The Impossible

20

Aspen's POV

A week passed by and Barry has given me space as I requested. I took the day off after finding out that Barry is The Flash, and I ignored Caitlin and Cisco for all of my other shifts. I've been avoiding my problems for way too long now and I was getting tired of it. They are my best friends and I can't just sit here and pretend that they're not here.

I walked to the Cortex where I heard Barry had just come back from a bank robbery. It was still so weird to think of Barry as The Flash, and even to say that Barry was the one who came back from the robbery was hard to comprehend. I didn't like that he was the one facing danger every single day.

I saw Caitlin, Cisco, and Barry all talking and laughing with each other while Dr. Wells watched. I stopped in the doorway and crossed my arms, waiting for them to notice my presence. Cisco finished saying something funny and the others were laughing lightly. Barry picked up his head and his eyes met mine.

"Oh, hey, Aspen." He said, greeting me with a smile. His mask was off and he was in his suit. I looked at it for a second while the others took the time to look at me. 

"Hi." I greeted back in a small voice. It was still weird to see him like this. Now I'm seeing him without a mask, which makes all of this so much harder for me to fully take in. "Did you, uh, get hurt at all?" I was so awkward and it was radiating off of me. But Barry smiled at me and shook his head.

"No, but did you want to check my vitals just in case?" He suggested. I pushed a piece of hair behind my ear and looked down at Caitlin, who was staring up at me with questioning eyes.

"Hasn't Caitlin checked them?" I looked back up at Barry and he shook his head.

"No, but I'll wait in the med room for you, just so we can be certain I'm still fine." He smiled at me before walking away to one of the rooms. No one has yet to find out that Barry and I are officially dating. They just assume that something is going on. That we care about each other.

"I'm going to go get some other work done too." Dr. Wells said, rolling out of the Cortex, just leaving me, Caitlin, and Cisco. Just how I wanted it.

"I should probably go help Dr. Wells--" Cisco said, starting to stand from his chair. Caitlin and I both shot him a look and he slowly sat back down.

"Are you here to talk?" She asked.

"Opposed to..." I trailed sarcastically. But I quickly realized that I was letting my emotions get the best of me and that's not how I should've responded. I tiredly grabbed a chair and sat in it while they watched me closely. "I'm sorry, it's just been a hard few days." 

I gently rested my head on the table and waited for one of them to start up the conversation. I didn't have it in me to do it. I felt a small rubbing motion on my back, coming from my right which told me that Cisco was trying to console me.

"We know it's been hard," Cisco assured.

"We don't blame you for being standoffish." Caitlin also added. I sighed, fighting the sting at the back of my eyes and nose that told me I wanted to cry. I've never had such an emotional outburst like I have this week and it's weird and different.

"I just don't understand it at all." I picked up my head and turned so I could look at both of them. They looked concerned and guilty. I turned to Caitlin, ready to question her. "How could you tell Barry not to tell me?"

"I didn't want you involved in this." That was the same thing I heard from Barry the other night. 

"Yeah, Aspen, it's a dangerous work that we do..." Cisco added, making me look over at him. "Every day we have to come in here and worry about what we're facing today, or when The Reverse-Flash will show up again. We also have to be careful about ourselves."