The road to recovery for everyone involved with STAR Labs was a long one and a difficult one. Their momentary win - which was to rescue Jesse Wells - had come at a mighty big cost...the death of Jay Garrick. No one took that part worse than Caitlin Snow who felt like she'd been thrown into the same old, awful story from last year. She'd gotten close to someone and they were ripped apart from her just like that. Again.
On that note, Barry couldn't stop blaming himself. If he hadn't been distracted, maybe he could have done something. Zoom wouldn't have gotten the last laugh if he'd been on the job. There was too much to focus on, he kept telling himself as a means to console himself. Because it was true. The first thing he saw when he returned to his world was the face of his girlfriend, the same girlfriend he had to battle against in another world; the same girlfriend who was hell bent on killing his version of a girlfriend. That was a lot to take in. It was why he opted, at least for the moment, not to share everything from Earth 2 with the team. As far as anyone knew besides Cisco, Harry and Jesse, Datura had never revealed her true identity. She was still just a crazy siphoner to the rest.
"Are you sure you didn't see anything that could help me?" Belén would follow Barry around asking the same questions hoping he would suddenly remember a crucial detail about Datura that would help her fight. Because in Belén's mind, that final showdown was inevitable.
"Nope, sorry, can't think of anything," Barry would shrug and quickly try to change the topic.
Belén would just shake her head and turn to someone else who could help her. Harry didn't have any problems lying to her, and with his usual cold manners, Belén didn't insist too much with him. Cisco was a tougher one to manage but Barry made him see that for the moment it was better for Belén not to know the truth.
Jesse Wells was another story.
Because Jesse had gotten to know Datura a little bit more than most civilians would care to, it was hard not to attribute the woman's personality to Earth 1 Belén. Every time Belén would come near Jesse, whether it was to see how the girl was doing after moving permanently to Earth 1, Jesse would flinch away from Belén. The terrible fear in her eyes was not one Belén could ignore. Jesse tried to remember the fact this was another woman and not Datura. It wasn't the same metahuman who took pleasure in scaring her. It wasn't the same sick woman. No. This Belén seemed kind, seemed a bit out of it sometimes, and shy. This Belén was a metahuman who did good to her city.
Barry thanked Jesse over and over for doing her best around Belén. He was confident that with time Jesse would learn that his Bells was nothing like her doppelganger. She could never be. But he sincerely hoped that her contrasting personality wouldn't become her weakness if she ever came face to face with Datura. It could be dangerous, and these thoughts were the ones that plagued Barry so often. They usually occurred when Belén seemed at her most innocent. Those usually turned out to be when she was asleep.
Lately, he had been sleeping over at her place.
Belén of course didn't question it. He seemed out of it for the longest of times, and she really only wanted to help however she could. Plus, she liked when he stayed over. Unfortunately, she didn't have the entire story.
Nights full of thoughts prevented Barry from sleeping, so he often laid with his eyes open and with a distant expression. Different scenes from Earth 2 would fill his mind, all usually surrounding Datura. He felt a terrible pit of guilt in his stomach every time he thought about her. He hadn't helped her yet and he hadn't told Belén about her. What a great boyfriend he was.
He turned on the bed when Belén shifted in her sleep. She was fast asleep, exhaling soft hums every now and then that indicated she was probably dreaming. Barry thought she looked peaceful, and he really wished he could keep it that way. What was the point in burdening her with Datura?
He put an arm over her and slowly scooted closer to her. There was a need in him to just hold her, to know that she was okay and certainly not evil and...sick. Belén made it easier when she once again shifted but this time in his direction. Barry smiled and got comfortable, snuggling to Belén, and resting his chin over her head. It was peaceful enough...hopefully it would foster some sleep in him.
~ 0 ~
When Belén woke up, she was a bit surprised to find that she was alone (again). It became even more of a surprise when she saw that it was very early. If there was one thing Belén knew about Barry, it was that he did not like getting up early. The only times he was up before his alarm was when he had somewhere to be or he couldn't sleep. Knowing it was absolutely the latter, Belén got up from her bed and looked around, listening intently.
"Living room," she decided after a minute. She walked out into the living room and sure enough found Barry there, surrounded by different chemistry and biology books. Papers she saw with complicated equations were scattered on the floor and some falling from the table.
"What...is all this…?" she bent down to pick a paper up but Barry quickly swiped it from her hands.
"Don't!"
She blinked in surprise. She felt it chilly in the air and hugged herself, thanking for her long-sleeved shirt choice but scolding herself for not taking her blanket with her. "Did I interrupt some super geeky moment of yours?"
Barry lowered the book he was currently holding and smiled. "Sort of, yeah...sorry…" He was suddenly self-conscious about the mess he created in her living room. There was a ping of guilt in his chest additionally from the fact that it was all for a specific cure...for a specific doppelganger...
Belén raised her eyebrows and chuckled. "It's 7 a.m, Barry. I'm finding it really hard to be attracted to you right now."
Barry opened his mouth to retort sarcastically but took into consideration the way he looked and the mess he had around him...and nodded his head. "Yeah, alright."
A soft laugh reverberated from Belén as she took a seat on the couch arm rest. "So what is my super geeky boyfriend up to at-" she yawned, "-seven a.m in the morning?"
"U-uh...just some...things…" Barry grabbed some papers off the floor and shuffled them to organize them. He relished, for once, in the lack of understanding Belén had for all the equations and information.
"Is this for your speed?" Belén opened a biology book and carelessly flipped through the pages.
"Uh...yes, yes it is," Barry nodded, not doubting for a second.
Belén yawned and closed the book. "God just looking at the pages makes me wanna fall asleep."
"Why don't you go do that, then?" Barry asked and immediately realized how that sounded. Belén was giving him a sarcastic offended face. "Not like that!" Barry quickly said, throwing the papers in his hands to turn to her. "I just m-meant...you know...because you're tired! And...it's very early...and...I love you?"
"Hm…" Belén slid down from the armrest to sit next to him. "You just don't want me around. Don't think I haven't noticed how weird you've been acting ever since you came back from Earth 2. And I know-" she added fast when Barry opened his mouth to speak, "-that a lot's happened. Jay getting murdered and then that huge, weird King Shark thing...but I get the feeling it's me that you have a problem with."
"What?" if Barry hadn't already been sitting down he would've fallen back. "You think...what?" Oh god, here he was...messing things up even when he told himself he wouldn't!
Belén nodded her head. "Every time you look at me there's...something in your eyes that...I don't know. I just feel like there's something new. And it makes me feel like I've done something."
"You did absolutely nothing wrong!" Barry went first to ease her guilt. "If anyone has done wrong it's me and only me. You've been incredible as usual and I'm just...being a completely horrible boyfriend as usual."
"Don't say that…" Belén smiled playfully. "You're not horrible you just have that annoying habit of bottling things up. Won't you please tell me what's gotten into you? I bet it's got to be from Earth 2, huh?"
Barry figured he couldn't keep hiding everything but...he also wasn't prepared to tell her the entire truth. Still, his head nodded without his consent.
"What happened there? I mean all we know is that you met Caitlin and Ronnie's doppelgangers who turned out to be evil...oh and Cisco's too," Belén said with some thought put into it. "What else did you see? Or who else? Is that what's bothering you? People you saw there?"
"Sort of…" Barry sighed and considered how to go about this for the meanwhile. "I saw Joe over there...practically get killed."
"Oh my God," Belén put a hand to her mouth. "What happened?"
"Killer Frost and Deathstorm happened."
