"Zee?" Barry's raspy voice sounds after the sound of his footsteps stopping behind me, dressed in sweats and a hoodie from just putting it on, my back towards him.

I hum to the quiet music that played through the music, my hair slightly a mess from just waking up a while ago, dressed in just an oversized sweater, stirring the chicken flavoring into my ramen noodles, "Hm?"

"It's three in the morning-" Barry rubs his eyes, wrapping his arms around me from behind, his chin resting on my shoulder, his hair a mess, "You're making ramen noodles at three in the morning? Why are you making ramen noodles at three in the morning?"

"Well- I got hungry." I continued to stir the ramen, the hot soup steaming from the bowl that rested on the kitchen island.

"At three in the morning?" Barry buried his face into my neck, a mumble leaving his lips, "Even after we had ice cream last night?"

"Yeah-" I lean back into him, "Did I wake you up?"

"No-" Barry admits, "I turned to hold you and you weren't there, so I got scared."

"You were scared?" I giggle lightly, leaning my head against his, "Why?"

"That you got kidnapped or something." Barry shrugs lightly, "But- I should know better. You barely sleep at night and take naps through out the day."

"You're right." I let go of the fork, it clinking against the bowl, his grip loosening slightly when I grab the bowl, leaning over the counter, placing it on the other side, our lower areas pressing up against each other unintentionally, as I stood back up straight, "Just go back to bed."

"Come with me." Barry's hands slip under my sweater, resting on my waist, his cheek against the exposed skin on my neck.

I looked at him, "But- my ramen."

"Mhm." He simply mumbles, starting to kiss my exposed skin, tightening his grip once more, pressing me up against the counter, my back pressed up against his chest, as I was now trapped between him and the counter.

"Oh-" I bit my lip lightly, my hands touching his arms, "Don't you have that CSI job to get to in a few hours?"

"Yeah." Barry kisses down my shoulder, his hands slowly running up and down my figure under my sweater, causing me to completely forget about my food, "You're going to the same place too."

"Exactly- the both of us need to get to work soon-" I went on, a shaky breath leaving my lips, "So we should just head to bed- catch up on our sleep."

"We can catch up on sleep later." He mumbles, taking a step back, spinning me to face him, trapping me again, kissing my neck.

I found myself giving in, my hand finding its way to his hair, tugging it lightly.

"Awh, now that's more like it." Barry presses his lips into mine, grabbing my thighs, picking me up, heading straight for our bedroom.

-

"So- you're not stuck here." Iris asked Nora the next day, as we all were seated at the West Household, Nora and Barry telling us all the truth.

I was dressed in a pair of blue jeans, parts of my shaved legs being shown due to the slight rips in them, and a blue sweater that was tucked into my jeans, a black slightly oversized windbreaker on top to finish the look, my feet covered in black heeled ankle boots, my hair being straight.

"No, I'm not." Nora admits, looking at all of us.

"What about the reverse tachyons in your system?" I questioned, seated on the arm of the single couch Joe was seated in, Iris on the other arm.

Nora sighs, "Were put there because of me."

"Are you kidding?" Cisco exhales, "You know how many credit card points I just blew trying to get rid of your negative tachyons? I just bought a brand new spectral tachyeometer when I could have my Fiji get away."

Cisco slouches, "Not that I have anyone to go with, anymore."

Ralph starts to turn next to him, opening his mouth, Cisco instantly shutting him down, "I'm not taking you to Fiji, Ralph."

"Why didn't you guys tell us about this before?" asked Caitlin Snow, seated next to Cecile on the table.

"Oh, my God-" Cecile gasps at what was in front of us when Nora presses the button on the device on her arm, the article I had seen when I walked in on Barry and Nora talking displaying, a sigh leaving my lips, as I looked down, "Barry never returns?"

"That's why you came here." Joe pieces together, "To see you father, because you were raised without him."

"So what?" I spoke up after everyone went quiet, tears present in my eyes, a small tint of red in them.

Barry looked up at me, his eyes connecting with mine, his features softening and becoming hesitant, "Zee."

"So what that- that article says that you never come back." I looked at him, "So what if the other one says that you vanished. I mean, it's said other things before, right? We made it say other things before. So whatever the future brings we are gonna deal with it when it gets here. And change it if we need to. Because it's damn near nothing we haven't done before. Okay?"

