"You ready for this?" Barry asked Nora, stood with her, a few feet in front of me, in the ice rink.

"Dad, I'm just- I'm not fast enough yet." Nora began, giving an excuse.

"No backing out now, this is the biggest race of your life." Barry told her, "You ready?"

"Not really." Nora mumbled, "Dad-"

"Get ready, set, go!" Barry cheers, skating off.

"Dad- wait, wait!" Nora shrieks lightly, trying to keep her balance on the ice, "Oh, God-"

Team Flash had gone out for ice skating, a break from the chaos.

I fix the slouching navy blue beanie on my head, my straight hair cascading down my back as far as it went, as I was dressed in a grey sweater and black ripped jeans, Barry's jean jacket over everything to finish the look, instead of black boots on my feet, it being white ice skates.

"Whoa, whoa-" I came up behind Nora, keeping her steady, "I got you-"

"This is so embarrassing." Nora nervously laughs, and almost falls once more, "I'm really good at the ice skating game on my Pocket Pal!"

I kept a hold on her, "Hey- okay, you just gotta bend your knees- and lead forward a little."

"I'm doing it." Nora laughs out in relief as she followed my instructions, "I'm skating."

"You are-" I let go of her, laughing quietly, "You're honestly doing so much better than I was when I first started."

"Who taught you?" Nora questions, slowly skating next to me.

"Your Dad-" I told her, "I was too afraid to get onto the ice so he grabbed me, and literally left me in the middle of the rink until I got up. When I got up, he held onto me until I could skate and every time I fell, he'd catch me, or break my fall by an attempt to catch me."

Nora laughs, "Oh man, that's rough-"

"Yeah-" I laugh lightly, and catch her right as she starts to fall, "Hey, remember, bend your knees and lean forward a little-"

Nora gains her balance, giggling, starting to skate away from me, "This is like schway city, Mom. Thanks."

I smile to myself, keeping at my pace, Barry skating up next to me, "Look at you guys."

I hum, looking at him, a smile wide on his lips, "You're such a mom."

"Well, what about you?" I kept my balance, "You're the one who sprang for ice skating and game night."

"Yeah, well, I know when Nora got hurt, I got a little frustrated." Barry began to explain, "And now, I mean, we have an actual plan to stop Cicada."

"Waking up his niece to appeal to his heart." I nod, fixing my glove.

"I know Dwyer's a killer, but he's still a person, and he loves Grace just like we love Nora." Barry explained further, "So I don't know. I just feel like everything's heading in the right direction."

"Here I come. Coming in." Ralph skates next to me, "Here we go-"

"I'm sorry, why are you wearing a helmet?" I look at him, "I thought you were made of rubber."

"Somebody's gotta set a good example for these kids." Ralph told me, trying his best to stay balanced.

"Well- I thought you grew up on the ice." Caitlin comes by us.

"Well, I did, basically, my mom dated a zamboni operator, so-" Ralph shrugs.

"And I tell you where I'm from we don't date zamboni drivers. Why is that? Because there are no zambonis. How do we clear the ice? All winter long, we are on our hands and knees with a squeegee in hand." Sherloque slides in, "Let me tell you. Best eight months of the year for this guy."

"It's a really great story, Sherlock." Ralph nods.

"Sherloque." He skates away, correcting him.

"You know, speaking of squeegeeing, you know who could use a good squeegeeing is Larry Blumenthal." Ralph looks at me, "He's dead."

"Larry Blumenthal is dead?" I repeat, staring at him with wide eyes, "The patent registrar across the hall from you with the 400 square footage-"

"-And the courtyard views?" Ralph finishes my sentence, "Yeah, dead as a doornail. You can have that place if you want it. Yours to rent."

"What? Oh, my God." I press my palms together, excitement for Iris filling within me, "I mean- I never even wanted it- I was helping Iris look for a place for her newspaper because she's always boasting about starting one and her ad revenue has been up this quarter, so-"

"Yeah, with the extra space she'd be able to hire editors, photographers-" Barry smiles at my excitement.

"She could turn her blog into a real newspaper." I smile widely, losing balance.

Barry catches me, "Let's not getting too excited, you're still on ice-"

"I have to tell her-" I giggle, grabbing my phone.

"Oh, my package has arrived." Sherloque skates back over, staring at his phone.

"What package?" questions Caitlin.

