A/N: I LOVE SEASON 5. I LOVE DAD!BARRY. IT'S EVERYTHING I'VE EVER WANTED AND MORE. THE WEST-ALLEN FAM OWNS MY HEART. I JUST. LOVE THEM. SO. FREAKING. MUCH.
This was written for Whumptober Day 10 Bruises, and I did start writing it on the 10th, but life happened, so here I am, a whole week late. Whoops
"So I just have to run in a really fast circle a lot?"
Barry nodded. "Build up the electric charge, and when you're ready, throw it at Ralph."
"Hey!" Ralph protested indignantly.
"It was the only cardboard person I had!" Cisco lied. Barry had seen his closet of Team Flash standees just this morning - he had at least two of everyone in there.
"You could at least watch the phrasing."
"Nah."
Nora laughed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. They were back at the abandoned runway where Barry had first tested his speed - it had seemed fitting. A short distance down the track stood Ralph's cardboard cutout, making an absurd face that practically begged to be electrocuted away.
"Whenever you're ready, Nora," Barry said, taking a step back.
She steadied herself, taking a deep breath. She sank into a starting crouch. Whispering to herself, she counted down. "Three... two... one!"
She raced forward, throwing a breeze back in Barry's face. Iris came up beside him, linking her arm through his, watching Nora intently even though Barry knew she could only see lightning. Purple and yellow, just like her parents.
At least I left her this much.
"She's amazing," Barry murmured to Iris. And she was, running with the ease of someone who had been running for a lifetime. She was a bumbling talker, but watching her now, she ran with a fluid grace even Barry didn't have. Pride warmed his heart.
"Of course she is," Iris said. "She had you to teach her."
The warmth vanished. Barry fought to keep his proud smile plastered on his face.
He glanced back to where Cisco was monitoring her speed and Caitlin watched her vitals. "Is she ok?"
"She's perfect," Caitlin assured him.
"Damn, she's really moving," Joe said, glancing between the speedometer and his granddaughter.
Her speed is her best connection to me. Of course she's practiced running so much she's nearly as fast as me.
Barry looked back at her. She had set her jaw, and lightning was sparking around her shoulder. He leaned forward, watching her swing her arm out, preparing for the throw.
She planted her left foot. Her right arm started to cross her body, lightning racing towards her fist.
Then her right foot swung in too close, its tip catching the back of her left heel.
She yelped, and suddenly she was on the ground, skidding and rolling right off the runway.
"Nora!" Iris yelled, taking a step forward.
Barry was at her side before Iris finished the first syllable, hardly aware of even moving. He crouched beside her as she coughed, spitting out a mouthful of dirt. Fear pounded through his heart as he patted her down, checking for injuries. Her suit was dirtied but not torn, and none of her limbs looked broken. Only scrapes and bruises decorated her chin and cheeks.
Still, the words slipped out. "Are you all right?"
Nora nodded, touching her chin with a wince. "I'm just bruised, Dad."
But as quickly as the panic came, it now refused to leave. Are you sure? Cause we can stop-"
"I'm fine," she said shortly. "Just let me try again."
Barry blinked at the sudden irritation. Did I do something wrong? "Ok," he said. "Yeah, ok, come on."
He tried to help her up, but she shook him off, speeding back to the start on her own. Barry followed, stopping beside Iris, and they had hardly exchanged a concerned glance before Nora was running again.
She fell again. And again. And again.
Barry could see the problem: She was always overcompensating with her feet now. If she planted her left foot, she would swing her right too far and unbalance, or too low and trip over the pavement, and next try she would overcompensate for that and trip over her own foot again. If she planted her right foot to avoid those problems, then she would lean out too far and come crashing down.
Everyone flinched sympathetically every time she went down, and Barry and Iris were now clutching each other's hands like lifelines, but every time Caitlin said she wasn't seriously injured, Nora threw herself straight into the next try.
But every time Barry tried to tell her, she interrupted with an insistent "I can do this."
This time, Nora tripped over the pavement. She went sprawling, barely catching herself before her chin smacked into the ground. But her knee hit it hard. Hard enough that, this time, she didn't get up.
And this time, Barry couldn't hold back. He sprinted to her side, dropping beside her. She had curled up, clutching fistfuls of her suit just above her knee, cursing. "Damn it, damn it, damn it."
"Hey, hey, easy," Barry soothed, resting his hand over one of hers.
"Nothing is broken," Caitlin told him.
"Just me," Nora muttered.
Barry furrowed his brows at his light-hearted daughter. "Nora, what's wrong?"
