"What are you doing?" Doctor Caitlin Snow asks as Lady Gaga's 'Poker Face' blares through the stereo in the cortex of S.T.A.R. Labs. Nine months have passed since the Particle Accelerator explosion. An anomaly occurred causing the end of the scientific endeavor. Currently, the last of the Lab's staff is monitoring a comatose Barry Allen who was struck by lightning that night.

      Cisco Ramon takes a bite out of his licorice and shrugs. "He likes this song." He tells his colleague and friend. Caitlin sighs and gives Cisco a look of disbelief. "How could you possibly know that?" She asks, annoyed. Cisco takes another bite. "I checked his facebook page." He pauses and looks at Caitlin. "I mean, he can hear everything right?"

      Caitlin nods her head to the side. "Auditory functions are the last sensory faculties to degenerate." Cisco nods and begins to walk away from the comatose man. He sings along to the song happily as Caitlin checks her tablet, reading Barry's vitals.

      GASP!

      Barry sits straight up in the hospital bed. Cisco turns around in surprise. "Oh, my god!" He shouts in surprise as Barry pants heavily. "Catherine." Barry rasps out. He attempts to get out of his bed, but Caitlin pushes him back down. "He's up!" She says matter of factly.

      "Doctor Wells, get down to the cortex, like, right now!" Cisco says into an intercom. Barry continues to try to get up, but Caitlin fights him on it. "No- I have to- She- What-" Caitlin verbally states his vitals and Cisco walks up to them. "Hey, hey, woah, woah, relax." Cisco puts his hand on Barry's shoulder. "Everything's okay, man. You're at S.T.A.R. Labs."

      Barry begins to calm down and Caitlin checks his inner ear. "S.T.A.R. Labs? Who are you? Where is Catherine?" Cisco nods and glances at Caitlin. "I'm Cisco Ramon. She's Caitlin-" He pauses and holds up a finger. "Doctor Snow."

      "I need you to urinate in this." Caitlin says, shoving a sample cup in Barry's face. Cisco's eyes bulge and he takes the cup away from her. "Not this second." Barry shakes his head and walks away from them. "What is- What is happening? Why won't you tell me where Catherine is?" Barry says frustrated and confused.

      "You were struck by lightning, dude." Cisco says, excited. Barry shakes his head. "What?" He turns around and faces the mirror. "And as for Cather-"

      "Lightning gave me abs?" Barry asks in awe. Caitlin walks over to him and touches his abdomen. "Your muscles should be atrophied, but instead they are in a chronic and unexplained state of cellular regeneration." Barry blinks at her words, so Cisco grabs his shoulder and guides him to a chair. "Come here. Have a seat." Barry obeys.

      "You were in a coma." Cisco says and Barry pales. "For how long?"

      "Nine Months." Barry spins around and his jaw goes slack. Sitting in a wheelchair before him is none other than his idol, Doctor Harrison Wells.

      "Welcome back, Mr. Allen. We have a lot to discuss." Barry glances at Cisco and the dark haired man nods with a wide smile. "But-" Barry stands and looks at all of them. "Please, Catherine- Before- I swear I saw- and then-"

      "Miss Wilson is very much okay." Doctor Wells says, guiding his wheelchair closer to Barry. "She too was brought into the hospital when you were. She fell unconscious due to..." Caitlin and Cisco share a worried look. "Unknown events. Last I heard she was discharged from the hospital three days after the explosion." Barry nods and looks down, then creases his brow.

      Maybe it was the lightning messing with his head, but Barry could have sworn he saw Catherine's eyes glow red.

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      Catherine sits snuggled up in her small apartment. Her eyes are fixated on the TV screen as reruns of 'I Love Lucy' airs. An empty tub of ice cream sits next to her, and another one sits in her lap with a spoon in her hand. Clearly she's been sitting there for some time. This is how she's been coping. Just with everything. After watching Barry get struck by lightning, she started getting headaches. With the headaches came the voices. Tiny little whispers that make her turn around to see who spoke, only to find no one there.

      Iris tried to get Catherine out into the world again, but the green eyed girl wouldn't have it. She felt safe in her 10 blankets, with a tub of ice cream, cheesy sitcoms playing on with and her problems stuffed in an overloaded closet. This is what she does. She runs from her problems. Catherine runs and runs until she trips and has no choice but to face them. Even then, she'll fight back and try not to look them in the face.

      Catherine glances to her phone as it rings for the fourth time in the last 20 minutes. It's Iris, but Catherine cut contact last week after a certain incident happened. A realization. That the voices she was hearing weren't just in her head. They were thoughts, and they weren't her own. She was hearing the thoughts of the people around her. Then, like a switch going off, the realization brought so many more problems with it.