"Oh my...and the...the Iris from there...did you…"
"My doppelganger knew her so, yeah…" Barry nodded, now avoiding her look for a moment. "Joe pushed her out of the way and he took the blow. Iris was devastated but...she took control and she helped us find Zoom."
"Really?" Belén asked, sounding unsure.
"She was a cop," Barry said to help her better picture it.
"Really!?" Belén was now smiling at the idea. "She wanted to be a cop here but her dad said no…"
"Yeah, well, she didn't take 'no' for an answer over there and she became the only Detective West on that planet. Joe was a jazz singer."
Belén chuckled. "No way. What else happened? Or who did you see? Did you see me? Cos...well, you saw everyone but...you haven't mentioned me. Did I exist? Did I know your doppelganger? Or did I know someone at least of our group?"
"Um…" Barry rubbed the side of his neck, hoping to be quick and come up with something easy and simple.
"You can tell me," Belén scooted closer to him, aware there was something holding him back. "Is this the problem? It has to do with the other me?"
"N-no!" Barry found himself saying before he could think rationally. "I mean, it's just...I saw you…" he began carefully, "And...and you were different…"
That was an understatement, he thought.
"What was different?"
Barry took a long breath, eyes flickering from her and down to his lap. "Your hair, um...it was dark. No blonde tips."
Belén's hands went to her loose (and messy) bed hair. "Really? Hm, I can't see myself with that...I've always liked dying my hair. Did I look okay though? The other me, I meant."
"Yeah…" Barry said without a second thought. Underneath that evil cockiness Earth 2 Belén wore, she was still a youthful beauty. She would probably get anyone to do anything for her if she just asked (psychopaths like Zoom didn't count of course).
"And did I…did I know any of you guys?" Belén couldn't help continue to be curious about her other self.
"Yeah...you did…" Barry looked at her in the eyes, "...you and I...we were actually, um...married…" And technically that wasn't a lie. Their doppelgangers were still - technically - married since Belén wasn't dead.
A bright red spread around Belén's face from the news. Her eyes, widened, blinked fast. "W-we were?" her hand came up to her cheek. "Like...like with the whole vows and everything? Rings too?"
Barry nodded his head. "Mhm. Everything. Even saw a picture of us. Well done by the way."
Belén laughed. "Thanks, I guess? Oh I can't believe it! We were married!"
Barry tried to look as happy as she did but it was impossible when he knew the full version of the story. He wouldn't let her know it for the meantime, not until he had come up with a cure or a way to re-open one breech.
"Is that why you've been looking at me weird?" Belén leaned her head on his shoulder. "I'd be weird too if I'd seen your doppelganger, honestly. What was hE he like?"
"Dorky," Barry made a face.
"Oh, so nothing's different then."
Barry did a double take at her, making her laugh. "Oh, you're nice." He put an arm around her and used his grip to bring her over to his lap. "I was a 'dork' but a CSI too…"
"So definitely the same," Belén laughed again.
"Yeah, whatever…"
Belén slowly sobered to get back to the issue she'd first asked about. "So then...you're better now? This was why you were weird…?"
"Yes," Barry did his best to look convincing for her.
Apparently he did because she was smiling quite proudly. She grabbed his face and planted a kiss on him. "Can we go back to sleep now? It's really early."
Thinking it was probably for the best, Barry agreed. He took her hands - which were cold but he would never tell - and took them back to Belén's bedroom where they would hopefully get some more sleep.
~ 0 ~
At work, Belén was deeply focused on her computer. She'd been inspired to write a new article - a lengthy one - that would hopefully inspire a new sense of hope for metahumans that were just like her. Her fingers danced over her keyboard to the point where she earned several looks from her co-workers passing by.
"You are going to break that keyboard," Iris laughed when she stopped by. She might have also leaned forwards just to see if there was any smoke coming from the keyboard. "Watch out Flash."
Belén rolled her eyes and lifted her hands off the keyboard. "Ha, ha, so funny."
"I am," Iris proudly said. "So, can I know what this new article is about that's nearly costing you a computer?"
"I've been doing some thinking lately about my..." Belén's eyes did a quick scan of the place to make sure none of their co-workers were listening to them, but still whispered her next word, "...metahuman side." She leaned back against her chair, hands coming together on her lap. "I realize that it has taken me forever to get a handle on my powers. And the only reason I even got there is because Shivhan showed me the Green."
"That's not the only reason and you know it," Iris put her hands on her hips, not about to let Belén once again belittle her own work. "Shivhan may have shown you the Green but you're the one who worked her ass off. You put Poison Ivy away."
Belén couldn't help the smile that spread across her face just from remembering that detail. She put Poison Ivy away. She'd taken down the vicious metahuman despite her shortcomings in regards to powers. It did make her a bit proud of herself. "Alright, my point here is that...the Green taught me a lot. It's also given me this sense of...belonging. It's where I come from."
"I'm glad you did," Iris smiled softly at her friend. She loved seeing Belén like this - they only had rare moments of happiness after all.
"I want other metahumans like me to know that there's a place where they can get a handle on their powers, where they can meet people like them. Plus, a lot of them are afraid of Datura and if they learn about the Green, then they learn how to defend themselves."
"That all sounds really good..."
"I sense there's a 'but' coming there," Belén raised an eyebrow at Iris (who had scrunched her face out of guilt). "What is it?"
"It's a really good idea," Iris began, which was just another warning that the 'but' was coming. "I think it would definitely help people-"
"-get on with it," Belén made a gesture with her hand.
Iris sighed deeply. "But...I don't think you'll get Scott to publish it." Belén rolled her eyes at the mention of their picky editor. "You saw how difficult it was to pass my Flash vs Zoom story last week. And I thought it was a pretty good one."
"It was," Belén assured her. She remembered how hard Iris had to fight with Scott just to pass the article that only pointed out Zoom's disappearance from the city, indicating that perhaps the Flash was responsible for it. Iris thought it would provide the public with a feeling of safety, but Scott thought it was just another fluff piece for the Flash.
Sometimes, Belén really hated Scott.
"I think you should talk about it with Scott first before you continue writing what promises to be a masterpiece," Iris made a gesture at the computer where she could see several pages of Belén's new-coming article.
Belén nodded silently. It was a good suggestion but she didn't exactly know how to go about it.
~ 0 ~
Barry and the others in STAR Labs returned to the building after a failed training session. In his defense, though, the training session had involved him running acorss a huge canyon with a very deep fall. He almost plummeted to his death had it not been for a drone.
Jesse, who had stayed behind and taken advantage to learn a little more about this world, curiously glanced at the incoming group. "So how'd it go?"
"Scooch," Cisco motioned her to get out of the seat she was in. Rolling her eyes, Jesse obeyed but also had her popcorn stolen by Cisco.
"Hey!" Belén came into the cortex a few seconds later. "How'd the training go?" her eyes laid on Barry but he looked away almost as soon as she'd turned her attention on him. "Not...not good?"
"He's not a red splat on the side of a mountain," Harry answered when he set his things down on a nearby table.
"Oh..."
"So, you didn't make the canyon jump?" Jesse then turned to Barry who had shaken his head disappointingly.
"No," he muttered then called to the others. "What else can we try?"
"A bigger canyon?" Cisco retorted and promptly received a smack upside the head from Belén. She hadn't exactly been in favor of the first canyon jump idea. "Okay, fine, no more canyons," he then amended and rubbed the back of his head.
"I know I can crack this. I've just been going about it wrong," Barry told himself, out loud, for some motivation. "I need to find my leg up. Have we factored in drag? Wells, can we rerun the simulation?"
Harry shook his head, seeming weary. "Let it go for now."
