Chapter 1: The Greatest Impossibility
I sit at the table in this crowded fancy restaurant with my family listening to my dad tell the story of how he got my mom to go out on a first date with him. It takes everything in my power, not to burst out laughing hysterically at my father's over dramatic retelling of the events. That's my father class clown turned CEO of Kelsey drive industries. My father's company is one of the top technology industries in the world.
We are here to celebrate the anniversary of my adoption or my Got you day, every single year my parents make a big deal out of this event. They both take off work I get to skip school (my favorite part). We go shopping, go to a movie do anything I like and then go to the fanciest restaurant in town, and eat dinner and I get a huge slice of cake to myself. I wish they wouldn't make such a big fuss out of me, but at the same time I kind of like it. I am finishing my food and listening to dad tell stories of his glory days, drawing blood from my lips and sitting on my hands to avoid a full out laugh attack. Mom just smiles and rolls her eyes every few minutes when dad starts the story of the time he put a snake in his high school principal's office. I know I am sunk, but to my surprise, it is my mother who breaks first, her warm laughter filling the room. I join in, and the laughter becomes a cackling, we are receiving looks from all over the room, but mom and I don't care, and from the looks of dad, he doesn't either. It is only after our waiter comes back with the bill and tells us that we have to leave do we realize what we have done. We've gotten kicked out of the restaurant.
Dad holds the door for us as I drive out in my wheelchair out into the cold air. The three of us are still completely absorbed in laughter until we hear "good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Ross" being said in a voice that sounds like a computerized AI instead of human. Wait a second. I know that voice, but no, it can't be him, he is not real.
My parents turn around to face him quickly, I on the other hand, turn around as slowly as possible, barely moving my joystick controller on my power wheelchair. I don't know why, but I don't want to see who is on the other side, but it's not like I can stand here indefinitely until he goes away and the fact that he is stopped talking makes me guess that he won't continue until I turn around, so I should just turn around. Okay, here it goes, three… two… one.
I freeze the second I see him, my blood has turned to ice water. My invisible monster, the one that used to hide me in my nightmares. The man in the yellow suit. I can't see his eyes, but I feel the weight of his focused unbroken gaze on me. "Hello, Mallory, it's nice to see you again." This is impossible. He is a figment of my imagination. Nothing more, or at least that's what I'm telling myself as I'm trying to break out of the sugar induced hallucination.
"I'm confused. Do we know you?" My mother asked the man. I wanted to yell at her. I wanted to tell her to stop because I know that wherever this is going, it's not going to be good.
My bad feeling is confirmed when he moves with incredible speed to where my mother is standing. There are only inches between them. "Mallory has to pay." He states simply, his voice booming and shaking with fury. This is just like the dream which means what's going to come next is going to be ugly very extremely ugly.
"Pay for what?" My mother asks, staring him directly in the face, not moving, not backing down. Her lips are pursed, but she is meeting his even gaze with a firm stare, the one she only uses when she's especially angry. My heart starts beating faster and faster, she takes a step closer. They are even "tell me exactly what my daughter has to pay for," he is quiet a small smirk playing on his lips as he shakes his head. My mother does not let up the intensity of her gaze, if anything, it increases drop it, just drop it. I silently pray, knowing that the only way this will and is with him getting what he wants, but I can hope and pray that it doesn't involve anyone else just me. However, my prayers do not seem to get the answer. I was hoping for, as my mother utters a firm command "now!"
As I hear her command hang in the cool night air, and seem to echo and reverberate across every square inch of the street, clarity hit me like a bullet in my brain. This was all about my father, my other father, the one we never mention at least not out loud. The one that we all forgot about. When I was little, I would pretend I would make believe and imagine what he was like, you see one of the beauties of not knowing is they can be anything you want them to be. For years I dreamed and imagined, and had recurring nightmares about a man in a yellow suit and my dad. I eventually grew up and my fantasies slowly faded away as I accepted reality. I moved on, I became a big girl. I let the past go, however, seeing the man in the yellow suit tonight made it abundantly undoubtedly, and earth shatteringly clear that I haven't forgotten anything.
"My dad." I say, breaking the long heavy silence. It effectively cuts through it like a knife. The way my mom is staring at my dad with anger and confusion makes me want to clarify "my other dad," I say quickly as if it is a curse word, fearing my parent's reaction as well as my own. My parents look betrayed and horrified at the same time. It is incredibly painful for them to hear and for me say, but that is the clear truth.
Their reaction is what I expect. I am not, however, prepared for the man in the yellow suit's reaction. He laughs and smiles slightly. "Congratulations Mrs. Ross, your daughter is clever, very clever." He tells her before taking a step back half a millisecond later he is in front of me. "Just like I remember you. You are always exactly how I remember you." He says. A smile, mixed with a smirk plays on his face as he puts his hand gently on my cheek almost lovingly as he uses his hand to make me turn my head so he can examine it. After he has seen both sides, and it from almost every angle he can without hurting me. He smirks and whispers, "perfect" smugly, "always perfect." He repeats.
