Author's Note: WE'RE BACKKKKK!
I feel like you guys know the drill by now, but just in case anyone is new and decided to skip the first five fanfics in this series, each chapter is labeled with SCENE, PARTIAL, and FULL. Scene means that there will just be one scene, Full is the entire episode, and Partial is anywhere in between that.
Here are the episodes I'm planning to do:
6x01, 6x02, 6x03, 6x05, 6x07, 6x08, 6x09, 6x11, 6x13, 6x14, 6x15, 6x17, 6x19
There will definitely be less content at back-half of the season. I'm not going to go super crazy with the mirror plot- Iris is still going to be the one kidnapped (not because she's close to Barry, but because she got to close to the truth due to her reporting). I'm not going to include much or anything with the subplots like Ralph and Sue and Cisco's existential crisis.
I will, of course, be writing Crisis on Infinite Earths… abridged, like the last Crisis.
All right, I think that's about all you need to know. Now on to Snowbarry- Season 6!
It was 1 AM when the early morning silence was broken by a scream.
Caitlin Snow, MD, wife, and new(ish) mother, opened her eyes with a low groan. "Oh the joys of being a mother," she mumbled as she rolled out of bed, stuffing her feet into slippers.
Barry twitched slightly, having somehow not woken up immediately at the earsplitting wails coming through the monitor on Caitlin's bedside table. "Want me to go?" he mumbled, rubbing at his tousled hair.
"It's okay," Caitlin whispered, grabbing her robe from a nearby chair so she wouldn't be cold. "I think it's time for some food, anyway."
She hurried down the short hallway to the room they'd transformed into a nursery, which was decorated with purple, yellow and white. Caitlin had tried to convince Barry to go the psychological route and decorate with a lot of black and white, little pops of color, and circles, but Barry had wanted a normal nursery. He and Caitlin had both had one, and they had turned out just finepsychologically.
"Hi, Nora," Caitlin whispered as she neared the squalling bundle in the crib. She leaned down and drew the tiny, 7-week-old baby into her arms, holding her close even as her wails continued to ring in the silent room. "Shhhh…"
Caitlin moved to the rocking chair in the corner and sat down, tugging down her shirt so that Nora could have her near-midnight snack. There was the sound of movement from across the room and she glanced up to see Barry leaning against the doorframe, smiling at the two of them.
"You don't have to come watch every time she feeds," Caitlin told her husband, and fond lilt to her voice. "You'd feel a lot more rested in the morning if you just let me take my turn getting up."
Barry shrugged. "I love watching you two," he said in a low voice. "I thought I would miss all of this, and somehow, miraculously, I'm not. I'm not going to miss a second."
Caitlin smiled, but the expression was distant. Barry's words had reminded her that there was one mystery they still hadn't figured out: How Barry was around to see Nora. It had been a thought that hadn't crossed either of their minds until after Nora's birth was successful and Barry was watching Caitlin nurse for the first time. If the older Nora, the one that had visited from the future, had never met her dad, how was this Nora about to grow up with him?
Team Flash had had a lot of theories, the most outrageous (and humorous) being that they had two daughters and named them both Nora, and that the one that had come from the future was the second.
The slightly less funny side of that theory were the fears that passed through Caitlin's head that this baby, the one she was holding and nursing now, was destined to die and their second child, named after the first, was the Nora they'd gotten to know. But even that theory was somewhat convoluted because Caitlin didn't think that she and Barry would name a second child the same as the first, even if the first was dead.
Thinking about future-Nora made Caitlin's stomach sink a little. There had been plenty of months of grief immediately after Nora had been erased from the timeline, months where Caitlin had felt like they were just replacing her with a baby. Those feelings had passed somewhat, but Caitlin still had frequent fears that they wouldn't be able to fix change the timeline enough to avoid future-Nora's fate, and that the baby in her arms would vanish in her early adult years just like the young adult they'd gotten to know had.
"Caitlin?"
Caitlin glanced up, blinking out of her thoughts, to find Barry watching her with a slightly amused smile on his face. She looked down at baby Nora to find her daughter blinking up at her, done suckling one breast and ready for the next. "Sorry," Caitlin murmured, shifting Nora in her arms so she could keep feeding. "Zoned out for a second."
