"Dawn isn't a metahuman though," Caitlin says pointedly. 

"She might be! Just test her blood like I told you too do half an hour ago," yells Jesse. 

They have been arguing ever since Caitlin got here. Caitlin one doesn't believe Jesse's theory about the meta markers and two is worried about the law. 

"It is illegal for me to take blood in a medical facility when I am not her doctor!"

"It is also illegal to keep people imprisoned on the basement level of our working place, but we do that anyways, don't we?"

She has a point. I have kept quiet this whole time, mostly because I am too concentrated on Dawn. I have been in the same chair and same position since I got here. A couple hours ago a nurse came in to change Dawn's bandages and my friends had to pry me away from her. As soon as the nurse left her room I ran back in and continued my sitting. And here I am still sitting in the plastic hospital chair with my head and torso laying still on Dawn's low hospital bed, holding her cold hand. How long I have been here I don't really know. Wait. How long have I been here? I lift my head. 

"How long has it been since Dawn got hit by that bus?" I ask. I must have interrupted their conversation because they all stare at me quietly. I get nervous glances from around the room like they all think I have lost my mind. Maybe I have. 

"Four days. So you have been here for three days," Cisco answers with a weird tone. 

I nod my head and then lay it back down. Everyone goes back to there arguing. I look back at Dawn. I have known her for about five months now. Wow. 

I look at Dawn's face- at the multitude of tubes going inside of her mouth. The mouth that used to smile every time she saw me. The mouth that would say scientific words that couldn't even pronounce. The mouth that may never talk to me again. 

The thought rips a hole in my chest and I nestle my head between Dawn's small arm and her broken ribs. I can hear the faint heartbeat, once strong and vigorous, tap against her torso. I can hear the artificial breathing of the life support system she is on and tears start to form in my eyes. Then an uncontrollable sob rips out of my mouth. The sobs continue to come and suddenly the commotion in the room halts. They are all probably staring at me, but I don't care. Please wake up, please wake up.

"Please.  I can't-" My breath catches. I know in the back of my head that what I want to say is completely cheesy but I can't help it. My voice is barley a whisper now. "I can't live with out you." 

"Hey bear, come on." Jesse is pulling me up and away from Dawn. In the state I am in I have no strength to protest, so I let myself be pulled out of the room and into the hallway. 

"Shh.." Jesse whispers as she sits next to me on a hallway bench. Jesse and I aren't best friends, mostly because if I laid a hand on her Harry would kill me, but in this moment it didn't matter. She maintains a steady rhythm of whispers and she holds me while I soak her shirt in tears. She calms me down enough for me to actually hear what she is saying. 

"Barry, it's going to be okay."

"How could you possibly know that?" I ask, my voice crackly and faint. 

"Because Dawn is the strongest person I know and there is no way that she would leave you." Jesse's voice is strong and confident. I feel a sense of closer that I haven't felt since I got here. 

Jesse cradles my head in her arms like Dawn does. I'm leaning on her with all my weight because my heart is too heavy for my body to support it anymore. I can feel Jesse's tears fall on to my cheeks. I don't know if she is crying because I'm crying or because she is worried about Dawn. Probably a bit of both. She sniffles and lifts my head so it is at eye level with her.

"Caitlin agreed to test Dawn's blood. Are you ready to go back inside?" 

I nod my head and we stand. Then I wrap my arms around Jesse, swaddling her in a huge hug. She seems a bit surprised at first but then starts to ease up. 

"Thank you, Jesse."

«»«»«»«»«»«»«»

"Dawn is a metahuman," Caitlin says to me when we walk back in the room. 

"But she doesn't have powers," I counter.

"No but she is capable of having powers."

I'm still confused and so is every one else in the room. After realizing this, Caitlin goes on to explain. "Okay so people that are TB positive already have the TB virus inside of them; it is just laying dormant in there body. That's just like what is happening to Dawn. She has metahuman markers in her DNA they are just not active."

"So we just need to activate those cells that are marked with you drug and she will heal faster because the medicine is based on my blood, right?" The words that just came out of my mouth make no sense to anyone but me. Caitlin revised the the claim in her head then nods. 

"In theory that would work but it also might cause an extra systoles," Caitlin says. Cisco and I have no idea what an extra systoles is and it shows.

"You mean her heart might go so fast it will skip beats? That happens to people all the time, it's relatively harmless," Jesse says.

"Not in Dawn's condition. If her heart beats too fast it could be fatal."

We all fall silent. 

"Do it anyways." I say.

Joe enters the room. "Hey Bear? Can I talk to you for a second?" 

"Get everything ready," I say to Caitlin before walking out the door. Joe stands in front of me in the hallway. He has a hesitant look on his face right before he speaks.

"So Iris told me you are going to foster Dawn?"

"Actually I was going to adopt her. Why?"

"I don't think you are ready to take care of a child yet."

"Well she is fifteen."

"It doesn't matter, Barry. She is still a child. Look, if you adopt her it will take months for that to go through. I am already a legal foster parent. I can take her in."

My head lifts and I feel an excessive amount of gratitude wash over me. "You would do that?"

"Of course. But right now don't worry about that; just worry about that girl in there." He points to the door we came out of. 

"Thank you."

With that I walk back into the bland hospital room. I take a small head count. Cisco, Caitlin, Jesse, Iris, me; every single one of us is nervous beyond belief. "Are you sure about this?" Caitlin asks. 

"No. But Dawn would take the risk for any of us."

She nods and pulls out a syringe and a small bottle of yellowish liquid. She fills the syringe and injects the drug into Dawn's thigh. I was expecting some kind of big reaction but nothing happens. I am just about to ask if it was working or not  when the electrocardiograph monitor starts to pick up it's pace. 

Beep....Beep...Beep..Beep. Beepbeepbeepbeep.  

I try to stay calm but my efforts don't work and I go into a full freak out. I rush over to her bedside and grab her hand. Please no, don't die. 

"She is going into cardiac arrest," Caitlin says. Suddenly I hear the monitor flat line. All the air got sucked out of my lungs. My hands start to shake and I fall into my chair. I return to my position between Dawn's arm and ribs. As soon as I make contact with her I feel something like an electric shock run through me. The flat lining stops and I assume that someone just turned the machine off. Then there is a shift in movement around me and I feel someone rub the top of my head. I lift my head to see Dawn's blue eyes filled with tears. 

"Please don't cry, Barry" she says, her voice rough and hoarse. A smile spreads across my face for the first time in three days and I pull Dawn in the biggest hug ever known to mankind. Sounds of glee fill the room. Jesse basically rips me away from Dawn so she could see her. Then a question rises.

"Will she turn into a speedster?" I ask. 

"It's possible but very unlikely," Caitlin assures me. I nod. 

I look at Dawn. Maybe everything will be okay now.