The Flash is Born

Barry walked into Star labs laughing, once again another successful mission and more criminals behind bars. Things had really been looking up for Barry the last couple of months. Besides the fact he was really starting to feel like he was making a difference in the city, work had been going great. Captain Singh had only yelled at him 3 times in the last month, he calls that progress. Also he and Eddie were doing amazing, Barry spend most nights at Eddie's and their relationship was going great. Things were finally starting to look up for him.

"Yeah!" Cisco says to giving him a high five as he walked into the lab, Barry returning the gesture.

“Efficiently done, Mr. Allen" Wells says smiling at Barry.

"We need a picture" Cisco says running to grab his phone.

“Pretty sure rule number one of having a secret identity is not taking pictures of yourself in your super suit without a mask on" Barry explained.

“Oh, come on, please! This is just for us. This is to document all this" Cisco explained.

"Who knows? Maybe people in the future will want to know how all this happened" Wells agrees.

"All right, well, if you want the future to have the whole story, then, we all need to be in it" Barry says grabbing Cisco's phone.

“First, let me put on some makeup?" Caitlin runs to find her purse.

"The future does not care about your makeup" Cisco counters.

"Mm-mmm. Okay. Big smiles. Three... two... one" Once everyone was in position Barry quickly it the picture button, running to stand behind the other then back before cisco's phone it the ground and shattered.

"Does that count as a selfie?" Cisco asks taking a look at the picture.

"Absolutely" Barry says getting out of costume and changing into his regular clothes.

"Sick. Came out good" Cisco says showing Caitlin who smiled and agreed.

“Thanks for talking me through things out there" Barry says to Wells.

"My pleasure. Well done" Wells congratulates.

“I have to say it was a bit of a rush feeling like a..." Barry begins but Wells cuts him off.

“A hero. Yeah. You're pretty good at it" Wells says giving Barry a pat on the arm before leaving the lab. Barry smiles to himself and moves to grab his jacket.

“Well, as much fun as this is I need to get home. Can't help protect the city without food and some much deserved rest" Caitlin says putting on her jacket and heading out the door. “Bye guys, see you tomorrow.

Cisco smiled and waved goodbye to Caitlin, as did Barry leaving both men in the room with an awkward silence. “Well, I'm going to get going. I have to meet up with Eddie".

Cisco tensed feeling his heart slowly break just a little bit more. Every time Barry bought up Eddie (which was all the time) he felt his heart break even more. Cisco never understood why he always found himself attached to the men he couldn’t have. It always left him with a broken heart.

“How are things with you and Eddie" Cisco asked.

Barry smiled and blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Amazing, I never thought I could be this happy".

Cisco smiled. “I’m happy for you".

“Thanks Cisco" Barry says. “Well, I'm going to head out. But hey we need to hang out soon, feel like I haven't seen you in a while".

"Yea, that would be nice" Cisco smiles.

"Ok, see you later" he says running out.

Once Barry was out of the room, Cisco finally let the tears he was holding back fall. One day he would be able to have happiness with somebody he hoped.

Eddie opened the door to his apartment the minute he heard the knock, he knew exactly who it was. Before he knew it a pair of arms where around his waist pulling him in for a kiss.

“Hey babe" Barry said pulling back from the kiss not letting him go.

“Hi, I missed you. Where did you go after work?" Eddie asked as Barry walked into the apartment, shutting the door behind him.

“I..ah, had to take care of some stuff with Iris" Barry lied. He hated lying to Eddie, he wanted to tell him so many times he was the flash but he didn't know if it was the right time because their relationship was still new.

“Yea, so what do you want to do tonight?"

Barry shrugged and moved in on Eddie backing him against the kitchen counter. “I can think of a few things".

Both were brought to a stop when their phones went off. “Ignore it" Eddie says noticing Barry pull back.

“What if its work, and its important" he said between kisses.

Eddie sighed and pushed Barry back walking to get his phone. “Hello".

“Really? Ok I'll be right there" he said hanging up the phone.

“Some attacked Harrison wells" Eddie says grabbing his jacket and moving to the door. Barry following behind.

“I’ll drive" Barry says shutting the door behind him.

