Summary: Not without hope.

Author's Note: I've made some minor formatting edits to the chapter titles to make them easier to browse. Thank you so much for everyone who stuck with this. I'm now going to sit at my desk in utter shock until it sinks in that it's done.

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.

-Present (One Year and Six Months)-

"He could be anyone, Harrison. He could be me. All he has to do is touch you and he becomes you. I don't even think he needs to touch you more than once, because when Eddie tried to haul him in, the guy turned into a little girl and started screaming 'stranger danger' and 'bad touch.' It was hilarious. Some old lady beat him with her purse and a teenager maced him. I would have helped, but I couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard. The guy got away, though. That was disappointing. I'll do better next time. Cheese fries?"

"No."

"Harrison, we talked about this."

"No, thank you."

"That's better. Oh, and then, this morning, Captain Singh called me into his office and gave me a stern lecture about letting my Flash activities affect getting into work on time. I didn't even know he knew. Apparently, Oliver told him. I mean, for real, why doesn't he just take out a billboard? Do you know his name?"

"The Green Arrow?"

"No, the meta-human, the one who can turn into anyone. Did you have someone like him in your history books? Did he have a name?" There was a long pause. "Harrison!"

There was a sigh. "Everyman."

"Really? That… I'm somehow disappointed. I feel like Cisco could have done better. Eddie went on a date last night. She was cute, really sweet. Nothing like Iris, though, but that's okay. Which reminds me, who does he marry? Like who's your great great great whatever grandmother? I'll introduce them. I mean, he'll be suspicious, but if there's alcohol and maybe a roofie involved, I could…"

Eddie stepped out from behind the wall and interrupted. "Barry, you should do another sweep of the city."

Barry didn't move from where he was seated with his back to the glass door of Eobard Thawne's cell, legs up and one arm draped over them, the other digging into the container that held the offered chili-cheese fries.

"I did a sweep two hours ago."

"And there's a dangerous meta-human on the loose."

Barry scoffed, "He's hardly dangerous. He's killed like what, one person so far? Harrison has killed way more than that."

"Barry."

"Fine." Barry rolled his eyes and tipped his head back to look at Eobard. "Be back."

Eddie watched Barry leave, waiting until he was out of the bay and somewhere down the hallway before turning to Eobard. "You need anything?"

Eobard's smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "I could tell you, you know? Who the future Mrs. Thawne will be."

"I don't want to know. Even if I do meet her, I don't plan on having children."

"And yet I'm still here."

"You're still here because it would kill what little there is left of Barry if you weren't. Now, do you need anything?"

Eobard shrugged, still smiling. "I'm fine. Barry takes very good care of me."

Eddie ignored the jab and instead put his hand on the panel, closing the bay doors and sending Eobard back into the pipeline for the night. Barry did take good care of Eobard and that was half the problem. When he wasn't at work, he was at S.T.A.R. Labs and when he was there, he was with Eobard. Hours upon hours, talking, eating, sleeping, watching movies, playing games. They'd eventually started closing the bay door at night so that Barry would at least sleep somewhere else.

When somewhere else had been the cot in Eobard's office, they'd suggested he go home for the night. Barry had then locked himself in the office and sulked for days, refusing to talk to anyone, snapping at his co-workers and eventually they'd all agreed it was better to let this thing run its course.

Its course, however, was taking longer than Eddie would have liked. Dr. Holt assured him that this wasn't going to happen over night and he needed to be patient, but there were days that it almost felt like things were getting worse rather than better and… Eddie stopped in the hallway just outside the cortex and gave himself a moment to pull his thoughts together before walking in.

Barry had once called S.T.A.R. Labs a shell of its former self, a ghost town. It wasn't a ghost town anymore. Oliver and Len had managed to come to an agreement, whereby Oliver and his team couldn't stay, but Len and the Rogues could. Someone needed to watch over the pipeline and make sure Eobard Thawne didn't escape or, worse, Barry didn't find a way to let him out. Eddie could help, but he had a job with long hours and, on occasion, he needed to sleep.

