"You're saying you're our daughter?" Barry stares at Nora, as I cleared my throat after having a coughing fit, sitting the glass of champagne down.

My voice is raspy, removing my hand from my mouth after taking a deep breath through my nose, holding back anything that would lead me to throw up, "From the future?"

"Named Nora?" Barry finished my sentence.

"After your mother." She shyly replies, looking up at Barry.

"Anybody need a refill?" Cisco interrupts, as we all shot him a look, "No? Just me? Mm."

"Cisco Ramon, always cutting the tension with a joke." Nora steps down, after Cisco had gotten up from chugging down his champagne, moving for a refill.

"You know our names?" Caitlin questions.

"Of course. I know all of you." Nora walks around, naming them off, "You're Caitlin Snow, Ralph Dibny, Papa Joe, Mama Cecile. Aunt Iris. Little Auntie Jenna. She's so cute. And Uncle Wally."

"Uh, and your nickname is XS?" Wally asks her.

"Clearly not my doing." Cisco drinks straight from the bottle.

Nora turns towards me, as I was stood completely still, Barry looking right at Nora and I from being a foot away from us, right next to us.

Nora finally makes eye contact with me, "No, uh, it's a nickname that you gave me when I was a kid, Mom."

"Mom." I repeat her words, staring at her, my eyes slightly wide.

"You said I did everything in excess." Nora rocks back and forth on her feet, "Guess I've always been like that. Overdoing things, getting in way over my head. Like, uh, recently."

"This mistake that you made?" Barry questions.

"Big mistake." Nora nods.

"And this big mistake was?" I question, crossing my arms.

"Helping you save the city by destroying the Star Labs satellite last night." Nora admits, her eyes connecting with Barry's.

"You were the other speedster." I pieced it together, uncrossing my arms, rubbing my temples, "That all makes so much more sense to me now."

"I just couldn't stop myself from getting involved." Nora admits, "But something happened when I did, because now, I can't seem to go fast enough to open up the Speed Force."

"Pardon me." Ralph interrupts, "Are we talking about actual time travel here?"

"Do you just like, not pay any attention when we have our briefings?" Cisco looked at Ralph.

"Y'all didn't teach him about the Legends?" Wally asks.

"Look, nobody said bubkes about time travel." Ralph defends himself.

Jenna starts to quietly let out whimpers, causing Caitlin to shush Ralph, "Come on, Ralph. You're scaring the baby."

"Yeah, you're scaring the baby." Cisco repeats.

"No, no, she's not scared." Cecile rocks her lightly, "She just said she's hungry."

Cecile gasps, "She said that she's- Joe! I heard her! I read her mind!" Her tone changes, as she gets up, speaking in her baby voice, leaving the room, "I might not be losing my powers! I might not be losing my powers!"

"I'm sorry." Nora apologizes, "I know how bizarre this must seem, meeting your daughter from the future as an adult. But really, this wasn't my plan at all, but I'm kind of stuck here now, and you're the only people who can help me."

Nora looks at all of us, "So anybody know what to do?"

Barry was next to me, as I slowly muttered to him, my eyes not leaving Nora, "I think I'm gonna pass out."

Barry was quick to grab my waist, holding me up straight, his eyes glued to Nora also, "I got you- I got you."

-

"This is so, so weird." Barry stared at Nora as we stood in the Speed Lab, Nora running in circles, training, so we could run tests on her.

"I spoke too soon when I said the thought of us being parents now would be crazy." My head snaps towards him, "Oh my god, did I jinx us?"

"You didn't jinx us." Barry tells me, looking at me.

I exhale, gesturing towards Nora, "I can't believe that's our daughter up there."

"We have been lied to before." Barry reasoned with me.

"Oh, come on." I looked at him, "Barry. Yellow lightning like yours, purple lightning like mine? I mean, it's got to be her."

"We're meeting our daughter for the first time, Barry." I grab his hand, stopping him from pacing, "I mean- we actually have a kid."

"It was bound to happen." Barry pulls me into him, "You've always acted like a mom. It was about time you had someone to act that way towards."

"Oh absolutely not-" I shook my head instantly, "No way."

"Believe it or not." He laughs very lightly.

"I've always mentioned our kid to be plural- as if we would have children. It seems we only had one." I watch Nora.

