Chapter 4

*still in a flashback*

As Barry Allen Flashed through S.T.A.R labs with Caitlin in his arms, to see what the big emergency was that Cisco had felt the need to text them both about, he was careful to observe every detail of every room, just the way Oliver Queen A.K.A The Green Arrow had taught him to do. Caitlin may not have agreed to be left behind, and she did have a point, if Cisco needed first aid she was the one of them that could provide it, but that didn't mean Barry was about to take any chances with her. He had already lost her once and he wasn't about to lose her again, that is why he had decided that once the current crisis was dealt with he had to tell her the truth and trust that they would work it out, if he let her figure it out on her own he knew there was no way things would work out, and at least if he told the truth there was a chance, and if there was one thing his battles over the years had taught him it was that a slim chance was better then none at all. Still the chance that he could lose her for good and this time it would be because she chose to kick him out of her life caused his heart to sink, but he couldn't think about that at the moment, he had to remind himself to focus on the trouble at hand, so that is exactly what he did.

The first thing Barry noticed was that neither the gates nor the doors seemed to have been forced and the security system seemed to be intact, so that was a good thing. Unless of course they were dealing with someone who was somehow smart or powerful enough to break into S.T.A.R labs without leaving any sign they were there, it wouldn't be the first time the security system had let them down. Barry swore that despite the many upgrades Caitlin and Cisco had given the thing, it was worse than worthless, given how many times people had just waltzed right into his top secret headquarters, he wasn't sure why they even bothered to keep a security system. It was like Windows 10, hard to use and it did nothing but fail and require useless upgrades every half hour. So Barry didn't let his guard down for more then a second or two tops, and when he put it back up he was even more tense then he was before.

Barry carefully searched every room in S.T.A.R labs but couldn't find a sign of anything wrong, that was until he skidded to a halt in the Cortex and let Caitlin out of his arms so she could stand on her own two feet. That was when he spotted a very agitated looking Cisco pacing back and forth in front of the computer consoles, holding a tablet in his hands, and he was growing more and more angry as he looked at whatever was on the screen.

"Okay, Cisco we are here, what's the big emergency?" Barry asked and he looked over and was glad to see that his suit was the same as it always had been and kept in the same place, at least that had not changed. Barry was ready to put it on and do battle with the latest Meta-Human threat to Central City, in a way it would kind of be a relief to do something that he knew he couldn't screw up and couldn't have really changed that much between time lines.

When Cisco didn't answer right away it was Caitlin who spoke up. "Is it some new Meta-Human or something, don't tell me the Reverse Flash is back again?" She asked with concern all over her face.

This got Cisco's attention and he looked up at Barry and Caitlin who were standing side by side behind the console of computers. "No, it's much worse then that. Cisco replied and he was clearly angry. "Take a look at this." He said and then with a few swipes on his tablet he caused an image to appear on the big computer monitor that they were all facing.

It took Barry a few seconds to make sense of what he was seeing, and when he did he let out a sigh of relief, it wasn't a crisis at all, it was the type of thing only Cisco would send out an S.O.S over. It was the front page of a movie news website with a headline that read "First photos of Zoom Vs. The Flash movie cast in costume."

"This is your big emergency?" Barry asked, as he rubbed his right hand over his eyes and he suddenly felt very foolish for being so careful.

"Dude, just look at this, it's a disgrace!" Cisco said pointing at the screen and clearly not seeing why he was the only one upset by this website. Barry had to admit it was strange to think that some big Hollywood studio was making a movie based on his life, but it wasn't worth getting into a panic over.

"Yeah." Caitlin agreed. "We all knew this was coming, I mean it was the biggest news event in decades so someone was bound to make a movie based on it at some point, and we agreed that there was no way we could stop it without Barry telling everyone he is the Flash."

"And that would not be a good thing." Barry said finishing her thought and he was pleased to see that they were still in sync like they had been a few minutes before in their apartment.

"Guys take a closer look, do you see what they did to MY suit?!" Cisco protested and Barry took a look and he had to admit that it didn't look anything at all like the real thing, seeing his baby treated this way was clearly what had sent Cisco over the edge. "I mean look at it, it's got heavy body armor of some kind and it has a bunch of plates running against each other that would create wind resistance and slow you down, this thing makes no sense as an outfit for a speedster and I would never design something that stupid looking. This is the worst thing that could happen!" Cisco said and he dropped the tablet and threw his hands up in the air. Fortunately Barry used his speed to rush over besides Cisco and gab the tablet before it hit the floor and got broken.

