Description: Rachel is a new meta with a juicy past and an interesting future. She's dating dr. Harrison Wells and befriending the team, not long after starting to have visions about a certain speedster.

Song for this story:

Follow the path
To where no one's ever been
Don't turn around
Until you reach the end
Across the sea
And beyond the distant lands
The world awaits
So don't make any plans

There you go
There you go

When every step
Takes you a thousand miles away
You'll find the edge
Beyond the break of day
And leave behind
Everything you've ever had
The one's you love
The pillows in your bed

There you go
There you go

What you call home
Is a box of memories
Forever lost
But good enough to keep
Cause you don't know
What tomorrow holds for you
Another path
Or just a glimpse of truth

There you go
There you go

There's a place at the end of the road
Where our lives turn to light pure as gold
Where the past is just a sparkle of time
And the world is all good by design

This is not a farewell
Just a goodbye

Andrew's Song, IMAscore

Meet Rachel

It was all still so new to Barry. To discover that he had not only spent the entirety of nine months in a coma, but also came out of it as a meta, a speedster… was mind-blowing.

Ever since he'd woken up everything was changed, starting from the things that were the closest to home like his adoptive father, Joe, losing his partner; and Iris, his daughter and Barry's adoptive sister, actually dating his new one in secret. Then, S.T.A.R. Labs closed down and was currently in ruins after the particle accelerator explosion that had also caused Barry's idol, dr. Harrison Wells and the newest city paria; to land up in a wheelchair. He and the small team of scientists who were still by his side – Caitlin and Cisco – had actually saved Barry and it was thanks to their research and providing him a bed directly at the Labs that he knew what was happening to him. Caitlin had also tragically lost her fiancé who was the main engineer on the project.

They all seemed to be thrown into this together, somehow ending up needing one another in order to even begin to heal and – in Barry's case – to understand his speeding powers and what he could actually do with them. All the metas they'd encountered so far had turned out to be evil and using their powers in the worst way possible. However, Barry was determined to do the opposite, in the miracle of his speed only seeing a chance to help as many people as he could. It was truly all he ever wanted to do and that was also why he had become a CSI in the first place.

Today Caitlin and Cisco were giving him a definitive tour of the facility, showing him where everything was while using the probably small window of no crisis in the city and no new meta on the loose.

They were right in the middle of it when they heard a distant elevator tone indicating it just stopped on the current floor, sliding open.

"Oh, hey, that's dr. Wells and his girlfriend!" Cisco happily provided the information. "She's young. And hot," he then added when smiling to Barry. "Let's go! We can introduce you!"

"I… I got a few tests to run," Caitlin said and turned around in a haste, putting more and more distance between dr. Wells, the woman in question and herself.

"Anddd… there we go again! For some reason Caitlin always avoids her," Cisco pointed out, looking after his friend suspiciously. "Wait a moment…" he then gasped on the sudden realization. "Caitlin, have you ever even met Rachel?"

"What? Me? Of course I have!" Cait threw their way a little too fast and just continued walking.

"Nah! Nah ah! Stoooop! Stop it right there!"

She listened, albeit reluctantly and sighed heavily before slowly turning around to face her friends again.

"Maybe, but you keep avoiding her. I dunno why. She's always so nice! Her hair is also so cool," Cisco added after a moment of thought. "I wonder if it's real…"

"It's not," Caitlin answered automatically and covered her mouth with her hand immediately after, her face turning all red. After that, to both of the men's astonishment, she ran away.

"The heck was that?" Cisco asked in confusion and they followed her into her lab where he encouraged, "Spill the beans, girl! I smell a history somewhere in there and I'm dying to find out what it is… Oh, come on!" he added when Caitlin shot him a look. "It can't be that bad! What has she ever done to you that you hate her so much?"

"I never said I hated her."

"Then what is it?! Why else would you always run away from her?!"

"Fine! I dated her! Happy?!" Caitlin burst and then folded her arms across her chest in a protective gesture, looking everywhere but at them.

There was sudden silence as equally stunned Barry and Cisco were processing those words.

