Belén sat cross legged in her sanctuary within STAR Labs. Her eyes were closed and focused on only one thing. Little by little, vines started wrapping around her body until she disappeared into nothing. The next time Belén opened her eyes, she saw the familiar forest of the Green.

She stood up for the mushy grass and scanned the area for any company. When she felt truly alone, she screamed into the sky. "YOU KNEW IT WAS HER!" Her face scrunched with raw fury, fury she hadn't been able to expel completely. "YOU KNEW WHO SHE WAS AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!" Tears rolled down her eyes, out of frustration and despondence. "ANSWER ME!"

There was a few seconds in silence before she heard the calm voice of the Green. "You know that I do not expose any metahuman from the Green."

"But she's a murderer who's not even allowed in here!"

""I never disclose the identities of my metahumans, I have told you that before," the Green said, but Belén scoffed loudly. "It does not matter if she is not allowed in here, I have a duty to keep everyone's identities a secret."

Belén's entire body shook with fury. "SHE IS TRYING TO KILL ME!" she screamed into the air, almost letting herself cry in the end. Why did she have to keep repeating that to everybody? Datura was coming after her no matter what and yet everyone seemed to forget that small detail.

"She will not."

A sour laugh left Belén's lips. "Why? Because you said so? See, I don't really know if you're on my side anymore because...because you are supposed to be looking out for—" she raised her hands to do air quotations, "—'your metahumans' and yet I have had my ass handed to me by that woman so many times I've lost count. Why aren't you helping me? Why are you letting Datura hurt me?"

"I am your guardian, not your babysitter," the Green clarified its role. "And as your guardian, I allow you to draw power to fight. I do not fight for you."

"So I'm just supposed to die, then?"

"No, you will fight because it is what you do. You did not need to know Datura's true identity because in the end, you will be victorious."

"She's me," Belén's hands shook as she gestured to herself. "Datura is me. She wears my face while she murders people."

"If you had known Datura's real identity, you would have faltered from the beginning and you would not have been able to apprehend Poison Ivy. You wouldn't have met Black Orchid and you would not have me. The sequence of events had to happen this way, for your benefit."

"For my ben..." Belén passed a hand through her hair, once again laughing sourly, "For my benefit? Are you kidding me?"

"Would you have preferred to do it the other way?"

Belén's silence was answer enough, but she wasn't in the mood to be wrong. "It doesn't matter! What matters is that this woman is me and now my boyfriend - my friends - are trying to help her, to cure her!"

"Datura is sick—"

"Bullshit!" Belén screamed. "That woman is pure evil and I will not excuse her for some fake illness!"

"Belén, I truly understand your anger."

"Do you really?" Belén folded her arms. "Because now I don't know if my friends, if Barry, are looking at me or...her."

"Belén, you and I have only spoken for a few weeks, but I have been watching you for 2 years now. I have seen your life through your eyes, and I know that you know where your friends' loyalties lie. You are afraid."

"I am," Belén whispered.

"But not just of Datura anymore..."

"Yeah..." Belén's eyes shined with new tears.

"What are you afraid of, Belén?"

"I'm...I'm afraid of..." Belén's breath shook, "I'm afraid that my friends will get hurt because of who Datura is. Because-be...because if she wears my face, she has an advantage. She already has Barry working for her without her even being on this Earth. She could use her face..." Belén's eyes closed for a moment, "...she could use our face to trick Barry and my friends. They could never hurt me, and Datura knows that. Plus, Datura being me means that she knows everything about me. She knows all of my weaknesses, maybe even weaknesses that I don't know about yet, and she knows my moves. How do I fight someone who knows literally everything about me?"

"Consider this new perspective: you know everything about her. You know her strengths and weaknesses."

"Do I, though?" Belén raised an eyebrow. "Because up until now I haven't really been able to win against her."

"Belén, do not belittle your triumphs. You've done well, and now that you've gained new knowledge, you will do better."

"But I don't know what I'm supposed to do! She's dying, so the rumors say, so what am I supposed to do? Wait it out until she drops dead on her own? Or end her myself?"

"Have you considered the fact there is a third option you are not looking at?"

Belén looked to the side.

"Would you really kill someone, Belén?"

"...there's always a first time," Belén mumbled, but her gaze suddenly found the ground so interesting. She had basically told Poison Ivy that she would let Datura die as well. Could she mean it?

"You're right, but I will remind you of what the future holds for you and your doppelganger. I know how the fight ends and the sacrifices you will both make. Your lives are interwined for the long run."

"Yeah, well, I don't really believe in predictions," Belén balled her fists on the side, letting the vines start creeping around her skin. "And maybe this time, the Azalea will fall into her dark side." The vines were wrapping around her shoulders, then her neck, until thinner vines reached her face. "An Azalea inside a black vase is known as a death threat, after all."

~ 0 ~

As soon as she could, Caitlin had sat both Barry and Cisco down in the cortex so they could explain to her how on Earth Datura was Belén. Of course once she did, both Harry and Jesse trickled into the room. Jesse did it to try and help but her father wanted to comment where he thought necessary.

"How could you not tell any of us that Datura is Belén's doppelganger?" Caitlin thought that at least Barry and Cosco had the decency to look guilty. Both their heads were bowed in guilt. "That was something Belén should've known the moment you came back from Earth 2."

"It wasn't something I could tell her easily, alright?" Barry looked up at Caitlin. At least that way she could know that he was sorry but it wasn't like he planned on things going this way. "How was I supposed to do that?"

