62

Barry had gotten what he needed from Wells that night. He had gotten the answers, all of the answers he needed to get faster. We spoke very little about what had happened when he went back, him mentioning small parts on where I was right on from before he left, and what he did for Iris.

I had continued to boast about how I was right and how people needed to start listening to me, even letting in a few jokes about how I should become a detective. We went back to his place that night, decided to just switch off on where we spent our nights. We were currently both laying in bed, him in yet another pair of joggers, shirtless, I dressed in nothing but his oversized t shirt and underwear.

He was sound asleep, as I was, but my resting was cut short when I shot up, breathing heavily, tears streaming down my cheeks.

Bad memories flashed in front of me, every time I blinked, or shut my eyes, the nightmare I had just had ripping all the sleep and exhaustion away from me.

A small groan comes from Barry, as I let out a small sob, getting out of bed as quick as I could, being overheated, which causes him to wake up. His room was dark, the only light coming from the moon, through his window.

His eyes slowly open as his gaze falls upon me, a yawn leaving his lips, as he makes an attempt to sit up, but ends up laying back down due to how tired he was, "Hey, why aren't you in bed?"

I couldn't muster out a good explanation, as all I did was choke out another spoke, trying to catch my breath, my hands on the center of my chest, squeezing my eyes shut.

Barry was up within seconds, as soon as he heard my sob, as he walks over to me, grabbing my forearms, trying to get him to look at me, "Hey- hey what's wrong?"

My eyes slowly closed, as I tried to calm myself down, as flashes of my father shooting my mother comes to mind, even flashes of every piece of physical abuse towards me done by Zoom comes to mind.

My eyes snap open as my gaze falls upon Barry, but I only see my father. I only see the look on his face when he was cuffed and taken away. I forcefully pull myself away as I stumble back, my back hitting against the wall, sobs leaving my mouth, as I stared at him wide eyed.

"Zee-" Barry says softly, his hand going and lightly touching my arm again, as I let out a small shriek, covering my mouth, sliding to the ground.

Barry crouches, in attempt to comfort me again, he speaks, "Calm down. It's me, Barry. Your Barry- calm down. ." He emphasized, clearly not leaving me alone to deal with this myself.

I remove my hand from my mouth, as I let out a shaky breath, sniffling quietly, speaking weakly, "I had a nightmare. It was something like your nightmares about Zoom killing me- but they're not like that." I try to explain, but I let out a scoff a few seconds after, "God- I'm not making any sense." I lean my head back against the wall.

"No- no. You're fine- talk to me. What was it about?" Barry sat next to me.

"I relived my mother being killed." I whisper, fresh tears pooling in my eyes, "I don't know why- I just had this- wave of- anger- that just- washed over me- with every damn- thing that's happened with my family- that I've held in. Everything with my parents- and how I ended up when I started to grow up with the foster family I ended up with- and now Jay- and then the doppelganger of Jay being Zoom-

Barry wraps his arms around me, and presses his cheek against my head, "Your family might not have been all that great- but you have Joe. We all have Joe. He raised you, Zee."

"I know." I simply say, sniffling, wiping my tears away, taking a deep breath.

"Hey, I never asked you, what were you like when you were a teen? I've heard from Joe that you weren't exactly the best version of yourself." He spoke, probably in a playful serious manner.

"That's a story for another time." I say.

"Understood." Barry nods understandingly, knowing I didn't want to talk about this now.

"I'm sorry for waking you-" I stare at the clock that read 4:23 am.

"You needed me. I'm here." Barry told me, holding onto me tight, as my arms wrap onto him, my face burying into his bare chest.

My heart fluttered at how much he cared. How he would postpone what he needed most; in this matter being sleep, to comfort me.

I was so in love with him.

-

I was stood at star labs, in a separate lab with Iris and Caitlin, seated next to Iris as I watched Barry speak to Joe in the cortex, the small weak smile remaining on my face.

"-Just, we won't get to have as much pizza from KeyStone." Barry tells Joe, as Joe makes a face, causing Barry to burst into a small fit of laughter as he patted Joe on the back, "Yeah, it sucks, I'm sorry- I hope you get used to that."

Caitlin speaks, "They really have a special bond, do they?"

"Yeah, they sure do." Iris says quietly.

I stay quiet, as I look at Iris.

Caitlin speaks for the both of us, "Are you okay?" She asks Iris.

"Yeah- yeah. I'm fine. I just- had my first date since Eddie last night- I bailed last minute. I couldn't do it." Iris explained to us.

"Is it because of Eddie?" Caitlin asks.

She barely nods, as I wrap my arms around her, holding her in a hug, as she hugs back, as we slowly pull away.

Something told me that for some odd reason, that wasn't the reason.

-

Later on the day, I stood in the cortex with Caitlin, Barry, Harry and Cisco. I was dressed in one of Barry's crewnecks, this one being a darkish red, a pair of light washed ripped jeans as per usual, as black heels on my feet. My hair was in a very messy bun, one arm crossed over my chest, my other hand playing with my necklace.

Barry was speaking to Caitlin, as I was pacing in the middle of the cortex, not knowing what else to do with myself.

"Well you remember when I was looking for his doppelganger, right?" Caitlin started to explain what she meant to Barry.

"Yeah. And you couldn't find him." Barry finished for her, getting more confused by the second.

She went more into depth, "Because, there is no Jay Garrick on this Earth. His doppelganger's name is- Hunter Zoloman."

Barry's head snaps towards me as I stop in my tracks, my body spinning around fully to face the two, lightly stumbling over my feet over how fast I span, "Hunter Zoloman?"

"Hunter Zoloman?" Harry's attention was caught also. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, why?" Caitlin asked.

"Well, because of my Earth," He pulls up the a article from Earth Two onto the screen in front of us, "Hunter Zoloman was a convicted serial killer."

My heart dropped as I stared at what was in front of me, my eyes scanning over the words, as Barry, Caitlin, Cisco and I took a step closer to the screen and closer to Harry.

"That's Jay?" Caitlin asks.

"No, is Hunter. Last public photo of Hunter Zoloman. Instantly recognizable. And people from my Earth- on my Earth- serial killers are an anomaly, so a lot of media attention to this." Harry explained.