Running Back To You » Barry Allen

5.

"You don't really believe he can run that fast, do you?" Caitlin asks my Dad as she stands next to him with what looks like an iPad in her hands.

"Well I believe that anything is possible and in a few minutes you will too," he replies, glancing up at her.

I sigh heavily and look around at the location we've decided to do this test thing in: An abandoned road. They could've chosen a race track or something a lot cooler but no, a cold, rainy abandoned road it is.

"How's it fit?" I hear Cisco call to Barry, who is getting changed in the S.T.A.R Labs trailer we bought down especially for this occasion. I turn around and wait for Barry to exit so I can have a look at what hideous outfit Cisco made him wear.

Barry walks down the first two steps and stands still, allowing me to take in his full appearance: Red running shoes, black shin pads, a tight lycra bodysuit with matching sleeves that only go halfway up his arm, a red helmet and some goggles. "It's a little snug," he mutters, looking at all of us for our reactions.

"Oh my gosh," I burst out laughing and my Father looks over at me, frowning slightly. "What? He looks ridiculous!" Barry frowns at me this time and Cisco smiles.

"At least you'll be moving so fast no one will see it," he says, grabbing Barry's arm and leading him down the rest of the steps. "See, you thought the world was slowing down but it wasn't. You were moving so fast it only looked like everyone else was standing still." Cisco turns around to look at the three of us. "Dr Wells will be monitoring your energy output and Caitlin your vitals."

I frown. "What about me?" Cisco shrugs. "Guess I'm just along for the ride," I mutter, going over to sit on the step of the trailer to watch.

"What do you do?" I hear Barry ask the short, dark haired man.

"I make the toys, man," Cisco smiles, nodding his head. "Check it," he says, holding up a red circle with a lightening bolt symbol in the middle. "This, is a two-way headset with a camera I modified, typically designed to combat battlefield  impulse noise, or in your case, potential sonic booms... Which would be awesome!" He removes Barry's helmet and goes to fix it all up. In this time, Caitlin goes up to Barry to check up on his vitals and get the measurements for when he's standing still and not running.

As she's typing, I notice Barry is staring at her. Caitlin notices too. "What?"

"Nothing," he mumbles. "I just noticed you don't smile too much." I frown at his words but decide to keep my mouth shut as it's probably for the best.

Caitlin tucks a piece of hair behind her ear and looks straight at him. "My once promising career in bio-engineering is over, my boss is in a wheelchair for life, the explosion that put you in a coma also killed my fiance, so this blank expression kinda feels like the way to go," she walks back over to my Dad and I decide it's my turn to have a word with Mr Allen.

"You need to stop," I tell him and he frowns at I walk up to him. "Caitlin is fragile and she doesn't need you poking around and asking questions like it's your business when it clearly isn't," I say and Barry's expression changes into one of confusion.

"What is your problem with me?" He asks and I look back over at my Dad who is talking to Cisco.

"My Dad is in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, does that seem like something I would be happy about?" I ask him.

"What has that got to do with me?"

"He wants to help you and you keep brushing him off saying that you're okay when you clearly aren't. Just... Do this for him. You don't have to enjoy it but it would mean a lot," I explain and Barry nods.

"What about you?" He asks.

I shake my head and look down at the ground. "What does it matter?" I reply and walk back to where I was sitting before.

"Mr Allen, while I am extremely eager  to determine your full range of abilities,   I do caution restraint," Dr Wells warns the tall man who is putting on his goggles.

"Yeah," Barry nods, taking his helmet from Cisco and puts that on too, walking up to the starting line.

He kneels down, getting ready to run and looks back at the four of us: Cisco ready to measure his speed, Caitlin his vitals and my Dad his energy output. Me... Just watching.

My Dad puts on a pair of sunglasses and I frown, wondering if there was a memo I missed out on. Within half a second, there's a huge gust of wind and Cisco is blown completely off of his feet and I can't see a thing due to dirt being blown into my eyes.

I quickly rub them, attempting to regain my sight so I wont miss what's going on. I look up and see a red streak running down the track. Everyone else has the same stunned expression as me apart from my Father, who is smirking.

"He just passed 200mph," Cisco calls and I raise my eyebrows. Caitlin is looking through some binoculars, fascinated by the events occurring in front of us.

"Not possible," she mutters.

"No way," I whisper. Suddenly, Barry loses his concentration and runs into a pile of barrels, making the liquid kept inside spill everywhere. "Nice one," I say aloud.

"Looks like he's hurt!" My Dad calls and they make their way over to see him and check that he's okay.

***

"You sure you're okay?" My Dad asks for the tenth time and Barry nods his head.

"I think he's good," I snap at my Dad and Barry's head shoots up to look at me. "His bones heal super fast," I explain. "Looks like you had a radius fracture."

"Had?"

"It's healed," Caitlin explains.

"In three hours," I add.

"How is that even possible?"

"We don't know," I sigh.

"Yet," my Dad butts in, always the optimist. "You really need to learn how to stop. What happened out there today?   You were moving pretty well,   and then something  caused you to lose focus," he asks and Barry looks down at his feet.

"I started remembering something, "he begins, looking at my Dad to ask if he could continue. My Dad nods. "When I was 11, my mother was murdered. It was late, a sound woke me up. I came downstairs, and I saw what looked like a ball of lightning. Inside the lightning,   there was a man. He killed my Mom. They arrested my Dad. He's still sitting in Iron Heights for her murder. Everyone, the cops, the shrink, they... They all told me what I saw was impossible. But what if the man who  killed my mom was like me?" He finishes and I fold my arms.

"Well I think I can say unequivocally  you are one of a kind," my Dad smiles and I roll my eyes, tears threatening to spill at the fact he will listen to Barry's story without any issues but can't even ask if I'm okay on the anniversary of my Mothers death. I stand up and go to leave. "Where are you heading?" My Dad calls.

"Out," I say and slam the door behind me.

A.N: Thank you for nearly 200 reads! I know it doesn't seem like a lot but I didn't think I'd eve get 10 so its pretty crazy! Sorry for not updating but I did quite a lot this past week. I hope you enjoy the story!