Within Seconds // Barry Allen

Cold Heart

Carelessness brought another thought to her mind: what if she had died? She spent her entire life believing she would die old, painlessly.

As her eyes ran over the picture of her siblings beside her bed, Parker a strangled cry came from her throat. Her tears were flowing like an endless stream.

She had built a life in Central City, with her friends. They served as her own dysfunctional family that had kept her sane, distracted, so much that she hadn't talked to her real family in months.

If anything had happened last night, if Parker had truly died, she would have left without being in touch with her family.

And what of Team Flash? Not only did she become aware of how unaffected the team would be by her death, but if she didn't start using her head, death might have exterminated the chance to be apart of something great.

That was the reason Parker joined S.T.A.R. Labs. She had heard of the Particle Accelerator, how far it was supposed to take the human race into technology. She loved the idea of joining a company that was set to work on making the world a better place.

When S.T.A.R. Labs made a mark on the world, her name would be there. In small, two-inch letters, but she would have contributed.

Then, everything went wrong. The only good thing out of the explosion, so far, was the Flash.

There were risks of being on the team: someone finding the base (Farooq); someone seeing their faces (Captain Cold); dying.

Parker understood those possibilities when she joined. However, when she joined, she wasn't holding a deep admiration for Barry Allen.

Those situations were different when brought up. She had built relationships with Cisco, Dr.Wells, and Caitlin.

She had formed a connection with the Flash. With the man behind the mask. Being close to Barry Allen had opened her eyes to the flaws of being on Team Flash.

She had thousands of questions swimming through her brain, but the one that popped up most often was: is this honestly that safe?

Apart from wanting to leave a positive mark on the world, Barry was a reason she wanted to stay. There was him; their was a chance of a possible future together.

Parker was never one to dream of having children, but if she did, she wanted them to be half Barry Allen. She could tell her future children tales of her adventures helping the Flash. If they lived long enough to have children.

Parker despised thinking like that. She hated that above all: treating her job like it was a ticking bomb. There was only so long before somehing happened or someone died, before someone in their little family died, or worse, Barry himself.

Parker hated the clock counting down in the corners of her mind. She was always told to remember to live each day like it's your last. She liked to try. But with her job, she felt like her clock had went from one-hundred to fifty.

She didn't know where to go from such a low point in her life.