The group was in the Wave rider waiting for new developments about the movement of the metahuman they were tracking. When the two flashed in they were of course surprised. Their team did not have a speedster so them popping in and out was something that was similar to a jump scare for most of them. Then only ones that seemed unaffected were Ray and Jax and Stein, although startled they did seem to be used to the people that could do that.

"Didn't we say, no speeding in the past unless absolutely necessary?" Sara looked at the two giving them the stink eye.

"We made sure that we didn't go on any public roads were people could see us or anything as for our speed we kind of needed it" Caitlin told her with a stern voice.

"Why? What happened?" Ray asked almost immediately.

"We met Eobard. He wanted to push me and my mother in front of a truck. We did manage to foil his attempt, but we left him at the edge of town. One frozen hand and two ice spears in his legs should keep him out of our hair while we take care of Shade" Barry added.

"Why didn't you just kill him?" Mick asked from the sidelines.

"Simple. We don't know when he's from, exactly. Sara told us something thought and if that's true this version is younger than our Eobard. If we kill him means older him will never try to kill Barry's mother which means neither me nor him will get powers. As much as we don't like to admit it, the Reverse Flash was paramount in building the Particle accelerator and creating the blast that turned us into Flash and Frost" Caitlin explained.

"I see you two understand the consequences of some actions. I'm glad. If you'd have killed him you two would be safe in the Wave rider, but that would have been a complete screw up that we would have had to fix" Sara smiled at the woman in front of her.

"As long as we have information to make an accurate assessment then we will take the damage into consideration. That is why Caitlin put two spikes in his legs. It will take him a while to recover which gives us time to hunt down Shade" Barry added. "Which reminds me, did you get anything else on him?"

"Nothing at all. After your initial encounter with him and after we put up the EM field with the Wave Rider things have been quiet" Ray responded

"This isn't really that good. We can't spend a few years here protecting these kids. Furthermore we can't really leave a metahuman in this time frame when the Particle Accelerator wasn't even constructed" Stein replied with a bit of concern in his eyes.

"You`re right. But Gideon can't predict where he will hit. In order for him to be able to analyze a timeline then that timeline must be created. Which would mean we just leave and if something happens the timeline will change and Gideon will be able to give us a precise and Accurate reading of where the attack took place and we can come back and stop in" Sara said with a dark look in her eyes.

"You know already, Sara, that if a timeline is disturbed, even if the initial event that created it is undone doesn't mean that it will turn back to the way it was" Stein explained. Barry and Caitlin were very interested in what he had to say.

"Professor, can you elaborate on that? The other Barry mentioned something but he didn't really give us any sort of explanation of what happens. Maybe you can do that so we better understand the damage that we can create if we jump back by mistake?" Barry asked him.

"Think of the timeline as a coffee cup. Something very hard at first glance but also very fragile. When another timeline is created triggered by a certain event, then the coffee cup breaks. Even if you undo the event that broke the cup in the first place, can you return it to its original form?" Stein pressed a button that showed in the holographic matrix of the Wave Rider precisely what he was saying.

"You can probably patch it back together with some hot glue, but even if you return it as close to the original state, it will still have the cracks" Barry responded after a bit.

"Precisely, my boy. Those cracks will still be there. That's why what Ms. Lance is proposing is very risky and dangerous. We don't know where the cracks would appear, imagine if one of those abnormalities would be somewhere in the original Barry's timeline. Frost would cease to exist. What if, one of them means that Eobard isn't stopped by your future self and he manages to kill you? Flash wouldn't exist at all, Caitlin Snow would probably be still in Coast City, or why not, in Starling, since the original Harrison Wells wanted to put STAR there, while his fiancée was still alive. A million other things could happen" Martin replied.

"We get it. Playing with time is wrong, mmmkay?" Caitlin replied with a South park accent that made the majority of the people in the control center laugh.

"Wrong and as Martin just demonstrated, extremely dangerous" Ray chipped in.

"Then I guess we need a way to make him strike. But how do we do that, we would need bait and telling either one of the children at least part of what we know could severely alter the timeline" Steel commented.

