Adorkable - Barry Allen

Chapter 9

Barry's eyes fluttered open to find Cisco and Caitlin standing over him.  A steady beeping could be heard throughout the cortex as he groggily lifted his head.

"The streak lives." Cisco grinned.

"You'd be dead if your lung cells didn't regenerate so quickly." Caitlin said.

Barry groaned, shifting from his position, "Ugh, my chest feels like that one time I had a cigarette." At the odd statement, Caitlin tilted her head in confusion. 

"Yeah, teen me lived for danger." Barry explained. 

"This isn't funny, you could've-" Caitlin began, concern evident in her expression.

"I didn't." Barry interrupted.

After a few minutes, Barry lied down to give himself a short break when he remembered something.

Barry looked over to where Caitlin was standing and opened his mouth to speak before he was cut off by Cisco, "Since you're okay now, I should probably go check up on... s-something."

Caitlin and Dr. Wells nodded their heads clearly knowing where Cisco was headed off to, Barry watched as Cisco walked away and out of sight.

"Where's he going? Why did I see Winnie before I passed out? Is she awake? Can I go see her?" Barry asked trying to get out of the bed without causing too much pain.

Caitlin sighed at Barry's onslaught of questions, "I'm sorry, Barry. Yes, Winnie is awake. She has been for the past two weeks. Cisco's j-"

"Wait...two weeks?  You didn't tell me that she's been awake for the past two weeks?!" Barry began to yell. He was getting seriously annoyed.

"I didn't mean to keep it from you for a long time just until you were done a bit more of your training and I-I'm sorry." Caitlin tried to explain not knowing how she could possibly justify her actions anymore. Her previous excuse seemingly meaningless so, she just settled on asking for an apology.

Dr. Wells watched the exchange wordlessly, it was definitely an awkward position to be in and he didn't think that it would be wise to butt in.

Meanwhile, Barry looked at Caitlin at a loss for words. She'd kept such a big secret from him, one that Cisco and Dr. Wells both knew. They'd all agreed to keep it from Barry and he just didn't know how to respond. 

So, they all just stayed quiet for a while taking in all of the information and avoiding eye contact. Finally, Dr. Wells broke the silence, "Now that we have a sample we'll get to work analyzing it, figure out the makeup of the poison and a clue as to his human identity."

Cisco walked back from where he'd snuck off to, "Or at least a way to stop him from turning into a mist... The Mist. Okay, that's his name. End of discussion." Cisco said laughing at his genius.

Barry got up from the bed he'd been resting in. It was time he went out and did something proactive.

Seeing this, Dr. Wells interjected, "You should be resting."

"I have to go. I have to see Winnie."

---

Reluctantly, Cisco lead Barry back to the room where Winnie had been resting.

"She fainted when Caitlin stabbed you with the needle. Had to bring her back here and make sure she didn't hit her head too hard." He explained.

Barry nodded his head and got ready to open the door. 

"One more thing before you go in."

"What is it?" Barry asked turning to Cisco.

"She doesn't remember about a month of the time she spent before the explosion so, she will probably be a bit confused about some things. And, she doesn't know about your... um... powers."