chapter twenty-one;
rosie
"Hey," Barry sighed as Joe entered the cell where he and Adley had been for just under half an hour. She stood in an odd position, her left foot resting on the back of her right knee. Joe quirked a brow at this before passing over it.
"The security cameras in half the prison are shut down," Joe explained. "Then Clay Parker, according to this data log, who was still locked in his cell, somehow vanishes."
"Not completely." Adley grinned in pride as Barry showed off his intelligence with some crumbs in a vial. She didn't know what it was, really she never knew what anything Barry ever talked about meant.
"What's that?" Joe voiced her thoughts.
Barry smirked, bringing the vial closer to Joe. "It's some kind of organic particulate residual. I found it on the floor in here, just outside the cell, out in the hallway," he jabbed his thumb out the window behind him, "Trail led me all the way outside." Then a silence fell upon the cell, Barry looking up, his jaw falling slack at the doorway. "Dad," he whispered, stepping forward. His dad's lips curled in a huge grin, and Adley turned just in time to see it.
She looked at the sight in awe, twiddling her thumbs but still smiling all the same.
"Who's this?" Mr. Allen asked, turning to the girl stood in the cell.
"Uh, dad," Barry gulped, "This is my girlfriend, Adley." She stepped forward, extending a hand.
"Adley Rose Heap," she grinned, "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Don't look so scared, Rosie." Adley's face broke into the happiest expression Barry had ever seen her have at the use of the nickname. Henry wrapped his hand around hers shaking it. "Thank you for taking care of my boy."
"Thank you for raising mine," she bit her lip, and Henry smiled at her unkeeled nerves. "So word around here is, Parker pulled a Shawshank?" Henry switched the subject, stepping back closer to Barry.
"Yep, and none of the other prisoners heard or saw anything," Joe continued.
"Well, they wouldn't talk to you about it," Henry teased.
Barry raised his eyebrows. "Leaves us with not a lot to go on."
Henry sighed in content. "Well, if there's anyone who can figure out how Parker got out of here, it's you, Son."
The guard from behind Henry looked up and down the hall before turning back to the cell. "Come on, Allen, let's go."
"Duty calls," Henry teased, Barry whispering a goodbye.
"So, my dad just happened to come by?" Barry narrowed his eyes at Joe.
"The guard owed me a favor." Joe shrugged.
"Thank you." Barry smiled warmly.
On the way out of Iron Heights, Barry reached down to grasp Adley's hand. "So what was with the whole, Rosie, thing?" He asked. He could feel her gears turning, searching for a response.
"My dad used to call me Rosie. I think it's a dad thing," she replied. "That's why I always introduce myself as Adley Rose Heap, because Rose is as much of my name as Adley is. Always has been, always will be. My dad was the only one who called me Rosie."
"Ads," Barry frowned, stopping her. He grabbed her hands. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she sucked her cheek.
"No," Barry shook his head, dismissing the false answer, "I want you to answer me. How are you feeling?"
"I'm sad," Adley curled her hands into fists and uncurled them. "I'm always sad."
Barry felt a slight anger rise in his throat. "Don't say that."
"You asked me to answer you!" Adley whined. "I did!"
"But you're not always sad!" Barry protested.
Adley looked furious. "My life sucks Barry! The last thing I said to my dead dad was that I hated him! My brother died right next to me, and I'll never have a decent grip on my emotions! Is that the answer you wanted? Or did you want one where you could just go 'good' and move on, because if you wanted that then you should've ended this at, I'm fine."
"Adley."
"No, you know what, shut up. Just, just stop talking." She caught her hand in her hair, the knotted curls trapping her fingers
"Adl-"
"You asked me a question and I gave you an answer and you didn't want it! What kind of morphed ideal is that? Did you really think my answer was gonna be, 'I'm all right Barry, I've got a beautiful boyfriend who treats me with respect and wants the best for me, and that's all I need is a boy in my life. Parents? No! Siblings who understand me and don't have significant others that know what a mess I am and ignore me? No! I just need you, and that's all I need to be happy.'
"Shit, Barry you're so thick sometimes."
"I'm thick? Really out of the two of us I'm the one who's at fault here? You're one of the most selfish people I've ever had to deal with in my life, every day you have something you're complaining about. You make yourself look like such a badass and then you're always freaking out! You can't take care of yourself at all, you're like a child in the body of a twenty-three-year old, though really what did I expect from someone with no parents." Adley's jaw dropped, her lips open in the shape of words she wanted to yell if she could only find her vocal chords.
Adley stayed silent, eyes glazing over with unshed tears.
"Are you.." Barry felt his heart sink to his stomach. "Please don't cry."
"Shut up, Barry. Honestly, just," Adley blinked rapidly. "I'm gonna call Caitlin to bring me home."
"I could-"
"No. Fuck you." Barry recoiled at the unfabricated hatred she expressed.
"I'm sorry," he murmured. "Goodbye," he added, remembering how a lack of goodbyes made her uncomfortable, and he left her there in the parking lot of Iron Heights prison, wondering how things had shifted so drastically.
Caitlin showed up about ten minutes later, unaware as to what had happened, only that Adley called her crying and asking her to pick her up.
"Adley?" Caitlin stepped towards her friend, who sat with her head in her hands.
"I shouldn't have told him to go. Now he's gonna think I hate him," she whispered into her palms.
"What happened?"
"We just, started talking about my dad and then, things escalated so quickly, I don't even know what just happened." Adley had a lost look in her eyes, tears falling from them on their own accord, rivulets down her cheeks.
"So you guys fought?"
"He called me an orphan."
"What?"
"Yeah."
"But Barry's.."
"I know. I don't know what happened I said that already."
"But you guys are so.."
"Probably too much so."
"Do you just want me take you home?" Adley wiggled her fingers, wishing there was something wrapped around them. Her throat tightened, thinking of Barry's grip just moments ago, before nodding. "You guys will figure this out," Caitlin assured her.
Adley had never been in a proper relationship, at least not one that made her feel like Barry did. He made her feel like her bones were set on fire, heart aflame with a love she'd never experienced before. She didn't know who to talk to because the only person she ever wanted to talk to was him. After a restless sleep, she decided she needed a break. One from the Flash, from her boyfriend, from S.T.A.R. Labs, one from Central City in total. She had sipped this brew for too long and missed the sea. She pulled out her phone, texting a quick message to her brother.
Finn,
I'm coming for a visit. I'll see you soon.
Sounds good, sis. Of course I'll need some kind of explanation, but until then I'll believe it's because you miss your big brother.
She pulled her lips into a thin line, before throwing a several articles of clothing into a backpack, filling it with the items from her purse so that she had all that she needed. She stopped in her family room, eyes trained on a picture frame. In it was a picture of her on Barry's back, looking terrified, but smiling. They were happy, and in love, and that's why she took the frame and put it face down on the table.
She scrawled an emergency note on her counter, in case Barry came to try to talk to her. Secretly, she hoped he would, but wasn't expecting much.
She stopped short at the curve on the bottom of her R, thinking of the initial that got her in this mess.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, her words almost silent, a tear dripping onto the note.
a/n: i've wounded myself
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