It'll be Okay

pre lightning

**********

Six days.

It took them six days to find him.

He was in the clutches of a maniacal psychopath for six days.

Singh lifted his head from his hands and looked at the unconscious boy in the hospital bed.

"Damn it Barry," He whispered.

He remembered it so clearly.

The first day he didn't show up, nobody paid much mind to it, assuming the boy had run off on another impossible case.

The second day, after no one had heard from him, people started to worry. Namely Joe and Singh.

By the third day, he was officially missing. Everyone was pouring their efforts into helping find their missing forensic assistant.

Three long days passed. They finally tracked him down. Singh nearly vomited when they burst through the basement doors to find Barry slumped in a chair, dead to the world (and quite possibly dead from the looks of him) and a mad man holding a whip, grinning creepily.

He was dead now.

Very very dead indeed.

As far as the CCPD is concerned, he never existed.

Barry was rushed into the ER.

Words like critical condition, running out of time, and losing him rang in Singh's ears like a haunting echo.

Singh reburied his face.

"Damn it Barry," He whispered.

***** LINE BREAK *****

Two and a half months later, Barry was deemed fit enough to go back to work.

He was staying with Joe, who never left his side the entire way to the precinct. And when the elevator opened, he had someone within three feet of him a all times.

The first week, Barry understood it. The second week, he tolerated it. By the third week, he was just about to punch someone. Except Bree. She gave him brownies. And didn't act like he would break if she breathed too hard.

Everyone else was smothering him. Treating him like he was fragile.

And Barry hated it.

He couldn't believe it, but he missed people calling him the lab rat. He wished his boss would yell at him for being late. He wished Joe would smack him upside the head for saying something dorky.  He wished someone would shove papers at his chest like they used to.

Finding an escape window, Barry snuck down to the training room. He promptly started punching a bag. He may not have had much force behind it, but it felt good to hit something.

He got sweaty really fast and took his shirt off, tossing it on the bench as he sipped some water.

Then he resumed punching the bag.

He yelled in frustration as memories started to overwhelm him.

The whip cam down with a snap.

Punch.

His back felt like it was on fire.

Punch.

A maniacal laugh came with the pain.

Punch.

The pain continued.

Punch.

Nightmares plagued him.

Punch.

He couldn't get a moment to himself.

Punch.

He didn't want everyone to see him break down.

So he held it together.

The scars on his back burned.

Barry sank to the ground, sobs racking his body.

Unbeknownst to him, a certain police captain had witnessed the whole thing.

Singh held back sobs of his own when he saw the still fresh scars that stretched across Barry's back. A morbid pattern of criss cross lines.

Singh quietly approached as Barry cried on the floor. He sat down on the ground, close but not clingy, and knocked gently on the hard ground.

Barry jumped and quickly wiped his eyes.

"It's just me Barry," Singh said softly.

"Sorry sir-"

"Don't say sorry."

Barry looked down.

Singh glanced at Barry's back and winced. "If anyone says sorry it should be me."

Barry looked at him curiously, "What do you mean? You didn't do anything wrong."

Singh shook his head, "If I had figured out you were missing sooner, if I had-"

Now it was Barry's turn to interrupt. "It wasn't your fault. We could sit here all day and play the blame game. I could've paid more attention to where I was going. There are so many what ifs. Don't blame yourself. Besides, I'll be okay."

Singh smiled at Barry, "How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Stay so... you? You've just been through something that would destroy most people, but here you are, still you. Still selfless. Still optimistic. Still Barry. Just stronger. You're a dam brave man Barry. So damn brave."

"No I'm not."

"Barry," Singh said, "I know so many people who consider themselves brave but would not have persevered like you did."

Barry stared intently at the floor.

"Barry, this experience will never leave you. But you don't have to go through it alone. The whole precinct wants to help you."

Barry scoffed, "I noticed."

"What's that mean?"

"You all smother me to no end. This is the first moment of alone time I've had till you came down here. Someone's always hovering nearby, like they're afraid I'll break. Bree is the only person who hasn't treated me any different after the initial two days of worry."

Singh looked down guiltily.

Barry noticed, "I'm happy to have help. I don't mind you all caring. But you're caring too much. I haven't been the butt of the joke since I was taken. And astonishingly, I miss it. I just want everything to go back to normal."

Singh looked at him sadly, "I can't promise that it'll go back to normal right away, but we will stop crowding-"

"Mother hening"

"-excuse me, mother hening you. It's hard Barry, we couldn't hardly function without you. And when we finally found you..." Singh ran his hand down his face, "it was bad Barry. We didn't think you'd make it for a while. It shook everyone. It hit us then, we could lose you. And none of us were prepared for that."

Barry wiped his eyes.

"But I'll promise to get everyone to stop fretting so much. I'll even yell at you for being late if that makes you feel better."

Barry laughed wetly, "That would be nice. And please stop calling me Barry, you never call me that."

"Fine. I'll reserve it for special occasions only."

"Wonderful."

"Don't sass me Allen."

Barry laughed, albeit a bit hysterically, but he knew it'd be okay. He'd be okay.

**********

A/N - I'M NOT DEAD!

This was requested by @captainkarivercold, Hope it was what you were hoping for.

I have some more stories in the making, along with a new Percy Jackson oneshot book that will soon come out. So if you like PJO and HoO keep an eye out for that!

School's almost over, I have like, two weeks left and then I will probably start updating more frequently. I hope y'all have a fantastic day/night!

Thank you for bearing with me!

Love y'all! :)