"This is the solution to all our problems." Sherloque skated towards the exit, "Allez, les amis. We must go."

-

"Madames et monsieurs, may I present to you-" Sherloque pulls off the cloth off the machine, speaking in French.

"The Memory Machine." I made it short and simple for everyone, fixing my beanie.

"Oui, Zee. Memory Machine." Sherloque went on, "Many times I have entered into people's minds using this very technology. From the unfortunate comatose victims of the Summerholt Institute to, yes, Jervis Tetch himself, the Terrible Mad Hatter Killer from Earth-221-"

Cisco steps in, "I come back from Tannhauser for one second, just borrowing a splicer for the meta cure and what do I find? This, this-"

Sherloque repeats the name in French, staring at him.

"Whatever." Cisco rolls his eyes, "How did you even get this here from Earth-221?"

"Well, I used the Forerunner Multiversal Delivery Service." Sherloque told him, "You don't use it? You don't have a gold card like me? Maybe I'll get you a discount-"

"We don't need a discount." Barry cuts them off, "All right, we just need to wake up Grace. This'll wake her up, right?"

"So in most coma patients, high traffic areas of brain activity go dormant and the low traffic areas spring to life, but unfortunately, Grace isn't normal." Caitlin began, "Not only has her coma lasted longer than the average, but her consciousness has isolated itself into one specific region, her long-term memories."

"It will be so facile, easy peasy for you." Sherloque points out, "All you do is you transmit your brainwaves into Grace's memories, right? And then you'll lead her consciousness out of a neural nexus portal. And Grace awakens."

Ralph spoke up, "It's sort of like when Barry woke me up when the Thinker trapped me."

"Surprisingly, that sounds kind of easy peasy." I shrug, looking between everyone.

"As long as Grace's unusual brain damage doesn't cause any unforeseen risks." Caitlin mentions.

"This is why I suggest you travel in pairs when you're using this technology." Sherloque suggests, "Every time I enter into someone's memories when I use this I went with my partner for sure."

"Your partner's name didn't happen to be Watson, did it?" Cisco asks.

"No, his name was not Watson." Sherloque pauses, "His name was Watsune."

Barry chuckles as Sherloque continued, "Yes, together we went through dozens of minds, together- Until one time I found myself in a memory of a motel room in Montreal where what do I find but Watsune in flagrante deli in interpersonal relationship with my wife, fourth wife, but still-"

"You're saying you could see your partner's memories?" Nora questioned.

"It's a possible side effect of traveling in pairs. And speaking of which, which pairs would like to volunteer for this mission?" Sherloque gestures towards Barry and Nora, "I suggest the speedsters for this to be accomplished so quick."

"Yeah." Barry nods and looks at Nora, a smile on his lips, "Hey, if you see a memory of me stealing blank Scrabble tile it's not what it looks like, all right?"

"I knew you cheated-" I hit his arm lightly, a small gasp leaving my lips.

Barry grabs my waist, "Not what it looks like, babe."

"That's a good one, Dad." Nora nervously laughs.

"All that is left is to connect this transceiver disc to Grace's EEG and we can transmit." Sherloque leaves the cortex, holding the device.

Barry nods, "All right, first thing tomorrow, we save Grace."

-

"Hey, who was that on the phone?" Barry walks into the loft after I ended a phone call with Iris.

"It was just Iris-" I folded my hands, "It was about starting her newspaper."

"That's cool." Barry smiles, "What'd she say?"

"Just- looking for name clearances and stuff." I cut my sentences down short, staring at my feet.

I had changed out of my sweater and into a slim white shirt, my hands resting on my thighs.

"Are you okay-" Barry began to ask but is cut off by his phone buzzing, "Oh, hold on."

"Hey." He answered, his expression changing, "Slow down, slow down."

My eyebrows furrow, as he whispers to me, "It's Sherloque."

His eyes widen, "Nora did what?"

-

"Why would Nora go in alone?" I question as we stood over Nora laying in the medical bed, hooked up.

Barry follows up, "And why isn't she out yet?"

"My working theory is that Grace's unique brain damage has caused her brain to act defensively, so when it sensed an outside presence, it moved all of its neural nexus pathways to seal the exits like a-a quarantine procedure." Caitlin explained.

Barry crosses his arms, "Grace's brain thinks Nora's a pathogen."

"Yes, we can expect its synaptic defense mechanisms to try and eliminate her." Caitlin blinks long and hard.