"That can happen when you're running on approximately five hours of sleep per night," Barry replied, walking over to press a kiss to the top of her head and stroke Nora's downy hair with his fingertip. "Or is there something on your mind?"
Caitlin shook her head. "Just the whole timeline discrepancy, as usual," she admitted. "I should really just take the blessing, but… well, you know how I am. I like to understand things. For them to make sense."
"I know," Barry said, kissing her hair again. "I do, too. But we'll figure it out, okay Caitlin? And until we do… let's just appreciate the fact that we have this time we never thought we would; time to be a family."
Caitlin nodded her agreement, resting her head against his hip as Nora continued to nurse. "Okay," she agreed.
Flash!
The next morning saw Barry and Caitlin at the newly built patio outside the West's house, sipping margaritas while Nora was cooed over by her adoring aunts, uncles, and grandparents.
"Dang, this is good," Barry said, taking another sip of his cocktail.
Caitlin wrinkled her nose at him. It was nice to be out of the house and with their extended Team-Family for a change. "You know you can't get drunk."
Barry dipped his chin. "I don't even care; that's how good this is. "
Caitlin laughed and shrugged modestly. "Thank you. Months of bartending skills come in handy occasionally."
"Never fear, the party's here!" Cisco announced as he and his girlfriend Kamila came into the backyard carrying rolls and other food for their barbecue.
"We brought my famous ambrosia salad and veggie dogs for Ralph," Kamilla said, lifting a bowl into the air as tribute. "In return, I only ask for five minutes with the baby."
"I will grant you fifteen," Caitlin told her with a wide smile, giving them both hugs.
"Guys, Ralph is still in Peru," Barry reminded them. "Or Monaco. Or… Texas?"
"All that for a missing person case?" Iris nodded, impressed. "That's dedication."
"Guys, guys!" Cecile cried, coming out of the back door of the house carrying a tray of food. "Baby Jenna is napping like a little angel and I have creamed corn, I have candied yams, I have collared greens. Baby, let's eat."
There was a general cry of agreement from the group and they settled in to lunch.
Chatter, laughter and alcohol flowed pleasantly around the table. "How's the MAC coming?" Barry asked after awhile.
Kamilla perked up. "There's mac and cheese, too?"
Joe and Cisco laughed and Caitlin grinned. "No, the Mental Augmentation Chamber," she explained. "Basically, it allows us to tap into the Speed Force to boost Barry's cognitive abilities. It will allow him to see every possible outcome to a scenario at the same time." She glanced over at her husband and smiled. "A little maternity leave project of mine, with help from Cisco, of course."
Cecile shook her head. "My maternity leave consisted of lounging on the couch and ordering way too much pizza."
"So it's basically speed-thinking?" Kamilla confirmed once the laughter had died down.
"Which means we'll be able to catch all the bad guys faster," Barry confirmed. He glanced down at the basket bassinet that Nora was sound asleep in and smiled. "Right now, a safe city is about all I want."
"With all the bad guys you brought it this summer, Barry, the DA's office can barely keep up with you!" Cecile cried, shaking her head in amusement.
"Hey, since the MAC's done, we should take it for at test run," Barry said, smiling eagerly.
Cisco, who'd been half a gulp deep in his beer, quickly lowered the bottle. "Absolutely not. You know we're still working out the diagnostics because someone had to go and give birth and deprive me of half my team."
Caitlin laughed, knowing his comment was all in jest.
"We could put in a few hours tonight," Barry suggested with a shrug. "Get a head start."
"Barry…" Cisco let out a huff of mild exasperation. "If there's anything I've learned since leaving Vibe behind, it's that we all have a work-life balance to protect. And right now… mine is tipping towards more beer." He took a large draw. "Besides… I still gotta tweak the mainframe and I can't do that without-"
He was interrupted by an abrupt burst of speed lightning. Nora woke up at the sudden noise and started to cry and Caitlin quickly picked her up to soothe her. By the time she straightened up Barry had already returned from his run and Cisco had a tablet in his hands.