"Well, I definitely want to have more than one child with you, so- we will most definitely do something about that." Barry lets go of my hands and squeezes my arms in comfort, "But, that's besides the point right now. We have been lied to before."

"Yeah-" I shrug at him, clouded up in the thought of us having a child.

"Yeah, well, look." Barry shakes me once to catch my attention, "If it is true, Nora could say the wrong thing or step on the wrong butterfly and screw up the whole timeline."

"Step on the wrong butterfly?" I stared at him, "Do you step on butterflies when you run?"

"Zee." Barry shot me a serious look, "I mean, she could Marty McFly herself out of existence."

"I'm not even gonna try to guess what movie that's from." I run a hand through my hair, "I just- I don't know. It makes me happy to see we have a daughter."

"Look, we just need to be responsible, all right?" Barry told me, "I mean, I think we need to find a way to send her home, fast."

"Barry," I turned towards him, shooting him a serious look right back, completely paying attention to his words, "Don't you think future us taught our daughter how not to screw with the timeline?"

Nora suddenly runs over by us, pausing her training, a giggle leaving her lips, "Wow, this Speed Lab sure is archaic, huh?"

"La-la-la-la-la," Barry presses his fingers to his ears, closing his eyes, loudly making it clear that he didn't wanna hear what she had to say.

"Don't- no-" I make a gesture that signaled for her to cut it out, knowing how Barry would reaction, me doing this in unison with him.

Barry opens his eyes, uncovering his ears, "Sorry, just no future talk, all right, please?"

"Right, I don't want to wreck the timeline." Nora nods, recalling.

"All right, Nora." Caitlin and Cisco walk over, Caitlin injecting something into her through her finger, "This is gonna link us up with your biometrics."

Cisco places something on her wrist, "And this little scrunchy doohicky is gonna analyze your connection to the, um, uh-"

"The Speed Force." Barry finishes for him.

"The Speed Force. Thank you." Cisco swallows, walking over to the monitors.

"Great." Nora laughs lightly, "I'll be back in a flash."

She runs back to training, as Barry and I walked over to Cisco, Wally, and Caitlin, Barry questioning, "And what does it say?"

"A quick analysis of her DNA shows patterns that are similar to both of yours." Caitlin read, looking up at us.

"Okay- so we aren't being lied to and that is most definitely our daughter." I glanced at Barry, then looked at Cisco, "What about her being stuck here?"

"Everything's normal. She definitely has Speed Force in her system." Cisco slurs, "She's just not going fast enough to, uh, open up a time portal, so."

"How much champagne did you have at Joe and Cecile's?" Caitlin asks him.

"This is the first opportunity I have to process my breakup with Gypsy, okay?" Cisco slurred, pointing at Barry and I, "How was I supposed to know that your future daughter was gonna come show up and crash my pity party?"

He quotes, sitting on the steps, laying back, "How was I supposed to "ancipitate" that?"

Barry checks his phone, "Crap, I was supposed to meet Singh- at CCPD an hour ago."

"Meeting Singh?" I looked at him, "Are you getting your job back without telling me?"

"Honestly, I have no idea." Barry told me, "Hey, Wally, can you do me a favor? Can you take the sample to the Legends to see if they have any insight? And maybe, worst comes to worst, we can take her home on the Waverider?"

"Yeah, I got it." Wally whooshes off.

"All right. I'll hurry back, just please try and keep an eye on her?" Barry backs away.

"But- I might need to go to CCPD soon-" I began, only to be cut off by him.

"That's our daughter up there." Barry mocks me, "Ill cover for you with Singh if he needs you today, okay?"

"Fine." I exhale, crossing my arms, as he shot me a small smile, whooshing off.

-

[ barry's pov ]

"New ID, keys to the lab." Captain Singh told me, heading towards the elevator, "You are officially reinstated as our CSI tech, Allen."

I nod, "Thanks, Captain."

"Oh, one more thing." He stopped me, "We didn't fill your position while you were away, so there are a few cases waiting for you in your lab. Get to them fast as you can. Welcome back, Allen."

I nod at him, walking up to my CSI Lab, unlocking it, walking in, noticing the boxes scattered everywhere, "A few?" I mutter to myself.

I let out a surprised gasp when Nora runs up behind me, scaring the living daylights out of me, "What you working on? Wow- you are crazy behind."

I turned, and looked at her, my eyebrows furrowing, "Hey, so I thought you were gonna stay at Star Labs, with, um- with your- with my- Zee- mom. Your mom."

