"There you are," Barry said as he approached the woman and Clark Kent.
The woman, Rachel, groaned at the sight of him and Barry frowned when he heard her reaction.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked as he finally reached her.
He met the woman's amethyst eyes with his own and saw the panic there. His frown deepened when he noted her expression.
"It's Barry, right?" she asked him almost too carefully.
"Yes," he replied.
"Well, Barry –" the woman began, but she wasn't able to finish the sentence, not when Clark suddenly spoke over her.
"Barry, are you here for the same reason as I am? Is it about the children?" Clark inquired.
Barry turned to him then and said, "Yes, it's about the children. How did you know?"
"It's because I was just talking to her about the children and she told me everything about them, Barry." Clark informed him. "Do you also believe that they are your children too?"
Barry was taken aback that Clark knew the reason he was there. He hadn't even told anyone yet about the rush of memories he had when he first met the purple-eyed woman. Although not all of his memories were back. He noted that there were still some that was obscured from him.
"Yes. Why? Do you also believe that they are yours as well?" Barry asked, completely puzzled.
"Yes. Rachel just told me that they are the byproduct of an experiment," Clark informed him hurriedly. Literally dropping the verbal bomb right then and there and Barry instantly froze upon hearing the new information.
Beside him, the woman let out another groan while she covered her entire face with her hands in obvious distress. He glanced at her momentarily before meeting Clark's blue-eyed gaze again.
"Their DNA came from multiple male donors, which means that they have multiple fathers," Clark continued to tell him. "And now that I saw our group earlier, I already know who the fathers are. It's not only me and you but the rest of the members of the Justice League as well!"
"Is this true?" Barry said, turning to address the woman with a tinge of anger in his voice. "That we are the fathers of those children?!"
It took a while for the woman to respond but she did by muttering to them while still covering her face, "Yes, it's true. It was my evil father who ordered the experiment and the future me got pregnant as a result. After that, the future me sent the children back here to me, to this time and alternate reality, where my evil father can never reach them."
The woman finally stopped hiding behind her hands and faced them.
"Why haven't you come to us before and told us the truth?" Barry said, completely distraught at the fact.
"I have my reasons. Most of them were for my children's and I's preservation," Rachel replied, meeting Barry's troubled gaze with her own conflicted ones.
"And I can understand that…but were you really going to keep the children away from us? Do they even know that they have multiple fathers?" Barry said.
"They know Barry," Clark interjected and Barry looked back at him. "They have known about us for a while but Rachel here didn't want them to meet us just yet."
"I was planning to reveal myself and the children to you guys five years from now!" Rachel stated defensively.
"But that's going to be years that we've lost for the chance of watching the children grow up!" Barry snapped at her. "Why wait that long, Rachel? Were you really that afraid for the children?"
"Yes, I was - I am still afraid for the children! Even now as we speak, I have been informed that there's been a disturbance in the surrounding area, which could mean that there is a threat out there that can harm my children."
"Our children, Rachel," Barry and Clark said at the same time. The two glanced at each other before looking back at Rachel, who scowled at them.
"Where did this disturbance happen? And when?" Barry asked while Clark said, "If there is a threat, then we are going to handle it. Me and the rest of the Justice League. We are all here for you and the children, Rachel."
"The disturbance happed a couple of minutes ago," was Rachel's answer while she considered Clark's words.
"If there is really a threat, then we can protect you Rachel. You and the children. You don't have to worry about anything else, especially now that we are all here," Barry said to Rachel, who suddenly looked close to tears when he said that.
"I know…and I am sorry for keeping the truth from all of you," she said as she tried to quickly wipe the tears from her eyes. "Even though you hardly know me, I'm so glad that you didn't accuse me of lying about the children. That was another reason I didn't tell you guys about the truth. I was afraid of your rejection and I know it will definitely hurt the children if you did."
"We now understand, Rachel…and I'm sorry for being angry at you earlier. I was just shocked and distraught that we didn't get to meet the children early on, when they were still young." Barry explained to her.
"It's fine. I completely understand where you are coming from," Rachel told him, smiling tentatively.
Barry returned the smile although a bit strained.
"I can hear someone coming this way," Clark suddenly said to them both and they all fell silent.
"I saw them go here," Dick told the others as they moved towards the hedges.
"They must not have gone far," Bruce said while he held the hand of the child, Nathaniel.
They all turned around the corner and immediately saw the woman - Rachel - and the other two men - Barry Allen and Clark Kent - standing there.
The three looked surprised to see them all.
"So this is where you three went," Oliver commented the moment he saw them.
"Rachel!" the children cried out simultaneously and all five of them ran towards the purple-haired woman, who hugged them close to her.
"I think it's time for you to tell the rest, Rachel," Clark suddenly said out loud.
At his words, all turned towards him with questions in their eyes.
