It felt like someone put a hammer down on her head. Repeatedly.
Over and over and over again. Splitting her skull open.
It couldn't be the appearance of the Weather Wizard. He was powerful, yes, but he was just another new meta in town, nothing more, nothing less. Besides, Rachel could somehow tell that it was more than that. She just had no idea what exactly.
Soon enough, the pain started driving her crazy and, despite the still early hour, she buried herself in bed. She'd taken a strong painkiller, but it wasn't helping at all, so she contemplated a visit to the Labs. Only she didn't look forward to the journey there. Maybe she could call Barry for a lift…
Suddenly, something flashed in front of her eyes and she was looking at both Harrison and Cisco, having the worst of feelings. They did have the theory that the closer she was to a person, the stronger the vision of them could be. The question was what it had to do with those two as they clearly weren't metas.
It could only mean one thing - they were in danger, she guessed and before she knew it, she was getting to her feet, grabbing her coat and leaving the house; the pain pushed away, replaced by genuine fear. In the same time, she tried dialing Barry, but to no avail. He must've been busy with the Weather Wizard.
Half the way there, she was hit with a full-blown panic and wasn't sure anymore whether it was just her fear or something more. Something brought on by her vision and how close she was to the two people it concerned.
Finally, with a tremendous effort due to the hammering in her head, she reached the cortex at S.T.A.R. Labs and a brief glimpse at the main computer screen told her that Cisco was busy downstairs with the construction they'd used before to ineffectively trap the Reverse Flash. Could the meta be making an appearance once more? She wondered, immediately directing herself there as well.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, not even her visions could prepare her for what she witnessed. In fact, she wasn't sure she would ever be able to recover from that. It was a miracle she managed to swallow the full of terror scream already forming itself on her lips.
She saw Harrison and Cisco facing each other. Standing.
If that wasn't enough of a shock to her – to see Harrison actually stand as though it cost him no effort at all… He was vibrating his hand and before Rachel knew it, he drove it straight into Cisco's chest, killing the young man on the spot.
She stifled a scream and turned around, desperately trying to look for a hiding spot, shaking all over, her headache forgotten as she suddenly found herself fighting for her own life. Finding a place to hide seemed to be standing between her life and death at the moment.
Cisco… Cisco… Cisco was dead. What more, Harrison Wells, the man Rachel was in a relationship with, the man she loved, the man she shared a bed with… he was the killer. He possessed some unnatural gifts and it didn't take much to figure out that he was apparently a meta and… She almost froze, nearly going into a catatonic state when realizing the truth, the biggest secret, the most vile play… her hand flying up to close her mouth, to stop herself from screaming.
#*#*#
It felt like someone put a hammer down on her head. Repeatedly.
Over and over and over again. Splitting her skull open.
It couldn't be the appearance of the Weather Wizard. He was powerful, yes, but he was just another new meta in town, nothing more, nothing less. Besides, somehow Rachel could tell that it was more than that. She just had no idea what exactly.
There were some weird flashes in her mind, but she couldn't make any of them out, though they felt wrong somehow. She had the worst of feelings that something big was fundamentally wrong and she couldn't figure out what it was. It was quite literally driving her insane.
She'd felt this way ever since she'd woken up that day and the dream she'd had… She couldn't recall much of it, but it'd been such a nightmare that she started to tremble every time she dared thinking about it, so eventually, she gave up trying to remember, deciding that letting go was for the best. It was just a dream, after all. Nothing important.
Next thing she knew, Cisco popped into her head and her headache stopped altogether.
She frowned, not understanding this vision and wondering whether it was possible that Cisco was a meta and didn't know about it yet. Then again, why would the pain stop so suddenly, so smoothly? That had never happened before.
She had an inexplicable urge to see Cisco, to make sure that he was all right and eventually, she decided to follow up on it.
It didn't take her long as she was in a rush and then was forced to come to a sudden stop when she spotted every single Team Flash member in the Cortex, including the man she needed to make sure was safe.
"Is everything all right?!" Rachel still asked in an urgent tone. "Are you ok?!" She ran over to Cisco and looked at him closely, checking up on him.
"Um… yeah?" e responded, clearly very unsure of what to make out of this situation. "Why?" he then asked suspiciously.
