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Barry cracked open his eyes slowly and let out a low groan. His joints were stiff after resting in the same position for so long, and as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes he stretched his sore body out as much as his surroundings would allow.
Only as he opened his eyes again did Barry begin to realize something was amiss. For starters, something smelled absolutely disgusting. He turned his head slightly to look for the source of the smell and immediately his eyes landed on a dumpster not two feet to his right. It was like a bag of garbage had been left in the sun for too long and filled with wet pennies and it made Barry want to throw up.
"Grosssss," he croaked as he scooted farther away from the metal bin. His legs ached and groaned with the movement and as he wished for a bottle of Advil to soothe his joints he came to the sudden realization that he had no clue where he was or how he had gotten there.
Panic dropped like a frigid stone into his stomach and he tried to recall the last things he did, hoping for a clue as to how he ended up in an alley with a dumpster for a roommate. A memory of Caitlin and Cisco asking if he'd like to go out for drinks on Friday night floated to the surface of Barry's memory followed shortly by the faint recollection of their time at the bar and his subsequent walk home later in the evening. The rest of the night was lost to him and Barry faintly wondered if Caitlin had finally managed to distill him some speedster-strength alcohol.
With a smile and a shake of his head, Barry decided to head back to STAR Labs. His friends were probably worried about him and Barry was curious to know what, if anything, Caitlin had given him last night.
With a totally normal, not dramatic amount of groaning Barry pushed himself to his feet, focusing on the daylight that poured in at the end of the alley like a lighthouse in the night.
He made it one step before he faltered. One of his legs ached something fierce as soon as he put weight on it and for a second Barry worried that he had been injured without realizing it. He looked down to assess the area in greater detail and was horrified to make a new discovery about his forgotten night.
His clothes were stiff with dried blood, as were his hands, and he yelped at the sight, instinctually trying to wipe the blood away to no avail.
"What?" he muttered, panic turning his voice shrill. Quickly he unbuttoned his shirt, noting a few tears in the fabric as he pulled it off and held it in his hands. His undershirt was darkened with blood too, and a strangled whimper tore its way from his throat before Barry took off towards STAR Labs, bloody shirt in tow.
He arrived in the cortex in a flurry of papers, standing dumbly before his friends without a plan or an explanation.
"Barry!" they said in unison, a mix between worry and relief coloring their tones. Caitlin and Joe rushed to his side as soon as they took in the alarming picture Barry painted.
"It's not my blood..." he started lamely. What was he supposed to say in this situation? How could he explain the blood on his clothes to his friends when he didn't know how it had gotten there? Caitlin guided Barry to a chair and he sat down numbly, his ruined dress shirt still in hand as she disappeared hurriedly into the med bay.
"Barr," Joe said gently as he sat down across from Barry. "What happened? Where were you?" Barry shook his head.
"I don't know... It - it just..." He was at a total loss for words as he stared desperately at Joe, his strong hands clasped tightly around Barry's like if held on tight enough he could ease the trembling in Barry's hands or the racing of his mind.
"Why don't you get cleaned up Barry," Caitlin said gently as she reemerged from the med bay. "Joe, you should call Iris and let her know we found him. Cisco, can you help Barry wash up while I get the lab prepared?" They all nodded mutely and split up, Barry marveling at Caitlin's ability to stay calm as he and Cisco walked in silence to the bathroom.
While Barry scrubbed his hands at the sink Cisco retrieved a change of clothes from Caitlin. He heard the door to the bathroom open again just as he turned the tap off, his hands finally clean of whoever's blood had stained them. Cisco rounded the corner with a stack of folded clothes and handed Barry the STAR Labs sweatshirt from the top as he removed his ruined undershirt. Under the bright lights of the bathroom vanity Barry could see fine slits in his undershirt, and he wondered absently if the blood staining his clothes had come from his own body. He pondered the possibility for a few moments until Cisco sucked in a sharp breath next to him.