"She has a point." Cisco backed me up, "If there's anything Team Flash is good at, it's handing the future its own ass and then some."

"What he said." Caitlin smiles.

"Well- then Nora's gonna need some more training." I slip my hands into the pockets of my windbreaker.

The sound of Jenna crying upstairs catches all of our attention, Cecile getting up, "She's hungry."

"Yeah, why don't we, uh, all meet back at Star Labs, all right?" Barry says, as they all got up, everyone slowly leaving one by one, as I slowly followed out behind Barry, heading towards his cat, Nora already in the back.

"First- I meet our adult daughter from the future and now there's this." I look up at Barry, "Is there every going to be a year where there isn't a possibility that one of us is going to have to leave the other?"

"We can only hope." Barry wraps an arm around me, "But- let's not think about this okay? I don't want to see you upset."

I simply nod, as he opens the door for me, a weak smile forming on my lips, as I slipped into the car.

-

"So this is where the Moretti brothers- have been running guns." I sigh, walking over to Barry, holding a notepad, statements from the witnesses in it, stood at a crime scene later that day.

"Yeah." Barry looks up at me, standing up straight.

"Stealing from these guys takes some guts." I gasped up at him, as he stood to his full height, "Any idea who our thieve might be?"

"Not yet." Barry shook his head, "Made my rounds too. So far the only prints belong to Bobby and Bruno Moretti."

"Well, whoever did this, they're running fast and loose." Captain Singh's voice caught our attention, as he walked over to us, "If we don't stop this, a lot of high powered weapons are gonna flood the streets. Central City is gonna be a war zone."

"Don't worry about the city, friend." Nora's voice causes both Barry and I's eyes to widen, as she slid next to Barry, "CCPD's finest are on the case."

"And you are?" Captain Singh questioned.

"Nora, CSI intern." Nora introduced herself, "Who are you?"

"Nora-" I interrupt, "Nora, this is the Captain."

Barry blurts out, the both of us trying to stop her, "The captain of CCPD."

"Captain David Singh." She smiles, shaking his hand, "Oh I've read so much about you. It's really nice to meet you."

"You hired an intern, Allen?" Captain Singh looks at Barry.

Barry opens his mouth, trialing off, making up something from the top of his head, "I am very sorry, sir, but I needed help with, um, the cases that accumulated while I was suspended and you said the Mayor wasn't going to give us any money to help solve them, so I hired an intern to help for free."

"Mm." Captain Singh hummed in response, "Well, make her official when you get back."

"Yeah-" Barry nods, Captain Singh walking away from us.

"Nora, what are you doing here?" I instantly ask, looking at her, "This is a closed crime scene-"

"I know you're surprised to see me but I found this badge and this jacket and thought, "I'm a CSI too" so I should help my dad." Nora rambled, "But- I forgot you worked here too, so hey mom."

"Right, okay." I trail off, nodding slowly, "You said you were still a rookie, right?"

"Well, yeah, but forensic sciences in the future is like way advance, so I can totally handle a robbery scene." Nora boasted, "Like, not a prob."

"That's great." Barry slowly trials off, looking at me.

"What is that?" Nora points to a fleshy cube, that rested on the ground.

"That I haven't gotten to yet." Barry said, "But it looks like somebody wanted their pound of flesh."

Nora crouches down, grabbing onto the cube, causing works to instantly shoot out my mouth, "Oh my god, Nora-"

"Nora, wait." Barry's tone was high, "What are you doing? You can't touch that. You'll contaminate the evidence."

"Sorry, you mean you don't have a scene-wide modified bosonic frequency field to avoid cross contamination?" Nora lets go of it, looking between us.

"I don't even think we have some of those words yet." Barry and I gaped at her, crouched down.

"I did not understand not one word that she just said." My eyes are glued to Nora, having a conversation with Barry.

"For once-" Barry began, "I don't either."

Nora sighs, "It's just- this seems way denser than human tissue."

"Yeah, you're right, actually." Barry tries to pick it up, "I can't even move this thing."

"This isn't a pound of flesh." I look at him.

Barry finished my sentence, "This is a whole human body."

Nora stares at it, a surprised sound leaving her mouth, "That is so schway."

I shook my head, standing up, feeling as if I could throw up right there.

