Dr. Nina Clarke hardly received any friendly visits while she was on the job, much less from Barry who was supposed to be at his own job right now. Yet, here he was, sitting across her in the hospital's cafeteria...detailing the story of how he royally messed up.

Nina was, shamefully, awed by the fact that changing a timeline was very possible. "You actually...did that…? You went back in time?" All this time they had only so far gone through worlds but then again, she had to remember the one moment where Barry traveled back in time to save his mother 2 years ago. Apparently, this time around he went through with it.

"Well, I've done it a couple of times but...just a day, the most had been a year...until…" Barry trailed off, letting her fit in the pieces.

"Until you went way back in time," she eagerly ate her grapes.

"But I reset everything! I put everything back to the way that it was before!" he exclaimed, obviously frustrated with his unsuccessful efforts. "Except some things weren't the same anymore. Not even a little bit."

"Oh, I bet they weren't," Nina shook her head. "What changed?"

Barry didn't know where to start. For one, Cisco wasn't speaking to him. Iris and Joe weren't speaking to each other. Not everything was bad but it was changed. He found that out when he learned that Axel, Belén's nephew, was already back from Italy. The only thing that remained completely the same was Shivhan Jade—Black Orchid—leaving the team for a while to go back to school. Barry was utterly relieved to find that her life hadn't been screwed up. And last, but not least, there was Belén. Belén.

"Well… I'll start with the most obvious one, being the reason I've had to stay at Joe's for the last couple of days..." Nina unashamedly chuckled, making Barry roll his eyes.

"Belén's pissed at you," she popped in another grape into her mouth.

Barry's deep frown was enough to confirm it. He came back to a world where he and Belén had a royally big argument that ended up with him leaving the apartment. He couldn't possibly remember any of that but it happened and Belén wasn't speaking to him. The worst part is that he couldn't figure out what they argued about. "She won't talk to me because I won't apologize for what I did. But I can't do that because I don't know what I did!"

Nina rested a cheek against her closed fist. She could tell Barry had no clue—it was all in his face. He was utterly lost and confused. "This is sure coming back to bite you, isn't it?"

Barry's face fell flat at the question. It was a fair thing to ask but he didn't want to answer. "Point one, Nina."

Nina sighed heavily, finally taking pit on him. "You want to know why she's mad at you?"

"Very much, yeah."

"Datura." Nina smiled when Barry's face fell flat again. The mere mention of Belén's Earth 2 doppelganger put him in a sour mood. He thought that woman, and everything related to her, was completely gone after her defeat. "In your reality, before you changed it into, uh, that perfect world, did Belén fight Datura in the community theater?"

"Yeah..."

"Did Datura manage to escape?"

"What!?" Barry's eyes had widened.

"I will take that as a 'no'."

"What do you mean Datura escaped!?" Barry asked a smidge too loud that Nina had to shush him before someone overheard them. "Datura's gone? How can that be? Belén had her with the dampeners and the...there was Caitlin and Shivhan too!"

"In this reality, Datura escaped when Belén stuck her with the cure. Belén passed out and Shivhan was too weak to get up. Caitlin making it out alive was a miracle. Datura let her live."

"No, no, no, no," Barry buried his face in his hands. Datura was gone? She escaped!?

"This didn't happen in the last timeline?" Nina felt terrible for him right now. Being responsible for the doppelganger of his girlfriend—the same doppelganger who tried murdering Belén countless times—was on the loose again...because of him.

"No," Barry shook his head. "Belén captured her and brought her to STAR Labs. She was in the pipeline."

Belén came to a stop in front of the door and looked over her shoulder. She could feel Barry looking at her and for some reason she couldn't bring herself to face him. "Datura knew something about you," she whispered. "Something that you were going to do."

Barry's heart ached. "Yeah?"

Belén nodded. "She said it didn't matter what I did because you were going to do something that would screw it up. What are you going to do, Barry?"

Barry remembered that lost moment with Belén before he changed the timeline. Had Datura meant this? She had low level psychic abilities—those of which were siphoned from some poor soul—which, in theory, could have allowed her to see him changing the timeline.

"She said it didn't matter what I did because you were going to do something that would screw it up."

Barry brought a hand to his face. Was he going to screw Belén over? Like this? He couldn't believe he was in a world where Datura was right, and possibly the better person between them. "Nina, what exactly did I say to Belén?"

"Barry, it's not like I have a transcript or something..."

"Nina please," Barry begged. "I have to know so that I can fix it."

Nina sighed and thought for a moment. Belén had been a hot mess after that fight so a lot of her words were meshed together even more than usual. "Um, something about thinking Belén let Datura go because of her psychic abilities. I think Datura said something about you doing something..."

