Barry

He didn't know what happened at first. Iris kissed him--out of fear-- and then Barry pulled away, telling her that even though Parker and him weren't together, he still loved her with all of his heart. He couldn't betray her like that.

Moments later, he was forced to reveal that he was the Flash in front of her, and he ran along the coast line to save the city.

His legs had been pumping so quickly, a scream dragged from his mouth, and within the next blink, he was no longer on the coast of Central City. He was running to the morgue, the crime scene that happened a day ago.

Everything was exactly the same as it had been. The coroner died from wounds to the chest; Eddie brought the recording; Joe found out Mark Mardon wanted revenge.

In a state of confusion, Barry finished up the examination at the crime scene and went to S.T.A.R. Labs, following his already planned schedule.

Barry stopped outside of the elevator. The end of his relationship with Parker waited for him upstairs. He couldn't let that happen. Time had given him a second chance-- for what exactly, he had no clue-- and he was going to use it.

Upon entering the lab, Barry spun Parker's chair around and cupped her jaw, slamming his lips against hers.

"Hello, I love you," he breathed when he broke away.

Parker's eyes were wide. "Dude, that's fucking gross. I just puked."

"I didn't taste it, you're fine. You are correct, though, that's gross."

Cisco, not surprisingly, held his hand over his heart. He was in love too-- with their relationship.

With his relationship with Parker sealed, Barry got to the main point and explained the situation involving Mark Mardon.

"...He can control the weather, more precise than Clyde," Barry finished.

"You'd have to be-"

"A Weather Wizard to do that," Barry and Cisco chorused.

Confused, Cisco took a sip of his slushy and winced.

"Trigeminal headache?" Barry and Caitlin said.

Parker narrowed her eyes at Barry. There was something strange about him. Well, stranger than normal. Dr.Wells interfered before Parker could.

"Mr.Allen? A word, please.."

Barry nodded and quickly followed Dr.Wells, closing the door behind them.

"You ruptured the time continuum, didn't you? You're experiencing temporal conversion," Dr.Wells predicted.

"Yeah, how'd you--"

"How long?"

Barry tapped his fingers against his chin, counting back. "A day and some change. It's like I'm living it all over again."

"Good, that means there's not too much you could have messed up yet. How did this happen?"

"I don't know, I-I mean, I was running-- faster than I've ever ran-- and the first day I lived this day, some really horrible things happened, there was a tidal wave, Parker--"

Dr.Wells shot his hands out, shaking them, a sign he didn't want Barry to continue. "No, do not tell me. I do not want to know anything about the future you experienced."

"Okay, but Dr.Wells, I--"

"Barry!" he shouted. "Time is an extremely fragile construct. Any deviation, no matter how small, can result in chaos. Now, here's what you're going to do."

Barry took a seat on the treadmill, his hands over his face.

"You're going to do everything the same. Every step you took, every word you uttered-- you're going to do it again. And you're not going to tell anyone this happened."

Barry tried to speak, but Dr.Wells shook his head.

"Okay," Barry agreed.

But he had already changed what happened to his relationship. A deviation of time, but hopefully nothing too catastrophic could come from that.

On the other hand, Barry couldn't bear to hear her wailing after she'd gotten struck by Mark Mardon's lightning again, or relive the feeling of her limp body in his arms as he carried her to S.T.A.R. Labs.

He couldn't let Joe get kidnapped again and see Iris distraught at the thought of losing her father.

Barry knew what he had to do: find Mark Mardon and stick him in the pipeline before he could create all that damage. In the end, it would make a great difference.

>>>>>>>

Parker

As Barry and Dr.Wells disappeared into a different room to talk, Parker turned to her friends.

"Okay, didn't we come up with a list of names from that night? How did we not know that there was another Mardon?"

"Because we thought he was dead," Cisco said.

"This is like Supernatural," She compared, rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Nobody is actually ever dead. I'm making a new list."

Parker used Google to find a casualty list of every person who died the night of the explosion and added their names to the list. It was quite long, but at least they wouldn't have to complete as much research the next time an unknown meta came along.

At the same time, Cisco and Caitlin sat in the chairs beside Parker and stared at her.

Parker scrunched her shoulders up to her neck, feeling insanely uncomfortable being watched.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Barry told you he loves you!" Caitlin whisper-yelled. "How are you not freaking out?"

"Because I said it first, in the bathroom," Parker told them with a chuckle.

Cisco let out a dreamy sigh and slouched in his chair, spinning around happily. Caitlin did a tiny happy dance in her own chair.

Parker sighed, but gave a small smile, amused at her friends antics.

On the computer screen beside her--that monitored the security cameras-- she saw a flash of yellow lightning in the pipeline. Parker reached over Caitlin and enlarged the cameras in the pipeline.