"Don't you guys have some sort of way of blocking memories till a certain age or erase them?" Caitlin asked pretty bluntly.

"We do, but we've never really tested the technology. The only one that did was the previous captain, Captain Hunter. We don't know what side effects it could have" Sara replied with a worried voice.

"Side effects are as follows, Sara Lance" Gideon replied to her apparent inquiry "Inability to access the memories that were erased or time coded at any other given time, pre frontal cortex collapse, brain damage and complete memory wipe to the point that the person has to re learn everything"

"Well I guess that answers your question. Which means we can't involve the children. Maybe Henry Allen would be more open to this sort of thing, but that implies he will have to keep a secret as well." Ray told them pretty bluntly.

"Even if he does help us. I don't think he will be very open to the fact that we want to use his kid as bait for a killer" Mick added from the back.

"Probably not. So we're back to square one. How do we draw that guy out?" Barry added looking at the people who considering there were so many geniuses in the room seem to be completely out of ideas.

"Do we know the shade's human identity?" Caitlin suddenly had an idea.

"Yeah, but why would it help, the system you use in your Central City, the one that Felicity designed, there is nothing like that here. So even if we do have his human identity, we don't have the means to track him" Ray answered.

"Maybe not, but … can your machine replicate Id's as well as clothes?" Barry asked getting where Caitlin was going with her questions.

"It can replicate anything. But it cannot build validity to them. So you would have the badge, but if someone makes a simple call then they will find you out and you will be imprisoned. The only time that trick works is before the era where they had phones. Back then a badge was everything, now ... not so much" Sara told them.

"Computers are just starting to be used now. Aren't nationwide Federal APBS still managed by them at this time?" Barry asked.

"They should be. I see where you're going" Steel smiled.

"Gideon, can you hack into the Federal Database and create an APB for the human identity of the shade?" Caitlin asked the AI.

"Yes, Dr. Allen. I do need a direct connection to a computer that is actually networked to that database I'm afraid" Gideon responded quite bluntly

"Oh right. This is not the age of Wi-Fi. Tell me where the nearest computer that has what you need is, Gideon" Barry told the computer.

"The only one in the city that has that type of connection is the one in the CCPD Captains office" The AI responded.

"How much time do you need to hack the system and make it look like the APB is coming from higher up and not leave any sort of evidence or traces that could get the captain in trouble?" Caitlin asked.

"10 minutes. Dr. Allen" the answer came.

"I'll go and put an access point in his computer tonight so you can add that. Hopefully after that time we can get at least a fix on our metahuman from the police scanners" Barry replied.

They waited for the night to come at which point Barry sneaked into the Captains office and attached a sender receiver to the man's computer, giving the AI access to the rest of the federal network that controlled the sending and receiving of the All Points Bulletins that were put out whenever a dangerous criminal would be classified as a threat for the populace. The Shade's human identity was now on the top 10 most wanted list of the FBI. Something that would have been considered quite a feat at the time, but the time travelers didn't really have time to wait for a normal ping from a normal warrant so they raised his threat level. Now all they had to do was wait. Barry waited for the AI to finish, removed the device and flashed back to the Wave Rider which continued to project the EM fields over the two houses to keep the metahuman out.

"We have another problem. When we left we didn't get any sort of metahuman gear from the lab. If he can turn to shadows and we don't have metahuman cuffs to suppress his powers then we don't be able to detain him. But with the Wave Rider stuck here projecting the field to keep the kids safe, we can't go back" Barry said with a bit of annoyance in his voice.

"Actually that's not true. The Wave rider has a smaller dropship that can be used for shorter time jumps. It can take you back to your time and when you get what you need recall to the ship. Mick can go with you, he knows how to pilot it better than any of us" Sara told him.

"Ok. We should go, in case this guy shows up we should really have the gear" Caitlin suggested

"Follow me then" Mick got up and Jax came along as well. The four got into the shuttle and jumped back to the moment they left, but this time right in the back yard of their Vacation home. That suited them very well because they held a few devices there just in case Kara would need them. Since her Barry only had managed to manufacture a few, Caitlin thought it as a good idea to have them around, since Supergirl could cross over and help herself. Frost made that very clear. They got two pairs of cuffs and started back. Barry however was really interested about Mick.