"You know I'm a forensic scientist too?" She mentions, "CCU grad, just like you. 5.6 GPA. I could help you get through this."

"Oh, I don't know. I mean," I began, only to be cut off when she runs past me, sitting in my chair at my desk, a case file opened in her hands, "So the fire marshal at this site says crazing in the melted glass suggests a liquid accelerant."

I turn, taking in a deep breath through my nose, annoyance falling over me, as I scrunched up my nose just for a second, scratching the back of my head, before walking over, "Mm, any petroleum-based household product could cause crazing."

"Well, like floor wax, or shag rugs, even balloons." Nora says, looking up at me, as I slowly take the case file, scanning over the words, a smile falling onto my lips when I recognize the handwriting, "Why are you smiling?"

"Its just- this is Zee's- my- your mom's- handwriting." I stammer, looking up at her, "She always scribbles a lightning bolt at the top right corner of every case to make sure her pen's working."

Something flashes in Nora's eyes, as I clear my throat, looking back down at the case, "The glass melts under the surface, like ice cream in the cracks of a waffle cone."

Nora smiles up at the ceiling, "Oh, like when you get two scoops of cookie dough ice cream with extra sprinkles at the Mason Family Ice Cream Shop in-"

A sly smile forms on my lips as I recall many memories, looking at her, saying in unison with her, "Happy Harbor, Rhode Island."

"My parents used to take me there when I was a kid." I told her, "It's my favorite dessert."

"Mine too." She weakly smiles.

"Hey, look, I'm sorry, um, you're obviously good at forensics, but you shouldn't interfere." I clear my throat, "I mean, people like us, we need to be responsible."

"Right! Uh, timeline." Nora sat up.

I nod, "The timeline, yeah."

"All available units, M-0-3 in progress, 10th and Neely." The sound came through the line of the walkie talkie somewhere in my Lab.

"M-0-3, that's a meta attack." Nora knew, standing up.

"Yeah, my suit's all torn up." I run a hand through my hair, "I don't have anything to-"

Nora ran out and back in, holding up my old suit, "Direct from Cisco's back closet. One first-edition red emblem OG super suit. Total fan favorite."

"Thank you." I took it from her, "Uh, I'm gonna handle this."

I turn to walk out, Nora starting to follow me, as I turn, stopping her, "No, no, no. Uh, you stay. Okay?"

"Oh-" Nora nods, "Okay."

-

[ zee's pov ]

Nora hadn't listened to Barry, and had interfered with the meta attack. And now here we stood, all of us in the cortex, Nora receiving the aftermath.

"Oh, grife." Nora sighs, "You're mad at me."

I began, a huff leaving my lips, "No, Nora, we're not- mad. I mean, you could say we're d-"

"Please don't say disappointed. That's so much worse." Nora pleaded, "I mean, I just didn't think it was a big deal. It was only Gridlock."

"Oh, Gridlock, huh? Boy, the future's got some great names." Cisco scoffs, putting on his vibe goggles, leaning back against the chair, "This lighting!"

"How did you know who he is?" Caitlin questions.

Nora looked at her, simply answering, "Flash Museum."

"Flash Museum." I repeat, dragging the two words out.

"Did you say - "Flash Museum"?" Cisco questioned, lifting his head up, looking at her, then at me.

I turned my head, looking at him, my palms pressed against the desk, "I think she said Flash Museum."

"Are you sure she said Flash Museum? I'm hungover-" Cisco states in a questionable tone.

"I mean, I'm not and I heard Flash Museum." I clear my throat.

We both looked back at Nora, saying in complete unison, "There's a Flash Museum."

"Yeah." Nora nods, "It has all the villains and battles in chronological order. I've studied everything."

"So you know this guy's real name?" I question, standing up straight.

"Mr. Myles, the curator, he scrubbed all the names for legal reasons." Nora admits, "But it really shouldn't matter. I mean, Gridlock was a one-and-done. You guys beat him in one try, or at least you were supposed to."

Nora began to blame herself out loud, "Ugh, now, because of me, he's on the run, and the timeline's all messed up again, and I-"

"Nora, hey, look, look." Barry stops her, rounding the console, "I've made way bigger mistakes than this time traveling."

"You got that right." I mutter under my breath, my eyes on the monitor in front of me.

