#Would ramon be dead in this au? As much as i hate to say it but yes

[ghostsgrazing]

Ok so who will take one for the team and write a dbh au of qsmp where qtubbo is connor and fit is hank

[depressedacadamia]

The Anatomy of the Sun- Chapter I

Edit- This is the first chap in a Percy Jackson/ Greys anatomy AU as well as my first fic! It’s going to follow the Grey’s anatomy plot behind the patients and the romances will be loosely based off it. I hope you do enjoy it! It was inpsired by @buoyantsaturn and their fic ‘Into you like a train’. 

Summary: Dr Will Solace just transferred to the New York Presybetarian hospital to become their Head of Trauma. Dr Nico Di Angelo is a month fresh out of Med- school and is starting his internship at New York Presbytarian. Nico, excited to join his best friend and head of the neurology department- Percy Jackson, wants to prove that he is not just the legacy that his sister- Bianca Di Angelo, left. As the doctors battle to save lives, they also battle to save relationships- but some may say it's too late. 

Chapter I- Work Work

Nico could feel his chest pounding as he drove. It wasn’t a good kind of pounding, not that there ever really is, but a -my heart is beating so damn fast - kind of pounding. Today was his first day at New York Presbytarian Hospital as an actual doctor. A surgeon. An intern.

 He groaned as he remembered that he would basically be the servant of his bosses for the next year. He wished his sister was here- she’d tell him how awesome he’d be, all the cool parts of internship and how ‘the friends you make here are friends for life’. Nico wasn’t nervous about friends though- he had known the Head of Neuro, Percy Jackson, for almost his entire life. In fact, it had been Percy who inspired him to become a surgeon. Nico knew- As a surgeon, you either have what it takes to play or you don’t. Nico’s sister , Bianca, was one of the greats, Nico on the other hand was so screwed.

The first Nico noticed about the hospital was that it was very very bright. Maybe it wasn’t and Nico was panicking; it wouldn’t be so beyond him. He watched as several other cars pulled up with other newbies similar to himself. He noticed that some people had their own stethoscopes- would anybody notice that his was used? The stethoscope he wore had the initials B.D.A engraved into the side of the drum. Did it matter if someone noticed that his was old? He could easily afford a new one either way but he had wanted to wear his sister's one. He hoped it would bring him good luck because he had a good feeling that he was going to need it. 

He walked into the Hospital where he was directed to a cleared Operating Room for the new interns who were having their introduction. He passed a group of attendings, all of whom he vaguely recognised but he noticed one in particular with curly blond hair. Of all the years he had tagged along with Percy to hang out at the hospital, he had never seen that dude- Why haven’t I seen him before?

“Every one of you comes here today hopeful, wanting in the game. A month ago you were in med school being taught by doctors- Today, you are the doctors. The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your life. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Look around you- say hello to your competition. 8 of you will switch to an easier speciality. 5 of you will crack under the pressure, 2 of you will be asked to leave. This is your starting line- This is your arena. How do you play? That's up to you,” A man with long brown hair and greying roots dramatically explained. Nico realised that this was the Chief of Surgery- Chiron! Nico was surprised to learn that he still worked here after all these years. He recalled Bianca talking about Chiron who had been her mentor. 

Nico looked around at what was his competition-  as he thought, he was so screwed.

As he made his way into the locker room, some faces became familiar. He recalled some of these faces- the people he had met at the mixer. Nico decided to focus on work and not making friends; if someone spoke to him, he’d reply but he was not initiating any conversations. He had diagnosed himself with the overall dislike of humanity. Just as he was contemplating wearing his white coat, ( he remembered Bianca telling him that everyone knows that the doctors with the cleanest coats are the newbies and he did not want people noticing) the girl to his left with cropped brown hair and a determined expression tapped him on the shoulder.

“You’re Nico right? Which resident have you got?” She asked.

“Yeah, I’m Nico and I’ve got Chase. What about you?”

 “ Same. And it’s Meg.”

A guy from across the room turned around, excited to have something in common with others. His hair was short and blond but not the same colour as the new attending that Nico had noticed earlier. This guy's hair was almost a platinum kind of blond whereas the attending had golden hair- Like the colour of sunrise. 

“You’ve got her too? So did I- You’re Nico, Nico Di Angelo right? I’m Jason Grace- we met at the mixer. You made a bold impression; black, skinny ripped jeans,  Ramone T-shirt and skull rings despite the fact it was obviously a work event… Okay I’ll stop talking,” The man rushed out all at once.

“Grace, Mccaffrey, Di Angelo and June!” A voice called out into the locker room. Nico looked at what were supposed to be his future friends. If he was supposed to feel some sort of magical bond with them- he sure as hell was not. The girl in front (who Nico could only assume was Dr June) was almost hopping - okay, she’s a happy person,  Avoid her at all costs- he put in a mental reminder. Nico watched as she approached the Blonde woman at the desk. Nico almost face palmed- Her surname was Chase- this had to be Percy’s girlfriend that he had been telling him about over the phone a while ago. June started talking only to be cut off.

“I’m Juniper June but most people just call me-”  

“I have 5 rules, memorise them. Rule number 1- don’t bother sucking up, I already hate you, that's not gonna change. Trauma protocol, phone list and pagers-” Annabeth pointed to the desk behind her. There lay 4 pagers which all the interns, including Nico, scrambled forward to grab.

“-Nurses will page you, you answer every page at a run- you hear me? A run, Rule number 2- Your first shift starts now and lasts 48 hours. You’re interns, grunts, nobodies- bottom of the surgical food chain. You run labs, write orders, work every second night until you drop and don’t complain!” She called as she led them across the bridge and into the second section of the hospital. Nico, not being the tallest person, struggled slightly to keep up.  They walked into a dark room that seemed to have bunk beds with thin mattresses and flimsy unmade covers. 

“On call rooms- attendings hog them- sleep when you can, where you can, which brings me to Rule number 3. If I’m sleeping, don’t wake me unless your patient is actually dying. Rule number 4- the dying patient better not be dead when I get there. Not only will you have killed a person, you would have woken me up for no good reason. We clear?” 

Nico was clear but he also wasn’t. He doesn’t remember Bianca telling him any of these rules and he also didn’t recall hearing the 5th rule. Did she already say it when he wasn’t listening? He didn’t think so but he also didn’t want to look like an idiot. He decided to ask, if he was going to fail at this hospital, he might as well fail knowing everything there was to know.

“That's only 4 rules. You said there were 5.” Nico slid in between Meg and Dr Grace, his head only up to the bases of their necks. Just Nico said those words, he heard a beeping which he could only assume came from someone's pager. Annabeth immediately looked down, grabbing the pager she had tagged into her waist.

“Rule number 5- When I move, you move.”

Hour 1

Nico slipped on his gloves as he stood in the elevator with the other interns. The second he heard its ‘ping’ he rushed forward, eager to learn. The wind blasted into his eyes and immediately, Nico raised his hands to cover his face. His hair flopped about as the helicopter descended in front him. He raised his head slightly and saw the same golden haired attending that he had noticed earlier- Nico took a guess that he was the trauma surgeon. He followed Dr. Chase who ran forward and helped lift the stretcher out of the helicopter. Nico perked his ears up as he heard the trauma surgeon recite her history.

“Katie Bryce, 15 years old, female, new onset seizures- intermittent for the past week. IV lost en route- Started grand mal seizing as we descended,” He shouted over the loud roar of the engine. Crap, Grand mal seizures, really? God really thought lets give me a hard case. They rushed to get her inside and Nico was trying to not panic as he heard Dr. Chase command the staff like it was her own mini army.

 “Put her on her side. 10 Milligrams of diazepam. No, the white lead is on the right. Righty whitey, smoke over fire. Give her a large bore IV, Don’t let the blood hemolyze.”

A different doctor walked in, his hair was black and cut short. His skin was a creamy white and Nico recognised the second language under ‘Doctor Zhang’ on his white coat to be chinese. 

“Dr. Chase, what do we have?” He asked, flipping through her chart. 

“Right now, nothing.”

“Okay, let's shotgun her.” He raised his hands and took a step backwards, allowing for the interns to continue their treatment. 

“Okay, you heard the man. Shotgun means every test in the book- CT, CBC, Chem 7, Tox screen. Mccaffery- you’re running labs, Grace- patient work ups and Di Angelo- take her for a CT,” Dr. Chase ordered

“Um, Dr. Chase, I think you forgot me,” Juniper piped up meekly. Annabeth turned around and gave her a firm look before telling her,

“Honey, you’re doing rectal exams.”

Nico couldn’t tell if he should laugh at the poor intern or console her. 

Each intern was busy. Extraordinarily busy. Nico did not expect the line for the CT machine to be so long. This was the best hospital in all of New York! You’d think they would be much faster but no, here Nico was with his patient who he had recently learnt, loved to talk… about herself.

“I’m missing my pageant,” Kaite whined.

“You’re missing your pageant?” Nico had to physically restrain himself from snorting. So that's what non- doctors  and people with normal lives did. Things like going to pageants.

“Yeah! And I was super excited because the judges were getting to the talents for the pageant- Mine is rhythmic gymnastics. I sprained my ankle and fell when I was training but now I was soo ready but then...” she threw her arms up slightly signifying everything around them and Nico understood- she had a seizure which stopped her from competing.

 “Katie Bryce’s labs came out clear, nothing in the results that would explain her seizures,” Meg informed Dr. Chase who was currently peeking her head out of a surgery. Dr. Chase nodded and was about to return to assisting on the procedure when Meg started talking again

“I heard that the attending picks the most promising intern on the first to perform a minor procedure.”

Dr. Chase looked anything but impressed.

“Go away,” she deadpanned as she closed the door in Meg’s face and returned to her surgery.

“It’s just what I heard!” Meg mumbled exasperatedly as she left the scrub room.

Hour 7

The cafeteria was full. One would think the hospital cafeteria would be stocked with healthy foods but in reality it was quite the opposite. It was stacked with a bunch of doctors telling you to eat healthy food as they stuffed their faces with pizza. The seating arrangements weren’t much different from a high school. You sit with who you know and avoid the ones in charge. Meg, Jason, Juniper and a group of other interns were all grouped together not too far away from the group of attendings and 3 residents. 

 “You know Nico is inbred.” Meg popped the fact onto the other interns. 

“Like it’s uncommon to be related to a doctor, my sister is Dr Thalia Grace.”Jason pointed his thumb to the girl with jet back hair and array of ear piercings who was currently smiling wickedly. 

“No like royally inbred, his sister is Bianca Di Angelo,” Meg insisted. 

“Shut up! The Bianca Di Angelo?” Juniper joined in.

“Who is Bianca Di Angelo?” Jason, as clueless as ever, asked. The entire table exploded into whispers and gasps.

“Where do you live, under a rock? The angel method? Where do you think that came from?”

“She’s a living legend!”

“She’s won 2 harper Averies!”

“Talk about familial pressure.”

“Um, incoming Nico Di Angelo,” Jason tried to speak over the food in his mouth unsuccessfully. Luckily, the other interns looked in the direction of him and shut their mouths up in time. Nico, with his 3rd cup of coffee that day slumped into a chair and slammed his head onto the table.

“Katie Bryce is a pain in my ass. If I hadn’t taken the hippocratic oath, I’d kevorkian her with my bare hands,” Nico groaned. Juniper, eager to get his mind off an annoying patient chirped in,

“I heard Chase and Jackson were dating- A resident and an attending!”

“They are,” Nico confirmed as the interns stole glances at the attending and the resident together, surprised that Dr. Chase had the ability to laugh or smile.

“Who wants to go for an attending? Bet ya none of you can,” Meg poked fun at them.

“I bet ya I could do Solace, he’s new apparently,” Nico hummed as he peacefully sipped his coffee, closing his eyes to enjoy the smell that drifted into his nose.

“Meg, you wanna go for Valdez?” Juniper curiously poked.      

“Nah, he’s only a resident and besides- He’s totally making eyes at Calypso. Letting a resident try to get into an attending pants is way more fun. I wanna see him fall into a hole.”

All of the interns stopped and turned to Meg, a slightly horrified look growing on their faces.

“Okay, now that Satan has stopped talking, who wants to put down their bets?” Jason beamed as Meg sneaked a quick punch to arm which had him cowering for a bit longer than necessary. The interns were all mucking about until a new voice joined the conversation.

“Hey! I just transferred to Chase’s service, I don’t really know anyon-”

“-Hazel?”  Nico’s confused voice echoed and his eyes shot open at the recognition of the soft voice.  

 “Nico?”  Hazel raised an eyebrow. They had both agreed to go to work in separate hospitals to limit family drama.  Ever since they had found out they were related, the family tensions had been higher than ever. Nico had assumed Hazel would go to a different hospital and leave New York Presbyterian for him and it seems Hazel had assumed the same vice versa.        

“You two know each other?” A voice, recognised as Meg, called out. 

“I’m Doctor Hazel Levesque. Newest Surgical intern under Dr Chase.” She reached out and gave her hand to Meg who shook it firmly. She gave another hand shake to Jason and a nod to Nico- both of them had ignored Meg’s question.  

“Final call, who’s going in?” Jason reminded them. 

“Me- Solace is new, hot, probably clueless and he’s the new Head attending in trauma.” Nico slammed his hand onto the table, indicating he was all in. It was easy, right? Seduce him and then manipulate. It couldn’t be too hard. 

Around 2 tables away from the interns, the attendings and residents were chatting away. Will, who had only recently joined the hospital, was still getting used to the way people behaved here. Everyone was so much more nice than he had expected. He remembered how people warned him about New York folks but in all honesty, Will would say that he was having a pretty good time, especially if the Di Angelo intern stayed in his eyeline-

“-Solace is eyeing the interns!” Percy’s excited voice cut into Will’s thoughts. Horrified, Will managed to sputter out,

“I am not eyeing the interns!”

“I like the newbie, she seems nice- better than the rest at least,”Frank mumbled about Hazel as he sipped at his hot tea. Piper to his left admitted,

“Blond one’s hot.”     

“That blond one is my brother,” Thalia grunted.

“Why doesn’t anyone call me hot?” Leo pouted as he rolled up the other sleeve of his shirt calling the attention of Calypso’s eyes. 

I’d totally call you hot , She thought.

She only glanced once.. Maybe twice… okay she was staring at him. But ever since Leo had become a resident, she kept on thinking they had to potential to become what.. Well, what Annabeth and Percy had become. Sure, she had rejected all his previous advances but she didn’t want to. She just didn’t think the timing was right- She was very aware that simply telling him the timing wasn’t right was a much more mature thing to do than acting bratty every time he spoke to her.

“Valdez, go make sure none of the pre-surgery kids aren’t sneaking pudding. There’s always bound to be one.” Dr Reyna Ramirez batted her hand towards her resident who gave her a mock salute before walking off. Calypso, unaware that everyone was watching, had her eyes glued to Leo.

 “Calypso is totally checking out Valdez- Mother Hen Reyna watch out- Calypso is after your chicks,” Percy snickered making a joke to the fact that Leo was Reyna’s resident- before Piper smacked him on the back of the head indicating a Shut it, hypocrite.

“No I’m not!” Calypso insisted, whipping her head, that only moments ago was glued to Leo’s ass. She ducked her head and sided next to Piper and Will.

“Calypso eyeing Leo is old news, please make sure you keep yourself updated,” Annabeth proclaimed, her head resting against Percy while his arm was snaked around her waist.    

“I will tell you what’s new then, Solace watching Nico like he’s fresh meat. That’s my bro that you’re checking out man.”     

 “I am NOT checking out Di Angelo!”  

 “Zhang, who are you picking for the procedure?” Annabeth curiously asked and also slightly eager to move away from the current topic. In all honesty, Annabeth expected Frank to choose Di Angelo- He was clearly the most promising and most experienced if one could even call an intern that. Annabeth knew that Percy and Nico had practically grown up together and besides he was a Di Angelo- Surely if his sister could cut, so could he.

“I’m gonna go with Grace.”

“He is not ready for that. Not to be a terrible sibling but he gets flustered a tad easily,” Thalia butted in, trying to protect her brother. She loved him but Jason was a tad sensitive and rustling his feathers was almost too easy.

“Torture one and the rest will fall in line,” Frank admitted half heartedly. He didn’t want to Pick on Jason- he seemed like a great kid, But he also didn’t want to have to have a bunch of misbehaving interns who had egos too big for the hospital because nobody ever put them in line. 

“Are you sure about Grace though?” Annabeth pushed, her voice slightly uneasy. Percy, who noticed this, squeezed her waist gently as a gesture of comfort, affection even. Percy was watching Nico’s table. The interns seemed to be having fun, no one was picking on Nico which was the most important thing and he figured soon the interns would realise Nico’s infamy- of being a Di Angelo of course. What he totally didn’t expect however, was Nico to get out of his chair and casually stroll over towards the group of attendings and residents. 

Nico honestly did not know what he was thinking. Was he being bold? Absolutely. Was he acting on impulse? Most obviously. Was he regretting every step towards them? Definitely. 

He saw Percy’s eyes widen ever so slightly before his face rested into a comforting, genuine smile- something Nico truly appreciated. If Percy was acting nice, the rest of the group were bound to follow his lead, right? Nico shuffled past 2 of the attendings, reaching behind them to gain access to the coffee machine.

Will didn’t know how to react. Did interns normally come and hang out with attendings here? He had no idea. Percy looked as if he knew Nico all his life and he did tell him earlier; That's my bro you’re checking out man. Were they actually related? Or did they just know each other for a long time? By now, all the attendings were settled at their own tables and Piper had unfortunately been rushed off for emergency surgery on one of her patients, leaving Will to sit by himself at a table. That was until Nico was standing by one of the chairs.

Nico took a deep breath and stood by the chair at Will’s almost empty table. It had taken Will a couple of seconds to notice that there was someone even at his table before he almost jolted backwards, alarmed by the shadow that had appeared on his table. Immediately, out of politeness, he gestured towards a seat.

“Do you wanna take a seat?” He offered politely. He watched as the intern hesitated. He could see how nervous he seemed and for a minute he really pitied him- It was no doubt stressful to be the brother of a famous surgeon, especially a Di Angelo.

“Are you sure? I mean, aren't you an attending, ya know, my boss and-”

“-Calm down, it's just a seat,” Will cut off Nico’s rambling and offered the man a seat. Gingerly Nico took it and looked down at his coffee. 

Nico did not think making Dr Solace treat him so nicely was going to be so easy. All he had to do was give a shy look away and blabber a bit and the next thing he knew, Dr. Solace had his hand on top of Nico’s and was shuffling his chair closer to his. Nico realised it was now or never- he had to start sending the right message. 

 “I’ve always found trauma interesting- ya know? Never knowing what's going to come into those doors. Percy used to tell me how much he hated it,” Nico laughed gently, making sure he accidentally  brushed his leg against Dr Solace’s.

“Trauma? Really? Lucky for you, I just so happen to be the new attending on that.”

“I think I’m much more lucky than you think I am, if you catch my draft,” Nico mummuered, smirking slightly, his eyes dropping to Will's lips causing Will to finally get what he meant. Will, slightly flustered by Nico’s onset attitude, flushed pink slightly. He was flattered greatly that someone as good looking as Nico found him attractive but he didn’t want to cause commotion or draw so much attention to himself  so early either. He wasn’t gonna lie, he totally was into Nico but Will knew that he could be putting Nico’s job at risk, not to mention his own. But it wasn’t as if Nico was using him- Nico seemed too innocent for that and besides- he was a Di Angelo, people respected him and the holy ground he walked on.

“If all goes well in your first surgery, feel free to send that draft out again.” Will winked as he got up and threw away the remains of his terrible lunch before heading to the table with the remaining attendings.

“Impress him with your loving, then impress him with your healing,” Will heard Percy whisper, which earned Percy a punch in the arm from Piper, a dirty look from Annabeth and snort from Frank. Will, slightly sick of Percy’s teasing, stormed off to the department at the entrance of the hospital which all the staff here called ‘The Pit’ for some reason. Percy, as clueless as ever was trying to remain a straight face and Frank was struggling to keep on being the mature one.

Hour 10

Nico was adequately proud of himself- he didn't flirt with people often ( mainly because normally it was people flirting with him) but he couldn’t lie and say he wasn’t slightly nervous when he was walking towards the room of Katie Bryce and saw a man and woman at the desk- Nico presumed they were married due to the wedding rings they wore.

 “Katie Bryce, Room 3604?” Nico asked the couple. They nodded eagerly and the 3 adults had a quick conversation where Nico informed them that he wasn’t Katies actual doctor, but still was a doctor, and that he would go and find said doctor. Nico, who didn’t actually know who Katie’s doctor was now, had to verbally tell himself to not panic and he managed to figure out that he should ask Dr. Chase (he prayed she wasn’t sleeping). Luckily, Dr Chase was charting at the nurses station and when she heard his meek footsteps approaching, her head snapped up and she raised an eyebrow.

“Katie Bryce’s parents want to speak with the head on the case. Shall I page Dr. Zhang?” 

“Dr Zhang? No, this patient belongs to Neuro now- Dr Jackson, he’s right around the corner.” Annabeth flicked her pen towards her boyfriend who was speaking to two other attendings- who Nico recognised to be Dr Mclean and Dr Ramirez. He waved over to Percy who smiled and dismissed the two doctors before making his way over to Nico and throwing his arm around Nico’s shoulders while ruffling his hair. Nico did not allow the gesture from anyone but felt comforted by it from Percy.

“Percy!”  Nico almost squealed as Percy rubbed his knuckles into Nico’s head keeping him in a loose headlock.