"So, previous criminal turns time cop. How does that work? Also … weren't you partners with Lenny?" he asked.

"He was here too. He sacrificed himself so we could get away from the time masters a way back. I spent a lot of time with those people after Lenny tried to betray me. They trained me, taught me how to fight properly, I suspect they might have altered my DNA as well, but I can't be sure of that. I was recruited like all the other people on the ship, by a person that is no longer with us. Captain Rip Hunter. His mission was to hunt Savage through the timeline and kill him, because he killed his wife and child" Mick started an interesting tale.

"That didn't take long to disappear. You guys managed to kill him when he went after Kendra and Carter, after that ... we found out that he had been resurrected by the time masters, which were working with him for some reason or another. We had to kill him again and in the process go on an all-out war with the times masters which we won, but we lost Lenny in the process" Jax told them

"Sounds like he died a hero. That doesn't really surprise me. Snart had his own brand of honor. Even if he was a thief, sometimes I wonder why. He actually came to us and offered us information last Christmas on the trickster and Weather Wizard, for the simple fact that those two wanted to kill us and he didn't see any gain in it" Barry replied.

"While we had our run-ins with him, more notably he is probably at fault for my first transformation into Frost. We did respect that particular brand of honor he had" Caitlin told the two that nodded.

"I don't want to say anything, but I actually miss his snide remarks" Jax commented looking a bit sad. The shuttle returned back to the Wave Rider at the moment it left. The speedsters had gotten used to the fact that time wasn't linear anymore and they didn't mind it. They went back to the bridge like they never left.

"And we're back, I doubt there are any news from like 2 seconds ago" Barry kind of asked

"Nothing. I think we should get some rest. Gideon will alert us if something happens" Steel told them. They all agreed and went to sleep. They had something to eat that was prepared by Gideon which apparently it was something that would keep up a speedster's metabolism that was invented in the future. It looked about the same as the usual burnt rubber with a touch of asphalt bar that Cisco whipped up except this one actually tasted like chocolate. They both ate 4 apiece and their energy returned and their hungered was stifled.

"At least now we know the bars will get better" she smiled as the two got into a bed to rest.

"Thank god for future Cisco. Or whoever managed to make them taste better. They are a powerhouse for us, but the taste. Yeah … let's not talk about it. It's so bad it makes me want to hurl" Barry made a grimace. The two fell asleep in each other's embrace.

The next morning when they woke up they found out that the Wave Rider was missing a critical function. It didn't have coffee. So they put on some clothes and went to the nearest coffee shop and got some for everyone. They already knew that Stein and Ray liked to drink it, the other they had no idea.

"Good morning, Gideon" Barry told the Ai "Anything new since we went to sleep?"

"Good morning, Barry Allen. Nobody tried to breach the EM fields that are in place around the two houses. I have detected however a time signature of something that should not be there" The Ai replied politely

"Can you detect which type of ship or pod it is that makes that exact trail?" Caitlin asked.

"Sadly I cannot. The transport was outgoing. Someone left this timeline, as such my scanners would be useless since the desired object is no longer here." Gideon told her.

"Any idea of which time that ship went back to?" Barry inquired.

"Yes. It went back to 2120." The Ai replied after scanning the timeline they were in

"Must have been Eobard heading home after he got his ass handed to him yesterday. It was surprising seeing him so … slow. We were always on edge because our speedster was faster than us" Caitlin replied. A few moments later just as the others were joining them smelling coffee a strange alarm blared on the bridge. Gideon was scanning the police bands and received a call from a set of police officers who had spotter Shade.

"I guess that's it for us. Let's go, Cait" The speedster told his wife. She immediately changed in her suit and he did the same. They sped through the city avoiding major avenues of traffic or people that could see them, but when they got to the scene of the crime all they could find were two dead cops. The criminal responsible for it was nowhere to be found.

"Great, he's gone again. I swear this guy is more slippery than an eel in a barrel of water" Barry said quite annoyed.

"Don't worry about it, Now that he killed two cops I'm pretty sure the police will be on his tail harder than we could ever could. You know that nobody in the police will stand for this" Caitlin calmed him down with a smile.