He caught sight of Nora and winced. "Sorry."
"We're used to it," Caitlin replied with a smirk, her daughter already quieting down.
Cisco looked disgruntled. "My tablet. Thank you."
Everyone started laughing and Cisco shook his head. "I'm gonna go get another beer."
Flash!
Just half a day after the barbecue saw Team Flash encountering their newest unexplained problem. It was true that Barry had been fighting metas all summer, needing to expend all of his nervous energy somehow while still not bothering his pregnant, somewhat grumpy wife. But those metas had been easy, hour-long issues at the most.
This, not so much. Iris had been following down a lead when a Doctor-Strange style portal had opened up and become what was virtually a black hole. Iris and her contact had been able to avoid being dragged in, but Barry and Cisco were still called to investigate the scene.
They brought their findings back to STAR Labs and Caitlin (and Nora, who was having some tummy-time play on the floor in the center of the room while her parents worked).
"That is a whole lot of information to disseminate," Cisco muttered as he stared at the computer monitor.
"No one's ever extrapolated this much data from a black hole before," Caitlin agreed.
Barry shrugged. "We can be the first," he said, sounding surprisingly peppy. Caitlin raised an eyebrow at him. "Come on, we're Team Flash!"
Cisco squinted. "What did you put in his coffee?" he asked, glancing somewhat accusingly at Caitlin.
Caitlin ignored him. "Okay, a black hole just showed up and nearly swallowed Iris," she prompted. She knew Barry had been in remarkably good spirits lately, especially considering what happened with adult Nora not even half a year ago, but this seemed like a bit… much.
"So, let's crunch the numbers and find out where it went," Barry replied promptly.
Cisco sucked in an aggrieved breath. "I'm sorry, are we looking at the same screen?" he asked. "Creating a search algorithm for this is gonna be like deciphering a mystery wrapped up in an enigma."
Barry opened his mouth to reply, but someone interrupted him.
"Then it's a good thing that 'mystery' is my middle name," Ralph Dibny said, striding into the Cortex wearing a full out tuxedo and looking quite spiffy. "The name's Dibny. Ralph Dibny."
Caitlin smirked, amused. "Welcome back, Ralph," she said, and went to give him a hug.
"Good to see you man," Barry echoed.
"Nice threads!" Cisco cried. "Where'd you get them?"
"Picked this up in the Opal," Ralph said. He craned his neck over the table and caught sight of Nora, who was lifting her head up and looking towards the source of all the commotion, a little bit of drool on her chin. "Ohhh she's so big!"
Barry's eyebrow raised. "A missing person's case sent you all the way to Opal City?" he asked as Ralph all but skipped around the table to go coo at the baby.
"And beyond, my friend," Ralph replied. "A summer spent undercover rubbing Rolexes with the wealthy elite." He paused. "Did you guys know it's pronounced yacht and not 'yah-kt'?"
"Yep," Caitlin said.
"God I missed you," Cisco muttered.
He briefed them quickly on his hunt for Sue Dearbon, but soon the conversation turned back to Central City.
"We are trying to track a black hole!" Barry said, looking quite pleased about it.
Ralph sighed. "Of course you are," he said, leaving Nora and coming back around the front desk.
"We were just about to start decoding this data stream," Caitlin explained, tapping on the keyboard. A second later, a burst of ice shot from her fingertips, coating the table.
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Cisco cried as his favorite bluetooth keyboard was effectively iced over.
"Ugh, I'm sorry, sorry," Caitlin mumbled, squeezing her hands together and forcing the cold back down. "I've been having these random frost-outs lately."
Barry's eyebrows furrowed. "That's the first time I'm hearing of this," he said. "How long has this been going on?"
"All summer." Caitlin bit her lip. "I didn't say anything because I thought it was related to my pregnancy, like Cecile's powers. But it's happened twice in the last couple of days."
