The handle creaked slightly, the water splashing out of the faucet as Deserey turned the tap on with a small, genuine smile. "Okay, stick your tooth brush under there -- there you go! Good job!"

Daren, just three years old, grinned, showing off his tiny little baby teeth as his father lifted him up so he could carry out his instructions.

Darryl set him down a moment later to do the same with a four year old Anita.

Deserey turned the tap off and grabbed the toothpaste, showing it to her kids. "Now, you just use a little bit. You remember how much?"

"I do! I do!" Anita said, jumping up and down a little bit. "You make the toothpaste as big as a pea!"

Deserey nodded in approval, smiling at her daughter proudly. Darryl brought the childrens' attention to him for a moment to ask, "And how do you brush?"

"In a circle!" Daren answered quickly, grinning from ear to ear as he got a nod of approval from his parents.

Deserey got down on her knees so she was level with the children, getting ready to squeeze the paste onto their toothbrushes.

"Wait!" Anita stopped her. She held her little hand out for the toothpaste tube. "I want to do it!"

Deserey and Darryl shared an apprehensive look with one another, each sure that this could only lead to a massive mess in their bathroom. But the little girl was persistent.

"I know how," she said. "They teached us at preschool."

"Okay," Deserey relented, handing her daughter the tube. "Be careful."

Anita squeezed the toothpaste on to her toothbrush and then proceeded to do the same with her brother's. Deserey nervously hovered for the entire process, but thankfully any messes that might have been were avoided.

"Good job!" Deserey told her proudly.

Anita grinned as her mother took the toothpaste from her and gently placed it back on the sink where it belonged. "I told you I can do it!"

"Yes you did," Deserey nodded, laughing lightly along with her. "You're such a big girl now."

Anita grinned happily at the praise and began brushing her teeth. Daren started brushing right after, moving is tiny hand in small, circular motions.

Deserey and Darryl watched over their children while they brushed, making sure they didn't accidentally choke themselves or drop their brushes.

Once the kids had finished brushing, the kids rinsed off their brushes with their parents' assistance; then Darryl and Deserey each carried a child to their bed rooms.

Deserey took her daughter to her room, which happened to be the one at the end of the hall with the green camouflage bed sheets and toy trucks thrown all across the floor.

Meanwhile, Darryl carried Daren to the room with pink and purple wallpaper and fluffy princess bedspread.

It was something a lot of folks deemed backwards or even immoral in some cases. Though Deserey had always thought it was funny when they had guests over and they had trouble figuring out who's room was who's.

She and Darryl had been given more than a few funny looks from strangers as they caught them buying "girly" toys for their son.

It didn't happen as often when they bought Anita a "boy-ish" toy, but it did occur every now and again.

Some annoying bastard would click their tongue against their teeth, shaking their head with disapproval. Muttering under their breath how they were, "just confusing those poor children."

But what Deserey found confusing was the fact that her children getting the toys they'd asked for was so wrong.

The mentality really set her off. Darryl had had to hold her back from fights or even toss her over her shoulder and drag her out of the store on more than one occasion because of her ugly temper.

Deserey tucked her daughter under her covers nice and snug before kissing the top of her head. "Night, bebita."

"Night, night, Mommy," Anita said with a little yawn. She was already starting to doze off.

Deserey smiled lightly, turning to leave, only to stop a moment later when she realized there was a toy truck in her path. She turned back to her daughter. "Promise you'll clean your room tomorrow?"

"Aw," Anita pouted. She'd always hated cleaning her room.

"If you do, we might go out for ice cream," Deserey tried with a hushed tone.

Anita gasped, and she knew she had her attention. "At Ingrid's??" That was Anita's favorite ice cream shop down the road; it was a special place in which Anita and Deserey shared.

Deserey smiled back at her daughter. "Uh, huh. But you have to clean your room first."

"Okay!" Anita nodded eagerly. "I will first thing when I wake up. I promise!" Her words were a bit lispy, due to the girl only being four years old.

"Okay," Deserey nodded as she stepped around the trucks to get to the door. "I'll hold you to it. Don't forget!"

"I won't! I won't!" Anita said. Then, her eyes widened like a thought had just come to her. "Oh, mommy. Don't tell the boys, too! It's just for us. Okay?"

Darryl appeared a second later, pretending to pout at her words. "Aw. I want in on the secret."

Anita shook her head firmly. Deserey shrugged when he looked at her. "I'm sworn into secrecy."

"Oh," he said, dragging the word out slightly. "Well, if you're sworn in." He grinned at Anita, stepping around the toys to get to her bed. "I guess I'll have to tickle you for the information!"

