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"Dawn! Dawn put me down," Wally shouted as he struggled against his older cousin's grasp. The teen just laughed at his distress as she continued to carry him bridal style towards the shopping carts. Wally hated now more than ever how strong Dawn was. As she lifted him up to put him in the shopping cart Wally begun to desperately squirm, and pushed her face roughly in attempt to make her drop him. As Dawn got him above the basket of the cart Wally put his feet on either side, trying his best not to be put in the cart.

"You should give up. She is much stronger than you," Don explained from his seat on the bench.

"Shut it, Don," Wally warned.

"Also she is bigger," the older boy deadpanned. Wally opened his mouth to yell at his cousin again but was stopped when he heard someone yelling towards them.

"My twinsies!"

Dawn looked in the direction of the voice and squealed. Running towards the trio was a short, bottom heavy girl with almost gravity defying hair. Dawn let go of Wally's shoulders and ran, at a natural speed, towards her friend. Don rushed forwards, doing his best not to use his powers, to make sure the younger boy didn't fall head first against the cement floor of the Walmart's entrance room. Much to Wally's chargin this also resulted in him landing in the basket.

As he accepted his fate Dawn dragged the girl over, "Don, look who it is!"

He nodded in acknowledgement and said, "Hola Meloni. Es un placer verte hoy."

The girl blinked amber eyes at Dawn who shrugged, "He took Spanish again in summer school. I'm pretty sure he just said 'hi,' or something."

Don's lips scrunched into a straight line from annoyance caused by his sister as understanding swept across the girl's face, "Oh! Yeah being bilingual is, like, super useful these days. Especially if you end up on the East End of town."

Don nodded in agreement before saying, "The Tornado Twins are sometimes called Más y Menos in East End. I think that would make things less confusing… when talking about them I mean."

"I guess," Dawn shrugged as her eyes looked upwards in thought.

Wally coughed from his place in the cart, causing three pairs of eyes to look at him. Dawn pressed her hands to her face in embarrassment, "Huh? Oh sorry about that kiddo. Meloni Thawne, this is our little cousin Wally."

"Hi there," she smiled.

"Thawne," Wally's face scrunched up in distaste, remembering the rough treatment he'd gotten from a cop of the same name. Yes, he'd fled from the man with Danny but the man slamming his face into a brick wall once he'd finally gotten his hands on Wally was a little much in the boy's opinion, especially given his height and age. That and if Thawne hadn't caught them Danny might still be acting like he cared… Then again he wouldn't be with Iris, Barry, and the twins. Wally scrunched up his face more, this time from his emotions doing flips and turns in his brain. Now more than ever he wished he had Miss Lance to talk to right now.

Instead of dwelling on it he decided to joke around, "How does your hair do that?"

Meloni's eyes went wide in thought as she started petting her anime-like hair in honest to goodness wonder, "I actually have no idea."

Iris returned from the bathroom at this point, grocery list in hand. She sent the twins to get haircuts (it was half-off Tuesday), and started to push the cart Wally sat in the opposite direction of the in-store barber. Meloni followed the twins, waving goodbye to Iris and Wally as she went. After they got a distance away a smug smile crossed Iris' face.

"I think Don has a crush on her."

"Stoic-boy is capable of that," Wally snarked.

Iris gave him what was suppose to be a warning look however she suspected it wasn't very affected since she still had a smile on her face. Iris wandered over the part of Walmart that was currently dedicated to back-to-school gear. To her surprise she saw an old friend.

"Anise Rose, is that you?"

The woman who had been examining a notebook turned around and smiled at the red haired woman, "Iris, darling!"

The two women hugged, excited to see each other after so long. As Anise rested her chin on Iris' shoulder she saw Wally attempting to climb out of the cart, a feat that was proving much easier now that it wasn't in motion.

"Why you must be Wally! You know, Iridiana and Hunter are here as - Oh! You wouldn't have met him since he was helping at the restaurant that day. Hold on, let me call them over so the three of you can pow-wow!"

