Speeding up

"Yo," Cisco answered his phone.

"Hey, um Cisco?" Barry stuttered, "This is Barry. Barry Allen."

"I know who you are, man," Cisco laughed, "What's up?"

"I, um, I'm sorry to bother you," Barry said awkwardly before launching into a rant, "But you said I should call you if I need anything, and I was going to just call Joe, but I know he'd make a bigger deal about it than it was, and I couldn't call Iris for the same reason, and I don't know. I guess I just thought of you and decided to—"

"Dude," Cisco said, "Slow down. You're talking so fast I can barely understand you."

Barry frowned. He hadn't thought he was talking that fast.

"So, I uh…" Barry said awkwardly, "I know I don't know you very well, and you've already done enough for me, but I kind of need a favor."

"Whatever you need, man," Cisco said cheerfully, "What's up?"

"I…I need a ride," Barry muttered, "I need a ride to STAR Labs. I'd take a taxi, but I left my wallet at home, and—"

"No problem," Cisco said immediately, cutting off his explanation, "Where are you at? I'll pick you up."

Barry sighed in relief.

"Thank you," he said gratefully, "I'm on the corner of Dalton and McKinley." [1]

"Okay, I'll be right there," Cisco said cheerfully.

"Thanks, Cisco," Barry said appreciatively before hanging up the phone.

Barry hardly knew Cisco, but the fact that he was willing to just drop everything and come pick him up, no questions asked, said a lot about the guy.

When Cisco pulled up a few minutes later, waving eagerly at him through his car window, Barry felt instantly relieved. Most of the people who had lingered after the incident were gone now, but there were a few who had insisted on waiting with him until his ride came. Sometimes, people in Central City were too nice.

The grin slid from Cisco's face when Barry limped his way towards the car.

"Dude," Cisco said when Barry opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat, "What happened to you?!"

"Just a little accident," Barry said dismissively, "It's kind of a long story that ends with me running headfirst into a brick wall."

Cisco stared at him with a confused look on his face.

"You ran," he said flatly, "into a wall."

Barry nodded.

"I just got a bit disoriented, I guess," he said quickly, "Maybe my depth perception is off or something. I thought I was a lot farther from the wall than I actually was."

Cisco laughed.

"Man, if I knew you better, I would give you so much shit for this," he chuckled.

Barry managed a small smile. He felt bad for lying. Well, really, he hadn't lied to Cisco. He had just left out some of the details. Really, he didn't even know what had actually happened. It had all happened so fast, and he didn't even know where to begin to explain it.

So he didn't.

Joe sighed as he hung up the phone.

"Who was that?" Iris asked urgently, "Was it Barry? Is he okay?"

"It was Dr. Snow," Joe answered, "She said Cisco just brought him into STAR Labs. Barry begged her not to call me, but she promised me she'd keep me updated."

"Why is Barry there?" Iris asked worriedly, "We just left him at his apartment less than an hour ago."

"Apparently, Barry decided to go for a run after we left," Joe told her seriously, "He ran straight into a wall."

"What?!" Iris ejected, "Why the hell would he do that?! He knows he still has balance issues!"

"I guess he thought they were better now," Joe sighed, "I did too, really. He didn't seem to be having any trouble with it after that first day he woke up."

"Well, that didn't mean he was ready to go for run," Iris said angrily, "What was Barry thinking?!"

"I don't know," Joe sighed, running a hand over his face.

"Is he okay?" Iris asked worriedly, "Did he hurt himself?"

"He's fine," Joe assured her, "The doctor said he just had a small concussion. She didn't seem too concerned about it."

"How is she not concerned?!" Iris asked incredulously, "He just woke up from a coma, and now he gave himself a head injury! Shouldn't she be taking this more seriously?!"

"I know what you mean," Joe said seriously, "I can't help but feel like Barry's doctor wasn't telling me everything. She sounded a bit off."

"Well, we're going to the lab, right?" Iris asked, grabbing her coat, "We're taking Barry home with us. It was too soon for him to be alone at his apartment."

"Hang on, baby girl," Joe said quickly, reaching out a hand to stop her from putting on her coat, "Barry doesn't even know that the doctor called me. He didn't even want us to know about this."

"So what?!"

"So," Joe said seriously, "I don't think Barry wants us there. He doesn't want us to make a big deal out of it."

"I don't care," Iris said angrily, "Barry should have called us the second he was hurt!"

"Iris," Joe said softly, "Barry didn't call us because he's embarrassed."

Iris stared at him.

"What?"

"At least," Joe said, "I think that's probably why he didn't call us."

"Why would he be embarrassed?!" she asked in confusion.

Joe sighed.

"Iris, we've been coddling him ever since he woke up," he explained, "We've been treating him like a little kid, and if we go rushing into STAR Labs now, it's only going to make it worse."

"So, we're supposed to just ignore it then?!" she asked angrily, "Barry hurts himself in less than an hour, and we're seriously not going to bring him home?!"

