"Barry Allen-" I ran after Barry in our loft.

He ran, sliding into the kitchen, a smile on his lips as he said my name, "Zee Allen."

"I'm gonna kill you-" I came in front of him, almost slipping due to the socks on my feet.

"If you're fast enough-" Barry grins, "I'm not even using my speed and you're too slow."

"You're a giant! I can't keep up with you-" I jump, trying to grab the case files he had stolen from me, raising them above his head, "Barry- give them back, I have to get those done-"

Barry laughs, "I told you I'd help you do them later."

I jump once more, my underwear being revealed with every jump due to only wearing Barry's sweatshirt, "Barry!"

The minute I jump again, he wraps his arm around me and holds me up, walking over to the dinner table, putting the case down, holding onto me with both arms now.

"Barry-" I drag his name, kicking my legs, "Let me go-"

"Nope-" He grabs my legs and holds onto me, smiling at me, "It's cute that you think you can fight me off."

"I kicked your ass yesterday. I don't wanna hear it-" I point at him, wrapping my arms around his neck.

Barry pecks my lips, "You're right. I'm proud that my wife is a complete badass."

I shook my head, "Nah."

Barry presses his lips into mine, smiling into the kiss.

My hand grips onto his hair lightly, as he carries me up to our bedroom, letting out a small groan into the kiss.

I pull away lightly, "You're lucky that Nora's staying with Cecile or-"

"Shhh-" He silences me, falling onto the bed, climbing on top of me.

-

I was seated in the middle of the hall that lead to the cortex, dressed in an oversized black sweater which was slightly tucked into my ripped blue jeans, my hair straight, black heeled ankles boots on my feet, exhaustion filled in every movement.

I spoke on the phone, "Well, it's interesting that you say that, sir, since it's your company that's denying the Robertson family's claim."

He scoffs, "Do you have the contract right in front of you?"

I scoff in disbelief, "Yes, of course, I have the contract right in front of me-"

The sound of Barry's small scream fills my ears as runs in after running as fast as he could, holding the contract, and an iced coffee, jerking to a stop, stomping on the ground to kill the sparking between his feet.

He hands me the contract, letting out a breath, "And it says that animal attacks do not fall under Acts of God, and that includes gorillas. I'm sure the Citizen is looking forward to your statement."

I hung up, placing my phone in my pocket, "Your shoes were on fireee-"

"That's a strange way to greet someone." Barry grabs my hand, pulling me up.

I shot him a look, "I saw you two minutes ago-"

"Yes-" Barry held up the coffee, "For you-"

I dramatically gasp, putting a hand over my heart, "You got me a coffee?"

"Have you seen the bags under your eyes? You need it." Barry jokes, giving me an innocent smile.

I gasp playfully, hitting his arm lightly, wrapping my arms around his neck, "Considering you're the reason we're both tired-"

"Oh yeah?" Barry wraps his arms around me and keeps a hold on my coffee, "I actually really like the reason we're always up-"

"Oh yeah?" I laugh quietly, as he gives me a nod, connecting our lips together.

I held his face, Barry pulling me close and pressing me up against the wall.

The sound of Cisco's voice breaks us apart, our eyes watching him as he walked past us and into the cortex, holding his palms out to shield himself from us, "Oh god- no- no-"

I call out, "Sorry, Cisco!"

Barry kisses my head, "Are you ready to do this thing now?"

"Are you?" I looked at him.

"Hell yeah, we just got to find Nora." Barry breaks out into a smile, "It's her big day after all. You don't think she's too busy, do you?"

I shrug, starting to walk into the cortex with Barry, my eyebrows furrowing at the sight.

Nora slaps her palms against the desk, "Okay, people, think!"

Barry and I exchange looks, as we slowly approach them, Nora continuing, "We haven't seen Cicada since the rooftop fight, which means the only way to track him down is to figure out who his next meta-human target's gonna be."

"Have we double checked every bank robbery, every lab break-in?" Nora looks around to everyone.

"Yes, yes!" Sherloque huffs deeply, "We have looked at all of that, all right? And all the criminals that are in custody are simply mere mortals."

"What about the ones on the street?" Nora continued.

Caitlin speaks up, "Frost says that no new metas have shown up since Norvock went into witsec."

"Hey- honey-" I walk behind Nora, "I'm here- I can take it from here-"

"Yup-" Cisco points at me, "That's our Team Leader-"

"No, Mom-" Nora declines, "I got this."

