Almost - A Flash and Arrow crossover

Chapter 13

Barry trailed behind Felicity, his head hung low. He wasn't entirely sure why, but he felt totally drained. As he walked, he swayed side to side, Felicity occasionally pulling back to steady him.

"You OK Bar'?" She asked, softly.

"Mm, yeah. Yeah, I'm OK."

Again, he wasn't entirely sure what he was saying either. The world seemed to be going slow - too slow - and the air around him seemed thick. Barry's legs felt like jelly and Felicity was certain that his knees could give way at any moment.

"Come on, Flash, let's get you some much needed Big Belly Burger."

He registered that

With sparkling eyes, Barry continued to follow unsteadily behind the petite blonde.

XXXX

"There you are!"

Caitlin rushed forwards, a hand outstretched to grab Barry's shoulder.

"Dude, what were you thinking?" Cisco added, then lowered his voice. "You look terrible."

With a grimace, Barry nodded.

Caitlin guided him over to the bed while Felicity informed Cisco of the previous conversation they'd had.

"He knows Oliver?" Cisco piped up, eyes wide. "H-how?"

"I dunno," She answered truthfully. "I mean, he could of just guessed. Whether he just remembers certain names or ..." She shrugged, letting the unfinished sentence hang in the air. Cisco sighed and turned to look at a half-conscious Barry being poked and pestered by Caitlin.

"Oh, and his glucose levels are way down. He hasn't eaten since the jewelers incident and the speeding away from us was the cherry on the cake - pun not intended." Felicity added, mentally slapping herself for pure awkwardness.

"'kay." Said Cisco, "I'll grab him an energy bar. Mind hopping on down to-"

"Big Belly Burger?" Felicity guessed. "Want your usual as well?" When Cisco nodded, she smiled at him and headed over to Barry and Caitlin.

"Hey, lady, no offence but I'm just really hungry and tired-"

"That's no excuse for me not to check you over."

"Hey, guys?" Interrupting their banter, Felicity walked forward and placed a hand on Barry's shoulder. Both women noticed how he didn't flinch away at her touch.Improvement, they thought.

Smiling at the speedster, she addressed them both. "I'm gonna head into town and grab some food. Caitlin, you want anything?"

Caitlin shook her head and politely declined the offer. "I'm good, thanks."

Barry chose that moment for a wave of dizziness to hit him and to fall forward. Caitlin, noticing his increased swaying whilst her and Felicity exchanged a few short words, grabbed him just before he fell and let his head rest on her shoulder.

"Woah." She said, clutching Barry awkwardly around his middle. She caught Cisco running towards them out of the corner of her eye.

Felicity helped ease Barry to lean against the back of the bed. The speedsters eyes were opening and closing sluggishly, his fight for consciousness repeating once again.

"Here, eat this." Cisco shoved the energy bar into his hand. Barry twisted his fingers loosely around the snack and brought it to his mouth. With small mouthfuls, he began to nibble away, his eyes now closed.

Cisco stared at Felicity. Subtly, he prompted her with a cough.

Jumping out of a daze, she looked at Cisco then realised she hadn't moved for five minutes straight. "Right, food!" she said and with that she darted down the hall.

XXXX

Diggle slipped his phone back into his jacket pocket. Turning to look at the mousy haired man beside him, he relayed the information given to him over the call.

"That was Felicity. Said that Ba- the boy on the bed you saw earlier was awake ... kinda." Diggle's voice was gruff. It had been a long day.

"Kinda?" Questioned Oliver.

Diggle pinched the bridge of his nose. Man, he needed sleep!

"Yeah, he's a little tired out. But they think it's OK for you to go back up there." He hesitated, surveying Oliver's features for a giveaway of any negative or suspicious emotions. He didn't know how this whole Meta-brain-wash stuff worked.

"What? Now?" Asked Oliver, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, if you're OK with it man?" Shrugged Diggle. He subconsciously rubbed the back of his neck, something he'd caught off the speedster.

"Yeah. Sure. Let's go."

The two best friends sauntered down the hall, neither speaking much. In Oliver's case, he didn't technically know the man. Well, supposedly, he did and something, everytime he spoke to one of the people in the lab, itched at the back of his mind, like something was scratching to get out. He ignored it, however, passing it off as a side effect of being sedated.

He didn't fully understand why he was trusting these people either. Maybe it was their sense of trust in one another? Maybe it was the fact that they genuinely seemed concerned for him? Maybe it was that insistent itch at the back of his memory? And this boythey were talking about. The one in the bed. Something about that boy made Oliver feel ... guilty? Why was he feeling guilty?

As he and Diggle entered the cortex, Felicity immediately enveloped him in a hug. Not really sure what to do, he patted the blonde woman on the back until she drew back.

"Sorry." She mumbled. The next thing he knew, she was thrusting a brown paper bag into his hands.

"Got your favourite!" She said proudly.

Confused, he peered into the bag. Inside were chicken wings and fries. At the sight of the food, Oliver's stomach growled. He hadn't noticed how hungry he was.

Felicity continued to hand out meals to everyone. Diggle and Oliver joined Cisco sat at the desk, the two starting light conversation. Caitlin stood in front of Barry, checking his head over.

Oliver was halfway through his meal when he glanced over at the brunette scientist, who had not yet touched her food, still busying herself with a fidgeting figure on the bed.

The boy on the bed.

Oliver was pretty sure he had a name, and the others had definitely mentioned it earlier, but he must have forgotten. For now, he was the boy on the bed. With the scientist in his way, Oliver couldn't see the person properly.

It seemed the boy on the bed was trying to look at him too.

Oliver stopped eating and brushed his hands down his jeans. Next to him, Diggle was still talking to Cisco and Felicity, their backs turned on him and deep in discussion. So, slowly as not to draw attention to himself, he stood and began to walk over to the mysterious person on the other side of the room.

Caitlin was analysing a blood sample, her chestnut eyes narrowed and her forehead creased in concentration. Without a single glance at Oliver, she scurried off to a computer, leaving the space between the two heroes clear.

The Flash and Arrow's eyes locked together.

And they just stared...

-------- {SpeedForce Log} --------

I guess this was sorta long.... 1200 plus words. Well I'll get the next chapter out faster too. I guess I like putting small spaces of time between chapters - and my plan was to combine chapter 13 and 14 once finished, but I noticed it wouldn't work. so I'll just stick with this.