You Bring Out The Worst In Me~

[nevergetshome]

It had been some time ago that Thawne had gotten the results of Claire's blood. He messaged her and to his surprise the text kicked back. A phone call told him the number had been disconnected. It only took a little bit of research with Gideon to get her address from this time period only to find out she'd moved. Recently. And where had she moved to? Of all places in the world but Central City. The hometown of his foe. A place he spent fifteen years of his life. It was time to visit his old rival.

Silent observation was key. He kept his distance, but immediately, he felt something interesting. Barry Allen was having trouble handling the Speed Force. The fumbles were small, but enough that he could feel them when Barry faltered. Ahh, so this was around his encounter with the Chameleon. That made sense. What drove a dagger into his heart though was to see Barry Allen and Claire Bennet together. After he'd shared everything with her. Told her how Barry ruined his life. Even if he never said Allen's name, he called him the Flash, and she clearly knew who he was. How could she betray him?!

Just one more reason to hate Barry. One more thing Barry stole from him. One more reason to destroy The Flash. He'd have to teach them both a lesson.

There was a knock at Noah's hotel door. Harrison was standing politely on the other side, waiting for Noah to answer.

Comments

[infinite1ups]

Claire wasn't a big fan of the tension mounting; it didn't do much to help her own frayed nerves. Plus, Barry had this kicked puppy quality that made her chest ache, even if she understood Harry was just trying to keep everyone safe from Thawne, and there were other things that clearly happened before she met any of them. She gave Barry an extra squeeze of a hug when he was back at her side. There'd be even more cuddles at home, she'd make sure of it.

"He has a lot of assets that he's willing to put at our disposal, and Angela decided it was too valuable to pass up." Noah explained, not looking terribly pleased about it. He hated how uncomfortable it made Claire, but he was also being tugged in several different directions about the situation. Part of the agreement was that Sylar would stay away from Claire, and he was honoring that so far.

Of course it was Angela's call, in the end. The last of the remaining Company founders. Noah had just been an agent, and now a right hand man of sorts, because of their family connection and other history.

"Peter says he's making progress, whatever that means." Claire didn't bother to hide the sarcasm in her voice. The entire situation left her unsure of who to be the most upset with. Even she had to admit that Sylar had been a victim for some of it. He didn't deserve what Angela and Parkman did to him.

She sighed, hating that she had to accept this fact sooner or later. "I can deal with Sylar, if I have to. Better the devil I know." At least she could be fairly certain he wouldn't hurt her - he'd just be annoying as hell.

[captaincaveman]

Harry wasn't about to forgive Noah for that one just yet, but he wouldn't make a huge scene about it right now. They had enough to worry about with Thawne and timelines and the like. He did, however, pointedly add, "I've found out first hand what happens if you push too hard, Mr. Bennet." Jesse stepped back into her dad's bubble and leaned against him almost like an apology. He'd almost died when she ran away, so they had both learned lessons in that moment. Tears welled in her eyes at the thought of the last words she might've said to her dad before he died would've been that he was just as bad as Zoom.

"Just keep him out of Central City." Barry warned as he held Claire. "He might be an Evolved Human, but he won't see me coming if he upsets Claire." Yep, that sure was a threat.

[infinite1ups]

The last words Claire had said to Noah before he'd gotten fatally shot were an argument. She might have even told him she hated him. It was truly a stroke of luck - maybe even a miracle - that Mohinder had her blood samples and that the transfusion had worked to bring her father back. So she would have known exactly how Jesse was feeling.

Now she leaned into Barry, feeling prouder of him than ever. Even Noah could respect that reaction, and it showed.

"It's part of our agreement," Noah assured them. "Sylar will stay away from Claire unless he's needed, and even then he's still on notice."

Even Sylar's telekinesis couldn't move faster than Barry. She glanced up with unbridled adoration. "You'd mop the floor with him," Claire sighed. She might even have swooned a little before she relaxed again. "Honestly, though, I'm surprised he'd agree to work with Angela after everything she did to him."