      The phone rings again and when Catherine looks at it she frowns. It isn't Iris calling her this time. It's Joe. Instantly Catherine knows what they are calling about and she rushes to the phone. With brief hesitation, she answers, but doesn't say a word. "Catherine?" Joe asks. The green eyed woman swallows hard and looks down at her hands in fear.

      "He's awake."

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      Catherine wasn't thinking straight. She was constantly anxious and in an unhealthy space mentally. Her last legitimate meal was three days ago, and between now and then she's been on a water and sugar binge. Iris was worried about her friend but there was only so much she could do. As kids Barry was always the one to get Catherine to open up about things, but he - until just recently - was in a coma.

      Joe telling Catherine he was awake gave her the courage to leave her apartment. Wearing her usual red leather jacket, Catherine frantically rushes out of her apartment. Without a car of her own, Catherine is forced to take the city train to the CCPD. Each stop the train made, Catherine only got more anxious. Her knee was bouncing and some people gave her the side look that someone clearly on drugs usually receives.

      Each passing second in public made her headache only grow. At one point she had to take a few pills to dull the pain. She never realized that people thought this much, even with her PhD. There was constantly a thought buzzing through every person's mind. It revealed to her how judgemental people could be.

      One problem Catherine had with her new ability, wherever it was from, was that she couldn't focus it on any one person. It was always expansive. The one time she tried to direct her focus on one person made her faint from the strain that it put on her. Catherine started to faint more within the past week. After getting particularly frustrated with her vintage TV when it died in the middle of her favorite episode of 'The Addams Family', something strange happened. In an act of momentary rage, Catherine pounded her fist on the TV, when it was engulfed in a strange red mist. What was even more odd, was that it seemed to respond to her- as if it was a part of her. Over the week since that moment, Catherine began to develop her new ability, experimenting by lifting small objects with her mist and fainting quite a bit because of it.

      Catherine finally arrives at the CCPD. She rushes in quickly, but freezes when she sees him. Barry stands in the middle of the precinct, staring at a framed photo of a man.

      "He didn't deserve to die."

      Catherine gasps quietly as Barry's thoughts shine through all the other whispers in her mind. Her eyes shine bright red as she stares at him, enamored with his thoughts. Her head tilts to the side slightly and her lips part in wonder. She can hear him clear as day, but his mouth never moves at all.

      Barry looks up and he feels a strange feeling in his head. Like an itch, but internal. He looks around the room but no one is remotely looking in his direction. Spinning around, he itches at his forehead, then he spots her. Catherine stares back at him and Barry's jaw drops as he sees her eyes. Someone passes in front of him, momentarily blocking his view, but when they go by Catherine's eyes are back to their normal green - though still clearly filled with tears.

      Was Barry going insane? He didn't know, and right now he didn't care. Barry takes a step forward, and so does Catherine. In a split second he is in front of her, arms around her as he embraces her in a hug. She instantly wraps her arms around him in return. From her place by her father's desk, Iris smiles watching the two of them. Joe watches them too and scoffs. "'Bout damn time." He grumbles before walking off.

      Catherine pulls out of the hug and looks Barry over. "You're okay. How- I saw you get hit and then I thought that- But here you are and-" Catherine stammers out, her hands clammy.

      Barry shakes his head and smiles. "I'm okay. I just woke up." Catherine frowns as he says this. "Should you even be walking? Barry, you were out for nine months, that should have a lasting effect not only on your physical health, but on your psyche." Catherine puts her hand on Barry's cheek. He leans into her touch, savoring the warmth of her hands. She always had warm hands while his were cold.

      "Cat, I'm okay. The people at S.T.A.R. Labs said I'm okay. Everything is fine." Catherine sighs at his words. "I was so worried. When I woke up they told you your heart kept stopping- You kept dying." Barry takes Catherine's other hand and places it against his chest. "It's still beating." He tells her softly.

      Catherine frowns as she feels his heart beating in his chest. "It's really fast." Barry stares at her as she frowns, concerned at how fast his heart is beating. "Catherine," He starts. Catherine looks at him. "I need to ask you something-" Barry's world slows to a complete stop as he looks to his right. A man across the precinct stands, hand reaching for an officer's gun. In an instant Barry darts across the room, throwing the man down against the desk in front of him.

      Like nothing happened, Barry reappears in front of Catherine, who looks over to the commission of two officers putting a man in cuffs. "Screw you!!" The man yells as the officers drag him back to the cells. She briefly hears his rabbid thoughts, before turning to Barry. "You wanted to ask something?" But Barry isn't listening. He stares across the precinct in shock and awe. "I need to go." He takes a step back from Catherine. "I have to go."

      Barry runs away, towards the exit, leaving Catherine alone, confused, and hurt. Again, her eyes glow red, catching his thoughts, but she can't actually comprehend anything he is thinking. It's all too fast.

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~author's notes~

And so they meet again