Iris snerked as her friend called her children, "Ani, did you really just say 'pow-wow?' You're making us look way older than we are."

From some nameless aisle a few feet away Iridiana came running, dragging a slightly older boy in a black hoodie by the hand. When the girl saw Wally she let go of the boy's hand and ran up towards him excitedly, "Hey it's you!"

"Hi," Wally said shyly.

The boy in the hoodie came sauntering up to them. The boy seemingly chose to ignore the younger children as he started rifling through a bin of markers. This didn't deter Iridiana though. She grabbed the boy's black sleeve and started to introduce him.

"This is my big bro!"

The brown haired boy spared Wally a glance with his equally brown eyes, "M'name is Hunter Zolomon."

The older boy would have been perfectly content with searching through the bin and ignoring his little sister and her friend had his mom not spoken up.

"Why don't you three go pick out new backpacks - Wait does Wally need one too," Iris nodded so Anise continued, "So you three go do that, OK? The rack for them are just a few aisles that way," she explained while pointing in the general direction.

Iridiana laughed at her mom and half-skipped towards the bags. As the boys followed her Iris called out, "Wally pick out some for the twins, Dawn lost theirs at the sandlot!"

"On it," he called back before disappearing around the corner.

They walked in silence for a few brief seconds before Hunter spoke up, secretly hoping his sister was out of earshot, "Aren't you gonna ask?"

Wally gave him a genuinely confused expression, "Huh?"

"You've seen my whole family. I know you have, sis said you were at the station for the take-your-child day. So if you're going to ask like every other person with the guts to then just do it already."

"What are you even," Wally wondered aloud before it hit him. This guy was talking about how he was white and the rest if his family was black. Wally couldn't help it when started snickering. This guy was either self-absorbed or not very observant.

"Eh, what's so funny," Hunter asked angrily.

"Sorry. Sorry! I just," he had to pause to snicker, "In case you somehow haven't noticed I'm in a similar boat. I mean, why would I care."

Hunter snorted, "Yeah, I noticed. It's just that everyone asks that question, and I mean everyone."

Wally's smile faltered at that, realizing that this was maybe the type of thing Hunter had to deal with a lot. In the few months Wally had been with his extended family he'd only ever gotten stares, which were annoying and a great way to have one's confidence reduce. This guy however talked in a way that made it seem that people came up to him multiple times a day just to question his family. Wally hadn't experienced that yet, and honestly hoped that it would stay that way. Wally sighed, deciding to try to defuse the suffocating atmosphere that was surrounding himself and Hunter as they approached the row of backpacks, "Well, to be fair to me you were probably planning on asking me something similar."

Hunters back straightened defensively, "Yeah, well if I did start asking questions I'd do it with some tact unlike ninety-nine percent of everyone else."

Iridiana laughed as she looked at a backpack with some kind of anime character printed on it, "You? Tactful? That'll be the day!"

"Ah, crud! You heard all that?"

"Um, yeah. Your voice carries, a lot."

Hunter's top lip upturned as he made an annoyed "nyah" kind of sound at her before turning to Wally, "So what's your story?"

Wally shook his head with a smile, "You first."

"A-hole," the older boy scoffed, "My parents adopted me because they didn't think they could get pregnant. Ironically they got pregnant with sis after having me around for like, I don't, a month?"

Wally couldn't help but notice how recited the whole thing seemed. He chose to ignore it, "Iris is my Aunt. Some… stuff happened and I live with them now."

Like how Wally had noticed how recited Hunter's story was, Hunter notice the very distinct dismissal Wally placed on his past. Like the younger boy, he had the courtesy not to push the subject.

Instead he walked over and grabbed a Flash themed backpack and slung it over his shoulder, "So, what grade you going into?"

"Seventh," Wally said as he looked at a black, purple, and white shoulder bag. He wondered if Don would like it. Wally figured Don was the man-purse type of guy.

