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Caitlin had ordered him to be careful before he left STAR Labs today."It's the hottest day on record in 84 years," she had said seriously. "Go easy today." Barry had smiled and said that he'd "see what he could do," before taking off out the door in a flurry of loose papers.Of course, he had been keeping up with the news and knew that today was expected to reach a whopping 113 degrees, but one step outside could have told him the same thing. His morning commute (read: superhuman sprint) to work had been disgustingly hot despite the early hour, and even with weather appropriate clothes on he found himself sweating a gross amount by the time he arrived at the precinct.Joe had taken one look at Barry's sweat-stained shirt and laughed, telling him the next time the weather was above 100 degrees he'd drive him to work.That had been around 8am when the weather had been a cool 95 degrees. It was now noon and the temperature had leveled out around a balmy 115, exceeding the news's projection of 113. Barry cringed internally as his suit clung to his body and tried not to think about how gross it was gonna be to take off later.All of a sudden he heard alarm bells and his head snapped in the direction they were coming from. At the far end of the block, he could see a bank with its front doors smashed in and could just barely make out the silhouettes of three masked men inside. Pivoting on his toes, Barry ran in that direction, coming to a stop just inside the second set of doors to assess the situation.Little flakes of ceiling paint fell gently on his shoulders from where the robbers had fired warning shots and two tellers sat at their registers with their hands held up. Both of the two tellers had a gun trained on them by the thieves while a third robber shook a duffle bag at another teller who was hastily putting money on the counter."Isn't today a little hot for a bank robbery, guys?" Barry asked from behind the robbers, making himself known. Immediately one of them whipped around and fired in his direction. He stepped out of the way with ease and crossed his arms over his chest, speaking up again. "Come on, you must be sweating with those ski masks on." The same man fired once more in his direction which Barry sidestepped again. "Dude, come on that doesn't work on me," he said unimpressed, his shoulders sagging dramatically, before speeding forward and disarming the two robbers in front of him. Next, he turned to the third robber and dragged him to where his buddies stood frozen in time, sitting all three of them down and tying their wrists together with some makeshift zip tie-handcuffs he kept in one of the back pockets of his suit. Returning to normal time Barry then walked to the duffle bag on the floor in front of the teller counter and removed the money that had been placed in there, handing it back to the terrified teller who was trying to process everything that had just happened.Behind him the robbers grunted as they tried to break free of their handcuffs, gruffly cursing at the flash."You guys wanna wait for the police outside?" he threatened, turning around halfway to the door. "Cause I can leave you out there in the heat." The stern look Barry gave them made their shifting and cursing stop, and Barry took that as his cue to turn back around and leave.Back out on the street, the heat felt even worse than before. His quick stop in the air conditioned bank had been short but sweet, and he sorely missed the cool air instantly."Normal CSIs don't have to run around in a costume on the hottest day of the year," he muttered wistfully to himself as he took off in the direction of STAR Labs."Sorry to keep you in the heat for longer, Barry, but we just got notified about an armored vehicle robbery in progress heading east on Winston Avenue," came Caitlin's apologetic voice in his ear. He sighed, changing directions at the next intersection he came to and took off towards his new destination."It's ok," he said reassuringly, "I'm sure every guy who gets hit by lightning also has to take down criminals in his spare time." Caitlin chuckled lightly on the other end of the line and Barry gave a soft smile before speeding up a little bit and continuing towards Winston Avenue.Before he even made it to his destination he could hear the police giving chase to the hijacked truck. Naturally, they had also been notified of the robbery, and he used the clamor of their sirens to locate his target.He did a quick lap around the vehicle once he found it and saw two people inside. One person was at the wheel and another was walking in and out of the vault in the back, but the original team of drivers was nowhere to be seen. Running alongside the passenger door, Barry hopped up on the running board of the truck and tried the handle - no luck.The man behind the wheel inside the truck jumped at the sound and whipped his head around to look at Barry, a smirk growing on his face when he realized the speedster couldn't get in. Then he jerked the steering wheel hard to the right, making Barry scramble for something to hold on to as he was thrown off balance."Guys!" he called, shouting to be heard over the rushing wind as the truck swerved left. "The doors are locked and I don't think I can phase in while we're moving this fast!" The driver stepped on the gas and Barry's head began to ache. "What do I do?""Well, bulletproof