Barry looked at me, his tone softening, "Hey-"

"I love you." I instantly say, looking up at him, putting my hands up in surrender, "But, man."

Barry shot me a frown, as I shot him a guilty pout, before he looks back at Nora, "We'll get this guy you don't need to worry about that But the longer you stay here, the more things might change. We need to get you home."

"But I can't go fast enough to get home." Nora quietly says.

"What about the tachyon absorption enhancer?" Caitlin suggests, "The one that Thawne used to increase his speed?"

"Oh, and if we charge it up, we could uh, boost the Speed Force in her cells, like some kind of," Cisco lays his head back, "-um thing that boosts Speed Force in cells."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Barry nods, "Let's okay, finding Gridlock and getting Nora home need to be our priorities."

"No- no- stop." Ralph walks in, pulling a clear white board in with him, "Wait."

"Loud!" Cisco points out.

"Okay, so but this needs to be our priority. Now, I realize that you're all way ahead of me in this time-travel business, but guys, I think I just discovered something." Ralph began to draw on the white board, "So if Nora can time travel, that means she can create new timelines, right? New timelines means that parallel timelines can exist. So, guys, I think that a whole other universe could exist."

We all shot him a look, already knowing about this, but letting him proceed, as he did, "I know, I know, I know. It sounds crazy, but think about it. There could be an Earth where we're all bad guys, or another Earth where there's no world hunger, or or another Earth where they never made that last "Indiana Jones" movie. Think of the possibilities. It's like some kind of a manyverse."

Ralph turns, noticing the look on our faces, "And everybody knows about the manyverse."

"Well- I mean. It's the multiverse. But, so do you, Ralph." I spoke, "Breacher? Gypsy? Harry?"

"What did you think we meant when we said Harry was from Earth 2?" Caitlin asked.

"That he is from Earth also." Ralph admits, hitting his head against the board, "You guys really need to make, like, a welcome pamphlet, or at least a Powerpoint or something."

"Hey, Ralph, buddy?" Barry calls out, lCan we get off time travel, maybe, please? Let's focus on finding Gridlock, all right? Thank you."

Everyone leaves the cortex, Barry looking at me, Nora standing alone, "I'm gonna go to CCPD, see what I can dig up."

"Okay, i'll-" I began, only for him to cut me off.

"You-" Barry rounds the console, grabbing my hands, "-will stay with Nora and make sure she doesn't get into trouble? Please?"

"Barry." I exhale, looking up at him, "The last time-"

"It'll be fine this time. Please?" Barry practically begged.

I nod slowly, "Okay, I'll stay with Nora."

"Thank you." Barry pecks my lips, "Let's just make sure-"

"I know." I cut him off, "Protect the timeline."

Barry nods, pecking my lips once more, then leaving Nora and I alone. Nora turns and looks at me, awkward filling the air.

I manage to blurt out, staring at my daughter, "You thirsty?"

-

"Okay, iced caramel coffee for me, and a decaf Flash for you." I hand Nora her coffee, sitting down at the booth with her at Jitters.

"Wow." She looked at her coffee, "Dad's lightning bolt is way cooler than Lightning Lad's."

I stay silent, staring the girl in front of me, simply just giving her a smile, not knowing what to do, still bewildered that this was my daughter.

"Do you think he's gonna be back soon?" Nora asks me.

"Well, you know Barry- I mean- your dad." I clear my throat, "Whenever there's a problem, he's whooshing off and- doing everything in his power to fix it. But, you know, this gives us a chance to- get to know each other, I guess."

"You're not worried about messing things up, like he is?" Nora states, staring at me in question.

"I guess- not." I shrug lightly, "It's just- really- really- weird to be- looking right at my daughter right now, that I can't think about anything else."

"I get that." Nora nods, looking down at her coffee.

I clear my throat, "So, you're a CSI like your- Barry- my Barry- your- dad. Your dad."

Nora simply nods, sipping her coffee.

"Do we have anything in common?" I hesitantly question, "You know- I mean you're a CSI like your dad, do we do anything together in the future? Like get coffee at Jitters or something?"

"You know, a coffee in my time at Jitters is $43 a cup." Nora admits, "That's one thing I really like about now. 2018 is way schway."

"Schway." I repeat her word, staring at her.

"Oh." Nora looked at me, taking notice of me not having any idea of what that is, "Yeah, I guess it's a future thing."