She shook her head, trying to push him aside. But this time he held his ground, catching her arm and raising his eyebrows at her. "Talk to me, Nora."
She stopped trying to stand, dragging her hand over her face with a ragged sigh. Settling with a hard thump, she pulled off her mask and comm. "I just… I need to learn this stuff so I can be a better speedster back in the future, but mostly… Mostly I just want to make you proud, because who knows when I'm going back, and I won't be able to then, but I can't even do it now so-"
Barry pulled his own mask down, switching off his comm. "Nora, I need you to listen to me."
She cut off her rambling, looking up at him.
"I left you," he said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Before you even had a single memory of me, I left you behind. And it is so easy to feel bitter about something like that, to feel bitter that I was there to take care of everyone but you, and to let that bitterness consume you. But instead you decided to follow in my footsteps, to protect the city that I dedicated my life to. And for that alone, even if you ran half as fast as me, even if you never learned to phase or throw lightning, I will always be proud of you. Ok? Always."
"R-really?"
"Yes," he promised. He took a breath, lowering his gaze. "One of the last things my mother ever told me was that it's better to have a good heart than fast legs. And I think about that every time I feel myself leaning towards darkness for whatever reason." He looked back up at her, his mother's namesake, and smiled as a tear slipped down his cheek. "Nora, if you remember nothing else about me, remember that, so long as you fight for what's right in whatever way you can, I will be proud of you."
Nora hesitated for a moment, searching his eyes, and she was crying too. Then she was hugging him, burying her face in his shoulder. "I love you, Dad."
Barry smiled, kissing the top of her head. "I love you too, Nora."
They held on for a minute more, both reluctant to let go. Then Barry cleared his throat, not wanting to risk the others getting suspicious. "You up for one more try?"
Nora leaned back, brushing her fallen tears away. "Could you do it with me?"
"Of course."
He helped her up. She grabbed her knee, hopping on one foot for a second. "Ow. That's gonna stick around for a few hours."
Barry chuckled, letting her hang on his arm until she was ready to put her foot down. Then they reactivated their comms and ran back to the starting point. They smiled to assure the others that all was well, then sank into runner's crouches.
"Don't worry about where your feet are," Barry advised her. "Let instinct guide them and just focus on the throw."
"Instinct. Right. Uh, I trip over my own feet when I'm walking."
"Oh, honey, you should've seen Barry run without his speed," Iris said. "Or… do any physical activity really."
"It was truly pathetic," Cisco agreed.
"Hey!"
Joe shrugged. "They're right, Bar."
"What they're trying to say, Nora, is that you come by it naturally," Caitlin said, flashing a sympathetic look at Barry.
He acknowledged her with a grateful smile, pulling his mask on. "Ready?"
Nora grinned, putting her own mask back on. "Ready."
Iris gave them a countdown. "Three… two… go!"
Barry and Nora charged forward. He slowed a bit to run alongside her. Lightning coursed around him, mingling with Nora's. As it built to the breaking point, he slowly drew ahead. He glanced back, asking the silent question, and she nodded.
He gave it another lap, then leaned into the throw. His lightning zipped down his arm, flying through his palm to scorch Ralph's ridiculous expression.
Nora's lightning hit the same spot a nanosecond behind his.
They slid to a halt, watching cardboard Ralph smolder.
"I did it," Nora breathed.
"You did it," Barry echoed, holding his hand up for a high-five.
"I did it!" Nora squealed, throwing herself into his arms. Barry stumbled back as he caught her, grinning at her joy. "I can throw lightning!"
"Good job, Nora," he praised, letting his pride beam through his voice and his grin. She bounced back, turning to accept congratulations from her mother and grandpa, then Ralph and Caitlin and Cisco. Barry watched, beaming at his family.
Nora zipped back over to him, still bouncing on the balls of her feet. "What next, Dad?"
The police scanner attached to Joe's belt burst to life, announcing an armed robbery. Barry gestured at it. "How about we stop some bank robbers?"
Nora grinned. "Race ya."
She blasted past him. He spun on his heel, smirking. "It's on, kid."
And if he let her win just to see her pride at beating him, well, he wouldn't admit that to anyone but Joe.
A/N: Listen. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. But I clearly love Nora, seeing as I wrote a fic about her and hope to write more. So, if you hate her, DO NOT MENTION THAT IN A REVIEW. Just leave. Keep that opinion to yourself. Don't be like the 2 a-holes whose comments I've already deleted. Take your Nora hate and get away from my fluff.