Unsurprisingly, Joe went against his doctor and Caitlin's advices by staying by Barry's side and not take the rest his body wanted. The event of earlier terrified him a lot more than Joe was willing to admit.

Both Iris and Joe had been sitting on the hero's bedside for hours, in a deafening silence, observing any changes in the young man's face. They agreed with Caitlin that it was probably best if there was as little people as possible in the room, people he knew for a long time, to make sure he would stay calm the next time he would awaken. They didn't have to wait too long for Barry to show signs of waking up. His head slowly started moving from one side to another, his eyelids fluttering. Joe wasted no time grabbing the boy's hand and whispered to him in the same tone he used to take when he was reassuring a young boy in the guest room from a horrible nightmare.

''You can wake up now Barr, you're safe. You're with us? Open your eyes.''

Slowly, very slowly, Barry turned his head toward the voice, his eyes still closed, but his body still tensing up and his heartbeat pace going a tad higher on the monitor.

'It's us Barry.'' Added Iris. ''You're safe, you're ok.''

The hero turned his head toward Iris before returning to Joe, his eyelids starting to lift, letting his foster dad finally get a glimpse of the confused green eyes. The fallen hero opened his mouth like he was trying to say something, but Joe caught him mid-breath.

''Shhhh, stay calm Barry, please. Don't make me go through this again.'' Said Joe, unintentionally tearing up, his mind playing back the morning's scene in a loop.

Despite his state, Barry must've felt something bad happened because he simply stayed still, blinking at the detective, breathing in and out, trying to understand his surroundings.

''Do you know where you are?'' inquired Iris, unsure if she really wanted to know the answer.

Both Iris and Joe watched closely every movement the speedster was doing. Barry turned his head from one side to another, taking everything in before nodding, slightly jumping in surprise at the loud sighs of relief coming out in synch. Iris reached for the hero's hair to play with them fondly while speaking:

''Don't try to talk too much Barry, you've been through a lot. Do you remember waking up earlier?''

The young speedster seemed to think about it deeply before nodding again. The CSI kept his thoughts as short as possible, while raising his right arm to put it against his chest, wincing in pain when his hand met the exact spot Caitlin's hand has been pounding on:

''Happened?''

Joe put on his most reassuring face, not wanting to alarm his son, even if he needed the truth.

''You've….you strained yourself too much and went into cardiac arrest.'' Joe started before moving in, seeing his son's eyes opening widely in shock and fear. ''It's ok, you'll be ok now. Caitlin said you're on your way to recovery.''

*Caitlin?* Barry squeezed his eyes shut, a memory coming back to him, shaking his head. His whole deal was foggy, lost in cold and pain, but if there was one thing he could remember clearly was his captor telling him nobody was coming, nobody was even searching for him. He was convinced she killed them all. ''Dead. ''

The hero looked at the confusing and the silence spreading around him 'til Joe decided to break it.

''Wandel is dead, she's not going to hurt you. I promise you son, you're safe.''

Barry shook his head with frustration, his breathing accelerating as he was trying to throw his speech as fast as he could. ''No….told me….dead…you….all.''

''Hey hey hey, calm down Barry, please. We're all fine.'' Quickly responded Iris, taking the other hand of the boy in her own. ''Me, dad, Caitlin, Cisco, Jay. We're all ok. We've been worried about you''

The speedster closely looked at her face, forcing his vitals to calm down to a normal range, studying Joe's daughter's features to try to decide if she was saying all of this because it was the truth or telling it to calm him down. His glance moved toward his adoptive dad, that's when he noticed something else for the first time. The bandages. The cast.

''Hurt.'' It was the only word that came out of his mouth. Both people on his bedside tensed at it, Joe's soft features turning into a mixture of fear and panic, already picturing the morning crisis repeating itself. .

''Barr, what is it? Is it your heart? Do we need to call Caitlin?''

''No…'' Barry raised his arm toward Joe. ''You. Hurt.''

It took a moment for the puzzle look of the detective to turn into realization. Classic Barry, kidnapped, badly hurt and unconscious for days and his first clear thoughts and worried being about his family, not about his condition. Joe couldn't help the uncontrollable laugh, stress of the last days coming out.

''I'm fine, Barr.'' He started until realizing in his son's eyes that it wasn't working. ''I *will* be. Rescuing you has been a bit rough. But don't worry, I'll be good as new before you know it. So will you.''

The hero's eyes kept opening and closing at a closer interval, fighting sleep, trying to stay with them 'til he could get all of the questions out of his head. Iris decided it was time to join the conversation.

''Don't fight the sleep, your body needs it. We'll be there when you wake up next.''

Both members of Barry's family watched the young speedster slowly realizing he couldn't win this fight and relaxed back into a peaceful, restful state, both of them having the same huge relief on their face. The speedster was still on the mend and the road ahead was going to be long, well long compare to the healing time he usually needed, but for the first time everything felt right. They felt like everything was finally over.