Noah shrugged. "He says it's his best shot at trying to prove himself. But I'd be lying if I said the situation with Angela wasn't tense sometimes. Peter's been keeping the peace."

And didn't that sound just like her uncle? She was almost afraid to explain the context. It was one of the more fucked up situations her family had been in.

"To make a long, messed up story incredibly short: Angela convinced Sylar that he was my dead bio-dad because she couldn't handle losing her eldest son. Who Sylar killed. He then proceeded to live as Nathan, shapeshifted and essentially telepathically brainwashed, for months, believing he was Nathan Petrelli. I hugged that man, believing him to be my father. But it was Sylar." Claire winced as she explained. Truly, she didn't blame Sylar for it, as much as she hated him. None of it was his choice, and he'd been furious to have it done to him.

But wait! Noah had more. "This is after Angela and her late husband both lied and convinced Sylar he was their son to manipulate him. So, yeah. There's tension."

They were the most dysfunctional family, loyal to a degree that was probably unhealthy, she thought. It was almost a little embarrassing.

[captaincaveman]

"That's pretty messed up." Jesse blurted out and Harry looped an arm around her shoulders.

"Jesse." His tone was admonishing, but... he wasn't going to lie, he agreed with her.

"No, dad. Literally no one is in the right there." Jesse was a very strongly virtuous coded young woman and Harry loved her for it, but he also knew the world was never shades of black and white. Not that he thought this was any decent shade of grey on a moral compass.

[infinite1ups]

Noah would be the first to admit he wasn't one to shy away from morally grey, but he also knew this was a much darker shade. It had been an ugly situation all around, and no one really knew how to stand up to Angela, who had been nearly mad with grief.

"It's not my proudest moment," Noah admitted. "Not that any of it was my choice, but I didn't push hard enough to stop it."

Claire felt even more of a sisterly bond to Jesse in that moment. Her morals were a little stronger, most certainly due to Sandra's hand in her upbringing, but even she had her ethical blind spots. She liked to think she'd taken the best of all her parents, adoptive and biological.

"Angela worked pretty hard to make up for that. She's not like, the kind of grandma who I'll go make cookies with or whatever, but she had my back after my jump, and even more after I ran away. She defended me when my dad wanted to drag me back to DC." Claire had expected Angela to be as mad as Noah has been. But it was her grandmother who pointed out how impressive it was that she'd stayed under the radar for months.

"And she was right about that," Noah admitted. "You proved that you can take care of yourself out here."

Claire shrugged, from her cozy spot nestled in at Barry's side. "Somehow, despite all this, we're kind of closer than ever? Except Sylar, of course. But the fact that I haven't made good on my vow to kill him, well. It's not only because I haven't figured out how yet. I still hate him, I just don't know if he's worth the effort - living well while he's been miserable is some pretty good revenge."

[captaincaveman]

Hey, Harry was by no means on the side of good karma either. But being around Barry for these last two years had swayed him some towards the side of redemption. That and wanting to be someone his daughter could be proud of had helped. But even this was darker than the straight up murder he'd committed in his opinion. There was something truly twisted in brainwashing another person into thinking they were someone else and keeping them around to act as a stand-in.

"You and my dad have a lot in common. Moral ambiguity included." She said and instantly regretted it when she felt Harry stiffen and pull away slightly. "I-- I didn't mean..."

"No, you're right. I was just thinking the same thing." Harry admitted and kissed the top of her head.

Barry shook his head. "He's not worth having that blood on your hands, honey." He said softly. Barry didn't kill. Even as much as he hated Thawne, he wanted to lock him up, not kill him (for now). He'd lost his cool with Zoom, but regained it and let the Time Wraiths deal with him in the end.

[infinite1ups]

Claire had noticed the same similarities, particularly when Harry talked about how far he would've gone to save Jesse. Noah would've done the same, and probably worse, to save her.

There was a lot he'd done that she still didn't know about. That she might never know about.

"I've killed anyone, but I came damn close a few times," she said thoughtfully. Noah looked somewhere between proud and uncomfortable. She absolutely got that from him. He'd even helped. "I don't think I mind bloody hands if it means one less monster."