She risked a quick glance at Barry, who was looking at her with concern. Part of her wanted to break down right them and tell him the truth; tell him about how she'd been purposefully repressing Frost's powers, leading to Frost trying to break out at random moments when she was least expecting it. In truth, Caitlin was just so gosh-darn terrified that she'd lose control. A baby was much more resilient than people gave them credit for, but Nora wouldn't stand a chance against the kind of frozen power Frost could wield.
"You're probably just overworked," Ralph hypothesized, patting her shoulder and breaking her out of her thoughts. "You have a, what? Two month old baby-"
"Seven weeks," Barry corrected.
"Fine. Seven week old baby and you're still working at STAR Labs?" Ralph shrugged. "Maybe you should take a time out. At least from the STAR Labs bit"
Caitlin bit her lip and took the out. "An old college friend of mine did actually ask me to meet for coffee. I never replied because, well… things have been a little busy." She glanced at Barry. "Dr. Ramsey Rosso… I think you two met once before"
Barry nodded, though he looked a little distracted. "He just lost his mom, right?"
"Yeah."
"Maybe you should take him up on it," Barry said. "As a wise man once said, we all have to learn to balance our work and hero life."
"Here here," Cisco put in from where he was trying to free his keyboard from the table.
Caitlin nodded. "I'll give him a call."
Flash!
What started out as a pleasant coffee outing with an old friend turned deadly very fast. Ramsey exclaimed over Nora for a bit and asked her questions about her life and Barry before the conversation turned to him. He talked about his mom, about watching as her body deteriorated and being unable to save her.
Then the conversation shifted again. Ramsey's mom had recently passed away from HLH, and instead of giving up, Ramsey had dropped everything and tried to find a cure. And he'd found one.
But it need Dark Matter.
After that, the real reason Ramsey had asked Caitlin to coffee was clear. With her connection to STAR Labs, she would be able to procure Dark Matter for him pretty easily. But she refused. "Ramsey, your research is groundbreaking," Caitlin told him. "But Dark Matter is the deal breaker."
Ramsey's lips pursed. "It wasn't when you made the metahuman cure," he countered evenly.
"That was different," Caitlin shot back. "We were trying to protect them."
"But what about the rest of us?!" Ramsey cried, his voice rising so loudly and sharply that people looked over in surprise.
Caitlin took a breath. "I'm sorry," she said, and meant it. "I really am. But my answer is still no."
Face brimming with anger, Ramsey got sharply to his feet and strode out of Jitters without a goodbye.
Caitlin let out a deep sigh, picking Nora up out of her basket and holding her close. "Well, missy," she said softly. "I guess the world it just telling me that I should be spending all of my calm moments with you, huh?"
Nora blinked up at her, and Caitlin offered her a finger to wrap her tiny, pudgy fist around.
With nothing much else to do, Caitlin had just gathered her things and was standing up to head home when Jitters began to rattle. Fear starting to grow in her stomach, she held Nora tighter to her chest and looked around for the source of the shaking. Earthquakes weren't uncommon in Central City, but very few of them were caused by shifting tectonics.
All of a sudden, Jitters' glass front entirely shattered. Caitlin darted around the side of a table, shielding Nora with her body, but before the glass could even land it was being sucked back. Caitlin's eyes went wide with horror as she caught sight of an orange-ringed black hole growing right outside of Jitters.
Cups, glass, chairs and people were immediately sucked towards the black hole. Caitlin hooked her free arm around the closet pole and squeezed a now wide awake, screaming Nora to her chest. She could feel cold growing inside of her, Frost desperate to come out with the huge adrenaline rush, but she fought hard against her.
Then her grip slipped. Caitlin let out a scream, sucked towards the black hole, but all of the sudden there were arms around her and Nora.
The black hole shut.
Caitlin, Nora and Barry, dressed in his Flash suit, collapsed to the ground. Caitlin tentatively opened her eyes and looked to her husband. "Thanks," she peeped.
He nodded, unable to resist a weak grin even as he flopped back on the ground to catch his breath. "No problem."
Flash!
Caitlin was, needless to say, pretty shaken up. She and Barry knew the risk of living in the notoriously volatile Central City with an almost-newborn. But they had safety procedures. If there was an attack or either of them felt unsafe, Barry would either flash Nora to Joe and Cecile's or Caitlin would use the inter-dimensional extrapolator to get her to there. Joe and Cecile, with a baby of their own, wouldn't be making an unsafe decisions and would protect their new granddaughter with their life.