Caitlin seemed to relax a bit, but only by a bit. "You should've instead of trying to form some cure behind her back. I think that's what hurt Belén the most."

"Well, I think Allen was hoping to save both of them because he still believes Datura can be saved," Harry remarked from the side. "Stupid, really."

"Dad," Jesse scolded but it wasn't like it would do anything. Absolutely nothing kept her dad quiet.

"And I just helped because it sounded like a good idea," Cisco finally spoke up when he felt the heat wasn't so much on him anymore. "I mean, cure Datura and maybe we can get her off our backs."

"Except that's not what's going to happen," Harry practically snapped. "Because she can't be saved. She's not Belén. Datura doesn't care about anything."

"Well that's not entirely true…" Jesse said, sounding reluctant due to the glare her father was fixating on her. "I've spent a lot of time with her, Dad," she reminded him. "If I had to say, Datura only cares about 2 people in the entire world...worlds. Poison Ivy and...her husband."

Caitlin's expression softened as she looked at Barry. His head hung low once again. "I know you didn't mean to hurt Belén, Barry, but…"

"I did things wrong, I know," he said with a deep sigh. He regretted his choices, he did, but he also knew that even if he'd told Belén earlier it wouldn't have mattered. She would've still been angry at the situation and she would've never accepted creating a cure. He would have always had to figure out a way to present the cure in a more persuasive manner.

Right now all he wanted was to talk to Belén and be good with her, but she wouldn't even look at him. She refused to, actually.

"So where do we stand, then?" Caitlin asked suddenly, bringing Barry's attention back to the present. She had folded her arms, her face no longer bearing anger but instead hesitation. "Are we...going to make the cure?"

"No, of course not!" Harry shouted within the second. His eyes seemed to be warning them all not to go further. "It's a stupid idea, not to mention a waste of time!"

"But is it though?" Cisco suddenly asked, the fact that he had asked the question made him pause for a moment.

Caitlin raised an eyebrow at him, her arms still folded over her chest. Her expression was startled but she hadn't yet sided with a party. "You think we should cure Datura? If we even can, by the way."

"I don't know," Cisco admitted. "On the one hand, if we do cure her...think about what could happen? What if she goes back to being herself?"

"There is no other her!" Harry insisted but now Barry had gotten out of his chair to argue.

"Yes there was," he frowned. "She had a life before your Particle Accelerator went off. She was married, she had a job, she had a family. She had everything my Belén has right now."

"I just gave them powers," Harry marched over to Barry till they were face to face, the former straight while the latter glaring. "I didn't make them into monsters."

"Except in Datura's case you did," Barry snapped. "Because you gave her an unstable power from the start. Everything she touches she kills, whether she wants to or not. She accidentally killed someone and that's what drove her away from everybody she loved. You—" Barry punctured Harry's chest with his finger, "—did that." Harry's jaw clenched and it looked like he wanted to say a lot of things.

"Dad," Jesse called again, more nervous than before. She knew her father had a temper but lately it seemed to be more of a darkness that genuinely scared her. "Maybe Barry's right, maybe we can help Datura." She suddenly had everyone giving her the same puzzled look.

"You want to save her?" Cisco pointed a finger at her. "Two days ago you didn't want Bells touching you."

"I know, and I'm gonna apologize to her later," Jesse said, sounding like she already had a plan in mind. "I just think maybe saving Datura is the only way to save us. Call it selfish, if you'd like, but wouldn't it be a thousand times better to have the Siphoner on our side?"

Harry rubbed his face as he walked away from the group. "No, no, no, no!" He whirled around, shouting, "No! Because Datura can't be saved!"

"Who says?" challenged Barry. "I'm with Jesse—"

Harry scoffed. "Of course you are."

"It would be a lot better to have Datura on our side than to constantly have to watch our backs from her."

A sour smile spread across Harry's face. He shook his head. "You just see Belén, not the doppelganger. And that's gonna get you killed because while you—" he pointed at Barry, "—won't hurt her, she'll kill you without a second thought. She works for Zoom. You remember him, right? Almost killed you too? She'll gladly turn you over to him. No amount of medicine is gonna make her stop hating you and Belén and the rest of us." He stormed out of the cortex, leaving that parting wisdom behind.

There was a terse atmosphere left behind, one that brought along silence.

Caitlin felt like the odd woman out because she still couldn't make up her mind of where she stood. "Jesse," she called softly, "You would really want to save Datura?"

Jesse made a gesture with her hands that she didn't exactly know herself. "I mean, maybe I am thinking about it selfishly because I know that Datura is a very powerful metahuman...to have her on our side...it would guarantee a win against Zoom. And as afraid as I am of Datura, I'm more afraid of Zoom."

Caitlin nodded then turned to Barry. "So, where do we go from here?"

Barry's shoulders shrugged before he could form a verbal response. "First I need to get Belén to talk to me. That's all I care about right now, to be honest."

"So do you want me to stop what I was working on?" Cisco asked.

Barry didn't know what they were going to do for the moment, but he knew that whatever they chose they needed Belén's 'okay' first. She was the one who would decide what she wanted to do with Datura.

~ 0 ~

Iris helplessly watched Belén tear up papers at her desk. No matter how many times Iris begged her to stop, Belén would keep going. In fact, it almost seemed like Belén was tearing faster.

"Belén, c'mon! That's your work!" Iris whisper-hissed as much as she could considering they were in the workplace. "Not to mention it's the one article you were so passionate about yesterday."

