Disapproval

[run_barry]

S.T.A.R. Labs is quiet. The chaos of the past couple of weeks has passed and when Barry opens his eyes it's to dimmed lights and the steady chirps of monitoring equipment in one of the infirmary rooms.

Groggy though he may be, it doesn't take long for Barry to realize he's not alone in the room, and as he sits up he throws a sleepy smile at Dr. Wells who is sitting in his wheelchair beside the bed.

"Dr. Wells," Barry greets, shoving a hand through his hair. "What time is it?"

Dr. Wells gives Barry a cordial nod and a smile, answering, "It's about four thirty."

Barry nods, swinging his legs around to dangle over the edge of the hospital bed and Dr. Wells adds, "On Friday."

That snaps Barry to quick, and he throws Dr. Wells a shocked expression. "Friday? I've been asleep for three days?"

"Yes, well, considering your last long stint here, three days isn't so bad," Dr. Wells replies good naturedly.

Immediately Barry's mind starts to race. "Oh man, I've gotta-- what did I miss? The precinct, I've been out-- and I gotta check up on Joe. What about-- "

Dr. Wells holds up his hand, cutting off Barry's panic stream.

"Barry it's fine, we've taken care of everything," Dr. Wells says calmly. "Joe went back to work and Caitlin sent a doctor's note with him excusing you for a few days due to the bug that's kept everyone else down. The precinct is back up to full ranks and handling things in the city. And we here have kept up monitoring duties of Central City with no major incidents cropping up requiring the intervention of the Flash. So… we let you sleep."

As he speaks Dr. Wells moves around the small space in his chair, taking a look at the monitors that have been tracking Barry's vitals ever since Caitlin put him to bed a few days ago. Dr. Wells nods to himself, then gives Barry a smile. "You did need the rest, you know."

Calmed now, Barry relaxes on the edge of the bed and huffs a short laugh.

"Yeah, I guess I did."

"Even with the aid of someone from… elseworlds, you did still handle quite a bit on your own," Dr. Wells notes, with the air of broaching a new topic. "Perhaps it's time now we talk about this place your friend came from."

Barry can feel Dr. Wells studying him carefully. It's something he knew was coming so Barry takes a deep breath and nods, then gets into explaining about Milliways; starting with the first time he accidentally ran into the bar instead of a Starling City train station, and going through how he came to be a regular, and eventually brought Cisco in.

"I'm sorry for not telling you about it before," Barry ends in apology. "It's just… it's such a weird place and it all happened right around the lightning strike and when I woke up and found it again things were already crazy enough as it was and… " Barry raises his hands, helpless. "Eventually I was just used to keeping the secret, I guess."

Dr. Wells wears a studious expression, leaning with one elbow propped on the arm of his chair, a hand tucked beneath his chin and one finger extended against his cheek. Eventually he nods, and straightens up, letting his arm fall to the arm rest.

"To be fair, there's a good chance we would've been greatly concerned if you'd brought up a magical bar at the end of the universe right after a nine month long coma and taking on a superpowered metahuman," he says, wry.

Barry gives a short laugh and nods, grateful for Dr. Wells's understanding.

"If you like I can take you there sometime," Barry offers.

"No," Dr. Wells is quick to decline, backing up his chair a foot. "I don't know if that would go over very well at all."

Barry gives Dr. Wells a quizzical look, but before he can ask Dr. Wells goes on to say, "In fact, I'm not so sure how much continued involvement you should have with that place."

Confused, Barry shakes his head. "What? Why?"

"Aside from the strangeness and obvious dangers?" Dr. Wells replies, turning his chair and gliding off a short distance.

"Sure it's kinda weird, and there are some… I guess dangerous aspects to it, but-- "

"You guess?" Dr. Wells retorts, voice rising as he turns back around to face Barry. "Barry you said it yourself, this bar is a nexus opening up to countless worlds, countless universes. There is absolutely no telling who could walk in or the type of threat they may present."

Barry's mouth hangs open and he works his hands in the air, trying to piece together a defense.

"Well yeah but, security-- "

"Not to mention the unquantifiable unknowns of how the place works, or doesn't work, or the types of unexpected problems it may present," Dr. Wells continues. "Case in point, this illness Cisco brought back to Central City."

That throws Barry into a helpless position with no argument to make other than, "It's not that bad. It's been a special and important experience for me. And it's helped me, too, in my training."

Dr. Wells rolls closer, studying Barry once more.

"Oh? Do tell."

Caught now, Barry tries to throw together a reply.

"Well, like-- there are other heroes, people who've been doing it a lot longer than I have," he says. "I've made friends with a few of them, and they've been helping me out with advice, combat training, ways to use my speed and how I can get faster."

"I see," Dr. Wells says, stopping just in front of Barry.

Encouraged, Barry goes on. "Yeah. And Dr. Wells, it sounds crazy but, there are other earths like our earth. A multiverse of our world, and people from those other earths, they know me. Or about me. Like Diana, they call her Wonder Woman and she says that she's worked together with the version of me from her world. And that I can get faster, like, so much faster. And there's others too, who know about the Flash."

Once again Dr. Wells turns his chair, putting his back to Barry and keeping in that position for a long moment, not saying anything.

Unable to read Dr. Wells, and with no reply to go on, Barry takes a deep breath, setting his shoulders and taking his stand.

"I'm not just going to stop visiting Milliways. I think it's important, that it showed up for me for a reason. And I've got friends there, people I care about. I can't just close the door on them, or on a place that offers literally whole other worlds of possibilities."

From behind, Barry can see Dr. Wells perform the action of removing his glasses and raising his other hand, probably to pinch the bridge of his nose. Turning back around while putting his glasses back on, Dr. Wells's expression is composed as he faces Barry again.

"Then there's nothing I can say that'll stop you."

Barry frowns a little, and tries to reassure Dr. Wells. "I-- we'll be careful, Dr. Wells."

Because Barry is certain Cisco will want to continue his visits to Milliways, as well. "And like I said, if you ever want to visit the place and see for yourself-- "

"Fair enough," Dr. Wells cuts him off in the end. Backing his chair up, Dr. Wells heads for the door. "I'm glad you're feeling better, Barry. You may as well head out. If anything comes up, we'll call."

This doesn't feel like a win, and Dr. Wells seems far from convinced, but Barry takes it.

"Thanks," Barry says, watching Dr. Wells go.

"Barry, I do ask one thing," Dr. Wells says, pausing in the doorway and speaking over his shoulder. "Be careful with this multiverse, and what you find out about your other selves. Destiny… fate, whatever you might want to call it, probably not something you want to tamper too much with."

There's a tone, almost an edge, to Dr. Wells's warning and all Barry can do is nod to it, wary.

"Yeah. Okay."