Chapter 21: Line

From the building beside them she could see it all, she could see everything that led right up to Luke's death. The two of them, Sam and Luke, were having a stand off and Nora was waiting for the right moment. The moment when Luke will realize the type of person that Sam is because that is the only way he'll stop chasing after him and stay with her.

She stepped forward from behind the wall as she saw Sam turn and draw his weapon. Was this the moment? She felt lightning crackle throughout her body but she stopped when she saw Sam had lowered the gun, she couldn't hear what they were saying but it had to be something important. A few moments later she noticed the crooks leaving the warehouse, what soon followed was the brawling between the two friends. This was the moment.

The speedster bolted towards the warehouse, disarmed the makeshift bombs and brought all the criminals to safety and tied them up to ensure they wouldn't escape. She then ran past the building and barreled right towards the two men.

Nora reached towards the collar of Sam's coat and threw him from Luke and into the hood of the car the two had arrived in. The detective led there with a few cuts and bruises on his face, but it was nothing like last time. He took a deep breath, looking upside-down at the speedsters back who was standing between him and Sam. He rolled onto his torso and saw Sam indented into the car.

"How the hell?" he muttered to himself.

Sam fell forward from the car and pulled himself from the ground, "that… that hurt."

The Arsonist spat some blood onto the ground and looked up towards the costumed woman slowly walking towards him. "Oh? The new superhero? Of course this the kind of bullshit I get dealt with."

The murderer managed to clamber to his knees as XS stood before him, "I hope one day you'll realize that putting on a uniform doesn't make you good. It doesn't make you a hero. Go and ask that piece of shit behind you and then maybe-"

Sam's speech was cut off with a quick punch to the side of his head, knocking him out cold. Nora pulled out some handcuffs and cuffed one of his hands to the grill of the car. When she turned around she noticed Luke was lying on his back again, looking into the sky.

Nora sped over to him in fear. This couldn't happen, not after everything that she has went through. There was no way she was going to let him die again.

"Luke?!" She called out as she stopped on her knees beside him. Luke looked at her through the tears in his eyes and laughed, "You know my name? Should I even be surprised?"

Nora, overcome with emotion, burst into tears and cried onto his chest. The Detective was confused and gave her an awkward pat on her back, "Are you okay XS? I… er…" he stammered not knowing what to say.

"You're alive," XS croaked, "I did it."

XS leaned back onto her knees and pulled her mask from her eyes, she smiled through her quivering lips. "It's me," she said with a crack in her voice.

Luke sat up from the ground and Looked into the eyes of the one he loved. "I should have known," he replied with an awkward laugh, "that mask doesn't really cover much, does it?"

Nora laughed and placed her forehead against his, "You never were the best detective," she laughed in return before pressing her lips against his with all of her love. She never thought she would see him again but there he was, with his lips against hers. She did it, she saved him. She saved him. She saved him. She kept her promise.

Luke pulled himself from Nora who hesitantly let him go, "how did you know?" he asked her, "that I was here?"

Nora paused for a moment and looked away. "This is going to be a lot to explain and a lot for you to take in," she admitted, "and it is all the truth."

Luke slowly nodded, promising he'd listen and believe her.

"Okay," she sighed, "I'm from the year 2049 and I am the daughter of The Flash. I never met him in my time, so I came back to this time to meet him. Only… only I met you and everything changed," she admitted, wiping away a tear she continued, "I've never had someone like you in my life before, you're someone who saw me for who I was and not for what I was supposed to be. You changed everything. And now I've changed it all for this moment."

Luke's brow furrowed, "you've changed it all? What do you mean?"

Nora pulled out a leather journal, "take this and give it to me when you go home."

"Give it to you? But, you're here?" he questioned.

Nora bit her lip and closed her eyes, before looking into Luke's and telling him about what happened. "You died Luke. You died in my arms right here and Sam is the one who killed you. The Nora asleep in our apartment right now is the past me. But this version of me, I'm from weeks ahead in the future who has had to deal with the fact that I couldn't save you."

Luke pulled her into a tight embrace, "You've saved me now. I'm here."

"Luke," Nora whispered, "I don't have much time."

"You do, we have all the time in the world," Luke replied as he pulled her head onto his shoulder.

"No," Nora hesitated, "The timeline has changed," she spoke. Luke felt the grasp of Nora's hand leave his back. He moved back from her to see her right arm had disappeared into pieces of glowing blue flying into the night sky. "What's happening?!" he blurted out.

"I saved you so this version of me doesn't exist, but the other me does. We can spend the rest of our lives together, that's all I want Luke. So give her the journal, don't forget," Nora smiled.

"Please don't go Nora…" Luke cried.

"I told you that this would be difficult back in that hotel room, didn't I?" she smiled a pained smile. "I love you Luke. I really do love you."

"I love you too," Luke replied before moving in and placing his lips against hers.

Within a moment, the feeling of her tender kiss disappeared. Luke opened his eyes, and she was gone. All that was left was the leather journal on the wet ground and blue pieces of light floating away.