Belén only paused to glare up at her concerned friend. "You said it, 'yesterday'. Today's a brand new day and I'm angry as hell — no," she raised a finger, "I'm furious."

"Yeah — I know — at Barry, but why does your work have to suffer?" Iris tried snatching the remaining papers from Belén's hand but she spun her chair away. "Belén! Give me that!"

"No!"

Iris groaned.

Shivhan walked into CC Pictures and caught the last few seconds of Belén's and Iris' spectacle. "I always feel like I walk into things halfway..." At her voice, both Belén and Iris looked over their shoulders. Shivhan sarcastically wiggled her fingers at them. "Hi."

"What are you doing here?" Iris asked just before she discreetly made a move to snatch the papers from Belén's hands. Belén, however, moved her hands away, leaving Iris to wear a tight smile.

Shivhan raised an eyebrow at the two. "What is going on?"

"What are you doing here?" Iris asked again, sighing.

"Belén told me to come yesterday," Shivhan gestured to the ombre-blonde. "Some new article she wanted me to be interviewed for."

"Ah," Iris clapped her hands together and turned to Belén, "See that? Your work, Belén. It's still going!"

"No, I'm done with the article. There's no point." Belén tore the last of her papers and allowed them to sprinkle over her lap like confetti. She then got up from her chair and smiled widely. "I'm going to get some coffee. Possibly spiked."

"Okay, what is her deal?" Shivhan asked as soon as Belén stalked off. "She was so excited over the stupid article yesterday."

"You haven't heard?" Iris raised an eyebrow at her, her incredulous expression alerting Shivhan that she'd missed something big.

"What happened?"

Iris' eyes did a quick scan of the room before whispering, "We know who Datura is. Her real identity."

"No!" Shivhan's eyes widened in delight. "Oh this I gotta know. I want to know whose ass we're going to kick."

"Yeah, that's going to be a bit harder..."

"Why?"

"Because Datura is Belén's doppelganger on Earth 2."

Shivhan's delight dropped in an instant. "Excuse me? What...what do you mean?"

"What you heard..."

Shivhan brought a hand to her dark hair. "So all this time...she's been..." Iris nodded her head. "You know what, that actually makes sense. Datura's always been a step ahead of us. Whenever she and Belén would fight, Datura would be equal. I can't believe we didn't see it sooner."

"Well, Belén, as you can imagine—" Iris turned in the direction of Belén at the refreshment table, "—is not taking it well. She's even more pissed that Barry knew and didn't say anything—"

"Oh, no he didn't," Shivhan scrunched her face, already imagining how that argument must have unfolded.

"And that he was trying to make a cure for Datura."

"No!" Shivhan exclaimed a bit too loud that she got some concerned looks from the other employees. "What?" she hissed at them and suddenly everyone went back to work. She shook her head. "Oh Barry, he really is incredibly intelligent and yet so...stupid." Iris bobbed her head, unable to disagree. "And now Belén is refusing to go ahead with her article about the Green and botanical metas?"

"Yup," Iris popped the 'p' of her word.

Shivhan laughed sarcastically. "I don't think so. Has she taken her lunch yet?"

"Uh, no, why—"

Shivhan had already taken off in Belén's direction. Iris looked around nervously before rushing after her.

"Belén, you need to stop!" Shivhan spun the ombre-blonde around.

"What!? Leave me alone!" Belén tried wrestling free from Shivhan's arm but the latter had a good grip. "Shivhan!"

Shivhan was already dragging Belén out of the building and into the street. "You are not letting that article go!"

"It's too late! I already ripped it up!"

"Oh please, you have it on your computer—"

"Not anymore!" Belén snapped and pushed Shivhan away. "I deleted it! It's gone!"

"Belén..." Iris blinked, truly stunned to hear about such a rash decision. "That was such a good article. Why would you do that?"

"Why do you think?" Belén's snaps seemed to get harsher each time. "How could I write an article about helping botanical metas keep safe against Datura when she's me!?" she sourly laughed but there were fresh tears pooling in her eyes. "How could I tell those metas that the Azalea can help them out when it's her evil twin that they're up against? That's beyond hypocritical, don't you think?"

"Oh my God," Shivhan groaned. "You are not going to blame yourself for what another version of you does!"

"I'm not blaming myself, I'm being conscious. I'm being careful. I mean, maybe you guys should just kick me out of STAR Labs already."

"Why would we ever do that?"

"Because if Datura can go down that path...who's to say that I won't do the same?" Belén took in a sharp breath and when she exhaled, it was shaky. She wanted to cry just like she'd done countless times before.

"Is that what you think?" Iris whispered, her heart almost breaking when she realized that beyond all the anger, Belén was scared.

"She did it," Belén gestured at nothing in particular. "She had everything like me, and she turned into a monster. She had her Barry—" she shook her hands, "—and she gave him up just like that! Nothing mattered in the end because the darkness was already inside her."

"Belén, that is never going to happen to you," Iris said, unable to believe that she truly had to explain this to Belén. "Because you are not like her."

"We're the same person, Iris."

"So? You each have your different personalities. Okay, maybe you're right and Datura did already have the darkness inside of her...but you don't. You're incapable of being that type of woman. You're the Azalea, for God's sake."

"Plus, Datura's been a divider her whole life," Shivhan chimed in. "She doesn't work as a team. Poison Ivy always had to reel back but Datura couldn't do it on her own. You're the opposite. You've united so many of us into your team. You're the reason I'm here."

"And the reason I'm here too," Iris agreed. "And I have no doubt that you're going to keep bringing more of us into your team."