"You're not hurt and you haven't suddenly discovered you're… a meta maybe?" she hinted while squinting her eyes.
"Um… no…? I think I knew if I was a meta. Am I a meta?" He immediately turned to the rest of the team.
They all returned his flabbergasted stare.
"Well… I had a horrible, horrible headache this morning," Rachel followed with an explanation, "and it suddenly just stopped when Cisco popped into my mind like a vision and… I don't know. It was very unusual, so I thought maybe he was or would soon be attacked by someone or… maybe even developed powers."
"…or was going to develop them?" hinted Harrison, narrowing his eyes while looking at Cisco as though this could help him see right into the man's future.
"But that doesn't make any sense. He would've already had them," Caitlin disagreed. "We haven't heard of a meta that developed powers late yet, so I would say it's easy to assume it happens instantaneously. The change to the molecular level was prompted by the particle accelerator explosion. And it happened over a year ago."
"I don't know. I'm not the scientist here. I'm just telling you what I've seen." Rachel was at a loss.
"Man, I wish a pretty girl would rush to make sure I'm all right every day," Cisco said in a dreamy voice and they all laughed, except Harrison who voiced a threat, "Careful there, Ramon," which prompted another burst of laugher. All till Rachel put her hands to her head and shut her eyes, her face contorted in pain.
"What is it?" Harrison immediately asked in concern.
"Weather Wizard… Barry, better hurry."
Who would think that Cisco's wish would come true when he was later on picked up in a bar by a pretty girl way out of his league and… lured straight right into Leonard Snart's trap.
"Are you ok?" Rachel asked him once the dreadful day was coming to an end and Cisco was luckily safely back at S.T.A.R. Labs. He'd told Snart Barry's secret, because the man had tortured his brother, Dante. "You do know that you didn't do anything wrong, don't you?" she then made sure.
Only a few lights were still burning, everyone except them and Harrison, who'd promised her he would just take a moment; had gone home.
"And no one is mad at me. Yeah, I know, but it still feels…"
"I know." She nodded, understanding perfectly. "If someone was torturing Harrison or… any of you, actually… I'd tell them everything they wanted to know on the spot as well. There would be no other way, because I care for you, guys. There would also be no shame in it. I'd feel like you do right now, I'm sure, but still, I wouldn't do anything differently. So, please do me a favor and let it go, ok?"
He nodded, sending her way a small smile.
"Thank you, Rachel."
"Of course."
"You're a very good friend. And thank you for earlier… you did warn me, there."
She frowned at the reminder. "I'm not exactly sure that whatever I saw had something to do with your kidnapping, Cisco," she admitted. "Leonard, his sister… they're not metas. And I can only see metas."
"Or maybe your powers are growing and we still don't understand them," Cisco provided a possible explanation.
"Maybe. We will have to live and see, I guess."
"Ready?" Harrison appeared in the door in that very moment.
"Please, go home as well." Rachel stilled turned to Cisco on her way out. "Get some rest."
Sometime later
"Barry…" Caitlin started, still in shock. She thought of the one person who deserved to know the truth more than anyone else. "Barry, we should talk to…"
"What if… What if she's in on it?" Barry asked the perfect question when whirling on both Caitlin and Cisco, causing them to come to a startled stop.
They'd just seen the secret room in the Labs and discovered the Reverse Flash suit in there. They also needed to get out as fast as possible before Harrison Wells would realize they were even there.
"What? No! No way!" Caitlin immediately protested. "Barry, Rachel is just as clueless as we all were! There's no way she's in league with the Reverse Flash… Oh, god…" she then groaned when placing her hands on her head. "This is going to be devastating to her! This will be the worst news she can get! It will ruin her life!"
"No, it ruined my father's life," Barry protested, still emotional.
"Yes, it did and she is in love with… with a person she apparently doesn't even know. Don't you realize?! She's sharing a life with someone who isn't who she thinks he is! It will absolutely devastate her! Should I talk to her first, maybe?" Caitlin suddenly suggested.
"No," Barry disagreed, shaking his head. "She's been trying to get a hold of me recently and I… I've kind of been avoiding her, because I had no idea what I should even tell her and how… God, you're right. This is going to be a tough one."