“Death! I haven’t seen you in ages! How has it been?” Percy smiled as he began walking them towards the hallway. Nico cringed slightly from the nickname. Death was not something you want to be called at a hospital, especially if you were a doctor.

“Oh you know, Chase is tough but she knows what she’s doing.”

“She better, she learnt from the best,” Percy said proudly, pointing towards himself. Nico took this as an opportunity to lower Percy’s ego and asked

“Chiron?”

“You smug little-” Percy was cut off by Nico’s shrieks and protests to stop as Percy tickled him. Was it evil of Percy to tickle Nico? Perhaps, especially since he knew that Nico was one of the most ticklish people to ever exist.

Hour 15

Interns filtered into the viewing box above the operating room- they were all excited to watch one of them perform the first surgery. Jason, however, was terrified. He was muttering the basics of the procedure again and again as the crowd filtered in above him. If he made one mistake, everyone would see it, everyone would know and he would become the intern who couldn’t cut.

“Open, identify, ligate, remove, irrigate, close. Open, identify, ligate, remove, irrigate, close,” he muttered continuously, his eyes scrunched shut in fear.

Meanwhile, in the overhead viewing box, interns started placing bets. Sure, everyone was excited that an intern was assisting but they were also bitter. It would be a lie to tell you that no one in that room had thought that they should be down there operating room instead of Dr Grace. As Nico came in, he was slightly surprised to hear people making bets- sure, Jason had taken the surgery from them but betting? Was that really necessary? Especially since they were betting on his demise rather than him succeeding.

“30 dollars if he can’t open the peritoneum.”

“35 if he faints, he seems like a fainter.”

“40 says he kills the guy.”

“50 says he pulls off the whole thing,” Nico, who was sick of hearing the interns bet, cut in, “That's one of us in there- where’s your loyalty?”  Nico had grown up with a loyal best friend- Percy- so if he valued anything in a person it was loyalty. He watched as poor Jason moved his lips, mumbling the procedure. He really hoped Jason didn’t butcher this- he had kind of put his trust in him over here. Jason turned to the nurses as they performed the time- out- reciting the patient's name, sex and other vital information such as the actual surgery- an appendectomy . 

“Scalpel,” Jason ordered his hand reaching towards the nurse. As soon as it made contact with Jason’s hand, the interns went wild. The interns were cheering, clapping and whistling. It was official, Jason was the first intern to pick up a scalpel on a live patient. Even Nico joined in on the cheering, leaning back slightly in his seat and clapping- that was until Dr Zhang turned towards the interns and mimicked silence. The interns understood- Dr Grace does not need distractions. 

“That Zhang is trouble,” Hazel muttered, biting her lip gently. Nico, trying to resist a smirk, leaned over and whispered,

“Hazel’s got a crush.”  

Hazel, as chill as ever (sarcasm intended), pinched Nico’s arm making him flinch, pout and then rub gently at his slightly reddened flesh. Jason was trying to concentrate- he had never thought that one would have to apply so much pressure to cut into human flesh so of course, he hesitated a bit. However, once he was through, he started to find it a bit easier.

“Pickups…. Clamps,” he ordered.

“Dammit, he got through the peritoneum, I’m out,” the intern who betted on Jason admitted defeat as Jason continued.

“Scalpel….. And Appendix is out!”

Despite Dr Zhang's previous warnings, the interns went wild. Jason did it, he actually did it. Nico could see all the interns freaking out and while he was truly happy for Jason, he knew that he hadn’t finished. He had to close and celebrating too early may jinx him. Dr Zhang, who didn’t mind the interns celebrating, began to instruct Jason on his remaining steps.

“Now all you have to is insert the stump into the cecum and simultaneously pull the up on the purse strings, but be careful not to-” Frank was cut of by the distinct sound of sutures snapping- a sound which caused the silence of everyone and echoed 

“- Break them,” Frank finished his sentence, sighing. He wouldn’t lie and say that he didn’t expect this but he hoped that the intern would fix his mistake quickly. He watched as Jason struggled nervously. Jason himself didn’t even know what he had just done- all he could replay in his head was the snapping sound and the feeling of the suture breaking. The loss of tension in his hand as he accidently pulled too hard. Out of all the useful knowledge he had, it was that recent memory that just kept on replaying in Jason’s head.

“You’ve just ripped the cecum, you’ve got yourself a bleeder! What do you do now?” Dr Zhang tried to encourage him but it was no use. Nico watched as Jason froze.

Damn it Jason come on! Alas, Nico couldn’t help but think, Jason was like a deer in headlights- Bambi. Jason didn’t know how to react- what did he do now? He hadn’t considered the possibility if the sutures snapped. 

“Think- You stop the suctions and start searching for those purse strings before he bleeds to death,” Dr Zhang instructed, his voice the only clear thing in the room other than the drastic beeping coming from the monitor. Nico could feel everybody in the room holding their breath- this moment was either going to make or break Jason.

“Give him a clamp,” Dr Zhang ordered.

“BP’s dropping,” a nurse warned. The interns watched with anxiety for their fellow intern- Jason was frozen, his hands stuck mid-air. 

“BP is getting too low.”   

Finally Dr Zhang had to make a decision and he held his hand out to the nurses,  

“Move. Suction and Clamps.”  

The interns all groaned, throwing their heads back or burying their heads between their hands. Money was passed around and Nico could only feel pity for the blond boy who looked like bambi in the operating room. As interns began to leave, people began to whisper.

“He’s a 007.”   

“Yeah! Totally a 007.”

“What’s 007?” Juniper looked around, slightly confused. Nico, morbid as ever, kept his eyes trained on the surgeon operating as he told Juniper.

“License to kill.”

Hour 19

Jason sat in a wheelchair (that he most likely did not want to know where it had been) as he rolled the wheels back and forth complaining. He still couldn’t believe that he had frozen up like that. Not only that but he knew what the consequences of it was now. 

“Everyone is calling me 007,” He complained, still embarrassed from his poor performance. Nico and Meg- both of whom were sick of his whining- answered at the same time.

“No one is calling you 007.”

“Really? A dude in the elevator whispered 007 and everyone started laughing!”

“007 is a state of mind,” Hazel called out as she waited by the old vending machine. It waited a bit too long for Hazel’s patience and thus she gave it a light kick to keep it going.

“Says the girl who finished first in her class at Stanford,” Jason retorted, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. Nico was enjoying this mindless banter, it was the first break he had in a while and it was relaxing to be able to not have to think critically for once. Of course, because fate hated Nico in particular, Nico’s pager beeped causing him to groan and accidentally bang his head as he pulled out his pager, causing his eyes to widen.

“Ah, fuck. Someone is paging me 911 on Katie Bryce, gotta go!” 

Nico hopped off the spare stretcher he was on and practically ran towards the stairs desperate to get the patient's room. As Nico left, he let out a small snort of laughter for he heard Jason mumble,

“I should have gone into geriatrics- nobody minds when you kill an old person.”

Nico gasped for air as he walked into room 3604 and saw a perfectly healthy and fine Kate Bryce. What the hell? Did she lose the ability to talk? Because that wasn’t a 911, that was a thank the gods. He looked around for any crash cart or indicator that there was actually anything wrong with her.

“There’s nothing wrong with you?” He panted, feeling his anger bubble up. Katie simply shrugged, twirling her platinum blond hair that looked dyed. 

“I’m bored.” 

Nico gasped and face palmed- he just could not with this girl! Would giving her an early death count as breaking the hippocratic oath? Man, he really wanted to punch Hippocrates- making doctors swear a damn oath on Apollo! 

“This is a hospital, people are dying, people who actually require a doctor's help! Go to sleep,” Nico explained, his voice raising slightly due to the interruption of his very calming break- he considered hearing Jason complain better than any sort of time spent with this patient. Katie, however, did not want to comply with what was being asked of her.

“I can’t sleep, my heads all full!” Katie whined slightly, throwing her head back softly against the propped up pillows. 

“That's called thinking, go with it, maybe you’ll learn something new.”

Hour 21

 Annabeth was happy right now. In this moment as she and Percy lay snuggled up against each other cuddling in the on call rooms, Annabeth was happy. She had to catch up on her sleep and Percy was a neurosurgeon- his surgeries were tiring and required him to be well rested (something that never happened either way) for him to perform at his best ability. She could hear Percy’s heart thumping under her ear as she lay with her head on his chest and one of her legs thrown on top of his. The sound and vibrations were comforting, relaxing, easing her to sleep- she was happy.

Juniper did not feel so happy right now. She was standing at the nurses station staring at the on - call room that she knew Dr Chase to be in. As she stood by the nurses station, a nurse leaning on the desk asked her what she wanted. 

“Mr Anderson has chunky veins, he needs antibiotics and I should start a central line,” Juniper admitted, looking away. The nurse, not even glancing up from his chart simply told her,

“Then start one…” 

Juniper's silence told him what he needed to know.

“...And you don’t know how to. You know what that means.” The nurse nodded his head towards the on call room where Dr Chase resided. Juniper had to physically restrain herself to stop herself from shivering. She was about to break Rule 3. She peeked her head into the dark on call room where she initially thought she was about to accidentally become scarred for life. However, what she saw surprised her. Dr Chase was soundfully asleep next to Dr Jackson. Their arms were intertwined with each other and Dr Jackson had one arm wrapped around Dr Chase’s waist. They looked so peaceful, Juniper was so tempted to walk out and just let Mr Anderson get a nice trip to the morgue but she didn’t want to end up being called something like 007. She took a deep breath.   

“Dr chase, I don’t mean to bother you-”

“-Then don’t,” Annabeth snapped. She did not want to leave Percy, he was so warm and she wanted her damned sleep.

“It’s Mr Anderson,” Juniper started explaining.

“Is he dying?”

“No.” 

“Then stop talking to me.” Annabeth rolled over so that her back was towards Juniper. Juniper cleared her throat slightly which caused Percy to jerk his arm. Annabeth huffed, clearly agitated. 

“Next time you wake me, he better be so close to dead, there’s a tag on his toe.”

Hour 23

Nico was walking towards Katye Bryce’s room once again to check in on her. Hopefully, she had taken his advice and was soundly asleep by now. Yet, as Nico approached her room, he saw nurses running in and out of it- Nico picked up his pace until it was a run as he got into the room. Immediately, the nurses briefed him on what was going on.

“She’s having multiple Grand Mal seizures, now, how do you want to proceed? Dr Di Angelo, are you listening? We’ve given her diazepam, 2 milligrams of  Lorazepam- we just gave a second dose- Dr Di Angelo, you need to tell us what you want us to do!”

Nico was frozen. What in the name of Hades had happened while he was gone? He began to filter his thoughts-find out what's in her system and proceed from there. 

“You gave her lorazepam?” he asked.

“Yep, 4 milligrams.”      

“You’ve paged Chase and Jackson?”  He pushed.    

“Lorazepam isn’t working!”

“Phenobarbital, 2 milligrams,” He blurted, remembering the drug from a chemistry quiz he had gotten completely correct due to Bianca’s old notes.       

“Heart’s stopped!” a nurse called out. Nico’s brain called out Code Blue, Code Blue! But his mouth could not move. What was he doing? He normally acted on immediately in emergency situations- they were practically his reflexes. He had to focus. He closed his eyes for a second.

Focus Nico, focus- this girl is literally dead. 

His eyes snapped open- he was still panicking but now that he had a second to think, he had a vague idea of what to do.

“Okay, start compressions- grab the crash cart. Charge the pads to 200.” Nico turned his head towards the nurse operating the charge value on the defibrillator.  

“Clear!”

Katie Bryce’s jolted upwards, but her heart did not return to normal. The nurse opposite to Nico continued compressions on her body while the other nurse held an ambu bag to her face, squeezing it every 5 seconds to provide air for her lungs. 

“Still V-Fib, no change,” the nurse commented. 

“Charge to 300.”

“27 seconds since the heart stopped,” another Nurse informed.

 “Charge to 360, C’mon Katie. Clear!” Nico waited to see if her heart would react.

“ Okay, restarting compressions,” He ordered as he tried to think of the next step in running a code.

“49 seconds since the heart stopped.”

“Charge again, Clear!”

Everyone in the room waited anxiously as the monitor returned to beeping normally. 

“Sinus Rhythm.”

A collective sigh of relief was let out as people started filtering out.

 at the hell happened?” Percy asked as he speed walked into the room. He couldn’t help feeling a bit useless as he found his patient that was dying only seconds ago, alive and well- only it wasn’t him who had saved her, it was Dr Di Angelo.

“She had a seizure and her heart stopped,” Nico explained, sighing gently now that Percy was here. 

“You were supposed to be monitoring her.” Percy turned around to face Nico. Nico was not expecting the accusatory tone- sure he wasn’t expecting clap on the back either but a Oh hey for keeping her alive while I took ages to show up would have been nice. Nico had known Percy all his life but despite that, he had never seen such a cold, turned off side of him. Was this how doctors or surgeons did their jobs? Become cold to everyone around them? Nico tried to explain himself- the key word there being tried.

“I-”

“-Just go, I’ve got her now.” Dr Jackson batted his hand and Nico was dismissed. Nico felt dismissed. Was this the life of an intern? Being blamed for every small inconvenience so the attendings can feel less guilt on their backs? Nico didn’t do anything wrong- he followed protocol, just as he had been told. He ran the code and continually paged Dr Chase and Dr Jackson. Them not showing up was the issue here, not him. He had saved her life. Not them.

Nico’s mind felt dead. He was 23 hours into a 48 hour shift and already, he was feeling the pressure. Too much pressure- was there a point to this? Was there a point to any of this? Nico dragged his feet across the floor, trying to find the exit.

“When you get a 911, you page me immediately. If someone dies, it’s on my ass. You hear me? Di Angelo?” Dr Chase raised an eyebrow at the intern who practically ignored them as they walked to the exit door, ignoring everything around them. The interns, Jason and Hazel both noticed his abnormally pale face and dazed expression. Hazel, being the concerned sister she was, followed Nico as he started to gain speed towards the exit.

“Nico, are you okay?”She reached her arm out but Nico made no notice of her. He could feel his stomach become more and more uneasy. He leant against a pole with one hand and quickly threw up his lunch. He placed both of his hands on his thighs, remaining hunched over and trying to catch his breath. As he walked back towards the hospital, intending to go and wash his mouth out, he caught Hazel walking towards him with concern drawn all over her face.

“If you ever tell anyone…” Nico trailed off as he walked past her, entering the hospital again.

Hour 26

“You said it was a seizure disorder, now you’re saying it isn’t?” Mr Bryce, Katie’s father, asked with slight confusion. He stood by his wife's side, both his hands on his hips in a confrontive manner. 

“I’m saying that I don’t know. For now, I don’t have an answer for you. Now that Katie is stable-” Dr Jackson started explaining only to be cut off by the father.

“-We came here because this hospital is supposed to be the best in New York. That's my kid in there and you have the audacity to stand here and say I don’t know. I want someone else , a doctor that knows what they’re doing. A doctor better than you!”

“Mr Bryce, I can assure you that I’m working hard on Katie’s case-” Dr Jackson tried to keep himself calm. He was working hard but sometimes the body did things that science couldn’t explain. He was a doctor, a surgeon, not god. 

“- No, you’re not. If you were, you’d be able to give me some answers.”

Percy decided to leave the couple before he said something to them that he’d regret.

Dr Zhang was a calm, collected and highly skillful surgeon. He knew what he was doing as he explained the surgery to Mr Savitch.

“I put you on the bypass machine, which pumps blood for your heart, fix your ticker, take you off the machine- I’m done. Simple procedure.”

His wife -who was clutching her husband's hand so tightly her knuckles were turning white- asked Dr Zhang with a slightly relieved voice,

“So I have no reason to worry?”

“I’m very good at what I do but it’s still surgery- there are still some risks. I’ll see you in the Operating Room this afternoon Mr Savitch.” Frank waved his hand goodbye to the couple and left while Dr Grace stayed behind to reassure the patient.

“Dr Zhang is very good, you’ll be fine,” Jason confirmed.

“He’ll be fine right?” Mrs Savitch urged again, wanting a guarantee. Her eyes screamed Tell me my husband will live. Jason could not understand how she was feeling but he sympathised for her. He wanted to help her, he reminded him of his mother, a woman who worried often. 

“Tony’s gonna sail through it- You have nothing to worry about Gloria - I promise.”

Hour 30

Nico had no idea why he was here- in fact, he had no idea why any of the interns were here. They had all been called to the briefing room for a conference yet at no point had he been informed what exactly it was about. He glanced to his right to see Hazel holding sutures with a banana laying on her lap.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m suturing a banana with the vain hope that it wakes up my brain,” Hazel drawled her hand raising up to tighten the perfectly spaced sutures together- something Nico too had the talent for. Their heads both shot up as Dr Jackson, with Dr Chase beside him, walked in. Dr Solace also walked in, catching Nico’s eye as he leaned with his back on the door frame. 

“I’m gonna do something pretty rare for a surgeon. I’m gonna ask interns for help. Katie Bryce right now is a mystery- she isn't responding to medication. All the tests are clean but she’s having seizures, Grand mal seizures and we don’t know why. I need you to help me out,” all the interns sighed as Percy explained this. 

“I know you’re tired, I know you’re busy which is why I’m gonna give you an incentive. Whoever finds the answer rides with me. Katie needs surgery- you get to do what no intern does. You get to scrub in to assist on an advanced procedure. Annabeth- I mean- Dr Chase will hand out the chart- The clock is ticking people. Let’s save a life,” Percy weakly smiled as he saw the eager interns scrambling for the files and gave Nico a wink as he left the room. Nico had to look down at his shoes to not blush- his crush on Percy had subsided years ago but what are you meant to do when people wink at you? 

Will decided to tag along to the intern conference being held by Dr Jackson- he’d get a chance to see the interns working under incredible amounts of pressure and have a look at potential residents to take under his wing as trauma residents. At least, that's what he told himself. In reality, he had wanted to see the Italian doctor who had the guts to flirt with him and then invite him to bed. Was Will offended? Of course! Did this intern think he was that easy? While Will told himself that wasn’t easy, a small part of his subconscious told him that him showing up to the intern conference for one gorgeous man proved otherwise.

As Nico left the conference room, Hazel jogged to catch up with him- though Nico didn’t know why she was jogging, she had much longer legs than him.

“Hey, I want in on Jackson’s surgery- you've been the intern on her case since the start- you want to work together? If we find the answer, we have a 50/50 chance of scrubbing in ,” She offered. 

“Sure, but I want in on the surgery.” Nico shrugged.

“So do I.”

“May the best surgeon scrub in,” Nico held out his hand for Hazel to shake. The game was on. 

The locker room was full of several other interns- all of whom were re-reading Katie’s chart as if their lives depended on it. Hazel and Nico were hunched together by their lockers- which were co-incidentally placed next to each other. There were 6 empty cups of coffee- 4 were Hazels and 2 were Nico’s. Rainbow sweet strips, Nico’s pick of course, were also present- Hazel had to beg Nico for a pack as he had 3 to himself. Nico was so used to staying up for unnecessarily long hours that he didn’t need as much caffeine to keep himself acting like a live human being, unlike his sister.

“So she doesn't have anoxia, chronic renal failure or acidosis. It’s not a tumor because the CT was clean,” Hazel confirmed.

“What about infection?” Nico suggested as he savagely bit into a rainbow gummy strip, ripping it away from his face causing sugar sprinkles to fly everywhere. Hazel shot him a look as she brushed them off her scrubs.

“No , there’s no white count, she has no C.T lesions, no fevers, nothing in her spinal tap.”

“What about an aneurysm?” 

“No blood on the C.T, no headaches, no drug use, no pregnancy, no trauma. Nico, what if this girl dies?”

“This is gonna sound really bad but I really wanted that surgery,” Nico confessed before continuing, “Her pageant talent is rhythmic gymnastics. What even is rhythmic gymnastics? I can’t even say it properly, I don’t know what it is!” 

“Oh come on, they have pageant talents?” Hazel started snorting with laughter with Nico joining only a mere matter of seconds later.  Rhythmic gymnastics- a totally odd and dangerous pageant talent. Why not go with knitting, there’s a less chance of falling. 

A less chance of falling. 

Nico’s brain raced- something about that was relevant- vital even. Why did that sound so important?

 Nico shot up, grabbing his sister by the arm. He thought he knew what was wrong with Katie.   

“Get up, come on. Come on!” Nico whisper- shouted as he grabbed Hazel who asked him what the hell he was on about. He told her about Katie’s fall during practise for rhythmic gymnastics when she had sprained her ankle- the chance of a small aneurysm to form.

“The only thing that she would possibly need is an angiogram,” Hazel realised as they both rushed out to find Dr Jackson. They found him in the elevator ,alone, and just as the door started closing, Hazel stuck her hand in the way of the door. Immediately she started talking.

“She has no headaches, no neck pain, her C.T is clean- there’s no medical proof of an aneurysm but what if she has one anyway?”

“How?” Percy questioned, slightly confused.

 “You see she twisted her ankle and fell. Just a bump on her head. It was so minor that her primary care doctor didn’t think to mention it in her history but there's a chance, right, Perce?” Nico almost begged, using the childhood nickname he used to call Percy, that he used to call his best friend. That is what he was doing at that moment- asking for his best friend to listen, not Dr Jackson.

“You know there’s a one in a million chance of that, literally,” Percy sighed, shaking his head. The siblings hung their heads as the situations settled- their diagnosis was getting shut down or so they thought it was. The lift opened and there stood Percy smiling. He waved his hands, signalling them to follow him. 

“Let's go find out if Katie is one in a million.”