I nod, awkward filling the air once more, as I could tell she didn't want to talk to me. I give into the silence, sipping my coffee, clearing my throat, not knowing what else to do.

"Do you think maybe Caitlin and Cisco need any help?" Nora asks, looking at me.

-

"I can't believe I'm wearing the same tachyon enhancer my dad used to meet Supergirl for the first time." Nora fangirled, Cisco and Caitlin setting the device on her as we stood downstairs at the particle accelerator.

"All set." Caitlin steps away.

"Wait, what happened to the second version?" Nora questioned, "The smaller one that was inside the emblem of my dad's second suit? Um, if he wore that one, he could harness tachyons and share them with me."

"Hey, fangirl, relax." Cisco held something up, "We know."

"Did all these suits shrink?" Barry walks in, wearing another old suit, this one having the white emblem, "And why does it smell so bad?"

"Maybe you've just grown." I stared at him, "It's been a year since you've worn that suit, Barry. I mean, come on. Muscles."

Barry winks at me, the corner of his mouth turning up into a sly smirk, implying something without saying it, his eyes scanning up and down my body, the smirk fading, clearing his throat, when his eyes landing on Nora, our daughter.

"Because it's the one you used when you swam against King Shark." Nora points out.

"Oh, yeah, yeah." Barry nods.

"Flash! Zoom wants you dead!" Nora impersonates, a little giggle leaving her lips after.

"Yeah, yeah. I know King Shark is technically a bad guy, but you should see- just wait. When he fights Grodd, it's-" Nora ruins the moment by accidentally talking about the future.

"Um!" Cisco cuts her off, all of us looking at her with slight wide eyes, "Spoiler alert."

"We should get going, actually, let's-" Barry stands by her, Cisco coming next to me.

"Right." Nora nods, as they face the door, "Then this is goodbye. From your guys' perspectives, at least. I'll see you again in a minute and 27 seconds, but when you see me again, I'll be a baby."

"Get home safe, Nora." Caitlin wishes her well

"I'm sorry we didn't get to spend more time together." I simply say, honestly not knowing what to say, ready to just vent to Barry about everything when we got home.

"Oh, it's fine, Mom." Nora doesn't make eye contact with me, "We spend our whole lives together."

Nora suddenly catches Barry off guard by hugging him tight, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion, Barry shooting me a look.

Barry loosely hugs back, before they part, my head tilting down, my eyes glued to the floor.

"All right." Barry says, as they put their masks on, running in, the door closing.

Wally West runs in, "Did they already leave?"

"Yeah, why? What's up?" I looked at him.

"We have to stop them." Wally stared at us with eyes wide with alert.

-

"I'm sorry I was too late." Wally apologizes as we sat on the Med Lab, "It took me a while to find where the Legends were. Well, when they were. But we got their Gideon to scan Nora's blood sample."

"What'd she find?" I ask, seated on Barry's leg, icing his head, Barry's arm around me.

"Negative tachyons." Wally said.

"Negative tachyons?" Cisco questioned, "So, what, instead of speeding you up, they slow you down?"

Wally nods, "Yeah."

"Oh, damn, I was just joking." Cisco looked at him, "That's a real thing?"

"Yeah, Ava and her team at the Time Bureau have encountered them before, but no one knows where they come from or how they're generated." spoke Wally, explaining.

"Like dark matter for the space time continuum." Barry spoke up.

"Exactly, and they're saturating Nora's body and keeping her from entering the Speed Force." Wally nods.

"What about the Waverider? Can the Legends take her back?" Barry questioned.

"If negative tachyons come anywhere near the Rider's time drives, uh, the reaction will vaporize the ship." Wally sits up.

"Well, there's got to be a way to get rid of them, right?" I looked at them.

"I mean, I don't know about getting rid of them, but maybe we can offset the tachyon absorption enhancer to negate the reaction somehow." Cisco thought out loud.

"Hey, guys." The news that was displayed on the TV caught Barry's attention, as he swooped me up, setting me down, looking it closer, "How did we miss this?"

"I guess this is a parting gift from Devoe." I exhale, "Without our Star Labs satellite, we've lost our eyes, our ears, our dark matter scanner, our facial recognition- I mean, we're always gonna be one step behind these metas now."

"I'll work on this." Barry said, "Why don't you guys go help Ralph with the Gridlock crime scene, okay?"