Barry closed his eyes. "The timelines. Datura must have known that I was going to change the timelines."

"You thought Belén let Datura go so that she could try to change the timelines herself, stop the steps that would lead you to not change anything."

"What!?"

Nina raised her hands in defense. "I'm just the informer. You gonna eat that?" She pointed to the yogurt he'd barely touched sitting idly in front of him.

He shook his head and passed over the snack. He wasn't very hungry for anything that day. "Okay, well, I'll fix that. I don't know how but I will fix it. Tell me what happened between Iris and Joe. How come they're not talking?"

"Oh, let me guess, in the other timeline she actually forgave Joe for not telling her about her mother still being alive?"

"That's why they're mad?"

"Yup. To be fair, I would be upset too."

"You don't need to tell me about Cisco," Barry said before Nina even opened her mouth.

She swallowed some of the yogurt and blinked. "You know?"

"That his brother, Dante, is dead? Yeah," Barry had the stupid idea of following Cisco to 'the gym' which turned out to be a support group. At first Barry thought that Cisco developed a bad habit in this new timeline but no...Cisco felt guilty over not patching things up with his brother before he died. "I just don't know why he's mad at me."

"Yeah that's a very complicated one that I would rather stay away from," Nina apologized with a smile. "So you're all up to speed now, which means we're done," Nina put her spoon down and have a knowing smile at him. "And now that we are, I can finally say it."

"Say what…?" Barry dreaded yet another change he wasn't informed of.

"There were plenty of people you could've talked to about this, and yet...you chose me," Nina's intense stare made him squirm. "I mean, I guess Shivhan was another option but she's at school so here's me. Meaning, I have to either have the same life as in the other timeline, or…my life turned out to be better here. Which is it?" As she stood up, Barry's gaze slowly fell to the floor but then briefly flickered to her very pregnant stomach.

In this world, Nina Clarke was pregnant and about to give birth.

"So, which is it," the woman put her hands on her stomach. "Was I not pregnant? Or not married?" She waved her left hand with her wedding band. "Or both?" Barry met her playful gaze and hesitated to speak. "You can tell me," she chuckled. "I am asking. Full consent here to know what my other life entailed."

Barry sighed and just gave in. "Fine. You weren't married nor pregnant."

"Did I have my husband as my boyfriend or—"

"No."

"Ah. Did I have my powers?"

"The Tempest?" Barry was actually a little afraid he'd cost Nina her metahuman powers too. He'd only seen her once and got the jist the timeline was a bit kinder to her than the rest of their friends.

"The Tempest," Nina nodded and gestured her stomach. "And, according to Caitlin," she started in a whisper, "Mini-Tempest."

"Your baby...is a meta…?" Barry's eyes comically widened.

"She is following in her mother's footsteps," Nina proudly.

"And does your...husband know…?"

"He knows everything. Elliot knows about all of us," Nina decided to let him in on that secret. "You and Belén both said it was okay…"

Barry smiled. "Don't worry. You trust him, that means we do too."

"And, just a little advice between us, maybe explaining this whole timeline thing to the others isn't such a bad idea," she patted him on the shoulder. "I should get back to work."

"You shouldn't be working," Barry said off handedly.

"And you shouldn't be changing timelines," Nina quipped.

Barry took that second blow with a nod. Yeah, he deserved it. "Point 2 to Nina."

He considered the idea of telling the others about the new alterations of the timeline with some serious degree...but perhaps he was too much of a coward. By the time he got to the precinct, the idea had been thrown out the window. He was at least relieved to see that Singh was back as Captain once again.

Because then even Barry was met with his own unique alteration.

"Um, hello?" He geniously greeted the blonde man working in the second desk of the room.

"Yes. Hello, Mr. Allen," the blonde greeted with an English accent without looking up from his work. Barry already wasn't liking the stiffness in the tone of the man, but right now all he wanted to know was who the he was. "I can still see you're there and no, I don't want your help, thank you."

Barry moved up to the desk and eyed the name plaque sitting at the edge. "What are you doing here, Julian Albert, meta-human CSI Specialist?"

Julian met Barry's curious gaze with a deeply annoyed one. "I did tell you the meta-human conference was only for two days."

"Okay, but this is…"

"Still our lab... unfortunately," and the regret truly showed on Julian's face. "Yes, County forgot to mention that significant detail before assigning me, but here we are. Looks like you and I get to be roomies for a little longer than we'd hoped. Roomies."

