A/N: Sorry this took a little while. Thanks again for the reviews! Sorry if I didn't include everything you guys asked for. I have plans to write an original story where Patty does find out the truth. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this last chapter. Thanks for sticking with me!

The steady beeps coming from the machines monitoring Barry's vitals were the only sounds that filled the small room. Iris found them oddly comforting – reassurances that her best friend was still alive, even if his present appearance challenged that fact. She'd been sitting in the same position for the last three hours, her hand resting on Barry's. The wounds on his face had started to heal and the bruises mottling his chest were fading but still he remained stubbornly unresponsive. Iris knew she should go home, get some sleep, but she couldn't bring herself to leave his side. Not when she had come so close to losing him. Again.

"You need to stop doing this, Barry," she told him. "I can't keep doing this." Her mind jumped back to the last time she'd sat beside an unconscious Barry, waiting for him to wake up. "And the house is – really quiet without you," she'd told him. But back then it had been different. Back then the doctors hadn't known what was wrong, how to help him. At least now Caitlin seemed confident that Barry would come back to them.

After her eyes threatened to close for what felt like the fiftieth time, Iris decided to stop fighting it. She placed her head on Barry's chest, falling asleep to the reassuring thud of his heart.

"Iris. Iris!" someone was shaking her gently.

"Mmm five more minutes Dad," she responded. The chuckle she heard in response was definitely not from her dad. Iris suddenly remembered where she was and why and her eyes flew open, meeting Cisco's amused look.

"Cisco, Caitlin, hey," Iris said, embarrassed, straightening up.

"Sleep well?" Cisco asked.

Iris reached back, rubbing her neck where a crick had formed. "No," she responded wryly, smiling a little at her friends. "How are his vitals?" she asked Caitlin after a moment, looking over at the doctor. Caitlin was examining the monitors, and for a second Iris could have sworn she looked uncertain, worried even.

"His oxygen levels are still a little low, but that's completely normal given the extent of his injuries. No more signs of internal bleeding and his lungs are looking good, too. He'll be okay." Iris could tell her friend was trying to sound reassuring, but there was something hollow in her tone and it left Iris with a pit in her stomach.

Iris forced a smile and nodded. "I know it's just – "

"Yeah," Caitlin agreed, cutting her off. "Me too."

"Oh, here, you left this out in the control room," Cisco said, pulling out Iris's phone. "It's been going off all night."

"Damn," Iris murmured, seeing the missed calls and text messages, all from the staff of Central City Picture News.

"Someone posted a video taken at the paper," Caitlin started. "It was –"

"Terrifying," Iris whispered, closing her eyes, remembering the paralyzing fear of seeing her best friend being held up like a rag doll, broken and beaten, for the entire world to see.

Caitlin nodded in agreement.

"I should go," Iris said, standing up. "See if I can do some damage control. I don't want Barry to see this all over the news when he wakes up." Iris knew there was no way to temper the media storm that was going on. Not when the city's most beloved hero had pretty much been destroyed in front of them. But she at least had to try. She gathered up her bags, pausing in the doorway to take one last look of her best friend. "You'll call me…" she started, directing her question to Caitlin.

"If anything changes. I promise."

Iris nodded. "Thank you, guys," she said sincerely. "For everything."

"Joe!" Patty exclaimed when she saw her partner walking into the precinct. "I mean Detective," she corrected herself. The older man looked exhausted, like he hadn't slept in a month.

"Officer Spivot," he acknowledged, sitting down at his desk and burying his face in his work.

Patty's face fell. She hadn't expected him to spill all of his secrets to her, but she thought she at least deserved some sort of explanation. She was convinced now that he was working with the Flash or knew him somehow.

"Did you hear anything about the Flash?" she asked after a beat, still hopeful he'd talk to her. After the metahuman had taken off with the city's hero the night before, the precinct had been in chaos. They had searched every satellite and questioned every eyewitness, but no one could seem to locate the latest villain or his victim. The department was split on the fate of the Flash, with a slight majority convinced he had been killed. But Patty refused to believe he was dead.

Joe looked up, revealing nothing in his expression. "I haven't heard anything," he said, "but I'm sure he's okay," he added thoughtfully. "Or will be."

Patty looked dejected and Joe felt a momentary twinge of guilt. He had grown to respect Patty – even like her – but he knew he couldn't reveal too much. She was already suspicious and he couldn't risk her finding out the truth.

"Is Barry okay?"

That caught Joe off guard. "Uh yeah, Barry's fine. Why?"

Joe was trying to hide it, she could tell, but she caught the hesitation in his response, the flicker of sadness, of uncertainty that passed across his eyes when she mentioned Barry's name. "He hasn't returned any of my messages. I called him after that thing attacked the Flash and I haven't heard from him since. I just wanted to make sure he was okay."

Joe nodded, "You know, I think he may have been coming down with something the other day. I'll check in on him later and tell him to give you a call." Joe cringed. That sounded forced even to his own ears.

"Okay, thanks," Patty said, dropping the matter. She knew she wasn't going to get Joe to admit anything. She'd have to figure things out on her own. But now she was even more convinced that Barry and the Flash were one and the same.

"What's wrong, Caitlin?" Cisco asked as the doctor studied Barry's scans once again. She'd been insistent that he would wake up, that he'd be fine. But Cisco knew her better than anyone and could read the worry in her face, even if she didn't voice it aloud.

Caitlin turned to face her friend, worrying her lip. "It's just…he broke his back, Cisco. How do you survive that?"

"Because he's not like a normal person, Cait. He survives things no one should be able to. You saw that video…he should be dead, but he's not."

Caitlin nodded, wishing for all the world that she hadn't seen that video. It had been enough to see Zoom holding Barry up in their lab, stabbing him through the chest, but seeing him dangled in front of all those people while Zoom taunted them, mocked him. She didn't think she could ever get over that.

"He'll be okay, Caitlin. He just needs a little more time."

Caitlin nodded. "And then what?"

"Then we figure out a way to kick Zoom's ass. Nobody hurts our family and gets away with it."

Caitlin smiled. "I like the sound of that."

Thank you for reading! Please review, it means the world to me to hear what you think.