-

Barry and Nora had figured out who was behind the cubes of flesh. Vanessa Jansen was her name, the meta of the week.

While they were trying to go out and get her, Nora had somehow screwed it up, which lead us all back to the cortex, Caitlin checking up on Nora.

Barry was standing next to me, his arm wrapped around me, as I was completely clinging to his side, a small yawn leaving my lips in exhaustion of the day already.

"I think Nora is good to go." Caitlin walks in with Nora, "She didn't even need an Ibuprofen."

"You sure you feel okay?" Barry double checks.

"I'm totally okay." Nora assures him, "Come on, let's get back to work, Flash."

"All right, well let's figure out where Vanessa went." My cheek is pressed up against Barry's chest, "If she sells those stolen weapons to the wrong people-"

My eyebrows furrow, moving my head away from Barry's chest, looking at Cisco, "Cisco, were you able to get the satellite up and running? Cisco?"

Caitlin clears her throat, "We weren't able to track Vanessa, but we did find a scientific anomaly that we've never seen before, right, Cisco?"

Ralph turns, whispering into his ear, "Han shot second."

Cisco instantly snaps out of his trance, standing up, grabbing Ralph by the collar, growling, "That doesn't even make sense."

"Ralph, it's you." Cisco sighs, letting go of him.

Ralph shrugs, "Sorry to lie like that, man. We just we need the CCTV-"

"CCTV, yes." Cisco nods, pulling it up, "Vanessa Jansen's concentrated air squares are dense very dense, stupid dense. The kind of dense reserved for people who still believe- in love."

Barry and I look at each other with wide eyes, then look at Cisco with the same expression, confusion falling over us both.

"I think what Cisco is trying to say is that Vanessa can manipulate the movement of atoms to created concentrated air molecules in cube form." Caitlin explained, "The space between the molecules is so compact that That there isn't enough room for a speedster to vibrate trough them."

"What do you call someone who can compress air molecules- into solid blocks?" Barry questions, looking at Cisco.

"I don't know," Cisco starts to leave the cortex, "Block."

I clear my throat when he leaves the room, "So, I guess Cisco is still taking the Gipsy thing pretty hard?"

"Well, we're working on it." Caitlin lightly shrugs, not knowing what else to say.

"But you can't expect real progress till you hit step 17." Ralph says through his teeth.

Confusion falls over Barry's face, his eyebrows furrowing, his lips falling into a confused pout.

"It's this thing we're working on with Cisco." Caitlin answered short and simple, "You can do without us for a little while, right?"

"I mean, we are blind without our satellite so we're just gonna have to wait until Vanessa makes her next move anyway." Barry shrugs, Caitlin and Ralph nodding, leaving the room, Nora already gone, most likely trying to find someone in the Labs to help, or waiting for Barry.

"What about you?" Barry rubs my arm, kissing my head, "Gonna hang out here for a bit?"

I shook my head disappointedly, "I need to go by CCPD to pick up a few files."

"You gonna work on them there?" Barry asked me, his eyes flashing with thought.

"I was just gonna work on it at home." I admit.

"Well, maybe- you should let me give you a lift- and then you could work on your cases here- while watching me train our daughter." Barry pecks my lips, holding both my hands.

"Do I wanna guess how much you love saying that?" I question, looking up at him.

Barry shook his head, "Just know- I love it very much."

"Okay, fine, just let me tie my hair up first-" I slip away, throwing my hair into a ponytail, "I'm not in the mood to brush all the tangles I'd get."

Barry chuckles, swooping me up and whooshing off.

-

"Okay, so the key with Higgs particles isn't the math per se but the effect they have on the mass of other particles." Barry taught Nora, stood in the Speed Lab, gesturing towards the clear board with many things written in his handwriting with white marker, Nora seated in front of him, jotting things down in her notebook, I being seated behind the monitors in the Speed Lab, in a office chair, a case or two around me as I focused on getting them done.

Nora rose her hand, "Question. How would one go about performing a supersonic punch on one of those particles?"

"Nora." Barry sighs, running a hand through his hair.

"Dad, I'm sorry, but I already know all of this." Nora apologizes, "My high school textbooks had laws of physics that this time hasn't even discover yet. I don't need this kind of training I need to learn how to be like you."

Barry stares at her, pausing for a second, "What do you think it means to be like me?"