Though her ordeal with the Chameleon had haunted her at first, she'd gotten over it when she reminded herself that it had nearly killed three people she cared about. Yeah, she'd only met Leonard Snart the one time, but that sort of trial won her loyalty faster than just about anything.

That loyalty, when someone earned it, was one of her better traits. But her occasional fixation on vengeance was one of her worst. Fortunately, she could be talked down from that ledge.

"He's behaving, and he's leaving me alone. That'll do for the time being." Sylar couldn't touch her now, not with Barry around. And he'd be jealous, not just of Barry's power, but of their relationship, which gave her a certain satisfaction she refused to admit to. "If he can behave, so can I. Even better if he's willing to help us against Thawne."

[captaincaveman]

Barry shook his head lightly. "When Zoom killed my father in front of me... I'd just gotten him back. He'd been in jail most of my life because Thawne framed him for killing my mother. When Thawne gave me the confession as Harrison Wells saying he killed my mother, I finally had him back. Then in no time at all, Zoom took that away from me and made me watch him kill my dad, thinking it would make me just like him. A murderer. He was almost right. If Harry," Harry inclined his head hearing his name. "and Joe hadn't stopped me, I would have. I was so angry, so broken, I wanted to kill him. I wanted revenge. But Harry shot me. And Joe locked me in the Pipeline to cool off."

"And Allen came around in the end. There are other ways to deal with monsters, Ms. Bennet. Zoom was the monster who kidnapped Jesse, dominated my entire world, wiped out most of my Earth's law enforcement, tortured me," Harry tugged down the collar of his shirt to show the top of the lichtenberg figure scarring Claire saw when she first met him. Scars only obtained by being high voltage electricity. "and used me to steal Allen's speed. He came here to conquer this Earth. He pretended to be our Warth's Flash at the same time and pretended to be Allen's friend. Kidnapped Snow and mentally tortured her. He's killed more people than I could keep track of. The definition of monster. I have a lot to atone for after what I did working under the pressure of Zoom to save Jesse, and some," He glanced down at Jesse subtly so she wouldn't notice. "call me a monster for what I've done. I've murdered people, used and betrayed good people. I nearly got Allen killed. I stole his speed for Zoom. Detective West was ready to put a bullet in my head for everything I did to his foster son." He was painting this picture for a reason. "Ms. Bennet, would you have had it in you to pull the trigger, seeing Allen flat lining in the med lab, covered in blood, because of what I'd done to help Zoom?"

Barry wanted to ask about Sylar helping against Thawne, but he was almost afraid of interrupting Harry right now.

[infinite1ups]

Claire listened, her jaw set, as both men made their cases. She was quiet for a moment, half stewing (nothing personal, it was a reflex) and half thinking of how to respond. But all in all she kept her expression even.

"I'm not saying it'd be easy," she began. "In fact, I'll tell you what I told Thawne, when I first met him. It'd be a last resort. Not something I take lightly. When I fought the hardest, I felt I was backed into a corner. And, for most of it, I was still a teenager."

Physically, she hadn't changed much since then. She wasn't sure if her slowed physical aging had any effect on her mental and emotional maturity - it could really go either way, but maybe that was down to her personality.

"Here, where I'm as safe as I'm gonna get, it's easy to say I could let a cooler head prevail and make the best decisions. It's always different in the moment, but even in the moment, killing hasn't ever been my real goal. When I drove Brody Mitchum into a brick wall, I wasn't trying to kill him, I just wanted him to stop hurting girls. Lori didn't want to come forward, and I couldn't tell anyone what happened to me because I was still keeping my regen a secret. He taunted me about it while I was in the driver's seat of his Mustang. No one in town was gonna believe a couple random girls over the star quarterback in a Texas high school, he was untouchable, and he knew it."

"Nobody except your mother and I," Noah interjected, and she nodded. "To be fair to Claire, this is largely due to my influence. I haven't always set the best example." Brody Mitchum was lucky Noah hadn't gotten to him first.