"That sucks. At least if you were in Sixth you'd be new with everyone else," Hunter noted, failing to realize he was making Wally nervous.

Iridiana however, did notice. So while Wally grabbed the man-purse and a random red and white bag for Dawn (because he knew she really wouldn't care) she said, "You and I are in the same grade, so you'll know me. Just you watch, I bet you and I will be in at least one class together."

"Maybe," Wally smiled back as he reached for a Flaming C bag.

"Your arms are full, let me," Hunter said as he grabbed the bag for him.

"Thanks."

"If he's getting a cartoon bag than I'm going to get," she ruffled through a row of bags for a moment before dragging out a bright pink one and holding it above her head triumphantly, "this Hello Kitty bag!"

Wally laughed, "Here I thought she was a straight up tomboy."

"Where are they," Iris wondered aloud as she stomped her foot in frustration. As if on cue Wally's phone buzzed. It was Dawn.

Swiping the answer icon Wally clicked the speaker button so Iris could here. "Where are you guys?"

"I'm on speaker, aren't I," she guessed, dread clear in her voice.

"Where are you," Iris repeated as frustration leaked out from her very being.

"We sorta decided to go see a movie with Meloni."

With gritted teeth Iris said, "Dawn, you need to tell me before you run off and do things," Iris looked to the ground with sad eyes, "I worry."

"Mom I - Hey," some scuffling could be heard in the background before Don's voice replaced Dawn's, "Mom, do not forget about Grandpa Henry's pocket watch. We got a phone call that it was repaired today, remember?"

She sighed, "I know. I know. All of you stay safe, alright?"

"We will," all three teens shouted into the phone before the call ended.

"You okay," Wally tugged at his Aunt's camera bag as they waited for the clocksmith to find Henry's watch.

With a nod she forced a smile, "I just get worried about them sometimes."

Without another word she reached into her purse and grabbed the money she'd need to pay the man behind the counter. At that same moment something white collided against the window and shattered it. Wally knew how these kind of things worked and was fast enough to grab Iris by her forearms and yank her down as another white blur soured horrifically close to where her head once was.

"Captain Boomerang," he sneered. While Wally was adapting surprisingly well to Central one thing he was sure he'd never get used to was the super-criminals. In Blue Valley you'd see one maybe once every few months. Here in Central? Well, it'd be considered odd if one of the so called Rogues didn't show up at least once a week.

"I was wondering when he'd show up again," Iris muttered to herself and reached into her coat pocket. Clicking a hidden button on her phone she sent out a distress signal.

"Alright, no one cause any trouble and just fork over your valuables," the Australian man demanded.

As people began to throw their belongings to Boomerang's bag Wally tugged at his Aunt's camera bag, "We have to do something."

"Don't you dare put yourself in danger," Iris hissed. She knew he was right. It wasn't in a Wests instinct to subside to bystander syndrome, but Wally was just a kid. If she tried to do something, and he followed suit and got hurt…

Iris shook her head and grabbed his shoulders when he tried to get up and held him close. By now she would have risked damaging her camera by swinging her bag against the man's head. She'd use that, and herself, to distract the maniac that was shaking down a man for his wallet. The other civilians would make a break for it, and then Flash, or their kids would appear from nowhere and take him down. But she knew she couldn't do that with Wally around. Wally wouldn't run, he'd try to protect her.

She wrapped her arms around him when he tried to squirm from her grip. She couldn't let him get hurt. Unlike with Don or Dawn she could still protect him.

But doing nothing for the other civilians made her feel like a coward…

"Leave him alone!"

And she'd forgotten to cover Wally's mouth. Dammit!

Boomerang turned slowly, face a mixture of pissed off and confused,"What?"

"I said leave. Him. Alone."

"Wally, I know that you're a ballsy kid, but right now isn't the time to prove it," Iris hissed.

And then his shoulders weren't in Iris' hands anymore. Boomerang had snatched him up by his collar, his feet dangled in the air. She heard Wally gasp at the swift motion but couldn't see the daggers he was glaring at the super criminal. As the boy and the man glared at each other the Australian's hand clenched into a fist.