At first, it had just been shifts, taken two at a time and while Barry had been dubious of Len and the Rogues helping out at S.T.A.R. Labs, he'd perked up the first time a meta-human popped up and Hartley had suggested they could help Barry apprehend her.

That had been a little over six weeks ago. Since then, the Rogues had all but moved in. Actually, Eddie would be surprised if there was anything left at the warehouse. Shawna was apparently the best move-in buddy ever. No heavy lifting required. She could teleport everything into the truck, then teleport the truck itself.

Mick had refused to let her touch his tools, insisting on carrying them himself and Barry had huddled next to Eddie, saying Mick just liked to show off his muscles. Not that Eddie was disagreeing – mostly because he wasn't exactly sure how delicate a blow torch was, really – but he wasn't agreeing, either.

"Detective Pretty Boy!" Speaking of Mick Rory. Eventually, Eddie was going to come up with a suitable retaliation against Barry for telling the Rogues about that nickname.

"You sent Barry out on another patrol?"

He turned to face Mick, doing his best not to look as embarrassed as he felt. "He was asking Eobard about my future wife. He mentioned roofies. I thought it was better to get him out for the night."

Mick nodded. "Good. Don't want him gettin' ideas."

"Right." Eddie looked over into the cortex and saw Hartley at the monitors, the new kid, Axel Walker, perched on the desk next to him with a large smile and a deck of cards in his hand, no doubt annoying the young scientist with card tricks. Lisa and Shawna had said they were going out earlier and they'd dragged a flustered Ray with them. When he'd said that he wanted to get away from Star City for a while, Eddie highly doubted the man was prepared for the force of nature that was Lisa Snart and Shawna Beaz.

What he didn't see, what he hadn't seen for a few days now, was their fearless leader.

"Where's Snart?"

Mick shrugged, "He had business."

"Business? Is he robbing something or planning to rob… you know what, never mind, I don't want to know. You should tell me." Mick raised his eyebrows. "No, you're right. The less I know the better. When is he coming back?"

"Tomorrow."

That was good. Barry was generally better when Snart was around. Eddie wasn't sure what or why or how, but Dr. Holt seemed to think it wasn't entirely unhealthy at the moment and Eddie was willing to take what he could get.

[]

It had taken some time to track down Len's latest target and when he had, it had led him to Coast City, home of bright skies, clean beaches, loud parties, and a thriving underbelly of illegal street racers. Len wasn't a fan of the sport, in particular – there were too many factors he couldn't control – but he could see the appeal.

There was a certain amount of adrenaline that came with the race itself and, of course, the money if you won. It was also an expensive sport to play, which was why it had gone out of fashion in Central after the wave. People didn't have the money for fancy cars with souped-up engines. If they had money to spare and they were looking for illegal fun, they generally went with narcotics and raves. Trespassing was also a favorite and required no monetary investment, the same went for vandalism.

Len's favorite was the current increase in graffiti art. The abandoned warehouses in the lower east were beginning to look like an art museum. At the very least it was colorful and it showed an upswing in the moral of the people living in the city.

After several days following his target, he was confident that the private investigator had been right. Despite the illegal street racing, Wally West was a good kid. He was young, smart. He'd turned in an application for college with an essay on increasing automobile speed that had been impressive to say the least, however, he'd backed out when his mother passed away and he'd been left with her medical bills.

Since Len had shown up, he hadn't lost a race and word around the gang was he rarely did. Some hinted that the few he had lost were for show more than anything. Len would bet money that if Wally let anyone actually look under the hood, there would be some very interesting upgrades to the engine.

That being said, he was running with a very bad crowd. Street races were the tamest of the crimes this particular gang engaged in and while Wally wasn't technically one of them, it was obvious the leader, José Martinez, had an eye on him and that wasn't good. As young and impressionable as he was, as deeply in debt, it wouldn't take much and it wouldn't have to be illegal, not at first.

Really, if Len thought about it, he was doing the kid a favor.

