Hi again! Don't get used to daily updates, I'm a slow writer - but I guess the unbelievably great reception of the first chapter inspired me :) Still, I'm not really sure about this chapter because some parts were really hard to write (trying to come up with the exact words to express the exact same thing the Reverse Muse shows inside your head is not a piece of cake). But anyways, I hope you guys enjoy it and don't forget to leave me a review and/or to follow/favorite if you like :) And a special thanks to Art is The Weapon, silverwolvesarecool, Sarah, Idril of the Mountains and Gin for those amazing reviews; I haven't had the time to reply to each of you privately but I do really appreciate them :)

Disclaimer: I don't own them.

Her Worst Nightmare

Iris leaned on the back of her chair with a sigh, rubbing the temples with her hands. She had been staring at the computer screen for almost ten minutes, but she hadn't written any word yet. Her mind wasn't on the piece of news she was supposed to be writing for the next day's newspaper, she was too busy feeling worried for Linda and Barry. Unconsciously, she found herself looking at the empty bottle of beer she had drunk earlier that was still resting on her table. Despite she had called Barry as soon as she had seen Zoom taking Linda, neither Barry nor Linda had called her.

She spent the next minute looking at the screen, both distracted and hoping the piece of news could write on its own without her. She looked distractingly at her phone, hoping for Barry and/or Linda to call and tell her they were both fine so her heart could return to its normal rhythm. God, she just needed a distraction, she thought, sighing once again.

At that moment, a man stepped into the Picture News office, leaving a trail of blue lightning behind him. But she hadn't seen him yet - she just heard the noise. She turned to the newcomer just as he stopped in front of everyone in the office, holding someone with a hand; not a human, just a puppet under his control. As soon as she realized who was that person (which didn't take too long because she knew him like the back of her hand), she felt the blood leaving her body, leaving her colder than ice.

"Oh, Barry"

She felt herself walking, moving, but she didn't really know what she was doing; it was as if her body took control of her when her mind was unable to.

"Look at you hero" Iris didn't even hear the cameras shooting and taking photos from everywhere around her; if he had been paying attention to them, she would have prevented that from happening and from humiliating her friend, her brother. But she just couldn't heard them, not when she was seeing Barry looking deadly being held with just one hand by someone so nightmarish that still couldn't believe was real. She felt her hands covering her mouth with horror. "This man is no God. He is nothing!"

Then, in less than a second, they were gone and Iris was left feeling helpless and more terrified than she had ever been in her life. But even after Zoom and Barry were gone, she couldn't take her eyes from where they had been in front of everyone until just a moment earlier. She was gasping, unable to get oxygen in her lungs; in her brain, playing over and over and over again was the image of Barry's bloodied and beaten face, not even flinching when Zoom was shaking his lifeless body in the air.

When Iris was returning to her desk, desperate to get her phone to call her dad and S.T.A.R Labs, she realized everyone was in almost the same state of shock as she was. During that past year, The Flash has become not only a metahuman doing good for the city, but Central City's hero, the only one powerful enough to stop threats that could have never been stopped if it hadn't been for him. That image didn't match with the one they had just seen - it had been something no one would ever be able to forget.

She had already grabbed the phone with her hand when she saw her father's name appearing on the screen. With trembling fingers, she answered.

"Iris!"

"Dad! We need to call S.T.A.R. Labs" she was talking too fast, anxious and scared. She felt her legs were trembling, so she put a hand on her desk, redistributing her weight. "Zoom has…"

"…Barry, I know" Iris opened her eyes with horror. She was feeling as if she had been trapped in a nightmare and couldn't wake up. "He was here".

"Where is he?" she sounded desperate; she wasn't referring to Zoom.

"I don't know" Iris bit her lip. She hated that feeling of confusion, of despair, of fear, but it made her more uncomfortable hearing that too in her father's voice. "Stay where you are"

"But Dad..!"