But a threat that came on as fast as that black hole had? There was no way Barry or Caitlin could have prepared for that or taken the necessary precautions.
Barry took Caitlin and Nora back to the lounge to regroup with the others. Nora woke up for her afternoon feeding and Caitlin took her to a chair, her husband close behind.
"Hey," he said. He was trying to sound casual but he really just sounded like he was trying to sound casual, and Caitlin raised an eyebrow in question. "I was kinda surprised not to see Killer Frost when I showed up at Jitters earlier."
"What do you mean?" Caitlin asked, focusing her attention on the top of Nora's head as she drank.
"Well, you know…" Barry shrugged. "Almost dying is a pretty big adrenaline rush. Normally Frost would be out in a heartbeat at an experience like that."
It was Caitlin's turn to shrug. "Guess she was just… napping."
Barry didn't take the hint that she wanted the conversation over. "Since we're on the topic…" he pressed. "I haven't seen much of her lately. Or any of her. In months."
"What are you trying to say, Barry?" Caitlin asked, letting out a sigh. "Nursing is uncomfortable enough without you beating around the bush."
Barry's lips quirked. "I'm not saying anything," he told her, backing down slightly. "I was just wondering where Frost has been at, lately. What does she think of Nora? Have you guys talked about how long you're going to wait before going back into the field?"
"No, we haven't," Caitlin said, her voice tight. "I… haven't talked to her in awhile, actually."
Barry opened his mouth to keep questioning her, but just then Cisco and Ralph walked in, the former carrying a mug of tea he'd made for Caitlin.
"Ah! Feeding!" Cisco cried, turning away. Caitlin rolled her eyes and grabbed a blanket from Nora's bassinet to cover herself up.
Ralph shook his head. "Cisco, nursing is a natural part of almost every human's life. You shouldn't make Caitlin feel ashamed for it." He looked at her seriously. "How are you feeling?"
Caitlin shook her head. "Like I should be dead," she murmured, nodding her thanks at Cisco as he cautiously uncovered his eyes and handed her her tea. "Like my baby almost died."
"That's not gonna happen," Barry said firmly, walking over to rub her shoulders. "We're Team Flash; we always have each others backs and we always keep each other safe." He bent down and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "You think I'm going to let my wife and my daughter get sucked into a black hole? No way, Caitlin, no way."
"Meanwhile, over here in the real world," Cisco cut in. "Our black hole keeps growing up. Only next time it pops up with won't just be Jitters. The whole city could be in danger."
"Why did this thing show up outside of Jitters, anyway?" Ralph mused. "What does a coffee shop have to do with a junkyard?"
Barry and Caitlin shrugged cluelessly. At that moment, however, Iris walked in with a lead. She had discovered a young YouTuber named Chester P. Runk, who was an incredibly enthusiastic, recently fired scientist. Besides that… he had created a function Gravitational Wave Emitter, more helpfully known as the cause of the black holes.
"Okay," Ralph said as the video came to an end. "Not exactly getting the supervillain vibe from our boy Chester here."
"He opened a black hole by accident," Barry realized.
"And what about Chester?" Caitlin asked Iris, raising Nora to her shoulder to burp her now that she was done feeding. "Is he okay?"
"Well, police reports show that EMTs took him to the ER," Iris said. "But after that the trail goes cold."
"Just a tiny question here," Ralph interjected. "How do we destroy a black hole?"
There was no good answer to that, at least not yet, so it seemed the conversation was over.
Flash!
Thanks to a little more investigation by Iris, Team Flash soon found out that Chester and the black holes were not only connected, but the same thing. The black holes were the other half of Chester's brain.
In short, if they were to destroy the black hole with a piece of tech like what Cisco had put together, they would kill Chester.
Unfortunately, med school hadn't exactly taught Caitlin how to get someone's mental energy out of a black hole and back into their body. If they weren't able to figure out how to separate Chester from the vortex, it could destroy Central City. None of them wanted to be the cause of Chester's death, but it might have to come to that.