He backs away from me, "Mallory. I truly wish you were not a part of this, that you did not have to be a part of this." He says, and sighs sadly. "However you are a part of your father, a part of his legacy, and that makes you very much a part of it." He says, pointing at me. "And I bet you're wondering why don't I just kill you." He continues, I wasn't thinking about that until now. "The answer is because I can't, I can't kill you because your father needs you to be the something that he will fight for and I need him to do that because I need him to get home. I need Barry Allen to be a hero so as much as I'd love to kill you and your father. I can't." He explains to me. My question is why do bad guys always monologue.
"Do you understand?" I nod. "Good." He says, before his smile turns sinister. "I can however cause you a great deal of pain." He says as he steps closer to me. He pulls out a knife which I have no idea where he had that in that suit. He takes the blade and presses it ever so lightly against my cheek, "I could stab you in so many different ways. He says. "But I'm not going to do that." He puts a rag on my cheek to wipe away the blood. "I'm going to do something much worse sweetheart, hold that there." He instructs me. I do as I am told, then he says, "emotional pain is always worse." And with that he takes a knife and stabs my mother in the stomach.
He returns to me. I start to cry, "it's okay sweetheart, come on, be a big girl." He says as he stabs me in the back wonderful new scars to go over my old ones! "Sweetheart, you don't look well at all. How about you let me carry you to see your daddy?" He patronizes me with a laugh
The last thing I see is his face in the mask.
Cisco's point of view
"Barry, we've got a confirmed sighting of a yellow suit on Alastair and Ninth." I say into the intercom." The man in the yellow suit has been our number one target since Barry became The Flash because he killed Barry's mother, but this is the first time we've actually had a confirmed sighting. Barry is already out on account of The Mist showing up. Caitlin is in the other part of the building, studying some thermonuclear fusion notes to determine how this will affect the environment of Central City in the following years, and Dr. Wells left for coffee about 20 minutes ago. Which leaves me on monitor duty. The man in the yellow suit has left "27 and Grayson" I update him. "71 and Godfree " I say. Wait a second, it almost looks like what the frack?! He's coming here! "Umm... Barry, he's coming here," I say, trying not to show the panic in my voice, but it wasn't working. My voice went up the whole octave.
"What? How? Are you sure? Why?" Barry asks, sounding frustrated and confused.
"I don't know man," I say honestly panic rising in my voice. "Just hurry up and get here by my calculations, you've got…" I am so bad at mental calculations. I can never figure them out.
"Zero seconds" I hear a voice say behind me. I turn around and scream. He laughs. "Hello Cisco" no way he did not just say my name. How does he know my name?
"Chill dude, why are you here?" He gives me a look like I don't have the authority to ask him that question and my "macho man" superhero persona crumbles and quickly raise my hands above my head, and assume the classic "surrender" position. "Don't hurt me." I beg, "please," I say embarrassed and feeling very much like a coward.
He laughs. "Get down on the floor." He orders and I do as I'm told, "interlace your fingers." He orders again and they do as I'm told, he laughs again. This time however, it is much warmer. "Cisco, relax. I am only here to drop something off." He says, through the laughter. I lift my head to see a young woman in his arms, she is completely still in his arms., her pale skin the color of porcelain, her long, curly hair was the color of melted dark chocolate, her lips were red. She was wearing a white lace dress silently he lays her beside me. She is the classic embodiment of Snow White, but instead of being poisoned by an apple, she has been stabbed with a knife. The knife is in her back, more specifically the knife is in her shoulder blade. The man in the yellow suit kneels down beside her. He grabs the hilt of the knife, oh please don't tell me he's going to I think to myself and with one fluid motion, he yanks it out of her. Her eyes open and she screams. I have never heard a scream like that in my life, as more blood comes out of the wound staining her dress.
He leaves her and walks over to me. "I bet you're wondering who she is, aren't you?" I nod slowly he smiles before turning to face the girl. His eyes wander across her body before resting on her eyes, he kneels beside her and touches her cheek. She looks up at him with just a hint of fear. He gently takes his thumb and runs it across her cheek. "This beautiful girl is Barry Allen's daughter." He says, turning back to face me with a satisfied smirk at my dumbfounded expression. It can't be that's not possible. He is too young to have a daughter that old. I think to myself.
"That's not possible. You are lying to me, that's biologically impossible." I stammer out loud.
He smirks, "Cisco you live in a world with two men that are faster than the speed of light. A man that can control the weather, and a man that can turn himself into a toxic mist. Nothing is impossible." He says, before breaking into hysterical laughter. This guy is totally a deranged mentally unstable psychopath, but he does have a point. "But believe whatever you want, test her DNA against his, and it will prove I'm not lying."
"Let's say that hypothetically, I believe you how did this happen?" I ask. I'm intrigued that the prospect might be true.
He rolls his eyes. "That's for you to figure out, "he says dryly, he bows mockingly towards me before continuing, "now if you will excuse me, I've got somewhere to be, plans to make Cisco, big plans, but this was fun, we will have to do it again sometime" He says sinisterly he faces the door and looks back at the girl on the floor who is presumably Barry's daughter. "And please do tell, Mallory, that I am very sorry," he says in a tone that makes me almost believe him before he speeds out of the room.
Five minutes later, Caitlin and Dr. Wells show up. "What happened, why are you on the floor and who is the girl?" They both ask me, as soon as they see the situation in front of them.