glass isn't actually bulletproof, bullet-resistant is a much more accurate term," Cisco began to explain."Not helpful!" Barry yelled back as the driver swerved again, with more force this time."It's susceptible to repetitive attacks," he stammered in reply. "Look for, like, a sledgehammer or a crowbar or something!""Oh yeah, if we just happen to drive past one I'll be sure to pick it up," Barry said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. The truck was getting closer to the city and sweat was starting to run into Barry's eyes. He needed to figure something out soon."Repetition," he said to himself pensively. He looked down at his fist then back to the window, a grimace spreading across his face. "I'm gonna try something," he yelled.Barry lined up the punch as best as he could without leaning too far off the truck, choosing a spot on the window as his target before striking. He let off three punches as fast as he could, doing his best to ignore the sharp ache that began to spread through his knuckles, and watched with satisfaction as the window began to splinter. Inside the truck, the driver glared at him with a snarl."It's working!" he called to his friends before winding up and striking the window again, not stopping this time until the glass shattered around his fist and a strangled cry made its way from his throat.In a blink he had reached through the broken window and unlocked the door, wrenching it open with his good hand and zipping inside. He pulled the driver from his seat and brought him to the back vault where his partner was looting pallets of money. As he tied up the two thieves Barry was relieved to find the original transport crew - bound and gagged but alive - by the back doors of the truck. He took a moment to untie the two men before rushing the criminals out of the truck and into the back of the closest squad car.Once they were secured in their seats, Barry ran back to the truck and hopped in the driver's seat, his hand twinging painfully from the use as he slowed down the vehicle and pulled it off to the side of the road. Before any of the squad cars around him could come to a stop he was gone, rushing back to STAR Labs with his hand cradled against his chest.He didn't get far before his knees began to feel weak, though, and suddenly a wave of dizziness washed over him, skewing his trajectory off the main road and onto a quiet side street."Guys," he called out, his mouth suddenly dry. "I don't feel too good." His head began to throb in time with the pounding of his feet against the pavement and Barry had to slow to a walk to keep from puking, nausea unexpectedly overwhelming him."Barry! You need to cool down, you're overheating!" Caitlin yelled in his ear. But he could hardly hear her, his brain swimming in his skull and the world tilting around him."Guys... I don't... I..." Before he could finish his sentence Barry fell to the ground, his eyelids fluttering for a few moments before his eyes rolled up in his head and his consciousness left himBarry woke with a gasp and a confused exclamation, jolting upright to try and get away from the numbingly frigid sensation that had seeped into his skin. He blindly gripped at the walls of whatever he was lying in, clumsily pulling himself up until he clenched his left fist around the wall beside him and felt it shock him with pain. Releasing his hold involuntarily with a pained gasp, he dropped back down into the icy water with a splash.Before he could hurt himself any further a pair of hands reached into the water and grabbed Barry by his shoulders, hoisting him up so he wasn't sitting in the frigid water anymore and helping him get to his feet. His teeth were chattering as he tried to take in his surroundings, water running down his face and blurring his vision which he wiped clumsily at."Take it easy, man," Cisco exclaimed, his voice pitched higher with worry. Barry whipped around to look at his friend but the motion made him dizzy and he began to sway. Cisco reached out and wrapped a towel around him, lingering on his shoulders to steady his rocking."What's going on?" he demanded, still standing up to his shins in ice water and shaking like a leaf."You passed out on the street, dude. Don't you remember?" Cisco placed a guiding hand on his back and started pushing gently, helping Barry step over the edge of the trough he was standing in. "Here, let's get you out of the tub, buddy." The two walked over to the gurney they kept in the med bay and Cisco helped Barry up onto the bed, making sure to keep the towel wrapped around his shoulders."Why am I soaking wet," Barry asked pathetically, pulling the towel tighter around his body."Caitlin said we had to bring your temperature down," Cisco explained apologetically, reaching behind the gurney for another towel which he placed over Barry's thighs. "She went to the basement to get more ice since you were melting all the stuff in the tub so fast, but she should be back soon." Just as Cisco finished his sentence Barry heard the rushed clicking of Caitlin's heels come into the cortex, a bag of ice shifting in her hands. As soon as she saw the speedster awake, however, she rushed over to the two, the ice forgotten on the floor in an instant."Barry," she exclaimed, relief flooding her tone. She immediately jumped into doctor mode, pulling on gloves and reaching for a thermometer which she slid into Barry's mouth. "Cisco, how long has