"I can't say I would pull the trigger on you, Harry," she continued. "But I also can't say I wouldn't find some other way to lash out. I haven't been in those situations for a long time, so I got... soft, I guess. Things are ramping up now in ways they haven't for years. Maybe I'm overcompensating for having let my guard down so long, and suddenly having so much more to lose."

[captaincaveman]

"I believe I said, Barry dies, you die." Joe said as he walked into the Cortex. "We're debating morality? If it helps, I shot him the day I met him."

"You thought he was Thawne." Barry defended.

"Yeah, and you caught the bullets, thank God. Patty Spivot shot him in the heart the day she met him, too. We nearly lost him. She also thought he was Thawne."

Harry rolled his eyes. This was derailing his entire moment. "Okay, I get it. Everyone's first reaction is to shoot me. I've been decked by Garrick and Detective West."

"Twice." Joe corrected. "He's pissed me off a number of times, but now," He shrugged. "he's part of the family."

"My point is, I would have deserved it, but you shouldn't have my blood on your hands Ms. Bennet. Allen showed me a kindness I didn't deserve, but sometimes, that's all it takes." There were cases where kindness wouldn't earn them any favours, but not all monsters were too far gone.

"And Zoom got what was coming to him." Barry said confidently. "I upset the Time Wraiths enough to get their attention and they found him. They were much angrier with him for everything he'd done, so they took him instead. Wish I could do that with Thawne." Barry frowned. "What did this Brody guy do to you?"

[infinite1ups]

As Joe entered, Claire brightened a little. The Dad Energy was going to be off the charts. Despite the serious subject matter, it was amusing to think about.

"It's one thing to make a bad choice in a bad situation, a decision no one should ever be forced to make. It's another when it's someone actively out to harm me or my people out of malice. When I've reacted violently, it's been toward the latter," Claire pointed out softly. Time for the proverbial two birds with one stone, making her point while also answering Barry's question. "Brody tried to assault me." It was the gentlest way she could prhase that.

"And when I ended up accidentally dead in the struggle - there are some situations where I don't revive immediately, and this was one of them - he dumped my body like trash. It's incredibly lucky I was found the same night, otherwise who knows how long I would've been out there, wherever he left me. Instead I woke up in the morgue and snuck home in the early morning."

She paused, awkward. "I did try to talk to him in the hospital. To apologize, I guess. I'm not sure why, it's not like he deserved my kindness. But... he didn't remember me." Her gaze shifted uneasily to her father.

"He was given a second chance. I didn't think Claire would've liked it if I killed him," Noah said, as a vague explanation. His morally gray implications were clear in the way he kept his tone mild.

Claire shrugged. "When I crashed the car, I was thinking about how many more girls he would hurt if I didn't stop him. Boys like him never get in trouble for that stuff, so I felt like it was up to me to do something. I wasn't really thinking about whether he'd live or die."

[captaincaveman]

Joe would really have to ask when he became 'fun dad'. Because Harry was certainly grumpy dad. But hearing what happened to Claire sobered up his more playful mood real quick. Like Harry, he'd do a lot to protect Iris, and if some hothead tried to force himself on her, the punk would find out why you don't mess with a cop's daughter. "I'm not gonna get used to hearing that you woke up dead." He muttered. "This healing thing just sounds like magic to me and my kid's the Flash."

Harry lifted his chin a bit and looked to Noah. "I know I'm here preaching second chances, but call me a hypocrite in this case, because you're a bigger man than I am, Mr. Bennet. I wouldn't have let him live."

"Dad!" Jesse admonished. "You were doing so good." She sounded disappointed.

"You've been through a lot." Barry said softly and caged her with his arms protectively.

[infinite1ups]

"I almost didn't," Noah admitted, appreciative that Harry understood. "I gave him an opportunity to forget about all the terrible things he things he'd done and maybe make something better of himself."

Claire leaned her head on Barry's chest, arms looped around his waist. But despite the subject matter, she cracked a grin.