At this point, Barry didn't know what to expect anymore. How many more things were changed? And in what ways would he find out? Someone cleared their throat at the doorway and garnered the attention of both men. Belén stood with a duffel bag slung around her shoulder.

"Bells-" Barry wasn't sure how he was going to apologize for something he really couldn't remember, but he would try as much as needed to.

Belén stopped him with a finger. "I'm in a rush. Save whatever sorry excuse you have." She them directed her gaze to Julian who was, rather amused, watching Barry's reaction. "My Mom said you were heading out anyways. You think you can give me a ride to the theater?"

"Your car still not fixed?" Julian asked, yet Barry was a bit indignant all that sourness in his earlier words were gone.

"Are you kidding me? Meta-apocalypse totaled it. I have to buy a new one but that's not the point here!" She exclaimed. "Point is, practice time is now and I have to be there! Let's go!"

"Yeah, alright," Julian agreed so easily it stunned Barry.

"Thank you," Belén said and turned to leave, but not before giving Barry a look. The poor speedster had no idea what the hell was going on.

Julian had gathered his things and started after her. "I don't know what you did, Allen, but it is fairly fun to see it unfold," he smirked and went on his way.

~0~

Nina laughed after hearing Barry's unfortunate run in with Julian. She was on her way to her car when the meta stopped her. "Oh right, Julian hates you."

"What—why!?"

Nina shrugged. "Don't know. But you hate him too. You always claim that he liked Belén."

"That makes sense," Barry muttered, thinking back to drastic change of attitude in Julian after Belén walked in. "He was all sunshine when Belén came into the lab—I hate him."

Nina smirked. "Green eyed speedster is not a good idea. And Belén doesn't like him. They were childhood friends, that's it."

"Childhood friends?" Barry repeated, trying to think of any story Belén might have told him including such a 'friend'.

Nina understood it was hard to feel relaxed when he really did not know what this new timeline entailed. She explained to him the situation since he was meant to already know this. "Barry, he's Mrs. Andrew's grandson, Belén's neighbor? He's been here for a year now."

"He wasn't here in the other world," Barry said the obvious.

"But he is now," Nina softly said. "And you're going to have to get around it somehow. I suggest not to argue with him a lot. That's always a source of arguments between you and Belén." Barry rolled his eyes and Nina added, "She's been his friend since they were kids, so they're close."

"Okay, but—"

"And she loves you," Nina purposely said louder to shut him up. "You guys put her in the middle of your fights like high schoolers. Since you've changed a lot of things, it wouldn't be a bad idea to change this too," she gave him a soft smile and a pat on the arm. "I have to go. My feet are killing me."

"You shouldn't be driving! You're pregnant!" Barry exclaimed as Nina got into her car.

She laughed in her seat and reached to close the door. "And you shouldn't be changing timelines yet here we are." She closed the door and left Barry to mumble a "Point three, Nina."

~0~

Caitlin wanted to be polite, it's how she found the way to survive throughout these rough times with the team. Being polite and mostly not talking worked like a charm whenever everyone was around but now that it was just her and Barry in the cortex, she could speak freely and tell him his sample just wasn't working.

"You know, there's really not that much here…" she looked up from the microscope examining the sample of a human body husk he'd brought in earlier.

Barry stood behind her with arms crossed. "Yeah, no, I know. It's basically touch DNA. I had to steal the sample because our meta-human expert wouldn't let me take one." It was mighty annoying having to work with someone who clearly disliked him and made things much more complicated.

A little smile worked its way across Caitlin's lips. "Oh, you mean Julian Albert?"

Barry sighed. "Yeah, you know him?" But of course they would know about that guy. It was just another thing he forgot about the new timeline.

Caitlin gave him an odd look for his question. "Yeah, Belén introduced us, remember?"

"Sure," Barry replied through gritted teeth.

Caitlin noticed the tension straight off and glanced at the threshold to see if Cisco was anywhere near. He'd gone off almost immediately after Barry arrived. "You know, Cisco told me you showed up to his bereavement group last night."

Barry dropped his arms to his side and sighed again. "Yeah, I did. He also tell you it didn't go so well?"

Caitlin apologetically nodded. "It's only been a few months since Dante was killed by that drunk driver. I'm sure he just needs a little bit more time."

"Yeah, but why is he mad at me?" Because as much as Barry looked at the situation from every possible angle, he just didn't understand why Cisco was upset with him.

Caitlin raised her hands almost instantly and turned away in her seat. "Oh no, I am staying out of that one!"

"Cait, he'll... he'll barely look at me unless other people are in the room!"

"Maybe it's just easier when the rest of us are around?"