Giving them the answers to all those questions would take too long. "Long story, all you need to know is her name is Mallory and she needs our help." I say. The longer I thought about the man in the yellow suit explanation of who she was the more sense it made. It was scary and exhilarating at the same time.
"Okay, the first thing we need to do is get her off the floor. Can you help me with that?" She asks, directing her question at me. I nod as I get myself off the floor myself. I bend down and lift her as carefully as I can, not wanting to hurt Barry's daughter because something tells me he will be a very protective dad, especially when he finds out who did this to her. I'm pretty sure the man in the yellow suit, just signed his own death warrant. I place her in the bed. Caitlin looks satisfied, "perfect now you can explain the long story to Dr. Wells and me while I take care of her. I really was hoping I could wait to relive that trauma until later, but okay, sure great. Let's relive that traumatic event that just happened.
I take a deep breath and walk into the center of the room. "Since you all ditched me. I was all alone on monitor duty." I say melodramatically, I hear laughing and turn my head to the side to see Caitlin and Dr. wells rolling their eyes at me. "Anyway, I heard from the police radio that there was a confirmed sighting of the man in the yellow suit" I can tell by the amount of silence in the room that I have successfully gotten their attention satisfied with that, I continue my story "so I told Barry and tracked the man in the yellow suit as I was tracking him, I began to realize that the pattern he was moving in meant he was coming here, I told Barry. The man in the yellow suit showed up with her in his arms, he laid her down, since some really creepy, totally super villain type stuff told me who she was and then left." I say, omitting the part where I screamed like a girl and begged for my life.
"Well, the stabbing would explain the lacerations on her shoulder, but it doesn't account for the three other scars on her back that appear to be from a knife of some sort. They are 10 years old at least or the one from what I'm assuming is a gun in the middle of her sternum. Bottom line, it looks like she's been in a lot of high intensity situations, most of which ended with her receiving some kind of physical injury." Caitlin says, sounding very doctor like "by the way who is she? You said he told you, but you never said who she was." She reminds me.
I freeze there is no way the man in the yellow suit was telling the truth, right? It's true, we live in a world full of impossible stuff and things that could definitely be classified as "abnormal." But this could be it's too crazy. It's not even our version of normal and yes, before you ask, I do recognize that many saying something is way too out there being hypocritical, but it's just not true! What's next pigs flying? Wait a second, that would be really cool. "I have no idea." I say, because truly in what world where the alternative make sense.
"But you said." Caitlin starts reminding me, she is a really good listener, which makes lying to her really hard and this situation very annoying.
"I know what I said, Caitlin, but I forgot just drop it. Okay," I say hotly wanting to forget about the whole situation.
At that moment Barry flashes into the room. "Hey guys, I'm sorry it took so long on my way back here. I stumbled upon the scene of a stabbing and then I had to call Joe and Eddie and wait for them to arrive so I could give my statement and do my forensic science thing and then get back here." He says quickly, completely oblivious to what is going on and then he slows down when he realizes that Caitlin and I are arguing about something. "Hey, what's wrong? Did he hurt you?" Barry asked suddenly concerned, Caitlin and I shake our heads no, he relaxes, but only slightly. "Then what is it?" Caitlin and I turn to look at the girl who is still unconscious Barry follows our line of sight and finds her "who is she?" He asks, sounding confused and worried.
I let Caitlin answer that one. "We don't know." She says simply, before adding, "The Man in the Yellow Suit dropped her off and she had been stabbed, presumably by him." She finishes her account of the events. The mention of The Man in the Yellow Suit earns an immediate reaction from Barry. "He brought her here?" Caitlin nodded, not wanting to repeat the information again. He looks frustrated. "And we don't know who she is?" Once again, Caitlin nods yes, I can see his frustration increasing "but it doesn't make sense. He wouldn't just kidnap and stab a random girl and bring her here, we need to find out who she is." I agree that he wouldn't just do this sort of thing to a random girl. It's not his style. And I can tell by Caitlin's expression that she agrees.
"We will Mr. Allen, I promise. But first you have to calm down and stop hitting things." Dr. Wells says gently and calmly to Barry, who takes a deep breath and nods.
"Okay, Dr. Wells, I'm sorry I will try to avoid hitting things from now on." Barry apologizes for his outburst.
"It's quite all right, Barry, all is forgiven." Dr. Wells says, smiling a melancholy smile at him.
Barry's phone rang. "Hey Joe... What?! Okay, thanks." Barry says as he hangs up. "The victims of the stabbing were Duane and Marie Ross as in Duane Ross of Kelsey Drive Industries, and apparently they had a daughter named Mallory, who is missing and matches her description." Barry states, "but that still doesn't explain why he took her and attacked them. It's never been about the money for him, at least not to my knowledge anyway." He finishes, sounding slightly broken.
"I'll check state records to see what I can find. Maybe she's connected to him in some other way that we will be able to find there." I offer Barry nods slowly within 20 seconds I am in the state 's computer system, which concern me but at the same time makes me proud of myself. Once I get to the Rosses records. I find a multitude of police reports that either list Mallory as the main witness for the prosecution or a victim. It would take me an eternity to read all them and I don't have that kind of time on my hands, Barry needs answers so I elect to ignore all of them, at least for now and click on the most interesting thing I see on the screen. Her adoption record "it might be nothing, but it might be something she was adopted immediately after she was born. The only problem is that it is a closed adoption so I can't see to her parents are or were her real parents. I mean," I say triumphantly at the fact that I may have got something.
