vivifier | Lyrics Prompt Open Box

She's already awake and with a cup of coffee, adjusting the dosage for him. Caitlin's taking notes of how progress. Fully healed leg; spine looks like it's almost there.

"Good morning," she greets him. There's a high calorie bar and water sitting next to his bed. Breakfast? "Once you're fully awake, we'll take a look at the burn and see how your eye is faring. After that, we'll see if we might be able to wheel you around for a little bit. And maybe, if you don't push it, we might be able to get you walking a little by the end of the day. How are you feeling?"

"That'd be great." Even just moving around in a wheelchair sounds good at this point. "A little groggy, but it'll pass. The pain's better too."

Caitlin glances at the protein bar that sits on the table next to him. She's had a few years to play with the taste of it. Nope, not doctoring until he eats breakfast.

He looks at her, then at it. He better eat it then, hadn't he? One protein bar, unwrapped and being eaten. "New flavor?"

“Blueberry muffin,” she replies as she checks over his vitals. Steady so far. Caitlin makes a couple of notes and steps out for a second before wheeling in the power chair that she had found in storage and parks it in the corner.

He finishes the bar while she's gone, hoping that the chair she finds isn't going to end up being Welles'. "So what next?"

Speed eating. Something she never thought she would get used to. She grabs a pair of grey gloves and sits down next to his bed.

"Now, we check on how the burn is healing up, how your eye is healing up, and how your spine is doing. On a scale of one to ten, how is your spine feeling?"

Caitlin gently starts to peel the gauze away from around his head, unwinding the bandage so that she could take a look at how quickly the skin is healing itself.

The skin seems to be healing nicely enough. He'll probably never be completely free of scarring, but it's not too awful. The eye is pretty much the same as it was the night before. "I think maybe...about a five, maybe a six."

"The scarring looks pretty deep," she murmurs, looking at it closely. "Not so much that it's irreparable. But you'll definitely have a defining feature to you. And if you're at a five, maybe a six, then we will need to keep you here for a little while longer. In bed, I mean."

She disposes the gloves and grabs the penlight, shining it into the bad eye, her lips twisting into a line.

"Can you focus on my finger with both eyes, please?" she asks, holding it in his line of vision. She drifts it to his left, his right, up, and down, watching the eye react to direction.

"Scars give character, right?" Not character he's particularly happy about, mind you. But he can't really do anything about it. The idea of sticking around in bed more, though. That isn't doing anything to make him happier, judging by the face he makes. "Can't we try it anyway?"

The eye barely reacts, unfortunately. Slow reaction, slow movement.

"And risk re-injuring your back?" she asks. Caitlin makes a few notes about his eye. "Looks like your eye isn't healing as quickly as I thought it would. It's possible that the damage you've sustained may have scarred the nerves and cones so much that it may take a lot longer to heal." Or not at all. But with speedsters, one isn't sure.

"Can I at least have visitors?" Mostly to see if anyone even comes, really. He's been worried. That's a disappointed line face he's making there. "That'll make running harder, won't it? Peripheral vision and all that?"

"And that is why you have friends like me, so I can make the toys!" bellowed Cisco as he enters medical.

Caitlin wanted to ease him in but alas, her best friend doesn't know the meaning of the word subtle. She warned all of them, at least: he's going to be pretty disoriented as a remnant, remembering Barry's life as his own, so he's going to need that friend network. Familiar faces to help him ease into a life. He's Barry. But not.

As it is, Cisco steals Caitlin's seat as soon as she gets up to dispose of her gloves. "How are you feeling, buddy?" he asks, chewing away at a twizzler.

This? Will probably help a lot. For one thing, he perks up a bit at the sight of more people to visit. At Cisco, even. "I've been better, man." He hates this pain, these injuries. But he appreciates everything Cait's done to help him with it.

Joe shows up. Ralph. Wally. Iris. And finally, Barry.

Caitlin stays in the background, mostly monitoring his progress and filling various people in on how he's healing in between all of the conversations that were happening. Mostly smalltalk and wanting to genuinely know how he was doing.

It helps. All of it helps. Though, if he's honest with himself, the visit with Iris is the most difficult. Considering what they'd done to save her. Considering what he was.

They'd have to have a talk about it, but not today.

Iris seems grateful of all the things they had done to save her. There's a sadness in her eyes that speaks volumes; she knows the price that was paid for her safety.

After a whole day of visiting, with Caitlin periodically interrupting to check on things like fluids, protein bars, and willfully ignoring the big belly burger bags that were being hidden from her sight, people began to slowly file out and return home. All of them with warm hugs and whispered gratitude for the price he had paid.

And he's grateful to them, for all of it. What it'd be like if not for them, he has no idea. It probably would be a mess. He'd probably be a mess. "Thank you. For letting them come." He really appreciates it.

She gives him a small smile.

"It's the least I can do after locking you in a tie last night. How are you feeling?" she asks, sitting down in what is now just her seat next to the bed. "After seeing everyone, I mean."

"Better, I think. Less...disjointed?" Not by a lot but enough to relax, anyway. "It's weird, with Iris. Obviously. But I can't do anything about that."

"How's it weird?" she asks.

"I mean. I'm me, but not me. And she's still Iris."

Caitlin nods a little.

"I uh...talked with Felicity and Joe and Barry and...we wanna help. Help you settle here or Coast City or Star City. Wherever you'd like. Start a life for yourself. I mean, if you stay here, you'd save me the commute to check on the progress of your healing. And you already have friends here. Joe even said he'd say you're Barry's long lost twin or cousin, if you'd like."

"Long lost twin, huh?" It's a little funny, but a little not. "It'd probably be easier to stay here." But also somehow harder. Well. There's no rule saying he can't change his mind, is there?

"It's a good place to start," she offers. "And stay if you want to. Do whatever it is you wanted to do. Within reason."

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