"You`re right. We should stand by in case something else happens" Barry sped away followed by his wife and returned to the ship where Sara and Ray were already running the trace program to find out where he had moved.

"We picked up the moment he warped away, but after that again nothing" the atom told the two when they came back to the bridge.

"Maybe we should extend the search area. We thought he had a place to stay in the city. What if that's not the case and he is outside of our scan range?" Caitlin replied to the people that were on the bridge at the time.

"We can extend the scan range, but the Wave Rider doesn't have enough energy to keep the fields going and extend the maximum range of the scan. It's either one or the other." Steel replied pointing at the energy consumption.

"I'm still surprised that he hasn't tried anything in broad daylight, except that first time. Something unusual about that, I know that assassins prefer night time to strike, but he hasn't done that either" Barry said with a bit of surprise in his voice.

"I know what we can do. You two will stand out like a sore thumb, so we'll watch the kids while they go to school and during the day and you can take down the fields and extend the search area. If you find anything, call us and we'll go take care of that guy once and for all" Sara told them. The plan was sound, everyone nodded and they left the ship to keep an eye out on the kids while the two speedsters stood behind and started scanning for the signature of the metahuman outside of the city as well. It wasn't long before they actually got a ping. The two speedsters recognized the location almost instantly. It was at a farm, the same farm which Mardon tried to destroy with a hurricane and where Joe found out for the first time that they had received super powers.

"Guys, we got him. Did he try to get at the kids?" Barry asked through the coms

"We didn't see anything. Everything's quiet over here" Sara replied.

"Good, then he might have just gone out for food or something. He's at a farm outside of the city, that's where we received the ping. We're going over there, there's no time to lose. He might just pop out again" Barry told them.

"You go ahead. We'll follow in the Wave Rider. If you can keep him busy I might have something that can stop him. The ship has high powered intensity lights that might force him to materialize" Ray told them

"Go, well follow as soon as we can" Sara replied and the two speedsters flashed out of the ship toward the farm. As they got there, much to their surprise, nothing had changed from the first time they were on the property. Everything looked brand new, like it was just constructed, but there seemed to be no one on the premises. That is until the two saw a figure inside the house and zipped toward it only for the figure to disappear and show up behind them, clocking Barry one in the face and throwing him to the ground. All the lights had been closed so now the Shade had more than enough darkness to pop up from wherever he wanted. Caitlin instantly ice up only to receive a hit in the back that sent her flying. She managed to create an ice wall and land on it stopping her. She went back down and started throwing ice spears at the metahuman. She soon realized that they were useless because he wasn't in his human form, he had turned into an actual shadow into the form of a human who was almost intangible.

"Guys are you all right? We keep seeing traces of warping all over the place. What's happening?" Sara asked them through the coms.

"You`d better get here sooner rather than later. This guy's intangible, we can't do anything to him" Caitlin told them as she threw two lightning bolts straight at the figure. They seemed to have some effect, but not much. Barry had started to run around him in the hopes that the wind might have an effect on him but that didn't seem to be the case. The shadow stepped through the tornado like it was nothing.

"The only things that seem to have any effect on him are the lightning bolts" Barry yelled

"I'm going to try the fog. Stay out of it maybe that might help" Caitlin told her husband mentally and started to produce a cloud that enveloped most of the farm. Shade passed through it and it had a slight effect, Caitlin noticing that he was slightly slower than normal, but beside that, nothing. She waved the fog away just in time for the Wave Rider to show up overhead and started to project high intensity lights in a circle around the metahuman. They were working, he could only pass through the light in his solid state and when he tried, Barry hit him straight in the chest throwing him back in the circle, where a large projector was filling the space with white light.

Shade returned to his human for just enough for Caitlin to speed toward him and put him in the Meta cuffs. The moment the cuffs were activated, he fell to the ground motionless and barely breathing. The Wave Rider landed and the two speedsters took the metahuman into the holding cell for transport.

"That was a bit disconcerting. Nothing we had would affect him in the slightest. It was like fighting the darkness" Barry commented as they went toward the bridge to prepare for the trip back.

