Hello, hello, and hello. Welcome to another chapter. And no, the title is not a misprint. It's time for Barry to wrestle with the great time-traveler's conundrum. Enjoy, and bonus points to whomever gets the Christmas Carol reference!

"Hey," Barry said quietly. "I was thinking, you know. Could we go and, and see my mom? When she was still alive?"

"Where's this come from, all of a sudden?" the Doctor raised his eyebrows from the jumpseat.

"It's not…I mean, don't worry about it," he shrugged, rubbing his neck.

"No, we can do it," the Doctor shook his head. "I'm just more worried about you."

"I can handle it," Barry insisted.

"Your wish is my command," the Doctor told him. "But be careful what you wish for."


They watched Henry and Nora get married, before the Doctor set the TARDIS for March 18, 1996. Emerging, Barry looked around the gloomy, misty evening. So many sights and sounds and smells…

"The past is another country," the Doctor commented. "1996's just the Isle of Wight. Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah," Barry nodded, and before either could have second thoughts, he squared his shoulders, took a deep breath, and ran up to the house.

"Barry! No!" the Doctor yelled, racing after him. Even as he did, twin blurs of energy—one crimson and one yellow—shot past him and straight through the window. Barry, meanwhile, had already used the spare key under the doormat to let himself in. Muttering under his breath, the Doctor followed. Inside, he found a scene of total chaos. Red and yellow energy swirled around the room, with a kneeling woman—Nora Allen—at the eye of the storm. Papers flew around the room, side-effects of the ferocious winds the two were generating.

He'd never seen a speedster battle before, but he'd been doing his research over the last few days, and he knew exactly what was happening. The Flash and his arch-enemy, Eobard Thawne, locked in their ageless battle.

"Mom!" yelled a younger version of Barry. The older one watched wide-eyed as well as the Doctor caught up with him. Just then, Henry Allen entered the room, seeming to not even notice the Time Lord and the elder version of his son, back in the shadows.

"Nora! Hold on!" bellowed Barry's dad.

"Run, Barry, run!" he shouted, as the Flash grabbed the youngest Barry and ran him out.

"Now," the Doctor's Barry muttered, and threw himself forward.

"Don't!" the Doctor bellowed in vain. He watched in horror as his Barry threw himself towards his mother. As he watched, a yellow-suited, crimson-eyed figure solidified out of the lightning and thrust a knife directly into Barry's chest.

"Oh," he breathed, and crumpled into his astonished mother's arms. Reverse-Flash turned on the Doctor, speeding forward with a punch that could've sent the Time Lord through the wall. The Doctor stepped to one side, angling his body and launching a simple brush-parry-strike combination the martial arts masters of Venus had drilled into him many centuries before. The Reverse-Flash slumped like a marionette that had had its strings cut. Just then, the Flash sped back into the room, lowering his cowl.

"Now what, Doctor?" Barry's future self asked.

"Nanogene kit in the TARDIS," the Doctor snapped. "Infirmary, top shelf."

He reached in a pocket for a key, but the red-suited figure held up his own. "Never go anywhere without it," he smirked, and was gone again in a flash of lightning.

"Who are you?" Henry asked from where he was kneeling by Nora.

"Henry, you're a doctor, right?" the Doctor asked, striding forward to kneel at his Barry's side. "I'm the Doctor, the definite article. This…is your son. From the future. Long story, it's complicated," he added. "How are you, Barry?"

"Ow," the boy whimpered.

"My…our son?" Nora asked as she supported him on her lap. "He looks just like my father…oh my God. Henry, help me here!"

Just then, the Flash sped into the room.

"Doctor. Problem."

"What?" the Time Lord snapped without looking around.

"The TARDIS is gone."

"What?" he asked, spinning around. The Flash, he noticed, hadn't put his cowl back up, and the younger Barry was looking back and forth between them.

"I mean, it's not gone, gone, but when I opened the doors, it was just…just a box. Nothing there. And…there was this creature in the sky I've never seen before. Kinda bat-like, scythe-like tail…"

The Doctor hissed in a breath. "Three different versions of you, all in the same place at the same time, a fixed point breaking…they're Reapers."

"And those are?" the elder Barry asked.

"There's been an accident in time," he snapped. "A wound in time. They're like bacteria, taking advantage."

"Three…" the Doctor's Barry breathed. He looked up at the Flash. "You're me, too, from the future?"

"Yup. Hey," the Flash said. "So what do we do now?"

Just then, the youngest Barry pushed his way in. "Mom? Dad?"

Henry held out his arm, and the youngest Barry ran to him. "What's happening, dad?"

"Hey, Barry," the Doctor nodded, and ran a hand through his hair. "We have to restore the timeline somehow. Question is how."

"I could do it for you," the Reverse-Flash offered, rising slowly.