"You think you're something grand, you little snot-nosed brat?"

"Better than you," the boy snorted as he tried to hide how afraid he was as he spoke, "You're little toys don't sell at a convention because everyone happened to be hyped up over a bunch Flash action figures, so what do you do? Go rogue and start chucking your merchandise at everyone!"

He laughed a little then, because even despite his genuine fear that he might die if someone doesn't do something the man before him was so truly pathetic it was hilarious, "Now you're trying to make yourself into a big name villain, by robbing a clocksmith?!"

Boomerang's face scrunched up in rage, even more so when the other patrons started laughing. Lifting his fist he shouted, "You little shit!"

The fist never connected to Wally's face. In fact, all Boomerang had been able to do was raise his fist. You see Iris, in a moment of maternal fury, had taken her camera bag off and used the strap to swing the part actually holding the camera harshly into the man's junk. The Captain made a high pitched, girlish scream before dropping Wally.

"Damn reporter," he wheezed.

"Everyone out," Iris shouted as she grabbed Wally's hand and pulled him away from the mad man.

Once the patrons were out they scattered, some screaming at the top of theirs lungs, some laughing due to adrenaline, and at least one actually keeping a hold of theirself and calling the police. Iris ran too, Wally in tow next to her. The grip she had on his hand was probably bruising quality hard but her adrenaline was pumping to hard to pay attention.

"Never do that again!"

"Sorry!"

She didn't have time to scold him further. Off in the distance she heard a very familiar sound. If she'd looked up she would have seen the air ripple halfway across the city. People who were unfamiliar with Central City may have through it was a low fairing jet breaking the sound barrier. All the natives knew better. Iris knew better as well.

Flash watched as Captain Boomerang stepped out of the shop through the window. The man's movements were stilted at some points and rushed looking in others. After what felt like eternity he watched Boomerang lift one of his explosive weapons into air. Barry zoomed past him and looked back. At some point the Captain had let go of the projectile and it was soaring through the air towards Iris and Wally. This was how Barry saw things when he ran. It was like a stop-motion film that was stuck in slow motion. One that was missing frames of animations. Stilted looking only for it to jump forward suddenly. He'd lived with this for a long time now. He was used to it, so he ignored it. For them.

Wally and Iris both made somewhat pained noises as the air got knocked out of them. The red blur had picked them up before they even realized he was there. The white boomerang hit the place they once stood, shattering the pavement into shards with an explosion. Luckily The Flash had gotten Iris and Wally away in time to avoid the debris. Their heads pounded as he carried them up the side of a nearby building. He stood above them as they sat on the roof, trying to recover from their dizziness.

"Are the two of you OK?"

Barry hoped that the the voice modifier that was pinned on his costume worked well enough that Wally wouldn't realize who he was. He knew it altered his voice, made it echo slightly with distortion, but he honestly didn't know how he sounded with it turned on. It's not like he'd ever bothered to record himself speaking with it. He hoped he didn't sound like Batman. The big doom and gloom always sounded like he was gargling marbles when he used his voice modifier.

"Peachy," Iris smirked. "Now go sick 'im."

Barry nodded, allowed himself a nanosecond to look at Wally who was shaking the last bits of dizziness from his mind, and took off. In the few seconds it took Flash to jump off of the roof he heard Wally shout something that caused a smile to spread on his face.

"Go Flash, go!"

Barry took a few nanoseconds to contemplate how nice it would be if Wally was a Flash fan. When Don was little he'd been obsessed with Elongated Man, and Dawn with Wonder Woman. They were fans of their father, of course! It's just that they seemed to think his two allies were infinitely cooler.

Barry shook his head, he needed to focus!

