Chapter Text
She sat in the small uncomfortable green vinyl hospital chairs. The coffee cup which she clutched between her hands for warmth was left untouched. Her father had gotten it for her, knowing she was hurting far too much to drink it, yet still feeling the urge to do something to comfort his daughter. The tears on Iris’ face had dried up, her mascara leaving little dark smudges beneath her eyes. She felt utterly helpless, and all she could do was sit there in her chair, her body numb with fear and grief. When she had woken up this morning, this was not how she had been expecting her day to end, and up until a few hours ago it had just been like any other normal day.
But then the particle accelerator was turned on at S.T.A.R. Labs, and everything went to hell.
She had been working a late shift at CC Jitters, taking orders and waiting tables, when the lights began flickering from the storm. Everyone in the café paused, glancing up as the first lights dimmed for a brief moment. There was a loud clap of thunder and a flash of lightning from outside, and everybody returned back to their business, passing it off as a freak occurrence. Until the cafés power went out completely. It didn’t take long for the emergency sirens to start screeching in the distance after that, and for everyone to start getting scared. One frightened customer who had been watching the news on her laptop informed the manager that the S.T.A.R. Labs particle accelerator had exploded as a result of the storm.
The next several minutes were a blur of panic as customers called to check on there loved ones, and the Jitters staff rushed about trying their best to ease the customers worries, reassuring them that they would be safe as long as they remained in the building until the storm passed and the authorities gave the word that all was safe. The employees each took turns calling their loved ones as well, and when Iris finally got the chance to do so, she was not in the slightest bit reassured.
She called Barry first. Three times she called her fiancé, and three times he didn’t answer and she was sent directly to voice mail. So she resolved to call and check on her father next. If he answered she would first check to make sure that he was okay, and then she would ask about Barry. She knew they were both scheduled to work at the CCPD tonight. If Barry wouldn’t answer, she’d have her father give her some reassurance. Three tries later, and she hadn’t had any luck with getting a response from her dad either. After trying both Barry and her dad one more time with no response, she was just about to say screw it and drive down to check on them in person when her phone began ringing.
It was a number she instantly recognized, but did nothing to comfort her. Iris felt her heart sinking just a little bit deeper as she hit the answer call button. If Captain Singh was calling her, she knew it couldn’t mean anything good.
“Hello?” she asked cautiously, trying her best to keep her voice from breaking.
“Iris, it’s Captain David Singh.” The voice on the other end answered somberly.
“Is my dad okay? Is Barry alright? What’s going on?”
She could hear the captain sigh on the other end of the call, and she could practically imagine him running a hand over his tired face as he responded, trying his best to keep his voice calm and soothing. “He’s fine, Iris. You’re dad is just fine.”
It did not escape Iris’ attention that he had failed to broach the topic of her fiancé. “And Barry?”
“Your dad’s with him. He asked me to call you and fill you in, said he didn’t wanna leave the kid alone…”
“Dammit Singh, what happened? Is Barry okay?”
“Iris,” the captain began. “The storm got pretty bad. A bolt of lightning came through the skylight in his lab. Couple of beat cops heard the bang and went to check it out. They found Barry unconscious in his lab, said he’d been hit by the lighting. EMT’s came and got him, their taking him to the hospital now. Joe's with him.”
In stunned silence she hung up the phone with out a good bye, threw her apron on the coat rack, and pulled her jacket on before dashing out of the café. She didn’t even bother to give her manager an excuse, all she could think about was getting to Barry.
And that was how she had ended up here, sitting in the hospital, waiting in sheer terror for any information from the doctors. It had been a little over two and a half hours since the ambulance had arrived at the E.R with Barry and her dad. An hour and twenty-five minutes since she had arrived and taken her place in the waiting area, when a doctor finally made his way out and called for them.
“Barry Allen’s family?” He asked as he stopped to stand beside the front desk.
Iris shot up like a rocket, abandoning the now cold coffee on one of the tables, and rushed over to meet him. “I’m his fiancé. Is he alive? Is he going to be okay?”
“He is alive.” The doctor—Dr. Brummer according to his name tag—confirmed. “He’s alive, and it took us a while, but we finally got him stable.”
Iris aloud herself to breath a shaky sigh of relief at the news, a hand coming up to push her hair from her face. “Oh thank God.”
“However,” Dr. Brummer continued, and she could already feel the dread creeping back into her heart. “He seems to have fallen into a coma. We would like to assure you that we will do everything we can for your fiancé, and we’ll keep him alive as long as you and his family want us to, but unfortunately I cannot guarantee that he’ll wake up. I am truly sorry, miss."
And with his words, Iris felt her heart stop, and her body was wracked with a new round of sobs. She was vaguely aware of her father caching her as she began to sink to her knees, of him helping her back to her seat. But all of her focus was on Barry, the man that she loved, and how he might not ever wake up again.