You finally exit Jitters, holding a tray of four cups in one hand and attempting to start your car with the remote in the other.
It was 6 p.m. It had been an insanely long Team Flash day, battling against a new stream of metahuman activity that was difficult to monitor and defeat.
Poor Barry was stressed out to the max, feeling as if he was failing everyone who trusted in him, failing the team, failing you.
You adore Barry, you really do. You see him as more than a hero, you see right through that aspect and get down to his core. The nerdiness, the need to help everyone, the love for coffee- and you could go on and on, because there's so much to love about Barry, but your thoughts stop in their tracks when you hear footsteps, loud and disheartening, behind you.
You move quicker now, scoping out your car. It is close, and as you quicken your pace, the steps behind you do as well to match up to yours. You swear you can hear your heartbeat, fear trickling through you.
You feel a rough hand grab at your arm, and you let out a scream, but there's no going back. There's more than one of them, you're gagged and everything is fading to black in seconds, four cups of spilled coffee on the cement.
"Where is she? Where is she?" Barry is pacing back and forth, at normal speed, and Cisco is rapidly tapping away at the computers trying to locate you.
"It says she's still at Jitters, she must have dropped her phone." Caitlin says, reading the screen.
"Someone took her," Barry says, all the fear sinking in and panic starting to explode from within, "What are we going to do? What if it's one of the insane metahumans we haven't learned to defeat yet? What if we can't even find her?"
"Barry, calm down! I think I have an equation that can triangulate a location, and once you get there you let us know who, and we'll do something, we'll figure out anything we can to stop them."
"Okay, okay," Barry chokes, his hair all messed up from how many times he's ran his hands through it. "This has to be quick. I can't let her get hurt."
"Wake up, sunshine." A harsh, menacing voice chuckles, stirring you out of your coma induced state.
You feel weak, but you are able to gather that there are ropes tied all around you, and you're in some kind of warehouse. Your head is pounding, and you can only assume it was banged one too many times.
And although you don't feel this emotion too often, you're scared. Scared for your life, scared of what this person wants from you. You can't always be so strong.
"Oh don't look so worried, princess. I'm not going to hurt you," he grins, "at least, not too bad."
Your entire body shakes at his words, the way they ring in your ears makes shivers crawl down your spine.
"What do you want?" You spit, trying to let your words sound coherent through the gag. He removes it, his mask still on, his body clad in black.
He runs a finger across your face, lightly stroking it. "I just want to have some fun." He coos, and you feel like you could hurl right about now.
"I know that's not all you want."
"Tell me who the Flash is and maybe then I won't fuck you up more than I need to." His voice is a growl, and your heart jumps to your throat.
"That's something I'll never tell you."
He paces slowly in front of you. "Too bad, would've been my good deed for the day. Lessen the pain you're about to experience. But I guess you just want to get hurt, like the whore you are.
His hands are then untying you from the ropes, slapping your beautiful face and dragging your numb body to another room.
"Let's have some fun, sweetheart. Maybe my friends can join us too."
"Barry! I found her!" Cisco screams from the cortex, Barry speeds in, reads the screen and runs off at his incredible speed.
Within seconds Caitlin and Cisco hear, "Guys! I'm here, I don't see her anywhere."
Cisco continues to fiddle away at the security cameras, "I think everyone else left the building, but she's two doors down. And Barry, she doesn't look too good."
Barry feels his heart plummet through him, worried at the sight he was about to see. He opens the door and he lets out a choked gasp.
There you were, passed out on the cement floor, clothes torn, blood drawn, looking so violated.
He picks you up and speeds off as fast as possible, taking you to one of Caitlin's many inspection rooms.
He feels so fucking horrible. He wasn't able to get to you in time, not fast enough to stop what had happened to you, and the ideas of what did occur flood Barry's head, making him want to puke.
Barry sits besides your limp body as Caitlin pokes and prods and sticks an I.V. in your arm.
He sits there for hours, even as everyone else leaves, by your side waiting for you to wake up, to make sure you'd be okay.
Your hand is tightly held by his, and you stir when you feel pressure on your chest. You move your body a bit and a horrible ache shakes through you. From closer inspection, you realize it is just Barry, lovely, caring Barry, almost asleep.
"Barry?" You coo softly, fingers running through his hair. You don't really remember much at the moment, but you do know that your head is pounding and everything fucking hurts.
"Y/N?" He asks, his head instantly flying upwards and concern flooding his features. "Oh my god, you're awake."
"What happened?" You question, when in reality he desperately wants to ask you that.
"Someone, Y/N, someone took you. And I don't know what, but they didn't some horrible things to you. You were all bloody and bruised and," he can't say it. It makes him shake with guilt and horror at the thought, "and I just don't think you're okay. I wasn't fast enough to save you, and I'm so damn sorry."
"Barry, it wasn't your fault." You say meekly, the memories slowly returning to your head. The way that man had violated you, touched you in manners that couldn't be forgiven, the way you screamed and begged for him to stop, for him to let you go.
Tears sting at your eyes and you turn away from Barry, who's worries quadruple. "Y/N. Can you tell me what happened?" His voice is a whisper, soft and full of care, "If that's okay."
"He," you suck in a deep breath, tears streaming now, "did some pretty bad things to me. And I don't know how to say it out loud because then it becomes too real, Barry." It hurts you to think about it, and you feel so disgusting, like you need to scrub your skin raw until not a trace of him can ever be found on you.
Barry gently touches your arm and you flinch which causes him to remove his hand, but you pull it back after a few seconds, squeezing it tight. "It's going to be okay, Y/N. I'm never going to let anyone hurt you again. I can't fathom what you went through. But I will be by your side through this all, I will help you get better. I swear."
His eyes and words are full of pure sincerity, and despite how horrible you feel, you know you're going to be okay someday, because you have Barry, who will never stop taking care of you.
You lean forward a bit and kiss his forehead, not wanting to discuss the issue much further, "Get some rest, Barr."
Even though you told him it would be okay, he doesn't leave that night. He stays and watches and protects you, makes up for all the things he wasn't fast enough to save you from.
Even when Caitlin and Cisco come in that morning, he doesn't leave. He stays by your side and gets coffee instead of letting you go, begging Cisco to watch you and hoping the four or five seconds of absence wouldn't cause any chaos.
Even when he runs off to fight another metahuman, he keeps you on the com to make sure you're okay.
Even when you're finally emotionally healed, he promises he'll never let you get hurt, promises tied to a ring.
Even though the streets are silent and the city is peaceful, he never fails to stop and make sure you're always safe.