he been up for?" She demanded, wrapping a blood pressure cuff around Barry's arm and placing a hand on his forehead, ignoring the little hey that escaped his lips at the childlike treatment he was receiving."A minute or two at most," Cisco said, taking a step away from the bed so Caitlin could do her thing. She pulled the thermometer from Barry's mouth as soon as it began to chirp and muttered 100 even under her breath, seemingly satisfied."So uh," Barry began as Caitlin continued to buzz around him, "if I passed out on the street how did I get back here?""We brought you back here in the van," Cisco explained. "Do you really not remember? You were puking and talking nonsense, I thought you were gonna die." Cisco's eyes were misty, and suddenly Barry felt awful. The heat of his cheeks seemed to warm his whole body and he suddenly felt acutely aware of just how bad a situation he had gotten himself into. As he looked for the right words to say Caitlin brandished a pen light at him."Look straight ahead please." He did as he was told and, mercifully, Caitlin stopped, seemingly satisfied with her data set. Then she let out a sigh and set down the light. "You need to be more careful, Barry," she said seriously, her face twisted in concern. He couldn't meet either of his friends' eyes as they stared at him like he might keel over and die at any second."I'm sorry," he said honestly. "I didn't know I was overheating until I was already on my way back to the lab," he looked up sheepishly, meeting Caitlin and Cisco's concerned gazes. "But I'm fine now. I promise." He let go of the towel around his shoulders to try and push himself off the gurney, but when he placed his injured hand on the mattress he was suddenly reminded of a few choice decisions he had made earlier in the day.He let out a hiss of pain and snatched his hand back, holding it close to his chest protectively. Of course, Caitlin noticed this and immediately ordered him up so she could get an x-ray of the limb.It was now 9 o'clock in the evening and Barry had just gotten home with Joe. After Caitlin had discovered the boxer's fracture in his left hand she had threatened to keep him overnight at STAR Labs since he clearly wasn't capable of making rational decisions and punching bulletproof glass is a horrible idea. But hey, it worked, didn't it?After about thirty minutes of pleading, Barry had talked Caitlin into letting him go home on the condition that Joe drive him, he ice his hand on and off every twenty minutes for the next three hours, and that he do nothing strenuous until tomorrow.So now, Barry was being escorted inside by Joe, who was more than happy to force him to take the night off. They decided to order takeout and watch a movie, and Joe had agreed with him that holding a cold bottle of beer counted as icing his hand. And while Barry wasn't the sit-around-and-do-nothing type, he had to admit that taking the night off was a pretty great way to spend an evening.One movie and a lot of pork fried rice later, Barry was drifting in and out of sleep on the couch while Joe sat pensively in his armchair."You may not remember this," Joe spoke up suddenly, "but when you were young you used to do really bad in the heat." Barry picked his head up off the pillow he was drooling on to look at him curiously."I remember one year at your elementary school's field day you got so hot you fainted right in front of your mom and dad. Hoo boy the way your dad panicked," he chuckled lightly, reminiscing. Barry sat up a little straighter at the mention of his mom and dad."I don't remember," he said quietly. Joe sighed, stepping out of the memories plaguing him."I'm not surprised, you were only four or five at the time." He ran a hand over the top of his head. "But that was a particularly hot summer, I know that much. Every time Iris and I saw you and your parents your cheeks were red as a tomato." Joe turned to him with a fond smile, the soft light of the living room making him feel warm in a good way."Well," Joe started, standing up. "You should probably get to bed, Barr. I promised Caitlin I would keep a close eye on you tonight and I don't she'd be too pleased to know I let you ice your hand on a beer bottle until the early hours of the morning." Barry chuckled at the thought and stood too, joining Joe at the edge of the living room and walking upstairs with his arm wrapped fondly around Barry's shoulders.Later, in the quiet hours of the night when dreams of malfortune haunted him, Joe found himself standing just outside Barry's door. No matter how old his kids got he would always worry about them, and Joe found himself cracking the door open ever so slightly to check on his son.The sight of Barry sleeping soundly greeted him, and Joe couldn't help but chuckle at the absurd position he had moved into in his sleep, with one foot dangling off the end of the bed and an arm draped over his eyes, blankets everywhere.Everything was ok. Joe let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and sagged his shoulders. Everything was ok. He closed the door to Barry's room and padded back to his own, sleep suddenly wearing down on him. Before he knew it he was drifting off to sleep, the thought of Barry sleeping soundly just down the hall soothing his nerves. In the morning he would let Caitlin and Cisco scold Barry for being so reckless with their devastating puppy dog eyes, but for now, he could sleep soundly.