Barry gripped a man clad in all black in one hand. He pressed the button on the wall, making the containment vessels slide past until an empty cell came along.

When the one beside Shawna came, Barry shoved the man into it and closed the pipeline doors.

"Um.." Cisco drifted off.

Parker nodded. "Yeah, we should probably go check that out. Dr.Wells! Barry's being weird!"

The four of them made their way down to the pipeline. The doors slid open, announcing their arrival and Barry smiled.

"Do I want to know how you caught.." Parker stopped, not sure of who he dropped into the pipeline.

"Mark Mardon," Barry filled in. "And I found him. Just running through the streets. Real coincidence."

Parker, Cisco and Caitlin stared at Barry like he was crazy. Never had he ever found someone that quickly. Cisco turned out to be more worried about something else than Barry's weird attitude.

"Man, now I don't have an excuse to skip my brothers party.." he grumbled.

Caitlin took a step to follow him and second-guessing it, stopped. Cisco waved his hand, telling her she was allowed to come with. With those two gone, Parker turned to Barry.

"You told Dr.Wells what's up with you, right?" she accused.

"He did. However, I am not sure it would be something he should tell about," Dr.Wells interjected.

Parker narrowed her eyes and looked back and forth between the two. Something fishy was going on with Barry, and out of all people, he chose Dr.Wells to tell. She would have questioned his choice, however, she remembered that Barry had no clue of her suspicion over Wells.

"If it gets to a point where I need to know, you'll tell me, right?"

"Absolutely," Barry quickly answered. To keep himself on her good side, he added, "I love you."

Parker lightly shoved his chest, trying hard to hide the smile on her face. It was impossible. Hearing Barry Allen tell her he loved her was something that couldn't stop her from expressing her joy with a grin.

Parker reached up to his face and cupped his cheek with one hand, making him look at her.

"Just please be safe. And careful. Make good choices," she stressed.

Barry smiled. She took her hand back, but not before running her fingers though his sexy suit hair. He winked, and that's when she realized he purposely took off the mask for her.

>>>>>

The next day, only Parker, Dr.Wells and Caitlin showed up to the Cortex.

They knew where Barry was-- having lunch with Iris.

Cisco was nowhere to be found.

Caitlin figured it had to do with what happened the night before at his brothers party. According to her, it didn't go well.

Parker got tired of manually searching for crime around the city. She hacked into the Police Emergency radio and instructed it to ring whenever an emergency traveled along a radio.

Besides getting a hot dog and slushy from 7/11 the other day, Parker also purchased a hacky sack. It was a threaded ball about the size of her palm that was made to be kicked by the user. Parker decided some entertainment could be used around the Cortex.

Proud with her impulse buy, Parker scooted out of the computer desk and grabbed the hacky sack.

"Caitlin, count how many I can kick," Parker said.

Parker dropped the ball and kicked it up to her hands once, ensuring she could do it correctly. After that, Caitlin counted and Dr.Wells watched, amused.

Parker made it to fifteen in a row by the time her cell phone began to buzz. Dr.Wells grabbed it from beside him and held it out to her, announcing that Iris was calling.

Parker caught the hacky sack and set it on the desk, excusing herself to take the call.

"Hi, buddy," Parker said.

"Parker, I have to tell you something."

A tidal wave of fear attacked Parker's stomach. That was never a good thing.

"Yes?" Parker mumbled.

"Before Christmas, Barry told me that he loved me at one point, but it had vanished because he met you, because he loved you."

Parker held the speaker away from her mouth to breathe out a sigh of relief. The nerves in her stomach had vanished.

"Well, I believe that," Parker agreed cheerfully.

"We went to Jitters today, and he tried to tell me that the feelings I had for him needed to stop, because he couldn't be with me. I don't have those feelings, Park, please believe me. He keeps making me the bad guy, and I can't do it anymore!" Iris cried.

"He's.. going through some stuff," Parker covered, thinking that his odd talk with Iris had something to do with what he and Wells were hiding.

"Just stop crying, okay? I'll talk to him," Parker promised.

Parker hung up with Iris and shuffled back into the Cortex. She wanted to ask where Barry went, but Dr.Wells already had it covered.

"Currently en route to the crime scene," he said. "Cold has returned."

Parker growled under her breath. She grabbed the hacky sack and angrily began kicking it on the inside of her foot until she was completely distracted.

With Caitlin counting, she almost got to sixty in a row, until Barry shot past her and collapsed onto the bed. The hacky sack fell to the floor.

"What's your problem?" Parker snapped at Barry.

"Eddie punched me in the face."

"Oh, and why's that?" Parker asked in a knowing tone.

Caitlin and Dr.Wells decided it was best to leave the couple alone. They quietly snuck out together.

"You already know," Barry sighed.

"How did you get those assumptions?"