Barry rubbed his face and surprisingly did good at keeping his frustration at bay. "Everyone's just... everything's wrong." Caitlin tilted her head in question over his choice of words. Barry leaned his hands on the desk and thought for a second. "Cait, do you think maybe you could convince Cisco to come with you to Joe's for dinner tonight?"

'Why?"

"So I can try to fix things between us, maybe between Joe and Iris, too. Just all of us together again in one room and try to work this out once and for all."

Caitlin thought that was definitely some god complex he was creating. "Are you sure that's a good idea? We haven't had a get together in...in a very long time…"

"It's better than just letting things keep going like this," Barry got himself a new round of determination and took a deep breath in. He started heading out.

"Where are you going?" Caitlin called from her seat.

"To get things arranged and then I'm gonna find Belén," he marched out with a good source of determination.

~0~

It was late in the afternoon when Belén finished her aerial dance practice. Today especially she needed the distractions so she might have stayed a little longer than planned. It explained her more weary attitude as she made her way up to the floor of her apartment. She unlocked her door with her free hand as she was carrying a cup of coffee she stopped by for and automatically went to find the light switch but stopped halfway when candlelights illuminated the entire apartment.

"What the…?" Her brain immediately wondered if a fire metahuman had popped up but then deemed it ridiculous. No metahuman would take the time to delicately arrange candle lights everywhere before striking.

"I'm sorry," Barry's voice startled her. He emerged from the hallway. "Of course I know that you wouldn't purposely let Datura go, not even for my sake. You were obviously hurt and I should have focused more on that instead of stupidly believing that you let her go."

Belén seemed hesitant to believe it straight away. They'd spent a whole hour arguing over her last battle with Datura. She closed the door and dropped her duffel bag on the floor. "You said I was being irresponsible. That I shouldn't have let her go. Barry, I didn't." Her eyes glimmered with tears rather quick, making Barry wonder how much they argued about this and what terrible things were said. "In fact, I made a huge mistake when she escaped. I wasn't strong enough to keep her—"

"You were," Barry said, but she shook her head. "Belén, you passed out. Caitlin said that the device she made to cure Datura went haywire when it was connected to you and Datura. Plus, you had a chest injury. Passing out wasn't something you did voluntarily." Barry was frustrated, and the worst part was that he was frustrated with another version of himself so he couldn't technically do anything about it. He put his hands together, in front of his face, and took a deep breath. "Belén, you have no idea how sorry I am. I...ruin things—it's my trademark." He let his hands drop to his sides and shook his head. "I ruin things and the worst part is that I ruin them for everyone I love. I...screw them over." Datura's words were coming back to haunt him again. "I screwed up your fight and for some stupid reason I blamed you."

"You don't ruin things…" Belén said quietly. He was far too worked up this time around. "I just...I don't understand how you would think that I purposely let her go. What she said about you changing things, breaking the ultimate rule...even if she was saying something coherent, I wouldn't let her go for that. I'm trying to find her, every day, every night, I try to look for her—"

"I know, of course you would. I believe you, trust me." Barry took a few steps towards her. "I know you would do that because it's who you are. You make good choices...I don't."

Belén shook her head. "No, don't say that, Barry. You try and that's what matters. I just need to know that you trust me."

"Of course. Bells, you have no idea how proud I was of you. You used to be so afraid of Datura and you ended up fighting her and putting her friend away, bringing her down. I got to see that."

Belén smiled sadly. "Yeah," she swallowed hard. Despite how the fight ended, she would always be proud of herself for rising up to that woman. She stood up and fought. She'd technically won too...she just passed out before she could imprison Datura.

"I'm sorry," Barry said again and reached for her free hand. "Can I make that up to you, little by little?"

"One condition: you're going to get rid of the candles all on your own." Belén gazed at the dozens and dozens of candles surrounding them. Barry laughed but promised he would. "Without speed," she warned. "Fire, wind...bad."

"I solemnly swear," Barry raised a hand to show he was serious.

Belén didn't bother with it as she leaned forwards, far too excitedly to kiss him. In her excitement, she bumped her coffee cup into him and spilled said coffee on him. She gasped and covered her mouth. "I am so sorry!"

Flashes of her previous (yet nonexistant anymore) drink-spilling accident made Barry laugh even harder. No matter what timeline they were in, this would always happen and he wouldn't want it any other way.

"Why are you laughing?" Belén asked, dead serious. "We're good now you don't have to keep trying here!" She wanted to help him but didn't know how. Her hands kept going forwards and backwards trying to get him to keep still enough for her help him clean up.