"All parents are real parents." Dr. Wells says scolding me.
"I could perform a DNA test." Caitlin volunteers getting up from her seat and grabbing a needle. "I need to do a blood test, anyway." Caitlin adds as she takes the sample from Mallory and putting it in the machine.
Barry's point of View.
I get up and walk over to Mallory standing at the foot of the bed. "Why you?! Who are you?!" I ask her quietly hear her only response is the rise and fall of her breathing and I smile a little. She is pretty and she's probably nice. She doesn't deserve this, a machine beeps and it pulls me from my thoughts. "Time to find out who you are Mallory" I say to her Caitlin reads the results and throws them in the trash says something about the machine malfunctioning runs the test again. She read the results throws them in the trash again and runs the test yet again by the fourth time this cycle repeats. I say "Caitlin stop it. It's obviously not the machine. If you keep getting the same results."
I've done it now she storms into the room with the results in her hand. "But these results don't make any sense. They say that you're the father!" she exclaims practically throwing the results into my hands.
"What?!" I say. She just points down at the papers in my hands authoritatively. Sure enough, there it is in big black letters, Barry Allen 50% match Nora Allen, 25% match. This means I am a father, more specifically, her father. That's what this means. And I know what this means, but how is this true, but it doesn't make any sense, at least by normal standards, and if I'm being honest, it really doesn't make sense by anyone's standards. I mean there's only a 10-year age gap, maybe even less, but I have the proof right here in my hand. Still, it does not make the truth any easier to digest. I am a father, but what does that mean, I have not ever really thought about that before having kids being a dad. I mean, I'm 25 years old. I just got out of college and got a job 2 years ago! Luckily I don't have too much debt because I got a scholarship and Joe helped pay for the rest, but I have still not been in a stable, long-term relationship with anyone ever. Plus, there's the fact that I still live with Joe, and am a superhero by night. I mean, sure, I sort of had an idea that I wanted to get married to Iris, and have kids, after my Flash days were over, but that was years and years and years away. Yet here she is in front of me, it is overwhelming, but I know this is real. This is my reality.
"Barry, are you okay" I hear Caitlin call, followed by Cisco and Dr. Wells.
I break out of my thoughts and nod slowly beginning to move "yeah, yeah, I'm fine. It's just a lot to process" I say as I make my way to one of the chairs in the center of the room. "I'm a dad." I say, laughing slightly at the absurdity of the situation. "And I don't know who or how or why this is possible and I certainly don't know why I find this funny." I say honestly before I began laughing again.
"Yes, you are Mr. Allen and I have a theory that is quite possibly the answer to all your questions. However, on a more serious note, we have something far more serious to discuss. Are you going to keep her or not?" Dr. Wells says, and I realize that I hadn't thought about it that part the logistical part. What that means for me and for her, for my life and hers was I going to keep her? How could I not? But at the same time, how could I? Whenever decision I made it would change my life, even if I do not keep her. I can't imagine just ignoring the fact that I have the daughter, "the decision is yours. Barry, but I do think that you should take care of her, to avoid another incident like today with what happened to her parents," I thought about it and I thought about it some more.
"Barry, you look like you're going to have a panic attack! "Cisco remarks I nod.
I don't know what to do. Everything is happening all at once. I can't leave her, because if anything was to happen to her or anyone else protecting her, I couldn't live with one more person dying because of me. This is what I feel I should do. I just feel strange doing it, and feeling so protective of this girl. I don't know how I'm going to make this work logistically; I know it needs to be done. There is no alternative option "I'm going to call my dad." I announce I literally have no idea why I announced it. I walk out of the main room and into the hallway. My hands start to shake a little as I dialed my dad's number. I'm nervous as it rings. I began to quickly realize that this is probably not the best conversation to have over the telephone, especially if he is with Eddie, his partner, hey dad, I just wanted to let you know that I have a daughter that is 10 years younger than me, probably because of some weird speedforce effects. She happens to be the daughter of the victims of the case are currently working on, and probably witnessed the whole thing and since she is my daughter. That means she's technically, your granddaughter, so yeah, you're a grandfather. Congratulations. I guess.
Nope, that is totally not happening over the phone before I can hang up. He answers, "Barry, where are you, you left the station an hour ago are you hurt?" My dad questions me anxiously.
"Dad, I am at Star labs and everything is fine. Well, "I say, trying to reassure him that remain truthful at the same time.
"What's with the ish. I don't like the ish" my dad remarks in his completely serious, concerned voice that I heard a lot of as a kid and hear even more now that I'm a superhero." Your voice is shaking; you are really nervous. I haven't heard you this nervous since you and Iris wrapped my brand-new sports car around a tree when you were 16. Do you have any idea how worried that makes me?" Dad says to me with a hint of humor in his voice.
"Can you come to Star labs?" I ask the anxiety slowly rising in my voice. "I don't think we should do this conversation over the phone." I add quickly
"I am leaving right now. I will be there in 15 minutes and then we'll talk about whatever it is that's got you so nervous. Please don't tell me you wrapped another car around a tree." Dad says, his voice is dripping with worry and sarcasm.
