I struggled to find the right way to write this without it being confusing. I have two Barry's to work with, so it was hard to write it so you know which one is which. For the sake of this story, "Barry" is referring to the time remnant, and "Original Barry" or "O-Barry" is referring to the real Barry. I know it's super annoying to read, but it was the best I could come up with. Hopefully it doesn't bother you guys too much.

Charity Case

Barry winced and clenched his hands into fists as Caitlin slowly peeled off the bandages. It was agonizing! The skin wasn't healed over yet. It was still open and raw, his nerve endings still exposed to the open air.

"How long until it heals?" Barry gritted, as Caitlin peeled away the bandages from his arm.

"Burns take a long time to heal," she said sadly, wincing in sympathy when Barry hissed in pain.

"That does not look pretty," Cisco said as he watched.

Caitlin shot a glare at him.

"I didn't mean him," Cisco said defensively, "I just meant it looks like it hurts. Barry, you look fine, man."

"I'm going to remove the ones on your face now," Caitlin whispered.

Barry nodded and gritted his teeth. Caitlin took a deep breath before slowly peeling off the bandage.

"Ah," Barry gasped.

It hurt like hell, especially when she peeled away the bandage covering his eye. The tissue around his damaged eye was particularly raw and sensitive.

"Don't try to open your eye just yet," Caitlin said softly as she removed the rest of the gauze, "You could do more damage."

Barry nodded and gritted his teeth as she peeled away the gauze that went down his neck. He glanced over at Cisco, who was staring at him with wide eyes, his skin now a couple shades paler than it usually was.

"Is it bad?" Barry asked worriedly, "How bad is it?"

"No," Cisco said breathlessly, "It's not that bad, man. You look…fine."

"Let me see a mirror," Barry said immediately, "Get me a mirror right now."

"Barry," Caitlin said softly, "That's probably not the best idea just yet."

"Get me a mirror!" Barry shouted angrily.

Cisco and Caitlin both jumped and then looked at each other. After a moment, Caitlin nodded sadly at Cisco, and he quickly left the room to get a mirror for Barry. When he returned, holding a small hand mirror, he held it out hesitantly to him. Barry quickly snatched it and held it up. He couldn't stop the gasp that escaped his lips when he saw his reflection.

Half of his face was gone. The skin was raw and pink. His eye was swollen shut, and his right eyebrow was completely burned away. He was a gory and miserable sight.

He was a monster.

"Oh my God," Barry choked, his good eye filling with tears, "My face…"

"It's okay, Barry," Caitlin whispered, "It…it's still healing yet. It'll look better once it's healed."

"How can this get better?!" he said incredulously, "I look like a monster, Caitlin!"

"It's really not that bad," Cisco said, "It could be worse. It could be your entire face."

That didn't make Barry feel any better, though. He just felt worse. He had thought he was okay with this, had thought a few scars would be a small price to pay for defeating Zoom, but now…

He was a time remnant. He already had that working against him. He already felt like less, and now this…his family would never see him as Barry. He was always just going to be the broken copy of Barry. The crippled time remnant. Mentally, he was the same Barry they knew and loved, but how could Barry possibly convince them he was the same person when he looked like this?!

They were going to reject him.

It was probably the worst possible time for Joe, Iris, and Wally to come walking into the room. When they walked in, Barry had an intense urge to hide his face from them. He didn't want them to see it. He was so preoccupied with worrying about his new appearance, he hadn't realized that a fourth person had walked into the room with them.

The other Barry.

The original Barry, he had to mentally correct himself. He was the other Barry, not the man who just walked into the room.

The four of them just stared at him in shock. Joe and Iris at least had the decency to control their facial expressions after a moment, but Wally and Original Barry continued to stare in shock. Thankfully, Joe broke the silence.

"How long until he's fully healed?" he asked Caitlin in a strained voice.

"It will never fully heal," Caitlin said sadly, "But the wounds should close up within a few weeks. If we keep it covered and with proper wound care, we can try to keep the scarring to a minimum."

Barry couldn't help but turn his head to the side, hiding most of the damage from them, as he addressed Caitlin.

"How long do I have to stay here?" he asked, "Am I okay to leave?"

Caitlin nodded.

"You should be okay to leave today," she said, "You can walk and function just fine. Your skin just needs time to heal."

Barry let out a sigh of relief. He looked at his family then, the damaged side of his face still slightly turned away from them.

"We have an apartment set up for you," Joe told him, smiling warmly at him, "It's in a nice area of the city, and it's a decent size."

The air stopped going into Barry's lungs then. He felt like he had been punched in the gut.

"I'm not going home?" he asked, his voice breaking, "I'm not going home with you?"

