CHAPTER 5

Caitlin sat in silence across from Iris, staring at Barry . Iris had just entered Barry's room a few minutes ago.

"Why do you hate me so much, Iris? Is it because I date Barry, or do you have some secret vendetta against me?" asked Caitlin, breaking the silence. "From what I have heard from Barry, you don't like anyone he dates. Maybe the problem isn't the girls, it's you," continued Caitlin.

"You know what Caitlin, why don't you just shut that big mouth of yours? Actually, you are right. The problem is me because I try to stop Barry from making lousy girls like you from becoming his girlfriends. You all just use him and—"

Before Iris could continue she was stopped by Caitlin.

"Let me just stop you right there. I may have made one mistake , but that doesn't mean you can judge me on that," said Caitlin, hurt by what Iris had said, "I love Barry from the bottom of my heart. He is the first love of my life. I love every single thing about him. The expression he gives when I take French fries from his plate makes my heart beat faster than it should, and then when I don't listen to him he will be like, 'hands of my fries, Caitlin'," she said imitating his voice, and they both laughed at the thought. "Iris the point is that I love Barry a lot, and I will do anything in the world for him. I hope that's enough for you," said Caitlin sincerely.

"That's more than enough for me. I am so sorry, Caitlin. I shouldn't have jumped at you the way I did. I'm just…just protective of him you know. Anyway, I thought you had broken up with Barry?" asked Iris, confused.

"Actually, yeah. I did break up with him, but his accident made me realize that life is short and you should live each moment with the one you love because each moment is precious and you might never get them back. Plus anything could happen," said Caitlin with tears in her eyes,"I really miss him a lot. I just want him to wake up, you know?"

Nodding, Iris tried to change the topic as it was getting very emotional in the room.

"I wonder what he is thinking about," Iris murmured. Caitlin looked up, confused. "In his coma. I have often wondered what people think about when they are unconscious."

That was a good question, Caitlin thought to herself as she held Barry's hand close to herself and returned her gaze to Barry's face, determined to be the first person to notice if there was any change in Barry's condition.

It had been almost an hour since Joe had left the hospital to go to the precinct, and they had no idea that in a few moments their lives were about to change.

Barry's eyelids suddenly fluttered. Caitlin who had a death grip on Barry's hand felt some movement underneath her hand. The movement had been so subtle she didn't know if that was real or if she was imagining it.

"Barry?" Caitlin softy questioned. Barry's eyes moved slightly beneath his eyelids. It wasn't much, but Caitlin noticed something and slid her chair forward.

Iris, who was asleep, woke up from the commotion taking place besides her.

"Caitlin, what's going on? Is Barry okay?" she asked, worried.

"It's Barry. His eyes. They moved, Iris. I think he is waking up!" screamed Caitlin happily.

The first thing that Barry felt was pain. His body felt like lead, and he did not understand what was going on. The only thing he saw was that he was surrounded by darkness. He tried to open his eyes, but his one eye wouldn't bulge open. It was like someone had sealed it with some glue to his face. He tried to open his eye once more. It moved a little but it did not open completely. Panicking, he tried speaking. Something was wrong. He tried again, but he couldn't speak. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't open his mouth. He tried lifting his hand to his face to check why he couldn't speak, but he felt so tired that he couldn't even lift his hand.

Seeing this, Iris pushed the call button. Seeing his panic state, she tried to calm him down.

"Barry. Hey Barry, it's me. Iris. You need to calm down. You are in the hospital, and you are safe here. Nothing is going to happen to you," she said in a calm voice.

Seeing that he still wasn't able to open his eye, Caitlin left the room as fast as she could in her high heels to get help, while Iris tried a different approach to calm him down.

"Hey Bare, I want you to listen to my voice."

When he turned his head towards her voice after a brief pause, she continued.

"Ok good. Now I want you to take deep breaths and try opening your eyes."

Seeing that he had finally calmed down she breathed a sigh of relief. After a few tries he was finally able to open his eyes. When he opened his eyes he blinked slowly to allow his eyes to adjust to the bright light. His breathing came easier now, and he tried to take in his surroundings, but when he moved his head to the side the only thing he felt was pain. He felt like he was hit by a car . He was definitely not going to move his head anytime soon he thought. The next few minutes were a blur for him. A doctor and some nurses came to check on him, and they pushed Iris and Caitlin outside his room. As they were pushed outside Iris called her father and told him to come as soon as possible.

"I am Dr. Wells, Barry. I have been your doctor since you were brought here. It's nice to finally meet you," the doctor spoke in a friendly and gentle way.

"Barry, you were involved in an accident at home. Do you remember anything about that?" asked Dr. Wells, "If it's a yes blink once for me, and if it's a no blink twice."

To Barry, all memories of his accident disappeared. He was able to remember what had happened one moment, but now, he wasn't able to remember anything except extreme pain. He sluggishly blinked twice.

Seeing this, Dr. Wells continued, "Barry, it's okay. After such trauma it's quite normal not to remember anything," the doctor said, "Barry, if you don't mind, I would like to ask you some questions," asked the doctor. After a blink from barry he continued asking some questions and told the nurse to jot down certain points. After a brief pause he started explaining all the injuries to Barry.