"You know, running so fast you can stop a tsunami." Nora began, "Or vibrating something bigger than a plane. Or how about defeating a sand demon by throwing lighting at him."

"Nora, look, all those things are way behind your current skill level." Barry exhales, "You gotta stick to what you can handle right now."

"Uh, just because I'm your daughter doesn't mean you have to baby me." Nora shot at him, causing me to roll my eyes tiredly, "I can handle way more than you think."

"Watch." She simply says, running around in circles, Barry sighing, as the exhaustion took over me, as I drifted off asleep, my head leaning against my arm.

A sudden crash catches my attention seconds later, as I fell out of my seat in fear, my eyes landing on Barry, on the ground, glass shattered everywhere, the board done for.

"Dad!" Nora shrieks, running towards him, as I pieced it together, that Nora had accidentally hit him with lightning, "Dad, are you okay?"

"Oh my god- Barry-" I jumped up, rushing over to him, crouching down, my hands lightly touching his arm, "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay." Barry grunts, trying to sit up, "I've been hit with lighting before."

"Hey-" I stopped him, "It's going to hurt."

Barry paused, "Ow."

"Nora-" I looked at Nora.

She cuts me off, "I know."

"You can't get ahead of yourself like that-" I stare at her with slight wide eyes, staring to get defensive of Barry.

"You don't know how many times I've heard that from you." Nora looks down at her hands, shaking her head, scoffing, "It's your most used phrase."

"Hey-" Barry puts a hand on my arm, "It's okay."

"It's not okay." Nora shook her head, looking up, "I guess greatness isn't hereditary."

-

"Well, why do I have to come with you?" I ask, Barry holding my hand as he pulled me out his car, walking down the path towards The West Household.

"Because I want you to come with me." Barry simply asked, pulling me along, stepping onto the porch.

"But, this is my only break-" I complain, "I didn't even get anything to eat yet, and if you need to talk to Joe, why would I need to come along?"

Barry lets go of my hand, whooshing off for a second before returning with a Big Belly Burger bag, handing it to me, grabbing my hand again, "I need the moral support."

I look into the bag, my sight taking up upon the at least five large fries that sat in the paper bag, a gasp in delight leaving my mouth, "Man- you have me."

"I've always had you." Barry shot me a look.

"Yes, but now- you have me with fries." The corners of my mouth turn up, "I am now more willing to come along with you."

Barry pecks my lips, walking into the house, pulling me along, Joe seated on a single couch, reading the newspaper, "Hey, I need your help."

"That's blunt." Joe shot him a look, Barry closing the door, pulling me along, picking me up, seated me on the coffee table, sitting right next to me.

"Uh oh, this could break-" I began to get up, propping a fry into my mouth.

"No- no- we're fine." Barry places a hand on my thigh, keeping me down, looking at Joe.

"Okay-" I hesitantly nod, putting another fry into my mouth.

"Yeah, so Nora, isn't really spending any time with Zee." Barry clears his throat, squeezing my thigh lightly in comfort at the slightly sensitive topic as I silently ate my fries, tuning in, "So she's kind of with me all the time, you know? And I've been training her a lot by myself and I just don't get it. I mean, it's like- he keeps taking things on that she can't handle yet."

Barry went on, venting, "It's like she wants to go big for big sake and I try to walk her back, but it's like she's not listening to what I'm teaching her, you know? It's actually that she hears the opposite of what I'm saying."

Barry looked at Joe, Joe slowly nodding, "Why are you nodding? Are you agreeing with me?"

"Do you remember your 4th grade science fair?" asked Joe, setting the newspaper down.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with this?" Barry questions right back.

"All you had to do is make a baking soda volcano." Joe states, "And what did you do?"

Barry gapes, blinking hard in embarrassment, trailing off quietly, "I-"

"You built a robot with wheels, pretty much set the gym on fire." Joe answers for him.

"Almost got Mrs. Dumas too." Barry recalls, then looks up, "But that was different."

"How so?" Joe instantly asked.

"That was the first year you took me in." Barry tells him, "I mean, you took me when I had no one. I looked up to you. I mean, you were my hero." Barry looked down in realization, quieting down, "I- I really wanted to impress you."

"Oh man." I looked up, pointing at Joe with my fry, "You really did that."

"Oh god." Joe chuckles lightly, looking back at Barry.