The smile slid from Joe's face then.

"Oh," he said quietly, "I…I didn't think you'd…"

"You didn't think I'd want to go home?" Barry asked, his eyes watering, "Why wouldn't I? I live there."

"I live there," Original Barry said gently, "I know that for you, it feels like you do, but…"

Barry looked down at his lap, taking a deep breath. They wanted him to move out. No. He would have had to have been living there in order to move out. He wasn't truly living there now, even if he remembered it.

He remembered growing up there.

"If you want," Joe said awkwardly, "You can come home with us. You can stay in the guest room."

Original Barry and Wally both gave Joe strange looks, but neither of them said anything.

"I…" Barry choked, "I don't want to be a burden on you guys. I just…I wanted to be with my family."

They all looked sadly at him when he said this. Had they really not expected as much from him? Had they really thought he would want to just move out? To leave? How was he supposed to do that? A few weeks ago, he had been living with them, had been spending time with them. A few weeks ago, they had loved him and fully accepted him, but now that he was a time remnant, they expected him to just go off and live his own life? Forget his family and everything he knew?

"Of course you would want that," Iris said kindly, "We want that, too, Barry. We would be happy to have you there."

Barry had to fight back the tears in his eyes. Iris seemed like she was just trying to placate him, like she just didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"I...I want to go home," he choked, "I want to be in your life."

"We do, too, Bar," Joe assured him, "We love you."

Barry could tell he meant it. Joe did love him. But did he still love him as much as he did before? Before Barry was a time remnant? To Joe, it probably felt like the man standing next to him was the Barry he truly loved. Did Joe love that Barry more? See him as the real Barry?

"I love you, too," Barry choked.

God, he loved them all so much, and the fact that he had to even question whether or not they returned that love killed him inside.

"Okay," Iris said, walking over and taking his hand, "Let's go home."

Barry felt strange, staying in the guest room. It didn't feel right, sleeping in here. He didn't have any of his things, his possessions. It felt like only a few days ago, he had been sleeping in his own bedroom. He had felt at home here. Now, just like that, he suddenly had nothing. He suddenly felt like a guest in his own home. Barry hadn't felt this way since he was in high school and still thought of himself as Joe's charity case.

That's what he was now, though, right? He was a charity case. He was a damaged, unwanted mistake that they now had to live with. He still couldn't believe the situation he now found himself in. He couldn't believe his own family could ever make him feel this way. Like an outsider.

They were acting as if he was a stranger. Like they didn't know him. When just a few days ago…

Barry sighed and turned over in bed. Things would get better. With time, they would all adjust to this new situation. They would all get used to having two Barry's in their lives. They would eventually realize that he was still their Barry. He mattered. He wasn't a mistake, and he would prove that to them.

He just wished he didn't have to prove it.

Barry sat up in bed when he heard a quiet tap on the door.

"Come in," he said immediately.

The last person Barry had been expecting to see walk through the door was himself. Original Barry had hardly said two words to him since they had come home.

"Hey," O-Barry said quietly, closing the door behind him, "Can we talk?"

Barry nodded slowly.

"I'd like that," he whispered.

O-Barry walked further into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. Barry leaned up against the headboard and pulled his knees to his chest. He winced slightly when the movement tugged his sensitive skin the wrong way.

"How are you doing?" O-Barry asked sadly.

Barry wanted to get defensive with him. He wanted to respond, "what do you care?" but he knew himself. He knew O-Barry really did feel bad about the situation. It was still him, after all.

"I feel kind of bad," Barry admitted, "I feel like now they have to put up with two of us."

O-Barry laughed.

"I'm going to be honest," he said, "That's kind of how I felt about it, too. It's not your fault, though. None of this is."

"See, that's where you're wrong," Barry said with a sad smile, "We both did this. I'm you. I made the decision to create a time remnant, too. Just because I ended up being the time remnant, it doesn't mean I'm not guilty of this mistake."

"So you agree that this was a mistake?" O-Barry said gently, "You agree that I—that we—messed up?"

Barry nodded slowly and looked down.

"Sorry," O-Barry said quickly, "I'm sorry if that was blunt of me to say. You're me, though. You think the same way I do. It makes me feel like I can be blunt with you because really, I'm just being blunt with myself."

"I understand," Barry whispered, "I know what you mean. It's not like we're twins or something. We are the same person."

O-Barry laughed then.

"So, does this count as talking to yourself?" he asked jokingly.

Barry laughed, too.

"I guess so," he agreed, "Just in the most twisted way. We take that phrase to a whole new level."

Barry sighed then.

"I'm sorry if it feels like I'm trying to take your place," Barry said quietly, "And don't say it doesn't feel that way because I know you. It does. That's how I would feel if I were you—if I were the original Barry."