"Barry's probably feeling pretty stupid right now," Joe said gently, "And he should. I agree with you that it was dumb of him to go for a run, and he probably knows that now, too. Us going there and yelling at him for it is just going to make him feel worse."

Iris deflated a bit then.

"You're right," she sighed, "I still don't like the idea of leaving him alone again, though."

"I don't either," Joe agreed, "But I also don't want to drive Barry away by pushing too hard."

"You've noticed it, too," Iris said quietly, "How distant he's been."

"He's just adjusting, Iris," her father assured her.

"But you can't pretend that it doesn't feel like he's keeping something from us," she pressed, "He's not opening up to us."

"He's going through a lot right now," Joe sighed, "And I think he's struggling with everything more than he's letting on. You and I both know he's always been that way, since he was a kid. He doesn't like to show weakness."

"But he should know by now that we understand," Iris said desperately, "He should know that he doesn't have to hide it from us when he's struggling."

"Iris, Barry has been treated like a victim his entire life," Joe said gently, "He's been psychoanalyzed continuously since he was eleven. He doesn't want the attention. To Barry, this kind of attention is negative, even if all we're trying to do is be there for him."

Iris gave her father a pained look.

"You're right," she sighed.

"So, you'll let this go?" he asked her seriously.

"No," she said simply, "But I promise I won't bring it up to Barry."

"Okay," he said, somewhat satisfied with her answer.

"I thought you told Barry you weren't going to call them," Cisco whispered to the doctor as she hung up her phone.

Caitlin didn't respond right away. She turned back to her laptop, where she was waiting for the x-ray results to download.

"Caitlin, you promised him," Cisco persisted.

"And I also promised Joe that I'd keep him updated," she said seriously, "Cisco, we've known Joe and Iris for eight months and Barry for only a week. I wasn't just going to cut them out of the loop."

"I'm just saying," Cisco said, "I feel like we betrayed him now."

"Trust me," Caitlin replied, "I haven't betrayed Barry's trust. I'll keep his secrets when I feel it's necessary. This didn't feel necessary. He needs his family to watch out for him."

"What do you mean 'his secrets?'" Cisco asked, furrowing his eyebrows, "What other secrets could he have?"

"Nothing," Caitlin said quickly, "I just meant if he has other secrets."

Just then, the x-ray results finally appeared on the screen. Caitlin stared at them in disbelief. Even though she knew about Barry's regenerative healing, she still found the films shocking just to see. Without another word to Cisco, Caitlin stood up and walked back to the med bay, laptop in hand.

"Thanks for waiting, Barry," she said, when she walked into the room to find Barry sitting on the medical bed, waiting patiently.

"Is it broken?" he sighed tiredly, gesturing to his wrist.

"It looks like you had a distal radius fracture," Caitlin said, nodding.

Barry gave her a strange look.

"Had?" he asked.

"It's healed," she said, showing him the image on her computer, "In less than three hours." [2]

Barry stared at the screen in shock.

"You…" he said, "You didn't tell the others about it, right?"

Caitlin shook her head.

"No," she said quietly, "I told you I wouldn't."

Barry sighed in relief.

"Thank you," he said seriously.

"Barry…" she said slowly, "I didn't want to pressure you, and I've been trying to give you time to adjust, but…"

"You want to study me," he said flatly.

Caitlin nodded.

"It's not just for research," she said quickly, "It's for your own sake, too."

Barry sighed and ran a hand over his face.

"So what do you need from me?" he sighed.

"Well, a blood sample would be a good place to start," she said gently, "Only with your consent, of course. I need to make sure you know, this would all be one-hundred percent voluntary. You can say no any time."

Barry nodded and then stretched out his arm for her. Caitlin smiled at him and then moved to retrieve a syringe and sample vial.

"So, what happened today?" she asked, as she slid the needle into his vein, "What happened when you were running?"

Barry gave her an uneasy look.

"I don't know," he said honestly, "It all happened so fast."

"You just ran into a wall?" Caitlin asked skeptically, "Were you feeling dizzy or anything?"

"Not really," Barry muttered, "There was…a woman. She was about to be hit by a truck. I pushed her out of the way, and then I hit the wall."

Caitlin blinked at him.

"You saved a woman's life?" she asked incredulously.

Barry shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess so," he said simply.

Caitlin just smiled and shook her head at him.

"You make that seem like it's not a big deal," she said.

"Well, you're a doctor," Barry pointed out, "You probably save lives all the time."

"Not really," Caitlin said, "I'm a research doctor. I don't usually save lives. At least, not directly."

"You saved mine," Barry said quietly before continuing, "And you've kept my secret."

"I told you I would," she said.

"I know," he replied, "I just didn't know if you were really going to or not. Now I know I can trust you."