"Okay, I get it and you are right, but like Caitlin said, there is nothing we can do to stop this." Barry said, trying to calm his friend down, but it didn't seem to work.

"Then there is the cast, look at them, they are just a bunch of stupid generic Hollywood jerks!" Cisco yelled as he once again pointed at the screen, and Barry took a good look at it.

Barry had to admit, the cast of heroes was all wrong. In the center of the shot was was "The Flash" who seemed to be played by a six and a half foot tall body builder type who didn't look like someone who ran for a living at all. Also there was a shot of him out of his Flash costume below the group shot and that really got Barry's attention, in this movie in "real life" "The Flash" seemed to be some sort of millionaire business tycoon type. On the one hand Barry was relieved that no one in Hollywood had guessed he was the real life Flash, on the other it was kind of insulting to have a huge company tell the whole world that someone of his body type wasn't good enough to be The Flash, after all there were plenty of photos out there of the real Flash from Flash day alone, they could of at least picked someone who was closer to his body type.

Then Barry turned to his attention to the left of "The Flash" and saw someone who was clearly supposed to be taking on Cisco's role in the movie and well he couldn't see this casting going over very well with Cisco at all. The actor was Chinese, really thin, dressed like a nerd stereotype, complete with a bow-tie and pens in his pocket, and wearing glasses.

"That is just..." Barry began as he looked over at his friend and Cisco finished the thought. "I know so wrong, I mean I know China is a big market, but they made me Chinese and gave me a bow-tie, I would never wear something that uncool." Cisco lamented. All Barry could do was nod his head in agreement and then return is attention to the computer screen and this time he took a good look at the two people one the left hand side of "The Flash" and what he saw was kind of shocking.

First there was an African-American woman who was clearly supposed to be Iris, and she had her arms wrapped around "The Flash" as if she was his girlfriend or something. What was more she was a good foot and a half shorter then "The Flash" and was clearly the supermodel, not the reporter type. Complete with low cut jean shorts and a tank top. Barry could only facepalm at everything about this, but that was nothing compared to what he saw to that woman's left, it was the movie's version of Caitlin and now Barry's face started to turn red and he was getting just as worked up as Cisco.

"Caitlin" in the movie was an even dumber looking supermodel type then "Iris", complete with a very short miniskirt, a low cut top, huge and clearly fake breasts, and hair that was died purple for reasons Barry assumed only made sense to Hollywood producers who were high on coke or something equally illegal, and she like Cisco was wearing thick glasses to prove she was smart.

"Okay, that is going too far, Not even Hollywood can get away with doing that to my wife!" Barry yelled as he pointed at the fake Caitlin on the screen and he was so angry that he had not even noticed that for the first time since he found out about his marriage the previous night, he was thinking about Caitlin as his wife and what is more, he had said it out loud and it felt natural to him and not awkward at all as it should.

"That's sweet." Caitlin said as she leaned over and kissed Barry on the cheek, Barry was so distracted by the image on the computer screen that he had not noticed her walk up beside him.

"Okay, gross." Cisco said and Barry turned to face his friend who clearly had noticed Caitlin walk up and had a somewhat grossed out expression on his face. "I thought we all agreed on a strict no PDA in the lab rule when you two got married, save it for your own place."

"Cisco, I think we have bigger problems then that, or just the casting, or the suit right now." Caitlin said sounding very concerned and this caused Barry to turn and face her with a puzzled look on his face. "Like what?" He asked.

"Like how they got so much intel on us and the make up of our team." Caitlin pointed out and she sounded a little panicked.

"She is right." Cisco agreed as he slapped his forehead with his right hand. "The make up of our team is old news to us because we work with it every day, but it is a closely guarded secret, if they know how many members team Flash has and what we do, then someone in Hollywood could know exactly who we are, and that is not good. Hollywood people can't be trusted with secrets!"

"Oh, yeah, this isn't good." Barry said as he ran his hands over his face and started to pace back and forth. "I mean I can understand how they found out about Iris, I mean she was the first person to write about The Flash and always writes positive articles, so they may have just assumed she was my girlfriend, but you and Caitlin, how did they figure that out unless someone who knows leaked it?" Barry asked as he came to a stop and motioned from Cisco to Caitlin who was now walking up beside him.