Belén's lips curled into a small smile. "You guys..."

"Seriously girl, you can't do this. If anything, you should write that article because you literally know everything about Datura now," Shivhan shrugged. "You're definitely the right leader for the botanical metas in this city."

"So c'mon, let's re-write that article," Iris stepped towards Belén and took one of her hands. "And maybe we could even try to squeeze in some Jitters?"

Belén chuckled and wiped some tears off her face. "Yeah. That'd be nice."

~ 0 ~

Jitters turned out to be the best place to rewrite an entire article. Belén absolutely hated herself for ever getting rid of her first copy, but at least she and the girls were making progress.

"You really want my opinion on it, though?" Shivhan asked while she munched on a lemon muffin. She flatout ignored Iris' glare for letting the muffin crumbs fall over her papers. "I mean, I'm no Green..."

"You are Black Orchid," Belén whispered from across the table. "I need as many reliable sources I can get for this to be credible. I feel like I'm cheating for adding my own testimony - the Azalea - but I don't know a lot more botanical metas. I'm thinking of adding Rose Red and Swamp Thing too."

"Ha," Shivhan laughed, letting more crumbs fall. Iris made a noise as she wiped them off her papers, but Shivhan never noticed. "Swamp Thing as a reliable source. That dude's so weird."

"I think it's a good idea to get them involved," Iris said, "Especially if they're the ones who helped you."

Belén nodded. She continued to make more notes on the questions she would ask Swamp Thing and Rose Red. She only stopped when Iris dramatically cleared her throat to get her attention. When Belén looked up, Iris was nodding at something behind her. Belén expected it to be Barry who, up until now hadn't stopped calling her for what promised to be interesting apologies, but instead of finding the speedster she found Jesse. The girl was nervously coming up to their table.

"Hey..." she stopped beside the table and made a weak wave of her hand. "Caitlin said I might find you guys here."

"You were looking for us?" Belén raised an eyebrow.

"Since when?" Shivhan blurted and instantly had an elbow stabbing her side. She shot Iris a glare but Iris was giving her 'stop talking' look.

"I wanted to talk to you Belén...if I could?" Jesse asked, her fingers fiddling with each other.

Belén blinked in surprise. She looked at the others just to confirm that she had heard right. "Why...?"

"It's about Datura, and...me."

"Why don't we go get another round of coffee?" Iris asked Shivhan, intending on giving Belén and Jesse the moment they needed.

"Why?" Shivhan cluelessly asked. She had just taken her last bite of her lemon muffin.

Iris rolled her eyes and yanked Shivhan out of her seat. "I'll buy you another lemon muffin since you seem to love stuffing yourself with them!"

"Well, you don't have to be rude about it," Shivhan said as they headed for the counter.

Jesse took Iris' seat and offered Belén an apologetic smile. "I-I know you must so upset about what you learned..." Belén didn't outright say 'of course' but her expression did say something akin to it. "You should know that Barry really feels about it. I think he was just trying to do what he thought was best. I mean, how does somebody explain that?"

Belén sighed as she put her pen down on the table. "Barry made a mistake and I am rightly upset about it. And honestly, I don't get why you're here trying to defend him. Aren't you like dead afraid of me or something?" She didn't meant to be rude but there were too many feelings that she couldn't push away. Jesse had ignored her and ran out on her so many times, each time confusing the hell out of Belén.

Jesse, however, took the jab with a guilty nod. "I'm sorry about that. I just spent so much time with Datura that I-I had trouble adjusting to this world...to you." Belén pursed her lips together, obviously unliking the fact she'd been seen as her doppelganger. "Datura scares me, she made my life even more miserable while I was imprisoned. She's crazy."

"Yeah, I know," Belén nodded. "But I'm not."

"I know but...I just needed some time. I realize that you are nothing like her. You're better than her." Jesse didn't know why it took her so long to figure that out. She'd seen from the moment she arrived to this Earth how this Belén was. She was so kind, perhaps a bit too kind, to everyone. She was always cheery even when she had to deal with all this metahuman crap. She spoke Italian and a touch of Spanish which she liked to use on Cisco because he loved to imitate her, something that clearly annoyed Belén. But even as she was annoyed, she still laughed in the end. And she rambled a lot sometimes. She once rambled on about one of her recent articles for a full five minutes and the only reason she had stopped was because Barry had to physically shake her a bit, otherwise she would have passed out from lack of air.

But Jesse had to been too terrified in those early days. She constantly remembered the maniacal laughter from Datura. Dautra would often scare her with those, especially when she had one of her victims' voices overlapping with hers. Datura had a darkness that would scare anyone to the bone.

And Belén couldn't own that darkness, even if she tried.

"Clearly not in the intellectual department, though. Otherwise I would have figured out who she was," Belén bitterly said as she leaned forwards on the table. "And I should have realized that Barry was keeping that secret from me. But as usual, I'm just stupid."

"No!" Jessie exclaimed, eyes wide with surprise. "Oh God no! You are so smart! You're not a scientist but you are so smart about other things. I've read your articles and nobody tells metahuman stories like you. Plus, you know your stuff about botanical metahumans, about Botany."

"That's only because I started to read about it in my greenhouse room," Belén said quietly.

"Isn't that how we all learn?" Jesse smiled at her. "Look, my point here is that I should have never treated you as if you were Datura. I'm sorry about that, but I'm here to leave things clear. I like you Belén and I would really like to start over with you. Maybe we can be friends."

Belén cocked her head to the side. "And you wouldn't see me as Datura anymore?"