"Barry," he whispered, face pale. "Your ribs." Attention diverted, Barry turned to the mirror to see what Cisco was talking about and gasped at the image that stared back at him.
His chest was mottled with purple and black bruises, some of which reached down his stomach and spread across his arms and shoulders.
As he took in the sight Cisco spoke up again.
"Where were you, man?" His face was drawn with worry and Barry looked at his friend through the mirror.
"I don't know, I just woke up in an alley this morning. I figured Caitlin had finally distilled some really strong alcohol or something and I had just gotten lost on my way home..." Barry trailed off.
"Barry," Cisco said uncertainly, "The bar? That was two nights ago." Barry's head snapped to Cisco's face.
"What? No way, I remember going out for drinks with you guys and then walking home." Barry's head began to ache as he tried to wrap his brain around the news Cisco had just presented him with.
"That was two days ago, man. It's Monday. We've been looking for you like nonstop." Barry leaned back against the counter surrounding the sinks in disbelief.
"I don't... I don't remember anything after last n- Friday night..." He said eventually, shivering involuntarily. Cisco handed him the forgotten sweatshirt from the countertop and Barry put it on gratefully.
"Walk me through what you remember," Cisco prompted. "You left the bar and started walking home. What street did you take?" Barry began to remove his bloodied pants as he thought hard about Friday night.
"We left the bar around 10:30 - I remember looking at my watch - and we were at, uh..." Barry trailed off as he pulled on the sweatpants Cisco handed him. "The Flying Rhino, right?" Cisco nodded in affirmation and the two started back towards the cortex.
"We thought they had trivia on Friday nights which is why we went but trivia is actually on Thursdays so we left earlier than we were planning," Cisco said encouragingly.
"I remember that! So we left the bar which means I got on Weston Street to get back home."
"Ok good. What else?" Just as the two rounded the corner into the cortex, Barry stopped abruptly, a hand coming to his face. Cisco came to a stop a few steps ahead and looked back, his brows knit together with confusion. "You ok man?"
Barry gingerly touched his top lip and pulled his hand away, revealing bloody fingertips and a stream of blood running from his nose. Cisco then watched in horror as Barry's eyes rolled up in his head right before his body fell unceremoniously to the ground in a heap.
He was already yelling for Caitlin when Barry suddenly made a gagging sound, his limbs jerking frantically as his eyes flew open and he struggled to turn himself on his side. He heaved stomach acid onto the floor, drops of blood from his nose falling into the mix and tinting it red as he hovered uncertainly.
Joe ran back into the cortex just as Barry, seemingly done puking, rolled onto his back again and went limp, rushing to his son's side as Caitlin and Cisco took in the situation before them.
"Help me get him to the med bay," Caitlin said, doing her best to choke down the panic in her voice and ignore the wild fear in Cisco and Joe's eyes.
Joe lifted Barry off the floor like he was made of glass, carefully hoisting him into his arms with a face heavy with worry and sadness. Cisco was close on Joe's heels as Caitlin led the way into the med bay. She quickly pulled on a pair of gloves before turning back to Barry, a list of tests to perform already running through her mind. It was going to be a long night.
Barry awoke with a start, sitting bolt upright as he tried to take in his surroundings as fast as possible. He was grabbing at the sheets like a madman, his breath coming out in short harsh pants as he tried to pull the blankets away in a desperate scramble. Suddenly strong hands were grabbing for his own and pulling his attention upwards. Barry snapped his head up to find Joe staring at him with a poorly concealed fear behind his eyes.
"Barr," he said startled. "Breathe." Barry did his best to slow his racing thoughts and breathe like Joe said, taking a shaky breath in and out before giving the room a quick once over.
Barry took another deep breath and let it out in a long sigh before turning to Joe.
"I think I remembered what happened," he said uncertainly, "part of it, at least. I think I was shot," Joe stared at him incredulously, "and the bullet is still inside me." After a few moments of silence passed Joe shook his head as if to clear it before speaking.