[]

It was well after midnight before Wally finally made it back to his apartment. Well, apartment was putting it nicely. It was a run down efficiency over a garage that a friend of a friend of a friend was letting him shack up in for what was probably an exorbitant amount, but with a job that paid under the table, a load of debt, and zero references, he couldn't really be picky.

Still, not a bad night. He sat in the car and counted out his take for the night. After gas and the gang's cut, he'd walked away with three hundred. Not bad. He was going to need new tires soon, though. The races wore them out quickly and having less than perfect tread was a good way to get himself killed.

Stuffing the money in his back pocket, Wally got out and locked the car, shutting the garage door behind him and padlocking it. Being allowed to use the garage for his car had cost an extra thirty a month, but it was better than parking it on the street.

Eventually, once he'd paid off the medical bills and saved enough, he was going to reapply for college, maybe here, maybe somewhere else.

He unlocked the door to his apartment slipped inside. There was only one window and he'd covered that with a black sheet, folded several times to cut out the light. It was effective in keeping the light out when he was trying to sleep, but had the adverse affect of making the room pitch black until he'd managed to flip the light switch… and find a strange man standing on the other end of the room, leaning against the wall, one of Wally's racing magazines open in his hands.

Wally jumped back, accidentally slamming the door shut in the process. "Jesus Christ!"

The man looked up with a smirk. "Close. Name's Leonard Snart."

Wally blinked, trying to process what the hell was happening, because there was a complete stranger in his room, with some kind of weird looking, bulky gun strapped to his thigh. This wasn't good, this couldn't be good. Maybe it had something to do with José? A rival gang or someone he'd pissed off.

"Relax, kid. I'm just here to talk."

"Look, if this is about José…"

"It's not." The magazine hit the bed and Snart crossed his arms over his chest. "It's about your brother."

His what? "I don't have a brother." His mother had told him about his dad and sister before she'd died, that her biggest regret had been never going back to try and make amends, never getting to know her daughter, but she hadn't said anything about a brother.

Snart nodded his head to the left, in concession. "Technically, no. Legally, you do."

"I don't understand."

"Your father adopted Barry when he was eleven. Legally, Barry was his son, which makes him your brother."

Wally looked around his room, more than a little dumbfounded. Even if he did have a little brother, it should have been abundantly clear by his current living situation that he wasn't in a position to help anyone. "Okay, but what's that got to do with me? I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't exactly have a lot going for me. If this kid needs help, I can't really…"

"He doesn't need that kind of help and he's twenty seven."

Wally blinked, utterly confused. What the hell could a twenty-seven-year-old not-really-brother need from him?

"As much as I'd like to stay and chat, don't really have the time. I need you to come with me, but I'm willing to compensate you for your time."

"Compensate? As in…?"

"Cash. Five hundred and all you have to do is come with me to Central City for one day, say hi to your big brother."

Wally stammered a little, because that wasn't exactly an insignificant amount of money, but this was a complete stranger. No matter how much he needed the money, it wasn't worth the risk. "I have work tomorrow."

"Your next shift is Wednesday."

"How do you know that?" Snart just smirked again and damnit. Fine, maybe he was going about this the wrong way. Clearly, the guy wanted him to come badly enough that he'd already broken several laws. Somehow Wally didn't think kidnapping was off the board. So, if he was going one way or the other, "Make it a fifteen hundred and you have a deal."

"Done."

Holy shit. For Snart to agree to that without even trying to bring it down? What the hell he was getting himself into.

[]

"Hey, I brought coffee and it isn't Big Belly Burger, because they re-opened Jitters."

Harrison set his book aside and Barry slid the paper bag and cup through the thin opening.

"I got one of every pastry they had, just in case, well, two." He held up his own bag and sat with his legs crossed. "How'd you sleep?"

"Fine. Hartley came by easlier. He stood in the doorway for several minutes and left without saying anything."

"Oh." Barry looked down at the over-sized chocolate filled croissant in his hands.

"Barry, do you know what it was about?"