"God no," Jessie shook her head. "Anybody can make that distinction...definitely Barry." She added the last bit when she saw Belén getting a bit distant on her. She had no doubt that this precise thought was the one that troubled Belén the most.

Belén sighed and brought a hand to go through her ombre tips. "I don't know what to think about Barry right now. But I do appreciate your apology. I think I could have been a little more understanding to your situation. I'm sorry for what you had to go through, for what my...doppelganger put you through. I promise you that I will put a stop her terror of reign. I don't know how but I will. She won't hurt you again."

Jessie nodded. "I believe in the Azalea. She'll keep us safe." A soft smile came to Belén's face. "I'll see you back at STAR Labs, okay? But I really think you should talk to Barry. Another difference between you and Datura is that you care for Barry. Datura can claim all she wants about how she ran away to keep her husband safe but if she had truly loved him, she would have never become what she is. You don't run away, you work with him. You guys should be the ones married, not them."

Belén was left with a deep blush on her face. She quickly tucked some hair behind her ear and averted looking anywhere that wasn't the table. When Jesse left and Iris and Shivhan returned, Belén was still thinking about what Jesse said.

"You okay, Bells?" Iris asked. She hoped that whatever Jesse had said didn't set Belén off again.

But Belén started putting her things away, not saying anything at first.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Shivhan stopped Belén from closing her laptop. "I am not redoing another interview."

Belén smiled lightly. "I'm just done for today. I...think I need to go see Barry. Is it okay if we end things here?"

"Of course! Go! Go!" Iris was quick to say. She didn't want Belén changing her mind if she stayed any longer. "Go!"

"Thanks," Belén closed her laptop and slipped it into her bag. "See you later!" she hopped of her stool and hurried out of the building.

~ 0 ~

Belén waited until she was home before she texted Barry. Plus, she wanted to think about everything she would say to Barry once they were together. She suspected, though, that her words might get jumbled up once she actually tried to say them out loud. Still, when she felt brave enough, she texted Barry asking if they could talk at her place.

Barry was knocking on the apartment door not ten seconds later. He would barge in when she was angry with him, so he waited for her to open the door.

"Hey," she let him in.

Barry walked it into the living room and turned back as Belén closed the door. When he could see her much more calmed face, he felt a bit more hopeful that they would be able to talk civilized. "Belén, I really am sorry for keeping it all secret. I didn't know how to put it and...I didn't know how you would react."

"So you thought making a secret cure behind my back was the best way to go around it?" It still brought new layers of anger when she thought about the countless times she'd caught him working in late at night, middle of the night and way early in the morning. It was all for her.

"No, of course not. I couldn't help it. I learned Datura was sick and—"

"She has always been sick!" snapped Belén. "And just because she wears my face doesn't mean she gets a free pass."

"I know, but—"

"She hurt me, Barry. She hurt you and my family. How could you think of making her a cure when she doesn't deserve it?"

"So you would really let her die?" Barry gazed at her with what Belén would describe as disappointment.

It angered her all over again. "How could you give me that look!? She's the villain, not me! I have worked my ass off to be the best hero I could be and now you want me to feel sorry for a doppelganger who has hurt dozens of people? Someone who's killed more people than we can count!? Someone..." her voice involuntarily broke, but she gathered her words as fast as she could to keep going, "Someone who willingly left her husband? She abandoned her husband and her family. She came to hurt me and I will not—" she gritted her teeth, "—allow her to play the sick card on me. I will not let her manipulate you into saving her."

"But she's not doing anything," Barry kept his voice calm because the moment he started yelling too, the argument would be pointless. He walked over to her and despite her turning her head away from him, he kept explaining. "I know that she's evil, I know that she's hurt people, but maybe we can still save her. We can give her back the humanity she lost."

Belén licked her lips as a humorless laugh came out of her mouth. "You see her as me. You think she's me and she's not." Her eyes, that were now watery, flickered to him. "She's not me, Barry. I am me." Her hand shook as she pointed at herself. "Me! I'm here! I'm here right now and you're not looking at me! You're seeing her!"

Barry got so confused for a moment while she went on about her being her. Of course he knew who was who, and he would never trade. Was that why she was so angry with him? Because she thought he had feelings for her doppelganger too?

"Bells—" he tried to say, even attempting to stop her hand from continuously gesturing to herself.

"You keep thinking about her and I'm scared that if you keep doing it you might prefer her instead! I'm here, Barry! Don't you see me!?"

Barry seized her face with his hands, pulling her close to him so that there was only a few inches between them. He looked at her teary face and smiled softly at her. "I always see you. You're my Bells. You're my Azalea."

"I'm not a crazy, jealous girlfriend I swear," Belén sniffed. The whole situation was beyond weird. She didn't know how to react to learning Datura was her. She was afraid of what that meant for herself and for everyone else, but she was terrified of what it meant for Barry - what it could mean.

"No, of course not," Barry agreed with her. Belén was never that type of jealous. He understood that she had to be overwhelmed. He expected some of this and he just wished he could've made it easier on her. "And I should've been more understanding. I'm really sorry, Bells. But you should know that I have always seen you. Just you." His fingers traced gentle circles over her cheeks, wiping off some of the tears rolling down. He leaned closer to kiss her but hesitated for a moment thinking she might push him away.