Anita squealed, giggling uncontrollably as her father began tickling her sides. "Mommy, help!" she laughed out.

"Don't worry, I'll save you!" Deserey maneuvered around the toys again, jumping on her husband's back. "Rawr!"

Luckily, Darryl was use to this by now, so he was able to keep his balance fairly well. Still, that didn't stop him from faking it. He yelled dramatically, "Oh no! I've been defeated, aah!"

He pretended to fall over, Deserey still on his back. Anita cheered, and Deserey high fived her daughter as Darryl pretended to be vanquished.

After a moment, though, she got off Darryl's back and kissed her daughter's head again before taking her leave and moving down the hall to Daren's room.

Daren was frowning at the closet worriedly when she came in. He looked up at her, and she knew what he was going to say before he said it. "Mommy, can you check for monsters?"

Deserey tilted her head to the side. This was something an older kid at preschool had convinced him of, that there were monsters in his closet and under his bed, waiting to eat him up for bad behavior. "Didn't Daddy already look when he tucked you in?"

Daren nodded, but he still looked worried about it.

"He didn't find any?" Deserey asked.

Daren shook his head, yet still he looked afraid.

Deserey hummed and gave a small shrug of her shoulders. "Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt to check twice, right?"

She moved closer to the closet, Daren warning her to be careful. Slowly, Deserey pulled the closet door open, knowing full well there wouldn't be anything behind it. She just needed to show her son that.

Deserey examined the contents inside the closet with a thoughtful frown. Of course, there were only his clothes and a few toys tucked away in their places. "Hm. I don't see any monsters in here."

"You can't see them. They can be invistbile," Daren told her, mispronouncing the word invisible.

Deserey poked her finger in the closet, not surprised when she didn't feel anything except empty space. She turned and smiled at her son lightly. "Nope. No monsters in here."

Daren pointed at the bed, covers pulled up to his little chin. Deserey moved across the fuzzy carpet and ducked down to see under the bed.

Like the closet, Deserey poked her finger under the bed and once again, she was only met with empty space.

She got up and moved to sit on the edge of his bed, smiling. "No monsters."

Daren grinned a toothy little grin and relaxed. He leaned back against his Snow White pillow, curling up into his covers. Deserey leaned forward, kissing his head. "Goodnight, bebé."

"Goodnight, Mommy," Daren said, closing his eyes to go to sleep.

Deserey got up to leave, seeing that Darryl had already turned on Daren's night light for him.

She was about to leave the room when Daren called her back. "Mommy, can you sing a lullaby?"

Deserey turned around, sitting on the edge of the bed again. "Which one?"

"The Spanish one," Daren said. His eyes were still closed, and he was clutching on to his stuffed bear so she thought he would be asleep before she even started, but she agreed anyway.

She didn't need him to specify which Spanish lullaby he was asking for. Deserey only knew the one, having learned it from an ex. (Her ex had taught her some basic Spanish along with the lullaby when they'd been dating. Before... Well, that wasn't important...)

The lullaby was called A La Nanita Nana; it was often sung as a carol in the holidays for Baby Jesus. Deserey had been singing it to her kids since they were infants.

Deserey began singing softly, brushing her son's hair out of his eyes as he gently drifted off into a slumber.

As she suspected, Daren had fallen asleep before she'd even gotten half way through the lullaby. But she finished it anyways, letting the nostalgia wash over her like the shower head in their bathroom.

Once she'd finished the song, she gently kissed the top of her son's head again, quietly leaving the room.

Darryl was waiting for her on the couch when she made her way downstairs.

She flopped down next to him, laying her head on his chest, smiling as she listened to his steady heartbeat. He wrapped his arm around her, holding her close.

"Daren's asleep," she said, looking up at him.

"So, is Anita," Darryl said, looking back down at her.

Deserey snuggled into his chest, taking in his scent. "Mm. Guess that means we have a few hours alone."

"Yup," he agreed. "So, what are we gonna do with them?"

"Hm. Let's drink shots."

Deserey felt his chest vibrate slightly as he chuckled at her suggestion. "You can't drink more than a few sips before acting insane, and we don't have any booze."

"I meant with the orange juice," Deserey said, a grin tugging its way on to her lips.

"Oh, so we're getting really crazy are we?" Darryl joked.

"Mhm," Deserey laughed, sitting up. "I'll get the glasses. You get the juice."

The duo got to their feet, each parting to fulfill their tasks. Once they'd each gotten their items, they met again at the island in their kitchen; and Darryl poured them each a shot of orange juice.

Then, they drank to their hearts content. Slightly less fun without getting drunk, but still amusing nonetheless.