"But we can't keep her in the dark. Right now she's the closest person to dr. Wells. She's quite literally sleeping with the enemy," Cisco made a good argument and Barry nodded in agreement.
"I'll give her a call. We're gonna need her on board with this anyway. Maybe she can even help us. You're right – she is the closest to Wells."
"Just be careful, please," Caitlin warned Barry before he dialed Rachel's number. "The last thing I want is to see her get hurt and by hurt now, I mean physically. We need to be super cautious of how we proceed. We cannot trust dr. Wells that he even truly cares about her since he seemed to care about all of us and look where it got us…"
Rachel was a bit intrigued and also a little taken aback when Barry called her and asked her to meet him at his lab at the police station. Out of all the places he might want to see her in, this was the strangest pick. It wasn't as though she could actually use her powers to help him with a case - it didn't work that way and was restricted only to metahumans. Then again, she wasn't sure he deserved any kind of help from her at the moment since he'd been ditching her calls and messages for days. She'd liked to believe they'd been closer than this, that they'd been becoming good friends, therefore she really couldn't understand why he'd started acting like this out of the sudden. Then, there were also Caitlin and Cisco, both with a lot on their plates when working for the Labs, but it in the same time, it was so out of character for them to just ignore her like this.
She received her surprise when she showed up at the appointed time and place and found not only Barry there, but also the other two.
"Um… hi," she said, a little unsure. "What's with the gathering? Why couldn't we just meet at S.T.A.R. Labs?"
"Hi, Rachel, listen…" Barry started, getting up from his perched position at the edge of his desk and immediately running his hands through his hair in a nervous gesture.
"What's wrong?" She could feel it coming, though she had no way of knowing what it was just yet; for now having a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, a foreboding of something absolutely catastrophic happening, throwing her off her axis and causing her world to spin. What could possibly be so hard to say? What could possibly be the reason to the three of them avoiding her recently? What did they all have in common? S.T.A.R. Labs. "You're scaring me. What's happening?" she asked again, her body starting to slightly tremble.
"There's something we have to tell you and it's not going to be easy. It's been extremely hard on all of us and… and you also deserve to know."
"Is Harrison ok? But then, if there was an emergency, the hospital would call me… or… or you'd say that right away, right? Is he ok?!" she started to panic.
"He's more than ok," Barry responded slowly, causing Rachel to frown for a change.
"Barry, please, just tell me what's going on…"
"You might want to sit first." Caitlin offered her a chair, but the other woman ignored her.
"Guys, better tell me right now or I swear…" she threatened, growing pale.
"Harrison Wells is the Reverse Flash, Rachel," Barry finally did; done sugarcoating, done stalling. There was never going to be an easy way to say this anyway.
Long silence followed his reveal during which Rachel was speechless, her mind going completely blank until…
"You're kidding me, right? Guys?! Right?!" She looked around in desperation, but no one was laughing. "Guys! Don't you think that if this was true, I'd notice?! I basically live with the man!"
"And he never seemed distant to you or lied to you, saying that he was at work when we were all already done with it? Long hours in the office? Sometimes even nights? Strange disappearances?" Barry prompted. "In fact, I recall you telling me once that he was working late the other night and I was surprised, because that day we actually finished pretty early, no crisis in sight."
Rachel went silent again, not really able to think at all, the shock refusing to leave her body, quite the contrary, actually – it was only getting worse.
"But… but he's in a wheelchair," she stated the obvious. "He can't possibly be a speedster."
"That's something we still need to figure out," Cisco agreed gently. "Whether this wheelchair's just for show or there're more to it, but…"
"What are you talking about?!" This time she truly raised her voice, not able to take this anymore. "Guys! You're talking to Harrison's actual girlfriend! We sleep together! Don't you think I'd fucking notice if his legs actually moved?!"
"Like I said… there's probably more to it…" Cisco repeated, his voice very cautious.
"Rachel…" Barry made a step forward, his hands reaching out to her, but she moved back, tears filling her eyes.
"No," she said, shaking her head. "No, this isn't possible."
"We found his secret room at the Labs and the Reverse Flash suit in it," Barry provided the information slowly. "I can even take you there if you want me to. You can see it with your own eyes. And… there's more..."