"Glad the lights worked the. What do you plan on doing with him?" Ray asked.

"We're going to put him in the pipeline with the rest of the metahumans that tried to kill us at one point or another" Caitlin replied.

"All right. Take your seats. We're going back to 2016" Sara smiled. The trip was short and Barry found himself blind for a few seconds, but his regeneration seemed to work just fine. The Wave Rider landed in the back yard of their vacation house cloaking as the engines turned off. The moment it did, Barry flashed to STAR and put Shade in the containment cell, returning at the landing site in less than a minute.

"Well this was different" Barry smiled "Never thought I's get to play Time cop in my life"

"Thank you for the help. Taking care of Eobard that early in the mission was very nicely done" Sara commended the two "Also the timeline seems to not have been modified which means Congratulations for a job well done"

"If you ever need help against Eobard in your travels you know where to find us" Barry smiled as the others went back to the ship, Sara, Ray and Martin stayed a bit longer

"So, you two are rich now huh?" Sara smiled at the couple

"Well you know, stuff does happen, and you weren't hat much around to be in the loop. What about you, Martin? Back at the wedding you said you had some Firestorm issues to take care of. I assuming being with them is what you were referring to?" Caitlin smiled at the scientist.

"Yes, our little time adventure group" He smiled.

"Ray, doesn't Thea miss you? I mean you do go around fighting people through time" Barry smiled at him

"Barry, this is a time ship. I can be gone one second and back in the next. Usually that never happens, but Sara has been getting good at piloting, so I'm never gone for more than a couple of days. I miss her too you know" Ray told the couple who grinned

"So you have finally found someone to call your own" Caitlin replied.

"You could say that. We're still in the boyfriend, girlfriend state of the relationship. Figuring things out, but she does make me happy and I hope I make her happy" The scientist grinned. Before he could continue they could hear an alarm in their comms and Jax's voice came through.

"These guys are at it again. We need to move"

"I guess this is it then, Take care of yourselves and if we ever need you we'll just pop out of the time stream for a chat and a coffee" Sara smiled at the two speedsters who nodded

"We will. You do the same. If you ever just want to drop by the vacation house, chill, catch some rays, you`re always welcome" Barry smiled as the two ran back to the ship. The speedsters looked at the large metal mass that de cloaked and flew straight up starting to shimmer and then disappearing after a short while. They smiled at each other and raced back to the labs to make sure the containment cell would keep Shade in.

The next day after returning from their time adventure the couple decided to go back where Barry lived for nothing more than to see the place where they first met one more time. It was surprising for them to find out the reason they initially met was something that they did themselves, or more accurately of something Barry did. They walked down the street and stopped in the exact same place where they stood almost 18 years ago, looking at the house in front of them. The house which held so many good memories for him, but also so many bad ones. The surprise however was the fact that Henry Allen was there with Tina as well. The house was not on their usual route, seeing that it was pretty much away from anything that the two would have any sort of business with, but they were here, on the other side of the street. Henry looked at them and suddenly realized what was happening. They crossed the street and came to greet the two speedsters.

"I was wondering when you two will come back here" Henry told them nonchalantly "Time travel, huh?"

"Yeah, time travel. Hello, dad" Barry smiled

"Henry, what do you mean by time travel?" Tina looked at him rather surprised. "I know these two have jumped in time before, I just know what it has do with this particular place"

"This is the where Barry Allen and Caitlin Snow met for the first time. At the time, Barry had been beaten by some bullies and a shy nerdy looking girl helped him stand up from the sidewalk where he fell. That was nothing strange in itself. Except the same people, now Barry and Caitlin Allen, were standing right across the street watching everything. This was almost 18 years ago and I was witness to that event" Henry smiled remembering what he had seen that day.

"So you did see us and figure it out. We didn't remember the exact place or else we would have come here more often. It must have been a consequence so that Time did not fold in on itself. We only remembered everything when we went back to help some of our friends and we wound up in the same Era in which there this was the place where we first met. After we saw it happen" Caitlin smiled brightly at the two.