Hazel and Nico were both silent as they waited in the cath lab- this was it for them. Either they become a pair of fools and Nico would tarnish the Di Angelo name or they get to be the first interns out of their year to assist on an advanced procedure. Percy stood with his arms folded, his black hair tousled and his jaw muscle ticking like crazy- Nico could also see that he was stressed although who for, Nico could not tell. 

“I’ll be damned. It's minor but it’s there- a subarachnoid hemorrhage. She’s bleeding into her brain,” Percy gasped slightly as he pointed his pen to the small black blobs on the screen. As they left the Cath Lab, Hazel and Nico were ready. They wanted to know who was getting the surgery- sure, they had agreed that the best surgeon would win but secretly, they had both hoped that they’d both be able to scrub it. 

“Uh, Dr Jackson, you said that the intern who brought the diagnosis would be able to scrub in,” Hazel gently reminded, her eyes hopeful and full of yearning.

“Unfortunately, I can’t have you both so Nico, you’re scrubbing in.”

Nico was over the moon- His first surgery was going to be with Percy and he was going to assist! However Hazel both looked and felt distraught. She knew she should feel more happy for her brother but she couldn’t help but feel a slight sliver of jealousy that he had only been chosen because Nico and Percy were childhood friends. As Nico turned around to apologise for her, he saw that she had already left without him.

Hour 34

Jason was in the scrub room waiting for Dr Zhang to finish up the surgery on Mr Savitch. Was he nervous? Of course, but he was also confident in Dr Zhang's skills as a surgeon. He was sipping a soda while charting, leaning with his back to the operating room- he didn’t want to get distracted by the surgery happening behind him. The door swung open with a Whack and Dr Zhang walked in, looking dejected. 

“That was quick, wow!” Jason said admirably- he knew Dr Zhang was good, but he didn’t think he could complete a surgery like that so fast!

“He didn’t make it. His heart had too much damage to get him off bypass- I had to let him go. It’s rare but it happens. It’s the worst part of the game,” Frank confessed as he washed his hands and splashed water onto his face, making him feel slightly more alive. Unlike Jason who swore his extremities went numb. 

This couldn’t be, right? Surely this was a prank- everyone would play a prank on him, he was the 007! He would walk into the operating room and see the nurses preparing to move him back to the ICU for post surgery care. Yes, yes that’s what this was- a whole prank. Dr Zhang was probably punishing him for almost killing a person in surgery and this was his equivalent of karma. Despite the idea, when Jason turned around, he regretted everything he saw. There was blood on the floor,the patient was still wide open, the heart monitor which was still attached to the patient showed no sign of cardiac activity. Jason could feel a lump in his throat, a lump that he just couldn’t swallow. Hos throat was dry and there were tears pricking at the corner of his eyes as he attempted to speak.

“B..but I told his wife Gloria that he would be fine- I promised her tha-”

“You what? The only person who can give a promise like that is God and I haven’t seen him holding a scalpel lately. You never promise a patient's family a good outcome!”Frank, in a rare moment of no self control, lashed out. Jason, who realised his mistake, decided to leave Dr Zhang to mourn what he considered his failure and inform the family of their greatest loss.

Frank slumped over the sink in the scrub room, rubbing at his head. He had never failed something so simple, how did he not foresee this? His fists clenched and relaxed as his mind went over the events of the surgery- he had never felt so much like a failure in his life as he did in this moment right now. 

As Jason approached the family, he could see their cheerful, happy faces, completely unaware of the soul- crashing news that he was about to bring them. Gloria ,who noticed him on instinct, immediately smiled wider- she thought she was going to go see her husband now. His kids had no idea what was about to happen to their lives. Jason still had the lump in his throat that was only getting bigger. He had to swallow several times which was a struggle because of his dry throat. 

“How is he?” Gloria rushed her words out and it seemed she seemed more excited than nervous. Jason swallowed heavily before starting.

 “Gloria, there were complications regarding your husband's surgery. Tony’s heart had a lot of damage. We tried to take him off bypass but- there wasn’t anything we could have done.”

Jason’s hands wrung back and forth as he struggled to keep his eyes from watering. He could feel them stinging as he fought back the tears of his betrayal

Gloria’s face scrunched up before slowly falling. Jason could see how her face slowly morphed from one of pure happiness to one of panic and distraught but Jason could also see the hope in her eyes.

“What are you talking about?” Gloria’s voice broke slightly, her lip curling.

“Tony died. He’s dead… Gloria, I am so sorry.” Jason reached out to comfort her, his hand reaching to stroke her back only for Gloria to completely flinch away from his touch. Betrayal illustrated her face and Jason couldn’t bear to continue looking her in the eye.

“Please, go away.” 

Jason had undergone a lot of tough, painful situations to become a doctor and yet, this is what broke him.

Hour 40

Percy was shaving Katie’s head, watching the blond tufts of hair fall off her face. Nico walked in, smirking as he leant against the door. On noticing Nico’s presence, he began to whisper, 

“I promised to give her a cool haircut. Apparently it’s a scandal to be a bald beauty queen.”

“Ah, well, I would totally pull it off..” Nico reached towards his hair and pushed it back slightly. Percy laughed slightly and nodded in agreement before they fell into a comfortable silence- the only sound being the buzzing from the electric razor. Nico watched Percy with admiration in eyes and Percy would look up at him every once in a while with a genuine smile that made his eyes crease.

Will was watching Percy and Nico hanging out in room 3604, an odd feeling of spite towards Percy starting to form. He didn’t know why- Percy had always been a good friend to him, helping him earn the respect of his peers. He watched as Nico watched Percy and suddenly felt the urge to accept Nico’s offer. 

“I do hope that you aren’t staring at Di Angelo,” Leo walking up behind him commented dryly. 

“Lover boy, you can’t really talk. Last time I checked, you seemed to be physically unable to keep your eyes off Calypso,” Will muttered in response. Leo gasped in mock offense before laughing. 

“Awww, are you two sharing ‘we are going to single forever’ moment?” Piper cooed. Will grunted slightly - while Piper defended Will in public she totally teased him when there weren’t as many people and as for her and Leo- well they had known each other since they were teenagers. 

“I’d like to escape the single lot, thank you for the offer though, pipes,” Frank sighed as he joined the group of them. His mood was still down due to losing his patient- he couldn’t help feel overwhelming guilt for not saving a patient with such an easy procedure. 

Percy came out of the room, chatting away with Nico before he spotted the group of attendings who were all staring at them. He raised an eyebrow at all of them, especially since they weren’t trying to be subtle in any way.

“Yall, get back to work.”

The operating room was a tad warm. Or maybe that was Nico sweating due to his nervous nature. He couldn’t afford to screw up here, he had made it so far in only a few hours and had worked hard. Dr Jackson walked in with his trident and sea print scrub cap on his head before he looked around the room.

“All right everybody. Are we ready? Okay, Scalpel,” He held his hand out as he ordered a scalpel into his hand. Nico who was on his tip- toes to see what was going on for he was not sure if he could come any closer- neurosurgeons were scary people sometimes. Percy, who was ecstatic and in a great mood, gestured for Nico to come closer. 

“Nico, come take a look. Your sister would absolutely love this,” Percy gushed and for once, Nico completely agreed as he looked at a live human brain.

Hour 48

It was finally time to head out. Nico was relieved- his eyeliner ,which was perfectly done the morning he came in, needed re-applying and he wanted to put his heeled boots back on. He was sick of everyone being taller than him. He was in the locker room after finishing the surgery and quickly he changed. He felt much better once he was back in his own clothes. Black ripped jeans, fingerless gloves, Ramone t-shirt and his beloved heeled boots.  He stood in the mirror finishing off his eyeliner as Hazel walked in.

“We don’t have to do the thing where I say something and then you do and then somebody cries and then there’s a moment-” she started

“Yuck,” Nico cut in. Hazel smiled ever so slightly but Nico noticed it, causing him to attempt to repress a smile. The key word there being attempt. 

 “Good.”

Nico was looking for Percy- he wanted to thank him for the amazing surgery and for picking him to scrub in. He was about to enter the on call room that he assumed Percy to be in when he accidentally walked into someone. That someone just so happened to be Dr Solace. Except he was shirtless.

Why the fuck was he shirtless? Is there someone in there with him? Oh my god, was I hitting on a straight dude?

“Ah, sorry about that. I was changing when I realised my clean clothes were in my locker,” Will confessed sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. But Nico wasn’t really paying attention to anything that came out his mouth but rather his lips. Wait, why was he shirtless again? Nico had an internal panic for about 2 seconds before he pulled himself together and remembered his objective around Dr Solace.

“If  I’m correct Solace, that surgery went very well,” Nico smirked. 

If your first surgery goes well, then feel free to send that draft out again.

Nice one Nico, you got this.

Will opened his mouth, slightly in shock that Nico had still remembered that by now- sure it was 41 hours ago but most interns just wanted to sleep  by now. But This was a Di Angelo he was talking about- surgery ran in their blood.

“Well congratulations. I caught the draft. What are you going to do about it, Di Aneglo?” Will challenged quite confidently, Nico’s surname rolling off his tongue.  Nico started walking towards him, backing him into the oncall room. The second they were both in there, Nico’s hand reached behind him and locked the door with a flick of his wrist. 

“Copy me,” Nico told Will. He raised one of his arms and then the other, watching as Will copied, slightly confused by the random motion. He then put both his hands together above his head and the second Will copied, Nico pinned Will’s hands above his head with a single hand and smiled wickedly. Will, adequately impressed, leaned his head forward to kiss Nico who obliged.

Explosions. 

That's what Nico felt. He wasn’t expecting Will to be such a good kisser. The kiss was soft at first, their breath dancing across each other's lips but became more heated as Will tried to shift his hands out of Nico’s reach. Nico, being stubborn as he was, refused.  Will bit Nico’s lip gingerly, teasing him as he pulled his lip back slightly between his teeth- the second Nico groaned gently, Will used all the momentum he had to flip them and press Nico against the door, holding one of his wrists in his hand. He reached to grab the other and hold it above Nico’s head as their lips smashed. When Will finally pulled back for air, he started making light butterfly kisses onto Nico’s jawline, making his way down to Nico’s neck. He gently sank his teeth and lightly sucked on the flesh there, making Nico throw his head back and let out a light moan. 

Nico decided that he could thank Percy for the surgery later.

Hazel was waiting for Nico. She was outside the hospital and was watching as all the other interns were leaving and finally he arrived. His clothes were a mess- crumpled, his t- shirt was completely inside out and there was a bruise on his neck.  Hazel had no idea what had happened and honestly, she didn’t want to. Nico waved to her, pulling out a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it.

“Finally! Gosh, we need to go if you want to get there on time!” Hazel fussed.

 Annabeth and Percy were holding hands as they chatted away with Piper and Reyna- their faces all in an animated conversation despite being awake for 48 hours. 

“And then I totally clipped that aneurysm,” Percy boasted, swinging Annabeth's hand up in the air with his. 

Frank was meant to be paying attention to the conversation he was supposed to be having with Leo- who was excitedly talking about the life saving surgery that he did with Calypso as the Peds and OB department had to team up for that case. However, Frank was actually looking at Hazel as he started telling off Nico for the smoking near a hospital. 

“It was a really cool case- the mother was teen in the third trimester which meant Peds had to work with OB. The baby had a tight nuchal cord so the delivery had to be performed by C- section so we could safely clamp and cut off the umbilical cord,” Leo ranted.

Thalia was rustling the blond hair of her younger brother as they got into a car, talking about their days. 

“Who cares, 007 was totally badass!” Thalia told her brother as she started the car. Piper waved goodbye to Percy, Annabeth and Reyna, and leaned against one of stumps while she waited for Will. When Will finally arrived, his hair was an absolute mess and he had a few buttons of his shirt undone which gave view for a bruise blooming on his collarbone. Piper decided not to make much comment of it as they both started walking away. Will turned his head to see Nico one more time, only to see him laughing and kissing the head of a girl with dark skin and beautiful curly hair. Terror and unease immediately set within him. 

Did I just help him cheat on his girlfriend? 

Will decided to push the thought to the back of his mind as he left the hospital.

Nico was stalling. He knew it and so did Hazel. She had pulled up at the nursing home but he was still drumming his fingers on his lap as he sat in the car. After 10 minutes of pure silence, Nico got out of the car, the only sound made being the soft closing of the car door. He walked up the steps before entering the home. It was well lit, elegant and classy- he knew if Bianca was lucid that she’d love it here. He walked towards the window seat, knowing that she always loved to sit there. He took a gentle seat next to her, waiting for her to  notice him  nearby. When she finally acknowledged him, she looked at him and up and down, slightly confused.

“Are you the doctor?”Bianca asked, her eyes wide.

“No, I’m not your doctor but I am a doctor,” Nico attempted a smile but it failed with corners of his lips falling slightly. Biance wrung her hands back and forth, fidgeting with them subconsciously. The nails that used to be flawless were now chipped and bitten at.

 “What's your name?”she turned her head towards him, tilting it slightly as she looked her brother in the eye.

“It’s me, sis. It’s Nico,” He said half heartedly, his voice cracking as his eyes followed hers, trying to somehow get to her lucid mind. He saw her eyes. He saw her how they looked at him, how she didn’t recognise him. Her eyes, they weren’t the same golden brown that gleamed, they were glossy- as if there were clouds covering the clear sky.

“I think I used to be a doctor,” Bianca mused as she continued to rub her hands aggressively. Nico reached out to stop her, hoping she wouldn't flinch or become aggressive. He held her hand in his, enveloping his hand over hers and she accepted the gesture. Just for a second, Nico could see his sister again. 

“You were a doctor. You were a surgeon.”

[waynes-multiverse]

Saved in a Flash – Part 2

Chapter Title: The Secret Life of Hayley Allen

Chapter Summary: The Winchesters make their way to Central City, Missouri, to find the masked girl. Dean is dead set on killing her while Sam isn’t so sure... Meanwhile, Hayley tries to manage her double life back home as best as she can.

Universe: Superhero AU (Supernatural x Flash)

Characters: Hayley Allen (OFC), Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Iris, West, Joe West, Caitlin Snow, Cisco Ramon, others mentioned

Pairings: Dean Winchester x OFC, Sam Winchester x Caitlin Snow (overall series)

Rating: +18, NFSW (canon typical violence, swearing, eventual smut)

Chapter Warnings: language, Dean is angry & flirty, Sam is a smart-ass, Hayles and Iris are devious, Cisco is adorable, Joe is a protective dad, drinking, hunting meta-humans, mentions of death

Series Warnings: slooooooow burn (you will hate me, I’m talking no kiss before 300k), slight enemies to bffs to stupidly in love, canon rewrite with divergence, superheros & powers, dating other people, canon typical violence/angst/hurt, pining & heartfelt friendships, girl power. I’m sure there’s more…

Word Count: 14.5k (yep, but hey, it’s the longest of the entire series, so it won’t get worse)

A/N: There’s so much I love about this chapter, I don’t know if I could pick a favorite scene. Everything blends together in this one. But please let me know your favorite moment in this chapter. I’m soooo curious :)

Settle in, get your favorite drink, because this is gonna be a very long ride. Hope you enjoy & Godspeed! ⚡️����

Feedback always makes my day, so make sure to leave some love! Tags & requests are open

The Road So Far                     Series Masterlist

The boys had just driven past Bloomington, Illinois, when the sun came back up, saturating the landscape with red and orange colors. Dean glanced over to his little brother sleeping soundly in the passenger's seat. He was still having terrible nightmares, but this time he seemed to be at peace.

Too bad Dean had to wake him up. He turned up the volume of the radio and started to sing along passionately to Guns N' Roses' Sweet Child O' Mine.

Sam startled awake, wiping away the drool from the corners of his mouth. He looked confused at his brother for a second and rolled his eyes back, sighing in annoyance.

"Dude, turn that down, will you?" Sam snapped. "Jerk."

"Bitch," Dean retorted per usual and grinned.

"Where are we going?" Sam asked his brother as soon as he felt awake enough again.

He stretched his long arms over his head as far as the confined space of the Impala allowed him to. Man, what he would give to sleep on a comfortable bed again. One that wasn't in the same room as his brother's.

"Motel. Just looking to get far enough away from Chicago as possible," Dean said, looking into the rearview mirror. He couldn't shake the feeling they still weren't entirely safe.

"You found a case yet?"

"Yup! We're goin' to kill that bitch. I don't care what Dad says," Dean said determined, a stern look on his face as he tried to focus on the road and not on the look his brother was giving him.

"Dean!" Sam exclaimed in protest. "Dad specifically told us not to kill her, and you never ignore Dad's orders."

"This is different, Sammy. If Dad doesn't see it, we have to see it through," he explained thoroughly.

"What?! Since when?" Sam gave him a puzzled look. He shook his head at Dean.

"So being…stalked by some girl with superpowers, doesn't freak you out?! She's not human, Sam!"

How many times did Dean have to explain this to him? Or to his father, for that matter.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Sam said suggestively with his know-it-all smile.

"What are you talking about? What else could she be?" Dean argued, ignoring Sam.

He had never seen a monster like her before. But it didn't matter. He couldn't just let some masked girl run around. It wasn't natural. Who knew what she what do in a year? He wasn't going to take that chance.

One thing he did know: His father hadn't kept the girl alive out of the goodness of his heart. He had just used her for his own goddamn agenda. And for once, Dean didn't agree with his father's plan. He didn't need a fucking supercharged babysitter. He could damn well take care of his little brother on his own.

"Well, before I fell asleep, I did some research of my own," Sam interrupted his train of thought. "Ever read the news the past couple of months?"

Dean looked at him. He didn't remember reading anything particular the last few months, besides the usual odd cases they were working on.

"Does Central City, Missouri ring a bell?" Sam added, hoping to jog Dean's memory.

He thought intensely for a few seconds before it popped up in his head. He realized he had read something about that city.

"There was this explosion about a year ago," Dean remembered. "Some lab exploded, right?"

Sam nodded. "Right, so get this – that explosion contained all kinds of particles and dark matter. And over the last couple of months, there have been reports of people being affected by the explosion. Suddenly gaining powers, like controlling the weather, bursting into flames," he explained.

Dean glanced at him confused. He had almost stopped listening when Sam used words like particles or dark matter. He had no idea what that even meant.

"Controlling the weather? That's insane," Dean shook his head.

"I know."

They shared a look. The last thing they needed was people with godlike powers. How were they supposed to kill them? Just shoot 'em?

"Well, anyways, local police are keeping it under wraps, mostly handling those people themselves. They call them meta-humans," Sam explained further.

"Meta-humans? So you think that chick is one of 'em?" Dean asked, still not happy with the answer.

"Yeah, and I think I know who it is," Sam said with a grin.

Dean looked at him with a proud smile and patted him on the shoulder. "Look at you, Mr. Smarty-Pants. Looks like college worked out for you." Sam rolled his eyes.

"So who is it?" Dean asked, returning to his serious side.

"There is this woman, popping up all over town. Running into burning buildings, saving people, stopping bank robberies. She apparently even saved some girl's kitty from a tree," Sam said and pouted jokingly.

"Well, good for her. Still, something stinks. She's probably killing people at night," Dean retorted stubbornly.

"Oh yeah, how? By running over them?" Sam asked, amused.

Dean shot him a look. "Well, yeah. I'm thinking bug meets windshield here."

"Dean, she's even helping the police catch other meta-humans," Sam threw in. But he knew it wouldn't make a difference with his brother. Dean just had to see for himself. "Look, all I'm sayin' is, don't go around shootin' her blindly. For all we know, she's just a girl that wants to help. And besides, she might have some answers for us."

Sam was dying for answers. Maybe she knew about the demon. Perhaps she wasn't even a meta-human, but another psychic kid with different abilities. Maybe she knew about his powers. Or anything. Anything, at all.

Dean glanced over to his brother, biting his lip hard before he finally managed to nod his head in agreement. "Fine. But I'm telling you as soon as that bitch turns evil, I'm shootin' her," he promised angrily.

Sam just looked amused at him and shook his head. He knew Dean would change his mind eventually. He always did.

Central City, Missouri

Hayley's eyes fluttered opened, stretching every muscle in her body. She sighed contently. A smile crossed her face as she looked around her small one-bedroom apartment. It felt good to finally be able to sleep in her own bed again on her comfy mattress.

She sped into the bathroom and back out, fully showered and dressed for the day. She was wearing blue high-waisted jeans and an emerald green sweater, tucked in at her waist. Her brown hair fell down to her shoulders in soft waves. She added some peach matte lipstick and put her black-framed glasses on.

Frankly, she didn't need her glasses anymore. Since she gained her powers, her eyesight was more than fine. It was simply a force of habit. She had always worn glasses since her mother bought her her first pair at age six. Now it was one of the few things that still made her feel human. Besides, Clark Kent did it, and she had a double life to hide as well.

Afterward, she raced off to CC Jitters, the local coffeehouse, to get her mandatory caffeine intake before work. Her sister Iris also worked there as a barista while she finished up her journalism degree.

Initially, both Iris and Hayley had wanted to be a cop like their dad when they were young. Hayley's interest had been in the FBI, while Iris wanted to be a detective like her father. But Joe had been adamant his daughters wouldn't end up in a dangerous job.

So Iris studied journalism, wanting to become a badass reporter, and Hayley ended up behind a desk, doing forensics.

Of course, Joe's goal of keeping his daughters far away from danger went down the drain when Hayley was struck by lightning. Now, one of his daughters had super-speed while the other one decided to blog about it. All of it just meant a lot of sleepless nights for Joe.

She quickly greeted Iris at the counter and grabbed her cup of a triple espresso. Needless to say, she didn't need coffee either. But she still loved the taste and the little bonus rush it gave her system.