Turning he saw several police officers trying to take the Captain down. One (Ken, Barry realized) ran towards him with a baton, ready to bash the Australian's head in if necessary. The Captain bent backwards to avoid the hit before popping back up and slicing the other man in the chest. Ken toppled over in pain. Barry could make out the faintest signs of blood pooling on Ken's shirt. The mad man then threw the weapon at a male officer (Joel?) who was pointing a gun at him. The boomerang lodged in the gun's barrel as he pulled the trigger. Barry ran to the officer (Yes, this was Joel) and knocked the gun away. He watched as nanoseconds ticked by and the gun began to backfire. Barry grabbed Joel and carried the pale man away from the small blast, trying to ignore the fact that if he hadn't been paying attention Joel could have lost his hand.

"Grab that downed officer when you get the chance and get away," he said so quickly he wasn't even sure Joel understood it. He hoped Joel knew he was talking about Ken.

Running pack to the commotion he saw the Captain throw another of his bladed boomerangs at another officer (Janet!) and watched in self-loathing as it pierced through her left shoulder and pinned her to the wall. Even for him there hadn't been enough time to keep it from hitting its target. It was here when Barry had had enough. As Boomerang brought out two more of his weapons to slice up another cop who was trying to get a small girl out of the immediate area, Barry charged and jumped at him. His feet connected square in the man's torso. When Flash pushed out he sent Boomerang rocketing a good fifteen feet away.

"Aw, you didn't come back," he quipped in his most obnoxious and loud voice. Then a seriousness stilled upon him. "You," he shouted at the cop holding the little girl, "get the child out of here." The woman (Sam) nodded and ran off in the opposite direction.

Barry looked towards another cop (Leslie) who had just arrived, "And you," he pointed towards Janet, "Keep her alive!"

Leslie nodded, "Righ-Look out!"

Flash turned his head and barely had time to react. Hurtling towards them were no less than five of the Captain's explosives. Flash spun his arms at his feet as fast he could, creating a strong gust of wind. This launched him backwards. As he soared past her Barry hooked his arm around Leslie's waist and he ran her out of the way. One boomerang embedded itself in the window of the building they had been standing under. It ticked for a second and a half before exploding, littering glass shards down below. Two boomerangs hit the pavement around where they had been. When they exploded the ground became a jagged chasm that led into the slim sewers of Central. Another one hit a thankfully empty car, causing it to go up in flames. The last one hit a lamp post and exploded in the air.

Flash growled. He knew he had to keep his emotions in check but it was getting more and more difficult to do so as the madman before him continued to harm people. It certainly didn't help that it was hitting so close to home. His family and his co-workers... He's just thankful Iris had lured the man out as it would have been virtually impossible to fight the man if he'd still been in the small shop. Not to mention he would have had plenty of hostages, and Boomerang would have had one of his infamous temper tantrums no matter what happened. Boomerang being the manchild that he was cussed and screamed as he threw more of his iconic weapons at The Flash. Without thinking Barry spun around and around, using his powers to create a vertex. The boomerangs hit the torrent of wind and were thrown back into the air. When Flash stopped spinning they fell, and he found himself thankful that they were the slice-y ones instead of the exploding ones, as odd as that sounds. More due to the fact that it eliminated the chance of more property damage rather than preferring one type of death boomerang over another.

Flash sped forward, getting as close to Boomerang as he could. The man had a quick reaction time and sliced at Barry's head. Barry ducked, falling to his knees and leaning back to avoid the blow. The weapon was close enough that he could hear the noise it made as it sliced the air. To the Captain's credit he might have gotten closer to hitting the speedster had his ribs not been so bruised from the earlier kick. Flash let himself fall to his back and began to backspin. Launching his legs out he windmilled, feeling his feet connecting against Boomerang several times, causing the other man to fall back. The Captain caught himself however and was back on his feet in a matter of seconds. He charged towards Flash, one of the bladed boomerangs held high in the air. Barry launched himself back to his feet and high kicked at the Captain's hand, knocking the weapon out of the man's hand. He then bent his leg around the super criminals arm in a vice grip and allowed himself to fall to that knee, bringing the Captain down with him. Barry spun quickly so that he was straddling the Captain's back and grabbed the man by the wrists and pulled. He held the man's arms between his shoulder blades as an officer ran over with handcuffs. Once Captain Boomerang was secured Barry got up and allowed the officer to escort the man to the police cruiser. Looking around he saw Janet and Ken being loaded into an ambulance. Seeing that everything was sorting itself out he sped up the side of the building he'd left his wife and nephew on so he could get the down.