My mouth drops, as I close it, looking at Barry who stood on Nora's other side.

"Are the satellites tracking for dark matter or meta-gene bursts or Element X?" Nora questions.

"Yes, yes, and yes." Cisco drags out, "They're scanning for everything."

Cisco looks at Barry and I, pressing his palms together, "Congratulations, you raised a menace."

"Your daughter, so energetic." Sherloque adds, being irritated with it also.

Barry scoffs in surprise, "This is pretty impressive."

Barry clears his throat after looking at the looks they were shooting us, "Um, and I know with the cure working, we're all ready to put Cicada to rest, but I'm sure he'll resurface soon."

"And then you're going to give him the chance to take the meta-human cure?" Nora looks at him.

"Yes, exactly." Barry nods, "Even Dwyer deserves a choice, we just got to convince him to do the right thing."

"Are you ready?" Nora asks, "This is gonna be one of the biggest challenges of your career as a hero. Do you know what you're going to say?"

"Oh, yeah- you know, yeah." Barry nods, "I've- I've got some loose thoughts."

"Oh, great. Well, that instills all of us with confidence, right? Loose thoughts?" Sherloque gestures, "What are you going to say? Hey, most bloodthirsty enemy! Stop."

I let out a laugh, covering my mouth instantly, Barry shooting me a look.

I clear my throat quickly, reasoning, "Guys, it worked for Marlize. Maybe not so much for Savitar, but-"

"I will figure out what to say to him, all right?" Barry stops me, "I got this."

"In the moment- it'll come to him." I nod.

"I know." Nora nods, "Which is why we need to try everything to try and find him. Okay? Maybe we should go on patrol?"

"Patrol, you say?" Cisco repeats.

Sherloque continues, "What this is, World War II?"

Barry looks at me, signaling for me to try and get Nora to leave.

I grab my phone, acting as if someone was calling me, stepping away from Nora, "Hello? Oh hey Captain- what? Oh no- yeah, I'll get there as soon as I can- back up? I'll figure it out- okay- yeah-"

I pull the phone away from my ear, and looking at my black screen, "Oh- man, it's on Cisco's app too- Wow, this is crazy."

"What, Mom?" Nora looks at me.

"There is something nuts going on at Jitters." I looked at her, "It looks- pretty serious-"

"Do you think it's a meta-human?" Nora questions.

I nod, Nora looking at Barry, "We should check it out."

Barry nods, looking at her, Nora not moving, Barry mimicking a movement where he starts to run, "Go!"

"I'm- oh!" Nora runs off.

Barry and I let out huffs, Cisco and Sherloque pointing at us.

"You two did this." Sherloque gestures towards us.

Cisco points at the both of us, "You made her."

"You are responsible." Sherloque finishes, walking out of the cortex along with everyone else.

Barry covers his face in her hands, as I walked over to him, hiding my face into his back.

-

"Okay, I thought something big was supposed to be going on down here." Nora looks at me, Barry getting Nora's coffee from the counter.

"Well- Barry and I think It's pretty big." I shrug, leaning back in my seats, playing with the sleeve of Barry's jacket that I wore.

"Feast your eyes on the newest addition to the Jitters menu-" Barry began trailing off, placing the coffee down, taking a seat next to me, uncovering it.

I clap, "The XS-presso."

Nora squeaks, "I got my own drink!"

"Pretty cool, right?" I laugh softly at her reaction.

Barry smiles, "Think of what could be next- an XS action figure? XS Day?"

"Guys, you are embarrassing me." Nora sips the drink, setting it down, smiling.

"We're just really excited." I admit, "More than I'd care to admit, but- we just haven't done a lot of things yet-"

Barry looks at me, grabbing out his phone, "Did you put karaoke on the list like I asked?"

"Barry- I think you're the only one out of all of us that can sing-" I told him, "Unless- Nora is hiding that talent-"

"You have a great voice- you just don't like to make it known." Barry nudges me, pulling up the list on his phone.

"Let me see this-" Nora took Barry's phone, "Okay, there are so many things on this list."

Barry shrugs lightly, "Well, I mean, we've got time."

My phone vibrates as I slipped it out of my pocket and looked at the alert on my phone.

Nora looks at me, "Okay, is that a real alert or another fake one?"

"No, this one's real." I looked up at them, "M-20 at CCU, Chemistry Department."

