Almost - A Flash and Arrow crossover

Chapter 10

Caitlin and Cisco remained at S.T.A.R Labs that night, keeping a watchful eye over Barry. Joe, however, had offered for Diggle, Felicity and a constantly bemused Oliver Queen to stay at his for the night. The detective was working a night shift at the station which was in uproar, due to the two consecutive robberies previously that day. But, much to the surprise of everyone, he had allowed Team Arrow to camp out at his place for the time being. Diggle slept in Joe's room, Felicity in Iris's old bedroom and Oliver in Barry's.

Early the next morning, after Felicity had run to Jitters to get some coffee, they headed back to S.T.A.R Labs. Caitlin met them as they exited the lift and accompanied them on the route to the cortex. Apparently, Barry had, half way through the night, begun to mumble jibberish. Supposedly, it was a good sign, and he would be awake before tomorrow.

"I've already refused, hands down, that I'm not breaking the whole memory-loss situation to him." Said Cisco, raising a hand as they entered. "I went through enough stress with Joe. I swear, that's taken, like, 10 years off my life. Give me a telepathic Gorilla any day!"

Oliver chuckled at Cisco's joking. "Hmm, you're funny." He said aloud.

Everyone turned and looked at Oliver, surprised etched on their faces.

"What?" He said.

"Nothing," Diggle replied. "Just that the Oliver we know would never have found Cisco funny, let alone tell them ... No offence Cisco." He added quickly with a glance at the scientist.

"None taken."

Caitlin relaxed her features and walked up to the bed which Barry lay on.

"Wouldn't it help to get someone he's close to to, you know, break the news?" She asked.

"We're close to him." Said Cisco, a little defensively.

"No," Caitlin shook her head. "Well, I mean, yeah. We are. But I mean someone he might have a stronger connection with. Who he might have more of a chance of remembering."

"Oliver had Felicity. So someone he is emotionally connected to maybe?" Cisco suggested, shrugging his shoulders and turning to look at Oliver.

"That might work better." Felicity chipped in.

"As far as I know, Iris doesn't ... know ... just yet ..." Cisco murmured.

"So Joe?" Said Caitlin.

"I can give him a ca - wait, he was working the night shift. He'd be shattered." Cisco returned the phone he had whipped out back to his pocket. A sigh escaped his lips. Caitlin brushed her hair back from her face in frustration.

"Another thing," Diggle said. "Would it be best to have Hazy-Boy over here-" He stuck his thumb over his shoulder in Oliver's direction. "-in the room with Barry when he first wakes up?"

"What do you mean?" Asked Felicity. Oliver imitated her confused expression.

"I mean, two equally stubborn, crime-fighting, skilled people who both have lost their memories in the same room at the same straight away?" Diggle said, rhetorically. "If you ask me, Barry's gonna be enough trouble as it is. His speed's gonna be a problem. And breaking everything to him at once without anyone he has a strong long-lasting emotional connection to isn't gonna go down well either. Plus, there's the fact that when Oliver first met Barry, he wasn't particularly best buddies with him. How do we know those feeling won't make a reappearance?" He finished, looking dismally at his blonde companion.

"They didn't get along?" Cisco raised his eyebrows.

"No." The tone Felicity used clearly put a stop to the conversation as she turned a bright pink in her cheeks.

"No wait," Oliver spoke up. "I remember him from somewhere. I've seen him before." He was looking at Barry.

Caitlin, intrigued, once again began to interrogate the vigilante.

"What? Really? What do you remember about him?" She looked at Cisco. "How is that possible?"

The scientist and Oliver both shrugged. "Maybe because they were both together when they lost their memories. Or perhaps Oliver feels a kind of guilt over not protecting Barry in the jewelers? So there's a strong remaining emotional ki-"

Diggle sprang to Oliver's defense. "Hey, don't blame ev-"

"Dude, we all saw what happened in the jewelers. It's clear Barry wasn't exactly comfortable with the whole intimidation thing going on so the Arrow took over. Anyone in that kind of situation would feel guilty if they failed to protect someone they were trying to." Quipped Cisco, holding up his hands. His eyes were wide and staring at Diggle.

A groan from the bed in the corner of the cortex brought them back to the topic.

"Right. Well John, you get Oliver out of here. Take him somewhere he hopefully won't be recognised. Jitters isn't too bad. Or just keep him out of the way somewhere in the building." Suggested Felicity. "I'll ring you when it's safe to bring him back."

"I'm right here you know ..." Oliver said, crossing his arms.

"If Barry does start to go into rogue Flash mode, then try and keep them apart. We don't know how they might react and all that."

"Right here ..."

"Me and Cisco can try and explain everything first." Offered Caitlin. "I don't think we'll tell him about his speed until he's, you know ... calmer. We won't tell him Oliver is here just yet either. If they do seem to recongnise each other and start to clash, then they could seriously and unknowingly injure each other. That's the last thing we need."

"Still here ..."

"OK, phone me when you're ready for me to bring him up." Diggle said, flicking his wrist as a 'goodbye' and grabbing Oliver by the arm as he walked out.

"Are you kidding me, I'm literally right here. And I canwalk dude!"

The rest of them walked over to Barry. The speedster's mouth was moving, an occasional moan or babble coming out.

"How do you think he's gonna react?" Asked Felicity, concern lacing her tone. Her eyes were fixed on Barry's uneasy face, trying to surface from unconsciousness.

"Oliver and Joe both took it better than we had expected ..." Cisco tried to reassure them.

"We'll just have to -" Caitlin began.

"Ah!"

Felicity screamed in shock as Barry sat bolt upright from the bed.

"Deja-vu!" Cisco said to Caitlin, his mouth hanging open.