"I can't tell you. It's about that thing I can't tell you about."

Parker kneeled in front of Barry, resting her elbows on his knees and gazing at him.

"Honey, I need you to tell me. I was going to leave it alone, but I need you to tell me now. You made Iris cry, Eddie punched you--"

"Cisco got kidnapped--"

"Cisco got what?" Parker repeated.

She forgot what she was trying to say, and fell into panic mode, calling out for Dr.Wells and Caitlin.

"Have you seen Cisco?" Caitlin asked as she came back in. "I haven't been able to reach him by his phone."

"Snart has him," Barry announced.

Parker pushed herself up from the floor and jogged to a computer. She wiggled her way into the CCPD database and searched for the police report regarding his kidnapping.

Meanwhile, Dr.Wells and Caitlin searched through traffic and security cameras. Dr.Wells had more luck than the girls, and exclaimed in joy.

Barry, who sat in utter shame during the search, finally brought his head up, hoping for good news.

Dr.Wells pointed to the television screen, where a photo of Cisco and the girl who hit on him at the bar were seen getting into a car.

"The license plate is iced over," Caitlin pointed out.

"We could try to find the model?" Parker suggested.

"It would be useless. There's probably dozens of similar or same cars around Central City," Dr.Wells disagreed.

Barry's head fell into his hands. Seeing it, Parker hummed sadly and stood up from her chair. In a whisper, she asked Caitlin and Dr.Wells to continue the search while she spoke to Barry.

Louder, Parker held her hand out and said, "Come on, Allen. I wanna talk."

He followed her lead, head bowed in shame. She took him around the corner and they sat down.

"Okay. Tell me what you did. If you lie, I will get Eddie to punch you more than once."

After a long silence, Barry ran his fingers through his hair, gripping it hard. His head stayed down while he spoke.

"I did it, Park. I traveled in time. In the previous version of today, Mark Mardon created a tidal wave that was going to destroy the city, and I was running along the coast line to stop it. By doing that, I guess my adrenaline went up, or something--I don't know-- but I went back in time a day.
And I thought that I could save Joe. Save Iris, and the city, and you--"

"Me?" Parker interrupted. "Did I die, or something? I don't feel dead."

"No. You tried to push Joe out of the way and got struck by lightning instead."

"Aw," Parker mumbled, "Go alternate me.."

"I thought that I could save everyone if I put Mardon in the pipeline early. Dr.Wells told me I shouldn't, and then I did, and now Cisco's life is on the line because of me."

His confession took care of Parker's curiousness about what he was keeping from her, and not Dr.Wells. What occurred with Iris was still unanswered.

"Did anything else happen? Involving Iris?" Parker pressed.

"Iris confessed her feelings for me."

Parker, who took that surprisingly well, just sighed and cracked her knuckles, ready to drop the truth on Barry.

"Based on what I have seen from you, and the television, you could fuck things up by changing stuff. I mean, you created an alternate timeline by going back. The only one who has lived in both is you, Barry. That means the rest of us don't remember anything we said or did in that timeline."

"So Iris doesn't remember her feelings. She doesn't have them. Alternate-Iris has them." Barry concluded, rather relieved.

"Exactly. Let's just be glad you didn't go back too far and have the chance to change more stuff."

"But I will, Park. Someday soon, I'm going to get the chance to go back and save my mom."

"Saving your mother could change everything about our lives," Parker shot back quickly.

Barry raised his head, his eyes teary, threatening to fall. "Are you telling me that I shouldn't save my mom?"

Parker opened her mouth to answer, but someone cut her off.

"Cisco's back!"

Parker stood and helped Barry up. When they walked into the Cortex again, their hands were not conjoined.

"How did you escape?" Parker asked.

"I didn't. They, um.. Tortured my brother. And he said that he would let us go.. If.."

"If?" Caitlin wondered.

"If I told him who.. Who the--"

"Flash was?" Parker finished, her mouth dropping. "Cisco, don't tell me that you did."

"They were going to kill my brother, I am so sorry, Barry, I'm so sorr--"

Barry stepped forward and embraced Cisco. Glad to be comforted, Cisco squeezed his eyes, allowing the tears to drop.

"No. It's my fault. I put you in that position, and I'm the one who's sorry," Barry apologized to him.

Cisco broke away from Barry and shook his head. With one hand, he wiped his tears.

His voice breaking, Cisco said, "I don't deserve to be here," and walked away from the team.

Over the nine months Barry was in a coma, she'd learned a lot about Cisco. One important thing: he's loyal. Even if he did leave, the adrenaline and the excitement would get too great and he would come crawling back, the longing too great.

She also knew they didn't have time for hat to happen. So, she spun around and put her hands on her hips.

"Okay, guys, who's doing the pep talk?"

Dr.Wells raised his hand and wheeled out of the Cortex.