Barry had other ideas instead. He slid his arms around her waist and pulled her up to him for a sound kiss. Belén didn't mind the warm coffee staining her too; she missed her boyfriend a lot.

"Is it okay if I sleep here again?" Barry still asked cautiously afterwards.

Belén chuckled with her arms still around him. "Yes, I've missed you. But you'll have to share the bathroom with Iris again. She'll hate that."

"What?" Barry blinked and looked around for Iris as if she would pop up any moment.

"She's staying here, remember? She and her Dad…?" Belén wasn't sure how to take his realization. This wasn't news. It was like he was barely hearing about it. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, uh…I was just focused on you that I...forgot about everything else…" Barry was slowly putting the pieces together of this new timeline and with every new piece he found everything was worse than he thought.

"That is cliche and I love that...and you... and this place…" Belén looked around with a big smile. "I'd feel more romantic if I hadn't spilled coffee on you and if I had showered…" She then poked him on the chest with an innocent twinkle in her eyes, "Two of which we can fix...together…?"

"How…?" The fact Barry looked genuinely confused made Belén want to kiss him again, but she held herself for another moment.

"Don't make me explain. My singing scientist you are much smarter than that…" She pointed them to the hallway and let her smirk clarify it all for him. She laughed when it finally donned on him.

"Oooh..."

~0~

Dinner was difficult to get everyone together, but what Barry found the hardest was getting people to talk. Belén could have told him this idea wasn't going to work out but she thought he would probably realize before…

Apparently not.

"This hits the spot, huh?" Barry said after dead silence for a good ten minutes. He hoped it would spark some conversation at the table, but only Joe followed.

"You can thank Grandma Esther…"

"Well thank her indeed," Nina was the only one eagerly eating. She hated her big appetite but no one seemed to care.

Barry couldn't help smile at her. "Actually, I just meant, um... all of us, actually, just here, together. I was actually thinking, um, that maybe it'd be fun if we all went away together for a few days. Just like a little Team Flash vacay…?"

Iris lowered her fork, trying to understand what he was getting at. "And do what?"

"Bond? Reconnect?" Barry was getting nowhere with them.

"You mean like a retreat?" Caitlin asked just to be sure.

"That's the ones with trust exercises and the weird songs…" even Belén was having trouble picturing the idea.

"Epic fail, party of eight," Cisco muttered as he angrily stuffed his forkbite into his mouth. Caitlin gave him a disapproving look but he merely shrugged and ate.

Barry did his best to keep things going despite the odds of winning becoming more and more slim. "I just... I just feel like we're not the team that we were or can be."

"I'd be down for it," Wally felt awkward as he raised a hand. Thankfully, Nina did the same.

"I would be too, but, uh…" she gestured to her current state, "I'm afraid I think I'll pop at any second. Plus, I'm not sure Elliot would be okay with it. Sorry."

"I...I get what you're trying to do, but...you don't think we can afford to take a vacation," Belén bit her lip, sending Barry an apologetic smile.

"You were the one that said we should take a break to Italy," Barry said without thinking.

"I did?" Judging by her face, Barry figured the changed timelines erased that part of her too.

"I'm going to have to agree with Belén, sorry," Caitlin spoke up, very much sorry. "Especially with all these husks showing up all over town—"

"Speaking of husks, I'm glad you're finally ready to open up about them," Iris gave her a father an expectant glance.

"Iris, I already told you, I can't tell you anything about this case."

Iris was confused only for a second before she realized what actually happened. "Oh, really? Because that's not what I was told."

Joe was quick to figure it out as well. "Strange. I was under the impression you had some things to say to me, too. Isn't that right, Bar?"

"Told you. Epic fail," Cisco murmured to Caitlin who, by this point, didn't know how to keep his comments at bay.

Barry sighed and gave up. "Okay, look, yeah. I arranged this. I put all this together. I'm sorry, guys. Look, I just... we're not acting like a team, and I just wanted things back to how they were. Just fixed."

Cisco shook his head and let his fork fall on his plate with a loud clang. "If you wanted things fixed, maybe you should have gone back in time and stopped my brother from dying!"

Everyone went dead silent, including Barry who had finally understood the real problem Cisco had with him.

"You want me to change the timeline to save Dante?" The mere question added on an extra layer of guilt on Barry.

"Why would you do that?" Cisco sarcastically responded. "It's not like he's your brother." Everyone's cellphones went off with the same alert.

Cisco picked up his phone first. "Meta-human app. We gotta go!"

"I would love to help—" Nina barely got the words out when Belén shushed her.

"Elliot would kill us," the ombre-blonde pointed Nina to Wally. "Look after her please," she asked and hurried off with the others.