"Remember I told you about the Mad Hatter?" Sherloque cuts in, "He was also brain damaged, so after my dispute with Watsune and my fourth wife, Watsune pursued the case on his own until the day I found him hooked up to the Machine A Macmoire brain-dead."

"You knew this was a possibility?" I fix the beanie on my head, "What happened to easy peasy?"

"That's why I say go in in pairs." He points out.

"Barry-" I looked at him, "As much as I know I will regret saying this but- we have to go in after her."

Barry nods, two medical beds being brought next to Nora. We both sat on the beds, Caitlin and Sherloque playing the wires to our temples.

"We can't warn her we're coming?" I question, laying back with a huff.

"We wanted to install an emergency beacon, but it didn't work." Sherloque continued to adjust the machine.

"So once you enter, it'll create a new portal." Caitlin instructs, "You'll only have a few moments to find Grace and Nora before Grace's brain tries to seal it off. Remember, if you die in there-"

"We die out here." Barry lays back with a sigh, "I remember from Devoe."

I looked at Barry, as he reached, grabbing my hand right, "We're gonna save her, I promise."

I nod, sighing.

"Commencing brainwave transmission. Good luck." Sherloque words were the last I heard, the next thing I knew, Barry and I were at CCPD, coming out of a breach, holding each other's hands.

"CCPD." Barry exhales, looking around in confusion, I gave him a shrug, letting go of his hand as he walks down the stairs, "All right, come on."

"We found her hiding in the last car under the seat." An officer told Captain Singh.

"And her parents?" Singh questioned.

"No idea. She was on the Red Line headed downtown. Must've jumped the turnstile at Fourth and Waid." The woman told him.

"We can't just let her sleep on this bench." Captain Singh sighs, looking at the girl seated on the bench.

"Barry-" I trail off, staring at the girl on the bench, my eyes wide as ever, the look on my face being equivalent to his.

"Wait, is that Joe West's granddaughter?" Captain Singh recognizes, "That's Zee Allen's daughter- Nora?"

Nora got up, running off, Captain Singh yelling after her, "Hey, Nora- someone get her."

Barry gapes, "I don't think we're in Grace's memories."

"We're in Nora's." I facepalm.

Our attention snaps towards the breach we came out of, it disappearing, a huff leaving my lips.

"How did we manage to end up in Nora's childhood memories?" I question, looking at Barry.

"I have no idea." Barry told me, "I also have no clue how we're gonna rescue Nora from here."

"Okay, we're in a memory within a memory, right?" I through, "So, if we went through a portal, then-"

Barry pieces it together, "It should take us into Grace. Okay, yeah, we just have to wander through Nora's memories until we find where the portal went."

I nod, Nora running right past us, Barry grabbing onto me, "Maybe she'll lead us right there."

Barry speeds after, and ends up in Star Labs, Barry staring with wide eyes of excitement, "Whoa. What happened here?"

"I guess in Nora's future, Star Labs is The Flash Museum." I cross my arms, following him as he wandered, the museum filled with kids and Flash everywhere.

"No way. Look at this. Flash toys and Flash phones. Flash rings." Barry's voice got high, as he looked through the museum, giggling, "Are you kidding? Wow."

"This is all gonna go to your head, isn't it?" I follow him, weakly smiling at how adorable he was being.

"Oh, you know what?" Barry grins, holding up a bobble head, "It looks like it might."

I laugh at him, my laughter fading when I saw Nora curled up, reading a comic and holding a figure.

"Hey, I found her." I catch Barry's attention, "You think we can talk to her?"

"No- I wish." Barry quietly admits, admiring his daughter, "This might be the only time I get to see her at this age."

My heart broke at his words, deeply exhaling through my nose as I put a hand on his back.

"Nora's consciousness isn't here, though." Barry changes the subject, "It's in Grace. This is a fixed memory. We can't interfere."

"When I was ten, I shockingly never ran away from home." I stare at the newspaper in front of me, of the article Iris West wrote years from now, of Barry vanishing in crisis.

"That's 'cause you were a good kid then. High school was when you started that." Barry looked at me, "I ran away all the time when I was ten."

"Yeah, only 'cause you were trying to see your dad." I reason with him, looking down, "Not 'cause you were running from someone."

"Hey, we should keep trying to find the portal." I change the subject, clearing my throat, following Nora as she got up, walking away.