"Yes, I did see you. And I did figure it out, but much later. It was after you married actually. Seeing the Flash and Frost rings on your hand and the wedding bands triggered a memory that had been sitting there for a long time. The fact that I have had seen you two before at a time where you weren't supposed to exist. I knew time travel was possible from what you have told me before, so ... I didn't think of it much. I do walk by this house from time to time, even though some of the worst memories I have are in here. But today, when I saw you across the street and I saw the rings I was sure that that day it was you two that I was watching" Henry explained looking at the speedsters.

"It was good seeing mom again, dad. After all these years" Barry told his father and Caitlin felt the happiness and also the sadness that came off him.

"You know what was really strange? I didn't even realize that the two children that were in front of me were the grownups that I initially thought were too lazy to help a kid off the sidewalk or to stop him from getting a beating. I really wanted to tell you a few nice words. But something stopped me, I can't even tell you at this point in time what that was. Just a feeling, I guess" Henry told them.

"Dad, we went back but we wouldn't interfere with anything. Time travel is a risky business. We could have damaged much more than we went back to fix. Even the fact that we two met, is a direct result of Barry interfering" Caitlin told him almost like an apology.

"What do you mean? Barry, what did you do?" Tina asked him with a smile.

"There was a girl that was going cross the street at a red light. I saw some red lightning that I supposed was Eobard. There was a truck coming so ... I helped her cross. Only I put her on the wrong side. That's why Caitlin actually saw me on the ground that day. If I didn't mess up she would have gone on her way and that meeting had never happened" Barry told the two which had large eyes realizing what that meant.

"So yeah. I suspect that we never would have met if it wasn't for us observing. Of course and Barry's interference. Seems like he's a hero and a gentleman doesn't matter if he can screw with the timeline so hard that time can implode on itself. We were lucky nothing happened" Caitlin smiled at her husband

"Effect preceding cause. That is something that from what I know now I couldn't even begin to think that was possible. But there you are. By what you`re telling us that is exactly what happened" Tina was surprised.

"There is something else. I didn't mention it until now because I thought it irrelevant, but my meddling might have changed much more than we think. One of the reasons, while not the main one, I stayed behind to take care of Caitlin when she was in a coma was that I was sure she had helped me before and I wanted to return the favor. I would have probably stayed either way, but remembering that day and remembering her name is, yet another reason that remained behind and took care of her" Barry told the people that were around him.

"While I doubt you wouldn't have stayed either way, Barry since that is just how you are, that could have been the deciding factor. Unless you know, you already felt a connection between us" Caitlin said quite amused.

"Hey, I did say at the wedding that the lightning struck me that day in the parking lot. I wasn't kidding. But still I thought it would be something to mention. I didn't think anything of it until now, but who knows, maybe my blunder could have had a worse effect on time. Now I know not to do anything and not to play the hero if and when we might go back. The implications are quite staggering" the speedster replied looking at his wife.

"That's true. Imagine how it would be if younger me and older you meet and by some freak happening I get a crush on you. Who knows what might happen" Caitlin gave him a grin.

"Time would fold in on itself and we would have to close another black hole somewhere. How about we not do that" The speedster replied smiling.

"Come on you two. Coffee's on me" Henry smiled.

"Tina, just out of curiosity. How are you out of STAR, didn't we agree that you'll stay put until we found out who is trying to kill you?" Caitlin asked. She saw the doctor open her shirt and point underneath.

"I like spending time with Henry and I hate being cooped up in the lab. So I borrowed one of the prototype armors that Cisco was building and put it on. The power cell is attached at the back." She smiled pointing to a small protrusion in the back of her blouse.

"At least you were being careful. Still, we know these guys shoot for the head so even if you two do go out, be really careful. I really wouldn't want you getting shot again" Barry told time quite frankly

"I'll be careful. Don't worry." She replied. The physicist was visibly touched by the care the two speedsters were exhibiting. It was strange for her, she had always been alone and much like Caitlin was. She worked hard to make the world a better place for everyone and in the process her social life suffered greatly. Now, she had Henry, she had Barry and Caitlin and a lot of other people that cared for her. That thought alone ushered the appearance of a large smile on her face as the four was slowly walking toward Jitters to get some coffee.