"Okay, that's great. I love you dad. See you soon." I say as I hang up and then head back to the main room and sit down in a chair opposite Dr. Wells. "I believe you owe me an explanation," I say calmly sitting back in my chair, crossing my arms as I eagerly await the answer to a question that seems to constantly reoccur since I began my life as a superhero what the heck is going on?
I watch as Dr. Wells readjusts his glasses. "Um. Well, Mr. Allen. It's not an entirely concrete explanation. I mean, since I have new data. I can't be for sure that my hypothesis is correct. It's just a theory pure speculation on my part." Dr. Wells says somewhat nervously glancing from me to my daughter, back at me for a spilt second and once again to her as he mutters something indistinguishable under his breath.
This confuses me momentarily. "Dr. Wells, how did this happen?" He looks at me with a set of blank eyes and an expression of melancholy bitterness as if he'd just swallowed acid. "Theoretically, I mean," I add.
His expression does not change, but his eyes are no longer blank they are softer, but seem sadder, "how this occurred is because you can time travel or at least you will be able to at some point in the future." He pauses and waits for me to process the information I nod, he continues, "you saw two men the night your mother died one man was the man in the yellow suit and I'm speculating the other one was you, you from the present or the future. That's evidence that shows you will have the ability to go back in time." He says, another pause before he continues, "as far as I can tell you will at some point in time, go back to the year 1998, do the baby-making thing with a woman, then travel back to the year that you came from the baby will be born and adopted by the Rosses and life will continue normally for both her and you until the events that lead to here, any questions, Mr. Allen?"
I nod. "How come I don't remember any of this?" I ask him very confused, but very intrigued by this prospect.
A look of apprehension is clearly displayed in his eyes like his mind is waging war on whether or not to tell me the information which I seek after what feels like a prolonged period of silence a sense of duty and obligation sets heavily into his eyes. "The circuit hypothesis" he says quickly, in the way you would spit out spoiled food, or poison. "I'm assuming from that look on your face. You have no idea what I'm talking about," I nod to tell him that he is correct. He takes a deep breath, like explaining this to me is going to be like running a marathon. He approaches the board. "The circuit hypothesis is a theory of quantum physics that states, time is not linear. It is a loop or circuit the circuit stars in continues to in a clockwise direction in which each event directly influences the next and so on. And if at any point in time there is a change in the circuit, the circuit will continue to progress normally until it catches up to the point in which the circuit was changed. This also makes changing the future or the past extremely difficult because if you change one event, it changes the next event and with no possible way to predict the new pattern of events, you lose any advantage you may have." He finishes his explanation of the theory and then comes back to sit beside me.
I lean back in my chair, trying to process the whirlwind that has come at me nonstop today, all I can do is think and contemplate and try to combat the millions of questions in my head that are demanding answers most of which I have none to give, I sit there, motionless having a silent conversation with myself asking questions of which I have no answers over and over pretty much the definition of insanity. Suddenly I hear a familiar voice. "Barry," it snaps me out of that never-ending conversation with myself. I see my dad sitting in a chair directly facing me.
"I'm sorry dad, I just got a little distracted." I apologize quickly to my dad.
My dad laughs. "I can see that and I'm assuming it has something to do with the reason you called me down here and the reason you've the Rosses daughter in a hospital bed." He says, gesturing to Mallory, "am I correct in assuming that?" My dad asks looking at me expectantly awaiting my answer.
I take a deep breath before answering, "That's partially it, but I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated than that." My dad raises an eyebrow and looks at me impatiently waiting for me to continue. "I didn't bring her here," I pause unsure how to proceed because he has never really been receptive to the idea of the man in the yellow suit. "He did,"
"But you said the blood spatter pattern was made by someone carrying her away from the crime scene at an abnormally fast speed. There's another one?" I nod and then go to the computer and pull up the security camera footage we watch it together in silence. When The Man in the Yellow Suit appears I pause the footage and zoom in on him and the fact that he is holding Mallory makes me a little sick inside. "Okay, so now the Bogeyman exists." My dad says in a sarcastic tone. "I guess I owe you an apology son, I'm sorry," he says in a sincere tone of voice. "I'm going to reopen your mom's murder investigation, when I get back to the station and we can work it together this time, I promise." I can hear the honesty and shame in his voice.
"Apology accepted, and dad, don't beat yourself up. You are cop. It's your job to look for concrete evidence, and to be honest, until the past two months I started doubting myself too." I say honestly, not wanting him to feel guilty for what happened. He doesn't need that and honestly, neither do I.
"Thank you Barry." He says reflectively, before sighing and looking over at Mallory. "You think the cases are connected?" He asks, harmlessly I remain silent nervously contemplating how to tell me my dad something I myself do not fully understand. "Bear, you have wrecked sports car face. What is it? You can tell me." My dad says worryingly, trying to encourage me to tell him.
I take a deep breath. "Dad, remember when I told you that it was a little bit complicated." Dad nods patiently waiting for me to continue. "I may have underestimated the complexity of the situation." I say with a nervous laugh.
"Go on, son, there's nothing that can surprise me anymore." He says encouragingly, even though I highly doubt that this will not surprise him.
"I'm her dad." I say with some effort, and noticeable hesitation. My dad has a look of utter disbelief on his face. I reach for the DNA results, once I find them. I look at them for a moment, then pass them to him.