Four hours later Len Snark, also known as Captain Cold, sat in the cafeteria of the prison. He along with several other felons sat huddled around the small TV watching the video that one miss Iris Allen had taken. He cringed a little when she introduced herself and gave the time and date. Her voice alone was overall considered a bad omen to the Rogues. It had become a rule of thumb between the Rogues not to take her hostage anymore. Either The Flash would come and rescue her or she'd rescue herself. Whatever happened it usually didn't end well for Rogues once this particular woman got involved. There had been a time in which Captain Cold had wondered what the connection between the Speedster and the woman was, but then he realized it was probably in his best interest not to pursue it. It was one thing when Flash was joking around and a whole nother when he was silent during a fight.

Cold rubbed his eyes as the camera shook again. Obviously someone inexperienced was behind it. The damned woman had probably just grabbed whoever she could to hold it. Frankly the jitteriness was giving Cold a headache. Ignoring it he paid rapt attention to the scene being displayed. Boomerang had thrown one of his temper tantrums again. Not only that but he tried to rob a clocksmith of all things. That practically oozed of desperation. As the villain watched his underling he saw something he didn't like. Boomerang, in his maddened state, had tried to attack a female officer who was attempting to get a child out of the immediate area.

The inmate next to him jumped a little when Cold stood abruptly and stomped off. Looking at his friend the inmate jabbed a thumb in Cold's direction, "What's that guy's problem?"

The other inmate shrugged, "The Rogues got standards. They don't do anything involving drugs, and they don't hurt ladies or kids. Anything else is fair game to 'em."

As Cold walked down the corridors of the prison he thought of the many gruesome things he'd want to do to Boomerang once he got here tomorrow. When he'd let the Austrailian join the gang he had given the other man three simple rules. He broke rule two by impaling that woman's shoulder. Cop or not it was the overall belief of the Rogues that hurting women in any capacity was just plain wrong. Sure stealing and doing mercenary work was wrong as well, but that was completely different! Cold especially hated violence towards women. So not only did he break one rule but he was clearly going to break it again, but he was going to break the third rule as well. For once Cold was thankful for The Flash being around, for the sake of that kid if nothing else.

Yes, when Digger Harkness got here he had some choice words for him. Hopefully Digger understood the language of fists.

It was night now and the Allen-West household were all getting ready for bed at this point. The day had been a scare but now that they were all together things were better. Safer. After finding out that their mother and cousin had been in trouble and that they hadn't been there to protect them Don and Dawn were being particularly hard on themselves. They tried making up for it in their own ways, Don cooked dinner and Dawn had done the washing up. They were all practically joined at the hip for the first few hours, just wanting to be together. They'd all squeezed onto the couch, a feat that may prove impossible by the time of Wally's next growth spurt, and watched a particularly bad zombie movie. It was so bad it was actually pretty funny. After the halfway point the kids began chattering excitedly, Wally asking his older cousins what his school was like. The closeness helped wash away the fear and replace it with calm relief. Eventually though the movie ended and it was late. Don and Dawn stretched before wandering off to their respective rooms. Iris got up as well but stopped when she noticed Barry wasn't following her. Turning she smiled at the sight before her.

"Aww," she cooed as she looked at Wally. The preteen had fallen asleep at some point, and his head was resting against his Uncle's arm as he snored softly.