"Uh, I can come help." Nora began to sit up, only for Barry to stop her right away.

"Please, no, just we just can't let this get any worse, all right?" Barry sighs, leaving the room.

"Just relax, okay?" I nod towards her, "I'll be in the cortex."

-

"So, figure it out yet?" I trail off, walking into the Speed Lab, my eyes landing on Barry hunched over, his eyes on the monitor.

"Whatever these negative tachyons are, it feels a lot more like science fiction than actual science." Barry sighs, his head turning, looking at me.

"Well, I wasn't asking about the science." I walked over to him, placing a hand on his back, "I was asking about the scientist."

He looks at me in question, standing up straight as I looked up at him. I handed him the coffee I held, a sigh leaving his lips as he sat down on the steps with me, "Thank you."

"Are you still freaked out about Nora? Because I know I am- and I just can't stop thinking about it." I admit, looking at him, my tone softening, "I just wanted to check in with you."

"I'm fine." Barry shook his head, dismissing it, sipping his coffee.

"Barry, you and Nora, you guys have such a strong connection. I mean, she doesn't even want to talk to me- because she's so set on her father. It's effortless." I began, "So why are you so intent on sending her back?"

"I mean, what do you mean?" Barry looks at me, laughing lightly in disbelief, "First of all, she can't stop talking about the future. But I mean, you know the danger that her being here poses to the timeline."

"Okay, but I know you." I reason, "You're the guy that went back in time- to borrow Snart before he died."

Barry sighs, "I know."

"You're also the same guy that travelled to 2020 to figure out who Savitar was, and 2015 to train with Wells." I went on, "You changed fate to save Iris' life- and in that chaos- Cisco and I found our own loop hole. So, now that our daughter is here in front of us, asking for our help, you expect me to believe that you're worried about the timeline?"

"Nora shouldn't be here." Barry shook his head.

"Man- that sounds familiar." I recall, looking at him, shooting him a look, referring to when he came out the Speed Force.

Barry scoffs, a small smile forming on his lips.

He looks at me, "Look, I'm- I've always wanted a family. You know, and when we got married, I knew that one day, we'd decide to have a baby. We would try, and you'd get pregnant."

A soft smile plants on my lips as he went on, "I'd be there for the sonogram, I'd hear her first heartbeat, and then she'd come. And we'd take her home, see her first smile, her first tooth, the first time I read to her. Her first steps. The first time she ran. But her being here now, don't you feel like we missed all those firsts? That we skipped all the good stuff?"

"We will still have all of those firsts." I grab his free hand, scooting closer to him, "Just not in that order."

"But my whole life's been out of order." Barry exhales, "These powers, time travel. That's the reason my mom was killed, why I grew up with my dad in prison. They missed so many firsts. They missed our wedding."

"Yeah, 'cause Nazis crashing our wedding is a total sight to see." I playfully roll my eyes.

"I know- I know." Barry blinks hard, then looks at me, "I don't know, I just thought that when it was our turn to have a kid, that life would let us have this one little thing the normal way. Just once. But we lost that chance."

"No, we're not losing anything by having her here now. We're only gaining something extra, Barry." I hold his hand between both of mine, "I mean, by the time we do have a baby, we are gonna be the best parents ever."

"Maybe you're right." Barry makes eye contact with me.

"Haven't we already established that I am always right?" I kiss his cheek, "You're gonna be there to put that quarter under her pillow when she loses her first tooth, and you're gonna be there to drive her to her first day of school, or well- run- whatever you prefer, I guess, and you're gonna be there to cheer on her first run. And we are gonna have all of those firsts. I promise."

Barry weakly smiles at me, as I went on, "And think about it. We have a kid who defied the laws of physics to hang out with her parents. I mean come on, that's really cool."

Barry laughs, "Yeah, as eager as she is, you'd think that she's the one that grew up with a parent in-"

His smile fades, as he stared at the ground, deep in thought.

"What's wrong?" I question.

"Nothing." Barry shakes his head. "Um, nothing. I'm gonna be right back."

Barry got up, leaving the Speed Lab.

-

"I missed all your firsts." I heard Barry's weak voice come from the Time Vault, my hand pressing against the wall, opening it, "I was so worried about screwing up your childhood and screwing up our family, but I'm not even there."