"Technically, I woke up alive," she said cheekily. "But really, I was glad there was no one in the exam room. I stole a lab coat and snuck out before anyone caught me." Thinking about how filthy she'd been afterward made her skin crawl, and she shivered.

"Shit." Her head lifted, and she looked a bit like a deer in headlights. "Thawne knows. We were geeking out over our respective abilities, and he knows about... how to take me out like that. The kill spot."

"Claire, you didn't." Noah's voice had gone cold. She stiffened in Barry's arms.

"We were both just going back and forth, and he was doing that thing where he was worried about how much I get injured. He thought I had only almost died, so I clarified... with too much clarification. At the time there was no reason to think he'd hurt me, he kept lecturing me about hurting myself." A lot like Harry's lecturing, but she left that part out.

[captaincaveman]

Barry held her even tighter when she stiffened, as if she could protect her from her father's ire. But even Harry seemed to echo Noah's concerned annoyance. At least Joe just looked worried. Also, Harry would appreciate not being compared to Thawne, thank you. Despite the hand full of similarities.

"You're far too open with your weaknesses." Harry scolded.

"I'm pretty sure she gets that." Barry defended. He's been on this end of the scolding before too, so he felt bad for her. Harry, his father, and Joe all got on his case when he got back from the Speed Force after getting his speed back reminding him he wasn't invincible. Not that he thought he was.

[infinite1ups]

She'd sort of expected Barry to be just as disappointed with her. Maybe he was, but outwardly he defended her. That was a huge relief, and she settled once again. She definitely thought she was invincible sometimes, despite knowing otherwise.

These last few reminders of her weaknesses were sinking in more than they had in the last. Claire still couldn't say for sure if they'd stick.

"Thawne warned me about it too, when I told him," she said with a bitter huff of a laugh. "He was concerned, or pretended to be." Though in her opinion, his worry over her had been genuine. The pain in his voice on that recording haunted her.

But she was also determined to find a bright side. "If Sylar gets out of control again, at least more people can know how to take him down. There's a spot in the back of the head, right at the base of the neck. I had a branch stuck there. Anything would work, though. A bullet would probably be the most permanent, since it's the hardest to remove. We'll still revive once it's out."

Noah's agitation had lessened slightly. Claire knew from looking at him that she wasn't out of the woods yet. "That is helpful," he conceded. "So far, Sylar's been stable, though now there are many more variables we can't predict, so he's on the back burner. Any tests or help we need, we'll be calling in Peter - he can be trusted."

With Sylar's ability and the obsession - the Hunger, he called it - within him to know how everything worked, she was worried when it came to him learning about things like the Speed Force and the NSF. Especially the Negative Speed Force. No matter how much he was trying to turn a new leaf, that was a man with a lot of hate and anger. If any non-Meta could figure it out, it'd be Sylar. Figuring things out was literally his superpower.

"I think we should learn more about the interactions between Meta and Evo powers sooner rather than later, then," Claire said, somewhat distantly. Her mind was a thousand miles away, haunted by two villains now. "I want to make sure it's safe for Peter."

And to make sure there was no possibility Sylar could tap into powers wielded by Meta-humans.

[captaincaveman]

"When Thawne was pretending to be Dr. Harrison Wells, he did a lot of things that messed with my head and emotions, Claire. The man saved my life countless times. He helped me get faster, helped me save lives, he protected all of us. According to Cisco, he called him a son just before killing him. Even after I found out he was the Reverse-Flash, but had to keep playing along so he didn't know, it was almost easy to forget he was the man who killed my mother when he'd talk to me. Like he cared about me. Like he wasn't a psychopath." She'd feel Barry start to tremble half way through that rant. He was fighting back his own emotions.

"Barr... I'm pretty sure he knew you knew. The man was always onto us, with all his... surveillance cameras..." Joe trailed off, looking alarmed.

"He's locked out of STAR Labs Gideon now. He can access any of it!" Barry quickly addressed Joe's fear.

"Why didn't we do that before?" Joe asked.

"Because he was dead." Barry said but at Joe's confusion, remembered the altered timeline and amended, "Because we didn't know he'd be back and it locks Harry out too." Joe responded with a little 'Ah.'

