ϟ barry allen | the flash

[supertardiness]

	✔ Cʀᴏssᴏᴠᴇʀs/AU ✔ Aᴄᴛɪᴏɴsᴘᴀᴍ ✔ Pʀᴏsᴇ	✔ Pɪᴄᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴘʀᴏᴍᴘᴛs ✔ Oᴛʜᴇʀᴡᴏʀᴅʟʏ ✔ Sᴛᴀʀᴛᴇʀs	♥ F/M ⏰ Uᴘ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴀᴛᴇ

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[supertardiness]

[Barry crosses his arms in front of his chest, because he knows that song and dance from Eobard. He fell for it too, once upon a time.]

And what was he getting out of it?

[recolte]

[Honestly, when he says it like that, she realizes how completely stupid this sounds on her part. She would get her dad back and her life changed for the better and he would get... the satisfaction he did something good? Maybe that's not enough for the Flash but was the Reverse Flash really satisfied with the same thing?]

I guess he never really said. I didn't think to ask any more questions.

[supertardiness]

[He nods, swallowing hard, before taking a step closer to place a hand on her shoulder gently.]

I know how persuasive he can be. I know how he can get in your head, and that I wasn't there to protect you from that. But you gotta know, with what you know now, that this can't keep going.

[recolte]

I know I tried to end it after I found out what he did to your mom. I told him I was done and then you guys kept talking about how everyone deserves a second chance, and that's what heroes do. We give second chances to people and maybe he really does want to turn over a new leaf but maybe it doesn't really matter because he has like fifteen minutes left before he's executed

[That's all said in fifteen seconds, did he get all of it?]

[supertardiness]

[Super speed dad means super speed hearing, and he gets it all, but it takes a minute for the implications of what she's saying to sink in.

Eobard is going to be executed.

At least something about this future makes sense. But at the same time, that's a heavy weight to bear.]

He's being executed?

[recolte]

Yeah.

[She's really not sure if it makes her sound better or worse for collaborating with a man on death row but there it is. Being honest with her dad is clearly the best way forward.]

I'm sure I don't have to tell you why.

[supertardiness]

[He can assume, more or less. and there's a knot of unresolved feelings regarding that, but ... at least some kind of justice is being done.]

No, you don't.

[Based just on what he did to Barry alone, Eobard's crimes likely far outweigh the balance.]

[recolte]

[Well. That's good.

Nora licks her lips, looking down at the ground instead of at her dad.]

I really am sorry for lying to you.

[Maybe not so much for working with Thawne in the first place, but sacrifices had to be made to fix her family and it's better that she pay the price than anyone else.]

[supertardiness]

I know.

[He's silent for a long time, because there are so many consequences, so many possibilities tied up in this one choice and as much as he's loved having his daughter here, as much as he's loved getting to know her, and knows what she's going back to, there's only one choice.]

But, Nora, you have to go home.

[recolte]

What?

[Of all the things she expected he'd say to her, that wasn't one of them. Nora expected a lecture, about family and loyalty and how her ability to judge character is seriously broken. Maybe some vague threat about how if she ever spoke to Thawne again, then she'd be grounded or stripped of her speed again. Even questions about her sister she previously said nothing about wouldn't have tripped her up as much.

She steps toward him, ready to plead her case.]

Why? I'm not-- I can't go back yet. Please. I'm not done. I can't go back without her, without you.

[supertardiness]

This is Thawne, Nora. Whatever he's using you for, it's more important he not get it.

[It hurts to say, because he knows the sacrifice he's asking her to make, but he can't let Thawne win. He can't let him get out and hurt more people.]

He may make what he want seem innocent or harmless but it never is. You have to let me go, Nora. You have to go home.

[recolte]

No.

[Now she takes a step away from him, like she's about to bolt if he tries to grab her. He might be the Flash, he's definitely faster than her but she's catching up and he can't rewind time like she can. She can out run him, for a little while at least.]

Please. I'll never speak to him again. I'll burn my journal. I won't do anything about Cicada. Please.

[supertardiness]

It's not that simple, Nora.

[He closes his eyes as he takes another step closer.]

I know how hard this is. I know what I'm asking you to do. Trust me, I've been on both sides of this. There are always consequences, and you can't take them back. We've already had more time than we probably should have.

[Which isn't a fair thing to say, and it's killing him that he has to. He doesn't want her to run, so he keeps himself back, but every instinct in him is telling him to reach for her, keep her close for as long as he can before he sends her away.]

I wish I could have been there for you to help you figure all of this out. Having to give you up is ... the last thing I want. But giving Thawne what he wants isn't going to change any of that.

[recolte]

[Nora tenses, ready to run even as she's desperate to stay. She doesn't want to go home, to a time that doesn't feel like home anymore. This, 2019 has become her home. Her dad is here, she has a better relationship with her mom. There's no daily reminder of her dead sister and how it's all her fault.]

So you want to send me back to where he is?