A smile tugged at Barry's lips, "You go on up, I'm gonna have to carry kiddo to bed." She nodded and made her way up the stairs, letting out a loud yawn as she went. Carefully Barry scooped up the boy, and carried him upstairs. It took him a moment to open the door but he got it eventually. The floor creaked under his feet as he carried Wally to his bed. Silently he set the boy down and covered him with the yellow blanket that had been pushed up against the wall. As Barry made his way to the door Wally woke up a bit.

"Uncle Barry?"

Barry turned, his hand on the doorframe, "Yeah kiddo?"

"What time is it?"

Barry squinted, trying to remember what the small clock above the TV had said, "I think it's about… ten? Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Can I see your watch?"

Barry smiled sadly at that. If he had made the time to get the watch himself Wally and Iris wouldn't have had to go through what they did. Barry had been in the middle of work when he received the distress signal, and much to his own distress he had to go back after he helped jail Captain Boomerang. That left Iris needing to return to the store after everything had happened. Despite this Barry found himself walking back over to Wally and handing the boy his pocket watch. Wally flipped it open and watched the second hand tick away for a moment. He slid his thumb up and down the inside of the lid as he examined the words inside.

To my beloved husband, Henry

Sincerely yours, Nora.

Wally looked up at Barry, "Is Henry my great uncle?"

Barry nodded, "By marriage. He'd probably let you call him Pop-pop though; That's what the twins call him afterall. Maybe you can meet him on the next visitation day, if you want."

Wally smiled at that. After a moment he narrowed his eyes in thought. He closed the pocket watch, letting his fingers get tangled in the silver chain as he gave it one last hard look. Eventually he handed it back to Barry, a thought leaving his mouth as he did so.

"Don said that your watch is going to be his someday."

"That's right."

"Why?"

Barry tucked the watch into his pants pocket as he spoke, "It tends to be a custom, for fathers to give their sons their watches."

"What about Dawn," the boy queried.

"Well, you know that jade-bead necklace that your Aunt is always wearing?" Wally nodded so that Barry would continue, "That necklace is very important to Iris. It was your great grandma's. When she died she left it for Iris and when Iris does the same, as everyone does, she's going to leave it for Dawn."

Wally smiled at that before jokingly asking what he'd get. Barry surprised him with an answer, "That's a good question. In fact, not to long ago the four of us were talking about it and Iris decided we should give you our wedding rings one day."

This floored Wally, "Wha-what?"

Barry chuckled as he spun his ring with his thumb absentmindedly, "We figured that since we were giving the twins something important to us that we should do the same for you. I mean, you're family too.'

Barry reached over and ruffled Wally's hair, "After all you'll grow up and meet some nice girl one day, I'm sure."

Wally looked like he wanted to cry to Barry, but since he was a preteen boy he probably wouldn't allow himself to do so. Barry decided to save the boy's dignity and not say anything of it. Then he changed his mind and kissed Wally on his forehead with a simple 'Good night' before getting up. Wally squaked, complaining that he wasn't a five year old as he rubbed his forehead in disgust. Barry did his best not to laugh as he closed the door behind him. A few seconds later Barry was crawling into bed next Iris. As she rolled over and snuggled into his side he took his watch out of his pajama pocket and his ring off his finger, and set them on the nightstand.

"My big old sappy Speedster," she giggled having heard the conversation. Barry hummed contently in response, his arm looping around her shoulders to pull her closer.

About a week later Barry had a rude awakening. He had been sleeping soundly stomach down when Iris had decided that simply shaking him awake wouldn't be enough. Already fully dressed she jumped back on the bed and swung a leg over Barry. Straddling his hips she started smacking his back lightly as she yelled "Get up," over and over. Barry groaned as he glared up at her and almost cringed at her bright smile. With a whine in his voice he asked, "Why?"

She placed the palms of her hands against his spine lightly and chided, "It's their first day of school, I have work and you need to drive Wally."