Standing in line at Jitters, she suddenly noticed the time. The only thing that never changed: She was running late again. On her first day back at work, no less.

The Winchesters arrived at a crime scene. Dean had floored the gas pedal all the way to Central City after their little chat. He was sure the girl got a major head jump on them, but his Baby wasn't far behind.

Sam had gathered more research on their way here. Their best bet was to swing it as FBI agents and find out what the local cops knew about their mystery girl.

So far, they knew the locals called her the Flash. They were sure, sooner or later, she would appear. Otherwise, Dean would draw her out. One way or another, he'd get her.

They both were dressed in suits and ties. Dean was shifting around uncomfortably in his get-up. He was sweating it a little. After all, he – or better someone who looked like him – was still wanted for murder in St. Louis since their run-in with a shapeshifter a couple months back. That nasty thing had changed into him and framed him for murder. It had made life on the road a little harder for him, to say the least.

The brothers walked over to a group of police officers, talking about a robbery that had just occurred at the local bank.

"Second robbery this week," a young white cop said, shaking his head. He had short blonde hair, blue eyes, and looked a little too neat for a cop.

"The teller I.D.'d Clyde Mardon as the shooter," an older black cop stated, walking with the young one toward the crime scene.

"What? Oh, jeez, the Mardon Brothers are back?" he asked his partner in annoyance. "I thought they both died in a plane crash last year?"

"What do we got?" Another cop walked over. He was young but way better dressed than the others. He wore a suit as well with a nice gray overcoat.

Captain, Dean guessed.

"Perps took the bank, shot out the cameras, and as a chaser, killed the security guard over there. I've got unis kicking in doors of known Mardon Brothers associates," the older cop explained to the Captain and gestured behind him at the bank.

"CSI been over it?" the Captain asked sternly.

"Uh, no," the older cop said. He suddenly seeming flustered as he tried to come up with an excuse.

"Where's Allen?" the Captain asked, now angrier, looking around.

Suddenly, a young woman came up running to the crime scene. She seemed rushed, ducking under the yellow police tape while trying to balance a cup of coffee. She almost dropped it, but gathered her posture last minute before she picked up her pace again.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," she said multiple times as she navigated through the crowd of curious observers.

"Sorry for being late…again, Captain Singh." She came to a stop in front of the Captain, smiling apologetically at him.

He looked unimpressed. "What was it this time, Dr. Allen? Did you forget to set your alarm clock?"

She opened her mouth to say something, but he continued talking over her. She couldn't blame him. Singh hated her with a passion. And not because she was a woman. He was a fairly just boss. However, she barely ever showed up at work. And if she did, she would always be late.

Leading a double life had definitely its disadvantages.

"Before you answer, I should remind you the excuse you gave last time was car trouble. Want to know why that one was particularly memorable?" He looked her dead in the eye, waiting for an answer.

She let her shoulders fold guiltily. She looked up at him with clear-blue puppy dog eyes, pursing her lips. "I…don't own a car?" she replied slowly, shrugging her shoulders. She bit down on her lower lip with a small smile. Admittingly, it hadn't been the best excuse she had given him. But it had been true: While she personally didn't own a car, the Winchesters did. And they had been busy hunting a killer ghost truck. Car trouble seemed like an appropriate description.

Judging by Singh's facial expression, he was ready to give her the usual yelling lecture. She heard it once or twice a day, depending on his daily tolerance level. It wasn't a big deal, but she still didn't particularly enjoy it though.

"She was running an errand for me," Joe jumped in. He turned to look at her, widening his eyes expectantly. "Hayley, did you get me what I asked for?" He was obviously lying, trying to save her precious ass. He waited patiently for her to catch on to his scheme.

"Yeah, yeah, I did," she mumbled, flustered. Her hands frisked her entire body up and down, looking frantically for something in her pockets. Her jeans turned up empty. Eventually, she rummaged through her sling bag. "I have it right…" Her hands were digging through her bag until she grabbed the first thing she could find. "…here."

She handed an opened chocolate bar to Joe with an embarrassing look in her eyes. She shrugged sheepishly. He frowned and grabbed it from her wordlessly, his face displeased with her improvised solution.

"I had a few bites of it," she added awkwardly.

He looked at her with the same stern expression as before, shaking his head. Joe loved both his daughters unconditionally. But a lot of times, they could wrack even his last nerve.

"I'm gonna go check out the crime scene now," she excused herself quickly and bounced away from them.

The boys had been quietly standing by, listening. As soon as the commotion cleared, they approached Joe. Hayley watched them carefully with a side-eye.

The moment she had discovered the Winchesters at her crime scene, she knew it would be a busy day for her. And frankly, she was quite surprised. The brothers had figured out her identity faster than she would have given them credit.

Then again, she was on the news a lot recently. And how many girls with her abilities were out there? A scarlet suit, a mask?

Exactly. None.

A simple internet search would suffice.

"Uh, excuse me, sir. FBI agents Hetfield and Mustaine," Dean introduced them, flashing Joe their badges.

"FBI, huh?" he asked suspiciously. He narrowed his eyes at them and took a step forward to look more closely at their identity.

I'll be damned, Joe thought. Did those boys think they could fool him with false badges? He had seen a thousand of them in his career. And they never looked real. How people, much less actual cops, fell for them was beyond him.

The last person that had flashed him a fake badge had been John Winchester.

And suddenly, it dawned on him. Those two fools standing before him were probably his sons looking for his daughter. He knew those boys would come eventually. He just didn't think it would be today when he got up this morning.

He glanced over to Hayley, who looked at him with a guilty expression. He frowned and turned his attention back to the fake agents.

"And what is the FBI doing at a robbery exactly?" Joe asked them, cocking a brow.

The boys shared a puzzled look.

"We're not exactly here for the robbery, Officer…?" The shorter one answered, reaching out his hand to greet him.

"West. And it's Detective, son," Joe replied, putting on his best scary face, as his daughters had always called it.

It had worked on them, and it sure seemed to work on those boys. The shorter one was already getting weaker in the knees and starting to fold a little. Joe wanted to get rid of those idiots as fast as possible. He knew they only came here to hurt his daughter.

"Of course, Detective," Dean corrected himself. He cleared his throat awkwardly, gathering his posture again. "We heard your city was being terrorized by, what do you call them? Meta-humans?"

Joe didn't reply. He just kept staring impatiently and grumpily at Agent Pretty Boy and Bigfoot.

Dean chuckled nervously, "Anyways, HQ wanted us to check it out, so here we are. We would appreciate any information you could give us. And as soon as everything's cleared up, we'll be out of your hair in no time."

"That information is classified, so you have to excuse me if I don't just hand it to you," Joe retorted rudely.

"No, of course not, sir," the taller one now spoke, looking just as nervously at him.

Joe looked him up and down with an unamused expression. The boys stood quietly, scared to move even an inch. They had gathered their fair share of experiences with law enforcement. Still, this particular cop seemed to take his job way more seriously.

"Go over to the Captain. He's gonna check in with your supervisor. Until then, don't bother me," Joe told them off.

With that, he turned his back to them and walked off. When he glanced back, the brothers were already talking to the Captain. He only had a small time frame to warn his daughter.

Joe quickly moved over to Hayley, who curiously had watched their interaction unnoticeably from the side. He grabbed her arm, pulling her aside with a glowering look.

"Are those two fake FBI agents over there by any chance John Winchester's kids?"

She pursed her lips with guilt. Joe had warned her about them so many times over the past couple of weeks.

They are dangerous people.

You don't think they could find you?

What if they hurt Iris?

Or you?

Of course, she knew the Winchesters weren't someone to mess with. She had seen the arsenal hidden in the trunk of their car. She had seen what they can do with these weapons. She knew they earned their money through credit card fraud. She knew they weren't textbook good people.

But who was?

Hell, she had been steadfast not to watch those boys, arguing about it at length with John and some psychic in Kansas only a few weeks ago.

And then, she got to know them.

Oy.

While only from afar, she could see it - the goodness in their hearts. They were just two lost kids without a home or much family. What she could see with her bare eyes was all they had: each other and a car.

Every time she watched them, she could see herself: the lost kid wanting more.

Wanting love. Wanting justice. Wanting answers.

She let out a deep breath. What was she supposed to do now? How could she convince them not to kill her? To hear her out instead?

"Well, I think they're looking for you," Joe ripped her from her thoughts.

"Yeah, I gathered," Hayley sighed.

She knew the brothers would find her eventually. It was irrational to think otherwise. She had hoped they could be friends. After all, the three of them had more in common than the boys even knew.

But judging by all of Dean's furious looks he had directed towards her at their last meeting, she knew that likely wouldn't happen. He saw her as a threat, part of all the monsters he had hunted his whole life. To him, she'd always be dangerous.

Unless...

Joe looked at her with worry. "They're here to hurt you?"

He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her closer to get a better look at her eyes. He could always tell if one of his daughters was hiding something by just looking at them long enough.

But Hayley shook her head. She honestly didn't believe they would. Even if Dean was deadset on killing her now, Sam probably wasn't.

She glanced over to the boys. They had just finished talking to Singh and were arguing about something again, frantically gesturing around.

At least, all that useless knowledge she had collected about them finally came in handy. If she could convince one of the boys, she could convince the other.

This wasn't over. They just needed to see for themselves.

"I have a plan. Don't worry," Hayley told her father with an assuring smile.

"Okay," he said and released her again.

As soon as the brothers had Captain Singh convinced that they were "authorized" to have CCPD's classified detail on meta-humans, he sent them over to the CSI. She was the young brunette woman from before and supposedly the leading expert on meta-humans.

Sam and Dean approached as the girl was looking profusely at the crime scene before her. She put on a pair of black latex gloves and her glasses and started to rummage through an aluminum suitcase full of forensic materials. She seemed jumbled, but Dean had a feeling she was just her usual self.

The clumsy damsel in distress, he thought. Which was exactly his type – not that he really had a specific one.

He looked her up and down, lingering maybe a little too long on her butt. But then again, her skinny high-waisted jeans framed her figure nicely. It wasn't his fault: He was practically forced to inspect it closer. It was right there in his face!

Sam cleared his throat, shooting him a sharp look. Dean's eyes unwillingly darted away from the pretty girl and annoyingly up to his little brother. He shrugged his shoulders with a smirk. Sam rolled his eyes in response.

Hayley tried hard to concentrate on her tasks, but the boys' obvious bickering presented quite the challenge not to chortle. She deserved an Oscar for keeping it in so well.

She ignored them and knelt down on the ground, narrowing her eyes as she tilted her head sideways to see better.

Dean's head went sideways as well, making himself a little smaller. He didn't care about the crime scene. He just came for the view. And lower and lower it went...

Sam hit his arm, and he jumped straight back up. "Dude!" he scolded his older brother, but Dean could hardly hide his grin.

"Getaway car's a Mustang Shelby GT500," the girl suddenly spoke. She looked up at the group of cops, who had gathered around her in a circle to listen to her analysis.

She jumped on her feet again, dusting off her pants. Then she took a closer look at the tire tracks before her. It looked as if she measured the tracks with her bare eyes. She only used her fingers as help, as she gestured widely around the evidence from every possible angle.

"Shelby's have a rear super-wide tire specific to that model. 12 inches with an asymmetrical tread," she concluded. She didn't look up once, keeping her eyes glued on the marks in front of her.

Dean nodded approvingly, "Good job." He was impressed with the girl's knowledge about cars.

"I know, thank you," she replied absentmindedly, still not giving them even the slightest attention. "And there's something else," she added, excited now.

She walked over to the group of police officers. She sneakily snatched a pen from an officer's pocket and returned back to the scene. "Fecal excrement...animal, I'd guess," she said as she scooped up some of the poop with the borrowed pen and threw it into a plastic evidence bag.

"My dad gave me that pen...before he died," the cop, whose pen she had misused, told her. He didn't seem amused at her actions at all.

She let her head fall back in defeat and groaned deeply. She knew her colleagues didn't really appreciate her genius. In fact, she was sure they hated her. She never intended to do these things and annoy them unnecessarily. She genuinely just wanted to do her job. And sometimes, she could get a little too deep into the forensics of a case, ignoring everyone else around her.

"Sorry," she said as if it were second nature to her. Which frankly, it was.

Detective West then approached her, pulling her gently to the side by her arm. "Hayles, your ability to multi-task is truly remarkable. The way you can embarrass me, the Captain, and yourself all at the same time. You know everyone you work with thinks you're a weirdo? Which means they think I raised you to be a weirdo. And I don't dig that," he told her in a scolding tone.

She bit her lip ruefully. "Joe, I'm sorry," she apologized.

Sometimes Joe was really glad he had kept his daughters out of the force. He couldn't even imagine if he had to work with both of them out in the field.

"I'm starting to think 'Joe, I'm sorry' is my actual name considering how often you say it to me. Get up to the lab. Start processing the evidence," he ordered her.

She nodded compliantly, but as soon as she turned her back to him, she rolled her eyes with a heavy sigh.

"Dr. Allen?" Dean walked up to her with a smile. She looked up at him, returning his smile.

Showtime, she thought gleefully. It reminded her of all the pranks she pulled with Iris as kids. Or that one time in college, when she pretended to be a lab assistant in a make-up company. She ended up freeing all the test animals while Iris gathered evidence for her exposé.

"Uh, just call me Hayley. Everything else makes me sound like a grown-up," she joked. The brothers chuckled with a nod.

"How old are you, anyway?" Dean asked her bluntly, earning him a jab from Sam. "I mean...you just look young for a CSI." Ironically, it was the same question the brothers themselves always received.

You two look a little young to be marshalls...

She laughed. "Uh, 23. I graduated high school at fifteen," Hayley offered as an explanation. 

It honestly would be less freaky if they actually knew her. After her mother's mysterious death, she just had been dead-set on finding answers. While for the brothers that had undoubtedly been hunting and juggling weapons, it had always been science for her. 

Her parents both had been scientists in their own rights. Her mother was a psychiatrist, and her father had been a general practitioner with his own little practice. Before he got a lifelong prison sentence for the murder of her mother, of course.

One of the many reasons she had decided to leave Central City behind her at the time.

It's why she became a CSI. She needed to find answers to what happened to her parents that night when she was eleven. She knew her father hadn't done it. He couldn't have. She still remembered that night as clear as day. She could never forget the night that ended her mom's life, sent her dad to prison, and drove her to be adopted by Joe and her best friend, Iris.

Dean's impressed whistling tore her from her memories.

"Wow," he stated in awe. "So you're a genius?"

"Well, when it comes to forensics, at least. Let's be honest here, you saw what happened before. They would've fired me already if I wasn't."

He laughed, nodding. It made a lot more sense to him now.

"So, what may I help you with, gentlemen?" she asked while putting some plastic bags with evidence into her silver suitcase.

"Uh, we're FBI agents Hetfield and Mustaine," Dean started to say.

But suddenly, he wasn't sure if she didn't smile a little at their names. He hoped she wouldn't be a big Metallica fan. What if she was? She knew a hell of a lot about cars, too. 

Uh-oh, he realized, panicked.

"Uh-," he stuttered like an idiot, completely forgetting his train of thought.

Sam stared at him puzzled while Hayley's face carried an amused smile, watching Dean squirm.

"Uh, we were told you were the leading expert on meta-humans and hoped you could help us out. We just need some information about them," Sam stepped in.

"Yeah, it's for the bureau," Dean added unnecessarily and winked at her awkwardly. Sam shot him another sharp look.

"Oh-kay, then," she interrupted the short awkward silence. "Well, can I just see some ID?"

Sam handed her his ID expressionlessly. But Dean swallowed hard before taking his ID out of his pocket and handed it to her reluctantly. He smiled nervously at her. Sam slightly kicked his leg, clearing his throat.

Hayley's eyes lingered on their fake badges for what felt like an eternity. If she could tell which car someone drove from its tire tracks, she sure would be able to tell a fake ID from a real one.

Right?!

However, she handed them their badges back, smiling kindly at them. "Okay, well, I just have to quickly process those babies in my lab," she said, patting her hand on her suitcase filled with evidence. "Gonna take me about two hours. But you guys can stop by my lab later, and I tell you what you want to know, alright?"

"Yeah, okay, sounds good. Agent Hetfield?" Sam looked at his brother for confirmation. But Dean didn't respond. His gaze was somewhere else again, so Sam cleared his throat.

Still no response.

"Agent Hetfield?"

Nothing.

"Agent Hetfield?" Sam said with force this time and kicked his brother in the leg again. Dean's lower leg was pretty much bruised by the end of their conversation with Hayley.

"Hm, what?" he asked, being pulled from his thoughts.

Sam frowned at him. "We'll stop by, thank you, Hayley," he said with an apologizing smile.

"Sure, everything for the bureau, right?" She walked past Dean and gave him an amused wink before she headed off to the other cops.

Sam slapped his arm as soon as Hayley was out of sight. "Dude! What's wrong with you? You almost blew our cover!" he whined, looking at his brother, annoyed.

"What?! I thought she's gonna notice our fake badges. I panicked, okay?" Dean defended himself. "Plus, her sweater was...tight," Dean added with an innocent look.

Irritated, Sam rolled his eyes and stomped back to the Impala.

Her lab at CCPD was big. It was located on the last floor, quietly tucked away from the rest of the cops. It was much more peaceful up here than downstairs with the bustling detectives. 

The room was messy, however. Metal racks full of chemicals, evidence, and tools lined the walls. She had various papers lying around, three whiteboards, and leftover equipment from different experiments. Her lab was light-flooded, at least. She had a big window front behind her desk with a view over the entire city skyline and a giant skylight in the center of the room.

Hayley was sitting with her feet stretched out on her desk, appreciatively eating her Big Belly burger. She was still waiting for the evidence to process, running the samples she had found at the crime scene through all databases. It definitely looked more like a meta-human attack than a simple human robbery.

Iris walked in and plunked her butt down on Hayley's desk. "Hey, my sister from another mister," she said with a grin. "So, Dad told me John's kids were in town?"

"Yeah," Hayley let out a hysterical laugh.

Iris never missed out on a story, but this was even quick for her. "And you didn't tell me?" she reprehended her sister.

"It just happened a few hours ago," Hayley told her.

Iris gave her a look. "Well…I wanna meet them," she said with a determined look in her hazel eyes, slapping her hands on her thighs excitedly.

Hayley only knew that look too well. She had the same one when she wanted something. "Hell no!" she protested, removing her feet from her desk.

"Oh, c'mon! Why are you and Dad the only ones who get to mess with them? Besides, I wanna know what they look like," Iris said with a shrug.

"What, why?"

"'Cause I bet they're hot," Iris grinned.

Hayley rolled her eyes at her sister. "And you know that how exactly?" She cocked an eyebrow.

"'Cause, why else would you spend weeks of your life spying on them, if not for some eye candy?" Iris teased her with a grin.

Hayley slapped her arm indignantly. "Iris!" She could feel her cheeks blush a little. "Does Eddie know you talk like this?" Hayley teased her back, and Iris giggled. "Besides, you know why," she maintained with a serious look.

Iris knew better than anyone that her sister was only in this mess because she had gone after a hot story. And then she got kidnapped by vampires. "Yeah, I know," she exhaled, rolling her eyes back. "Hey, but you are coming to the bar tonight, right?"

The bar. Hayley had completely forgotten about it. She usually hung out there with her friends after work.

"Yeah, if Joe lets me go. I think I pissed him off again," Hayley said, biting her lower lip.

Iris laughed. "Were you weird again?" She shot her a knowing look. Her sister had always been more into science than into people. Iris had spent most of their teenage years trying to make Hayley a little more adaptable to the outside world. Nowadays, it luckily only happened when her sister got sucked into the Twilight Zone.

Hayley shrugged guiltily, "It's not like I'm doing it on purpose!" The sisters shared a long look before they burst into laughter.

"Well, if you're coming…bring Agents Pretty Boy and Bigfoot along," Iris suggested once their laughter died down.

Hayley raised an eyebrow. "Is that what Joe is calling them?"

"Yeah," Iris replied. The girls laughed. Joe had always been very outspoken with nicknaming their boyfriends. Not that Sam and Dean were anywhere in the vicinity of that area. But he certainly seemed to hate them just as much.

"So? Are you bringing them or what?" Iris sure was stubborn – just like her sister. That they didn't butt heads more often, even surprised them sometimes.

"No! I'm not gonna bring them, Iris. I still don't know if they're here to kill me or not. And even if they don't kill me, Joe will."

Hayley sighed. Her eyes glanced worriedly over to her sister. She wouldn't put Iris in potential danger if she didn't have to. She had promised Joe to always look out for her. And it wasn't just Iris there tonight. Caitlin and Cisco were coming too, and the last thing she needed was the brothers meeting someone from S.T.A.R. Labs.

Iris frowned at her, capitulating for now. She leaned over her sister's desk, snatching the pack of fries, and stuffed a few of them in her mouth.

Hayley grabbed the fries from Iris' hand again. "Hands off my fries!" She shook her head at Iris, grinning. "Unbelievable."

Iris stuck her tongue out, teasingly. "I'm stress eating over my dissertation. We started selling cronuts at Jitters. I ate two today. If I don't graduate soon, I'm gonna be more muffin top than woman," she joked. Hayley giggled, but her laughter was soon interrupted by new visitors.

"Well, I think you look amazing," a low voice said from behind them.

Iris twisted her back to look at the two men over her shoulder. They both were really young but wore suits and ties. The shorter one smirked at her, clearly checking her out. That earned him an annoyed look from the taller one. She looked back at her sister, raising a brow.

"Well, speaking of the devil," Hayley whispered, clearing her throat with a stern look at her sister. "Agents, thanks for stopping by," she said louder now. She got up from her swivel chair, pushing Iris gently out of the way. But her sister didn't budge an inch.