They stayed up for a few hours more, drinking their shots and quietly goofing off until they grew tired and went to sleep themselves in their own room upstairs.

{~}

It had been three weeks before Anita saw Oculus again. She had returned to her mundane life as an ordinary girl. Her father insisted she do that much, despite her insisting that they should find Oculus.

The Flash would definitely need help with that Shark monster that had been in front of their house, and Oculus could really help him! (That and he could no longer deny the Flash's existence if he'd worked with him.)

But her father wouldn't allow it. He was absolutely positive that Oculus was some dangerous lunatic who'd kidnapped his daughter, despite Anita telling him that she'd gone with him on her own accord.

Besides, Darryl had insisted, the Flash would have his own super friends on call if he really needed some help.

So, he'd forbidden her from seeking out Oculus, and Anita listened if not just because he could have been anywhere in any time.

She didn't have any resources to travel through time. The technology to do that likely wouldn't be invented for another few decades.

Even if she did somehow get a time machine in the twenty-first century, she would have no idea where to begin looking. Luckily, she found something else to occupy her time.

It looked like thing were going to go back to normal -- which is to say, pretty boring. She'd have to spent several weeks catching up on school work, stay after school to take any tests she'd missed. Dull. Boring. Stupid. Life.

But Daren proved her very wrong. They were sitting at their bus stop, Anita leaning against a near by tree while Daren sat on the curb looking through the pictures on his camera.

Anita sighed when suddenly her brother sat straight up as if he'd be shocked with a jolt of electricity, a small gasp escaping his lips.

He sat stalk still, staring out at the wet concrete in front of them, eyes wide. When he spoke it was just above a whisper, and Anita almost missed it. "Anita, I think I know who the Flash is!"

She stared at him when she registered he'd said anything at all, thinking she must have misheard. "What?" Anita moved to sit next to him, setting her backpack next to her. "Who?"

Daren showed her the screen of his camera, scowling through the pictures he'd taken three weeks ago.

There were images of the shark man and Flash too, but there was also an image of the lightning trail Flash left behind when he ran -- it lead right behind the Wests house.

Anita stared at the picture in shock for a moment; then she turned to her brother, stunned. "You think he's one of the Wests?"

Daren nodded, putting the camera back into its case. He stood up, getting excited about the idea now. "Think about it. All the weird stuff that seems to be attracted to their house. That shark guy said he smelled the Flash there three weeks ago, and then he immediately shows up after. And of course the picture. It makes sense!"

Anita nodded. She had to admit it did make sense. Her brother had gathered a lot of evidence; still, not yet concrete. He'd need a little more than a few ideas that sort of checked out. "Okay," she said slowly. "But which West is it?"

Daren looked thoughtful for a moment, and Anita thought he was going to give up due to sheer laziness. But again he surprised her, saying, "Well, not the daughter. She's not the right gender. And not the dad cause he's too old. Also they're both black, and Flash is white. Only white dude that lives in their house is the adoptive son."

Anita made a face. "How do you know Mr. West has an adoptive son?"

"We've been living next to them for over fourteen years, Anita!" Daren gave her a look like duh!

She rolled her eyes, only for him to frown guiltily a moment later. He sat back down. "Also, Mr. West is a cop, and when you went missing Dad called him. I may have listened in on a few of their conversations..."

Anita snorted and rolled her eyes. Of course that's what her brother had done. He had a nasty habit of eavesdropping on other people's conversations, which was why Anita made sure to never take any phone calls around him.

"You happen to catch this guy's name?" Anita asked.

"Yeah. Barry I think," Daren said, bringing his camera back out and playing with the filters on the photos.

Anita blanched, remembering a name she'd heard when she was traveling with Oculus, something Ralph and Julian had told her. "Is his last name Allen?"

Daren shrugged carelessly, apparently tuning out now that he'd 'figured out' the Flash's real identity. He'd always had a short attention span. "Maybe. I know he's the CSI at CCPD though."

Anita stood up, getting a -- admittedly -- very stupid idea. She glanced down the street, hearing the school bus from a few blocks down. "Will you cover for me, Daren?"

"Nope," he said honestly, jumping to his feet again as he placed his camera in its bag once more. "Where are you going? I want to come to."

Anita groaned. She glanced down the road again. They really didn't have time for this, the window of opportunity was closing fast. "Fine, fine. You can come, I guess. Just be quiet and do what I say. I'll explain on the way."

She ran off down the road before he could say anything else, and she assumed he was following.

{~}

Getting inside the CSI office was surprisingly easy. Apparently cops were pretty gullible.