When they arrived the scene they noticed glass shattered in the main room. Eddie immediately went to work. Barry spotted Joe talking to Wells, walking over to see if he could get some inside details.

"Look, Joe, I apologize for all of this. It just... it really feels like a case of so much for so little. The police should not have been called. I got a prank call before all this happened" Wells explained leading them to the crime scene.

"This feels like more than just a prank, Doctor" Joe threw out.

"Well, there are those who feel I did not suffer enough for the particle accelerator explosion of last year, and some of them act on it" Wells says to Joe.

"Dr. Wells. Dr. Wells, are you okay?" Caitlin asks rushing over to Wells, Cisco following.

“Dr. Snow, I'm... I'm fine. A little chilly. Otherwise, I'm fine. Hello, Cisco. Make yourselves at home as best you can. I'm going to make a hotel reservation" Wells says with a small chuckle wheeling away to make a call.

Cisco looks around the house, taking in its beauty. "Oh... This place is so sick".

"Yeah... hey, what took you guys so long?" Barry asked they should have been there before him.

"We got lost. We've never been here before" Caitlin says.

"Really? Never?" Barry asks somewhat surprised.

"He tends to keep his private life private" Caitlin says.

Wells sat in his office playing one of his favorite’s games with his most trusted Employee. Harley was a very talented young man, and was one of the people working to help get the accelerator up and working on time. Wells was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Hartley speak something in Spanish.

"A precipice in front, and wolves behind" Wells nodded.

"In other words, you're between a rock and a hard place. Check" Hartley said confident in his move.

“The King is dead" Wells says winning the game and smirking at Hartley.

“Checkmate" Hartley says smiling at Dr. Wells.

The pair were interrupted when there was a knocking on the door. "Dr. Wells?”

Hartley looked over to the interrupter and sat back in his chair. He took a moment to look this kid up and down, and wonder why this nerd just interrupted he and Wells game.

“There he is. Hartley, allow me to introduce you to Cisco Ramon. Mr. Ramon here is one of the finest mechanical engineers I have ever seen" Wells says patting Cisco on the back.

"Wow. I can't believe Harrison Wells said that about me" Cisco blushed,

"I'm sure he'll prove to be an invaluable member of your team. Trust me" Wells says smiling at Hartley.

"You I trust. I don't foresee myself trusting someone who showed up to his first day of work at a billion dollar research facility wearing a T-shirt that says “Keep Calm and Han Shot First.” Hartley says calling out Cisco's taste in fashion and spitting out each word as he talked. Cisco frowned and tried to hide his look of embarrassment. He knew he should have changed his shirt but he just wanted to feel comfortable.

"Huh... would you give us a minute please, Cisco?" Well says to Cisco who nodded and left the room.

"Yes, sir. I realize you don't have to explain your hiring decisions to me, but maybe for the sake of a fun exercise, we could pretend you did" Hartley says trying to hide how upset he was at Wells for hiring someone like Cisco.

"I have a good feeling about him. Just as I did about you" Wells says chuckling." Oh... Hartley... You're still my guy. And nothing and no one is ever going to change that".

"There's no point of impact. No rock or bat or... any solid object went through these windows. It's as if they just shattered themselves. This wasn't some teenage prank?" Barry says to Wells.

 No, it wasn't" Well says to Barry.

“But you don't want our help. Why?" Barry asked standing up.

“Because I already know who did this. Hartley Rathaway".

"Who is Hartley Rathaway?” Barry asked with a hint of confusion in his voice.

"Hartley Rathaway is the prodigal son. And he has returned".

"Hartley Rathaway possesses one of the finest scientific minds I've ever encountered" Wells says.

“Any ties to Rathaway Industries?" Joe asked.

“His grandfather founded the company, his father expanded it, and Hartley here was set to inherit the throne" Wells explained.

"What happened?”

“Hartley and his parents had a falling out during his younger years, he never talked to me about it, preferred to keep it private. I couldn't have built the particle accelerator without him" Wells says.

"You guys have never even mentioned his name" Barry said looking to Caitlin and Cisco.

"That's because Hartley had a challenging personality" Caitlin said.