"Shut up, Eobard," the Flash told him, but he looked down as his younger self let out a rattling gasp. His head slumped to one side, and Barry Allen breathed his last.

"No," the Doctor breathed. Before anyone could say or do anything more, however, the remnants of the window burst in, followed by one of the bat-like creatures.

"Get behind me!" the Doctor yelled, sweeping the humans to his other side. "I'm the oldest thing in this room!"

As it swooped, he looked over at the Flash. "All up to you, Barry."

The creature circled once, wings sending a lamp tumbling, and slipped back out the window.


The Flash tried to run forward, but stumbled and almost fell. A glance at Eobard confirmed his thoughts.

"You losing your speed, too?"

Eobard held up a vibrating hand, which shivered, flickered, and dropped into normal time. "It appears so."

"Past me's dead," he said, glaring at his long-time foe. If looks could kill, Eobard would've been pierced by a thousand daggers on the spot. "Which means I'm going to fade out soon. And if I don't become the Flash…"

"I don't become the Reverse," Eobard nodded. "How long do we have?"

"Minutes. At most."

"And all of this happened because I didn't die?" Nora asked.

"Yes, dolt," Eobard said, rolling his eyes.

"Fine, then take me," she ordered.

"What?" both Barrys and Henry demanded.

"Mom, you can't," the youngest Barry protested.

"How long before those things come back for us?" she asked.

"But…" the elder protested.

"Barry, do what your mother tells you," she ordered, silencing her boy(s) with a look. She kissed her husband, then leaned into a hug. For a minute, they whispered to each other things no one else would ever hear. Then she turned to the younger Barry, knelt, and kissed his forehead. "Barry, take care of your dad, okay? He's going to need you. I love you. And I am so proud of you."

She rose and embraced the eldest version of her son, kissing his forehead as well and looking into his eyes. "The proudest day in my life was the day I became your mom. I will always love you."

"So sickeningly sweet," Eobard drawled from against the wall. "You all finished now?"

"Go ahead," Nora ordered, straightening up. He shrugged and withdrew his knife, flipping it hand over hand. And then he stabbed Nora directly in the heart, smirking at the Barrys as he did so.

The elder took a step forward, and Eobard tossed off a one-finger salute.

"I'm gonna take my chances with those things," he announced. "See you sometime in the future, Flash."

Nora Allen breathed her last in the arms of her husband and son and son, as Barry sat up, his chest wound healing in seconds. He crawled over and joined in.

"I'm sorry, dad, I've got to go," the eldest one said. "I love you." He ruffled his younger self's hair and rushed out in a gust of wind. The Doctor stepped out of a corner.

"Come on," he said.


Back in the TARDIS, the two friends sat together on the jump seat.

"What happened?" Barry asked, rubbing his head. "My memories are all fuzzy."

"Mm," the Doctor nodded. "Happens when you run into more than one version of yourself. Timelines go out of sync."

Specifically, a future as well as a past version of you. But we don't need to get into that yet.

"What do you remember?" he asked instead.

"I…I went up to the house. I saved Mom…I died…" Barry rubbed his chest, frowning. "You got eaten, then you didn't…"

"Yeah," the Doctor said. "Never, ever, do that again."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah. I know," the Time Lord nodded.

"And…"

Barry looked up, eyes wide.

"My dad…I grew up with my dad!"

"Your dad's fingerprints aren't on the knife," the Doctor nodded, his blue eyes piercing. "He won't get blamed for the death any more."

"Right," Barry nodded, frowning as he looked through two series of memories. "He said a thief broke in and stabbed Mom. We blamed that guy…Thawne…but the police never found him."

"No," the Doctor muttered. "They wouldn't have."

"So, I guessed it worked out after all," Barry said sheepishly. The Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"I really am sorry," Barry muttered. He developed a sudden fascination with the grating under his sneakers until the Doctor put a hand on his shoulder.

"I know," the Doctor nodded. "C'mon."

Leading Barry to the TARDIS kitchen, they nursed cups of tea as Barry told the Doctor about his mom and his dad, Joe and Iris, and his childhood.

"There's nothin' worse than watching your family die," the Doctor murmured, his eyes haunted and dark. "Nothing."

They cried, listened to each other's stories, drank tea together, and moved on.

So, to be clear, there were THREE versions of Barry there: Young Barry, Doctor!Barry, and Flash!Barry. As per the rules of Doctor Who time travel (as opposed to the Arrowverse, which are basically "whatever the writer wants them to be"), when multiple versions of the same person meet, only the latest version remembers everything. Younger versions lose most of their memories of the event so as to preserve the timeline until it comes around again. So, Barry does not yet know that he's going to become the Flash, though the Doctor does. I will say it'll happen much earlier than in canon. How? When? Keep reading, and you'll find out.

Leave a review, and I'll see you next week with The Empty Child!