"More?! What more could you possibly have?! You caught him on tape?!"
Her body was trembling, tears started to flood her face, heart was beating way too fast and she felt like she was also hyperventilating. Yet, her brain still denied everything she'd heard. It denied that her friends wouldn't joke about something like this. Not to her. If they were so sure, they needed to have a solid proof…
"Detective West and I, we took a trip to Star City. It's where dr. Wells originally comes from. We found a body exactly where an accident happened many years ago. The very accident that killed the woman he loved back then. And this body belongs to Harrison Wells."
"What… what are you saying?" Rachel kept on shaking her head, not really wanting to hear more.
"It means that the man we think is dr. Wells, is in fact someone else, probably pretending to be him. He must've killed him and Tess Morgan, the girlfriend; and taken over his identity," Caitlin provided with and Rachel felt like the ground had just disappeared from beneath her feet. Like she'd just lost everything. The man she loved, the man she shared her life with… all the signs… their recent troubles… all of that…
"Whoa!" Barry gasped, spotting Rachel losing her balance, nearly tumbling to the floor and he caught her just in time, helping her over to the previously offered by Caitlin chair. "Easy there, easy… Guys, we need some water here."
She was crying. She didn't even notice that her hands clenched over Barry's arms when he helped her and she just now registered that she needed to let him go.
"I… I… I can't… I…" She couldn't even form a coherent sentence; stress and grief and fear and all kinds of feelings no one wanted to feel, overcame her.
She took the offered glass and drunk all the water, but it didn't really make her feel any better.
She wasn't sure anything could, to be honest.
"Rachel… when you had that weird feeling that I was in danger…" Cisco then started slowly, "was dr. Wells involved as well?"
"No… I mean…" She frowned, her hand going up to her head. "I don't think so… but I'm very confused about that. It felt so… so out of whack."
"Because I've been having dreams ever since. Only they don't really seem like dreams… they're more real than that. Dr. Wells… he… he killed me… but it couldn't have happened, because I am obviously not dead."
"Actually…" Barry started carefully, "a few weeks back, I accidentally ran back to the past and definitely changed something about the future. Caitlin…" he then realized, "right before I did… you… you called me, saying something about dr. Wells. You seemed very panicked, but I told you it wasn't important at the moment, because Central City was about to be destroyed…"
"Wait, are you saying what I think you're saying?" Cisco asked with his eyes opened widely. "Are you saying that dr. Wells actually did… kill me?"
"I… I had the vision of the Reverse Flash when he was actually near me," Rachel then realized, still sobbing. "I never… I never connected… Oh!" She put both of her hands to her head, clearly hit with horrible headache, her eyes shutting.
"Rachel?" Barry asked slowly, quietly.
"You… you were right. I saw him. I saw him in the suit, but without the mask. Harrison… Harrison is the Reverse Flash," she barely managed to utter. "Why… Why didn't he do anything to me?" she then asked. "He knew about my powers. He must've realized that sooner or later, I'd see him. Yet, he never hurt me."
"Don't be fooled. I think you were too emotionally involved to truly see him for who he was. You simply didn't want to. Besides, your powers haven't fully developed yet. He must've known that he still had time," Caitlin tried to explain it somehow.
"But… what do I do now?" Rachel asked in such a devastatingly sad and helpless voice that something deep inside of Barry stirred and he wanted nothing more than to go over to her and take her into his arms and comfort her. The thing was that he knew there was nothing he could do or say to actually make her feel better.
"What we all do. We find out what was the memory Cisco repressed. We found out what happened in that timeline and we take it from there. We need to set a trap."
"Keep Rachel out of it," Caitlin said loud and clear when moving to her friend who was still sitting in the chair. She put her hands on Rachel's shoulders from behind for some modicum of comfort and protection. "She's too vulnerable right now. We can't ask her to help us set a trap. We don't even know whether dr. Wells truly cares for her or not. We thought he cared about all of us and look at the mess we're in now."
"That's… that's not comforting at all. The one man I was serious about, the one man I actually imagined my future with… Oh, god…" Rachel hid her face in her hands. "I stood by him all this time. Paralyzed… defamed… I was there through it all and… and he…"