Barry took a small bite out of the pastry to give himself time to pull his thoughts together. "The night you… that I… the night we fought, I wasn't supposed to be there. They used your handcuffs to keep me out of it and I… I phased through them. He's trying to figure out how I did that. We've run tests, but I haven't been able to do it again."

He dug his finger into the chocolate. "Len said sometimes my eyes glow red."

"I've noticed."

"You never told me."

"I didn't want to worry you."

"Liar." Barry looked up, making eye contact as he sucked the chocolate off his finger until Harrison shifted. "Do you know why?"

"I have theories."

"Enlighten me." He reapplied the chocolate and sucked it back into his mouth.

"I've said the speedforce connects us, however, my connection is vastly different from yours. It's possible that when you were trying to help with search and rescue, despite having exhausted your own personal resources, you inadvertently tapped into mine and have been subsequently done so whenever you're… agitated"

It had to be more complicated than that. Eddie had said it happened when Barry was in the other universe as well. It was possible that with the breach open, they'd been connected. Whatever the case, he was sure Harrison knew.

"Go on." Barry went in for more chocolate and Harrison eyed Barry with hunger that had little to do with actual food.

"I wouldn't want to bore you with the details."

"I don't mind. I'm sure I can find a way to keep myself entertained while you… talk."

The hard tap of boots on the floor of the bay interrupted them. "Okay, and you're done here."

Barry stood up quickly, glad his shirt hung low enough to cover how tight his pants were against his groin. "Not cool, Lisa. I'm busy."

Lisa crossed her arms over her chest. "No, you're late for work. Go."

"But…"

"Now!"

[]

Stupid Lisa. So what if Barry wanted to spend a little longer with Harrison? What did it matter to them? Besides, he was just trying to help. Hartley wasn't getting anywhere with his tests and he kept saying he wanted to ask Harrison, but chickening out at the last minute. Not that Barry blamed him – Harrison had pretty much destroyed his life. Besides, Mondays were busy, it wasn't like the Captain would even notice if he was…

"Allen, get in here!"

Damn.

Barry stopped with one foot on the stairs and hung his head for a moment, before turning back around and marching through the station to Captain Singh, who was standing in his doorway with a disappointed frown.

"Hey, Captain."

"You're late."

"Yeah." He could apologize, but Joe had always said don't apologize unless you mean it.

At his silence, the Captain sighed. "Come in, there's something we need to talk about."

Barry slipped past him, worried and unsure of what he'd find. When he saw who was there, he broke into a grin. "Dr. McGee! What are you doing here?"

She returned his smile with one of her own and stood to shake his hand. "Mr. Allen, I'm glad to see you're doing well."

"That's a matter of opinion." She laughed softly and Barry relaxed in the face of her humor. "It's good to see you, too."

Captain Singh sat, the cane leaning against his desk beside him. "Dr. McGee will be taking Dr. Wells' place on the task force. I thought it would be a good idea if the two of you collaborated."

"I'm not sure what I could…"

"She knows you're the Flash."

Barry looked over at Dr. McGee, who nodded and there was an indignant annoyance in the pit of Barry's stomach. "For real? It's called a secret identity."

Dr. McGee put a hand over his on the arm of the chair. "Relax, Mr. Allen, I already knew."

"You did?"

"I'm a scientist, Mr. Allen. Be reasonable."

He wanted to argue that he was, but then maybe not. Dr. McGee was Harrison level genius. If anyone was going to figure it out on their own, it would be her. He sank back in the chair, resigned. "Call me Barry."

"Barry, then. I look forward to working with you."

Captain Singh pulled his chair up. "Since you'll all be working together, I thought you could show Dr. McGee to S.T.A.R. Labs and introduce her to everyone there."

Barry could already see Len's disapproving face. "Definitely."

[]

"So, that's West's kid?"

Len nodded. His body ached from an entire night driving with no sleep, but he'd wanted to make it back a few hours before lunch. Barry always showed up around then and this way, Wally had a chance to settle in.

They'd gotten in just after nine. When he'd been sure Wally was coming, he'd texted Eddie to meet them at S.T.A.R. Labs. The detective had been thrown off, but more than happy to talk to Wally about his late father. The two had an awkward start, but it looked like they were doing okay now.