"Barry, you have a stab wound, a shattered right leg, a major head wound, a couple of broken ribs and various cuts and bruises on your face. You also have your right hand in a cast as it was dislocated and broken, also your jaw is wired shut as it was fractured. We also had to remove your appendix due to the damage that was caused by your trauma. Barry, your leg will need one more surgery which we will talk about later."

Giving him a sympathetic smile, the doctor removed the blanket from Barry's chest down to his waist and started accessing all his wounds. To him, his feelings made him all the more protective of Barry and strengthened his determination to see his patient recover fully.

"Are you feeling up to visitors? There are a few people waiting outside who would like to see you," the doctor said.

After a few minutes Barry blinked once sluggishly. Nodding, the doctor went outside to the two girls waiting outside.

Five seconds later, the two girls were staring worriedly down at him tears in their eyes .

"Barry?" Iris whispered, taking his uninjured hand and squeezing it gently. Whereas Caitlin sat on the uncomfortable plastic chair and ran a hand down Barry's hair. As if on cue, Joe entered Barry's room.

"Iris, is Barry okay?" asked Joe, breathing heavily.

"Dad, he is fine. He just woke up," said iris .

Joe felt relief wash over him as he saw his son's green eyes staring at him. He immediately walked to his side and kissed Barry's forehead.

"You scared the crap out of everyone. We have been worried sick about you, son. Don't you ever do that to me ever again. I never want to see any of my kids lying on the floor unconscious," said Joe, sobbing.

Barry, who was already feeling tired, just blinked once .

"Dad, relax. He is fine. Sleeping beauty here thought that the sleep that he took for two days would make him look prettier than me," Iris said jokingly, causing everyone to laugh.

As the laughter died down after a few minutes, Barry felt a stab of pain in his abdomen and was too slow to hide his grimace. Joe and the others noticed immediately.

"Barry, are you okay, son?" asked Joe, worried. To his question, Barry just blinked once .

"Barry if you are in any pain it's okay to tell us," soothed Caitlin. "I'll go get the nurse," she said as she marched out of the room.

Seeing that Barry had closed his eyes, Iris briefed Joe about all the things that Dr. Wells had told her and Caitlin after he had checked up on Barry.

"Now dad, tell me what did captain Singh want to tell you?" asked Iris eagerly.

"Iris, about that, a sketch is getting made of the guy involved in the robbery. This is a big lead but we still have a long way to go from here, Iris . Perhaps any information from Barry could help us once he is stable enough," said Joe, running a hand through his hair.

"Dad, about that, the doctor told us that Barry doesn't remember anything from the accident. He told us that Barry has something called localized amnesia. It causes people to forget the traumatic experience. Dr. Wells said this is very common with patients who undergo trauma. Dr. Wells has scheduled a brain CT scan just to check if everything is fine with Barry."

"Why does he want to do a CT scan on Barry? Is that normal? I thought Barry was fine. What is this localized amnesia? Did the doctor give you some information about this? Will his memory ever come back? What effect will this amnesia have on Barry?" asked Joe, worried.

Barry had gone through so much the past few days. One ray of hope had arrived when Iris told him Barry was awake, but now it felt like someone had taken that hope away from him. It was like fate was playing a game with him, and Barry had to pay the price.

"Dad, you need to calm down. The CT is a precaution. They want to be absolutely sure that all his tests are clear. Dad, you need to stay strong. Barry is going to need you. He still has one surgery to go. We need to be there for him so that he can lean on us all the way, dad," said Iris sincerely.

She knew the next few days were going to be tough on Barry, but she had to be there for him, she thought as she gave Barry a glance and saw that Barry had slept through their talking.

Just then the door flew open, announcing Caitlin's arrival with a nurse. The nurse had a caring face, and she looked young in her 30 's . She was dressed in the hospital attire wearing scrubs and she was hot.

"Mr. Allen, your girlfriend here told me that you were in pain." the nurse said. Listening to the commotion Barry woke up from his slumber and nodded.

"Right then," began the nurse, "It seems your painkillers have worn off, so I am going to give you some more, and I will also check your vitals while I am here."

She winked at him. She turned to the others.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave the room for about five minutes, but don't worry, you can come back in when I'm done."

The others agreed and left the room. She turned back to Barry.

"Well Barry, my name is Linda," she told him with a smile, "Now these may make you feel drowsy, but will help with the pain."

Barry just nodded, confused. When did he ask for painkillers? he thought to himself. He also had no idea as to why he was in the hospital. Had something happened? Had he been in an accident? He wanted to ask Joe, but something was covering his mouth. He had no idea as to what it was. Maybe he should ask his doctor later. God, he felt so tired. He closed his eyes, exhausted from all the events that took place and feeling somewhat queasy, Barry was asleep.

Meanwhile at the precinct:

"Sir, I got some good news," said Detective Chyre happily. The sketch that was made was cross referenced to CCPD database. Looks like we found a match, sir."

Hey guys, I hope you guys like this chapter. I am not so happy with it, but if I would have written it would have turned out worse .

Also sorry for taking long on this update. I hope the wait was worth it.

Lastly thank you for your reviews. They put a wide smile on my face. Please review or follow my story.