That did not sit well with Barry. "Zoom's still out there. He's terrorizing a whole world full of people, your world. You know, I'm not doing this for fun."
"Barry, we've been working on this all week," Caitlin joined in on the idea. "You're tired, we're tired."
Cisco turned on his chair, already garnering some excitement as he got up. "Yeah, what we need is some downtime. Downtime leads to increased productivity, ergo we have to have fun!"
"You couldn't have just said we 'needed a break'?" Belén raised an eyebrow at him.
"Shush!" Cisco pointed a finger at her and continued with his direction. "And the best way to have fun is for us to go out to the club! Am I right, Team Flash? Let's get turnt!"
"I am not going anywhere with you if you say 'turnt' again," Belén warned.
Cisco got serious then. "Fine. We need a break. Happy?"
"The English vocabulary thanks you."
"She can't come," Cisco told Barry and jerked his thumb at Belén.
The woman in question made a noise of offence as Cisco walked out of the room. "I can...I can still go right?" Barry and Caitlin exchanged amused looks but Belén was serious. "He was just kidding right?" Her hand flung to her forehead. "Oh my God I was mean. I'm gonna go apologize. Cisco!" Barry didn't even try to stop her. She rambled onto herself about her apology as she hurried after Cisco.
Jesse was staring in a dumbfounded way after Belén, still unable to believe she was the doppelganger of Datura. "If I had met her first, I wouldn't have been afraid of Datura."
Caitlin glanced at the younger woman, confused. "What?"
Barry quickly turned to Jesse, making a cutting motion across his neck. Jesse stuttered but ultimately made an excuse for herself.
"Everyone on this Earth is just so soft. It would've been hard to take anyone seriously on my Earth," Jesse nervously smiled. Caitlin hummed and started to leave as well.
"Please, you've got to be more careful," Barry said to Jesse when Caitlin was finally gone.
"I know, I'm sorry! It's just hard trying to separate the woman who terrorized me for three months from this version," Jesse gestured after Belén. "Remind me again why we can't tell her anything?"
"Because he thinks it'll somehow help fighting against Datura," Harry carried off his duffel bag of tools. "I don't need to actually tell you how that's not gonna work out, right?"
Barry rolled his eyes. He heard this lecture from him already, plus Cisco. He definitely was not aiming to go for a third time. "I'm trying to think of a way to say it right."
"There is no way to say it right," Harry flatly said. "Rip it off like a bandage, Allen. The earlier Belén knows, the better it'll be for her later on."
Barry hated that it was true. "I know," he sighed. "I'm gonna tell her, just...not tonight."
"Or the next one, or the next one…" Jesse smirked teasingly. "And probably not the next one either…"
Barry tried to ignore her teasing but Jesse turned out to be a lot better at that than at keeping the secrets.
~ 0 ~
Later that night, the group got ready to meet at the club that'd been decided by...someone. While they waited for Iris and Wally to join them, the group - and Jesse - got seated at the bar counter to get some drinks.
"Not exactly karaoke themed, huh…?" Belén flashed both Barry and Caitlin some smirks. She didn't know who looked more mortified: Barry or Caitlin.
"Belén, don't," Barry pointed a finger at her, but the woman laughed to herself.
"Did someone say karaoke?" Shivhan popped in behind them, eyes flickering between the pair curiously. "I hate karaoke - who loves that?"
"Barry and Caitlin," Belén didn't hesitate to say.
"Belén!" exclaimed Barry.
"What? What is it?" Jesse excitedly asked her instead, ignoring Barry's pleading motion not to keep going. Caitlin just had that mother's disappointment look but Belén was good at ignoring those.
"Let's just say that Caitlin should stick to her scientist job because as a singer…" Belén pursed her lips together and waited for Caitlin to do something.
Jesse glanced at Caitlin on her left. "I regret getting drunk," was all Caitlin was going to say.
"And then Barry…" Belén put a hand on her boyfriend's arm, "...turns out he could leave his job for the singing life." Jesse and Shivhan laughed together, almost becoming instant friends over the one matter. "Do you want to see the video I took of them? It's hilarious!"
"I will literally pay to see that!" Shivhan had to get near the table to support her body with it because her laughter was too strong.
"Dude," Cisco shook his head at Barry, leaving the speedster even more mortified than before.
Just as Belén began digging into her purse, Barry saw the bartender putting down their drinks in front of them and took his chance. "Oh, hey! Drinks! Here!"
Belén received her small glass with abruptness but ultimately smiled and waited for the others to get their drinks too. "Toast?" she asked happily.
"To Jay," Caitlin said after raising her drink first. Everyone repeated their friend's name and raised their glasses to the air. Caitlin lowered her hand, a thoughtful expression sitting on her face. "I wonder what Jay would say if he was here right now."
"What's a Kamikaze'?" Cisco imitated Jay's voice for a moment. "And then you'd spend ten minutes explaining it. And he'd say, 'Just kidding. We have those on Earth-2.'"
Jesse playfully rolled her eyes and neared her glass to her lips. "Yeah, well, we don't have those, so…"
Just as she was about to take a drink, Shivhan leaned over and took the glass from her. "Eh-eh, I'm sorry, Miss Underage."
"Ah!" Jesse tried holding onto her drink in vain.
"Sorry, it's the bartender in me," Shivhan gladly drank Jesse's cup until it was completely empty. "Also, I'm a professional drinker." She whistled for the bartender to come by again. "Another one, please!"
Jesse forgot all about her stolen drink due to the fact her watch was beeping nonstop. "Ah, this thing's annoying. I'll be back." She hurried through the crowds and was lost within the minute.
"She's cute," Shivhan said afterwards. "You should probably keep her away from me cos, you know." She had accepted her new drink and gestured to it as an example. "I like me some drinks."
"She's really nice but honestly, sometimes I get the feeling she doesn't like me very much," Belén admitted now that it was just them. She missed Barry and Cisco nearly choking on their drinks while she was wallowing in her moment. "I feel like I scare her or something."
"I'm sure it's nothing," Caitlin assured her. "She's just gone through a lot and she's probably adjusting still."
"Plus, kids are weird," Shivhan thought her input was a truly important detail that no one should overlook. "Who knows what's going on inside her head."
"Probably how weird you are," Cisco shook his head. "Hey Cait, I know I'm practically your brother, and I'm, like, half Jay's size, but you want to dance?" He thought it'd be a good way to steer the conversation away from Belén and Jesse. Barry sure seemed grateful for it.
Caitlin swayed her head thoughtfully then smiled. "Sure. C'mon, let's go."
"Shivhan?" Cisco motioned the woman brunette to come along as well. She did, but not without her drink in hand.
Belén laughed to herself as she and Barry watched the trio go towards the dance floor. "That'll be a sight to see." True to her words, Cisco almost immediately began to throw out some odd moves that had poor Caitlin looked around with embarrassment.
Barry nearly lost it when Shivhan raised her free hand and said "Absolutely not!" then walked away with her drink.
"You know, when we almost dated...Cisco asked if I wanted to go on a dancing date…" Belén said in-between her laughs, "I am so glad I said 'no'."
"So am I," Barry put his glass down. He rested his arms on the table and looked at Belén. He noticed her ever-lasting smile and her constant shifting. "You okay?"
"Um…" Belén scratched her head, "...I'm fine, I'm just…" she shook her head, still smiling but now with a twinge of embarrassment.
"What?" Barry nudged her on the side with his arm.
Belén chuckled, and if it hadn't been for the multiple lights in the club Barry would have noticed her blush. "It's weird…"
"Well, we're all weird, so...c'mon…" Barry nudged her again and shared a small laugh with her.