"What about decapitation?" Harry asked nonchalantly. "If Sylar ever comes after you again, I think just separating his head from his body might make things easiest. Store them in different locations so they can't rejoin." He felt Jesse shiver at just how easily her father suggested that. Even Barry looked a bit unsettled, but he wasn't completely against it if it saved Claire's life... he just wouldn't be the one doing it.

"Jesse and Snow will work on Thawne's data while Ramon and I work on security. I can fill in knowledge gaps if Jesse and Snow need assistance."

[infinite1ups]

Barry's trembling broke her heart all over again, and it was her turn to hold on protectively. "Babe, I'm sorry." Her voice was quiet, the words intended just for him. She regretted bringing up Thawne at all, much less appearing to give him the benefit of the doubt. How she felt was hard to ignore, but she could at least shut the hell up about it until she finally squashed those feelings for good. What would it take?

"Decapitation would work. But I... don't think there's any coming back from that at all," Claire said with a shudder. Sure, maybe their heads could be reattached, but she didn't want to find out first hand. Anyone with intent to hurt her, who knew of her regeneration, would probably come up with decapitation on their own just like Harry did.

"That's not something we ever tested with Monroe at The Company," Noah added. Claire paled a bit. She'd read Adam's file, and knew that Adam Monroe was absolutely the reason why her dad had fought so hard to keep them from getting her. To save her from facing the same fate, but also to keep her away from him.

"Dad and I can fill in with Evo knowledge from our end, too." She tried to smile, once again looking toward the med lab. "Looks like Cisco's gonna be okay."

[captaincaveman]

Barry melted into her hold. Her words helped to soothe him. He would never, ever blame her for feeling the way she did about Thawne. He would always blame Thawne. He was a little biased against the man and would never be able to admit there might be some part of Thawne that couldn't care.

The answer made Harry purse his lips. "So, more of a Wolverine healing factor than a Deadpool one." The nerdy reference would have probably landed better with Cisco in the room. "Regardless, we're not testing it. If it comes down to that with Sylar to keep you safe, I know what side I'm on." He saw her reaction to what her father said and he didn't like it. He didn't know the context entirely, but he could guess some of it.

When Claire looked to the med lab, she'd see Cisco looking back at them. He waved with a big goofy smile back at her.

[infinite1ups]

She grinned and waved back at Cisco, relief to see that he was clearly his usual self again. That, and feeling Barry relax against her was an immediate boost to her mood.

"Ugh, I wish I was like Wolverine," Claire whined playfully. "Those claws would've come in handy more than a few times. But I guess my healing is pretty similar to his." Surprise, Harry. Undercover nerd here. "I worked at a comic shop for a while. Didn't have a lot of time to read that much, but the customers were more than happy to talk my ear off about anything I wanted to hear about."

It had been her first 'real' job, when previously she'd mostly done babysitting for neighbors to earn a little spending cash.

"I'm with Harry," Noah agreed, which didn't surprise his daughter a bit. "However, I'll refrain from telling Sylar about any of these plans. No need to provoke him when he's been in compliance with our agreement. He'll be staying away from you, unless you explicitly say otherwise. It's your call, Clairebear."

Wasn't it just like a dad to drop the childhood nickname in front of all her friends? "Peter first," she insisted, blushing. "If it's safe for him to be around Meta-powers, then it probably will be for Sylar, too. We can't go dangling that kind of power in front of him until we know he can't access it."

Once again she held on a little tighter to Barry. Yes, she knew Sylar was no match for The Flash, but the thought of him trying was enough to scare her.

IDK which of my addons remembered my tag, but I didn't even need to save it in Word.

[captaincaveman]

Harry smirked at her, snorting a laugh through his nose. "Bone or adamantium?" He asked her curiously. The mood had been so heavy and he knew a lot of it was his fault, so he was trying to remedy that.

"It's probably best not to let him in on our contingency plan." Harry added and Jesse smiled sweetly when she heard the nickname from Noah. It was a lot more adorable than her dad's for her. He called her Jesse Quick on account of her quick intellect. In honour of him, it became her superhero name.

