Pre lightning.

**********

Barry woke to the smell of smoke and the sound of fire alarms.

Barry cursed and hunted for his shoes, finding them in a matter of moments. He ran out of his apartment room, still in his pajamas and was greeted by a wave of thick smoke. He coughed and covered his face with a damp rag he grabbed.

Barry couldn't help but think that this was a very unfortunate time to be in the top levels of an apartment, seeing as the fire was below him. Barry cursed his rotten luck.

He didn't hear any sirens, meaning that the fire trucks hadn't arrived yet.

That was bad.

He coughed some more and plowed through the smoke. He heard sirens and let out a breath of relief that quickly turned to a cough.

He saw bright orange flames crawling up the stairs towards him. He turned and ran back up, but the fire moved fast. Barry ducked through the next door he came to. Barry ran towards a window, but froze.

There was a small cry.

Barry's eyes widened an he ran towards the sound, despite the fact that it led him into the flickering flames.

He searched hard until he found the source of the cry. A small girl, maybe five or six, with long blonde hair covered with soot. She was holding a stuffed tiger and was looking around frantically for a way out.

The girl cried for help again, spurring Barry into action.

"Hey!" He called hoarsely. "Hey, over here!"

The girl saw him and ran towards him.

Barry hugged the girl, "It's gonna be okay," he told her, "Just follow me." He handed her the rag he was using to cover his face, "What's your name?"

"Cathy," she said.

"Hi Cathy. I'm Barry. I'm gonna help you get out of here. Where are your parents?"

She pointed towards the outside of the building. Barry nodded and led her towards the window. He pried the window open and waved his arms, catching the attention of the firefighters and policemen.

He saw Joe and the Captain down at the bottom. The firefighters worked to get their truck ladder next to the window.

Barry heard the building creak and looked up warily. They were running out of time.

"Cathy, come up here," Barry instructed.

He helped Cathy onto the window as the firefighters finally got to the window.

"Here," Barry said, helping her get to the men.

The building creaked again as Barry put his foot on the windowsill.

Suddenly, the walls around the window collapsed.

Barry leapt backwards and fell through the floor into the roaring flames.

He let out a cry of pain as he felt the bones in his left leg snap.

The flames roasted Barry's skin and he scrambled into a corner.

He coughed some more and winced when it jostled his leg.

He saw a window nearby, but there was no way for him to get to it through the massive fire coating the floor.

Barry could feel himself start drifting off, and forced himself to stay awake. He no longer had the damp rag, and the smoke was burning his throat and making his eyes water.

Barry was quite sure that he was gonna die.

The building groaned some more and more beams and floors collapsed. The fire got closer to him, and Barry could hardly breathe anymore. His eyelids were heavy and his lungs burned. Barry succumbed to the darkness. 

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

Barry stirred at the sound of his name.

"Barry!" 

"Barry!"

"Here." Barry croaked, it was barely audible, but it was enough, because one of the firefighters found him.

"Hey there, Barry," he said, "We're gonna get you out of here."

Barry nodded weakly. The firefighter started to move him, and Barry cried out in pain as is left leg made itself known. 

Barry slipped back into the blissful realm of darkness.

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

The next time Barry stirred was to the sound of steady beeping. (Gotta say, I use variations of this sentence so much. It's not even funny)

Barry slowly opened his eyes, being met with the bright lights of a hospital room. He turned his head a bit and saw Joe's sleeping form in the chair beside him, his hand resting next to Barry's. Barry smiled softly and brushed Joe's hand, making the older man startle awake.

Joe looked at Barry and his face lit up with a smile, "Barry." he whispered.

"Hey," Barry croaked. 

He discovered that his throat hurt a lot, and breathing was a bit difficult.

"Don't talk son," Joe said. He grabbed a notepad and pen and handed it to Barry.

'What happened?' Barry wrote.

"There was a fire Bar. Remember?"

Memories flashed in front of Barry and he nodded. He thought for a minute. Then he wrote, 'How long was I out?'

Joe's smile slipped a bit, "Two weeks."

Barry's eyes widened.

"It was a close one Bar," Joe said, wiping a forming tear, "We almost lost you."

'What about Cathy?' he wrote.

"Oh. She's doing just fine." Joe said, "You saved her, son. Her and her mom came by four times, those flowers and cards are from them." 

Barry smiled.

"They asked me to let them know when you were up." Joe continued, "They want to thank you."

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

Cathy hugged her stuffed tiger close as her mom guided her through the hospital. They got to the room Cathy recognized, and she peeked in. 

There was the man that saved her, sitting up and eating Jell-O.  

Cathy smiled shyly and walked in, he mom close behind.

"Mr. Barry?" She said.

Barry looked up and grinned widely when he saw the little girl.

"Cathy." He said.

Cathy smiled and nodded, slowly walking closer to the bed. 

"Thank you so much Mr. Allen." He mom said.

"Just call me Barry." He said

"Thank you Barry." Her mom repeated.

Barry smiled and looked back at Cathy, "What's your tiger's name?"

Cathy held out her tiger, "This is Hobbes." (Sorry I had to)

"That's so cool." Barry said, "You know, I have a dinosaur."

Cathy's eyes sparkled, "What's his name?"

"His name is Danny." Barry said.

"Can I meet him?" Cathy asked hopefully.

"You bet." Barry said. "I'll have my foster dad bring him and if you come back tomorrow or the next day, you and Hobbes can meet him."

Cathy turned to her mom eagerly, "Can I mommy? Please."

Her mom smiled, "Sure sweetheart."

Cathy hugged her mom and then turned back to Barry.

"Thank you Mr. Barry," she said, and then she hugged him.

Barry hugged her back tightly.

"I'll see you soon Cathy."

"See you soon Barry."

**********

A/N- K. Back on track! Tomorrow is Self-Sacrifice. Well that'll be sooo hard. Barry never sacrifices himself for anything. Please not my heavy sarcasm.

Anyway, hope y'all are doing good. 

Love y'all! :)