"These are DNA results", he says absent-mindedly as he scans them briefly and when he reaches the middle of the page, his mouth drops open "you are her dad." He says, almost dropping the results in the process. "But... But you're not old enough to have a daughter that old. She's 16 and you are 25. That's only nine years and a nine-year-old can't have a kid." He says, at a loss for words. My dad has had the most trouble adjusting to the realm of the crazy, upside down doesn't make conventional sense, that is, our new normal. "How did this happen? "He asks, straightforward and direct looking like he is preparing to be totally, completely and utterly lost.
I give him an uncertain nervous smile. "Time travel" I say fully aware of how absurd it sounds.
I am about to explain how this works when he holds up his hand to stop me. "Barry, you can stop. I don't want the details. I don't need them." He says firmly before adding, "if my world gets any more science fiction in it. I'm going to have to call you the Starship Enterprise." We both start laughing and my dad stands up and walks over to Mallory, who is still unconscious on the bed. "Barry, you know what you have to do right" he says, looking from her to me. I shake my head. "You have to take care of her. You have to be a dad." He says with what can only be described as absolute certainty.
I look at him. "I don't know if I can. I don't think I'm ready to be a dad." I say in frustration.
My dad gives me an understanding smile and puts his hand on my shoulder. "Barry, I may not understand a lot of the science and mechanics behind what makes the world so much different now." He pauses for second and laughs. "Okay, if I'm being truthful, I understand none of it. But I do know this, you have always been a protector, you have always been looking for someone to save, it's you. You have always loved that's who you are who you have always been, and that's all a dad really is someone who protects, someone who loves, someone who a person can turn to. No matter what a parent is always there for the child, it's already inside of you. You have everything you need and honestly, no one is ever prepared to be a parent, but I've seen you step up before when the city needed a hero you were there hero and you are, you've pushed yourself to the limit and beyond because they needed you to just like she needs to right now. Barry, she lost her mother and her father and I don't need to tell you how much hurts because you know, because you lived it. And do you honestly think there's anyone who can protect her from The Man in the Yellow Suit better than you?" With that, my dad concludes one of his famous pep talks.
"You are right about everything, as usual." I mumble him to end slightly aggravated by the fact that he is so good and gets almost everything right all the time.
Dad smiles and laughs. "Give it a few years, you'll get there too." He looks at my daughter for a second and then back at me and smirks, "especially with a daughter."
Wait a second, what does that mean? That question is quickly shaken off and replaced by a new one. Why hasn't she woken up yet? She was brought here almost 2 hours ago, she should be awake by now, so why isn't she? "Cait," I say. My voice asks a silent question.
"I don't know, Barry, I've been monitoring her heart rate, breathing and pulse oxygen levels and everything is stable. There's no physical reason why she should be unconscious." Caitlin says matter-of-factly, like a doctor, but there is an obvious level of sympathy.
"Not helping Caitlin," I say under my breath, I don't know what I'm feeling or what I'm supposed to feel or do with nothing left to do and feeling utterly confused by today's events. I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that there is nothing that I can do except sit in a chair and wait.
We sit in a very uncomfortable silence filled with tension that you can almost feel until my dad says, "just so we're clear, you and Mallory are welcome to live with me at the house with me." He says, turning to me before pausing ever so slightly. "I mean the house is pretty much accessible except for the bedrooms upstairs, which I'm sure won't be a problem because you can carry her. "My dad instantly recognizes my uncomprehending expression "oh, Barry, you didn't know did you?" My dad's voice is full of sympathy a look of instant regret plays on his face as I slowly shake my head. My dad takes a deep breath and looks me directly in the eyes. "Mallory is in a wheelchair, Barry, due to medical malpractice when she was born."
"How bad is it?" I say, my voice shaking slightly with anger, fear and tension as yet another wave of new information floods my already highly confused brain. I look at her so much has happened in the past two hours and she is oblivious to it. At least I've had some time to digest what exactly has occurred and it has not hit all at once like it will for her, probably with the force of an atomic bomb.
"She's partially paralyzed, meaning she can walk, but her movement from the waist down is highly restricted and difficult." My dad tells me point blank.
My anger turns to sadness, not at her or for me, but for her, I imagine her having to rely on everyone else for everyday things, and it makes me feel sad for her as well as angry at the person that caused it. Not that that changes anything, because I will still protect her and take care of her, if anything, it makes me more determined to keep her safe. The silence sets in once again heavy in the room. My gaze drifts around the room, searching it aimlessly until my eyes come to rest on Mallory slowly and with no warning her eyes flutter open, she is awake. She looks around the room. My dad looks at me. "You ready for this," he asks gently.
"I'm probably as ready as I ever will be. So yeah, let's do this." I say clearly extremely uncertain about the whole thing.
My father and I walk slowly to her bed. She looks at the both of us. Her eyes wide with a mixture of fear and panic. "Who are you? Where am I? Where did he go? Why am I here?" With that she ends her frenzied barrage of questions, taking in a deep breath of air.
Joe and I both share a stunned look after what we had just played out right in front of us. Joe quickly sprang into action. "Mallory, I know that she just woke up and you've probably seen a lot of bad things tonight and I promise we will answer all your questions. But first you have to calm down." Joe says in his very calm detective voice.