"It's just...what you told me this morning...about us…" Belén sheepishly looked at him, "...being married in another world...it's just weird," she ended up laughing again.
You have no idea, Barry thought and cleared his throat.
Belén released a big breath but ended up chuckling again. "It's weird, you know? Like...like someone else is living our lives...ahead of us. What do you think our doppelgangers are doing right now?"
"Probably Earth-2's equivalent of 'Netflix and chill,'" Barry blurted thinking about the ideal marriage life he would like to have but then he thought of the true nature of Datura and Earth 2 Barry's relationship. She's evil and he's in hiding, he reminded himself. That was not what he envisioned as the married life with Belén.
However, since Belén didn't know about the real situation of their doppelgangers, she laughed. "Right…sounds nice…" she glanced with a sly smile on her face. "For them...I meant…"
"Right," Barry mocked her for a second. He leaned closer to her, coyness on his face. "For them?"
"For them…" Belén lightly nodded her head.
"You sure…?" Barry stopped just in front of her. His eyes would flicker from her eyes to her lips.
"This is most certainly not the place to be discussing this," Belén said but her tone implied a sauciness that Barry just could not ignore.
"Your fault for looking extra good tonight," Barry said plainly. "Had I known that option was on the table, I would've never come here."
"Ooh…" Belén let her lips brush over his, "...well you should have said something."
A huge smirk was visible on Barry's face before he kissed her. Belén snaked an arm around his neck to keep him right with her. Barry was all for pleasing her so he leaned in closer, deepening their kiss. It was almost like they were forgetting where they were.
Fortunately they had someone to remind them.
"I never imagined I would see Barry in a club and much less making out with a hot girl," Iris laughed when she and Wally approached the table. Barry threw her a sarcastically annoyed glance while Belén just leaned on him, embarrassed. "Now I hope I never see that again," Iris finished with a second laugh.
"Hi, Iris," Belén greeted shyly, letting Barry away them a little. "Hi, Wally."
"Hey, interesting choice of venue. The tic-tac-toe theme is cool," Wally said in an effort to move on from the awkwardness.
"Cisco picked it," Barry went fast, leaving Belén's answer to go a bit after.
"Barry picked it!"
Barry looked down at her, offended she'd rat him out like that. "I...for real?"
Belén nodded, not seeming a bit bothered. "I know what you can't do now: pick places to have fun. That's what you can't leave your job for."
Barry gave in with a sigh. "Yeah, alright. I picked it. I don't go out much. It had four stars on Yelp, so…"
"Yelp," Belén repeated and struggled not to laugh. "Iris, you ruined him!"
"What!?" Iris incredulously responded, close to laughing herself. "Me!?"
"You were supposed to get him out of the house! Sneak out and try new places?"
"I am standing right here," Barry cut their small argument off. He looked between them both, utterly offended.
They barely got another laugh when something strong rushed through the place. The four were momentarily pushed in different directions as something - or rather someone - sped from one place to the next.
"It was the Flash!" a random woman cried when the speedster had left.
"My wallet's gone!" went another woman.
"HEY! They stole my drink!" Shivhan's enraged voice overpowered the others. Her empty hand was now balled and ready to throw some punches.
Belén quickly searched for her own purse and scowled when she saw it was gone. She held onto her left hand which still, thankfully, had her promise ring. "My purse is gone too," she glanced back but Barry was already gone after the mysterious metahuman.
Caitlin and Cisco came rushing out of the dance floor, both missing valuable items as well. They would later learn from Barry that it was indeed another speedster but, unfortunately, one who seemed impossibly faster than him as well.
~0~
The next day, at CC Picture News, Iris stopped by Belén's desk with some new information. She'd visited the crime scene earlier that morning to see what else she could find out. Things were not looking good.
"I spoke to a woman that was there and she snapped a photo of the red blur," Iris handed her phone to Belén so she could see the image. "Look familiar?"
"Oh, crap," Belén sighed as she gazed at almost the same image Iris had once had taken a year ago. "Same angle and everything…" she gave Iris her phone back.
"Mhm," Iris put her phone away.
"Iris, we can't show that to anyone," Belén said, eyeing some of their co-workers passing by.
"That's gonna be a little hard…" Iris apologized beforehand.
Because five minutes later, their editor Scott Evans called for a meeting. The picture had already made its round online. He proudly turned a laptop around for all the writers to see.
"Here it is, people: evidence that the Flash has gone rogue!"
"It could be a different speedster, obviously," Belén didn't hesitate to remark from her spot. She had a face that said she was not going to keep her opinions quiet.
Evans seemed to be expecting it. He made a round on the table, upholding Belén's stare. "The photo speaks for itself. No helmet glare that would have been given if it was the other Speedster we saw a couple weeks ago."
"So then who's to say it's not another?"
"Who's to say that it isn't?"
Belén stared at him for a good long minute. The rest of the workers, including Iris, awkwardly glanced from Belén to Evans, waiting to see who would break eye contact first.
"The picture could be any speedster with a red trail," Belén finally spoke again. "True or false?"
"True. But since there hasn't been any records, right now we're going to assume that it is the Flash. Got it?" Evans asked in a sort of authoritative tone, as if to remind her that she worked for him. Belén didn't answer. She focused on her papers instead. Evans then began to hand out assignments for the rest of the table. "McKay, I want you at the police department getting any interview you can. Williams, eyewitness encounters. The people of this city need to know what it feels like to be robbed by a hero. West, Palayta, I want you both to do a piece on it from your perspectives. You were there last night. You've seen him in action."
Belén was about to snap so Iris quickly jumped in. "Okay, but why would the Flash need to make off with a couple of hundred bucks when he's saved so many lives? I mean, he is actually a hero. It doesn't make sense."
"Iris, you're a smart woman. You can't be that naive. We live in a city full of meta-humans who continually do whatever they want, the Flash included. I wouldn't be surprised if the Azalea robbed the bank tomorrow," Evans responded back. Iris would have remarked about that but she saw Belén was close to snapping her pencil in two. "Write it up, his journey from streak to freak, due on my desk tomorrow."
The workers dispersed to get started on their respective assignments but Belén and Iris lagged to get to their desks. Safe to say the omber-blonde was fuming.
"He is out of his damn mind if he thinks I am writing that garbage," she placed her work on her desk just a bit too loud. "What?" she hissed at some of the odd stares she got because of it.
Iris blocked her view to avoid further problems. "You need to calm down before you end up losing your job."
"I'm not writing that-"
"Well, we have a day until it's die so that means we have a day to figure out who the real criminal is."
Belén agreed with a nod. "Fine, but I still hate him."
"Why don't you take off instead? Evans will think you're just gonna go do that assignment away from here," Iris didn't exactly wait for Belén to respond because she was already getting Belén's purse off the desk.
"You're afraid I'm gonna beat the crap out of him, aren't you?"
"Yes," Iris held the purse out and smiled.
A small laugh erupted from Belén's lips. "50% close to it, not gonna lie."
"Go!" Iris exclaimed and pointed her to the door. "And maybe you can think about a way to approach him about that article you want to publish?"
Belén's face fell when she remembered that. Turns out, she might just need to be nice to the guy now.
~0~
Being the only sound place she could think of, Belén went to STAR Labs to see how her friends were doing with their case. Just as she was coming out of the elevator, she saw Barry and Cisco walking down from the other end of the corridor.
"Hey, you're early," Barry noted as they met each other halfway.
"Yeah, well, Iris thought it would be better if I stayed away from CCPN for the rest of the day…"
"Why?"