"If we're interrupting something, we can come back later," Sam offered her politely.

"Oh, no! That's just my sister...who was about to leave." She gritted her teeth at the last word and gave Iris a death-stare.

"Yeah, right," Iris said casually and hopped off Hayley's desk. She walked over to the door, strolling past the two men. When she was behind them, she turned on her heel and grinned mischievously at her sister. Hayley narrowed her eyes at Iris. She didn't like this one bit.

What the hell is her plan?

"Oh, I almost forgot! Eddie's picking me up at six, so I'll see you at seven at the bar?" she asked innocently. Hayley glared at her.

"Bar? You know, my partner and I were looking for a good drinking place in town," Dean said and smirked at Iris. He turned his head around and grinned at Sam excitedly before turning his attention back to her.

"Well, then you should come," Iris said flirtingly. "Cops and other enforcers of the law drink half off."

"Is that so? Well then, we'll sure be there," Dean flirted back, leaning in a little closer to Iris. Sam and Hayley both sighed at their siblings.

"Good," Iris smirked. She left the lab, smiling winningly at Hayley.

"So, Agents, you said you have questions?" she steered them back to topic.

"Uh, right, yeah," Sam stammered and walked over to her desk with Dean on his heels. "Do you know how many meta-humans are out there?"

She gasped with a smile. "Starting off with the easy questions, are we?" Sam chuckled. "Well, so far, we've encountered five of them over the last year. But there have been reports of a lot more people with powers, missing persons…The particle accelerator exploded over the entire city, and there's no sure way of finding out who got affected. And more importantly, how," she explained.

Talking about science always had been easy for her – she was immediately in the zone once she started.

"What do you mean by how?" Dean asked her with a puzzled look.

"Okay, so...for example, a couple months back, we had this meta who could replicate himself, creating a whole army of clones. And guess what the guy did for a living?" She looked at them expectantly like she was their teacher, waiting for a response from her students.

Their faces were blank.

"He was a scientist, who worked on cloning methods," she informed them.

"So the people who were affected...it always had something to do with what they did during the explosion?" Sam asked.

"More or less, yes. The blast wave of the explosion carried all kinds of theoretical elements, like dark matter or negative energy, altering people's DNA," she expatiated. "Combine them with other elements, and you can get all kinds of abilities."

"How dangerous are they?" Dean asked her.

"Well, not more dangerous than you and me, Agent," she said with a smile. She hoped if she explained it all in a way they could understand, maybe they'd let her live by the end of this.

"Just imagine Gandhi and Hitler would've been in Central City during the explosion and gained superhuman abilities. Gandhi probably would've used his powers for good, whereas Hitler…well, I'm sure you get my point, Agents."

They nodded simultaneously.

"Not all of them are bad people. I mean, they all are still humans. I bet some of them are even scared. Just imagine waking up with superpowers one day...your whole world suddenly changes." It most certainly had for her. Now she was running around in red leather, fighting crime.

"I guess," Dean shrugged. Maybe all these people had been human before. So was literally every other monster he had ever encountered. It didn't change the fact they were no longer now. However, suppose this was anything like Spider-Man. In that case, he could see how ordinary people would freak out over their sudden discovery of superpowers. He freaked out when Sam first started to get his visions. And it quite frankly still freaked him out.

"But how do you catch the bad sons of bitches?" Dean asked.

Hayley chuckled, "Well, usually the Flash catches them and locks them up."

"The Flash? Is that the woman in the red suit?" he asked, arching an eyebrow. Now, they were finally getting somewhere.

"Yeah! So you've heard of her. I've heard she's pretty awesome." Talking about her alter ego in the third person almost felt like a habit by now. But maybe she should tone down the self-praise a little.

"You've met her?"

"Uh, no. But she's all over the news, saving people and locking up criminals," Hayley told them casually. Listing off a few of her good deeds couldn't hurt, right?

"You have any detail on her? A name or an address, maybe?" Sam suddenly spoke up again. He had been standing by quietly, listening to Dean's interview.

She shook her head, "No, sorry. She just pops in whenever and is gone just as fast. No one knows who she is."

Dean snorted internally. Maybe no one else had found her before. But he would.

"Okay, well, I think that'll be it for now. Can we come back if we have more questions?" Sam asked politely.

"Yeah, of course. Just stop by whenever," she replied with a smile.

"Great, thanks so much for your help," Sam said and smiled, too. He started to walk over to the door, waiting for his brother to follow.

But Dean didn't move an inch. Instead, he remained right next to Hayley, giving her his utmost compelling smile. "Just one last question, this bar tonight…where is it?"

Sam frowned at his brother again. But Hayley returned Dean's flirtatious smile, leaning in closer to him.

"Third Street and Oakley. See you there, Agent," she replied with a smirk.

Dean smiled winningly, catching up with his brother by the big metal doors of her lab. "See you there, Dr. Allen," he grinned widely before leaving.

She rolled her eyes with a light sigh. She had to give him at least one win.

The brothers had returned to their motel room. They sat at a little table, crammed with newspapers dating back to the explosion. Sam was doing research on his laptop while Dean was reading article after article. They didn't even know what they were looking for. Anything could have given that girl powers. Not to mention, super-speed might not be her only ability.

"Find anything?" Sam asked his brother after a while, glancing up over his laptop.

Dean sat on his chair coolly, his feet resting on a second chair, beer in one hand, newspaper in the other. "No. You?" he asked, a little frustrated. His eyes already began to hurt from reading the past hours. The letters started to blur.

"Uh, not directly. I found a blog online, which is reporting sightings of the Flash," Sam said.

Dean's interest peaked. He put his beer down and sat up straight. "Do you know who writes it?"

"Yeah, an Iris West."

Dean raised an eyebrow. "Any relation to Detective West?"

"Yeah, she's his daughter. I even pulled up a picture online, and we actually met her," Sam said and turned the laptop around to show his brother the photo.

It was Dr. Allen's sister. They had met her briefly at the lab today. He still didn't know how the women could be related. Detective West had certainly talked to Hayley more like a father and less like a boss. If Iris was his daughter and Iris was also Hayley's sister, it'd make sense. His head still hurt, trying to make all of these connections.

"Well, great. I know exactly where to find her," Dean said and smirked at his brother. He knew the bar would come in handy. It always did.

Sam rolled his eyes with a groan. "Dean! Can you, maybe, not hit on the only two persons who might know where to find the Flash. I thought we wanted to get some answers!" he panted.

"I do…just relax, Sammy. We talk to her when we're there. And tomorrow after breakfast, we can go find this thing," Dean told his little brother blithely.

He got up, taking another sip from his beer before he placed it back on the table. He grabbed his leather jacket from the chair and Sam's jacket too. He threw it at his little brother before Dean walked past him, giving him a light pat on the back. He grabbed the car keys and strolled to the door, patiently waiting for his brother.

Sam eventually got up and silently followed him, glaring at him the whole time. Dean chuckled, amused, and closed the door.

Iris and her boyfriend Eddie picked her up as promised at six o'clock. The bar wasn't far from her apartment, tucked between her place and CCPD. Which was why the bar was also the local cop hangout.

By the time the three had arrived, Iris and Eddie were already entangled. He was not only Iris' boyfriend but also Joe's partner at work. It was complicated, to say the least. Hayley would've told her sister to leave it alone. But alas, she was in a coma when they met. And by looking at the two lovebirds now, she was glad she had been. She had never seen her sister happier.

Her eyes darted away from the loving couple and found her friends in the crowd. Cisco and Caitlin waved excitedly at her. She had told them the Winchesters were in town, looking for her, and by association technically them.

However, Cisco didn't mind. He had patiently waited to finally meet the Ghostbusters for weeks now. Hayley still warned him that they couldn't find out about anything. Not about Hayley, not that they knew the brothers already, and absolutely no monster related questions were allowed.

She was nervous.

Shortly after seven, the boys made it to the bar as well. The place was crowded and swarming with cops. Dean swallowed. He sincerely hoped none of them would recognize him. The fact all of them were drinking tonight certainly helped his anxiety.

Their eyes searched the room for the brunette CSI and her blogger sister. They found them chatting excitedly in the center of the bar with a couple of friends. The young blonde cop from the morning was there too. His arm was slung around Iris's waist as she giggled at him.

At least, Dean's question of which sister he'd end up with tonight had been answered.

The brothers made their way over to the group, pushing past dancing and drunk people.

"Ladies," Dean said with a grin as he approached Iris and Hayley.

"Agents, you made it," Iris said with a charming smile. Hayley thought she was enjoying this a little too much. She'd race her sister out of the bar, but that would definitely be a dead giveaway.

"Uh, this is my boyfriend, Detective Eddie Thawne. But I'm sure you guys have already met at the station," Iris introduced him, stroking his back lovingly.

"Uh, no, actually. Nice to meet you, Agents," Eddie said and held out his hand. The brothers both shook it with a polite smile. "What's the FBI doing here in Central City?"

"Meta-humans," Dean said simply.

Eddie rolled his eyes and sighed, "I'm gonna get us another round of drinks, okay?" He gave Iris a quick kiss on the lips before he left for the bar counter. 

"Eddie's still a little freaked out when it comes to the whole meta-human stuff," Iris explained.

Their hangout dynamic was a little odd at times. While Iris, Caitlin, Cisco, and Joe knew about Hayley's abilities, Eddie didn't. She had told her sister she wouldn't mind if Eddie knew. But just as she was protective over Iris, her sister was her protector too.

"Well, who could blame him?" Dean agreed.

Hayley threw him a look. That statement didn't put her at ease. She could still tell he wanted to kill her.

"Uh, so, Iris, we've heard you write a blog about the Flash," Sam chimed in.

"Yeah, I'm a journalism major. I was actually one of the first people to know about her. So I thought I write about her. Let others know too." She smiled at Sam.

"Why?" Dean asked, knitting his brow, puzzled.

"Because, Agent...sometimes people need to believe in something – hope, miracles. And the Flash gives people that. I see her do the impossible every day to protect the city I love. And I think others should know too."

Dean raised his eyebrow skeptically at her. He still didn't buy any of that sunshine-y crap this whole city was feeding him.

"Have you ever actually met her?" He already knew the answer – no one had seen her.

"Yeah, I have. Several times, actually," Iris replied casually.

"Yeah, Iris is like a groupie," Hayley added jokingly. Iris slapped her arm playfully, grimacing.

"So, have we," Cisco added with a proud smile, earning him a glare from Hayley. He wasn't supposed to get unnecessarily involved, much less lead the boys to them.

"Really?!" Dean asked incredulously. "And you are?"

"Uh, this is Cisco Ramon and Dr. Caitlin Snow. They're scientists," Hayley replied.

Cisco was a head smaller than Caitlin. He had shoulder-length black hair and wore a green shirt that read T-Rex also hates pull-ups. On the other hand, Caitlin was a sight for herself. She had long copper-red hair that flowed down her back, enchanting hazel brown eyes, and soft pale skin.

"Yeah, we work at S.T.A.R. Labs," Cisco said with a grin.

Dude, Hayley thought. Her heart started to pound. It's like he couldn't stop telling them everything they wanted to hear. She threw Cisco a sharp look.

"S.T.A.R. Labs?" Sam asked curiously. "You were responsible for the explosion."

"Well, technically yes," Caitlin chimed in. She never liked talking about that day. Her fiance had died in the explosion. She lost as much as anyone else, if not more.

"Technically?" Dean furrowed his brow.

"Well, they did cause it...by accident. But they're making up for it now. They're helping CCPD with the meta-human cases," Hayley explained.

"Okay then. Where can we find her? We need to ask her a few questions," Dean demanded to know.

"I don't know. Uh, she always contacts me, not the other way around," Iris replied.

"Yeah, same," Cisco said.

Dean frowned and shared a look with Sam. If those guys knew more, they surely wouldn't spit it out.

Iris glanced past them and saw Joe talking to a pained Eddie. "Uh, would you excuse me for a second? I think I have to go save my boyfriend from my dad," she said and elegantly extracted herself from their conversation.

"We should probably head out too. Dr. Wells said he needed us back at the lab," Caitlin said with a look at Cisco.

"Yes, definitely! We should," Cisco agreed. They waved the rest of them goodbye and left Hayley to her own devices. So much for friends.

Dean stared at her with a mischievous grin until he was interrupted by his little brother. Stupid, cock-blocking...

Sam cleared his throat and glared at him. "I think I'm goin' to head back to the motel too. Do some more research. You comin'?"

Dean looked at him with a smile. "You go ahead, Agent Mustaine. Unless you need two people to look into a computer screen," he teased his brother.

"Fine," Sam said and gritted his teeth. "Don't stay out too long, Agent Hetfield. We have an early day tomorrow." He shot Dean one last look before he left the bar as well, shaking his head. If Dean would rather risk getting arrested for a girl, so be it.

Great. Now she was completely alone.

"You sure you don't wanna join your partner? He seemed a little upset."

"Nah. He's a little needy. He'll get over it," Dean replied with a cocky smile.

She sighed internally. Of course, Dean Winchester couldn't be dragged away from a bar. But at least, this gave her the perfect opportunity to convince him not to kill her. Or just more reason to. There was only one way to find out.

"Drinks?" she asked with a smile, jerking her thumb over her shoulder to the counter.

Dean grinned.

They settled down at the bar counter, ordering a round of drinks. The sound of Blondie's Call Me blasted through the speakers, drowning out the noise of chatter around them. Dean went for a beer at first but changed his order once he saw Hayley had opted for a whiskey. He looked around the room, making sure no one had gotten suspicious of him yet. Detective West, Eddie, and Iris had retreated to a booth in the corner. Iris talked mostly while Eddie looked uncomfortable at Joe's constant death-stare.

"So, Detective West, is he always like this?" He gestured with his glass in hand over to the Wests' booth.

Hayley giggled. "Uh, yeah...to people he doesn't like."

"Well, he doesn't seem to like my partner and me much," Dean chuckled.

"Mhm...you should hear the nicknames he gave you," Hayley added teasingly.

"Nicknames? What nicknames?" Dean asked her with a nervous laugh.

"Agent Pretty Boy and Bigfoot," Hayley answered and burst into laughter.

"Great," Dean mumbled, taking a sip from his whiskey.

"But he's actually a great guy. Best damn detective, too," she said with a kind smile.

"What about, uh, Cisco and...Caitlin Snow, was it?" She nodded. "What do they exactly do? I mean, how can they help against people with powers?"

"Caitlin's a neuroscientist. She's really good with DNA too. And Cisco is a genius-level engineer. He develops weapons and other tools to help stop us meta-humans," Hayley replied.

"Weapons, huh? Cool."

She smiled. Judging by his arsenal in the trunk, she figured he'd appreciate a fellow fanatic.

Dean had to admit: It wasn't the worst thing. At least, those scientists were trying to clean up their own mess.

"Can I ask you something?" he said after a moment of quiet. He had almost gotten lost in her sky blue eyes. He couldn't remember ever seeing a girl with eyes that blue. It felt like looking into an endless ocean, calming, soothing.

"Sure, if you buy me another drink," she said, smiling flirtatiously.

He grinned at her and ordered two more whiskeys. His head wouldn't thank him in the morning, but he didn't care. And Hayley's goal was just to get him drunk enough, so aiming his gun at her would be a lot harder. It was the little details of a plan that made it good.

One thing was for sure: She didn't need to worry about getting black-out drunk herself. The most devastating consequence of having super-speed: Her metabolism was too fast for alcohol to take effect. And she had tried a lot. Binge-drinking college kids had never drunk that much. It was no use. Her fate was to be forever sober.

"So, you and Iris are really sisters? I mean, don't get me wrong or anything, but you two don't exactly look alike," Dean said and almost felt embarrassed to ask. It was just way too personal. There was probably a good reason why she ended up living with a cop.

But Hayley just chuckled. It wasn't the first time she had come across this question. People were curious. But was Dean interested because he suspected her of being the Flash or because he wanted to get into her pants?

She remembered he once told Sam to shoot first and ask questions later. By that logic, she still seemed to be in the clear, and her nerves calmed down a little.

"Well, duh, Captain Obvious," she replied with a grin. "Iris and I have been best friends since kindergarten. Joe took me in and adopted me when I was eleven." She couldn't help but feel a little sad at the memory. She had always been grateful to live with Joe and Iris, but it simultaneously meant she didn't have parents.

"May I ask what happened?"

"Oh, uhm, my mom got murdered." She emptied her whiskey before she glanced up at him with a saddened look in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Hayley," he said. He already felt pretty awful for asking. He of all people should have known to read those kinds of signals: Dead mom – don't talk to me about it. But the sad look in her eyes disappeared and got replaced with a smile again. She had built a wall around herself, just as much as he had. He knew the pretending game just too well.

"What about your dad?" He bit his tongue. He didn't know why he kept asking her all these very personal questions. He just had to learn more about her. The why had disappeared somewhere in his second whiskey.

She shifted uncomfortably on the little bar stool. "Uh, he went to prison...kinda a long story."

He lifted his eyebrows surprised. Her father was a convict, and she was a CSI who had been raised by cop. Quite the constellation.

"Uh, yeah, no. Sorry, I shouldn't have asked," he said with an apologetic smile.

Dammit. Now he owed her one.

"My mom died too...when I was four," he said quietly.

She looked up at him. His eyes stared down at the drink in front of him. His fingers circled the rim of the glass. She hadn't quite expected him to open up that much. Nevermind, she was just a stranger he had met a few hours ago. Great, now she actually felt bad for doing this to him.

Nope, remember he tried to shoot you...

"My dad wasn't around much after that. It was just me and...my brother," Dean continued. He had almost slipped and said Sam's name. But then he remembered she didn't know that Sam wasn't actually his partner.

"I'm sorry too. Sucks not having parents, right?" she tried to lighten the mood and smiled.

He chuckled, nodding, "Yeah. It does suck."

"Well...I think I'm ready for some tequila now," she announced with a grin.

"What? You wanna get me drunk?" Dean smirked widely at her.

She grinned back at him, "Maybe." 

"I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into," he flirted and leaned in a little.

"Oh, I beg to differ," she said, chewing on her lower lip.

He turned eagerly to the bartender, "Uh, three shots please for the lady and me. Each."

"Just three? What, are you scared, Agent?" she teased him with a grin. Maybe she was getting too overboard now. Honestly, it had been a while since she'd last been drunk. She couldn't quite remember the tolerance level of an average human.

He looked at her, stunned. That girl was definitely something else. "Fine. Make it five," Dean said firmly, and Hayley giggled.

"You know, just a tip from your friendly local bartender – don't drink with her," the bartender warned him. But he wasn't just any bartender. Mike was another friend. Well, technically, her college ex-boyfriend. But now they were friends. It was complicated.

Dean looked somewhat resentful at his advice. If he only knew Mike was actually a Saint trying to save him from her.

"I think I can handle it, pal," Dean huffed.

"Just trying to give you a fair warning. That girl could drink any pirate under a table," Mike said and earned a laugh from Hayley.

"He's not wrong, though. You sure you wanna do this?" Hayley asked him with a provocative grin. Her newfound sadism apparently knew no boundaries.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Dean said cockily and downed his first shot gracefully. "Your turn."

Hayley smiled at him amused before she grabbed her first shot and chugged it down. He nodded impressed. But she didn't stop there. She right away took the second one and downed it, continuing until all five of them were gone. She placed each shot glass neatly upside down on the counter after she finished. She looked nonchalantly at Dean, who swallowed hard. He definitely had found a challenge. She didn't seem like she was even remotely buzzed, and she drank a hell of a lot more than him.

"I think you have some catching up to do," she said with a cheeky grin.

"Wow, you weren't kidding, huh?" he let out a jittery laugh.

She shook her head with a naughty smile and held out another shot for him. "He tried to warn you." Mike saluted him with a grin from behind the bar. Of course, no one knew better about her drinking habits than her personal bartender.

"Bottom's up," Hayley said with a grin, holding a shot to his face.

Suddenly almost every phone in the bar started to ring, including Hayley's. She rolled her eyes back when she looked at it.

Fuck, she thought. Another meta-human attack had occurred.

"New crime scene," she said, turning to Dean. "I'm sorry, but they need me to come down and take a look at it. Raincheck?" She got up from her bar stool, grabbing her black leather jacket. She pulled it over her dark-red flowery dress that flowed gently to her knees.

"Yeah, no, don't worry. I get it," Dean said. He was disappointed, but if there was a new crime scene, he should probably check it out as well and call Sam.

He looked back up at Hayley, who was hastily getting ready. Probably out of fear of being late again. She tucked some of her chocolate brown strands of hair behind her ear. And that's when he saw it.

She had a tiny tattoo of a lightning bolt behind her left ear. It was identical to the one the Flash was wearing on the front of her suit.

His eyes widened, but she had already disappeared out the door.

Dean had rushed back to the motel as fast as he could. As if he was suddenly the one with super-speed. He burst through the door and found Sam sitting by his laptop. He looked up at his older brother, who seemed more than out of breath. He didn't exactly want to know why and just frowned. He didn't need to hear another one of Dean's sex adventure stories.

"You won't believe this, Sammy!"

"You're home early. What's up with you?" Sam asked, unbothered.

Dean grabbed a beer from the mini-fridge and sat down on his bed, still a little breathless. "I think I found her," he finally declared and took a long swig from his beer, almost finishing the whole bottle in one go.

"What? How?" Sam looked confused at him.

"It's the hot Doctor," Dean told him and took another sip.

"What? Caitlin?" Sam asked in a high-pitched voice.

"What? No, not Caitlin. That Hayley girl."

"You might wanna tell me how you know all that?"