On the next morning, Caitlin came into the medical lab feeling fresher and more invigorate that she felt all week. The tests she did last night proved their speedster friend was finally on his way to recovery. The broken hand and wrist were completely healed, so were pretty much all of the superficial wounds, leaving no scars, no signs to prove that they ever happened. Even the shoulder's stab wound was almost completely gone. Only his infected wound and heart problems were still keeping the CSI in bed, but both were slowly but surely on their way to be good as new.

The blood tests and the heart scan Caitlin did, first thing in the morning, showed lots of progression compare to the previous day and let's not even compare with the test results of the first day Team Flash brought him back, it was a world of difference. There were barely any traces left of the drugs Barry's been injected with, allowing the speed force to finally come back closer and closer to being at 100% again. And, while he still needed oxygen to compensate for his bad heart, the risk of coding again fell to slight.

The doctor returned to the bed, not wanting to disturb the hero's sleep but knowing she had to complete her checkup. She checked the man's vitals and temperature on the monitors and double checked them by touching the skin. Satisfied, she moved on to the lower part of the bed, taking the blanket off so she could check the wound again.

'Watch the merchandise'' said a raspy and weak voice, making the young doctor turned around, smile spreading on her face the second she saw the open eyes. Even if it was only halfway opened and blinking as Barry was trying to clear his vision.

''Hey'' she answered fondly. ''it's good to hear your voice''

''Same.'' He answered back, smiling at her. ''What are you doing?''

''Just relax, trying to check you over. Try to relax.'' She repeated herself.

''Routine.'' Caitlin couldn't help but chuckle at this. ''Yeah well, how about we break that habit?''

He grumbled under his breath, closing his eyes again. His mood sure seemed to be up, their Barry was definitely back. A normal day in S.T.A.R. Labs. Everyone was finally going to be able to catch their missing sleep. As soon as Caitlin started probing the wound, she winced in sympathy, hearing the groan of pain. The wound was free of pus and while the skin was still swollen and sensitive, it's been showing great improvement.

''I'm sorry, I need to check your wound. It's been infected for days.''

''It's ok'' he answered clenching his teeth.

Satisfied with her inspection, Caitlin changed the bandage and put the blanket on before turning her attention to her patient who had his eyes closed again, leaving her wondering for a moment if he'd fallen asleep again.

''All good?'' he weakly mumbled, answering the asleep question, keeping his sentences as short as possible.

''You will be'' She nodded without thinking he couldn't see her movement right now. ''Try to stay still. How do you feel?''

''Hot. Thirsty.''

''Yeah, that's because you still have a fever.'' She doubled checked it to be sure. ''It's at 101,5 for now, but it went close to 105 yesterday. You're in the right direction.'' As she was speaking, Caitlin helped the speedster get into a more seated position, pilling pillows under his back, before getting him what he asked for.

''That's good.'' He whispered, sipping his water. ''Caitlin. '' He added, after a pause. ''How long? What day is it?''

Caitlin stopped, hesitant. ''Barry, it's….Saturday. You disappeared one week ago, it took….took us 3 days to find you. You've been here since Tuesday.''

''Three…days?'' The boy's gaze fell into his glass of water. ''Sometimes it felt like I've been there for months, other times it felt like hours.''

''I'm sorry we didn't get to you sooner. We tried our best''

''Know you did. Not blaming you. How bad is it?'' He asked, it must've been pretty bad for him to stay down for so long, considering his powers.

The doctor actually considered her answer for a moment before going for the truth: ''It was really touch and go for a while. We weren't sure you were going to make it for the first 48 hours.''

She carefully studied her friend's features as she was saying the words. The last thing she wanted was to make the speedster feel bad or strain himself, but he was his friend, he deserved the truth.

''I'm really sorry I alarmed you.'' Barry said quietly

''Hey, don't start with it. You're my friend, all that matter is that you're ok'' Caitlin quickly interrupted him. Seeing that Barry didn't have anything to offer in return, she smiled and concluded ''I'm going to let you rest. Sleep. You deserve it.''

Caitlin started walking away, but was interrupted halfway through the door.

''Caitlin…thanks for saving my life.'' The girl smiled and simply nodded. What else was she supposed to do?

''You're welcome.'' She finally decided to say before turning her back, leaving the room and closing the light on her way out.

It took another full day for Barry's fever to finally break and return to something normal and another one before the boy could finally get up on his shaking legs, promising to wait a little before running again. The memories of his kidnapping and the days before and after had been incredibly foggy at first and while some came back there and there, most of them stayed out of his reach. From what he could gather from his initial injuries' list, it was probably for the best.

