33

I walk into the hall that leads into the cortex, starting to slightly pace in the middle of the hallway.

I was thinking about so many things, I didn't know what to do with myself instead of pacing. I let my hair down from my bun, it falling down to its full length to my waist, it being wavy and slightly messy. I put the hair tie onto my wrist, and run a hand through my hair, fixing it as much as I could, as I continued to pace, my fingers playing with the hair tie that rested on my wrist.

I heard footsteps come down the hall, but I completely ignore them, as I continue to pace, but my attention was caught when I saw that it was Barry Allen, walking towards it, but it didn't stop me from pacing back and forth in the small area I was already pacing in.

My back turns towards him as I pace, then slowly turns back opposite of him, as he slowly grabs onto my forearms, stopping me, his hands going to my face, as he leans down and presses his lips on mine.

I freeze, but slowly melt into the kiss as my hands go to the back of his neck, feeling suddenly calm. He lightly leads me back into the wall and holds me there, his hands on my hips as the kiss continues for a small while.

As I snap back into reality, I pull away from the kiss, not pulling my face away from his, just slightly tilting my head down. "Barry-" my voice calls out his name weakly, as a small whisper that was threaded with confusion and stress, due to amount of emotions I was feeling at once. "What're you doing-" I ask quietly, but he stops me from talking.

"I'm going out. And getting what makes me happy." He says softly, his voice as quiet as mine to match me, confirming why he was doing this.

"But Patty-" I start to say but he cuts me off, "I went to ccpd and ended it with her." He pauses, then lightly leans his forehead against mine, his voice coming out as a whisper, his voice slightly raspy, "The entire time I was on that date with her- I couldn't focus on her. I kept thinking about you."

I felt as if I was dreaming.

"You finally figured what you want?" I look up at him, my voice still quiet.

A small smile appears on his lips, as he moves his forehead away from mine, giving me a sly nod, "I want you."

Before I could stop myself, I was hugging onto him as tight as I could. A chuckle leaves his lips as he hugs back, holding onto me.

I slip away from his grip, "We should- go- do some- work- cause we're. well-" I try to explain wanting to go to the cortex by everyone else to see if we had anything else to get done, but my words were coming out uncontrollably and confusingly. He laughs quietly then nods, walking into the cortex with me, as I walk over to Caitlin who was looking over Harry's shoulder, whom was watching the footage from our plan over and over.

Barry took a phone call, soon us all knowing t was with Iris, before he pulls his phone away from his ear, "Zoom has Linda." He states, causing panic to build up in my chest, Harry's meta watch going off, the alarms also going off.

"He's on the roof." Cisco states, and with that, Barry was gone.

A shaky breath leaves me, as Caitlin sets a hand on my shoulder, "It'll be okay." She whispers to me.

I blankly nod, as I nervously play with my hands. I had a feeling it wouldn't.

A few minutes later, we were already watching from the computer screen, is crowded around it, as Caitlin spoke, "Zoom cannot be human."

"He is- or was." Harry answers, followed by Cisco speaking, "How the hell is Barry going to defeat that?"

"He's not ready yet." I mess with my hair tie as I spoke; my eyes fixed on the screen.

"Why is he running away?" Harry asks in confusion, the minute Barry runs off. "He's not. He's not scared." Cisco says in amusement, once he sees Barry running in circles around star labs.

"Oh- he's gonna thunderbolt him!" Cisco says loudly, his fist clenched, watching intensely, Harry asking, "What?"

Caitlin answers, "Jay taught him how to throw lightening."

"He's going to do something a complete stranger who barely knows how he lost his speed- taught him- against- Zoom?" I lightly raise my voice, my unease against Jay getting the best of me, my nails now digging into my palm, Harry leaving the room.

My eyes widen as I watched Zoom catch the lightening bolt Barry had thrown at him, at toss it right back at Barry, using it against him. Barry speaks, trying to get up from the ground, "Did you guys see that?"

"See him use your own power against you? No- not at all." I facepalm myself lightly, knowing I was being completely unnecessary right now, but I couldn't stop myself, the words just fell out uncontrollably.

Cisco speaks, "See him catch a bolt of lightening with his demonic claws? Yeah, saw that."

"Jay was right, he cannot do this alone." Caitlin speaks.

"He's not alone." Harry comes in, some type of gun in his hands. "Run, Barry." Caitlin tells, but Barry is quick to deny once he finally gets up.

"No- I'm gonna see if Wells' speed-dampening serum works." He says, then shouts at Zoom, "What do you want from me?"

"Everything." Zoom's voice boomed, fearing picking up in my chest.

"You wanna be me? Is that it? You wanna be a hero?" Barry says, a grin playing on his lips.

"Heroes die." Zoom states, chuckling.

"Only if you can catch them." And with that, they were off, and Harry was outside. "How is Barry gonna match Zoom's speed?" Caitlin asks.

"Genius." Cisco says once he realizes what Barry was doing, "He's not gonna match it. He's gonna take it out of the equation all together."

I give him a confused look as Caitlin takes the words right out of my mouth, "What are you talking about?"