Once they'd found the CCPD building, the Dunet siblings walked in without any trouble. When the police captain stopped them, Anita told him they were reporting a theft; he took them into an upstairs office to take their statements.

Once he'd left the room for some paper work or something, Anita crept out into the hallway, leading her brother through the police station until they found the room they'd been looking for.

The back wall was made up of rectangular windows with black paneling and red brick pillars between them. On either side of the room shelves stood; glass containers sat on top of them, filled with multicolored liquid.

At the center of the room was a bulletin board, tacks pinning news paper clippings and images of suspects to its surface.

Next to it was a desk with more science equipment -- microscopes, gloves, something like looked suspiciously like a mini fridge, and loads of other items Anita couldn't name if she tried.

Anita grabbed her brother by the arm, ducking behind one of the shelves in the room, signaling for him to keep quiet.

Moments later a lanky man in his twenties came into the room, a bag slung over his shoulders and a mountain of paper work tucked under his arm, coffee mug in one hand.

He ran his fingers through his short brown hair, letting out a long, heavy sigh. His brown eyes scanned the work apprehensively as he placed it and the mug on the desk.

Anita guessed this must have been the CSI guy her brother had mentioned.

Barry-Hopefully-She-Wasn't-Wrong-Allen. Though, if he really was the Flash, he wasn't moving very fast.

If anything, he should have been a snail themed super hero, not a scarlet speedster.

The Dunet siblings watched silently as the CSI guy sluggishly got out his lap top and started his work.

He seemed rather stressed and maybe a bit depressed. (Though Anita supposed she would have been too if she had to mull through that much paper work.)

They watched for several minutes, but nothing even remotely interesting happened. Antia groaned inwardly, starting to think that she would have had better luck finding excitement at her school.

At some point the CSI accidentally bumped his coffee mug with his elbow, causing the cup to shatter and create a huge mess on the floor.

He sighed, closing the folder he was working on and slowly rising to his feet. Anita heard Daren suck in a breath as he came near their hiding spot; Anita covered his mouth.

For a moment the CSI froze, his hand hovering just above the broom and paper towels he'd been reaching for in the first place. He moved closer to their hiding spot, having clearly heard the noise.

Anita's heart hammered in her chest; she bit her lip nervously. Next to her brother, stiffened. Anita shoved him down to the floor, pressing herself down as well, sure that they'd be caught.

Fortunately, the CSI was distracted a moment later by the captain calling his name. "Allen!"

The CSI turned around, looking a bit jumpy. "Captain Singh. Yeah. I'm here. Hi. Uh, what's up?" He fiddled with his hands awkwardly as walked off, speaking to his boss.

Anita wasn't sure if he carried so much nervous energy because he was afraid he was in trouble or if he was just a naturally anxious person.

Though she didn't think about it too much, her mind drifting to other places. The captain had said his surname. Allen.

"Did you see two kids run through here?" the captain asked in confusion, and Anita belatedly realized he was talking about her and Daren.

The CSI shook his head, giving his boss an odd look, like he thought he was just messing with him. "I -- uh, no. I didn't see any...kids..."

"Huh," the captain said, looking even more confused. "Okay, then. How's the paperwork coming?"

More awkward looks from the CSI. "Good. Yeah. Good. Uh, I'll have them finished...soon." He didn't sound as if his heart was in it though.

"Good," the captain nodded in return. "I'll leave you to it then." He turned and exited the room.

The CSI sighed heavily again, standing in the center of the roof and running his hands through his hair.

He eyed his stack of papers with a crestfallen expression, though it looked a little more than just someone who regretted their choice of occupation.

It was almost like he was missing something, something that had helped him get through the work much faster, something that had been lost.

But Anita wasn't thinking about that. She was focusing on the fact that the captain had called him Allen. Allen. Barry Allen. The same guy who worked with Cisco Ramon in the future. Anita was sure of it.

She'd found Barry Allen, and, assuming they'd been life long friends, that meant she was getting very close to finding Cisco Ramon.

I was going to do another interlude and make it about the hawks past life but um...yeah. Chapter right before this is also about them so...not doing the same thing twice 🤷🏻

So, then I got this idea while I was at my mom's yesterday for my doctor's appointment about Deserey and Darryl teaching Anita and Daren to brush their teeth and so I just kinda went with that instead. The hawk thing will just be later or whatever 😂

Also Anita and Daren's first sibling team up! What do you think? It takes place after Flash's Verses Zoom episode and like right at the beginning of Back to Normal. You probably know the scene.

Uh, sorry if it's a bit lack luster with details and stuff. I've been...meh lately so...yeah.