Belén's hand found a fistful of Barry's shirt and pulled him onto her lips. They shared a soft kiss to seal their words. It was always them, just them. Belén knew there shouldn't be any doubts but given Datura's track record, it was justified for her to be a smidge worried. But Barry didn't care. He would kiss her until he ran out of air if he could. Each time they argued, he was always a bit worried that he wouldn't ever get to kiss her again. Sometimes when their arguments stemmed from their metahuman side, there was always more tension and it was more challenging to fix it. He loved Belén. He didn't ever want to lose her. He slid his hands down to her waist to hold her tightly. Their kissing became harder and rougher, bringing out several moans from both of them.

Belén let go of Barry's shirt but it worked to find any button she could undo. When Barry understood, he pulled away to make sure they were truly on the same page. She didn't bother giving him the actual 'yes' and instead hurriedly undid the rest of his shirt's buttons. At the same time, Barry pulled her against him. He let his hands roam her body while she pushed his shirt off him. By the time his hands found the hemline of her blouse, his shirt was on the floor and Belén was making him walk backwards into the hallway.

Eventually, Barry finished the job for her and sped them into her bedroom. Soon as they were inside, he pulled her blouse right off her. It'd got on his last nerve that he hadn't been able to do that as quickly as he wanted to. He slipped his arms around her bare back and laid her on the bed. She watched him crawl over him with a roguish smile promising good things were to come. Barry practically dove his mouth to capture hers again.

~ 0 ~

"You went to go talk to Belén?" Caitlin didn't exactly hide her surprise very well, but Jesse understood it wasn't something to believe so quickly given the situation.

"Yeah, I thought she deserved an apology from my side," Jessie moved around the cortex. She did feel like a layer of guilt had been lifted from her shoulders.

"Well that was stupid," her father, however, didn't share the same feeling. "You didn't need to do that."

"I wanted to," Jessie shrugged.

"How can you be related?" Cisco pointed between her and Harry, truly looking confused on the subject of their relation. "I mean...are you sure that he's your Dad?" Jessie laughed but Harry sent a deep glare at Cisco.

Suddenly, sparks erupted from the ceiling as Eliza sped around the cortex and out. Harry had barely whipped out a gun from his table when Eliza snatched it from him and used it to direct at him. "I wouldn't move." She craned her head to find Caitlin standing very stiffly by the desk. "Where's the V-9, Caity? I need a fix."

Caitlin squinted her eyes at the red-suited woman. Despite her wearing the mask, Caitlin was sure she was seeing the eyes of her friend, not to mention the voice wasn't at all modulated. "Eliza? Is that really you?"

"Didn't you interview her!?" Cisco exclaimed.

Eliza tilted her head, her face was adorned with a crazed smile. "Oh, Eliza's not here right now. My name is Trajectory."

"Oh, why do the crazy ones always name themselves!?" Cisco, exasperated, folded his arms over his chest.

"Look, Eliza, Velocity-9 is very dangerous, okay?" Caitlin tried moving forwards but Eliza re-directed the gun at her, freezing her in her spot. It made a friend of mine very sick, and he already had the speed force in him. Look, your cellular system…"

Eliza growled with impatience. "Enough! You are boring me to death. Hand over the V."

Cisco carefully watched while Eliza went back and forth with Caitlin over the Velocity-9. He just needed to get closer to the computers to contact Barry and Belén.

"I'm a physician," Caitlin put her hands on her chest, frustrated that Eliza wasn't listening to her. "I took an oath. I can't give you anything that will hurt you-"

Eliza rolled her eyes and moved the gun on Cisco, freezing him right on the spot. "Right, so either hand over the v, or the cat guy gets it." And just to show that she wasn't kidding, she fired the gun. Cisco screamed ducked the only way he could and grabbed hold of the Jay's helmet display to hug for dear life. Of course the moment he touched it, he got another 'vibe'. Blue flashed everywhere and suddenly he was seeing Zoom again.

"Move, now!" Eliza shouted at them.

"Look, all the flasks are gone. There's nothing left," Caitlin tried to show that to Eliza but the woman wouldn't listen.

"Hey," Eliza sighed, "I was really hoping you wouldn't make me do one of those 'I have to kill you each one by one until you give me what I want'. Oh, well," she sped around the room and grabbed Jesse by the neck to hold the gun at her.

Harry panicked. "Wait! Wait! You want V-9? We'll make it for you!"

Jesse was horrified already but the fact her Dad was offering up a speed drug to the dangerous woman was another thing. He couldn't do this so easily, could he? "Dad, you can't!"

Caitlin could see that Harry was going to go through with it no matter what - it was his daughter after all. And it wasn't like they would just let Jessie die. They would have to do it. "We have all the ingredients…" she added weakly.

Eliza swayed her head, seeing no options but the one presented to her. "I'm not a patient person, so better move fast!"

She kept everyone on edge while she waited for the Velocity 9 to be made. Caitlin and Harry had never worked so fast in their lives, and eventually they returned with a couple of the vials with new, fresh red liquid inside.

"It's what you wanted. Now let her go," Harry was holding out the tray with the vials.

Eliza reached for one vial but still kept a good hold on Jesse. "How do I know the two of you didn't lace this with a sedative to put me on my ass?"

Harry had a face of 'are you serious' on. It was his daughter's life on the line and she thought he would gamble with it? She had to be kidding. "We wouldn't do that."

"You can never be too safe, right?" Eliza smirked and injected the velocity-9 into Jesse faster than anyone could have foreseen.

Jesse cried and fell to her knees, her hands over the injected part of her neck. Eliza watched her intently for any side affects. When she deemed it safe, she smirked she turned to Caitlin. "Thanks for the fix, Snow." She sped off with the vials in her possession.