"What she means is he was mostly a jerk. But, every once in a while, he could be a dick" Cisco says remembering all the horrible and mean things Hartley said and did to him during the time he worked with him. Joe laughs at the comment.

“Let’s just say that Hartley, like many outliers, had trouble relating to his peers" Wells says.

“Yes, but he was always your favorite" Caitlin says.

"The chosen one. He referred to himself like that" Cisco points out.

“So if you two were so close, why would he target you?" Joe asks.

“Hartley left S.T.A.R. Labs about a year ago after we had a... a disagreement".

“I could've gone my whole life without seeing that jerk again".

"I'm guessing the two of you didn't have such a great relationship" Barry says.

"We hated each other, and I always thought it was because he was mad that I became close friends with Ronnie, but know I see it was because Ronnie liked me" Cisco says crossing his arms.

That last part made Barry extremely uncomfortable for some reason, clearing his throat he asked "Hartley liked Ronnie".

"He dated Ronnie, but he broke it off way before Cisco came to star labs. Hartley was somewhat.......obsessed with Ronnie" Caitlin states.

“Look, don't worry. We'll stop him. I won't let him hurt you, any of you. Let's get back to my lab, all right?" Barry motioning for Joe to follow behind. Joe nodded but not before throwing Wells one has look.

"Yo. This place is so dope" Cisco says taking in Star Labs as he followed Hartley. He always dreamed he would someday work at this place, and hear he was on his first day.

“What a coincidence. We were thinking of making “Yo. This place is so dope” our new slogan" Hartley says. ".

“If you're so convinced Dr. Wells made a mistake in hiring me, why don't you try proving it to him?" Cisco says already sick of Hartley and his insults.

"Magnetic flux is measured by what?"

“Hall effect pick up" Cisco answers.

"The dual of a parallel R-C circuit?”

“Series R-L circuit, I can go all day, pal" Cisco says crossing his arms but quickly interrupted by clapping.

"Hartley, it looks like you have met your match. I am Dr. Caitlin Snow. It's very nice to meet you" she says reaching her hand out to Cisco.

“Cisco Ramon. Nice to meet you." he says expecting the gesture and smiling at her.

"And just ignore Hartley. We all do" Caitlin says waving Hartley off. Just then a young man walked up next to Caitlin handing her a jacket and stopping in his tracks the moment he laid eyes on Cisco. Hartley noticing Ronnie looking at him walked next to him wrapping his arm around him.

“and this is Ronnie Raymond, MY boyfriend" Hartley says smiling up at Ronnie, who frowned and pulled his hand away. Hartley rolled his eyes and crossed his arms shaking his head, he and Ronnie needed to talk. He wouldn’t except being broken up, he loved Ronnie and he knew Ronnie loved him so Ronnie was being ridiculous breaking things off.

“EX!" he says quickly, extending his hand to Cisco.

“I’m Ronnie's sister Caitlin" Immediately noticing his mistake, and trying to laugh it off. “I mean I'm Caitlin’s brother Hartley".

Cisco laughed at Ronnie and accepted the greeting. “Cisco Ramon".

Ronnie shook Cisco hand not letting go and just starring him in his eyes. Cisco smiled and Ronnie blushed, he could get lost in that smile. "Can I get my hand back"?

Ronnie looked down and quickly let go not realizing he had still been holding his hand. Hartley felt his face heat up, jealously coursing through his veins at the interaction between the two.

“Let’s go Newbie" Hartley says beginning to walk away.

“Hope to see you guys around" Cisco says following behind Hartley.

“What was the Caitlin" Caitlin says laughing at her own joke.

Ronnie looks away from where he was still watching Cisco. “That’s the man I'm going to Marry right there".

“Since when did Ronnie Raymond want to get married?" Caitlin asked confused. Ronnie said he wanted to try a relationship but never ever once said he wanted to get married or even have kids for that matter.

“I’ve always wanted to get married Caitlin, just never voiced it" Ronnie says mocking Caitlin’s question. “He is special, and I want to get to know him".

Barry was currently dragging Hartley into Star labs in handcuffs, man this guy was an asshole. Even bringing him over here with his super speed, he still managed to be an asshole. Shoving him inside, Hartley quickly stopped when he spotted his old colleagues.