"Hm, because I am so close to snapping my boss in two," Belén sounded like she was promising, even raising her index finger to her thumb to show just how close she was to doing it.
Cisco couldn't help awkwardly laugh and say, "You sounded just like-" but Barry caught him and abruptly whacked him on the stomach.
Of course Belén saw it and became confused. "I sounded like what?"
"Nothing! Nothing at all," Cisco couldn't stop smiling so Belén wouldn't buy his excuse.
"No, say it," she demanded. "That's the second time you say something like that and act all...weird. Even more weird than you usually do."
"Bells, he's just messing around," Barry took her hand to lead her into the cortex.
"Yeah, well, I'm not liking it!"
Barry threw Cisco a 'get it together' look to which Cisco meekly smiled back.
"Hey Bells," Caitlin greeted and, unknowingly, took some of the heat off Cisco.
"Hi, Caitlin," Belén greeted with a sigh and took the seat next to her. "Any news on the speedster? Because I'm about to lose my job over it."
"Nope," Caitlin shook her head, although afterwards she (along with Barry and Cisco) gave Belén an odd look for her choice of words.
"Our editor Evans wants me and Iris to do a piece that would basically bash on the Flash."
Cisco let out a giggle. "Hey, that rhymed."
"Shut up!" snapped Belén, rolling her eyes. "I mean it. And what's worse is that I have to be nice to him if I want my next idea published." Once more, she received the same confused stares from her friends. "I just came up with this new idea for an article that would be all about introducing the Green to botanical metahumans, explaining to them that there's this place that can help them control their powers, learn new abilities and just a place where they can meet others like them."
"That sounds really nice, Bells," Barry smiled at her softly. It'd been a while since she'd been inspired that passionately and he didn't want anyone to ruin it, especially that Evans guy. He'd heard from Iris that Evans wasn't so nice. "It would definitely help botanical metahumans."
"Yeah but Evans won't pass it," Belén sighed. "He already thinks that I favor metahumans a lot—"
"Which you do," Cisco chimed in, thinking it was only a fair point to admit a fact. "But it's not bad!"
Belén playfully rolled her eyes. "Anyways, I already have a good portion written and I have more ideas...I just don't know how I'm gonna convince Evans, especially when I tell him I'm not writing his stupid piece."
"Yeah, that'll make it harder," Caitlin bit her lower lip, only offering Belén an apologetic smile because none of them really know what to do to help Belén.
Belén chuckled. "I have to figure something out."
"And you will," Barry moved behind her chair and lowered to kiss her head. "Nothing stands in the Azalea's way."
Belén happily took his comforting kisses. She'd noticed that he'd been a bit more...clingy lately. And 'clingy' wasn't exactly the word she would use, but it started there. Barry would hug her more, sometimes for no reason, surprise her with kisses (all types of kisses) and sometimes she would catch him giving her some odd looks that she just couldn't figure out. It was nice having all the extra attention, but she couldn't help feel like she was missing something.
"So what do we have on this new speedster, then?" Barry had moved the conversation along, nonethewiser about what was running through Belén's head at the moment. His hands were resting over her shoulders, rubbing circles over her skin.
"We've double-checked to make sure that the breaches are closed and...they are," Cisco sighed, sparing his computer a glance as if things would be different that time.
"So how do we know this isn't another of Zoom's henchmen that just has the power to open breaches?" Belén looked at the three scientists for a good explanation. "I mean, Cisco, you said your doppelganger could do all sorts of manipulations with energy. Or…" she drawled, swaying her head, "...how do we know that our fellow siphoner hasn't found that power yet?"
Once more, Cisco got some heat when he choked on his coffee. Barry felt like he would end up speeding Cisco into the pipeline just so that he wouldn't mess things up again.
"She's got a point there," Caitlin, being the only of the two scientists to not know about Datura and Belén, begun to think about it herself. "If Datura could actually manage to siphon a meta with breacher powers, she could very well be using it to bring metahumans over here like Zoom."
"She's not!" Barry said, a tad sharply too. Belén looked between him and Cisco with a confused expression yet increasingly turning annoyed. "I-I mean, Datura was really sick the last time we saw her. I mean, really sick. I doubt she'll be siphoning anytime soon." Belén's gaze still lingered on him, something that made Barry shift on his feet even more.
"The only other way to become a speedster is from a particle accelerator explosion," Cisco ventured to once more take Belén's attention. "But even then, it doesn't make sense because why would they make themselves known now?"
"Actually," Caitlin looked up from the computers, "There is another way."
"What do you mean?" Barry asked.
"Caitlin…" Belén murmured, now attracting suspicious looks from Barry and Cisco.
Caitlin got up from her chair to go retrieve what was left of Velocity nine. She came back with the only vial left. "It's called Velocity-9…"
"Ooh, that's a sexy-ass name," Cisco remarked.
"What is it?" Barry eyed the odd red liquid in the vial.
"It's a speed drug. Jay took it when you were on Earth-2 to save the city from a meta-human."
Barry opened his mouth but, from his surprise, nothing really came out. He glanced at Belén to see what she had to say but she didn't want to look him in the eyes. "H-how...how could you not tell me this? Either of you?"
"I promised Jay I wouldn't," Caitlin said.
"Jay, what do you... why?"
"Because Jay knew how dangerous this drug is," Harry came in with a duffel bag over his shoulder. "I should know, Barry; Snow and I worked on it together."
Barry was bordering between confusion and anger. "Guys, I have been busting my butt out there, pushing myself to the limit, trying to get better, trying to be faster, and you're telling me that there's been something this whole time that could've helped me?"
"It's a drug, Barry," Belén finally spoke up. "Do we really need to explain to you why we didn't say anything?"
"Jay was sick," Caitlin added, her voice shaking a bit. "The drug that he took to regain his speed was also causing cellular degeneration. It was killing him. I tried to help, I tried to find a cure, but in all my experiments, the effects were just temporary. The V-9 is deadly."
"Why not tell me this?" Barry insisted, frankly feeling a little betrayed. The again, when he looked at Belén's guilty face he saw flashes of her doppelganger and remembered his secret.
"Because it's dangerous," Belén saw nothing of his guilt. She got up from her seat and turned to him. "If it's dangerous, I didn't want it near you. I'm sorry."
The guilt was rising. Barry took her hand from his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Are you okay?" Caitlin's sudden question made everyone see that Cisco was in that lost, distant moment he usually got into when he…
"Did you vibe?" asked Harry.
Cisco was standing beside Jay's helmet under the glass casing. "Uh…" Cisco barely got himself out of his vibe when the metahuman alert went off. "Metahuman!" he dashed for the desk. "Yeah, social media app for the win. Bad Flash is back." He caught himself after a second and shook his head. "Bad Flash... what? No. I'm losing my touch over here."
"I'll get him," Barry said and sped out of the place.
"Thanks for the head's up with Velocity-9," Belén mumbled to Caitlin.
"Sorry," went the brunette.
"He's coming up on Fifth and Everett," Cisco was guiding Barry through the streets. "You can use the alley to cut him off."
But Barry wasn't able to cut them off, because she had thrown him over the top of a cab. Barry toppled over and fell to the roadside with glass shattering all around him. The speedster, turning out to be a petite, dark-haired woman in a red and yellow suit stopped only to smugly smile at Barry.
~ 0 ~
Cisco went ballistic with joy after hearing what Barry had to say about their new speedster. "A lady speedster!" he couldn't stop laughing despite standing by Caitlin who was taking care of Barry's injuries. "It only took us two years, but we finally got one, a lady speedster."