"She had this little tattoo of a lightning bolt behind her ear," he said and gestured behind his own ear.

"That's it?" Sam raised his eyebrow. If all of Hayley's friends were pretty much fans of the Flash, it wasn't far fetched she was a fan too.

"It's the same one the woman in the suit is wearing, Sammy. And I don't wanna brag, but I can match the ass to the woman. The red lipstick, the blue eyes, the leather..."

"Do you wanna kill her or f..."

"Of course, I wanna kill her!" Dean instantly threw in, not even letting Sam finish that sentence. He was offended. Offended!

"Man, c'mon! And didn't she say all meta-humans were created by something they did during the explosion? Maybe, whoever it is, got struck by lightning – I mean, lightning, electricity, speed…that could work, right? So just check if she had a freak accident during the explosion," Dean suggested.

"Wow, Dean, that's pretty damn smart, actually," Sam said with a smile.

"Thank you," Dean beamed proudly.

"And, yeah, I guess. So we just have to find out if someone got struck by lightning during the explosion…"

"…and we have our speed freak," Dean finished his brother's sentence.

Sam turned back to his laptop to look through all the different databases and records. "Got it," he said after a couple of minutes. He was shocked his brother's theory proved to be right. Dean walked over to him and looked over his shoulder at the screen. "A Hayley Allen was struck by lightning and in a coma for nine months," Sam said and looked up to his brother, towering behind him. He looked angry. "You were right. It's her."

Dean instantly grabbed the duffle bag with the weapons and threw it on the bed. He pulled out his gun and loaded it before he tucked it into his jeans behind his back. "Great, let's go," he ordered Sam.

"Dean, would you wait? You can't just run in there with a gun. Are you crazy?" Sam argued.

Dean glared at him. "Why not?"

"First of all, she hasn't done anything wrong yet."

He rolled his eyes at that. She clearly had tried to get him drunk and plotted to kill him before he could put her lights out.

"And secondly, it's a police station, and you're wanted for murder in this state. Might wanna rethink your strategies."

Dean frowned at Sam and his little-know-it-all attitude.

"Fine. What do you suggest then, huh?"

"We go see her at the lab and talk to her. Ask her why she's doing this and what she knows," Sam explained calmly.

Dean grimaced but eventually complied.

Hayley stopped by S.T.A.R. Labs. She had brought the evidence from the new crime scene here instead of her lab at CCPD, as soon as she could confirm she was dealing with another meta-human. She pulled up the suspect's profile on the big screen in the cortex. Caitlin and Cisco took a step closer to look at the man.

"And he can really control the weather?" Cisco asked with a grin, looking back at Hayley. He sounded a little too excited over a meta-human that had just killed someone.

"Yeah, Clyde Mardon. The recent robberies, they all happened during freak meteorological events," she explained. "We thought he and his brother went down in a plane crash during the explosion. But Mardon must have gotten his powers the same way I did. From the storm cloud. He's still out there. We have to stop him before he hurts anyone else."

"All right, let's see if we can locate this guy," Cisco said eagerly, clapping his hands together once.

"Good. I have to head back to CCPD. Call me when you find him," Hayley said.

"Sure, boss. Will do!" Cisco assented while chewing on a piece of licorice. "And you're welcome, by the way!" he called after her sarcastically.

Hayley looked back at him and laughed.

It was long after midnight when she was still sitting in front of her computer. The only light source was her small desk lamp and the monitor.

Clyde Mardon had killed someone today, and she hadn't been there to stop it. She knew she wasn't responsible for what other meta-humans did. But she still felt like it was her responsibility to stop them from hurting other people.

Suddenly, she heard a gun clack – a very familiar sound by now and sighed. It was only a matter of time. But she was curious what finally gave it away.

"Boys, please, I've had a very long day and an even rougher night," she said, not even glancing at the two men standing in her doorway.

"Dean! Put the gun down. You promised."

She then looked up from her desk and watched them. They glared at each other. Should she be flattered that they were bickering over her now, apparently?

"No!" he insisted stubbornly. He pushed Sam to the side, who had been trying to take his gun away.

"Dean, just let her explain," Sam argued but was cut off again.

"What's there to explain, Sammy? She's a freak with powers!" he shouted angrily and regretted it as soon as he said it. He knew what his little brother would say next.

"Oh, so you wanna kill me now too, huh? Because guess what, Dean, I have powers too," Sam said defensively.

"Yeah, I agree with Sam," Hayley joined in, getting up from her chair. 

Dean glared at her. "No one's asking you!" he yelled.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I mistook this as a fair trial, with you putting me on death row and all," Hayley said sarcastically, narrowing her eyes at him.

"This is not how this works here, Speedy," he gnashed his teeth angrily.

"Oh, I forgot, I was talking to a murderer, who doesn't abide by any laws," Hayley snapped. She was fuming now too. How dare he? She saved so many people in the past few months. She had a right to do this as much as any hunter did. Moreover, half the stuff she did wasn't even illegal, unlike the brothers who broke the rules and bent the law frequently.

Sam looked helplessly back and forth between the two quarrelers. Dean still glared at her, not lowering his gun an inch.

"Fine," Hayley said suddenly. "I really didn't want to do this, but have it your way."

Dean didn't even really see or feel anything as lightning swished through the room. He had just blinked for a moment, but his hand felt suddenly empty. He looked at his outstretched arm and could see his gun had indeed disappeared. Then he heard his gun clacking from the other side of the room.

He frowned as he glanced back up at Hayley, who coolly stood in front of her desk. She took his gun apart piece by piece and threw it behind her. Sam chuckled, which earned him another glare from his brother.

"Fine, let's talk then," Dean muttered, throwing his hands up, defeated. Hayley grinned at him winningly.

"Why didn't you tell us that it was you we were looking for?" Sam asked her, stepping carefully a little bit closer. He didn't want to scare her. She seemed like a nice and normal girl, who probably was freaked out by his brother pointing a gun at her.

"Pretty obvious, isn't it?" She said and gestured to Dean, who still kept his eyes locked on her angrily."Your brother here is a little trigger happy."

Sam sighed and nodded understandingly. Dean rolled his eyes back, annoyed at their bonding. "So you really got struck by lightning during the explosion?" he asked her curiously.

"Yeah, uh, the particle accelerator explosion also created a storm cloud. I was working at my lab here when the lightning came through the roof." She took a step closer and looked up to a big skylight, remembering the night vividly.

She had worked another long day in the lab. She had stopped by the celebration at S.T.A.R. Labs with Iris. They listened to Dr. Harrison Wells' speech, the mastermind behind the particle accelerator, before she returned to her lab. She followed the turning on of the machine on the news from her little TV screen.

But it all went so fast. She heard a bang. She looked out of the window and saw a mushroom cloud rise above the entire city. A wave of energy blasted through every street and every building. A storm cloud formed immediately after. She tried to close the skylight's blinds when the lightning bolt struck through the glass and the electricity caught onto her.

The next thing she remembered was waking up nine months later at S.T.A.R. Labs, opening her eyes to Elton John's Rocket Man and staring into the baffled faces of Caitlin and Cisco.

And that's when her adventure really started.

"I also fell into the chemical rack over there," she gestured behind her. With the force of the lightning bolt and all these poisonous chemicals in her system, she really was lucky to be alive. "I was in a coma for nine months. My heartbeat kept stopping, and the doctors didn't know what to do with me. Until I got moved over to S.T.A.R. Labs. Turned out my heart never stopped. It was just too fast for any normal EKG to register it."

"S.T.A.R. Labs...so Caitlin and Cisco? They help you?" Dean cocked his brow, surprised. Did he just run into the Avengers? What the hell was going on?

"Yeah, they've been helping me catch other meta-humans."

Dean crossed his arms, puffing out his chest. "And how do you know our dad?"

She exhaled deeply before she replied, "A couple of months ago, there were a couple of vampires in Central City-."

"Vampires? I thought there was no such thing," Dean cut in again.

"Yeah, your dad thought they were extinct too, but he was pretty sure they were vampires," Hayley replied. Dean looked at her, somewhat pleased with her answer. "Anyway, one of them got a hold of Iris and took her back to their nest. I tried to get her back but almost got myself killed if it weren't for your dad."

"He saved you?" Dean asked doubtfully. "I'll buy the almost dying part, though."

She glared at him. "He only found out I had powers later. He contacted me a few weeks after that. Asked me if I could keep an eye on you two. So I said yes. Felt like I owed him one," Hayley said and glanced over to Dean.

His expression had cooled a little, and he didn't look like he wanted to bite her head off anymore. "For how long?"

"He never specified. He just told me to keep you safe. Nothing more," Hayley explained, and the brothers frowned. "Said he had to hunt the demon that killed your..." She stopped short before she finished her full sentence. She glanced briefly at Dean, who avoided looking at her, and stared down at his feet with pursed lips.

"Sounds like Dad," Sam mumbled. The boys shared a knowing look.

"Yeah, but why not tell us?" Dean asked, still in disbelief.

"I have absolutely no clue," she said. And it was a blatant lie. But she was way more scared of John than Dean. Besides, John's explanations had never made much sense to her, to begin with. "You'd have to ask your dad that question. This whole thing wasn't my idea. And for the record, I told him it was stupid multiple times." She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her chest. That was the truth.

"Yeah, I bet he took that really well," Sam chuckled, and Dean shot him a sharp look.

"What about Detective West and your sister? Do they know about you?" Dean questioned her. He was still looking for something to pin her down with. He just needed one good reason. And honestly, it didn't even have to be that good.

"Yes, they know, Dean. They're my family." She looked him straight into his eyes when she said those words. This time she was fast enough so he couldn't look away. She knew that word meant something to him.

Their staring contest got abruptly interrupted when Hayley's phone rang.

"Cisco?" she said, picking up.

"Hey, I just got a ping. Atmospheric pressure dropped 20 millibars in a matter of seconds. I've tracked it to a farm just west of the city," Cisco told her.

She walked back over to her computer and looked at the map in front of her. "I'm on my way, thanks," she hung up.

She looked up to the boys. "Okay, look, you've heard my story, and I think you can tell I'm a good person. I didn't choose this. I was normal. I went to school, I had friends, a family, I worked here, and that was it."

Sam looked at her sympathetically, while Dean stared obstinately at the floor tiles in front of him.

"So if you wanna kill me, then go ahead and kill me. But I have a city to save first, okay?" She gathered her things before she bolted for the door. The fact she didn't use her super-speed for that was just courtesy of hers.

"Okay, but we're coming with," Dean insisted resolutely.

She furrowed her brow. "No, you're not going anywhere. Mardon already killed someone today. No one else is dying on my watch tonight. You two stay here. I'll be back soon," she commanded them and whooshed out of the lab.

"I hate that," Dean groaned frustrated, referring to Hayley's powers.

"You know, she sounds a bit like you," Sam added with an amused chuckle.

"No, she doesn't. Shut up!" Dean stomped over to Hayley's computer and wrote down an address on a piece of paper. "Come on. Let's go catch us a meta-human, Sammy," he announced.

Sam couldn't believe it, but his brother almost sounded a little bit excited at the prospect of it.

The brothers arrived at an abandoned farmhouse a few miles outside of the city. They got out of the Impala, taking their guns out of the trunk and whatever else they could possibly need before they snuck quietly to the barn.

"Dean, you don't even know what this meta-human can do. How are you going to kill it?" Sam whispered.

"It's part human, Sam. That means I can just shoot it."

"Yeah, because that worked out so well with you and Hayley," Sam muffled.

"You wanna make friends with every monster now, huh, Sammy?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying…"

"Well, I don't really care. Let's just get this over with." And with that, Dean ended the conversation and slid carefully into the barn, Sam not far behind him. They found a decent hiding spot behind some hay bales and ducked behind them.

"Hands behind your head, Mardon. You're arrested." Hayley stood in the middle of the barn, face to face with a scrawny looking blonde man. She was fully suited up, wearing her mask that only covered her eyes. Her hair was up in a ponytail, and she had put the red lipstick on, which pretty much meant serious business.

"You got me," Mardon cackled. "The night of the storm, after S.T.A.R. Labs blew, after our plane went down, and I woke up on the ground alive, when I saw what I can do, I understood. I am God," he marveled.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Great, another douchebag with an ego," he muttered to Sam.

"Shut the hell up," Hayley reprimanded Mardon.

"Turn around," Mardon told her.

As she did, she could see Sam and Dean standing behind her, guns raised, but this time not for her, at least. She still frowned; she had told them to stay away.

"Do you think that your guns can stop God?"

"Why in the hell would God need to rob banks?" Dean challenged, earning him a sharp look from Hayley.

"You're right. I've been thinking too small," Mardon replied, a crooked smile crossing his face.

He raised his hands high above him. And with them, a giant storm cloud rose, slowly forming into what looked like a full blown tornado. It ripped through the roof of the barn with ease. Shrapnel and broken wood got flung around. The three of them looked at the monstrosity in horror.

"Hayley, this thing's getting closer. Wind speeds are 200 Miles-per-hour and increasing," she heard Cisco's voice through her earpiece.

She sighed relieved. She had missed Cisco's and Caitlin's voices in her head when she had been on missions with the boys the past weeks. It was surely nice to have your friends around.

"Hayley, can you hear me?"

"Yeah. Loud and clear."

"If it keeps up, this could become an F-5 tornado. But it's headed towards the city," Cisco explained.

"How do I stop it?"

There was no answer.

"Guys?" Hayley asked, a little panicked by now. If this thing hit the city, a lot of people would die.

"Can you unravel it somehow?"

She spun around and looked at Sam. She contemplated his idea.

"How the hell is she goin' to do that, Sam?" Dean asked his brother. There was just no way of stopping this thing now. He definitely couldn't shoot a tornado.

"I could run around it in the opposite direction, cut off its legs," Hayley said. Dean looked at her, baffled.

"Hayley, you'd have to clock 700 Miles-per-hour to do that," Cisco said in her ear.

"700 miles?" She panicked. That was a lot faster than usual.

"Your body may not be able to handle those speeds. You'll die," Caitlin told her worriedly.

"I have to try," Hayley said. There was just no other option. She could do it.

The tornado had torn the barn fully to shreds. She grabbed the brothers and sped them outside, hiding them behind their car from any flying debris that might come their way. They watched in shock as the tornado grew bigger and bigger. It was massive at this point.

Goodbye, Missouri, Dean thought. But Hayley didn't seem scared. And if so, she hid it quite well behind her mask.

She ran towards it and kept circling it, running faster than she had ever done before. However, it didn't seem to work. She could feel her body give in to the weight of it all. She felt tired, and her legs felt heavy. Her lungs felt like they would explode any second now.

She glanced over to the boys, who watched her with mouths wide open. She just had to make it. Millions of people depended on it.

She closed her eyes, and even though she thought it would be impossible to run even faster, she did. The electricity filled her system and coursed through her body, giving her the boost she needed. The wind started to become weaker. And suddenly there was a loud bang.

The tornado crumbled into itself, leaving Clyde Mardon at the center of it. He looked stunned that his masterplan hadn't worked.

"I didn't think there was anyone else like me," Mardon said. He pulled a gun from his pocket and pointed it at her.

Not this again, she frowned.

"I'm not like you. You're a murderer," Hayley told him.

He smiled at her and was ready to pull that trigger as she got ready to catch the bullet. Another bang echoed through the empty fields. A shot this time.

Mardon collapsed to the ground in front of her with a bullet wound in his heart. She turned around and looked baffled at Dean. He had actually saved her. Unnecessarily, but still. It counted.

"Douchebag," he muttered, shaking his head at Mardon. Hayley and Sam burst into laughter.

She accompanied the boys back to the Impala. They had finally made their judgment call, and she was granted a probation period – Dean's words, not hers.

"You know, usually we don't kill our meta-humans here, just lock 'em up," she lectured him with a teasing look on her face.

"Yeah, well, he was a killer. Which makes him a monster in my book. And we kill monsters," Dean argued.

"Fair enough," Hayley smiled at him.

"What, no snarky remark?" He looked at her surprised.

"Nope. Some people aren't as judgmental as you are, you know," she grinned at him.

And for the first time, he smiled back at her. And meant it too.

"So you still wanna kill me?"

"No, but, uh, keep up the bad jokes, and I still might," Dean joked.

"Does this mean you're going to let me help you?" She stood there with a soft smile, arms crossed, bobbing back and forth on her heels. She was eager to help them.

Dean furrowed his brows and closed the car trunk before he turned to her. He looked at her sternly. "No," he replied harshly. "Look, I appreciate what you did. But we don't need your help." He got into the driver's seat and started the engine.

"Dean!" Sam called out after his older brother, frustrated. He looked commiseratively to Hayley, shrugging with a sigh. "Thank you, Hayley. I'll call you when something's up." She nodded her head with a smile.

"Sam!" Dean yelled impatiently from the car.

Sam hopped into the Impala, and the Winchesters drove away into the distance again.

Please reblog, like, comment, send me an ask or dm & let’s chat! And let me know if you want to be tagged in this series :)

[stillthewordgirl]

LOT/CC fic: Memory & Maybe

Leonard continues to get acclimated to the Waverider and the team, three years after the Oculus. It's not easy. A direct sequel to "A Million Miles Away" and another prequel to "Me vs. You."

I decided I wanted to post this before Legends airs. It's not like I don't know it's an utter AU already, but I rather like this Charlie (whom I've sort of used before) and I'm holding on to her as long as I can. (Hey, they're dealing with magical creatures this season, right? It could happen!) 

For @larielromeniel, who wanted to see how Leonard would meet the newbies. And thank you for the beta!

Can also be read here at AO3.

Someone else—one of the women—is in his old room now. She—Zari—offers to move, but Leonard declines. The Waverider crew rooms are pretty much interchangeable. There’s no point in ousting her when he can just move into a spare.

He tries not to think about the times he and Sara had played cards on that bed. That’s stupid. Sentimental. It’s just a room.

We have to hide.

Don’t try to distract me.

The Brit in the trench coat mentions that he “wouldn’t say no to a roommate, mate”—wink, wink—but Leonard simply blinks at him, feeling far too at sea right now to flirt back or even respond to it. The man gives him a considering look, then nods thoughtfully and not without sympathy.

“Let’s have a pint later in the galley,” he says quietly. “Get acquainted.” He gives Leonard a smile that manages to be wry and understanding at the same time. “And for once, I mean that perfectly innocently.”

So now Leonard’s standing in an empty room, staring at the walls while Mick and Raymond retrieve his packed-up belongings. He’d asked about his gun, but Mick had sighed and Raymond had gone white and refused to speak, so he’s letting that go right now. He knows enough of the specs these days that he’s pretty sure he can just work with Gideon to recreate it. Maybe even make it better.

The rooms are different: the bed looks more comfortable (not that it would take much) and there’s more storage space. Raymond had said that Jax had been working to revamp them, and there’s another little pang. Leonard hopes the kid is OK and happy, wherever he is.

Three years.

Gideon had given him a clean bill of health. He was precisely as he had been when the Oculus exploded: same physical age, constructed left forearm and hand and all. Her supposition was that his position at the heart of the explosion had thrown him into the timestream so immediately that none of the more destructive energies had touched him, literally suspending him in time. No one, yet, had any idea why the temporal fluctuations surrounding him had only recently grown so rough that the Time Bureau had noticed them, but Leonard’s sure someone will have theories eventually.

He doesn’t really care. He has enough to deal with.

He hasn’t seen Sara since she’d headed off with the Time Bureau director, and maybe that’s just as well. He’s having enough trouble finding his feet and getting accustomed to things here…now…without dealing right then with the reality that they almost certainly won’t be able to go back to their old friendship, let alone anything more. He doesn’t go where he’s not wanted, not in this respect anyway, and…

There’s a noise behind him, and he turns to see the two new women on the team standing in the doorway, watching him. They don’t look as wary and upset as the other new guy had been, but they do look tentative. More than that, though, they look curious. Well, he can deal with that.

“Hey,” the one named Zari says, giving him a little wave. “How are you doing? Sorry again that I took your room.”

Leonard shrugs. “Well,” he drawls, stuffing his hands in his pockets, “it wasn’t like I was using it.”

“Still.” When he doesn’t complain about their proximity to his (new) space, Zari takes a step forward, edging into the room, the other woman following suit. “We, ah, asked Gideon to tell us who you are. More about who you are,” she adds. “She told us what the Oculus was and how you blew it up.” Her quick smile is definitely pleased. “Badass.”

She continues before he can respond to that, or really digest the thought that the remaining original team members mention him so rarely that these newcomers don’t even know who he is. “I really hate the idea of someone being able to pull my strings like that. And I don’t really like people who set themselves up as some sort of…moral authority.” A quirk smirk. “Ask Sara.”

Leonard lifts his eyebrows, a little surprised, but pleasantly.  “Yeah,” he manages. “Same here.” He glances at the other woman, who’s staring at him intently with what almost seems to be puzzlement in her gaze--like she’s not quite sure what to make of him. He lifts an eyebrow at her, making the request for introduction obvious, he thinks, and Zari elbows her, getting a glare in return before she looks back at him.

“I’m Charlie,” she says, and he’s never heard an introduction sound quite so defensive and angry before. But he understands anger, and he understands a healthy disrespect for authority, and he thinks maybe he could work with these two. Maybe they’ll get along just fine.