"It wasn't all that serious. We just had… a phase… and we both knew it wasn't actually leading to anything and it just… ended," she explained, shrugging. "She actually met dr. Wells through me… when he recruited me. The rest is history. Oh, and by the way, her natural hair color is brown. She started dying it dark red after college. And yes, it's her color. Anything else that you would like to know?"

"Wow," was all Cisco was capable of uttering. "Talking about silent water…" he added a few moments later. "I want all the details! I mean…"

"Dude!" Barry chastised him, actually blushing.

"I mean no! Not all the details! But you gotta gimme something! Was there bad blood between you two? Were you heartbroken and that's why you don't want to see her now?"

"No! Cisco, I just told you we weren't really serious! I mean…" This time it was Caitlin who turned crimson since everyone seemed to get the 'idea' of not being serious. "It ran its course, ok? There was never any hard feelings."

"But that still doesn't answer my question about why you're avoiding her?" Cisco kept on pushing.

"I don't know… because it's awkward, I guess. She's in a relationship with dr. Wells, with the man I work for. They love each other and they're serious. What he must be thinking…" She shook his head at the very thought.

"Why would he think anything at all? You said it yourself, there wasn't any hard feelings. You're all ok," Barry pointed out.

"I still feel weird about it around him."

"We're not judging. He won't either," Cisco backed Barry up. "But wait… then you met Ronnie and you wanted to marry him."

"Yes and I loved him with all of my heart. Your point being?"

"So, you… swing both ways?"

At this point it all became way too awkward for Barry and he scratched his head, wondering whether he could just leave unnoticed. Probably not since they were on this tour for him.

"Once," Caitlin responded, by now in exasperation. "We swing the other way once. With her. At least I think so. I have no way of knowing when it comes to Rachel."

"Cait, this is ridiculous. You need to face her and get this over with! And Barry needs to be introduced to her anyway, right Barry?" Cisco suddenly turned to the man in question.

"Um…"

"Perfect! Let's go!"

Eventually, Caitlin did let herself be convinced, because her friend was actually right, it was ridiculous to hide every time Rachel was around. They were adults for god's sake!

Cisco led both Barry and Caitlin to the cortex where they found dr. Wells in the company of a very attractive red head. She wasn't very tall, her body slim and nicely shaped; hair – as Cisco had already pointed out – a dark auburn red falling in a delicate wavy cascade down her back. When she looked up at the newcomers, Barry also noticed that her eyes had a very interesting and peculiar color of radiant green.

"Hi, Rachel!" Cisco spoke first. "This is Barry Allen. I thought I'd introduce you, guys since he's gonna be hanging around here a lot from now on. He's the…" he almost slipped and revealed Barry's secret. Luckily, he stopped himself just in time and corrected quickly, "the man who got struck by lightning!"

"You are the one who was in a coma for nine months!" Rachel immediately picked up on that when turning to him. "I'm so sorry about that, Barry. I heard all about it from Harrison. I'm glad you've finally woken up. My name is Rachel." She reached her hand out to him.

The moment he shook it something weird happened. She got struck with a very strong headache and in the same time saw a flash of something strange in her mind, but it faded away way too fast for her to actually be able to identify it.

"Are you ok?" Caitlin and Barry asked in the same time, seeing the woman letting go of Barry's hand immediately and pressing her own to her forehead.

"Yeah… yeah… was just hit with a very weird headache."

Dr. Wells was only watching her in silence.

"I actually get them a lot recently," Rachel admitted after a moment.

"It's probably nothing, but I can check you up if…" Caitlin started and then stopped, wearing a mortified expression. "It's just because… I'm a doctor… my first impulse is always to help," she added quickly.

"That's ok. Thanks for the offer, but I'm fine for now." Rachel waved it off, absolutely not phased. "How have you been, by the way? I never see you around when I come over and I've been meaning to check up on you. I hope you're feeling better, considering…" her voice trailed off as though she didn't want to say it aloud. Caitlin losing her fiancé in such tragic circumstances was hard enough.

"I've… been better, yes, thank you," Caitlin responded and that seemed to be it. Also, Cisco seemed to be very proud of himself.

"Anyways, I have to go, but it was nice seeing you, guys and meeting you, Barry," Rachel said her goodbyes. It did not miss Barry's attention that she didn't kiss dr. Wells, but the man didn't seem like the type for public displays of affection anyway.