So far, so good.

Mick huffed out a grunt. "He take after his old man?"

"He ain't lookin' to be a cop. I found him street racing in Coast City."

"Adrenaline junkie?"

"Speed junkie."

There was a brief moment of silence before Mick broke out in guttural laughter loud enough to draw the attention of Eddie and Wally, who were on the other side of the cortex, talking in hushed tones. It took several seconds for Mick to get himself under control and when he finally had, he patted Len's shoulder. "Thanks, buddy, I needed that."

"Don't mention it."

The words had barely left his mouth when a rush of air and flying paperwork signaled the arrival of the resident speedster, bringing with him a woman Len knew by name only. She was a little shaken from traveling my speedforce, but otherwise okay.

"Lenny, you're back!" Barry flashed the short distance between them and his gaze shifted to where Wally was standing with Eddie, eyes wide and mouth half open. "New recruit?"

"You first." Len looked past him at the woman and then back.

"Oh, right! Dr. McGee, Leonard Snart, aka Captain Cold, and his partner, Mick Rory, also known as Heatwave. Len, Mick, this is Dr. Tina McGee from Mercury Labs. She's the new science advisor for the task force and the Captain thought we should all work together."

"And you thought you'd just bring her over for a surprise visit?"

"Well, you've been gone."

"I have a phone."

Barry opened his mouth, no doubt to say something that was going to annoy Len, but Dr. McGee stepped forward, still a little flustered, but standing firm. "Mr. Snart, a pleasure. It's my understanding we have you to thank for the rebuilds in the lower east?"

Len took the hand she offered and nodded tightly.

"Well, on behalf of the community, thank you."

He managed a smile, but it was uncomfortable. Barry looked between them briefly and rolled his eyes. "Okay, now, your turn. Who's the new recruit?"

"He's not a recruit. He's Wally West."

Barry's smile faltered and he looked at Wally, who was still staring openly. "West? As in…?"

"He's Detective West's son."

"But, Joe never said…"

Wally finally found his voice. "He didn't know. Mom had a drug problem. She cleaned herself up after she left, when she found out she was pregnant with me, but she never got the courage up to go back. At least, not until it was too late. Are you the Flash?"

Barry blinked a few times, clearly dumbfounded. "What? No. Yes. I mean, yes, I'm the Flash. You're really Joe's son?"

"Yeah and, I guess, that makes us brothers? Kind of? The guy with the weird gun that broke into my apartment said Joe adopted you, so…"

"He broke into your apartment?!" Barry turned on Len. "You broke into his apartment?"

"I like to make an entrance. Besides, it wasn't that difficult. Kid lives in a shack over a garage in the run down part of Coast City. I've had harder times breaking flashlights out of plastic casing."

"Oh, no, that's not… no." Barry flashed over to Wally and took his hands. Wally, to his credit, didn't pull away, though that may have had more to do with shock. "You can live with me. I have a house. It's huge and empty and too quiet, but it's really secure and Len won't break in or I'll break him."

Len coughed into his hand and Barry ignored him.

Wally half glancing at Eddie for support he wasn't going to receive. "I don't know, I have a job."

"Where? Can you transfer?"

"It's not like that. It's just answering phones at a small mechanic shop, but they let me use the garage to fix my cars, so it helps."

"Mick loves cars, or, well, he likes taking them apart. He uses the parking garage to work on them. I'm sure he wouldn't mind letting you use his tools." Mick growled and Barry back tracked. "We'll set you up with your own tools, but the point is, there's a garage you can use and I'm sure we can find you a job. You won't need to pay rent or anything. My boyfriend is loaded, so…"

"Wait, you live with your boyfriend?" Wally glanced at Len, because he hadn't said anything about that, but Len was content to let this play out until it looked like it was about to crash and burn.

Barry shook his head. "Not anymore. He's locked in our secret prison in the pipeline. He killed a lot of people."

And there was the crash and burn he'd been waiting for. "Barry."