“Pleased to meet you, Charlie,” he tells her cordially, ignoring the anger. “And what…”

“Hey!” The man from before, the one who’d cautioned the others against him, stops in the doorway. He’s carrying a crate, and it appears he’s actually bringing some of Leonard’s packed-up belongings, but the look on his face is anything but friendly. “Zari…Charlie…I told you about…”

Zari rolls her eyes, shaking her head. “Not the boss of me…” she sing-songs, while Charlie gives the newcomer a look that’s so filled with irritation that Leonard wonders about the history there. Still, they both apparently decide it’s better to let Leonard get to the business of looking into his things, stepping back toward the door. Charlie just leaves, but Zari winks at Leonard first—a friendly wink, and a commiserating one, nothing more. But nothing less, either.

“Nice to meet you,” she says, ignoring the other man. “Anyone Mick and Ray trust so much is OK in my book.”

And then she leaves, as Leonard wonders that she didn’t mention Sara and the newcomer stands there, still staring at him.

He’s not in the mood to deal with criticism from someone he’s never even met. Leonard lifts his chin and despite his current state of uncertainty, gives the man his best Captain Cold glare.

It doesn’t help. In fact, the man’s frown grows a little more pronounced, his discomfort shifting into what might almost be anger.

“We fought you,” he blurts out then. “You were part of the Legion of Doom.”

Leonard blinks at him. “The Legion of what?” he manages.

The other man’s continued without pause. “The Legion,” he repeats. “The Reverse Flash, Malcolm Merlyn, Damien Darhk. And you.”

Leonard knows two of those names. The Reverse Flash was Ramon’s name for the first speedster enemy Allen had acquired. And Merlyn…

That was the man who’d killed Sara. Or as close as didn’t matter. She’d told him once, over cards. She’d acted like it didn’t matter, not anymore. But it did.

“I did not,” Leonard hisses back, his discomfort with the very idea coming out as anger, and a corner of him is almost glad to see the other man step back in the face of it. “I never worked with…with them.”

But the fellow is made of sterner stuff than expected, and there’s steel in those eyes as his chin goes up too.

“You killed Amaya. You froze her and shattered her,” he continues inexorably. “And you helped them rewrite reality. Thawne and Merlyn and Darhk…the man who killed Sara’s sister, for crying out loud!”

What?

“Sara’s sister is dead?” he says, staring. “When? What happened?”

The man is in no mood to give his perceived enemy any information, however. “You killed Mick too,” he says, staring back at Leonard. “Icicle through the heart. And…”

“The hell?” Mick himself had appeared, carrying a crate, Raymond following him with another. “Damn it, Pretty…”

“What?” both the new guy and Leonard ask in irritation, looking at Mick, then looking back at each other with even more ire.

Raymond coughs back a laugh, but Mick’s in no mood for humor. “That wasn’t him,” he says, staring at the man. “It wasn’t. Any way you spin it.”

“Nate,” Raymond butts in, putting his crate down and finally giving Leonard’s antagonist a name, “I have to restack some stuff in the cargo bay where we found these. Come give me a hand.”

Nate gives Raymond a look, but he still follows him, giving Leonard a glance that’s probably supposed to be threatening before he leaves. It’d almost be funny if Leonard wasn’t so disturbed by his words. He gives Mick his own look, and the bigger man sighs, putting his crate down.

“They said it was old you, from before the Flash, from long before the Legends,” he mutters, looking away. “They picked you up then, the Legion, told you that you were gonna die, and you worked with them.”

Leonard didn’t know what to say. “It was me?” he asks finally. “Really?” He’d killed Mick? Worked with the bastard who’d had Sara killed, the bastard who’d apparently killed her sister? No wonder she didn’t want to talk to him.

Mick shrugs, glancing away. “I dunno.” He glances back. “You don’t remember anything?”

Leonard been racking his memory. “No,” he says shortly. “Not at all.”

“Eh.” Mick looks down. “I sorta used this memory-wiping thing on you…him.”

Leonard digests that. “You can do that now?

“Yeah.” His friend glances up, a spark in his eyes. “But I still think that wasn’t really you,” he says firmly. “Maybe like a Dark Snart, someone from another Earth, like Leo.”

There’s that name again, a name that brings up unpleasant memories from his childhood, and his jaunt back to 1975. “Leo?”

Mick starts to speak, then stops. “I need beer for this,” he tells Leonard firmly. “And so do you. Trust me.”

Leonard considers, then acknowledges that with a tip of his head. “OK by me. Galley in the same place?”

“Yep.” But then Mick pauses again, and there’s something almost…soft…in his eyes, something that speaks of the feelings they’ve both staunchly denied having. Leonard will admit that as he gradually sorts through the variety of issues related to his three-year time skip, he is glad that Mick seems so…settled? More at peace. More at…home?

Well. At least there’s that.

“Glad you’re back, Snart,” though, is all Mick says.

“Me too, Mick. Me too.”

Raymond and the Brit in the trench coat—he introduces himself as John Constantine, and while that seems to be vaguely familiar, Leonard isn’t sure precisely how—join them in the galley, and there are beers acquired all ‘round. He takes a drink of his, reflecting that he hasn’t had anything to eat or drink, apparently, in three years, and looks at the others.

“So,” he says, “who’s Leo?”

Constantine makes a noise that’s thoroughly admiring—Leonard lifts an eyebrow, but otherwise ignores him—and takes a drink, winking at Leonard again. But he glances at Mick rather than replying himself, and the bigger man nods, as if steeling himself to speak.

“Well,” he says, after taking a long pull from his beer. “Nazis attacked Allen’s wedding. Nazis from another Earth. The you from that Earth goes by ‘Leo.’ ”

So many words today aren’t making sense. “Nazis?” Leonard asks blankly. “From another Earth?”

“Yeah.”

“Scarlet got married?” And he wasn’t there to crash it? Damn.

That gets a snort from Mick and a laugh from Raymond. “Eventually,” the scientist says, taking a sip of his own drink. “Leo’s cool. He’s…different. From, uh, you. He likes hugs and he likes talking it out. Playing counselor.”

Leonard stares at him, vaguely appalled. “No.”

“Yes,” Raymond responds happily.

Constantine sighs gustily. “A damn-fine-lookin’ man,” he says thoughtfully, putting his feet on the stool next to him. “But sadly, quite thoroughly taken.”

Leonard gives Mick a quizzical look. His friend shrugs. “Fella by the name Ray Terrill,” he says. “Ever heard of him?”

“Nope.” Leonard stared into his beer, wondering. This Leo seemed…rather more likeable than he’d ever considered himself. Or cared. But...

“Anyway, we beat them,” Raymond continued. “Leo and his Ray went back to Earth-X. They’re getting married! But he visits sometimes.” He gives Leonard a grin, then looks at Mick. “Oh! Tell him about the puppet.”

But Leonard holds up a hand. “No,” he commands. “Don’t tell me about the puppet. I don’t wanna know about the puppet.” And he doesn’t want to know more about the oh-so-charming Leo, who very definitely isn’t him. “Tell me about the other newbies.” He pauses. “And who’s Amaya?”

Constantine and Raymond exchange glances, but Mick’s eyes go distant. “She was parta the team,” he says quietly. “Went back home, though. To 1942.”

There’s more there. Leonard knows it with every fiber of his being. But this isn’t the time to pursue it. “Ah,” he manages, deciding to leave the question of this missing woman behind him. Especially since his doppelganger apparently killed her. Sort of. “The newbies?”

“Well,” Raymond cuts in, leaning forward, “it’s weird. Charlie looks just like Amaya! But she isn’t.” He takes a healthy gulp of his beer as Leonard stares at him and Constantine guffaws at his expression. “Well, that’s a long story. And it’s even weirder for Nate. But…”

But Leonard’s staring at Mick now, and the other man is shaking his head, something complicated in his own eyes. Again.

“Charlie only looks like Amaya,” he tells Leonard. “She found ‘Maya’s image in Gideon’s database and decided she liked it. She can change shape.”

Words continue to not make sense. Leonard tilts his head, waiting. “So,” he says after the silence stretches. “Who is she?”

Mick pauses…then grins. “She’s a dragon,” he says raptly.

No sense. At all. “A dragon.”

“Yeah.”

And Leonard knows that look. Oh, crap.

Leonard stares at him, then looks at Constantine and Raymond. The latter gives him a nod and a particularly goofy grin. Constantine just shakes his head.

“We’re dealing with magical creatures, mate,” he says, not without sympathy. “It gets weird. Make this lot explain to you how it started, ‘cause I’m not up to it right now.”

Leonard just plain doesn’t want to right now. He takes a bigger swig of his beer than usual. “And Zari?”

“She’s a hacker,” Raymond tells him. ”From the future. And she has this wind totem.” He snaps his fingers. “Oh! The totems. We need to explain the totems. And Beebo.”

“What the fuck is a Beebo?” Leonard does have a vague memory of some children’s toy, but he decides, abruptly, that he doesn’t want to ask. He just can’t deal with more weirdness. “Never mind. Seriously. Tell me later. Maybe much later.”

Raymond looks disappointed, but nods. “Well. Anyway. Good to have you back, Snart.” He gives Leonard a tentative grin. “Really. Hasn’t been the same.”

Leonard allows his shoulder to be patted, giving Mick a long-suffering look, and watches as the scientist wanders off. Constantine lets out a snicker, finishing his own beer, then rises.

“Well, I’m sure this isn’t going to easy for you, mate,” he tells Leonard seriously. “But welcome back to the land of the living. You need any fillin’ in on the magic stuff, let me know.” He smirks. “Over another drink, if you want.”

Leonard eyes him. “Got it.”

Constantine chuckles, tilts his head toward them, and saunters off, into the corridors of the Waverider. Leonard, bemused, watches him go. And decides not to ask. For now.

Instead, he just looks at Mick, who looks back.

“You gonna stay?” his friend asks abruptly. “On the ship? I mean. I know a lot’s changed.”

Leonard’s still feeling very at sea, but he has a very definite feeling that if he makes the wrong decision here, he’ll lose even more than he’s already lost.

“I can’t really see goin’ back to Central and picking up where I left off,” he says after a moment. “But I do want to go tell Lisa. Soon as I can.” He eyes Mick. “Still, I’m staying. For now.”

Mick nods, and Leonard doesn’t think he’s imaging the faintest look of relief on the other man’s face.

But then Mick presses it.

“Blondie…” he starts.

Leonard holds up a hand. “No, Mick.”

His friend gives him a rather combative look (which is very Mick) laced with concern (which isn’t). “You should…”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” The words come out harsher than he’d meant.

Mick regards them, then shrugs. “Fine,” he mutters, getting to his feet. “On you, then.”

Leonard watches him go, sitting there in the galley alone, nursing his beer.

He can do this, he decides, a little grimly. He’ll make this work. It won’t be the same, but he can go back to being Mick’s partner, Raymond’s…frenemy? Sure, that works. And he’s pretty sure he can work just fine with Zari, Charlie and Constantine. Nate will just have to deal.

But Sara…

His role here has always been snarky opposition to the captain. It’s a good role. He’ll miss Rip in that regard. Sara…Sara is undoubtedly a much better captain, but she’ll need that too. Someone to challenge her and provide counterpoint and back her up, sometimes.

And he can do that. And maybe…

He stifles the maybe.

The maybe is never going to happen.

[thelarryficrecplace]

Hi! Any fics about either Lou or Harry teaching the other about sex? So one is experienced and the other isn’t? Thanks!

Hello! Enjoy:

Bring Your Body Baby (I Could Bring You Fame) by theboyfriendstagram:

Summary: Eighteen year old Harry Styles just graduated high school and landed a summer job as a waterboy for his favorite football team. His job description is simple: be ready to hand water and towels to players if needed. That didn’t seem to include Louis Tomlinson though, a twenty-three year old, recently transferred Paris Saint-German player, who seems to like making Harry’s job much more difficult than it has to be.OR  A self-indulgent AU that takes place over the summer of 2015. 18 year old Harry hates pining after people he can’t have, and 23 year old footballer Louis loves flirting with people even though it never means anything.

Word count: 84,134

A Summer of Us by LouisandHarryandLove:

Summary: Louis couldn’t help that he was basically a bundle of nerves all the time. He had too many thoughts and too many worries, but too few friends to share them with.

So when Louis’ mom told him he could invite a friend to the beach house his family was renting for the summer, he couldn’t help but panic.

But this year was different. This year he knew exactly who he wanted to invite, if he could just get up the nerve to ask the pretty curly haired boy who had been so nice to him for the past four months.

Little does Louis know, he’s in for one of the best and most transformative summers of his life.

Word count: 47,809

Go Downtown To Taste The Sweetness by valiumcolouredsky (orphan_account):

Summary: basically just self indulgent fic of louis getting eaten out for the first time and then sucking harry off for the first time. v self indulgent bc i love rimming.

Word count: 14,414

You’ll Breathe Me In (You Won’t Release) by LoadedGunn:

Summary: His first driving lesson with Louis takes place on a Saturday.

Harry stumbles out through the front gate in thrown-on baggy jeans and his ratty Ramones shirt, sees Louis leaning casually against the car, and his knees nearly give out. Apparently “not another surly teacher” meant a drop dead gorgeous twenty-something scruffy guy with shaggy brown hair and cheekbones sharp enough to chop a salad with. Clearly, Robin’s trying to get Harry killed at seventeen.

Or, the AU where Louis is a 25-year-old driving instructor and Harry is a 17-year-old virgin who’s really awful at seduction, except for the time he gets Louis to fall for him and fuck him senseless and take him on kinky adventures.

Word count: 95,482

let’s talk about making love by istajmaal:

Summary: “That’s my name, baby, I’m Louis.” The voice on the phone inhales sharply, then says, “Gonna take my cock now, princess?”Harry lets out a high-pitched mhmm and shudders as he pulls his fingers out of his hole, groping for the vibrator. “Nice to meet you,” he says, feeling a bit dizzy with how hard his untouched cock is.Louis is just a simple phone sex line operator, but to Harry, he’s Daddy.

Word count: 25,004

Let’s Embrace The Point Of No Return by sweaterpawstyles:

Summary: Louis was a whole new scale of beautiful, he was richer than Harry could’ve ever imagined, and he was the most powerful, dominant alpha that Harry had ever come in contact with. The only problem now is that Louis is also Harry’s boss.

Louis believed Harry was an alpha, and had no idea about how he had lied about his status just to get an interview with Louis. He was in too deep now and he couldn’t look back.

Or Harry is an omega intern at an all alpha company. Louis is his boss. There’s some complications.

Word count: 33,980

Kiss me on the Mouth and Set me Free (but please don’t bite) by seducedbycurls:

Summary: Harry is the CEO of Flora Corp, Louis is his new secretary.“…Louis wanted him so badly. Wanted Harry to pick him up, bite him, and break him. Make Louis his, make Louis cry, make Louis a beautiful, plump, pregnant omega…”

Word count: 41,686

ain’t had none like you in a while by istajmaal:

Summary: It kind of sucks that instead of using time travel to go back and kill Hitler, Simon Cowell chooses to use it to get his clients to advise younger versions of themselves. Sixteen-year-old Harry’s not bitter, it’s just that his relationship with Louis was complicated enough before he saw him with hot dad hair.

Word count: 12,179 

once i figured it out (baby, it was easy) by istajmaal:

Summary: Louis kisses Harry’s temple and looks back at the older Louis and Harry. “What were we supposed to be talking about?”

“How Harry would really like you to tie him up and torture his nipples,” older-Louis says.

or, the orgy where louis teaches louis how to be harry’s daddy by demonstrating on harry. with the aid of a few props.

Word count: 17,643

The Sweet Escape by subhazza:

Summary: 16-year-old Harry Styles is Louis Tomlinsons next door neighbor. Harry is innocent, very innocent. Louis is the exact opposite. So, when Harry sneaks over and asks to spend the night Louis doesn’t know if he should agree..things go further than expected.

Word count: 6,281

[ccficwithapic]

Just In Case

Title: Just In Case

Author: @misscrazyfangirl321

Companion pic: Untitled @definitelytenrose

Theme: “And sometimes, against all odds, against all logic, we hope.” -Anonymous

Keywords: Aftershock, Grasp, Capsule, Blunt

Rating: G

Genre and warnings: General, Romance, Soulmate AU, No Warnings

Characters: Sara Lance, Leonard Snart, Lisa Snart, Mick Rory, Amaya Jiwe, Ray Palmer (mentioned)

Word count: 2502 words.

Notes: Two days late, but posted! Thank you so much for all of your patience, @ccficwithapic! Life has been a little much lately, but I finally managed to finish this! :)

***

He’s seventeen years old the first time it happens.

Fresh out of Juvie, no idea where his next meal is coming from, just trying to get home to see his sister, when all of the sudden, a sharp pain runs up his leg. An uncomfortable sensation bubbles up in his knee, as if something was crawling out of it.

He ducks into the nearest store, hands shaking, and rolls up his pant leg.

Rose buds.

Four of them, scattered across his knee, all a pale pink shade.

Cautiously, as though he expects them to vanish, he reaches out, brushing his finger over a single bud.

Impossible.

He doesn’t have a soulmate. If he did, the buds would have come up long before. Only injuries to children can cause them, and he’s far too old and damaged to have a toddler as a soulmate.

Still, they don’t go anywhere, and he’s too distracted by thoughts of Lisa to dwell on it for long. (He has to wonder about her poor soulmate. They must look like a flower garden, from all the tragedies Leonard couldn’t save her from.)

(Distantly, he wonders what his own soulmate looks like, but he forces the thought away. Time for that later.)

-

The buds fall off within a couple of days, but new ones keep blooming. His soulmate is a reckless child, it seems; his elbows and knees are forever dusted with pale pink buds. Still, there’s not a single orchid on him, so at least his soulmate is happy.

He’s glad someone is.

The flowers are as reassuring as they are worrying: They mean that somewhere out there, someone exists who won’t hurt Leonard. They also mean that somewhere out there, someone exists that Leonard can hurt.

He tries to grasp the first thought tightly, to hold it in his chest during the worst days. When his father’s shouts seem to echo through his mind, taunting him at every turn, he traces the latest blooms, reminding himself that it’ll all be over one day.

When he turns twenty-six, that hope turns bitter.

Lisa lives with him now, and things are so much better than they were, but he doesn’t exactly have a steady job. He tries, of course. The last thing he wants is to end up following in his father’s footsteps, but people aren’t eager to hire ex-cons, and he has to feed Lisa somehow.

Every time, he promises himself that it will be the last heist, and every time, he knows it’s a lie.

The reality of what he’s becoming wears heavy on him, and he knows he’s suffering for it. He’s constantly on edge, ready to snap at the slightest inconvenience, but he keeps that frustration aimed at his crew.

At least, until today.

Lisa’s going on about how hungry she is, and he hates it, wishes he could feed her, but the latest heist left him with nothing but a pinky ring to show for it, and her voice grates on him. Every word reminds him of how he’s failing her, and eventually, it all bubbles up.

“Enough!” He shouts, and Lisa goes stock still. Her face pales, expression going blank, and he thinks he’s going to be sick. He yelled at her. His beautiful, precious baby sister… He yelled at her. She’s scared of him.

Does she see their father when she looks at him? Because he knows that’s all he’ll see in the mirror tonight.

“Lisa…” His voice shakes, and he hates that, but it seems to get through to her. She blinks, and her posture relaxes a bit, though it’s nowhere near what it was.

“It’s fine,” she assures him, and his mother’s voice echoes in his mind, telling him not to get between her and his father. It’s fine, Leo.

No, it isn’t.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, and she takes a tentative step forward. Touch has never been something they share, not really, but her hand on his shoulder steadies him. She trusts him enough to let him close.

He’ll never break that trust again.

(As for his soulmate, he hopes he never meets them. If he can hurt Lisa, the one good thing in his life, then this young soul tied to his doesn’t stand a chance.)

-

This isn’t what he meant.

He stares at his reflection in disbelief, starting to reach for a bloom, but pausing halfway. This isn’t possible. This isn’t supposed to happen.

Of course, he isn’t naïve. More and more blooms have been covering him lately, and some aren’t roses. Orchids blooming behind his ear, a white carnation growing from his heart… His soulmate has been through it lately.

Still, it wasn’t supposed to turn into… This.

All the other blooms are gone now, fallen to the floor, replaced with three light purple flowers, centered around his chest. They’re deceptively beautiful, as if to hide the depth of their meaning.

His soulmate is dead. Shot, if he were to guess. Those blooms are fairly centralized around the heart. (Someone killed his soulmate, and an irrational part of him wants to track them down, to make them pay a price they’ll never forget, but he knows that isn’t possible. He can’t begin to know how to find them. So he clamps down the feelings, throws himself into the next heist, and tries to forget all about the deadly nightshade rooted deep inside him.)

(When they fall off a year later, he stares at them in awe and confusion. Has he darkened his soul so much that not even the dead deserve the punishment of him, or has the impossible somehow happened? He doesn’t know, but he keeps the flowers tucked away in his coat. Just in case.)

-

The Canary is his soulmate.

Sara Lance.

He wonders right from the start, when he sees the bright yellow flower poking out from behind her ear. (“A tansy,” the Ramon kid had told him once, struggling to keep a brave face. “It means my soulmate-your sister-was abused.” He could have killed him for the pity in his eyes, but he didn’t, and he thinks he deserves a prize for that.)

He wonders, but she unknowingly confirms it. “Actually, I was dead for a year.”

What are the odds, right? He’s never been a big believer in coincidences, and he highly doubts there’s anyone else out there with such a record. The dead don’t come back. Except, apparently, when they do.

The words are on the tip of his tongue a hundred times. In the car after the bar fight, when she holds the gun on Stein, and even when she asks about his feelings. (About Mick, but he can’t help but wish they were talking about his feelings for her, if only because they aren’t as complicated. He likes her, a lot. No muss, no fuss. No history of friendship and betrayal. Just soulmates.)