"A meta attack." Nora says.

Barry nods, getting up, "Yeah, let's go-"

-

"Nora- slow down." I told her after they had gotten back, "Say that again."

Nora explains, "There's a photo, it's in The Flash museum, of Flash and Cicada the last time they were ever seen confronting each other in public, and in the photo, by Flash's feet, the exact same burn mark left by the meta that we just fought."

"This acid meta was at their final confrontation?" Caitlin questions.

Cisco looks up, "He must be Cicada's final target."

"His final target before I vanish and he starts killing again." Barry crosses his arms.

"Why is Nora just telling us about this crucial meta now?" Sherloque looks at her suspiciously.

"Because a lot of the stuff from my timeline is unreliable." Nora quickly said, "You know, uh, different metas, different victims, different circumstances."

Caitlin stares at her, "But this time, everything's exactly the same."

"So far." Nora nods, "If Cicada goes after this acid meta, that means that today's the last day we're going to confront him."

"And our last chance to stop him." I sigh deeply, my hands on my hips.

Barry presses his palms together, "Yeah, all right, well, then, I gotta figure out exactly what I'm gonna say to him."

"You'll find the words, Dad." Nora smiles, "I'll help you."

"And I am going to start working on facial rec for this Acid Master." Cisco backs away, pointing at us, "Yup, that's what I'm going with. Always trust your gut, kids."

Caitlin looks at Barry, "And we'll figure out a way for you to talk to Cicada without him killing you."

Sherloque looks at me, "Well if it all works out, then looks like today could be the end of our journey."

"Yeah." I swallow, then run after Nora when she leaves the room, "Nora!"

She turns, "Oh, hey, Mom."

I stop in front of her, "I guess you might be going home tomorrow."

"Yeah, I guess so." Nora nods, "Um, mission accomplished."

"I can bring you guys some coffee later-" I offer, "You guys could use a coffee break."

"Yeah- that'd be great." Nora nods.

I go silent, looking down at my feet, knowing that we would never be able to finish that list after today.

"Actually-" Nora looks at me, "I have something for you."

"What?" I look up at her.

She runs off, then runs back, handing me some sort of flash drive, "Play this in the time vault."

"Uh- what is this?" I stare at the white device, looking up at her.

"It's a video- or well two." Nora told me, "You never got to see it in the future- and when I found them- I downloaded them on here. I want you to watch them."

I nod weakly, "Uh- okay? Yeah- okay."

"I just, uh, thought of something that's going to help Dad. I-I got to go." Nora runs off, leaving me alone in the hall.

-

I stood in the Time Vault, playing the first video of the drive.

The video flashes in front of me, my eyes landing on Barry. He was ducking, looking around, the sound of destruction in the background.

My eyes widen, my mind putting two and two together, already knowing what this video was.

"Nora, I don't have much time." Barry breathes, booming in the background, "If you're watching this, it means you're like me. You have powers."

Tears stung in my eyes instantly as I continued to watch, "It also means I wasn't there to help you learn how to use them. I wasn't there for a lot of things."

"Remember, my sweet Nora, always remember, I love you." Barry breathes heavily, "I always will."

The video switches, Barry in the same setting, covering himself, booming and distant shouts in the background.

"Zee-" Barry held onto the device he was recording on, "I am so sorry."

I step back, hugging myself as I stared at my husband on the screen, tears streaming down my cheeks.

Why was he apologizing? He couldn't change fate. It wasn't his fault. He didn't need to apologize to me, present or future.

"I know what you're thinking- that I don't need to apologize to you." He said, as it felt like he was staring right into my soul, his voice starting to crack, "But, I do- I need to- because I promised you that I would come back to you- that I'd come home to you- but- I don't think I will this time."

My breathing became uneven, my eyes stinging hard, brimming with tears again.

"I love you- I love you so much." Barry had tears in his eyes, "And the thought of leaving you- alone- especially with Nora so young- it's killing me inside. But- stay strong for me. Raise Nora. I'm always going to be with you- through it all, in your heart. Remember that- I- I love you-"

The video cuts out, the screen turning black.

I gasp, covering my mouth, trying to hold back sobs.

I turn, ready to run out of the Time Vault, my eyes widening, my mouth dropping, stopping in tracks, Cisco Ramon in front of me.

His eyes slowly trailed from the screen, to me, pure sympathy shining in his eyes.