Cisco and Caitlin struggled to find a solution as the black hole continued to grow. Eventually it loomed over Central City, multiple feet across. Alarms began to blare, and Nora shrieked in protest as Barry came running into the Cortex.
"We just ran out of time," Cisco said gravely.
"Okay, so how do we get Chester's consciousness out of the black hole?" Barry asked, kneading his hands together.
Caitlin looked to Cisco to give the explanation/plan they had gleaned. "Well, the electrical impulses that make up Chester's mind are just past the black hole's threshold," Cisco said. "But since his synaptic energy has a negative charge-"
"I could use my lightning's positive charge to attract his energy," Barry finished. "Like a magnet."
"Then what?" Iris asked. "How will he survive inside of a black hole?"
"Your Speed Force aura should protect you, right?" Ralph asked.
Caitlin bit her lip. This was the side of the plan she really didn't like. "If it doesn't… the gravimetric forces will crush you to a subatomic size within seconds," she said nervously.
Barry put a bracing hand on her shoulder. "That's not gonna happen," he told them all. "The Speed Force is a billion times stronger than any gravimetric force."
"Even if you do survive the entry, we don't have a way of keeping Chester's mind in tact on the way out," Cisco warned. "We'd need superconductive wiring from a quantum computer to do that, and last time I checked, those only exist in the future."
"Nora," Caitlin said suddenly.
Barry glanced at the baby, then back at her. "Umm-"
"Not-" Caitlin let out a breath of exasperation. "Not this Nora. The one from the future. Her gauntlets had supercomputers, didn't they? And her backups are still here."
Barry eyes widened. "She can still help us, even now," he murmured, looking a little nostalgic. Caitlin nodded at him, her heart clenching.
"That gauntlet's gonna have the filament we need," Cisco confirmed. "I'll strip it out and thread it into your suit."
He ran from the Cortex and the group got ready for battle.
Flash!
Considering they were battling a black hole tied to someone's mind, the fight ended up being pretty simple. Ralph kept people away from the hole until Barry got a window to speed in. There were a couple tense moments when the seconds seemed to stretch on for hours, where panic rose in Caitlin's chest and she thought that her husband and the father of her child may be lost forever.
But then, encased in a glowing ball of energy, Barry sped back out of the black hole. He deposited the excess synaptic energy in the incomplete MAC, where Chester was currently being held, and the black hole closed in on itself. On top of that, Chester woke up from his coma in great spirits with full cognitive ability and glowing eyes. Once his molecules re-stabilized (which would unfortunately take four to six weeks), he would be good to go.
They had somehow, miraculously, done it again.
One issue, though, had yet to be fully resolved, and Caitlin should have known that Barry wouldn't be able to keep quiet about it for long.
"I don't want to push you," he said after a quiet dinner. Nora was on the floor in front of the couch having some more tummy time, which she'd been somewhat deprived of today. "But I really do think we should talk about the whole Frost thing, Cait."
Caitlin bit her lip and gazed up at him, his eyes so full of love and understanding. "Fine," she said finally. "The truth is… I've been repressing Frost."
"Repressing Frost?" Barry repeated, bewildered. "Why?"
"Because-" Caitlin swallowed thickly. "Because I'm scared, Barry. I'm scared that she's going to hurt Nora. Or that- that she's going to do something rash and hurt herself."
"You haven't let her out at all since Nora was born?" Barry asked, eyes widening. "Not even once?"
Tears welled in Caitlin's eyes. "No," she whispered. "I haven't let her out in months. She's- she's so mad at me that she's trying to force her way through like she did when I first discovered her. That's why I've been having all those random Frost-outs. I just- I want to let her out, I really do, I'm just so scared that something bad will happen."
"What if I promise you that I'll keep both you and Nora safe?" Barry suggested gently. "I completely understand where you're coming from, Cait, but Frost deserves time in your body just as much as you do. She's been forced down for so long. Can you imagine what that must be like?"
Caitlin shut her eyes, a tear rolling down her cheek. "I know, I know. You're right." She let out a long breath. "Okay. I'm going to do it."