She isn’t a helpless child anymore, and he knows it, but he can’t stop seeing his sister’s hurt in his mind’s eye, can’t stop thinking he’ll let Sara down the same way. So he bites his tongue, and never acknowledges the obvious.

Sometimes, he wonders if she knows, but not enough to open the can of worms asking would require.

Still, when she shares a secret grin with him after a successful prank on Ray, or pats his leg in mock comfort after he loses a game of gin, he has to wonder if there’s something to this whole soulmate thing.

-

Of course it blows up in his face.

Of course it does.

Isn’t this how he’s always known this would end?

Her eyes water, not with hurt, but with anger, staring back defiantly past his gun. The gun he’s holding on her, the gun he can’t seem to lower, even as he instinctively steps back from her. A bloom pokes up from the neckline of her shirt, dark and solid.

Anemone.

Loss of hope.

He knows he’s staring, and of course she notices, so she follows his gaze down. Her lips press together in a firm line, eyes flashing in warning.

“My eyes are up here,” she bites out, and Gideon interrupts before he can think of a response.

What is he supposed to say, anyway?

-

He makes one stop before coming to her room, slipping something into his pocket. This is long overdue, and he knows it. Hopefully it isn’t too late.

She barely even acknowledges him when he walks in, and he can’t exactly blame her. No matter. He’s a master at pretending everything is normal.

“I was going to apologize for pulling a gun on you, but apparently, I was just following a script.”

She raises an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Doesn’t make you any less of a jerk.”

Not even a glance accompanies her blunt words, and he grimaces. Of course she isn’t going to make this easy. Why should she?

“Guilty.”

Finally, she looks at him, expression unreadable.

If he wasn’t so sure of how this is all going to end, he would leave, would give her time to process, to forgive him in her own time. (Or not, if that’s what she chose. He wouldn’t blame her for that, either.)

But he feels Alexa in his bones, and there’s no going back now.

“A bunch of idiots with a machine were never my idea of destiny.”

She considers his words, sitting up and meeting his eyes. “Never took you as a fan of fate.”

Fair. Shrugging, he takes a step toward her, and when she doesn’t recoil, another.

“I’m not, normally. But every rule has an exception, and all that.”

A smirk tugs at her lips, and he swallows a sigh of relief. Amusement dances in her eyes as she asks, “And what’s yours?”

Here it is.

“Soulmates.” Her eyebrows fly up, and he deliberately looks away, reaching into his pocket and drawing something out.

He’s looked at this bloom a hundred times, and he knows every inch of it by heart. Still, he twirls it in his fingers, giving it time to sink in. She isn’t breathing when he meets her eyes again, just staring at the flower in disbelief.

“It’s been almost two years since this bloomed, and almost a year since it fell off.” He drags out each word, studying her carefully.

“So?” Her voice is eerily calm, as if they’re just discussing the weather.

“So…” This isn’t exactly his area of expertise. His father taught him long ago what heartfelt words were worth, but he knows Sara deserves every single one, so he tries. “I guess… Being on this ship, travelling through time… I’ve started to wonder what the future might hold for me. And you.” He holds out the flower as he finishes. “And me and you.”

She plucks the flower from his hand, rolling her eyes. Her brush-off doesn’t honestly feel like much of one-he is a master thief, after all-and he knows she just wants a little more time.

Time he’s sure they don’t have.

Still, she takes the flower, and that’s enough for him.

-

The Oculus is supposed to be the end. He’s supposed to go out a hero, his soulmate’s kiss still burned on his lips, and fade into the forgotten pages of history.

He isn’t supposed to wake up on the floor of the Waverider, aching all over, but so painfully alive that he doesn’t mind.

“Snart?” A familiar voice, maybe Jax, rings out above his head, and he blinks, trying to focus his vision. “What the-“

“Don’t move.” There’s a knife to his throat, and for half a second, he relaxes, a smile tugging at his lips. It may be strange, equating a knife with safety, but he and Sara have never been exactly normal. Except… That isn’t Sara’s voice, he realizes belatedly, as the knife presses closer to his skin. A woman’s, certainly, but not Sara’s.

“Not moving,” he answers easily, gaze darting around the room. Ray stands next to a strange man, grinning wildly. (The stranger, Len can’t help but notice, looks anything but pleased.) Mick is unnervingly expressionless as he stares, in a way he’s never been. He’s learned control, it seems, and looks better off for it.

Pride wells up in Leonard, but it’s tempered by the knife at his neck, and the lack of Sara around him.

“Mick, a little help here?” The arsonist glances at the others, looking for something. Len isn’t sure what.

“We see him too, Mick,” the voice from behind him assures, unspeakably softer now.

See him too? Why wouldn’t they? Unless…

“How long have I been gone?”

Silence and uneasy stares meet his question, and impatience bubbles up inside him. “How long?”

“Two years.”

Her voice is clear and firm, and everyone goes silent. He tilts his head at far to the side as he dares, barely catching a glimpse of her, but it’s enough.

“Sara…”

She ignores him, addressing the ceiling. “Gideon?”

The others stare at her like she’s grown a third head, and he can’t for the life of him figure out why. The AI’s voice cuts in, and he focuses on that. “This is the Leonard Snart we lost at the Oculus,” she confirms.

“How is he alive?” Someone-Ray?-asks. It doesn’t matter. Leonard is done listening.

“I don’t know,” Gideon admits finally, and Len suspects she doesn’t like that, but he has his own concerns.

“Want to let me go now?”

The knife falls away, and a dark hand reaches out to pull him up. “I’m sorry,” the unfamiliar woman says, but there’s no regret in her eyes. Only curiosity, and a bit of distrust.

He likes her.

-

It’s a wild day, full of questions without answers, hugs Leonard can’t escape, (though he doesn’t try as hard as he once would have,) and impossible stories.

The Dominators.

The Legion of Doom.

Dinosaurs.

He’s missed a lot.

It’s late when he finally manages to get away, and he considers going to lay down, but without even consciously making the decision, he finds himself in front of Sara’s door instead.

She left it open, and she’s sprawled across her bed in an all-too-familiar pose. For him, it’s only been hours since their last conversation here. For her, it’s been years.

His brain hurts a bit at the thought of it.

The room is much the same, but over in the corner, there’s a pile of nightshade. Dozens and dozens of blooms, so bright and fresh they must have just fallen off.

In her hand, there’s another. More pale, more worn, and impossibly familiar. Every word he plans to say falls away, replaced by a soft, ‘You kept it?”

After everything he did. After all the times he hurt her, whether he meant to or not.

She grins, rolling on her side to face him, and he takes a tentative step toward her, hope pounding at his chest for the first time in longer than he cares to admit.

“Just in case.”

[stillthewordgirl]

LOT/CC fic: Central City Rendezvous, ch. 12 (of 15)

Rip Hunter never came for the Legends. But maybe some meetings are meant to be. (A CaptainCanary AU.)

This one takes place just before and partly into the Flash episode "Invincible." I think I might have tweaked the timing a bit but, hey, it's an AU. :)

Many thanks to @larielromeniel for the beta! This is now 15 chapters, but that's final... and they're well on their way to being done.

Can also be read here at AO3 and here at FF.net.

Later, they'll call it the "meta-pocalyse."

It starts as… Tuesday.

Leonard hears the first explosion faintly, muffled by what turns out to be some distance and the curtain of Sara's hair, which has fallen over his face as she's wrapped herself around him, there in the king bed in the safe house. He sighs into her neck as she mutters, then brushes her hair away and rolls over, listening.

Boom. Boom.

OK, not his imagination. He sits up, catching Sara's hand (not without regret) as it slides down his chest.

"Trouble," he tells her as he swings his legs over the side of the bed. "Maybe not our kind of trouble, but... hear that?"

"Mmhmm." Sara rises, stretching, and damn, is that a sight he’d like to wake up to every day. But it’s neither the time nor place for thoughts like that, and he rips his away with regret, turning to look for his cold gun and parka.

They emerge, dressed and armed, only minutes later. Sara's sorting through the comm units left discarded on the desk when a door bangs open at the other end of the safe house and Mick comes stalking out, also ready to fight with his gun right at hand. Leonard sighs, but turns to face him.

“Maybe you should stay here.”

“Like hell.” Mick sounds pissed. “I wanna know what the hell’s going on, Snart.”

“Frankly, Mick, I haven’t the faintest fuckin’ idea!” But he does. He does have a pretty good idea. He pays attention, after all.

And a moment later, Sara confirms it.

"Metas," she says tersely, listening in on a comm. "All over the city. No sign of Zoom, but Wells says he's doubtless behind it. CIsco says Barry's doing his best and the CCPD is out in force, but..."

"They could use help." He can't help a sigh. "What about..."

"FIrestorm, Hawkgirl... don't look at me, that's a Cisco Ramon special... and the Atom are heading out too."  The corner of her mouth lifts. "But Barry says they'd probably do better with some sort of coordination..."

"Peachy." He sighs again. "Well, then... let's go."

The rundown Central City neighborhood where the safe house is located hasn’t drawn any trouble yet, but they don’t make it very far toward city center when trouble finds them. A snarling figure that screams “werewolf” more than anything else bounds toward them, murder in its eyes, and Leonard takes aim, motioning both Sara and Mick back… only to have a red-and-gold blur zip between him and creature, which vanishes as the Flash sweeps it off to parts unknown.

A few seconds later, Barry Allen is back, pausing for a moment with hands on his knees, looking like a man who already needs a break. His eyes are wide and a trifle shell-shocked, and Leonard can’t restrain a twinge of sympathy for the kid.

(In another place, another time, Barry Allen might be a little more cocky about dealing with hundreds of rampaging metas. In a world where Leonard Snart is around to take him down a peg or two… well, he’s just not.)

“Hey,” the speedster finally breathes out, “I’m glad to see you guys. Could use some help.”

“How bad?” Sara comes up beside them, her voice terse. Barry just shakes his head.

“Bad,” he says. “I’m trying, but... the cops aren’t prepared… and I can’t be everywhere at once…”

Sara holds out a hand. “We’ll help,” she says firmly. “We might not be metas, but we’ve dealt with some strange shit.” She glances at Leonard, who doesn’t even try to deny that he’s in, not at this point, although he does throw an eyeroll in for plausible deniability. “But… Zoom…”

“He’s not actually here, as far as we can tell.” Barry glances over his shoulder at a ruckus nearby. “They’re… unorganized. It’s just, just carnage, not any kind of orchestrated assault. Not yet.”

“Then all the better if we get organized,” Leonard observes drily. “Where’re big bird, fire guy and the incredible shrinking schmuck?”

Barry gives him a look that isn’t sure if it wants to be wounded, appalled or amused. “Heading for S.T.A.R. Labs, last I knew. Cisco was going to give them comms.” He taps his. “Cisco? You hear that?”

Sara gives Leonard a pointed look, which earns another eyeroll as he pops his own comm into his ear, just in time to hear Cisco Ramon confirming that, yes, the three had checked in and headed for city center. Sara nods and murmurs an acknowledgment and shoulders her bo, but before they can move, Barry takes another deep breath.

I… I mean, I’m trying to take all the metas I can back to S.T.A.R. Labs to be locked up, but I can’t get everyone,” he rushes to get out. “But this… it’s not normal, such as it is, even for dealing with metas. These people are all working for Zoom, we can’t… I mean, they won’t hesitate… this is…”

Leonard takes pity on him.

“It’s war,” he finishes. “Don’t worry, kid. We won’t kill anyone we don’t have to, but we won’t shy away either. You know the… the three of us… can do what needs to be done.”

Mick, who up to this point has spent more time investigating the security cameras on a nearby jewelry shop (whose glass windows have cracked but not yet shattered), grunts from behind him. But despite Barry’s startled look, he doesn’t say anything more, just falls into step with Leonard and Sara as they start into the war zone.

It doesn’t take Leonard long to realize he might have made a tactical error.

But at first, the confusion is simply so bad that it’s easy to disregard. He uses the cold gun to freeze the pavement under what resembles nothing so much as an actual screaming banshee, whose cry turns into a strangled gurgle as it loses its footing and slides into a Sara Lance on the rampage. Spinning, he takes out an indistinct figure crackling with electricity, then takes a few steps to ice the feet of a… human-sized turtle? Really?... that’s threatening a young cop whose hands are actually shaking as she aims her gun at it.

With a moment to breathe, he does so, looking for Sara and seeing her leaning on her bo and watching him in return. The corners of her mouth lift as she sees him and, after a moment, he lets an answering smile cross his own face, knowing, in that instant, exactly what she’s thinking.

Imagine what we can do with all this adrenaline later…

But that’s later and this is now, and standing there daydreaming is bound to get them into trouble. He turns to check on Mick, whom he’d seen holding off what seemed to be a man made of wood a few minutes ago.

It only takes one good look around for him to regret not knocking Mick out back at the safe house.

Because the city is burning.

Oh, not in its entirety. Not yet. But there are patches here and there, and they’re growing by the minute, even as the sound of sirens grows in unison. The flames from the city are reflected in Mick Rory's eyes, and there's a sort of manic glee there, too. Leonard's seen that look before.

It doesn't mean anything good.

"This is beautiful," Mick whispers, leaning his gun against his shoulder.

"Mick..."

"Snart. Why are we fighting this?” He turns, taking in the chaos with a rapt expression. “Think of the potential. No one would be paying attention to a pair of the baddest thieves out there. We could be kings."

“Maybe for a bit. And then, when the dust settles, you’d wind up working for Zoom. Or dead.” He keeps his tone flat. Factual. “You don’t take orders well.”

Mick frowns and, almost casually, brings his gun down to firing position. Leonard sees Sara take a step toward them, then stop. He keeps his eyes on Mick, though, and she seems to sense they need to hash this out themselves.

Mick is looking at him again, his expression unreadable. “I take the orders I like.”

Leonard snorts. “Don’t I know it. So…what? You figure he’ll just keep telling you to steal and burn and cause mayhem? Because I don’t think so. He wants to rule, after all, and I can’t imagine it’s much fun to rule a wasteland.” He takes a step closer, watching the other man. “And if you don't work for him, if you just accept his boot on your neck…”

It’s Mick’s turn to snort, now, and Len accepts the unlikelihood of that with a tip of his head.

“And if you leave the city,” he points out, “eventually they'll be nowhere left to run. And you’re back to square one.”

He can tell Mick’s listening… if he wasn’t, he’d have already flown off the handle and Leonard would be fighting his friend in addition to dozens of random metas. (A turtle? Really?)

“Come on,” Leonard says, turning the persuasion a little higher. “You hate taking orders and you like busting heads. Help us do the latter and you won’t have to do the former.”

That gets a grunt and a grudging head tip of its own, but the look on Mick’s face is almost… betrayed?

“What happened to you?” the bigger man says finally, sounding a bit bewildered. “Since when have you wanted to save the world?”

The answer bubbles up unbidden.

Since I knew it contained Sara Lance.

But it’s not just that, and he’s simply not up for more introspection right now. In self-defense, he simply snaps back his next words. “Tell me anything I said isn’t true!”

It’s a misstep. Mick’s eyes harden… and the next few minutes could have gone very differently if the universe hadn’t, apparently, decided that they’ve all had enough of a “break.” A howl makes them all start and turn to the sky, heat gun and cold gun pointed toward the figure trailing green fire that’s hurtling toward them….

…only to be smashed out of the air by a figure wreathed in red-gold fire, as Firestorm makes an appearance at last. And with him, Kendra Saunders and Ray Palmer, who alight near the trio as a fresh wave of chaos erupts.

“I mean, I lived in Star City. But this,” says Palmer, staring at the oncoming rush of metas, “is nuts.”

“Standing around talking? Really?” “Hawkgirl” asks with an air of amusement, looking at them. “And here Barry was saying you’d be helping us.”

Leonard doesn’t dignify that with a response. “Incoming, people,” he says shortly, readying his gun and giving Mick one more long look. But the blow-up has apparently passed for now, and his old friend shrugs, moving his own gun from one hand to another before stepping up to his right side.

Sara steps to Leonard’s other side, meeting his eyes briefly before looking at Kendra and Ray. (Firestorm still tussling with the unknown meta in the wreckage of a minivan the next block over.) “If you provide some air cover, we’ll take the ground,” she says. “Just knock ‘em down here if you can.”

Kendra nods, then, readying what seems to be a… mace? … launches herself into the air again, arrowing toward another winged figure that screams in rage. Ray gives them another look, but hesitates for a moment to aim his suit’s weapons at one of the 6-foot-tall insect-like things that are scrabbling toward the group.

Mick steps up to fire his gun at the other, grinning when its exoskeleton proves to be quite flammable. "Hey, Haircut! You still payin' me?"

"Uh. Watch out! Sure? Same rate?" Ray pauses before shooting a dark shape that’s about to launch itself at Mick’s back.

"Dunno. Might need hazard pay."

Sara and Leonard have fallen into the same easy rhythm in which they’ve gotten used to working over the past few weeks, and although he knows the situation is dire, he can't help grinning as they do so.

They just move so well together.

And then the time for thinking about such things is over, and all they can do is survive.

Eventually, they lose track of how long they’ve been fighting. Hours? Days? Weeks? Gradually, the group straggles back to S.T.A.R. Labs for a break and a meal, but Sara can't persuade Leonard to do so until he nearly rolls his ankle again despite the brace, at which point he acquiesces.

They’re both stunned to see Caitlin Snow back from Zoom’s clutches, and Sara, beaming, throws her arms around her friend. Leonard, watching, can’t help but see the way the other woman flinches, and his jaw tightens.

Another reason, he thinks, that this Zoom needs to go down.

They trade a situation report with an exhausted-looking Barry and Cisco, then scarf down a sandwich each (Sara later can't even remember what kind) and a quantity of coffee, followed by a cat nap sprawled together in the same bed Leonard had been stuck in when he’d first woken up at S.T.A.R. Labs.

There’s a strong temptation to burn off nervous energy when they awake, but given the cameras both know are scattered throughout the facility, they abstain. They settle for a quick wash and a weapons inventory before heading down the corridor to the elevator to the Cortex.

But before they can make it there, the elevator rumbles, just a little, and the doors open... and they’re met, not by Barry Allen or one of the rest of “their” little team, but by Harrison Wells.

The older man stops in his tracks and studies them for a long moment, then sighs. "We need to talk."

Leonard lifts an eyebrow and looks past him to the elevator. "So, talk. We got places to be."

"No... really." Wells sighs again. "And it might be better if you sit down."

How do you respond to that? They grudging allow themselves to be herded back to the medical room, although both stubbornly refuse to sit, Leonard parking a hip against the bedframe and Sara leaning next to him, tossing a knife from hand to hand in a judicious show of annoyance.

Wells seems unfazed by the weaponry, but he's definitely uneasy in general. He looks about the room another moment or two before meeting their eyes.

"Before you go back out there... and I'm not going to try to stop you... there's something... a few things, really... you should know. I've told you, through Barry anyway, that Zoom would love to get his hands on you..." He nods at Leonard. "… and I’ve told you why, to some extent. But…”

His eyes flick to Sara, who frowns.

“Spill it,” she says in a low, dangerous voice, tucking the knife away. “And don’t think I… we… haven’t noticed you've left a lot out. But you’re right. Now… now it might really be a problem. We need to know.”

Wells but nods in agreement. He glances away again, then back at them.

“Look,” he says. “I didn't want to tell you this, but... the two of you.” He motions from Leonard to Sara, back. “Well. Your counterparts. They were together. In Earth-2.”

She hears Leonard’s slight intake of breath, but doesn’t look at him. She can’t. Not yet.

"Like... Barry and Iris."

"Very like.” Wells’ gaze is steady, and not without compassion. “There are people who simply seem to find each other in all the worlds we know. I can't say you're two of them. But... I can't say you're not."

He shrugs. "It was one thing, however unnerving, to see Sara here. But when she returned with you, that night... I've learned to pay attention to those patterns. Told Barry he should keep you together, if he could, and help you out." The look in his eyes is distant. "You were each other's balance, on my Earth. I thought it might be the same, here."

All three of them are quiet a long moment before Leonard, ripping his gaze away from Sara, looks back at Wells.

“So, I’m the mayor there. Or my counterpart is.” His voice is quiet. “And Sara? And I did notice you said ‘were.’ ”

Wells sighs, shaking his head, and studies the ground a moment before setting his jaw and lifting his eyes.

"She died. Not long before I came here. She wasn't a fighter, there, at least not anywhere on the same level that you're at," he nods to Sara, "and... she... she was killed.

"And Leo... you don't go by that at all here, do you?" he asks Leonard, who gives a brief, jerky shake of his head. "Well, her death didn't break him, it... galvanized him. Made it so he would never, ever bow to Zoom, not in any time, not in any circumstance.

"And if Zoom gets you..." He points at Leonard. "… he'll try to make you pose as Leo to wipe out the remaining resistance. And if he gets you..." He points at Sara. "... he'll use you to tempt Leo. It would be hard... beyond hard... for him to stand back and let you die, even if he knows you're really not his wife. It all happened so fast before... to see you again..."

He lets his voice trail off. "Well. Better he not get his hands on you, either of you, to begin with."

Sara takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "If Zoom's so willing to use me as leverage... why did he kill... I mean, Earth-2's Sara..."

Wells leaps to the correct conclusion. "Oh, he's not the one who killed her. He'd have much preferred to use her. I'm pretty sure that was the plan.  

"Your counterpart's death... it was a mistake, made by a person who's still working for Zoom. She'd be dead now herself if she weren't so valuable to him, and she's going to have something to prove. And she's really why I'm telling you this now."

He takes another deep breath and looks directly at Sara, and she somehow knows what's coming, has suspected some part of it all along.

"It's the Earth-2 version of your sister. And she's already here."