Not everyone shared his laugh.
Cisco put his hands together and moved closer to Barry. "Hey, here's a question for you, purely scientific, was she good-looking?"
"Yeah," Belén pushed Cisco to the side and gave Barry a rather threatening stare, "Was she?"
"You know, I was a little busy getting my ass handed to me, so I didn't really notice anything," Barry told them both but did flash Belén a little smile. "Not that I would have wanted to."
"Good answer."
"Right, right, right, but, you know, next time, for science?" Cisco still persisted.
"Okay, yeah, next time she punches me in the face, I'll be sure to get her number."
"And that'd be the last thing you'd do," Belén's smirk made Barry rethink about even joking about. He swore that she was purposely acting like her doppelganger would...or maybe that was just the guilt talking?
"Hey," Veronica walked into the cortex to see the bad sight that was Barry's face. "Ouch, that had to hurt. Did it hurt though? Cos of your, you know...fast healing and all?"
Barry, amused, smiled. "A bit."
"Alright, well, CCPD has zero idea who this speedster is and now all the fingers are pointing at..." Veronica's finger landed on Barry, apologetically smiling at him. "Joe's trying to do damage control right now but...we really need to figure out who the speedster is."
"She's a she," Cisco giggled, earning himself a strange look from Veronica.
"Seriously, you need a date," Belén patted his shoulder.
"Maybe we could run her face through facial recognition?" Veronica asked, but they all shook their heads.
"She had a mask on," Barry explained.
Caitlin stepped back when she finished with his cut on his cheek. Barry thanked her and started back for the cortex, dropping a kiss on Belén's hair just to get on her good side.
"What was her suit like?" Cisco kept asking much to the annoyance of the others save Harry.
"Hey," Caitlin gave him a scolding look.
"It's a valid question," Cisco raised his hands in defense.
"It is, actually," Harry spoke up to agree then asked Barry himself. "How was her suit constructed?"
"It was good," Barry admitted as he thought back to the suit of the woman. "It was very good. It was like mine. It was made by somebody who understands the needs of a speedster."
"So she has to be a scientist, then?" Belén theorized. "Or at least know someone in the field?"
"Access to tech and a lab," Harry pointed at her.
Caitlin suddenly went wide-eyed when she realized something. "Oh, no. I'm having a very bad thought." She hurried over to the desk to pull something up from the computers. In no time she had pulled up the profile of a young, brunette woman for them to see. "When I designed V-9, I was having trouble formatting the extracellular matrix, so I called a colleague of mine at Mercury Labs for some assistance, Eliza Harmon."
"She knows how to make this speed drug?" Barry asked, not liking where this was going.
"No, I followed the protocols of information compartmentalization. I only gave her three of the eight components necessary for V-9's structure."
"Okay, so she didn't have the full recipe…"
"Unless she reverse engineered her own V-9," Harry chimed in.
"Eliza's a genius, but that's way out of character for her," Caitlin didn't want to think her own friend was using something so dangerous to steal.
"Well, it's worth taking a look," Veronica resolved.
"I'll go see her," Caitlin took responsibility and shut the computer off. She wanted to see Eliza for herself and hoped to God that her friend wouldn't lie to her face.
"Can I come?" Belén suddenly asked. She wasn't even surprised with the other's puzzled looks. "I just...you know...I want to start the article that's going to bash the new speedster instead of you, Barry."
"Right," Veronica nodded as she cast a suspicious gaze on her daughter. "You won't be able to talk to her, though."
"That's okay," Belén dismissed the crucial detail that would craft her article. She grabbed her bag off the desk and hurried after her mother and Caitlin.
~0~
When the trio of women arrived at Mercury Labs, Belén was all for going inside until her mother pulled her back and told Caitlin to go ahead.
"Why aren't we going in?" Belén asked her mother once Caitlin had crossed through the entrance doors of the building.
"Because you obviously can't talk to me if I'm interrogating some other woman," Veronica motioned her daughter to return to the car and while Belén did, she did with confusion.
"But...we can't just leave Caitlin-"
"-don't worry about it, I texted Joe before coming. He's already waiting inside."
"You said he was doing damage control at the precinct!"
"Yeah, now I owe him so-" Veronica leaned against the side of her car and crossed her arms, "-why don't you tell me what's on your mind?"
Belén blinked and nearly laughed for being read so easily. "I'm not...there's nothing in my...what?" Veronica raised an eyebrow at her, staring at her until Belén stopped laughing. "Okay fine, maybe there is," she lowered her head, feeling like a child who'd been caught. "How did you know?"
"It's on your face," Veronica said. "I've actually began learning how to read them." Veronica had said that in a bittersweetness that Belén picked up on straightaway. She knew she should've learned how to read Belén's expressions long ago, like when she was a child. But to have learned that, she should've been with her daughter and other children from the start. Veronica deeply regretted it and it would always be her biggest regret.
"You're doing good, Mom," Belén said after a few seconds, offering her mother a kind smile. It did make Veronica feel a bit better.
"Alright so tell me what's going on?"
Belén sighed. "If I knew, I wouldn't be here. Barry's been acting strange ever since he got back from Earth 2."
"I would think so considering the things he saw and went through in that other world..."
"I know but...I just think there's something else," Belén folded her arms and thought about the weird moments she'd had so far with him. "He's been extra attentive lately. I get all these extra hugs and kisses and...he's just extra there for me."
"Hey, if a man wants to give you more attention, then you let it happen," Veronica shrugged. "Your father used to shower me with gifts whenever he royally screwed up."
Belén chuckled. "Yeah, that sounds like him."
"All I'm saying is, maybe the reason Barry's acting like that is because of what happened on Earth 2. He said he almost didn't make it back. That can make him really appreciate what he has on this Earth."
Belén nodded. She could definitely understand that logic but it wasn't enough to quench her suspicions. "There's more, Mom. He's kind of...secretive? Sometimes I see him very focused on his work but when he sees me...he scrambles to close things and get my attention off it. And when I ask him about the work, he gives me obscure answer and then really tries to get my attention somewhere else."
"Okay, maybe that's cause for alarm. Usually when somebody doesn't want you to see something of theirs it's because it's wrong. Either that or they're cheating..."
Belén's eyes widened in terrible alarm. "What—!?"
"But he's not!" Veronica quickly said, motioning with her hands for Belén not to even go down that road. "Barry is not that type. From what you've told me, he could barely talk to you on a date. It's not that sweetie."
Belén shook her head. Of course it couldn't be that. She had to stop being so dramatic. "Okay, but you agree that there is something going on with him, right?" she came to stand next to her mother, leaning against the car too. "I'm not worrying over nothing?"
"I'm not saying that you should worry. Sometimes scientists just really get into their work - I also say that from experience," Veronica rolled her eyes, making Belén laugh as she wondered what her father used to do with his work that would have Veronica so upset. "Who knows, maybe Barry's just working on some CCPD stuff. He is, after all, the forensics. Some of the cases are just too gruesome and I wouldn't want you to see them either."
"So what do you think I should do?" Belén bit her lower lip.
"Honestly? The most logical thing you can do: talk to him?"
"Yeah, I had a feeling you might say that," Belén said but offered her mother another smile. "But thanks for listening to me. It's nice having my Mom to talk to about these things."
Veronica smiled back and put an arm around her daughter's shoulders. "I know I've missed out on a lot of them but I promise I'm going to be here from now on. Until the day I die and I plan on living a very long life, so..." she swayed her head, "I might be here for the grandkids' problems."
"Oh!" Belén laughed with flushed cheeks. "Right!"