Barry was the first one to reach the spot where the metahuman app had directed them. Saying he was stunned to find the Rival was a clear understatement. He was beyond confused and wondered if, somehow, the timeline was yet again being changed as a consequence of his decisions.

The Rival seemed to understand perfectly the situation Barry was in. he ripped off the hood of his mask with smug rage. "Remember me, Flash?"

"Clariss?"

"Oh, you do remember, Flash? Good, I remember everything, too."

"How are you here?"

"It doesn't matter. You see, what does matter is that I know your little secret. You changed the timeline. Because if I recall correctly, the only Speedsters in my other life were me and that smartass Kid Flash, until you showed up and stole everything from me!"

"I didn't steal anything from you, Clariss. I... I was just trying to put things back to the way they're supposed to be!" Barry hoped to God no one was listening in on them.

"This is how my life is supposed to be!" Clariss shouted. "For years, I felt like something was missing. And now I know why."

"Well, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do this to you-"

"Yeah, well, you did. And here I am. Your Rival, back again," Clariss gestured to himself with utter pride. "Believe me, Flash, this time, you're not gonna steal my life so easily!"

He took off with his usual speed, leaving Barry to go after him. The two chased each other all over the city with no upper hand. When it looked like the Rival was about to speed ahead Barry surprised him from the side and threw him with all his force. The Rival toppled over many streets until his body flung over the water bridge. Barry was there mere seconds later but as much as he looked the Rival was gone.

~0~

"Barry, hey!" Belén found him first after coming back to STAR Labs. "I'm sorry I didn't catch up - something...came up…"

And perhaps if Barry had been paying better attention to her instead of the fact Edward Clariss was back, he would've sensed her strange excuse. He merely told her it was alright and went on to tell her, and the rest of the group, what happened.

Belén's mother, Veronica, was the first to get frustrated. "You mean to tell us that after finally getting rid of Zoom there's another evil Speedster?" The detective flung a hand towards Belén who blinked with surprise. "At least tell me there's no doppelgangers this time?"

"Why do you imply it's going to be another me?" Belén frowned. Veronica waved her off, deepening her frown. "I'm praying that Datura was the only evil one of my doppelgangers."

"Okay, well, who is this guy?" Iris asked Cisco and Caitlin at the desk.

"Well," Caitlin got up from her chair as she worked to bring up the profile of their new meta, "I finally got the results back from the test I ran on the husk that Barry gave me this morning. And it's weird, because there's no traces of dark matter, but there are traces of the Speed Force. His name is…"

"Edward Clariss," Barry dejectedly said just mere seconds before the screen behind him came to life with Clariss' profile. Everyone's eyes flickered from Barry to the screen and so forth.

"And somehow Barry is exactly right," Caitlin sat back down trying to figure out how that was possible.

"You're holding out on us," Belén knew right off the top. She didn't mean it to be demanding, but that's the lead Iris took.

"What is it?"

Barry couldn't take their accusing looks, especially when he knew it was all his fault. Clariss had come back, and on top of it he created terrible rifts between his own family. It was all him. He did it…

"Barry?" Belén cautiously called his name. There was something not right with him but she couldn't decide if it was still grief or... something new.

"I'm sorry...I have to...I have to fix things," Barry decided and sped out of there. He would attempt to fix things the only way he knew of…

"What just happened?" Iris was left asking in the room. No one had an answer.

"It's just Barry," Cisco muttered and walked out.

"We need to figure out a way to put that speedster in the pipeline," Joe told the remaining women. "Before he does something really bad."

"We'll figure something out," Caitlin promised him and Veronica as the two began to leave as well.

"Belén, can I show you something?" Iris asked ad soon as it was just them and Caitlin. She motioned Caitlin to near them too as she pulled out her phone.

"What are we looking at exactly?" Belén asked after Iris pulled up a security video of the waterfront where Barry and Clariss were.

"This is the feed Cisco pulled up while you and Caitlin went M.I.A after dinner," Iris explained, although she missed the nervous glances of her two friends. "He didn't pay too much attention to it - does that a lot now often - but I did. Okay look, it's pretty obvious that this guy knows Barry." Because indeed the two speedsters were conversing quite emotionally before they chased each other.

"I don't... understand…" Caitlin gave a tilt of her head. It did look like Clariss was...accusing Barry of something? That pointed finger at Barry couldn't say anything else.

"Barry is keeping things from us, I know it," Iris put her phone away and settled a sharp stare on Belén. "And you need to find out what it is."