"Tell us what?" John asked as he looked at Clark and then at the woman.
"Yes, I will, but not here," Rachel replied as she drew the children almost protectively around her while she looked towards the childrens' bodyguards, who stood a good distance away, although good enough to allow for her to talk to the childrens' fathers without them hearing.
"Stop delaying, Rachel. Now is definitely the perfect time to tell them while we are all here," Barry stated almost impatiently.
Rachel stared at all of them for a long moment before finally making a decision.
"Oh, alright…" Rachel sighed as she straightened up. "I will tell them the truth."
"Do you mean the truth about the children?" Arthur said abruptly in a dangerous tone. "The children that you hid from us?! I already know about it! I was planning to talk to you about it if I was given the opportunity to corner you earlier."
Arthur glared at her and Rachel cringed inwardly at the simmering anger she could see in his eyes.
"Well, all of us are here now and it looked like most of us remembered about her and the children already," Hal interjected before Rachel could defend herself.
"I don't know what you guys are talking about. What is it about her and the children?" Billy inquired, sounding completely out of the loop.
"Me too. I am not aware of anything regarding them," John added just as puzzled.
"I'm in the dark as the others are," Dick supplied with a frown on his brows.
"Don't look at me. I also don't know what they are talking about," Oliver said, shrugging his shoulders.
"It seems not all of us got our memories back," was Hal's only observation.
"Yes, memories that were carefully blocked from our minds might I add," Bruce pressed, staring accusingly at Rachel, who flushed scarlet for being set apart from the group.
"I'm sorry about that," Rachel responded hastily. "It was too early for you to know the truth. That's why I blocked your memories about that day at the park."
Surprisingly, the children remained silent all throughout the conversation, not even making the move to defend Rachel's actions, which she definitely needed at the moment.
"When were you planning to tell any of us about you and the children? Were you even planning to reveal yourselves to us at all?" Arthur asked. He looked mostly aggrieved at the thought of not meeting any of the children before.
"Yes, I was. I did plan to introduce the children to you five years from now. I am not a complete monster that I would keep the children away from their fathers for long," Rachel admitted to them.
"And why are you pretending to be the childrens' nanny?" Dick inquired, sounding confused.
"I also want to know the explanation to that," John stated.
"Being the childrens' nanny is just a front. I need it to run my business enterprise," Rachel explained to them.
"You owned the entire Raven Enterprise?" Billy asked, looking quite shocked just as the others are.
"Yes, I own it," Rachel answered, grimacing when she noted the look of stupefaction on the men's faces.
"So that's why you didn't come looking for any of us to support you with the childrens' upbringing. It's because you are already financially secured," Hal concluded as he gazed at the purple-haired woman.
"Yes," was Rachel's sheepish response as she met Hal's gaze.
There was a short pause as the men all regarded Rachel with a hint of admiration.
"So what do you all plan to do now that all of you know about the children and I?" Rachel couldn't help but ask. She started fidgeting nervously as she waited for them to reply.
However, before any of them could say anything else, they suddenly heard a loud explosion close by, which was soon followed by the sound of people screaming inside.
At once, all of them moved simultaneously while chaos erupted inside the building.
"Get the children out of here, Rachel!" "Keep the children safe!" Some of the men yelled while they ran towards the noise, and at the same, shed their formal wear to don their superhero costume.
Meanwhile, the others lingered nearby to ensure that Rachel and the children escaped before going towards the fight.
"Take them to safety, Rachel. We will handle this," Bruce said as he looked pointedly at her.
Rachel just nodded her head in silence while she could feel the dread pooling in her gut at the thought of the unseen enemy coming near her children. Beside her, she could sense the children's fear about the entire situation.
"We will talk later once this is over," John told her as they began to move away. "We still have more questions for you after all."
"You all can go," Dick said to Bruce and the others, who still lingered nearby. "I am going to stick to Rachel and the children and ensure that they are safe."
"Alright, Dick," Bruce replied. "Make sure you all escape from here in one piece."
"Of course, Bruce," was Dick's reply and watched as Bruce and the others ran back inside.
"Let's go!" Dick said quickly and took hold two of the childrens' hands and began to move away from where the fighting was.
Rachel followed after him, grabbing a hold of the rest of the children.
"I will be able to teleport us out of here quickly," Rachel told Dick, who nodded his head.
"Then, do it," Dick responded.
"Come closer all of you," She ordered the others and they immediately followed her instruction.
Afterward, she allowed her power to engulf all of them and teleported far away from there.
Rachel hoped that whatever had caused that explosion would not come after her and the children. She was also worried about the others and could only hope that they were going to be fine. She didn't want to entertain the idea of losing any of them, especially now that they finally knew the truth.
She could only hope and pray that today wouldn't end up in tragedy.
AN: Thanks tfranco9 and HappyDeviWitchDauggter for the reviews!