"Right, sorry. I'm getting ahead of myself. The point is, no I don't live with my boyfriend, but I do have a house and I'd really like it if you'd at least consider the offer." Barry let go of Wally's hands, as if suddenly realizing he was holding them and stepped back. "Please?"

Wally still looked less convinced than Len would have liked. He'd been banking on mutual loneliness and Wally's love of speed, coupled with Barry being the Flash, but it looked like he might need a little more of a push.

Before he could say anything, Dr. McGee cut in. "If it's not too forward, I'm sure I could find him something at Mercury Labs. It wouldn't be much, I'm afraid – a place in the mail room or an assistant to begin with, but it pays above minimum wage and there are medical benefits as well as college assistance, if you're interested."

"Mercury Labs?" Wally's eyebrows shot up and Len could see him giving in, even if he wasn't saying as much. "That's… are you sure?"

"Quite. I only met Detective West once and it wasn't under the best of circumstances, but whatever I may have thought of his methods at the time, he was doing what he thought was best for his case and for his son, Barry." Len didn't miss the sad smile Barry tried to hide, or the way he dropped his gaze and his shoulders slumped. There was a story behind that. He'd have to remember to ask about it later. "It would be my honor to help you in his place."

Barry held up a finger. "Before you make up your mind, let me introduce you to the rest of the team. Len, where's the rest of the team?"

"The shooting range. Lisa wanted to try out her new gun."

"Hartley finished it?"

"Apparently." He said he'd gotten the idea from what Eobard calling Lisa Golden Glider. Len still wasn't sure he liked it, but when it came to Lisa, he had very little say in the matter. "It's… unique."

Barry lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Lisa's his baby sister. He's very protective of her, which isn't really a problem unless he figures out she has a crush oooooooon… crap."

Len frowned. "Who?"

"No one. Ever. She'll die a virgin. She's thinking about becoming a nun." Len managed to maintain his frown, but it was close. The image of Lisa in a nun's habit was nearly enough to break him. Barry winked. "Hey, Wally, let me show Dr. McGee around and then I'll take you to meet the others."

"Nonsense." Dr. McGee cut in with a shake of her head. "Mr. Snart and Mr. Rory can show me around. You boys go on ahead."

Barry hesitated for only a moment before nodding and then he was gone, Wally with him and papers shuffling around on the floor in the wave of his speed.

Len sighed heavily. "Mick, make sure she doesn't gold him."

Mick didn't argue, because they both knew that was a very real and distinct possibility and it wouldn't be because Lisa was mad, it would be because Barry was willing to try anything once. In fact, most of the time, he insisted on it.

Eddie followed after Mick – when it came to Barry pulling stupid stunts, the more people on hand with a level head, the better.

Dr. McGee turned to Len as soon as they were alone. "That was very decent of you, Mr. Snart."

He ignored the obvious implications of the statement. "Hartley hasn't run enough tests. I'm not sure we could un-gold him effectively."

She smiled softly. "I was speaking of young Mr. West."

And of course, she wasn't going to let him get away with it. Well, two could play at that game. "The same could be said about you."

Dr. McGee nodded. "That it could. However, we all have our reputations to protect."

Len really considered her for the first time. He liked to know the major players in his city, so he knew some of her story. He knew she was a scientist and a business woman and while she always managed to keep her company afloat, even after the tidal wave, there had never been even a hint of anything unethical coming out of Mercury Labs. It was something she openly prided herself on.

While Barry may be the Flash, a hero, the Rogues were far from that. Despite his more recent altruistic activities, Len was still Captain Cold. He was still a known criminal, wanted for a multitude of things, murder and grand theft among them.

By agreeing to work with them, she was indeed putting her reputation on the line and Len found that, despite himself, he respected that.

She raised an eyebrow at his silence. "Do we have an understanding?"

"We do. What would you like to see first, where we make the weapons or our secret prison?"

"Very amusing, Mr. Snart. The lab will be fine."

He looked forward to seeing her face when she realized he wasn't lying.

[]

"Harrison, guess what?"