"How could that have happened?" he asked, voice less than steady.
"I don't know," Barry replied honestly. "I don't remember what happened before or after, I just remember hearing the gun and then looking down and seeing blood." Joe was silent again as he processed the information. A minute later he spoke up once again.
"Is that why you can't remember what happened?" His face was still drawn with worry and he held one of Barry's hands in his own.
"I don't think so," he answered. "I still don't remember most of what happened this weekend, just that part." Joe nodded solemnly and wiped a hand down his face before letting out a huff and standing up.
"Ok," he said determined, "I'm gonna go get Caitlin so she can do an x-ray and then we'll go from there." Barry nodded in reply and Joe left to find Caitlin.
One x-ray later Barry was really beginning to regret ever having been struck by lightning. The bullet had landed in his thigh near a major artery and while he trusted Caitlin to remove it from his leg without killing him, he did not trust himself to stay still long enough for Caitlin to remove it without killing him. Cisco had proposed they use something similar to the device he made to save Lisa Snart from the bomb implanted in her neck by her father, but Barry was even less confident in that idea.
So, after a lot of back and forth with both himself and his friends, Barry decided surgery was his best option. Their plan was simple and Barry pondered it quietly as he sat on the gurney in the med bay while Caitlin prepared. It turned out Caitlin had distilled him some alcohol on Friday night and that Barry had enjoyed about five minutes of drunkenness before it wore off. In his hands was a small vial of the leftover alcohol and to his left was Joe whose job was to hold Barry down when it wore off.
Caitlin approached the bedside with a tray of tools and a grim expression. Barry took a deep breath and laid down. The vial opened with a quiet pop and immediately the smell of alcohol filled his nostrils. He scrunched his nose involuntarily and turned to Caitlin, hesitating.
"Please be quick," he begged, trying to crack a smile to lighten the mood. Caitlin grimaced back, the picture of uncertainty, and Barry did his best to pretend it was a reassuring smile.
"As quick as I can," she promised. Barry nodded and tipped back the vial, coughing as soon as the alcohol was down. Above him, Caitlin hesitated.
"Go," he choked out around another cough, his head already feeling spacey and light.
The first cut felt dull on his numb skin and he silently thanked whoever invented getting drunk for their contributions to science. He could feel the tension radiating off Caitlin and Joe and tried to put his mind elsewhere, focusing instead on what Patty might be doing at this time of day. The thought of her brilliant smile and her quick wit made him relax a little, and soon enough he was drifting pleasantly through thoughts of Patty and their time spent together.
Five minutes came and went all too quick, and suddenly Barry was yanked from his fuzzy stupor by the feeling of a scalpel on his skin. He let out a startled yelp and clenched his fists, trying to sit up to see his leg. Joe's hands were on him immediately, pushing his shoulders back onto the gurney.
"Just hold on a little longer, Barr," he assured. Barry began to nod but was interrupted by the feeling of forceps entering his body. He groaned through clenched teeth and tensed his muscles, panting in pain as Caitlin continued to navigate through his flesh.
"Joe," he choked out through a whimper, reaching around blindly for his hand. The forceps were unbearably cold and he twisted his other hand in the sheets beneath him in an attempt to keep his leg still.
"You're almost done, almost done," Joe promised in a shaky voice. He kept one hand firmly pressed on Barry's upper thigh and grasped his hand in the other. Caitlin's brows were furrowed in concentration as she worked but Joe could see her resolve wear thinner and thinner every time Barry whimpered or gasped.
"You're almost done," he kept whispering, his hand aching from the iron grip his son kept on it.
Joe heard the faint sound of metal hitting metal as Caitlin clamped down on the bullet. The noise was quickly overshadowed, though, as a cry tore itself from Barry's throat as Caitlin retracted the object. His back arched and his leg flinched desperately against Joe's hand. He shook his other hand free from Barry's vice grip to continue holding it in place as Caitlin prepared to suture the wound.