They still waited another full day before introducing Barry to this new Wells, an introduction that went surprisingly well. Everyone was apprehensive, slowly, carefully approaching the situation, explaining where that new Wells was from and how he saved his life, twice, in the last couple of days. Maybe Iris's speech about giving Jay a chance to prove himself was still resonating. That or Barry's mind was simply too preoccupied by something, or someone else.

It wasn't too hard for a CSI, raised by a detective, to notice Cisco's been doing his best to avoid him since he woke up. On the first day, he was too busy going in and out of consciousness, sleeping off his injuries and fatigue, to note that it was always Caitlin, Iris, Joe and sometimes even Jay staying by his side. Everyone, except Cisco, was there, making sure there always was someone by his side to take care of all his needs and make sure he knew he wasn't alone, that he was safe. Barry got a couple of glimpses and some very short exchange with his best friend from time to time, but there was no mistaking the lack of energy and the awkwardness of his interactions with Cisco.

Barry's been trying to sleep for the past two hours since getting his first introduction to this new Wells. He's been shifting none-stop in his bed, unable to get any rest, no matter the position he was adopting. His body might still need some rest and recuperation, but his mind wasn't going to let that happen. Giving up on that idea, Barry finally slipped his legs over the bed's side, suddenly determined to fix what's been eating his mind.

Wearing his signature sweatpants and S.T.A.R. Labs shirt, the hero slowly penetrated into his friend's lab, finding Cisco working, just like Barry thought he would be. He approached his friend as careful as he could, watching Cisco's back tensed when he understood he wasn't alone in the labs, but not turning back. Barry positioned himself in the chair behind his friend and waited for him to turn around, which he finally did, realizing Barry wasn't going anywhere.

''Hey man, it's great you're awake and alert.'' Cisco started, trying to sound as normal as he could, which might have passed with anyone else, but not with his best friend who knew him too well.

''Cisco? What's wrong?'' Barry cut right to the chase.

''Everything is …'' he couldn't even finish his sentence that he read in his friend's face that Barry wasn't going to believe his words and he might as well cut the crap. Resigned, he sighed and complied. ''I know I've been distant, bro. It's not you. I'm really am glad you're awake and feeling better. ''

''Look man, I know it's been a hard week, Caitlin told me about it, but I'm ok now. You don't have to worry anymore.''

''It's not that. It's just…'' Cisco lowered his head just enough to avoid eye contact. ''It's my fault if you got taken in the first place, I shouldn't have left you all alone at the bar that night. Nothing of that would've happened.''

''Come on, Cisco. You can't do this to yourself. There's no way you could've known what this guy was planning to do. Or even assumed he knew who I was. Not to mention she could've killed you on sight. ''

''I know. I just can't help but think it's our job to protect you and we failed, I failed and you almost died.''

''Cisco, you can't protect me from everything. Might as well be hit by a bus tomorrow, it's life. I can look after myself. You can't always protect me.''

''You would need quite a fast bus for that to happen.'' Cisco added with a smile at the corner of his lips. Barry couldn't help but chuckle at it.

''You know what I mean. Come on, give me a hug.'' Barry answered, getting up and closing the gap between the two of them. It didn't take too long for the young engineer to take on the invitation, getting up and closing his arms around the speedster, both of them coming to a silent agreement.

***FLASHFLASHFLASH***

In the following days, Barry just kept on going better and stronger, finally returning in the streets, making sure the criminals and citizen of Central City knew their hero was still around and wasn't going anywhere. One of the first thing Barry did once his powers returned has been to ensure his doppelganger finally made it home, back on Earth 2.0, where his friends and family could bury him.

Slowly but surely, more memories of everything he endured came back to him, especially when he was asleep. Even if he knew he should hate the woman who did all of this to him, part of Barry just felt sorry for her. She might have been crazy and out of control, she was also consumed by fear, dreading the future for her and the people she cared about. Was that Zoom character anywhere as dangerous as she said, scary enough to make people desperate enough to do this kind of thing? Barry couldn't help himself but wonder, especially in the middle of the night after waking up from another nightmare from these couple of days, how far he would be ready to go to save his friends, his family, shivering at the thought.

Returning in the streets, feeling the power rushing through his whole body, feeling the wind, the ground under his feet….everything felt just as good as he remembered, maybe even better. He may have yet to face Zoom for the first time, but Barry was determined to take him down no matter how long and bumpy the road was going to be.

The Flash was back and he was there to stay,

THE END!

Final author's note: When I started this adventure 6 months ago (4 ½ since I published my first chapter), I never thought it would be 14 chapters and 30 000 words (!) long! To be fair, starting my first Flash fiction and my first fiction in English (my 2nd language), I wasn't even sure I would write it all. Can't say how amazing you guys have been for staying with me from start to finish. You are the reason I stayed motivated enough to see this through.

So….THANK YOU(!) To all of you. Especially RedQ for all the support and the help you gave me. Hopefully you guys will jump on the train with me with my new long adventure that's coming up really soon.

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