She sits there, her body shaking from all the tension that is running through every part of her body. She curls up into a ball. "I just saw my parents get murdered and I wake up in a place where I don't know where I am. I don't want to calm down." She says, her voice quivering because of all the pent-up raw and dangerous emotions that she is experiencing.
"I know, Mallory, I know, but you've got to calm down because this isn't going to help you and it isn't going to help us help you. So you have to at least try, okay?" His voice patient and understanding as he waits for her to calm down. Within a few minutes, she calms down. "Good, Mallory" he says, praising her. "Now that we've got that out of the way my name is Detective Joe West," he gets up and points to me. "And this is Barry Allen."
Her eyes focus like a laser beam directly in the center of my chest, I have the Flash Suit on and she is staring at the symbol "the Flash, you're the Flash," she breathes out, still focusing on my symbol "that would mean…" She pauses when she becomes aware that we can hear her. "Oh no, never mind, I was wrong." She finishes quickly, clearly hiding something.
She looks away and sits perfectly still and remains absolutely silent. I am startled by this new development. What was she about to say? Did he tell her something to make her afraid of me? I carefully move to the side of the bed and cautiously sit down on the bed. "Mallory, what did he tell you?" I get no response. In fact, she won't even look at me. "Mallory, please talk to me so that I can understand." I say honestly,
She looks at me for a brief moment I hold her hand because it seems like the right thing to do. She doesn't fight me. "Is it true?" She asks me quietly she looks dead "Are you my dad?" She asks in a voice only I can hear. I nod slowly, she looks at me with wide eyes, her face clearly not understanding and personally I don't blame her. She starts examining my face from nearly every angle and frowns and then does it again. "But you're so young," she says, clearly highly confused. She makes this face at me, which I have to admit is pretty cute, "how old are you, anyway? 30?" I shake my head. "Lower or higher?" She asks with an inquisitive spark in her eyes, I point down at the floor with my free hand. "28?" Once again, I point down, shaking my head. "26?" She asks with uncertainty in her voice. I point down. Her face drops "seriously, you can't be that young." She says in frustration. I laugh openly and speed over to the desk and grab my wallet and return to Mallory. I pull out my driver's license and hand it to her. She looks at and then back to me. "You are being serious. You are 25" She exclaims, clearly in shock as she hands it back to me. "I don't get it, how is this possible?" She inquires looking at me inquisitively.
"I can move superfast, and apparently I can time travel because of a particle accelerator explosion the night I got struck by lightning." I explain to her.
She nods. "With all I've seen tonight I am inclined to believe it." She says, half-jokingly half seriously. Before continuing, "I don't want any more explanation. It's okay, I believe you. I've had enough crazy for one night.
I nod to signal that I understand. At that moment, Caitlin comes over. "I have to see how you're healing" she says to Mallory, Mallory sits forward as Caitlin lifts up, Mallory's shirt and removes the bandage to take a look, I stand up to look with her I was clearly not prepared for what I see. The cuts are deep and long. "Luckily. It looks like she inherited your accelerated healing capabilities, otherwise…" Caitlin says, before realizing that Mallory is conscious. She quickly puts her hand on her face.
"Otherwise, I would've died." Mallory says flatly. Caitlin looks at her and starts to apologize. "Don't worry about it. I am amazed that I didn't die as well." She says, offering a tiny smile to Caitlin, who smiles back. The only thing I can think about is the fact that this was with accelerated healing.
"You can take her home, just make sure to change the bandages every two hours." Caitlin says, "good luck Barry!" Caitlin calls as I put Mallory in her wheelchair. "I almost forgot, here are her medications and pain medication." Caitlin says, handing me a baggie of six different medications. I give her a concerned look. "Don't worry, it's all her normal stuff and the instructions are on the bottle." Caitlin says gently as we head out the door.
"Mallory. There's one other thing you probably should know." Joe says, looking at Mallory. She looks at him in return. "I'm Barry's adoptive father, so technically I'm your grandfather. And you live with me."
Mallory nods. "Anything else I should know?" She asks both of us as we get in the car.
"Probably" we both answer in tandem. "But that's pretty much the basics, we don't want to give you information overload."
She nods. "So where are we going?" Mallory asks from her seat in the car.
"Well, I'm going to get you some food and then we are going to the station for Barry to sign the custody paperwork so he can be all official." He pauses. "And then we go down to the morgue where you will identify the bodies of your parents and then go back upstairs where you will give an official statement to me so I can continue my investigation" Joe finishes.
I look at him in horror the getting feed part, I'm okay with that, but my daughter having to identify her parent's bodies and give a statement part. I'm not okay with "for real Joe, you are really going to make her do that tonight? She just woke up after being stabbed in the back. She can't do it tomorrow?" I say angrily at him.
"No, I can't do it tomorrow." Mallory's voice says defiantly. "My guess is the stockholders want the investigation dealt with quickly, so their value doesn't drop." She takes a deep breath before continuing, "I'm also assuming you're under enormous pressure from my family." She shakes her head. "No doubt my uncles are arguing like mad in my father's office about who gets to be the next CEO of Kelsey Drive Industries." The note in her voice is one of pure disgust she folds her arms across her chest.