I broke, a sob leaving my lips, the pain in my chest increasing.

He engulfs me into his embrace, rubbing my back as I cried it all out.

-

"Nora." Barry sighs, "Amunet, Plastique, the list goes on and on. Nora, all- all of these times are are different. Cicada doesn't even care if he lives when this is over. What am I supposed to say that he'll care about?"

"You'll know." Nora told him, "The Flash always knows."

I walked into the Speed Lab, holding two coffees for Nora and Barry, a weak smile on my lips, correcting her, "Barry Allen always knows."

Barry turns towards me, a smile on his lips, "Hey-"

"Coffee break?" I hand him and Nora their coffees, "I picked these up-"

Barry stops me, his eyebrows furrowing, his eyes scanning over my face, "Are you okay?"

I looked at him, "I-"

"You look like you've been crying." Barry puts down his coffee, concern threaded in his tone.

Nora slowly nods at me, signaling I needed to talk to him, then leaves the room after speaking, "Thanks for the coffee, Mom-"

"I'm okay." I weakly told him, avoiding eye contact with him.

"Zee-" Barry grabs my face, making me look at him.

I jaw clenched hard as I tried my best to keep my tears back, but of course to my luck, my eyes stung with tears instantly.

His expression goes soft, "Zee-"

"I'm okay." I force a smile, holding his wrists, "I'm fine."

"Zee- you're not-" He began to argue.

He's cut off by Caitlin's voice on the comms, "Zee, Barry, we need you in the cortex, now."

I pull away from Barry instantly, turning, walking down the hall, wiping the tears in my eyes.

-

"We good?" Killer Frost questions through the comms.

Our plan was to have Killer Frost pretend to be Philip Master, Cicada to take the bait, bring Philip to safety, then have Barry talk to Cicada.

"Yes, Philip Master is secure in the pipeline." I told her, swallowing hard.

"Wait, Acid Master's real name is Philip Master?" Cisco looks down at me.

"Yeah." I barely laugh, as we did our handshake, one that was just high giving, followed by a snap.

"This is it." Nora says, "Just like in the photo. The last confrontation between Flash and Cicada."

"Oh, what's the matter? You don't have one of these?" Killer Frost mocks, then opens a breach, "Bye-bye."

Killer Frost breaches into the cortex, Barry's voice following, "Cicada!"

"How long does he have?" Nora questions.

"He has to hold that dagger for 60 seconds, maybe less." Killer Frost looks at us, "Flash better figure out what he's going to say fast."

"He will." Nora hopefully said, "I know he will."

"I don't want to fight." Barry said, "We have a cure."

Cicada's voice came in through the comms, "What are you talking about?"

"We have a way to cure meta-humans." Barry told him, "We have a way to take their powers away. We want you to take it."

"And why would I agree to do that?" Cicada spat at him.

Barry sighs, "Your legacy. I know how this ends. You keep killing, and you're remembered as a monster, not a hero. But we can change that together, you can have a different legacy. You just have to choose it."

The sound of grunting and glass shattering fills the comms, followed by groaning and coughs.

Cicada's voice was clear through the line, "I don't give a damn about my legacy."

Killer Frost breaches back over quickly to help Barry, Nora looking at all of us, "That was it. That was our last chance."

-

"We ran citywide facial recognition scans and scanned for dark matter signals from Cicada's dagger." Caitlin said from her desk, as we all stood in the cortex in defeat.

"That was our last shot at confronting Cicada." Barry says from next to me.

"We don't know that." I swallow, barely glancing at him, "We're changing the timeline. That photo that Nora saw at the Flash museum, it could be different now."

Caitlin agreed with me, "Maybe it doesn't even exist."

Sherloque stares at Nora, "After all the timeline is malleable."

Nora sighs, "I just don't understand why our plan didn't work."

"Yeah, you guys did everything right." Barry took the blame, "The only reason it didn't work is because I couldn't convince him."

"Dad," Nora looks at him, "You're the Flash. When the Flash speaks honestly from his heart, people listen."

I lean over, my elbows resting on my desk, my hands folded, leaning against my chin, staring at nothing, my voice low, "Well, maybe he wasn't speaking from his heart."

Barry clears his throat, "Let's keep searching. I'm gonna check the Cicada files at CCPD. See if I missed anything."

Barry runs out, Nora starting leave, my eyes landing on her, "Nora."