My eyebrows furrow, stepping into the Time Vault my eyes landing on what was displayed in front of us, Barry's eyes instantly landing on me, wiping away his own tears.

Nora looks back at me, "Mom-"

25 YEARS LATER - FLASH STILL MISSING

My eyes flood with tears, as I stared at the article in front of me, as I clear my throat, my eyes landing on Barry, "Barry, we need you in the Cortex. It's about Gridlock."

"Wait-" Barry began, only to be cut off when I quickly made my way out, wiping my tears, and walking right back into the Cortex.

Barry walks in behind me, his hand instantly touching my lower back, rubbing it in comfort, practically signaling that we would talk about this later.

I clear my throat, typing on the monitor, "I scanned the crime scene photos and got a match. This is not Lang's first rodeo. CCPD put out a warrant for him for carjacking. He killed the whole crew inside."

"And now he absorbs kinetic energy?" Barry looks at us.

"He only gets stronger if you punch him, you shoot him, you throw him into traffic." Caitlin explained.

"Which could only make the traffic worse. God, I'd hate to be stuck in that gridlock." Cisco's eyes widen with slight excitement, "Gridlock."

His smile fades as he looked at us, "Gridlock. I came up with the name. I am fortune's fool."

"So how do we find this guy without Sally the satellite?" Wally questioned.

"You guys named the satellite?" I look at Wally and Cisco.

"Not that point right now, Zee- the point is that we don't need a satellite to hack a cell phone." Cisco walks over to his computer, "And if we want to find his cell phone, we'll find it-"

He stops typing, "By the airport?" He looks up, "Cause he's on a plane that just took off. Central City Air, flight number 5201."

"Why would he get on a plane?" I ask.

"Because he's gonna crash it." Barry crosses his arms.

"The plane just lost an engine." Cisco exhaled, his eyes scanning the screen.

I spoke, "It's headed for downtown."

"If Gridlock takes out the other engine, the pilot won't be able to avoid the buildings." Caitlin informed Barry.

"Thousands of people will die." Wally swallowed.

Nora walks in, "Not if you phase the plane through the buildings."

She had caught our attention, "I read about you doing the same thing to a plane in the future when you were fighting Mob Rule."

"Can you two do that?" I look between Wally and Barry, "Phase the plane?"

"A plane?" Barry trailer off, "No I mean, no, I don't think so. I mean, I think it's too big."

His eyes shine in thought, landing on Nora, "The three of us. I mean, the three of us might be able to do it."

"Well, I can't phase anything." Nora argues, "I can't even phase myself, let alone at G-Force."

"Wait, G-Force, that's it." Barry says, "The plane is still ascending. Once he blows up the other engine, it's gonna slow down and point downwards before it starts its descent."

"That'll give us about ten seconds- of zero Gs on the plane." Cisco pieces together.

"And zero Gs means no kinetic energy, means Gridlock has no powers." Caitlin finished.

"I mean- you can breach them on the plane, right?" I turn to Cisco, "Can you breach them onto the plane?"

"A plane goes way too fast." Cisco told me, "I'd need to see it in person."

"Then go." I demand.

Barry stands by Nora, "But I don't have a suit."

"I actually have a backup." Nora spoke up, handing him a ring, "I got more than just a list of metas from that museum."

Barry slowly takes it, putting the ring on, pinching his fist through the air, a suit coming right out of it, Barry running, getting into it, electricity sparking off him.

"Damn, Gina." Cisco gaped at it with wide eyes, "I made that?"

"Uh, Ryan Choi, actually." Nora admits.

"Oh, this is a supersuit." Barry exhales, then looks st Cisco, "No offense."

"None taken." Cisco shook his head, amazed by the suit.

"Guys, he just took out the other engine." I caught their attention, grabbing the meta cuffs, "Go."

Barry nods, grabbing the meta cuffs, running off along with Nora and Wally

Cisco struggles to chase after them, grabbing his vibe goggles, "Uh, don't drink and vibe. I feel like I'm gonna hurl."

-

"Well, Gridlock's off to Iron Heights' meta wing." Wally said as we all stood in the cortex after Nora, Barry and Wally successfully phased the plane through, captured Gridlock and saved everyone in the plane.

"Where he won't be moving from for a very long time." I finished for him.

"Thanks to your help." Barry turns to Nora, a smile on his face, "I'm glad we got to team up."

She smiles back, "Me too."