The woman in question blinked with alarm. "Me?" she pointed at herself. "Demand to know about a secret? I don't...I don't think I can, Iris." She avoided Iris' scrutinizing eyes by backtracking several steps from her and Caitlin in the process.

"What? Why not?" Iris crossed her arms, expecting some sort of explanation that would possibly make sense.

Belén's eyes kept flickering to Caitlin, something Iris picked up on fast, while she really did try to answer the question. "I just...I don't...it would be very...I can't." And Belén hated how that made her sound, but she just couldn't go demanding Barry to reveal something, not when she was…

Iris turned to Caitlin to see what the brunette had to say, but Caitlin followed Belén's league and avoided making eye contact with Iris at all costs. "You want to fill me in or something…?" Iris asked both of them.

"I just can't, I'm sorry," Belén shook her head and hurried out.

"I think it's better to just drop it, Iris," Caitlin gave Iris a soft warning and went after Belén.

Iris truly had no words, and much less a clue as to what had just happened.

~ 0 ~

The last thing Barry ever thought would happen now was facing his father's doppelganger and actually being forced to have breakfast with him on Earth 3. Really, what else could happen now? Oh, right, this earth ran a little slow so it was also 1998.

Barry really hoped that was it. "This isn't the reason you pulled me out of the Speed Force right?" he gestured to the menu on the table.

Henry gave a shake of his head. "Because you were about to reset the timeline again after screwing it all up." Barry opened his mouth but only noises of his shock came out. "Oh, yeah, I know about that."

"How did you—"

"After your not-so-subtle reaction when you first met me... Harry told me all that happened with Zoom and your mom and your dad, so I decided I'd keep my eye on you for a bit."

Barry figured that was exactly what Harry would have done the moment they were gone. "He tell you anything else?"

"He did. I'm your father's doppelganger. Sorry about that…" Because even now it was hard for Barry to keep an eye-level conversation with him.

"It's just...really weird."

"And really sad, too... I'm sure. Having a loss like that in your life, I see why you'd wanna erase it. Who wouldn't try to save their parents? I understand that, Barry, completely. But the thing is, there are consequences to time travel."

"I have heard all of this before—" Barry tried to say, even about to count the times he'd heard the same lecture. It didn't matter anymore as he'd done already.

"Not from me you haven't. I'm not some Doctor with a theory, Barry. I'm a Speedster, like you, who's traveled in time, and made these same mistakes you are making right now. Here, let me show you something," Henry reached for an empty cup of tea beside the menu on the table.

Barry rolled his eyes, and surely was about to leave. "Okay, you know what—"

"Humor me, kid," Henry motioned him to keep in his seat. "This coffee cup right here. Think of it as the space-time continuum. Whenever you go back in time it breaks." He vibrated the cup until a chip of it cracked.

Barry wanted to know how the man was giving speedster lectures when he just vibrating his hand in open daylight. "For real?"

"Now... you can reset the timeline, you can try to fix it, but no matter how hard you try…" Jay had pulled the chip of the cup off and tried placing back as if it was never broken in the first place, "...it's never gonna be exactly how it was."

"Look, I've learned all this stuff that I didn't know before, okay? I'm not gonna make the same—"

"Mistakes," Jay finished for him. "Yeah, what you just said right there? That is the paradox of time travel, and also the paradox of life. I mean, if I only knew then what I know now."

"Why have these powers if I can't go back and fix what I broke?" Barry couldn't help demand with frustration. Here he was with powers not a lot of people had and yet he couldn't do something grand like saving people from death without causing even more trouble? What kind of logic was that?

"We're not gods, we're men, who, for whatever reason, have been given extraordinary abilities," Jay hoped Barry would catch on. "The question you need to ask yourself is, what kind of hero are you gonna be? Are you just gonna take a do-over every time you make a mistake? Or will you live with them and move forward?"

Ah, the ringing honest question that made Barry pause for the first time and think about the long run. It wasn't the present, nor the next day he should be thinking about...it was the future. What kind of person was he going to be for the rest of his life?

~ 0 ~

"Are you sure you're okay?" Caitlin's question carried into the cortex as she and Belén walked in. Cisco, Iris, Joe and Veronica were already there, recruited once again.

"Yeah, yeah," Belén waved Caitlin to stop just as they faced everyone. "Where's Barry?" she asked the group.

Just a mere second later, Barry sped into the room with a face worse for wear. "I need to tell you all something," he said almost instantly. He needed to be fast or else his courage might slip away from him. "The truth."

"The truth about what?" Iris asked.

"Okay, um... after Zoom killed my dad, after we defeated him, um... I wasn't in a great space, and I felt like the only way I could fix that was to run back in time and save my mom."