Barry grunted in acknowledgment as she slid off of him. He hadn't had to drive his kids to school since the twins were fourteen, which was not only when they'd gain full control over their powers, but also two years ago. Wally however didn't have superspeed and therefore couldn't run to the edge of the city where his school was located. Since Iris had to go in early today, and Barry had off from both his job and League business today he was chosen to be the one to take Wally in. Given how notoriously bad the school bus transportation system was they were probably giving Wally a blessing in disguise by not forcing him into one of the bright yellow vehicles on his first day.

After he got dressed and made it down stairs he spared a brief glance over to Dawn and Wally. They were wrestling for the bathroom and had Barry not just woken up he would have told Dawn to go easy on him. She had combat training after all, which made the fight rather one sided. Barry shook his head with a smile before walking into the kitchen. There was Don, cooking as usual. Over the past year the teen had sort of made it his job to cook breakfast. He held out a greasy paper bag to his mother as she charged past him. With her coat firmly on she grabbed her breakfast and ran out the door, but not before stopping briefly to give Barry a peck on his cheek. When Barry sat down Don carried a plate over to him, before going back to the stove. An amused look spread across Barry's face when Dawn walked over to the table with a scowl on her face.

"How'd he get past you?"

"Ducked under my legs," she grumbled. A loud, extremely fake laugh could be heard from the bathroom. Dawn slapped her palm against the table with a pout, "When you get another growth spurt it won't be so easy!"

The morning went like it typically did in the household

Wally waved goodbye to Barry as he exited the car. Barry smiled with a nod and drove off. The boy watched until the car turned around the corner a few blocks away, out of sight. Turning he looked the school over with a deep breath. Barry had dropped him off near the courtyard, he was just a bit away from a large crowd of students. He looked at them all, shuffling from foot to foot unsure of what to do. His answer arrived in the form of yelling. Wally watched in amazement as a boy on the other side of the street with shoulder length auburn hair lost complete control of his bike. The boy hit the curb of someone's driveway roughly and was launched over said someone's recycling bin and straight into the open garbage can next to it. Head first. Wally cringed out of sympathy as the gathering of kids began to laugh at the boy's misfortune. Wally spared a moment to glare at them before running across the street. He hooked his arms around the other boy's waist and tugged him up as best he could, avoiding the flailing legs. When the boy was finally free from the can Wally let go of him.

The boy shook his head and patted his arms and shirt down in disgust before looking at Wally with a smile, "Wow, man! You're a lifesaver," the boy paused for a moment and looked Wally over, "Hey, I don't think I've ever seen you around before."

Wally nodded absentmindedly, "Yeah, I'm kinda new to town. My name's Wally. Wally West. You?"

The boy trotted over to pick up his bike as he spoke, "I'm Hartley Rathaway. Nice to meet ya."

"You OK?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm fine," Hartley smiled as he rolled his bike towards the school. As the first bell rang and the two boys walked over to the nearest bike rack Wally felt significantly less worried about his first day of school.

A/N: I was tearing my hair out trying to figure out how to include Hunter Zolomon into the story. For a long time I was just going to not include his character. A few days after I came up with the Rose family and came up with a story for Iridiana I realized that I could have them be his adopted family. I was so happy when I came up with that idea 'cause I really really wanted to include him but I was certain that I wasn't going to be able to beforehand. His backstory with his biological parents in the comics still applies here, but it won't be exactly the same.

As a side note I'd like to point out that everything involving the Flaming C is amazing.

A/N 2: Similarly to Harley Quinn, the characters Más y Menos first appeared in a cartoon (Teen Titans 2003 in this case) and were later integrated into the comics. Unlike Harley they weren't immensely popular and were dropped after just a few appearances. The only thing we learn about them in terms of origin is that they're from Guatemala. My versions of Don and Dawn are composite characters of both sets of twins. However the only thing we really have to go on with their personalities is that Dawn is fiery and Don is calm so trying to construct personalities from just that is kinda difficult. Please tell me if you think their characterizations are good so far.

A/N 3: While this isn't the first fight scene I've written it is one of the first times I tried to make it high intensity before. I'd love feedback on what you guys thought of it. Also In case you were wondering Wally was the one videotaping the fight.