"I don't know." Cisco said and he was clearly on task and trying to figure the problem out now. "But we have to figure this out before more people find out."

"Yes, and quickly." Caitlin agreed and then she leaned over whispered in Barry's ear so that only he could hear her and what he heard caused him to freeze on the spot. "I mean we can't start a family if everyone out there knows who we are, it is too dangerous." All Barry could do was swallow and nod his head in agreement, he was too stunned to do anything else. So that was what she had been talking about earlier that morning. So not only was he married to her, but they were planning on starting a family? This was all too much for him and all he could do was stand in place as Caitlin quickly made her way over to the desk of computers and ordered Cisco to help her try and track down where the leak came from. Barry really needed to tell her the truth, things were going way too far way too fast for his taste and yet now more than ever he was worried that the truth would break her.

Still the truth was the only option and he may have asked Caitlin to step aside from the computers and told her the truth right at that second if he had not gotten a text from Joe at that moment. The text read "Why aren't you at work, the captain and Albert are going nuts, I am covering for you but get your ass over here, now!"

"Guys, I have to go to work." Barry said weakly and suddenly he wasn't at all in the mood for it, but he had to go, at least until he figured out a way to tell Caitlin and everyone else the truth and he knew that now was not the time or the place to do that. Caitlin just nodded that she understood without looking up from her computer and Barry pulled himself together just enough to Flash out of the lab and to the precinct. His goal for the rest of the day was to act normal, but as he was about to learn that would be easier said then done. How could someone be expected to act normal when they had everything they had ever wanted, but they knew it was going to come crashing down on them at any moment due to either outside forces or something they themselves had done? Also Barry wasn't sure how he was supposed to focus on the job after the news Caitlin had just given him, and yet he couldn't just tell her he wasn't ready, after all he had just assured her that morning that he was ready. So he had to tell her the truth, tonight and no latter, but he knew what that would mean, risking losing her forever, and he wasn't prepared to face that, not when he was just getting used to the idea of being with her, still work would be a welcome relief from his troubles at home, or so he thought.

Work turned out to be no less stressful for Barry than the rest of his rapidly unraveling life. First Joe was still kind of mad at him for bringing up Iris the night before. It turned out in this time line Iris had never forgiven Joe for not telling her that her mother was still alive and had vowed never to set foot in Joe's house again and they had not spoken since Barry and Caitlin's wedding, which Barry had managed to learn had fallen on the 28th of February, he had no idea why they had picked that date, but it was in the middle of the lull where they thought they had locked Zoom out of their Earth, so Barry guessed that made some sense. He also finally learned the exact date it was June tenth, so that was a big help to him in passing himself off as normal. Still, just because he had some info that would help him get through the work day it didn't make him feel any better about what he had done to Iris and Joe's relationship. Then he had to go and make it worse, because of course his attempts to fix things would blow up in his face. He had tried to get Joe and Iris in the same room for dinner that night, but it turned out using one of the oldest tricks in the book on a detective and a reporter was not a good idea, all he had managed to do was get caught in his lies and make them both mad at him, epic fail.

Then there was Julian, who's full name turned out to be Julian Albert, the Albert who Joe had mentioned in his text. Caitlin was right, he was the worst co-worker anyone could have. To start with he was in charge of all Meta-Human cases and wouldn't let Barry near one to save his life, in fact he seemed to actively want Barry dead or fired, whichever would get Barry out of his life quicker. When he did speak to Barry he acted as if he was talking to a child, between that, the Arnold Rimmer like note book he kept just to keep track of every little infraction of the rule Barry committed, his stupid Draco Malfroy like face, topped with an even stupider looking hair cut, and his upper class British accent that somehow made everything he said sound like more of an insult then it already was, Barry who normally tried to get along with everyone, was ready to punch him in the face by the time the work day ended.

Then it was time to head home and Barry braced himself because like it or not he knew it was time to face the music and take responsibility for what he had done. He tensed when he noticed Caitlin placing her purse down on the coffee table, indicating that she had just gotten home herself, she looked tired and that wasn't going to make this any easier, but he knew it had to be done.

"Hey, what should we order for dinner, because I don't know about you but I am way too tired to cook." Caitlin said as she turned to face him and Barry felt like a complete heel for what he was about to do to her.