~ 0 ~
When Belén and Caitlin returned, they found Cisco working quietly in the cortex. Belén put a finger over her mouth, warning Caitlin not to make a noise as they stepped in. Caitlin smiled, barely able to restrain her laugh as Belén tip-toed up to Cisco's chair.
"HEY CISCO!"
"Jesus!" Cisco's arms flailed in the air from fear. He jumped right out of his chair and faced the two laughing women. "That was - that was not funny!"
"Then why are we laughing?" Belén had an arm around her stomach from how hard she was laughing.
Cisco's face fell flat. "You are very bad friends."
"Would a bad friend bring you new twizzlers?" Belén asked and motioned to her bag where said candy would be.
Cisco's eyes flickered between the bag and Belén. "...all is forgiven but show me the candy." He walked up to her while Caitlin went to go leave her things at the desk. Something on Cisco's computer caught her attention, though.
"Alright, alright, don't go digging through my things," Belén swatted Cisco's hand away so she could pull out the new packet of twizzlers.
"Glorious!" Cisco cheered when he had the packet in his hand. He didn't waste a second and ripped it open.
"I've never seen anyone so happy over twizzlers," Belén shook her head. Cisco already had a piece of a Twizzler in his mouth by then.
"Hey Cisco, what are you working on exactly?" Caitlin called from the desk. Now that she'd taken a better look at the computer screen, she was puzzled and, frankly, a bit curious.
Cisco's eyes widened in alarm. He dashed for the desk, yelling a her to get away from it. "It's just something I was looking into!"
Caitlin raised an eyebrow and checked to see Belén's reaction. The ombre-blonde nodded her head. There was something fishy going on.
"J-just something," Cisco repeated after turning the screen off. He turned around with a wide smile on his face as he offered them the Twizzler bag. "Twizzler?"
"I'll take one," Belén held her hand out for the packet. Cisco gladly walked over to her to change the subject only when he did, Caitlin dashed back for the desk and turned the computer screen back on.
"Caitlin!" Cisco exclaimed when he caught onto the trick.
"Stop right there, mister!" Belén chucked a vine at him to keep him in place.
"Are you seriously vine-ing me right now!?" Cisco had his arms pressed against his sides, no way he was getting out of it until Belén decided.
"You're acting very suspicious," Belén pointed at his current situation. "It was called for." She moved up to the desk and waited for Caitlin to finish skimming whatever was on the screen, though the more she read the more confused she looked. "Cait?" Belén called after a moment. "What is it?"
"Caitlin, don't say anything," Cisco resorted to pleads with the intention of explaining to Caitlin a bit later when Belén wasn't in the room.
"Are you serious?" Caitlin, naturally, threw him a look for his request. "This is a basis for a cure."
"A cure?" Belén repeated, cocking her head to the side.
"Caitlin, please," Cisco begged again but Caitlin shook her head. She had no idea what was going on but she couldn't be a part of it.
"The gene codes are meant for a botanical metahuman," Caitlin met Belén's gaze, both sorry and still confused. "Specifically for cells that are absorbing and deteriorating..."
That made Belén stop. "Absorb energy?" Caitlin nodded silently. Belén's head snapped in Cisco's direction, making the man gulp. She was looking positively angry already. "Francisco Ramon tell me this isn't what I'm thinking?"
"Bells, I was just doing a favor..."
Belén's hands shot up, making him stop talking. "He's been waking up so early lately...all the books...the secret work..." she felt her chest losing air despite there being a limitless amount in the room.
"I don't understand what's going on," Caitlin admitted, and partly in case Belén wanted to direct some of that anger towards her too.
"I know you don't," Belén muttered. "Because you look just as lost as I am. Barry's been acting very strange ever since he got back from Earth 2 and now I'm going to figure out exactly why." She stormed out of the cortex, ignoring Cisco's calls for her to release him.
"What did you guys do?" Caitlin asked him with a heavy sigh. The last thing they needed right now was for there to be a division amongst the group.
~ 0 ~
When Belén came into the portal room, Barry was already in the middle of another heated argument with Harry over the velocity-9 he'd taken. This, however, did not matter for Belén.
"Get out!" she rudely said to Harry. She would probably end up apologizing for that one later to him when she was better. Right now, all she wanted was to get answers.
"Excuse me?" Harry found it amusing instead of offensive.
"Actually…" Belén began to think a little more, "...stay. Maybe you can tell me why my boyfriend is attempting to create a cure for the woman who wants to kill me."
Harry was nowhere near surprised. Instead, he glanced at Barry with an 'I told you' face and promptly waited to hear what Barry would come up with.
Barry was seriously kicking himself right about now. Velocity-9 was forgotten now that his furious girlfriend was waiting for him with a tapping foot. "Bells…"
"Yes, Barry?"
He winced at her sharp voice. "I can explain…"
"Great, cos I can't wait to hear it," Belén crossed her arms and leaned on one hip.
"But you're not gonna like it."
"I'm not liking things now."
"I told you so," Harry mumbled to Barry.
"You know," Belén pointed at him. "And so does Cisco. I just caught him doing the work for the stupid cure."
"It was my call—"
"Surprising," Belén frowned at Barry. "I don't understand because last time I heard, Datura was on a rampage to kill me. You remember that, right? She's a metahuman, with siphoning powers, and she wants to kill me."
Barry opened his mouth several times to tell her the truth but every time he did, nothing came out. It was a lot harder than he thought. And with each second he didn't talk, Belén became even more angry.
"She kidnapped my family!" she started shouting. "She's hurt me so many times and you want to help her!? The only help I'm gonna give her is a way into the pipeline!"
"Just say it, Allen," Harry said plainly. "Rip it off like a bandage."
"It's not that easy!" Barry managed to tell him.
"Why?" demanded Belén. "What makes this woman so special enough to have you making a cure for her? What? Does she have Poison Ivy's trick of controlling pheromones too?"
"She doesn't need that, trust me," Harry found the moment to say with a hint of a smile.
"For real?" Barry turned on him, giving him a weary expression.
Belén looked close to murdering. "What does that mean?"
"Bells, look, yes, I am making a cure for Datura but I have a good reason, honest," but Barry still couldn't find the words to say why.
"What is it?"
"You're not going to like it, alright? In fact, it's probably going to do you harm and that's why I didn't tell you straightaway. I was trying to think of the best way to tell you but-"
"I told you it was impossible," Harry cut him off. "There is no way anyone could take that in a good way."
"Alright, I need you to be quiet!" Barry snapped. He ran his hands through his hair and took a deep breath before he spoke to Belén again. "I met Datura on Earth 2 way before I saw Zoom. I thought...I thought she…" Barry released another breath he didn't realize he was holding.
"You thought she what?" Belén asked, bordering the line of confusion there.
"Honestly? I thought she had...killed your doppelganger…" Barry watched the horror cross her face.
"Excuse me?" Belén scrunched her face. "You said you met my doppelganger. You said she was married to yours—"
"And they did! Well, they are...technically…"
"Barry, I'm not understanding and that's saying something because when I came here I thought I understood nothing."
"Get on with it," Harry urged Barry.
This is still the easy part to tell, Barry thought. "Before we crossed to Earth 2 my doppelganger thought your doppelganger was dead. He thought his wife was dead."
"Thought…?"
"I was mad, I was...I was furious...when I read that Datura had been a suspect of that crime so naturally I sought to find Datura and demand to know why she'd hurt your doppelganger…" and this is where Barry lost his courage. Belén recognized a true terror on his face and couldn't decide what it was for. "I found something completely different. She wasn't dead. She was living, breathing, and walking..."