Jesse had a few minutes before she succumbed to the effects of velocity-9. She collapsed on the ground and began to convulse.

"Turn her on her side!" Caitlin instructed Harry and Cisco. Foam was spilling from her mouth as her body violently shook. "She's going into shock. It's too pure! We've got to get the V-9 out of her system. She needs a blood transfusion. The new blood will flush the drug out of her system!"

"What blood type is she?" Cisco inquired from Harry so he could get things ready.

"PZ negative," Harry was already taking off his jacket, missing the curious looks from the rest.

"Yeah, that's not a thing on this Earth, man," Cisco shook his head.

"I'm a match," Harry muttered and instigated for things to get moving.

~ 0 ~

Belén smiled at the kisses pressed to the right side of her neck. "If arguments always ended like this...maybe I wouldn't mind them."

Barry stopped kissing her neck to give her a sharp look. "Yeah, well, they don't always end like this. We just got lucky."

"Really," Belén smirked and shifted on the bed to face him. Things were far more relaxed between them but apart from everything else, they were back on the same page in regards to each other.

"We still need to actually talk about what you plan to do with Datura," Barry said, though he'd been a bit hesitant to even use the doppelganger's name when they were so good right now.

"Mm," Belén didn't want to talk about that woman at all. Just thinking about her made her blood pressure rise. "I hate her. I love you and I don't want to argue about her. It's probably what she wants. She was stupid and let her Barry go now she wants me to lose you too. Not happening."

Barry didn't know if that was the actual plan Datura had, but it nearly worked. He lowered his head to give Belén a gentle kiss. "You won't lose me. I'm here and I will always be here."

Belén looped an arm around his neck, keeping him close. "I...don't know what I want to do about her," she confessed. When all the anger was pushed to the side and she thought about it, she realized she didn't know what she wanted to do with Datura. Would she cure her? Would she throw her in jail? Belén couldn't decide.

"That's fair. It's okay," Barry nodded. "We can think about but you will make the choice."

"Will you stop researching for a cure?"

"Yes." Barry had no doubt in his decision. He'd been initially blinded by Datura's face and he couldn't let that happen. Harry had been right about that: if he continued to see Datura as Belén then it would get him killed. Worse, it could get somebody else killed.

Belén half-smiled at him. She raised her head off her pillow the necessary amount to kiss him. "I love you," she whispered. She let her head rest on her chest afterwards and moved her arm over his waist. She felt Barry move his arms to hold her as well. As much as Belén hated it, she started wondering how Datura felt when she realized she gave up all of this — that she'd been forced to give everything up. And then Belén thought of herself, if she'd been in the same situation...could she have left Barry and her family too? And if she had, would she have gone down the same road as Datura?

~ 0 ~

When they could, Caitlin and Cisco made the call to Belén and Barry to tell them what occurred with Eliza. The two metas quickly rushed over to find the cortex in a mess. They saw Jesse resting in one of the side rooms and learned that she'd been injected with Velocity.

"Caitlin, I know she was your friend and all, but homegirl has gone cuckoo bird," Cisco made a motion of a finger going in a circle beside his ear.

"What she doesn't know is, I put in micro tracker in the drug." Caitlin smiled to herself, proud of her idea, and walked to the desks. She would never let somebody like that go out into the world without a means to stop her.

Cisco rubbed his hands together and followed her. "You can run, but you can't hide."

"I don't think she was planning on hiding," Belén gave a light shake of her head. "If Eliza's not thinking straight, she'll definitely be out in the streets."

Caitlin and Cisco worked together to find Eliza with the tracker Caitlin placed on her. It only took a couple of minutes to discover she was at the local city bridge.

"Why...is she going back and forth?" Barry asked once he and the others had gathered around the desk. Eliza's little location dot was signaling she was going back and forth without break.

"Villains gonna vill," Cisco said a joke.

"I thought it was 'villains gonna chill'," Belén managed to joke back for the first time.

"No!" Harry snapped as he came out of Jesse's room. "If she's doing that on a bridge, she's creating friction and at that vibration and speed..."

"It's complete chaos - she could destroy the whole bridge!" Barry blinked when he realized the ending.

"How many people transit on that bridge?" Belén looked at Caitlin and Cisco, horrified just thinking about what those people might be feeling right now with the crazy speedster on the loose. When they didn't answer, Belén moved towards her suit. "Forget it! Get Shivhan! Barry!"

"On it!" Barry zipped towards her and disappeared from the building with her.

~ 0 ~

Central City bridge was in mass hysteria as Eliza ran back and forth right down the center. There were plenty of cars trying to make their way through but seeing nothing was moving except for the speedster, they decided to start abandoning their cars.

"I hear creaking..." Belén's eyes were wide when she heard the first creak.

Barry leaned to the side to get a view of the underground poles going through the water. "Yeah...that's...that's her."

Belén raised her head to see the wires above starting to shake as well.

"There's about 200 people on that bridge right now!" Caitlin informed them through their comms.

"Way too many for just one of us," Belén said quick before thinking of another plan.

"Oh no!" Black Orchid rose from a few vines on the cement. "We've got this. Plus, I brought another friend."

The Tempest landed from the sky right next to Black Orchid. Belén was truly surprised because Nina hardly ever used her abilities.

"And Iris says I need to work on my people skills," Black Orchid crossed her arms, scoffing again at the idea.

However, Iris had just come into the cortex and overheard the woman's statement. "You do!" she reiterated, much to Shivhan's annoyance.