Joe and I exchange looks of intrigue and also concern about what would make her say that. We eat at the café, where I ask Mallory about what she would want her new name to be at some point in the conversation. My mother came up and I proceeded to tell, Mallory, all about her. Mallory reminds me so much of her. It's almost scary. So we decide on the name of Mallory Nora Allen once dinner is over, we head back to the car and go to the station.
We pull up to the station and I get out the car and get her to carefully put her in her wheelchair. Caitlin had bought her a really nice new wardrobe because all of her other clothing items are currently in the evidence lockup because her house is being searched by the police as they try to find out who did it. (We all know who did it, we just can't say the men in the yellow suit without being locked up ourselves.) She is wearing a white blouse, a black lace skirt, tights and black flats. I told her that it was fine to wear something casual, but she insisted on wearing this, saying she wanted to make a good first impression. Caitlin helped do her hair and surprisingly, Joe is pretty good with hair as well. Her hair is down, but clipped with a hair accessory in the back. Mallory starts receiving compliments and looks from the younger male policeman. The second we walk in the building, I feel myself throw up in my mouth and I quickly move to walk closer beside her, causing both her and Joe to smile and laugh at me.
We reach the bullpen, and immediately are met with applause and cheering. "Detective West, Mr. Allen and Miss Ross, join me in my office." Capt. Singh yells above the applause, which stops almost immediately after he does this, causing Mallory, Joe and I to hurriedly follow him into his office. Once we are all inside his office. He sits down at his desk and points at the door, which has been left ajar noticing his obvious unspoken request I close the door as quickly and as quietly as possible. He gives me a tiny glint of a satisfied smile and a curt nod. "Detective West and Mr. Allen, I don't know how you managed to find Miss. Ross and I don't even want to know all that matters is that she is alive and she can give us the first credible information on what happened, so we can get our first lead, and hopefully this PR nightmare of a case will be over quickly. So good job, Detective West and Mr. Allen." The captain says, quickly Mallory's face falls open with a look of complete disbelief at what she just heard. The words so insensitive. I think for a moment that he must have forgotten that she was in the room, until he turns to her, and sighs, "unfortunately for you, my dear, you will be placed in protective custody because your family and your father's whole entire company is part of an active investigation, which means you can't be in contact with anyone of your former family members, and once again unfortunately for you, due to the fact you are 16. This custody change will probably be permanent."
Her bottom lip quivers and she looks at me with pleading eyes, I realize now is my moment. "I want to sign the custody paperwork." I say. Suddenly, with a burst of energy. Mallory smiles melancholy.
"Allen? Seriously? Are you serious?" He gawks, staring at me. I nod and smile. He gets the paperwork and a pen and lays them on his desk. "You do realize what this means, right, you will be a father? This is permanent." He questions me.
"I know," I mutter as I grab the pen & sign my name.
He sits back in his chair, looking clearly amazed at the spectacle playing out in front of him as I pass the pen to Mallory, "and you're okay with this?" He whispers in amazement.
"Yes, sir." She says politely, glancing up at him as she signs her old name on the first line, and her new name on the second. She straightens herself in the wheelchair as she puts down the pen.
He cast one more look of amazement. This time it is directed at Joe who chuckles at him. "Don't look at me, Captain I don't tell him what to do anymore. He's an adult!" He says, "but just so you know I approve. I've always wanted a granddaughter."
"Okay then, you can take her down to the morgue so she can identify her parents before gives her witness statement, so it will be fresh in her mind." He says. Joe and I both look at him. "Or we to do the witness statement tomorrow. Whatever works. But the morgue is nonnegotiable. We have to get the identity tonight so we can proceed with the death certificates, now go." He says, and practically pushes us out the door of his office.
"Did you really just do that, Barry? Sign Mallory's custody paperwork?" Eddie asks me, as soon as we are outside the office door. He sounds impressed. I nod. "Congratulations, Barry!" He says, putting his hand on my shoulder.
Captain Singh comes out of his office. "Go!" He bellows causing us to quickly walk towards the elevator to go down to the morgue.
"Are you okay, Mallory?" I ask her, once we are in the elevator.
She takes a deep breath, and slowly nods. "I'm okay," she says, before hesitating slightly and continuing, "I just don't like him." She finishes crossing her arms and looking down.
Joe and I nod thoughtfully in agreement. "He's not normally like this, it is probably because of the high-profile nature of this case," she glances at me. "Which doesn't excuse his behavior, but it makes it understandable." She nods the elevator stops and we are here.
We approach the morgue. "We are here to see the Ross bodies." Joe says, flashing his badge at Ian our resident medical examiner.
"Of course Detective West and company, come on in." He says, welcoming us into his room. "I would assume you are the daughter." He says, pointing at her, she nods weakly. "Oh, my poor dear I am terribly sorry." He says, clearly being truthful. "There you are, my dear," he says. He goes to unzip the bags "this will be very difficult for you to see again you sure you're ready?" She nods. "Okay, my dear, here we go." And with that he unzips the bags she closes her eyes for a moment and grabs my hand. "Oh dear, this is a rather embarrassing turn of events. We seem to have lost the bodies." He says, adding a nervous laugh.
"What?" All three of us chorus we look into the bags and see nothing there except two empty body bags.