Caitlin felt a small twinge of guilt at these words, knowing she had just broken her promise not to call Joe and Iris. She didn't see that as a betrayal, though. She did it for Barry's own well-being. She knew that, despite his words, Barry didn't fully trust her. At least, not enough to tell her whatever it was he was keeping from her—and he was keeping something; she could tell—but hopefully with time, she would be able to earn his full trust.

Joe was worried about Barry, to say the least. He never mentioned Barry's jogging incident, and neither did Barry. Barry kept it from him. Joe understood why, but it still hurt that Barry didn't feel like he could come to him. Granted, Joe hadn't always been the most approachable foster father to the boy. Tough love was his forte, and he had no regrets about that. He did, however, regret how Barry's family history affected their relationship. Joe had never encouraged Barry's delusions by hearing him out about that night, a choice that was hard to make, but he was convinced it was the right one.

It complicated things, though. It had always caused Barry to put a wall up. He didn't always come to Joe for help or advice. It made Barry feel like he had to hide his problems from him, including his obvious feelings for Joe's daughter and now whatever he was currently struggling with after his coma. Joe just wished Barry knew he could talk to him. Just because Joe didn't believe him about his father, it didn't have to mean Barry couldn't talk to him about other things.

Today wasn't the day to press Barry, though. Barry had enough on his plate right now. It was his first day back at work, and Joe was trying hard to give Barry space and not go check on him in his lab every two seconds—something that Joe found to be a lot easier said than done.

Barry sat down in his desk chair with a sigh. He had just finished rearranging his lab back to the way it was before. The temporary CSI they had brought in to cover for him during his sick leave had made a real mess of the place, and it took Barry all morning to set it all right. Thankfully, Singh hadn't given him any cases today. In fact, he was giving Barry a few days to get his lab back in order and get back into the swing of things—something Barry was very grateful for.

He didn't have time to worry about cases right now. He was more preoccupied with whatever was going on with himself. Whatever was happening in his body right now, Barry was finally going to get to the bottom of it. [3]

Barry sighed and turned on the webcam of his computer. He often recorded his thoughts out loud for his more difficult cases, and this was definitely one of those times. It was weird, though, taking auditory notes and speaking out loud about himself.

"Subject spent nine months and three days in a coma after being struck by lightning," he started.

He couldn't help but glance up at his skylight, which was now boarded up. Barry sighed and pulled out a blood collecting kit. He continued to speak as he drew a vile of blood from his own arm.

"Subject has been experiencing the passage of time at a different rate," he said in a strained voice as he loaded the test tube of blood into an analyzer, "Pathophysiologic reasons for hallucinations and skewed perspective could be explained by hypoxia and swelling of the brain."

He pulled out several scans he had stolen from STAR Labs. Well, okay, it wasn't really stealing if the scans he had taken were his own. He studied them carefully, looking for abnormalities.

"Scans show no visible signs of brain damage," he said quietly, "Medical reports indicate no increased intracranial pressure. Pulse ox is better than normal, and no cardiac dysrhythmias have been recorded. Tachycardia is mentioned in the report, but the subject's heartrate seems to be stable, despite its fast pace."

Barry glanced over at his blood analyzer to see how much time was left on the analysis. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at the time. It still read 00:00:00. He must have forgotten to turn it on. He was just about to press the start button on it again when suddenly, the clock changed.

00:00:10

Barry stared at it.

The machine was on, but according to the timer, the analysis had only been running for one tenth of a second. He looked at his computer then, at the recording time on the case video he was recording.

Video time: 00:00:10.

"That's not possible," Barry whispered.

He paused the video then and played it back.

Barry stared with wide eyes as he watched himself on the screen. He was moving in a blur as he drew blood from his arm and loaded it into the machine. His words weren't even audible because he was speaking too fast. Barry paused the video, his hand shaking as he moved the mouse. He slowed the video down to a tenth of its original speed and pressed play. Only then, were his words audible and movements visible. His movements, however, were still far too fast to be humanly possible.

"The world's not slowing down," Barry said shakily to himself, "I'm speeding up."

[1] The intersection of Dalton and McKinley appears in several of my stories. It's the intersection Barry had his car crash in Crashing and it's located near the alley Barry got assaulted in in Prejudice. The streets are named after the two schools in the show, Glee: McKinley High and Dalton Academy—the prep school Grant Gustin's character attended.

[2] If Barry can heal a distal radius fracture in only three hours and it usually takes six weeks—1008 hours—for that type of fracture to heal, it would mean Barry heals in 0.3% of the time a normal person heals. That's 336 times faster than a normal person. Granted, I've done calculations for his other injuries, and they never match this calculation. It's a TV show based on a comic book, so I can't fault them for being inconsistent.

[3] Disclaimer: The last scene in Barry's lab was not my own. It was actually taken from the original script of the pilot episode. In the original screenplay, Barry tried to understand his powers before he went to STAR Labs for help. The scene was deleted from the script and never filmed. If you want to see more cut scenes from the pilot episode's script, check out my Twitter. Direct message me your email, and I'll send you a PDF copy.