[Explain that logic to her. She's close to crying all over again, as her voice cracks with her pleading.]

Come on. We're smart. We have the team. We can outsmart him. And I can't... I can't go back and be alone again.

[supertardiness]

To where you're supposed to be.

[He sighs, running a hand against the back of his head.]

And you won't be alone. You can go ... make things better with your mom. You can live your life, in the time period you're supposed to be in, and I know it doesn't make things easier. But its where you need to go.

[recolte]

[Nora isn't upset about the idea of making up with Mom in the future. She knows that Mom will take her back with open arms and they'll both cry a lot and she'll make sure to say sorry for being such a brat. Mom might even forgive her for her sister's death.

It's going back to a time where her sister isn't, to where she's dead because of Nora, that has her shaking her head and backing away from him again.]

I'm not going anywhere until I get my sister back. I'll do it with you or without you but it would be easier if you helped. I don't care what Thawne gets out of it if I fix what I broke.

[supertardiness]

[Barry runs a hand over his face, because this is going to go wrong in so many ways. There are so many ways this can go wrong. So many splinters of reality that could be broken just by Nora being here and he knew that.

He knew that and he let her stay anyway.

Barry honestly doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know how to steer her out of this without knowing what Thawne wants. A small part of him, an arrogant part of him, thinks that maybe he can try. He can figure it out and protect Nora and still save his daughter.]

Don't ... just don't do anything rash, okay. I need ... I need to talk to your mom.

[Iris will know what to do. Iris will help him figure this out, he just needs to know that Nora isn't going to make this worse before he can make it better.]

[recolte]

[She stares at him, like she's trying to decide if she can relax the kinetic energy thrumming in her veins, ready to bolt at a moment's notice. It could be a trick to slap a pair of metahandcuffs on her and take her back to the future whether she liked it or not.

She decides to trust he wouldn't do that to her.]

I want to be the one to tell her. Please. She deserves that.

[supertardiness]

[He considers for a moment before nodding.]

Okay. Let's go talk to your mom.

[bloggings]

[Probably the last thing Iris expected Nora to be hiding was a deceased twin sister. Working with Thawne she can almost understand. She doesn't love it but blames herself more than Nora for it, since in the future, she never tells Nora what that monster did to her family. It isn't all Nora's fault for being the lamb to walk into the lion's den when apparently Iris did her best to make her a gullible as possible.

But the fact that she did that to not one daughter but two of them-- yeah she's going to need a minute to process that. Away from Nora. She lets her daughter cry on her for a little while, burying her face in Nora's hair and dropping tears of her own over how much pain her little girl has been hiding from all of them.

Eventually though, she pulls away and suggest that Nora go find her grandparents, because they deserve to know the truth too, and because Iris needs a minute alone with Barry. It's a minor miracle that Nora actually listens to her, leaving her parents alone.

Almost immediately, Iris's shoulders slump and she practically curls into Barry's side.]

We have twins.

[supertardiness]

I know.

[He pulls his wife into his arms without a second thought, just trying to find a way to process all of the information that has just been dumped in their lap. He both gained and lost another child in one fell swoop, and he doesn't know how to deal with any of it, honestly.

It had been bad enough, feeling like he had abandoned one child. It's another thing entirely to find out that he had abandoned two.]

I don't know what to do, Iris.

[bloggings]

[She's glad when he admits that, because she's been feeling lost and hopeless for a while now. Nora has been with them for months, and as far as they know, none of her memories have been changing. Which means that Barry disappearing is a fixed point and Iris doesn't relish the idea that he never comes home to her.

Her arms tighten around his shoulders for a moment.]

I know. I know what we can't do. We can't push her away. I know she's lied to us and I don't love it, but she's still our daughter. I know it's Thawne but she's still Nora.

[supertardiness]

[He nods, because she's right, and he doesn't want to push her away, but at the same time ...]

We need to find out what he wants. See if there's ... a way around him getting that that doesn't involve alienating her.

[bloggings]

[Truth be told, Iris will always picks her daughter over anything else in the world, even Barry himself, and if that means she has to be civil to Eobard Thawne... then it's really not the highest price to pay. She's facing down a future where she loses Barry and a daughter while completely alienating another. If Thawne knows how to change it, she kind of wants to let him do it. What else can he do to them that he hasn't already.]

What if there's not, Barry? He's terrible and evil, I know that but this is our family. Nora and her sister-- [Iris sucks in a deep breath, suddenly aware that she doesn't even know her other daughter's name.] They matter more than he does. So much more than whatever he wants.

[supertardiness]

It is our family. And that's why ...

[That's why he doesn't know what the acceptable level of risk is. Because when it comes to his daughter(s) and Eobard Thawne in the same sentence, none of that is an acceptable risk. Because Eobard's gifts always come with a price and odds are that Barry won't be the one to pay it.

Nora will.]

Nothing with him ever comes for free, it's not a clean trade, there's always a cost. And it's a cost that I don't want her to have to pay. She's already lost so much.