"Well, well, well, the gang's all here" Hartley says and looks over to Cisco. “You’ve lasted a lot longer than I would've thought, Cisco".

"And you didn't last ten seconds against The Flash" Cisco says, Barry smirked at the comment.

“I was thinking of calling myself Pied Piper" Hartley told Cisco.

“Hey! I assign the nicknames around here. Although that one's not bad" Cisco says.

Barry pushes Hartley towards the containment cells. “Stay in front of me".

Soon as Hartley was in the cell, Cisco scanned his body to make sure he didn’t have any weapons or devices to break out of the cell. The computer immediately went off the minute it got to his ears.

"The scanner is detecting foreign metallic objects in your ears. Take 'em out" Cisco says.

“I can't. I suffered head trauma when S.T.A.R. Labs exploded. My hearing was severely damaged. Without these, I'm in pain you can't imagine" says to Cisco looking between he and Caitlin.

"We all lost something that night" he says sadly at the memory of learning Ronnie had died.

“Very clever re-purposing the anti-proton cavities into confinement cells. Wells' idea, I'm sure" Hartley says to Cisco as if Cisco wasn’t smart enough to think of that on his own.

“It was mine, actually" Cisco confirmed smirking.

“Still looking for Wells approval are we Cisco?” Hartley asked smirking. “We both know you will never have it. Just like you would have never had Ronnie".

"Hartley, don't make this more difficult than it has to be" Caitlin says cutting him off.

Hartley ignored her and went back to his original statement. “Ronnie was supposed to be with me, and he would have been. I don’t know what he ever saw in a nothing like you".

"A future apparently" Cisco taunted.

Hartley laughed. "Please, Ronnie would have come to his senses sooner or later. Let's face it Cisco, you never were good enough for him".

"Enough. Give us a minute" Wells says giving Cisco a reassuring look as he walked out the door.

"See you soon, Cisco" Hartley said to him.

"Doubt it!" Cisco said giving him the finger as he walked out.

Cisco walked into Jitters looking around for Barry, spotting him at a high table he made his way over. "Hey Barry".

Barry smiled as Cisco sat down and look at the food sitting on the table. "Oh, one chocolate chip muffin and a coffee with extra cream, just the way you like it" he says pushing the food in front of Cisco.

Cisco just looks at it and slowly sits down before looking at Barry. "Just the way I like it, you know my order".

"I pay attention Cisco" Barry says in a matter of fact tone.

Cisco gives off an awkward laugh. "What's going on?"

"I thought maybe you needed to get out of star labs and away from Hartley for a little bit".

Cisco sighed. "Yea, Hartley can and always will be a handful no what the situation is".

Barry just have a small smile and took a sip of his coffee. "So, Hartley and Ronnie".

"I know right? I never understood what Ronnie saw in Hartley" Cisco says taking a bit of his muffin.

"How long did Hartley and Ronnie date?" Barry asked.

"According to Ronnie, a few months. Ronnie told me Hartley was somewhat of a handful, and possessive" Cisco says. "Hartley always hated anybody talking to Ronnie, he felt nobody deserved Ronnie's attention but him".

"Did he know Ronnie loved you?" Barry asked.

"Yes, though at the time, I didn't understand why Hartley hated me so much. Now I know" Cisco sighs playing with his muffin.

Barry took Cisco’s hand in his. “Don’t worry Cisco, once this is all over we will find a way to bring Ronnie home” he assured.

Cisco tried to ignore the tingle he felt from Barry’s hand on his, he had to get a grip on these feelings. It was pointless to like a man who was clearly in love with someone else, it just sucked it was hard to move on. Not like he had guys just throwing themselves at him, but a relationship might make this a little easier. If Cisco hadn’t been so focused on starring at his and Barry’s hands he would have noticed Barry sharing the same reaction.

Barry pulled his hand back instantly and took a sip of his coffee. “I’m going to head back, you coming?” Cisco asked.

“No, I need to meet with Eddie, I see you guys later” He smiled.

Cisco smiled back and headed towards the door biting his lip nervously Weird.

Once Cisco was back to the lab the first thing he did was begin work on Hartley gloves.

“Where have you been?” Caitlin asked, making her way into the lab.