Barry looked startled. "Right now?"
"Right now," Caitlin repeated, and let go.
Frost appeared in an explosion of ice which, thankfully, Barry was more than fast enough to shield Nora from. When Nora found herself abruptly pulled away from her tummy time and into her daddy's arms on the couch, she blinked around her but didn't start crying. She hadn't had a ton of experience with super speed yet, but she was already starting to grow accustomed to it.
When Barry looked back at Frost, she had her eyes closed and was stretching out her shoulders. "I'm free," she groaned, before leveling Barry with a murderous glare. "Do you know how long I have been stuck inside Caitlin's body, Flash-face?! She wouldn't even talk to me-"
Her voice broke and her glower deepened, though Barry detected a faint wobble in her bottom lip. "I'm sorry, Frost," he murmured. "I didn't know."
"Did she give you a reason?" Frost snapped, crossing her arms protectively over her chest. "Because she certainly didn't give me one."
"Oh my gosh," Barry breathed, realization dawning. "You don't know, do you?"
"Know what?"
"I'm such an idiot." Barry had had his body turned throughout the duration of the conversation, continuing to automatically shield Nora from any icy outbursts, but now he twisted to face Frost. "Caitlin used power dampeners during the birth so that no one would get hurt. You didn't even know she was born, did you?"
Frost didn't seem to hear him. Her eyes had landed on the infant cradled in Barry's arms and they had immediately started to swim with tears. "Is she mine?" she whispered, putting her hand on her stomach, which was considerably less ballooned than it had been the last time she was in control of her body. "Or- ours? Yours? Yours and Caity's?"
Barry nodded, feeling surprisingly touched by Frost's reaction.
"Can I hold her?" Frost breathed, finally lifting her gaze from baby Nora to look pleadingly at Barry.
Barry hesitated for the briefest of moments, before carefully transferring his daughter into Frost's arms. She pulled Nora close to her chest and offered her a pale finger to grasp. Barry smiled, recognizing that Caitlin would have done the exact same thing.
"How old is she?" Frost said, her voice still incredibly low as she rocked Nora slowly in her arms.
"Seven weeks," Barry told her. He scooted a bit closer and put his hand on Frost's knee. "Frost, we want you to be a part of Nora's life, but you and Caitlin need to have a talk first, okay? About what risks you can take now, what responsibilities you have. I know that having a baby wasn't your choice, but she's yours just as much as she's mine." He paused. "Possibly even more so, because you carried her."
A smile flickered across Frost's lips but it was gone almost immediately. "It's going to be so confusing for her," she whispered. "She's going to have one mom who's warm and kind and knows exactly how to handle her and then she's going to have… me."
Barry gave her knee a squeeze. "You know what you're going to be?" he asked.
"What?"
Barry grinned. "Cool."
Frost let out a groan, the tender moment effectively broken. "That was bad, handsome," she said, but she was laughing.
And that was good, because laughter was going to be scarce in the upcoming months. Just when everything seemed to be settling down again, the Monitor appeared with a dire message: Crisis was no longer set to come in 5 years. The date had changed and it would now be coming in December of that year. And, in order for billions to survive the coming Crisis, the Flash must die.
The mystery of why Nora never knew her father had been explained, but Caitlin found herself wishing that she still didn't know.
Author's Note: Waitttt OMG that was SO FUN! I loved kinda introducing my own plot with Frost and everything (it worked a little more in this context, IMO, than her being afraid of life). And putting a little spin to the whole Crisis date change!
The one thing I do regret is that I couldn't find a way to put in Caitlin and Barry mourning Nora. I make more time pass than the cannonical show, but that doesn't automatically mean they'd be done mourning her. Still… I just felt like, with everything else, throwing that in on top of it would be too much.
I think it comes down to the fact that I would have had to replace Caitlin with Iris like I have in other seasons. I have a feeling there will be less of that this season because their roles are so different (which I'm not upset about at all), hence why I'm not doing a ton of the back half of the season.
Thoughts? What did y'all think of this? Do you like the addition of baby Nora?