"Before we do that can we sit down, there is something we need to talk about." Barry said gravely as he walked over and took a seat on the sofa.

"Sure, but no conversation that started with those words ever went anywhere good." Caitlin replied and she sounded very worried as she took a seat down beside Barry, "Maybe for the last time." Barry thought to himself sadly.

"Caitlin, before I start I need you to understand, that I still love you and I always have and I always will." Barry began trying to put himself on some good footing to start things off with and he hoped the ground would not fall out from under him this way.

"What's going on?" Caitlin asked as her eyes filled with tears. "Are you moving out or something? If it's the kids thing, it's not that important to me."

"No, it's not that. It's something else." Barry said and he could tell Caitlin's heart was in her throat so he decided he had to just get it over with and end her suspense. "You see I am not exactly the man you married."

"What are you talking about?!" Caitlin demanded as she looked at him and Barry could see anger behind the tears and suddenly he couldn't do this sitting he needed to stand up and start pacing on the other side of the coffee table.

"What I mean is that after everything that happened with Zoom I went back in time and saved my mother from the Reverse Flash, and I created a time line called Flashpoint, but then something went wrong and I had to reset everything, only when I came back after letting the Reverse Flash kill my mom again, things were different. For instance you and I were dating and I was going to ask you to marry me, but we were not married in the time line I come from, let alone talking about kids." Barry explained quickly and he waited for Caitlin's response, and as his luck would have it, he didn't have to wait long.

"GET OUT!" Caitlin screamed through her tears and she stood up and tossed a framed picture that was on the coffee table at Barry. It was only Barry's super speed that enabled him to dodge it and see that it was a photo of their wedding before the frame was smashed to pieces on the opposite wall. "I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN BARRY ALLEN!" Caitlin yelled and Barry was about to plead with her to calm down and try to explain things to her when he saw her pick up another photo frame and decided the best thing for both of them, and the things in the apartment was for him to beat a hasty retreat out the door, and at super speed that is exactly what he did with tears in his own eyes and he didn't stop until he made his way to Felicity in "The Foundry".

*End of flashback*

"Wow." Was all Felicity could say to the story that Barry had just told her, then after giving the matter a moment of thought she spoke to try and give Barry some hope. "Well clearly you need to go back and fix all of this, it can't go on like this."

"How? I mean I had Caitlin twice and both times I screwed it up, how do I make that right?" Barry asked as he looked up at Felicity from where he was seated on the floor.

"I don't know." Felicity admitted honestly as she put a comforting hand on Barry's shoulder. "But if there is one thing I have learned about you over the years it's that you are the kindest, sweetest, and most determined person I have ever known and when you set your mind to fixing a problem it gets fixed." She saw him stop crying and then decided it was time to become more forceful. "So go, fix this now. I know you can do this, so do it and get Caitlin back!"

Barry nodded that he understood and then dashed out of The Foundry and into the streets of Star City. He knew what he had to do and he did it, he pushed himself to the limit and entered the Speedforce, he was now time traveling and seeing every moment of his life at once, he tried to focus on the ones where something had gone wrong and he thought he was making progress and was about to pick one to enter when suddenly he was hit by something, hard! It caused him to go flying out of the Speedforce into an unknown place and time and skid to a halt against an old pick up truck.

At first Barry thought he was under attack by the Reverse Flash, but then he heard an all too well known voice say. "We need to talk." and he looked up and saw the last thing he needed to see on this or any other earth, at that moment. It was his father's face and voice in a Flash costume with a silver helmet with wings on the top of it on his head. This just made the pain of losing his father all the worse and he felt like he was being stabbed in the chest, because even though it looked and sounded exactly like his father, it was not. He was in fact looking at the Earth 3 version of "The Flash" whom he had not seen since before his father died and suddenly all the pain of losing his father took a hold of him and his eyes started to fill with tears.

Barry's day just kept getting better and better and now it seemed this "Flash" was not about to let him fix his life. At that moment Barry had no idea how he was going to be able to go on.

Well there is chapter four and Caitlin finally knows the truth. Please let me know what you think of this chapter. If you liked it or if you didn't I really want to hear your ideas of how it can be improved.

Oh and the story will get lighter soon, it's just Barry has to go through all this or it would feel out of character to me, sorry if you think it is too dark or angsty, but I don't want to write angst so it will get better, I promise.

Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading, following, and reviewing.

As always you guys are the best.