"Ladies and gentleman, say hello to the tachyon absorption enhancer 2.5, now complete with completely recalibrated Time Bureau technology." Cisco said, holding the device as he walked in with Caitlin.

"We haven't tested it yet, but it should counterbalance the negative tachyons in Nora's cells." Caitlin explained.

"Here you go, Billy Pilgrim." Cisco hands Nora the device, "Consider yourself unstuck in time."

"So I can run home now?" Nora quietly says, looking down at the device.

"Or-" Barry takes it from her, "Maybe we hit pause on this thing."

"You want Nora-" I trail off, "To stay?"

Cisco backs me up, "Um, yeah, I thought getting her home was our priority."

"No, it is, I just-" Barry stammers, "Now, I'm thinking that maybe we should make sure her powers are working correctly before we send her home."

"And what about the timeline?" Caitlin questioned.

"It's risky, but I don't know." Barry shrugs lightly, "I mean, Wally and I were talking about it."

"Yeah, the Legends have a theory." Wally took it from there, "Uh, there are some historical events that are soft. Basically, you change those, it's not going to affect much else, like catching Gridlock late. And then, there are those that are fixed. You mess with them, and all sorts of craziness starts to happen."

Barry went on, "Like the night my mom died. Changing that created Flashpoint."

"Well then, Nora is gonna need a place to stay." I exhale deeply, putting my hands on my hips.

"Uh, yes, and I'll stay in the lounge." Nora points, a confused expression falling on all our faces.

"What lounge?" Cisco asked for all of us.

Nora leads us down, turning on the light, "This lounge."

Barry starts to laugh as we stepped onto the steps, Joe waking up from his nap, rubbing his eyes.

"Joe." I gape at him.

"You found my spot." Joe looks at us.

"You knew about this?" I laugh softly.

"I've been napping in here since day one." He admits.

"Uh, well, Nora was gonna stay here, if that's all right with you." Barry places his hands on his hips.

"Okay, well, now I can get to know my granddaughter." Joe smiles, Nora and Wally sitting by him, Barry grabbing my hand, leading me out to the balcony.

"Are you okay?" Barry instantly asked me as we stepped into the chilly night, "With what you saw in the Time Vault."

"I don't know what to say about it right now, Barry." I sigh, looking up at him, "But- on the bright side, I've finally come to grips with the fact that our daughter- is actually here, with us. I mean- I was freaked out at first- and it didn't seem like we could ever connect with how much she was around you- but I get why she was so distant now. I thought I missed out on my chance to connect with Nora, but now that she's staying, I get another shot."

"You know-" He wraps an arm around me, as we looked up at the sky, I leaning against the raining, "I see a lot of you in her."

"Oh yeah?" I whisper, looking at him.

"Yeah." Barry softly smiles, rubbing my arm, "If you could have seen her on that plane, you'd know that you guys are already connected."

My voice is quiet, "Really?"

"She was fearless, just like you." Barry kisses my head, "She knew what she had to do- and she made it happen."

"We have a daughter together." I could hear the happiness in Barry's voice, as he pulled me into his side more, "We make a person."

"I told you our kid would be cute." I looked up at him.

Barry laughs quietly, pulling me into him, wrapping both arms around me, kissing my cheek repeatedly.

-

"You should get some rest." I told Nora after Barry and I helped her settle in at the lounge, "You've had a long day."

"Ooh, I'll try. I'm just so excited." Nora smiles up at us, "Like, literally. Phasing excited all of the electron clouds in my body."

"Well, if you're not tired," Barry trialed off, "Two scoops of cookie dough ice cream sound good right now?"

"From Happy Harbor?" Nora smiles wider.

Barry turns to me, "If that's okay with you."

"Oh yeah- totally." I nod, placing a pillow for Nora on the couch, "Just bring me back some tiramisu-"

"Oh no-" Barry laughs quietly, "You're coming with us."

"What?" I looked at him, but before I could say anything, Barry has swooped me into his arms and was running off, Nora running right after him, as I held onto him for dear life.

authors note:

thank god for youtube lmao. i legitimately dig through the very depth of youtube to find a clip of each scene. like jesus christ, I'm dedicated. don't let this chapter flop lmao.

jkjk. but also, i literally don't like his new suit as much lmao, i mean it's fine, but season 4 suit all the way. best suit, hands down.

comment and vote pls ! mostly comment lol, I love reading them.