"The bullet's out, son," he said desperately. "Just hold on a little longer." Joe could see tears slip down Barry's face as he panted, his jaw trembling from how hard he clenched it.
Compared to the pain of a scalpel or the cold of the forceps inside his skin, the stitches were nothing. His body shivered involuntarily every now and then and he could still feel the force of Joe's hands on his leg, but besides that everything was numb.
He stared forward blankly even as he heard Caitlin remove her gloves and felt Joe put a hand in his hair. He felt awful. His entire body ached and though he knew he would heal quickly from the procedure, Barry felt like he had just experienced a major setback. He couldn't help the sniffles that escaped him as Joe continued to run a hand through his hair, and was all but taken out by his soft,
"Oh, Barr."
His composure crumbled and it was all Barry could do to keep from wailing as he curled into himself, squeezing his eyes shut in a futile attempt to stop the tears leaking from his eyes. Joe wrapped his arms around his shoulders as they shook and Barry cried harder, his tears landing like bombshells on his bare arms.
"Joe," he croaked, his voice hoarse from his earlier cries of pain.
"I'm here, Barry. I got you," he whispered into his hair.
"I don't ever want to do that again," he sobbed, feeling like a kid again as Joe tightened his grip on his trembling shoulders.
Caitlin returned to the lab early Tuesday morning with a scalding cup of coffee in hand and a look of uncertainty on her face. She had all but run from the med bay as soon as she closed the last suture on Barry's leg, finding solace in the warm embrace of Cisco who had excused himself to his workshop right before the surgery had begun.
She had cried in his arms for what felt like hours, Barry's whimpers and gasps of pain echoing through her mind in a neverending loop. Cisco held her tightly the whole time she cried, bringing her water once her sniffles subsided, and, as her cries turned to yawns, walked her to his car and drove her home.
That was last night. Now, Caitlin was standing in the cortex, coffee in hand, watching Joe and Barry sleep peacefully. Cisco appeared at her side not long after she arrived and after taking a moment to gather their composure, together the two silently approached the pair.
Caitlin placed a gentle hand on Joe's arm to rouse him and he woke with a quiet groan, stretching his back out before looking up and meeting Caitlin's eyes inquisitively.
"Are you ok?" she whispered, a sad concern underlying her features. He let out a tired sigh and turned his head to watch the slow rise and fall of Barry's chest.
"I will be," he replied. His tone was uncertain and Caitlin nodded in understanding. She knew the feeling.
"Did he wake up at all last night?" Cisco asked from his perch near the door. His arms were wrapped tightly around his torso and Caitlin felt a pang of sadness shoot through her heart at the sight. Joe sighed, not taking his eyes from Barry as he replied.
"No. I think we both slept through the night." Caitlin nodded, unsure how to feel about the news when Barry started to shift under the covers.
He rolled onto his back and brought his hands to his face to clumsily rub at his eyes, letting out a soft sigh. The room collectively held their breath as he opened his eyes and looked around, meeting everyone's gaze one by one.
"I think I might be hungover," he rasped, a weak smile on his lips. The room filled with air again and Caitlin let out a shaky huff of a laugh, blinking back the tears she felt prickling in the corners of her eyes.
"How are you feeling?" she asked gently as she stepped closer to his bedside.
"Sore," he replied, "but ok." He gave her a soft smile which Caitlin returned gladly before his eyes landed on where Cisco hovered in the doorway.
"Cisco," he coaxed, "don't make me walk over there." Cisco wiped roughly at his eyes before walking over to Barry, uncertainty written all over his face.
"I'm sorry for scaring you," he said sincerely, holding a hand out for Cisco to take.
"You should be," he replied jokingly with a wet smile, taking Barry's hand tightly in his own. Barry let out a soft laugh and squeezed Cisco's hand in return, meeting his gaze earnestly.
He still didn't remember everything that happened over the weekend, but as he lay surrounded by his family he knew everything would be ok. As long as they had each other everything would be ok.