Within Seconds // Barry Allen

Pawns, Kings, Queens

Considering the last time they left Barry alone, he was almost frozen to death, Parker was eager to offer her aid. She knew an objection would occur, if he knew, so she stepped on the balls of her shoes to prevent him from hearing her steps. She thought she was slick. 

Barry's hand raised into the air. He signaled to an upcoming door frame, silently ordering her to hide behind it. He relaxed when she obeyed. Any decision to slim the chance of her being electrocuted was a decision he was going to take. 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Easy!" shouted Barry. He stepped into the door, hands raised in surrender. "I'm not gonna hurt you!"

"You can't hurt me. Where is Harrison Wells?" demanded Farooq. 

"Look, I know what happened to you. The night of the Accelerator explosion, it changed you. It changed me, too."

"You were the one in the red suit. I fed from you. I have to keep feeding."

Barry inhaled a sharp breath. "Hey, all right, I know this has to be terrifying, that's why I want to help you, okay?"

Cisco slapped Parker's hands away from her mouth, stopping her from nibbling on her nails. She held her hands against the wall, resorting to drumming rather than damaging her nails.

"The night of the explosion when the light hit me, it stopped my heart. Jake and Darya..."

"They were your friends," said Barry. 

"I woke up and they were beside me, dead. They tried to give me CPR, they were touching me, and... I electrocuted them."

"This is not your fault."

"I know. Wells did this to me."

Crackles of electricity reached Parker's ears. Her jagged fingernails dug into the palms of her hands nervously. 

Cisco gripped the back of Parker's shirt, holding her in place, in case she felt the urge to give away their unknown cover. 

Farooq ignored Barry's pleas. He whipped jolts of electricity at Barry, throwing the man across the hallway. He stepped forward to finish the job, but was blocked, by the heavy door dropping shut. 

"Not sure how long that'll hold," admitted Cisco. 

Parker dropped to the floor. She undid the first few buttons on Barry's shirt, hands roaming across his chest, to find the mark of impact on his skin. 

It was relatively surprising when Barry was the one to cheekily say, "Eager to get me shirtless, Sylas?" and not Cisco.

"Could you pick a worse time to flirt?" scoffed Parker. 

"Done being noble, Mr. Allen?" asked Dr. Wells impatiently. 

Despite his pride, Barry nodded. 

"Caitlin, get him to the treadmill. Cisco, bring the generator online. Make sure Barry gets the charge," ordered Dr. Wells.

Caitlin grabbed Barry's wrists and yanked him to his feet. 

"Wait, Doc, what am I supposed to do?" called Parker after him. 

Dr. Wells and Cisco were in their own heated conversation, too caught to hear Parker's question. In response, Barry snatched her hand and tugged her along with he and Caitlin. 

"Hey, wait, Cisco never responded, maybe he needed help with the generator," protested Parker.

"Cisco can't protect you," panted Barry. 

"You aren't exactly in the right position to be doing it either!"

Barry collapsed on the treadmill. He stared up at her, pleading. He wanted to keep her within his grasp, knowing that, if the chance occurred, Parker was reckless enough to take Farooq on alone without any thought.