“I meant Barry at Jitters, he wanted to hang out” Cisco answers but doesn’t look up from what he is doing.

She looks around the room. “Where's Dr. Wells?”

“I'm not sure. Barry was right. Hartley was using sonic resonance. The intensity regulator's measuring decibels. But you know what's weird? He had it set to the lowest setting” he says.

“What do you mean?” she asks making her way over to Cisco.

“Well... He could've completely destroyed his father's building if he wanted to in one blast. So, why not just do it and leave? I mean, why stick around and run the risk of getting caught?” Cisco thinks for a second before coming to the realization. “Unless he wanted to be caught”.

Cisco quickly runs over to the nearest computer to check the security camera’s in the pipeline when he notices that Hartley has broken out of his. Letting out a sigh of defeat he quickly sounds the alarm. “Dr. Wells! There's been a pipeline breach”.

“Stay here” he says to Caitlin before running out of the room.

Barry walked into the police station immediately looking for Eddie, quickly spotting him at his desk he walked over with a smile and gave him a quick kiss on the check.

“Hey, ready to go?” Barry asked.

Eddie sighed and sat down at his desk. “Sorry babe Captain Singh gave me more paperwork at the last minute, looks like I’m going to be here for another hour or two”.

“That’s ok, I can just meet you at your place later, I’ll bring dinner” Barry says leaning on Eddie’s desk.

“That would be perfect” he smiled giving Barry a small kiss on the lips. “I promise I’ll make up for it later”.

Barry smirked. “I’ll hold you too it”.

Ding…

Barry pulled his phone out of his pocket, and looked to see who sent him a message.

Caitlin- BARRY WE NEED YOU AT STAR LABS NOW, HARTLEY ESCAPED!

“I gotta go” Barry quickly put his phone in his pocket and makes his way to the door.

“Ok, Love” Eddie looks and Barry is gone. “You”.

As soon as Barry gets to Star Labs the first he finds is Caitlin, who is one the ground slowly coming too. “Hey! You ok?”

“Dr. Wells and Cisco” she manages to get out before Barry takes off to find them. He manages to find Dr. Wells first and sighs in relief that he is ok. “He’s gone” Wells states.

Barry looks around. “Where’s Cisco?” he asks panicked.

Wells doesn’t get the chance to answer before Barry takes off again, searching all of star labs for him. He finds him in the cortex unconscious and bloody.

“CISCO!” Barry yells running to him to make sure he is still breathing. Barry sighs in relief when he sees Cisco’s chest rising and falling. “Thank god” he says lifting him in his arms.

Cisco moans. “I got you” Barry whispers in his ear.

Monitor Beeping….

How many times was Barry going to hear this sound, it seems to be the latest soundtrack in his life. But currently it wasn’t him connected to the other end. Barry hadn’t left Cisco’s side since he had been brought to the lab, and he didn’t need to see Eddie to know that he was disappointed that he wasn’t coming over tonight. But Cisco needed him more, and he could always make it up to him.

Barry stood up from the chair he was sitting in and move to Cisco’s bedside. Cisco looked so peaceful and so beautiful sleeping, it almost made Barry wonder if he always looked like that at night. Barry all of a sudden had the urge to reach out and touch Cisco, anywhere, he just needed the contact. He ran his hands along Cisco face tracing his features, pushing his hair out of his face, really taking him in.

Barry instantly pulled back when Cisco moaned, signaling that he was awake. “Welcome back Mr. Ramon” Barry smiled.

“Your evil hearing aids won't help you escape this time. So I'd get comfy” Cisco says smirking at Hartley making his way closer to the cell.

Hartley chuckled and stood up. “You must be enjoying this, Cisco”.

“I am”.

“Ah, well, if that scares you, I can't imagine how you're gonna feel when you open up these doors and let me out of here” Hartley states crossing his arms, an evil smirk forming.

“Hmm... maybe I'm going deaf, 'cause I could've sworn you just said I'm going to let you out” Cisco says.

“And very soon too” Hartley assures.

“Why would I ever do that?” Cisco asks.

“Because I know where Ronnie Raymond is. I know what really happened to him that night. And I know how to save him”.