*Heyo! I'm alive, surprise! It's been probably like six years but I'm back. :) Thanks for all of the support and suggestions on this book! It means a lot! <3 ok without further ado... this silly little prompt was requested by UnicornBritt21

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Barry speeds into the Star Labs cortex, fully suited up. Lightning trails behind him as worry builds in his chest.

The lights are off and the room is empty. He wasn't sure what to expect but nothing is happening. Not even a chair is out of place.

      He turns on his phone to check his messages. Three ten am in bold white numbers covers the cityscape screensaver of Central City Barry took as if he was a tourist.

His most recent message is from Caitlin-as it was three minutes ago. Come to Star Labs asap. It was a terrifying buzz to wake up to. There's no context.

Now he's here asap for what he's assuming is no reason. It isn't any sort of special day. There's not a surprise waiting for him.

Barry sprints through all of Star Labs, searching for any sign of life. He peeks his head in each room, even the hidden one in the wall. The entire building is vacant of people and danger.

He stands in his original spot in the center of the cortex, accepting the fact that he's going to look like an idiot running around the property in the middle of the night if someone checks the cameras. But there still has to be a reason Caitlin sent that text.

Barry goes over to Caitlin's computer and sits down in her chair. The screen is dark-as it should be this time of night. His arm moves towards the mouse with a goal of using the swivel technique to turn it on. A cold metal cuff latches around his wrist as a slight draining sensation washes over his body. He turns his attention to his arm. Black recognizable handcuffs with a silver lock. The other side latched through desk grommet to outside of the furniture.

      A yellow sticky note is stuck to the side of cuffs with Don't touch my stuff :) written in Caitlin's neat handwriting. He furrows his brows. She rigged the cuffs somehow to latch on their own. There aren't many people who come in and out of Star Labs. Everyone is trustworthy-at least for the most part. There is no reason to lock up a computer. Unless she is hiding something.

      Barry powers on the computer with his other hand, accepting the fact that if she's going the lengths to handcuff people for touching her mouse, she probably powered off her things before leaving for the night. He knows her password for emergencies. All of the computers in the building have the same username and password. She can't change it. This computer is only her work computer-obviously considering the monitor lives in Star Labs.

      He attempts to slide the mouse to click the rectangle white username key in on the Lock Screen. Metal jams into his skin upon each movement, tightening the ring to the bone of his wrist. The small arrow reaches just below. By the positioning of its reach, it seems it is purposely designed to appear possible just to waste your time. The password can be reached but it's useless without typing in a username.

      Whatever Caitlin is hiding has to be good.

      Barry reluctantly turns off her computer. The screen goes dark once again, leaving him to sit with his own shame of trying to snoop through other peoples things. His eyes adjust to the lightless Star Labs once again. The only thing aluminating the room is the brightness from the city shining in through the windows.

      He glances down at his arm. It is now uncomfortably tight on his wrist. Staying here all night is no longer an option. There has to be a key somewhere.

      The desk door slides open, jamming into Barry's stomach from the sheer amount of force into the poor handle. He purses his lips from the hit. Not that it is particularly painful, it is just strange to get hurt by such a mundane thing. He doesn't even think about how something like a desk could hit him. Everything is normally so slow. These kinds of things don't take up any mental space in his mind.

      He rummages through her things in search of a way to unlock himself. His eyes scan over each item quickly, trying not to look at what she has in there for the sake of privacy-which for obvious reasons doesn't work all too well. It feels like he is intruding and violating her space. A desk drawer is more intimate than a work computer in his opinion.

      All he can find is more sticky notes, a pack of mint gum, and a picture of her dead lover. Nothing of any use for this situation and definitely a violation of her desk.

      A deep sigh releases from his lips as he goes through his contact list to pick out the few people who could possibly fix this problem. Caitlin Snow appears at the top of the screen with a circular off guard picture of her that Barry took upon first getting her contact information so he wouldn't forget who she was.

      The phone rings, and rings, and rings again. There is no answer. Barry presses the red hang up button and calls Cisco.

He picks up almost immediately.

      "Hello?" Cisco groggily responds to getting the call.

      "Hey! Thank goodness. Ok so I am in Star Labs and I have somehow managed to Meta-Cuff myself to the table. How do I get out of it? I need your help. There aren't any keys."

   "Just phase through it," Cisco says, not actually processing what Barry is saying in the slightest. The call disconnects from Ciscos end. Their conversation is a bust.

