you." Iris tried hard to make the two words express how grateful she was.

Caitlin smiled. "Sure." She grabbed Cisco's arm and pushed him around a corner. Their whispered conversation was barely audible as Iris turned back to the bed and reached for the hand lying there. It gave her a bit of a shock to feel heavy red fabric instead of the bare skin she expected. Barry's hands had always been bare. She gave it a small squeeze as she looked across the bed and recognized the device on the other side of the bed, sitting innocently on a small table.

That was when Iris realized the other reason that she had been so reminded of Barry's coma. The sound had worked its way into her subconscious so long ago that she was just used to it being there while she was in this room. The beeping of the heart monitor tripped along in a steady, very rapid rhythm. Iris couldn't stop herself from giving the machine a glare. She hated that thing. She had hated it early on in Barry's coma, even at the hospital. Its steady beep told her Barry was alive, but every one left her on edge, sure that the next sound would be the solid drone of a flat line. It had happened often enough in the hospital, and every time it had she had been sure that it would be the last time. Then she would have to bury her best friend and admit he was never coming back to her.

Even after Barry had been moved to S.T.A.R. Labs, the heart monitor had remained. It mocked her with its rhythm, every beep a high-pitched tease that it may be the last. She had found herself hating every beat, then angry at herself for hating anything that meant Barry was still alive. Finally she had asked if she could turn down the volume when she visited Barry, so she wouldn't have to listen to it. She had also turned it away so she wouldn't see it. She had taken more comfort in Barry's chest rising and falling in steady breathing. Caitlin and Cisco had given her strange looks but allowed it. Obviously they had forgotten that now that Barry was up and awake again. But Iris couldn't shake it.

She looked away from her nemesis and instead studied The Flash's chest. It too rose and fell with regular breathing. She took a deep breath also and tried to banish memories from the past.

Around the corner, Caitlin and Cisco were finishing a heated conversation on what to do when Barry did wake up. Both had decided they wouldn't get Iris to budge until he did, but things could get bad really fast.

"Just go along with me." Was Cisco's whispered insistence.

Caitlin's face was full of worry and tension. "Fine."

Barry's first sensation was a dull ache in the back of his skull. As he drifted towards consciousness he became aware of two things: He was still wearing his suit, and someone was squeezing his hand. The pain in his head kept his eyes closed, since he was sure the light on them would make it worse. He listened to the sounds around him; he was pretty sure he was at S.T.A.R. Labs. He had awakened to the sound of a heart monitor and whispering too many times before. But usually no one was squeezing his hand. That was a puzzle. He was just starting to wonder if he wasn't at S.T.A.R. Labs when Cisco's voice came in at more than a whisper.

"Everything okay, Iris?"

Iris?

He came out of bed in the span of a heartbeat, yanking the cords out of the heart monitor as he went. He ended up in the darkest corner of the room, back to the wall, staring at the three people there. The unbroken beep of a flat line filled the room as his shocked eyes met Iris's. Caitlin rushed to turn off the monitor. Iris stood up and Cisco moved into his view.

The sudden motion of his escape made Barry's head swim. He put his hands over his eyes and lowered his head, taking some deep breaths. Cisco's voice finally registered.

"Hey! Hey! Calm down dude, you're okay. I'm Cisco Ramon, this is Doctor Caitlin Snow, and I think you know Iris West. You were hurt and we helped you out. Everything is fine."

Cisco was speaking in the slow, steady and slightly louder tone of a person speaking to someone whose primary language is different. Barry brought his hands down from his eyes and gave Cisco a look that seriously questioned his sanity. Finally he could get out one word, and it was a miracle he remembered to disguise his voice: "What?"

Iris stepped in. "You were hurt, Flash. I found you in the alley. Cisco happened to come along and we got you away before the police found you. You're at S.T.A.R. Labs."

Barry squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again. Things were starting to come together. "Did anyone-"

"No one compromised your identity. I swear I didn't peek. Everything is fine." She gave him a wobbly smile.

Barry stood for a solid minute, waiting for his head to feel better and taking everything in. The group waited. Finally he nodded. "Okay. Thank you. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't helped me out. But I should go now."

"Are you sure you feel up to that?" Iris questioned anxiously.

He nodded, and then stopped because that hurt too. "Yes. But really," He met her eyes. "thank you."

She gave him a searching smile, feeling the distance between them. "Of course."

He left the room in a blur, stopping only when he was on the other side of the facility and far away from the parking lot. His head disagreed with that move, but it was worth the sacrifice. He leaned against a wall and tried not to panic, waiting for her to leave.

Iris turned to Caitlin and Cisco. "Okay, well, I guess I should be going too. Thank you, both of you, so much. And this is our little secret, right?"

Caitlin nodded seriously, while Cisco tried hard to hide a smile.

"Good." Iris continued. "Well! That means I owe you guys some coffee soon."

Cisco beamed. "I won't say no to that!"

"Okay." Iris headed for the door. "Thank you again." She walked out and headed for her car, wondering why she didn't feel happier.

Once she was down the hallway (Cisco even checked) both he and Caitlin collapsed into chairs. He leaned his head back and finally unwound. "Holy crap."

Caitlin was not able to relax so quickly. "We are never doing that again."

A few minutes later Barry appeared back in the doorway. "She's gone." He made straight for the bed and laid back down on it. "My head is killing me."

Caitlin resisted the urge to lecture and simply said, "You'll need to rest a few more hours in order to fully heal."

Barry nodded, having expected it. He looked at his two friends. "Thanks guys, I had no idea Iris even knew what happened." He frowned. "Do you think she knows?"

Cisco looked undecided. "I don't think so; if she had looked under your mask before I got there I would have probably found you dead, not just unconscious. Still, she looked really weird after she came in here. But we made sure she never saw anything. I don't know."

"Great." Barry looked up at the ceiling and avoided Caitlin's gaze. He knew when she was brewing a tirade. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but even with his eyes closed he could see Iris and her disturbed face before he left the room. His gut told him something was very wrong, and he was worried.

Caitlin took pity on him and put the blankets back over him.

Iris headed down the hallway to the outside doors. The hallway felt like a tunnel closing in on her. The sound of the flat line followed her. Memories bombarded her, all those months of Barry in his coma, the sound of a rapid heartbeat beating in her ears even though she was far away from the monitor by now. By the time she reached the parking lot she was almost running. She got into her car and started driving, but later she didn't even remember the first part of the trip. What she did remember was finding herself pulled over at a small parking lot a few miles away. She had pulled over here many times in those nine months after she left Barry comatose at S.T.A.R. Labs, each time because she was crying so hard she couldn't see the road. She sat in the car and sobbed as Caitlin's face merged with the nurse who had held her back from Barry that first night in the emergency room, while she tried to get to him and they used paddles to restart his heart. She remembered screaming his name; sure she would never see him alive again. She remembered leaving S.T.A.R. Labs and sitting in this very car in darkness just like this, cursing the lightning, fate, and anything else she felt was responsible. And she remembered the hopeless, helpless feeling of those days. That he would never wake up, and she had forever lost one of the most important parts of her life.