"Please, Iris. I'll call you back"

As soon as the call ended, she threw her phone to her desk out of frustration. How was she supposed to wait there and pretend like nothing had happened? She just couldn't. She felt her eyes wet but controlled herself on time; however, if she had started crying and screaming (the two things she just really wanted to do, apart from throwing away all the stuff she could get her hands on), nothing would have really seen her. Looking around her, all the office was full of activity, more active than any other normal day. Iris frowned when she saw one of them typing quickly on the computer, probably the body of the news telling everyone what had just happened. At that moment, she hated them all - they were treating The Flash not just like the wonderful person they didn't know was under the mask, but like a piece of meat with which a particularly hungry tiger had just played before eating it.

She gave a startle when her phone rang once again. As soon as she saw the name on the screen, she felt as if her heart had stopped beating.

"Dad?" her voice trembled, full of fear. It was impossible to ignore the uneasiness in her stomach, but she just wanted answers.

"Barry's at S.T.A.R. Labs. I'm gonna leave these informs on Singh's desk and heading there as soon as possible"

"I'm coming with you" her voice was filled with determination and stubbornness. She hadn't needed to ask about Barry's condition because she had seen it with her own eyes and knew what the answer was - and the urgency in her Dad's voice had just confirmed it. "I'll meet you at the station"

With nothing else to say, she ended the call with her dad. Still with trembling legs, she turned off her computer, forgetting the news she had been writing an hour ago. It wasn't completed, but she knew it wouldn't be needed for the next day's newspaper, according to the fervor and the urgency with which their partners were working. She felt sick, tired and scared, like the vulnerable girl she never was. She just wanted to get some air and grab some coffees on the way to her Dad. She knew it was going to be a long night.

After giving the last documents to her now boss (the former had died a week ago but they had already found a replacement), she put on her coat and went out. It was a good thing Jitters was in the same street as her office, and not too far from the police station. Her brain was over functioning - was that how Barry felt when he was running? She was in a never ending spiral: her stress made her think of Barry, which reminded him of the scene that had happened earlier at Picture News, that reminded him of Barry's limp form, which made her remember the time when her dad told her he had been struck by lightning. It had been a nightmare she wished she would never have to live again, and yet…

Iris tried to remain in control of herself; if she let herself to feel, she would be lost. She managed it, at least for some time. When she met her Dad and the two got in the car and headed to S.T.A.R. Labs, she focused on the car in front of them, not letting herself to cross looks with her dad. But when they arrived and sprinted all the way towards the cortex, and saw a pool of blood in the floor, surrounded by lots of papers in complete chaos, she felt it was getting harder to regain control. For a moment, she saw Eddie's corpse, getting colder with each passing second, the light of his blue eyes fading as death was claiming him, while she just stared at him, unable to do anything...

"Cisco!" she heard her Dad call.

Before Cisco got to them, they got to see Barry. Whereas her Dad ran towards him, towards his son, she stood were she was, completely frozen; the coffees she had been holding fell to the floor, but she didn't noticed it.

"Barry" she whispered

Barry lied in bed, more dead than alive, surrounded by too many machines and too many wires attached to his body - it was almost like going back in time to when he had been in his nine-month coma and no one knew if he would ever wake up. She noticed he was also wearing a neck brace and that a large white patch was covering his lower abdomen.

She felt as if she was watching a movie. She wanted to scream, to cry, to run away, but found herself unable too, her eyes unable to stop looking at Barry. Her eyes saw her Dad getting into Barry's room, mumbling with tears in his eyes while Caitlin and Wells worked on his son; she wanted to go there too, stroke Barry's hair with tenderness and love, hold his hand and not move until she saw his bright green eyes once again.

She blinked and shook her head when she felt two hands grabbing her shoulder firmly.

"He's going to be fine" Cisco said, looking at her with the same sad and scared look everyone had.

Iris looked away. She couldn't control the tears coming from her eyes; she had been doing it for too long and now it was like when the ocean devoured mercilessly a wrecked boat made of putrefied wood.

"He doesn't look fine, Cisco!" she cried, looking at Barry for a second before turning his head to the Latino.

"He is not" His voice was low; his face somber. Iris gulped. "But we're not gonna let him slip away from us so easily".