"You've decided to do away with the ridiculous blue in your hair?"

"What? No. That's staying. The other me said I looked like Captain Cold's sidekick, which is really funny now, 'cause I kind of am. But I'm not. Anyway, I have a Wally."

There was silence on Harrison's end.

"Joe had a son he didn't know about and Len brought him to Central. His mom died a few months ago and he doesn't have any other family, so I'm letting him stay with us. Well, me, at your house. That's why I missed dinner last night. Sorry about that, but I had to help him get his stuff from Coast City and I made spaghetti like Joe used to. And yes, I used your kitchen. You can cut off my finger later."

"I intend to do more than that."

"Love it when you talk dirty. Tell me more."

Harrison's eye twitched.

"So, there's Wally and Dr. McGee, who's taken your place on the task force, and, we have a new Rogue, too, Axel Walker. Hartley picked him up at a bar. Not like that, they just bonded over drinks and horrible parent stories. Apparently, Axel's dad was the Trickster, only he didn't know it. They pen-palled and there was this whole plan to break him out, but then the tidal wave hit and killed Jessie James. When his will got out, it names Axel as his heir and there was a DNA test that confirmed it and Axel can't decide if he's pissed James never told him, or proud the Trickster is his dad. Not that it matters, because he's dead."

"The Trickster isn't dead."

Barry froze. "He's what?"

"Not dead."

"But… how? He was being kept in isolation in the basement. The warden said they didn't get down there before the wave hit the prison."

"They didn't. However, his body was never found. The warden covered it up."

Barry frowned. That wasn't good. Of course, if he was alive, he hadn't made any move since then, so that was okay. Maybe. It could also be very bad. A year and a half was a long time to plan something. If he was planning something. Barry thought back to what he knew of previous cases involving the Trickster. He was definitely planning something, but, Barry had a team now and he could stop him. Or, at the very least, he'd have fun trying.

"Oh well. Axel isn't a meta-human, but he's crazy good with explosives, better than Mick even, and Mick loves a good explosion. I think that's why they get along. Like, Axel can be really annoying sometimes, but just when I think Mick's gonna punch him in the face, Axel brings up accelerants and you can physically see the calm wash over Mick. I can't decide if Axel's just lucky or a genius. Either way, Len likes him, so he's staying."

"Anyway, I have to go to work and I promised to take Wally to get some clothes on my lunch break. Dr. McGee got him a job at Mercury Labs, so he'll need something more than jeans and a t-shirt. I'll see you at dinner? We'll watch a movie. Love you!"

[]

Eddie waited until Barry had disappeared in a trail of lightning to enter the bay. Eobard was sitting on the floor, coffee in hand. He looked up at Eddie with perfect calm. "Tell Mr. Snart I commend his efforts. It's a truly inspired move, but it won't last. Eventually, Barry will get tired of his new toy and when he does, he'll come back here. To me."

Eddie stared him down, considering his next words carefully. "Maybe. In fact you're probably right. We all know we're fighting an uphill battle and the odds are against us, but there's something you should know. If you ever do manage to get out of there, the entire team has my permission to put me down if I can't do it myself and I fully intend to do it myself. I won't let you sink your claws back into him Eobard Thawne. I would rather die."

He closed the door before Eobard could respond. Ever since he'd found out what happened to the other him, he'd felt like there was a ticking time bomb out there with his name on it. Although, at least that time bomb could do some good.

The team had agreed to meet in the cortex and that's where he found them, crowded around the computers and a clearly annoyed Hartley. Axel was showing Shawna one of his card tricks; Lisa was using Hartley's lap as a footrest while she talked to Mick; Ray and Dr. McGee were discussing the scientific implications of shapeshifting; and Barry was explaining the newest threat to Wally with animated hand gestures and a wide smile.

Snart was standing a few feet away, watching with a thoughtful expression. He nodded at Eddie when he saw him and Eddie nodded back, a silent confirmation that everything had gone well.

It wasn't perfect. In fact, it was far from that, but for the first time in over a year, it wasn't without hope.

-The End-