"...and terrorizing…" Harry mumbled under his breath.
"Alright—" Barry had enough of his inputs and went to take him out when Belén called to him again, clapping her hands for their attention.
"You tell me right now what this is all about or I'm gonna poison you!"
"Bells, your doppelganger lives because she's...she's…" Barry took another pause, this time deciding he was going to force himself to say it in one go. Like a bandage. "Earth 2's Belén is Datura."
It was fairly quick how Belén lost the color in her face. Her eyes nearly bulged from her head the way they widened. She was close to laughing, really, as a first response, because she thought it was a joke. It had to be a joke. It was a cruel, sinister joke that Harry had probably thought of…
"You've got to tell me the truth right now…" she demanded again, but Barry gave her the nod that he was telling the truth. She swallowed hard and stepped back. "You are joking."
"Bells…"
"No," she pointed at him, warning him to get on with the actual truth. "You need to tell me right now, or…" but she trailed off when she saw the inevitable sadness in his eyes. It was the same concern he showed for her. It was the same care. "I-I'm not...she's not…" her eyes flickered to Harry who, not doubt, would confirm it without hesitation.
"Yes, she is," he said. "She is and she's sick. So of course Barry here thought if he made the cure for her she would stop with all the murdering and go back to being the woman she was before."
Belén put a hand to her forehead, trying to think rationally about what she was hearing. Her doppelganger was evil? She was a murderer? Absolutely not. It couldn't be. "I-I'm not...no!" she shouted suddenly. "You're lying!"
"I wouldn't lie to you about something like this—" Barry tried to say but she cut him off.
"Who knows what you're making up instead! You just don't want to tell me!"
"Bells—"
"But Poison Ivy would tell me," she thought on her own. Her eyes flickered to the side. "If there's anyone who would love to tell me the bitter truth it's her."
"Bells, you don't have to do this," Barry walked towards her but she had already started to leave. "Belén!"
"If you stop me right now it'll be the last thing you do!" she warned him.
"Belén, c'mon, think about this! Why would I lie? I hate telling you this but it's the truth. I'm sorry!"
Belén's eyes were already shining with tears but she would not let them fall. "No, maybe you made a mistake. Maybe she just took my form." She strode into the pipeline with Barry right behind her. "She siphons powers so maybe she just siphoned a shapeshifter."
"I wish she did but she wasn't," Barry stopped her just before her hand could touch the control pad of the pods. "She was you. She was you with your...with your pretty face…"
"Don't say that," Belén shook her head.
"She has your eyes, your voice, your hair...she's you."
Belén couldn't look him in the eyes. It was like she felt embarrassment but how could she? She hadn't done anything wrong. Her hand pressed the control, and her tissue print was confirmed.
Barry sighed as the pipeline began to open up. Poison Ivy's prison pod was brought to view and the ginger greeted them with her trademark sinister smirk.
"Trouble in paradise?" she noticed right off the bad. "You should know, I don't do couples' therapy."
Belén sniffled and glared at her. "I'm going to ask this once and you better answer." Poison Ivy raised an eyebrow, her smirk only widening. "Is she me? Is...is Datura me? My doppelganger?"
Poison Ivy laughed shortly and met Barry's gaze. "You finally told her? Took you long enough you coward!"
Belén put her hands together and pressed them to the bridge of her nose. "Oh my God, it's true" she said in utter horror.
"Okay, we're done!" Barry reached for the control pad but Belén pulled his hand back. "Bells!"
"What's wrong with her!?" she demanded from Poison Ivy. "Why is she the way she is? Why does she want to kill me!?"
Poison Ivy leaned forwards on the wall of her pod. "Barry here knows. After all, he has come down to visit me over the past couple of weeks." At the new revelation, Belén cast Barry another irritated glance. "She's sick, haven't you heard? She's been sick for a long time now. I tried to help her but...nothing worked. And then Zoom discovered the breaches and we saw the chance. She heard of her doppelganger here and decided to test you."
"By 'test' you mean shoot me?" Belén scoffed. "She nearly killed me."
"That was the idiot of Atom Smasher. We wanted to know if you possessed abilities like her. She was mighty disappointed to see how weak you were," Poison Ivy gave her a condescending look-over. "But, since you were her doppelganger and you did possess a similar base power...we thought we could use you as the cure."
"See that? I'm your crucial ingredient," Belén sarcastically told Barry. "Were you planning on drawing blood from me while I was asleep?"
"No, I wouldn't have!" Barry snapped, offended she would think that of him.
"Oh, don't be too hard on him," Poison Ivy mocked them with a pout. "Datura looks exactly like you - prettier of course and with better hair - but all in all you are identical. I'm sure Barry couldn't stand the idea of a version of you that was dying. Isn't that right?"
Belén briefly glanced at Barry to see his reaction. Of course, it did seem to ring some truth in him. For a moment, she debated what she would have done if roles were reversed. She thought little on it because her anger was overriding it.
"Well you know what? Datura can die for all I care. She hurt my family, she hurt my friends, and she's nearly killed me."
Poison Ivy growled and slammed a hand on the pod. "You won't defeat her! It's impossible!"
"Ha, watch me. Or better yet, I'll just let her decay until she dies on her own! Either way, I'll make sure to send you what's left of her so she can keep you company - dead or alive!"
Poison Ivy shouted all sorts of threats while Belén closed the pipeline down. Barry honestly didn't know if Belén had been only saying those words to get a rile out of Poison Ivy or because she actually meant them. The latter scared him.
"Belén…" he tried to reach for her but she stepped away.
She pushed her hair behind her shoulders, taking a deep breath in while the tears began to roll down her cheeks. "She's me! She's actually me!"
"I'm so sorry," Barry couldn't find more words to say at the moment.
"Did she hurt him?" she asked in-between her sniffles. "Did she hurt Barry from Earth 2?"
"No, she couldn't," Barry reassured fast, for her sake. "Actually, if anything, I think he gave her some of her humanity back. They hadn't seen each other in about a year or so."
"What happened to him?"
"He's...in hiding…"
Belén released a noise of a looming sob.
"Not because she was going to hurt him!" Barry quickly added. "She told him to go into hiding because of Zoom. Belén, whatever world, whoever we are, it doesn't change between us. They still loved each other. Her name? Datura? He gave her the flower she now wears. The name is from him."
"But she's still a murderer! She's hurt people! She - she terrorized Jesse!" Belén was now beginning to understand the odd stares Jesse would give her often. "No wonder she looked afraid of me! I wear the same face of the woman who used to terrorize her!"
"Okay, but she gets that it's not you! You're a whole other person, Belén!"
"Yeah?" Belén raised an eyebrow. "If I'm a whole other person then why are you making a cure for her? She's someone else, isn't she?"
"Don't do that, please. I saw her in her weakest moments. She's - she's sick, and she needs help. Belén, that's another version of you and I can't just sit here knowing that she's going to die—"
"Well I say let her!" Belén shouted.
"But Bel—"
"My doppelganger, my call!" she snapped, just as loud as if she were still shouting. "So I say let her die and pay for what she's done! And I swear to God if you keep working on that cure, I will never forgive you!"
"You don't mean that, you're mad - and with great reason - but you would never let anyone die if you could help them."
But right now, Belén wasn't sure what she was going to do with Datura. "We'll find out, won't we?"
Author's Note:
Been waiting a while for this reveal! So excited to keep showing what's coming!
P. S: I created a tumblr account dedicated to my fanfic works! It's also 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 "noble-crescent" and the tag I created for any posts having to do with my work is # noblecrescentedit.