There is one last person he can think of.

      Barry pulls up Irises contact information and presses the call button. It rings, and rings, and rings just like it did with Caitlin. He can't blame her for not picking up. It makes sense for her to still be asleep at three thirty in the morning. Before she went to bed, Barry was at her side, so why would she have any reason to keep her ringer on?

      He ends the call to stop the nonsensical ringing and sets the phone down. The only thing left for him to do is to try and fall asleep.

     Barry's body slides off the desk as his eyes open from his deep sleep. He sticks his free hand out to try and grab something but quickly realizes that he's going to break his wrist. His right foot plants into the floor so he can land standing up. All of his weight to one side causes him to loose balance. He reaches his free arm out again in sporadic desperation. Things fly off the desk. Pens and papers flutter through the air as he slams into the ground.

      A small laugh escapes him. This could have been much worse. It all happened so fast. The situation is rather funny to him. Leave it to The Flash to get handcuffed to a desk in the middle of the night.

      He reaches back behind him to stand up. His hand knocks a large metal paperweight, causing it to fall off the desk onto his right knee with enough force to shatter the bone.

      Barry closes his eyes upon impact and wraps his arm under the crease of his knee. Pain sears through his leg in every direction to the point where it almost is going numb. His natural instinct is to be quiet and hide the pain, so that's what he does. Though this isn't the first time he's experienced this. The type of pain makes it rather obvious. He definitely broke his knee.

      He looks up and around, trying to figure out if he can make any desperate attempts to get out of this situation. His phone is on the diagonal corner from where he is on the desk and the mouse to the computer is still not able to type in the username. Any sort of technology-useless or not-is out of reach.

      The sun begins to rise. Oranges and dark yellows filling the sky through the windows. It is a beautiful time of day. Almost seven am. Which meant someone should be coming at the latest within the next hour and a half.

Barry thinks to himself about a plan, weighing the options of what to do. There are three choices and all of them aren't great. Sleep where he is, try again for the third time to get out of his mess, or somehow get himself back into the chair and sleep how he originally was. Obviously number one is the safest option. Plus it is not a good idea to try and attempt standing till the cuffs are off.

Barry falls asleep, leaning his head against the leg of the desk. He wakes up periodically from moving his leg while unconscious.

Caitlin walks into the cortex an hour late to get ahead on work before everyone shows up at nine am. She freezes upon seeing Barry suited up, unconscious, and meta cuffed to her desk. Something big happened here tonight.

When she woke up this morning she did think it was strange that Barry called her at three am but she didn't think it was anything like this. Barry is a little silly sometimes.

She nudges his shoulder with apprehension. There can be someone lurking in the shadows this very minuet. Many questions are bouncing around in her head. She doesn't know of anyone who could defeat Barry like this. The way for The Flash to beat everyone is basically for him to run faster and Barry is very good at that.

"Why did you send me a text at three am saying come to Star Labs asap?" Barry asks immediately after opening his eyes. He winces as he moves his arm under his knee once again.  The pain is striking, like a bunch of tiny needles digging their way in.

"I must have sent that text in my sleep. Sometimes I ask Siri to send things... Why are you wincing? What happened?" Caitlin comments, rather bewildered by Barry showing an immense amount of emotion on the floor. It seems like nothing happened.

"You texted me so I ran here. The place was vacant so I was going to check your computer to see if there was a reason you emailed me, then I fell... I think I broke my knee. Can you take these things off of me?" Barry moves his locked arm to draw attention to it.

Caitlin grabs the key out of one of Ciscos drawers and unlocks the the meta cuffs. A rush runs through Barry as he pulls them off.

     She grabs his hand and helps him up. Flashbacks of memories soar into her mind of the first time she watched him run and inevitably crash. A distal radius fracture that miraculously healed in three hours. The spark of potential that The Flash could have to revolutionize the world.

      "Lay in the MedBay for a couple of hours?I'll spare you the radiation." The corners of Caitlin's lips slightly turn upward. To the naked eye this might appear as nothing but Barry knows this is her way of saying that she is sorry for putting him through whatever just happened.

      "Sounds like a plan." Barry returns the smile as Caitlin wraps her arm around his shoulder. The two of them hobble off without questioning each other, fulling understanding that life is strange and some things are better unsaid.

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Thanks for reading yall! Comments are still open for suggestions and I will try to get to them eventually lol