There was a silence over the group as Barry's words settled down.

"You stopped the Reverse-Flash from killing your mom?" Belén spoke slowly, as if that would make better sense for her.

"Yes…" Barry let his head hang in shame.

"Wait, so, is she alive?" Wally wondered out loud.

"She was. For a few months. I lived with her and my dad. I had a completely different life," Barry still smiled at the bittersweet memories. "I wasn't even the Flash for most of it."

"You mean to tell us you created this whole...other world, then?" Even Veronica was lost like Wally. She didn't understand the full extent of a speedster's powers, and she never cared enough to ask.

"Okay, um…" Barry spotted a nearby clear board and picked up a marker to explain in the usual way. "This is the timeline," he drew a horizontal line and made a dot at the end. "This is the point that we exist on it right now. This—" he scribbled in a dot at the other end of the line, "—past point is where my mom was murdered. So when I saved her, I created a new reality. A new timeline. I was living in…"

"A mirror universe," Cisco mumbled but Barry heard him.

"It's called a Flashpoint, apparently."

"But you decided to leave it," Joe gestured to the obvious. "Why?"

Barry sighed. "That life started to spin out of control. This guy, Clariss, he was a Speedster there, too. He was known as the Rival. He caused a lot of problems. So, um... I decided to run back in time again and let things happen as they were supposed to, in hopes of... resetting the timeline, but…"

"Things weren't the same," Belén understood first.

"She said it didn't matter what I did because you were going to do something that would screw it up."

She shuddered. This is what Datura had seen this coming. It had to be. "You screwed it up," the words tumbled out of her mouth.

Barry knew what she was thinking of. They both remembered. "When I came back, things weren't the same. People weren't the same. Um, I created another timeline."

"Another world to live in," Caitlin nodded. "This—" she gestured with a finger at the room, "—isn't the original world we used to live in?"

"It's not as different as the last one. Not in large ways, but in some ways, in smaller ways, and, uh—" Barry swallowed hard, "—meaningful ways for all of you or anybody that's close to me. And I can't ever really put it back together." He forced himself to face everyone in the eyes, like they deserved, because at this point it was all he could for them.

"Barry, that's a lot to take in…" Joe murmured from his spot.

"We got along in that other life, my dad and I, didn't we?" Iris finally realized that part and didn't know whether or not to be furious or plain sad. "That's why you've been working so hard to get us talking again."

"Okay, here's the thing. Um, I will tell you what's different, all of you, if you wanna know," Barry made it clear, even though it might not even do them well. He would still give them that choice. "But you have to live with those differences because I can't change it again. But at least you'll know. And you all deserve that choice."

Belén put her two index fingers together in front of her nose, her mind thinking rapidly. "That's why you asked about Italy. I never said anything about a trip. And the fight we had...that's why you were so confused. You didn't argue with me, this timeline's version of you did."

"So you decided it was okay to change things when someone in your family dies, but when it's someone in my family…" Cisco pointed after the two and waved at the others, indicating he was taking a leaf out of their book.

Iris rubbed her forehead, unsure of what she even thought at the moment. "We're...going to need some time, Barry."

"I know," Barry whispered. He understood the consequences, and that was what he was going to face...with all his courage.

~ 0 ~

Belén was heading into the Green room of the building for some space when her phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw an unknown number on the screen. She brought the phone to her ear to answer it. "Hello?"

"I did warn you, didn't I?"

Belén froze.

"Tsk, tsk, the speedster breaking the ultimate rule: changing the timelines. He has no idea what he's done to everyone."

Belén swallowed hard. "Datura."

Author's Note:

Datura, Datura, seeing things before it even happens...

And if there's anybody who's reading my LoT fic, you know that the OC over there (Graciela) is beginning to figure out that Barry may have screwed up things for the Legends too. It's hilarious honestly how stupid this genius is.

So Belén is OC #1 out of 3 total Arrowverse OC I now write! The second one is Graciela Haynez from my new Legends of Tomorrow fic too and the 3rd OC is Anais Mjorkland from my Supergirl fic! Feel free to check their stories out under my profile! They will, eventually, have some future crossovers!

*So I'm trying to come up with a name for this series and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas? I don't know if I'm clever enough for the task xD. SO far I've thought of like "Azaleaverse" instead of 'Arrowverse'? I'm asking because I'll eventually post another Barry/OC story and I want them to be separated from each other. So, any suggestions are well appreciated!

As always, I have a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's a place where anyone can comment about a story or even just talk to me! I often drop aesthetic work belonging to my stories too! Feel free to check it out, my URL is "saiilorstars"