O-Barry sighed and nodded slowly.

"Yeah, it does feel that way," he admitted, not bothering to lie.

"It feels that way to me, too, though," Barry said quietly, "I feel that way about you. Just because I'm a time remnant, it doesn't mean I don't still feel like the original. To me…it feels like you are trying to take my place. The only difference between us is that the odds are more in your favor."

"It's not a competition," O-Barry said quietly, "We don't have to compete against each other."

"You and I both know that's what's going to end up happening, though," Barry said sadly, "It's inevitable…and you're going to win. You're not damaged. You're not a time remnant. You still look like Barry."

"But mentally, we're both Barry," O-Barry reasoned.

"Yeah," Barry whispered, "Mentally."

O-Barry sighed heavily then.

"Speaking of competing," he said, "Wally is going to hate us now."

Barry nodded sadly.

"I know," he said, "I've thought the same thing. He now has two of us to compete with for Joe's affection. Our relationship with him is going to get so much worse."

"It would help if you moved out," O-Barry said then.

Barry stared at him.

"I'm sorry," O-Barry said quickly, "But you're me, remember? I'm just being blunt. This whole situation isn't going to work. I know it sucks, being the time remnant, but you know this just isn't going to work. I get that you want to live. I didn't get it at first, but I do now. I just don't see why you're doing this, why you're creating this problem for all of us."

"You're right," Barry said quietly, "That is pretty blunt."

"Well, no one else in the house was going to say it," O-Barry said, "No one wants to hurt your feelings, but I can. Because you're me."

"I suppose we've always been pretty hard on ourself," Barry said thoughtfully, "We've always hated ourself, haven't we? Of course you would hate your time remnant."

"I don't hate you," O-Barry said painfully.

"Yes, you do," Barry said simply, "You hate me because I'm you. You resent my existence the same way I resent yours. Let's not pretend like we don't hate each other."

O-Barry sighed.

"Okay, fine," he said, "I hate you. But I also love you. It doesn't make any sense, but…"

"Yes, it does," Barry sighed, "It makes a lot of sense. You feel about me the same way you feel about yourself, which has always been a mixture of feelings. You don't know how to feel about me because deep down, you don't know how you feel about yourself. It's easier to just hate yourself. Hate me."

O-Barry nodded.

"I think you're selfish," O-Barry blurted then, "I think you're selfish for trying to stick around. You know it complicates everyone's lives."

"And I think your selfish," Barry returned, a slight hint of anger in his voice, "You're selfish for thinking your existence is more valid than mine, for thinking you deserve the life, the job, the family, and wanting to leave me with nothing. Can't you realize that they're my family, too?"

O-Barry let out a heavy sigh.

"How exactly do you expect this to play out, Barry?" he asked in frustration, "You can't be me. We can't both be Barry Allen. You can't work at the CCPD. You can't be the Flash. You can't—"

"Who said I can't be the Flash?" Barry asked angrily, "Cisco could make another suit. The city could have two Flashes then. I wouldn't even have to train for it. I already know what I'm doing because I was the Flash. I am the Flash."

"Okay, fine," O-Barry sighed, "You have a point there. The city could benefit from having another Flash. But everything else, though. Our loved ones."

"They have enough room in their hearts for two Barry's," Barry reasoned.

"What about Iris?" O-Barry asked quietly, "When I'm finally ready…when I'm finally in the right place to be with her…she can't just date both of us. She can't date two Barry's."

Barry didn't say anything. He couldn't say anything in response. O-Barry was right. They couldn't both date her. That would be a really fucked up relationship, even if Iris was open to it. She would have to choose one of them.

And she would choose the one who had his whole face.

Barry felt like he was going to be sick. He would never be with Iris. After fifteen years of waiting, he wouldn't get to be with the woman he loved. He would have to watch her be happy with another version of him. It was like earth 2 all over again.

"I can't even imagine what you must be feeling right now," O-Barry said sadly, "I would be devastated if I were you."

Barry couldn't even look at him, at the perfect Barry. He looked down at his knees, tears welling in his remaining eye.

"I am devastated," he choked, "This whole thing is a nightmare I keep waiting to wake up from."

"I'm sorry," O-Barry whispered, "It wasn't supposed to happen like this."

"I was supposed to die," Barry choked, "I…I know that. I can see why. It's just…"

"It sucks," O-Barry said sadly.

Barry nodded.

"I just need time to think," he whispered, "I need some time to figure things out."

O-Barry nodded sadly.

"I understand," he said quietly.

He got up then and moved towards the door.

"Goodnight, Barry," he said softly.