"Terminal Velocity. The highest velocity attainable by a falling object." Cisco says.

"Falling through the air?" Caitlin asks.

"Yeah, free fall fight. Their drag force, quests the downward force of gravity, making the net force zero- making-" Cisco gets cut off when Caitlin finishes it off for him, "Equal velocities- that is genius."

"I don't have a good feeling about this." I mumble, but Cisco speaks, "Don't worry, Barry's got this."

We watch the fight go down, and my heart stops when I see Zoom hurting Barry, Barry not being able to fight back, and Harry standing there, holding his aim, in shock.

A small squeak in fear leaves my mouth, my hand going to my mouth to cover it, when I heard bones cracking, knowing it was from Barry, as he fell to the ground, Zoom still standing.

Zoom catches the dart Harry shoots at him then speaks, "Never forget, I am the fastest man alive." His hands move up, as he stabs the dart into Barry's chest, a grunt leaving his mouth, tears starting to form in my eyes.

"He's killing him-" Caitlin says out of panic, as Cisco sighs, "Barry."

My voice feels like it's gone, as tears slip my eyes. "You're next." We hear Zoom say as he was directly staring at Harry, before grabbing Barry and running off.

He takes him to Picture News and Central City, showing the city what he had done to Barry.

Caitlin and Cisco immediately start trying to find Barry as Harry runs in, coming behind Caitlin, "Anything?"

"No." She shakes her head, still looking.

"Do you have him?" Harry comes behind Cisco, "No." Cisco replies, still looking also.

My eyes dart between their screens, tears falling without control over them. Within seconds, Zoom was standing in front of us, dangling Barry by his suit.

A small shriek comes from my mouth as I was immediately on my feet, Caitlin shouting Barry's name, Cisco also standing. "Harrison Wells, you thought you could defeat me, with this?" Zoom booms, as he takes Barry's mask off, revealing how beat up he looked.

Tears spilled down my cheeks as I try to go to his aid, but Cisco grabs onto my arm, stopping me. "I made a mistake." Harry speaks.

"Yes, a costly one." Zoom says, as he hurts Barry one last time, causing a sob to leave my mouth, as Zoom looks at me.

"How does he feel?" Zoom asks me, once he takes in the state I'm in, holding Barry by his neck, "How does it feel- to watch someone you care about so much. Get killed right in front of you?"

I shake my head, not knowing how to respond, another sob leaving my mouth, noticing Cisco wasn't by my side anymore. "You would know how that feels, wouldn't you?" Zoom hisses at me, as my heart drops as he says that.

Zoom's head snaps toward Barry, "Goodbye, Flash. You, too, weren't fast enough."

Then, Cisco fires a dart at Zoom, as Zoom lets out a painful scream, dropping Barry and running out as quick as he could. I rush over to him, falling to my knees, grabbing onto his hand, knowing he was too weak to hold back, as Caitlin came to Barry's other side, pumping his chest. "Stay with me, Barry. Please-" she repeats, as she continues.

"No!" Harry shouts as he ran into the hall Zoom ran through.

I keep hold on Barry's hand, sobbing quietly, whispering to myself that it was going to be okay, and that he was going to be fine.

-

Dried tears strained my cheeks as I watched Joe and Harry argue, as Cisco reveals he did vibe Harry. My arms were crossed as my heart ached for how much Harry cared for his daughter.

Harry leaves the room, as my eyes dart to Barry.

Cisco, Caitlin and I stayed in that room for as long as it took for him to wake up. We were waiting for Barry to wake up.

"Hey- I think he's waking up." Cisco says as he watches Barry's movement, causing my head to snap in that direction.

Caitlin gets up, "Barry? Barry? Can you hear me?"

I slowly walk over to one side of Barry's bed, opposite of Caitlin and Cisco,my hands at my sides, as I watched him slowly open his eyes, looking at Caitlin and Cisco. "Hey." He whispers.

"You scared the crap out of us. You were gone for a long time." Cisco says.

"How bad is it?" Barry's voice remaining whispered. "Bad. If you didn't heal so quickly, I'd be very worried." Caitlin replies.

"Linda- How is she?" He asks quietly.

"She's fine. She's staying at Coast City with some friends." Cisco replies to him.

"Zee? Is she okay?" Barry asks, causing me to speak up. "I'm fine." I say very quietly, as I see Caitlin look up at him, a small grin on her lips.

Barry's eyes dart to me as his hand reaches out to me lightly, as I grab it lightly, sniffling quietly, my eyes still slightly red from crying.

"Zoom?" Barry asks.

"Let's worry about Zoom when you're up and about- okay?" Cisco closes the conversation about Zoom, his hand going to Barry's leg.

Barry's eyebrows furrowed as he starts to sit up but Caitlin stops him, "Oh no- you're staying put."

"Yeah, seriously, you got your ass kicked." Cisco says, removing his hands.

I slowly let go of his hand as he reaches for his own legs, "No- guys. I can't feel my legs."

My eyebrows furrow in confusion, as he looks between the three of us.

"I can't feel my legs."