"Getting right on the powers thing, heard." Jesse said with a smile and dashed into the med lab, setting up the laptop with Caitlin so they could go through Thawne's notes.

Barry held her back just as tightly. "He'd have to catch me." Barry said softly to just her because he had a feeling he knew why she was worried.

Love it when technology saves us haha!

[infinite1ups]

"Adamantium, probably? But the whole process of getting there sounds like it sucks, even without pain. Would be cool to never break a bone again, though." She very much appreciated the levity from Harry. Her expertise was not nearly as wide as Cisco's, but she could still join in on the nerdy chatter.

Claire had heard Harry refer to her as Jesse Quick a couple times now, and she thought it was cute. It was just one more of those little similarities between them.

Barry's reassurance went a long way. It was kind of incredible how in tune he was with her already. She bonked her head against his shoulder, not unlike a particularly affectionate cat. "I know," she murmured. That trauma was still hard to shake, the fear that she couldn't have anything nice because of people like Sylar. Finally she had something he couldn't take away or otherwise ruin.

I'm so used to my phone failing on that front. XD

[captaincaveman]

It helped that he just had to hear or see something once and it was locked into his memory. A blessing and a curse. And Cisco found out he was something of a media buff, so the kid didn't shut up. Cisco wanted to know every difference between their Earths media and rambled on and on and Harry humoured him as they worked, but it was getting to the point he couldn't split the info from this Earth and his own any more. "You still have tactile sensation? It's just pain you can't feel?" Harry asked curiously. There must be some threshold gait preventing her nerves from sending signals beyond a certain intensity if that was the case.

Cisco seemed to be slowly moving from one bed, down the length of it, then to a chair by the door, as if he was trying to escape while Caitlin and Jesse were busy.

Barry kissed the side of her head when she bonked him with a bright smile. "You're the best."

Oh yeah my phone def fails there, but sometimes when I accidentally back out it saves what I typed.

[infinite1ups]

"I still feel everything else, yeah, even things that should technically be a pain response. Just no actual pain." She shrugged. "We've never been sure of the cause, but it started right after Sylar poked around in my brain."

It was tempting to blame it on him, but to her knowledge, it wasn't something he'd actively done to her. He still felt pain, after all. So did Peter.

She noticed Cisco's change in position with amusement, then beamed a grin at Barry. "No, you are." Classic Uno Reverse.

[captaincaveman]

Harry grimaced and wanted to shoot a glare in Noah's direction for the earlier topic of keeping that man around after what he'd done to Claire but refrained. "It's possible. The brain is complex. Even with your healing, who knows what could have gone wrong."

Cisco made a mad dash into the Cortex once he was close enough to the door but was abruptly stopped with a comical yelp as Harry caught the back of his shirt. "Hey! Easy on the threads, dude!" Cisco objected in a quiet hiss.

"If I recall, it was you who ratted me out to Snow when I slipped down to the lab before she discharged me." Harry said sternly. Why yes, he was this petty.

"Yeah, but I didn't almost die!" Cisco whined.

Barry leaned in and stole a quick kiss from Claire then laughed at the antics between Wells and Cisco. This morning had started out wonderful, then tanked immediately into Hell, and was slowly climbing back out of the pit. He held onto her for reassurance that things would be okay.

[infinite1ups]

"If..." Claire hesitated, because she was ready for judgment. But in truth, she didn't expect anyone to understand. "If it's something that can be reversed, I'd actually really like that."

Cisco had a point, but she wasn't getting in the middle of it. Instead she was quietly happy to see them both doing okay. Harry in particular had been in rough shape after those two accidents.

The day had certainly been a roller coaster, but it was improving by the moment. It'd be ending nicely, if she had anything to do about it - there were still those promised cuddles to look forward to at home. Their home. That thought was never gonna get old: it made her giddy every time. And so she was all too happy to give Barry a extra snuggly hug, smiling up at him. "You alright, darlin'?"