-

"Wait. These guys get their own wing?" Barry walks into the Hall of Villains, as I followed them.

"You've got a whole museum." I shot back, following him, the both of us halting at the sight of Nora looking at the Cicada section.

"But when Cicada resurfaced in 2024 after the Flash vanished, some were left to speculate that Cicada is not a man at all, but an immortal monster. All we know for sure is his body count, 152 victims and rising." The male voice spoke through the computer, Barry's eyes widening.

"Wait, what?" Barry whispers, "I knew we never caught Cicada, but he never stops killing?"

Captain Singh came onto the screen, "Flash did everything he could, but Cicada killed more people than Zoom or even the Red Death. And the way the city saw the Flash, his legacy it was never the same."

Suddenly, our attention was caught elsewhere. The sounds of heels clicking, and a very angry sounding mother, I walked in, "Nora Allen, you are in serious trouble, young lady."

There were minor differences. Her hair was long, and she didn't wear ripped jeans, sweaters, or boots. She had a white button up tucked into black skinny dress pants, black heels on her feet. Instead of holding a hand purse, she held a purse.

"Did you think that you could run away and I wouldn't figure out where you went?" She confronted her daughter, standing over her, "It's my job to piece things together and figure things out, I'm a detective."

"You're always a detective. Why not be my mom for once?" Nora cries out, looking up at her mother.

I stepped back into Barry, staring at what I was going to become, his hand rubbing my back in comfort.

"Oh, yeah? How's this for being your mom?" She challenged, grabbing Nora's arm, "You are never coming back to this place again. Let's go."

She pauses, looking at what Nora held tightly in her pocket, "What the hell is in your pocket?"

Nora slowly pulls out a Flash figure, my future self holding her palm out, "Give it to me right now."

Nora fought back, "It's not yours."

"Well, it is now. There are consequences to your actions." She snatched it, only for it to fall onto the ground and break into pieces.

Nora tears up, "I hate you."

"Leave it. Let's go." She grabbed her daughter's arm and left.

I stare at the spot they once were, tears at the rim of my eyes.

"Zee, that wasn't you." Barry grabs my hand.

"Yeah, but it will be, Barry." I step away, "Nora's gonna grow up hating her mother- and I completely understand why. I'd hate me too- I hate myself."

"No, she won't." Barry grabs my hands once more, "You're gonna make different choices. If you don't wanna be that person that we just saw, don't be that person."

"I know you keep saying that, Barry, and that's what I'm trying to do." I look away, "I had a moment today and I thought that maybe if I could change the timeline now, that even in the smallest way that everything in the future would be somehow different. But- if I try to change the timeline- it could really hurt someone I love."

"This is why you were so dismissive when I asked you about what you and Iris were talking about." Barry pieced it together.

"When she talked to the lawyer, she asked her to check a dozen potential names, and the only one cleared was The Central City Citizen." I told him, pulling away from his touch and crossing my arms, "Iris has been wanting this for practically her whole life- who am I to say that she can't open her own newspaper because of what I think will change."

"I know it's got baggage, but it's just a name." Barry starts to reason.

"Is it?" I question, "I mean, we've been looking at that front page for four years. Flash Missing, Vanishes in Crisis. And she's the one that writes that article, Barry. She writes the article of me losing my husband- and our daughter losing her father."

"Zee, it's just a name." Barry remained supportive, "We will take up the problem when we face it. You don't need to convince your best friend to not open her dream newspaper because of what happens to me in the future. It'll hurt the both of you."

"These are Nora's memories right now in this timeline after she interfered." I look away, huffing, turning away, "Let's keep looking for the portal, okay?"

-

"I can't find the portal anywhere." Barry huffs, "I can't even get out of Nora's memories of this one day."

A shadow in the hall makes my eyes widen, as I grabbed his hand, pulling behind the counter of what in 2019 would be in the Lounge.

Barry whispers to me as the Reverse Flash's suit walked into the room as we hide, "It's Nora's defense mechanism."

"Why would Nora's defense mechanism be the Reverse Flash?" I mutter to him.

Barry guards me silently, staring as the Reverse Flash whooshes out of the room, Barry sighing and sitting back.

The sound of a phone ringing scares us both, as we both let out small screams, Barry grabbing onto me and pulling me into him instinctively.

I let out a breath, grabbing the phone, remaining in his embrace, "Zee Allen-"