"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.