"Okay, we got this," Belén grinned at the backup. She looked to Barry and gave him a nod. "You catch Eliza. We'll take care of the people."

"Alright," Barry smiled before taking off. He knocked Eliza all the way to the opposite end of the bridge, and just in time because the creaks Belén had heard were now full on snapping. He looked back and saw Belén fervently pulling people off the bridge with her vines while Nina zipped back and forth carrying others out. Shivhan was swiping people off the ground via a vine slide.

"We've got a lot of these people hurt," Nina said. Many people had been trampled over in the run to get off the bridge. She would have to start making trips to the hospital.

Barry was just about to go after Eliza when the bridge gave a terrible, violent shake. He rocked on his feet and while he attempted to get his balance he saw the middle of the bridge breaking apart.

"Trajectory's too far away," Cisco informed Barry afterwards. "You won't get to her running across the river."

"I will if I jump," Barry countered, though the idea did make his stomach churn. He hadn't quite mastered that trick yet.

"He would need to Mach 3.3," Harry said over the comms. "But only for a second."

"A second is enough to die," Belén had come up beside Barry, giving him a sharp look. "And you better not die!"

That was her motivation speech, alright. "I don't have a choice."

"I can fly you there!" Nina exclaimed over the comms. "I'm coming back from the hospital."

"No, you're too far. I have to do this," Barry said. He'd been working too hard on this to let it beat him. He needed to get it right.

"Do it," Belén said, though he knew there was a 'but' coming in afterwards, "But if you're falling I'll pull you out and we'll cross together." She understood his desire to complete the jump on his own, but she refused to let him die out of stubbornness.

Barry positioned himself just like at the canyon and took a breath, focusing on just getting across. It was all he had to do. Get across. Simple enough...he hoped. He then sped off, following his mantra of just getting across. There was no one on the bridge except for their team now - hopefully that would make it a little easier. Before he thought more about it, he took off.

Belén blinked fast with the force of the wind trail he left behind. She watched intently as he rushed through the air and grinned when he made a clean landing on the other side...once again punching Eliza down to the ground. The woman went rolling down the street and knocked into a local street manufacture.

Eliza gasped for air as she tried to get back on her feet. Her body was near limp, falling back for a second. Barry got up much easier.

"It's over, Eliza."

Eliza chortled and resigned to be on her knees for the moment until she gathered enough strength. "It's never over." She took out another velocity-9 syringe ready to go.

"Wait, hey!" Barry motioned her to stop for a second. "Stop doing this to yourself. You don't actually want to hurt anyone."

"You don't know...anything about me," Eliza gritted her teeth together.

"No, I know you're not a bad person. This is the V-9 in your system," Barry started slow seeing she had her attention. "I also know what it feels like to want to be the best. It makes you feel like there's not enough time to accomplish things the right way, but it's a cop-out. And this is killing you. Look at yourself, Eliza. You're not well. Let us help you, please."

Eliza seemed to consider his words for a minute, but then it went to hell. She plunged the syringe into her thigh. Immediately her skin regained its color and she her strength. She got up with a laugh. "That is all the help I need. How does it feel to know that I am faster than you will ever be?" she mocked him. Barry wasn't liking the way the blue electricity crackled around her body. "See you around." She gave a mock-salute and sped off.

Barry wasn't sure if he was seeing right. "The lightning, it's turning blue…"

And then, just out of nowhere, Eliza screamed while her body disintegrated into dust. Her blue electricity had gobbled her up.

~ 0 ~

The next morning, Belén and Iris were very happy to turn in articles revealing Eliza Harmon as the true speedster behind the thievery to their editor's office.

"He's not that bad, actually," Iris commented about him as the two women returned to their desks. "I had coffee with him yesterday and he...just seems to share different opinions about metahumans."

"Listen, if you've got a crush on him, that's fine," Belén raised a hand to show she didn't care. "But I still don't like him." Iris chuckled and decided to leave it alone. "And I'm pretty sure that he doesn't like me. Kind of makes me wonder if going forwards with this article is worth it."

"Oh, you are so doing it," Nina surprised her with her presence. She and Shivhan had come into the building without Belén noticing.

"Nina," Belén got up from her chair to hug her friend. She felt like it'd been a while since she saw Nina. "Thanks for last night."

"Any time," Nina gave a nod then shared a look with Iris that didn't go unnoticed.

"What?" Belén asked.

"Iris told me about what you've been struggling with and I can't believe you would let some doppelganger put you down like this. You are nothing like Datura. You have united so many of us, I don't think you've ever realized how many people you have unified. I mean, you brought me into STAR Labs. You've helped me become the...you know..."

"And you helped me be a better version of...you know," Shivhan did the same head bob as Nina.

"You brought me along too," Iris joined in. "I'm not like them-" she gestured to Nina and Shivhan, "-but you did bring me to STAR Labs too. You made me a part of the team when I have no powers."

"And now you have the chance to do the same across the Green," Shivhan said with a growing, excited smile."You can unify so many of our brothers and sisters. Datura can't take that away."

"You guys are the best," Belén chuckled. She truly had the best friends in the entire world. With all the happiness that surged from her, she wondered - for a brief moment - if Datura had this on her Earth. Because Belén knew that she would not be able to be who she was today, if she didn't have her friends.

~ 0 ~

"Are we still hanging that?" Belén eyed what was left of Eliza's suit hanging on a silver hanger in the cortex.

Iris couldn't take her eyes off it either. "Did she really just evaporate from running too fast?"

"Those are the rumors…" Belén mumbled and turned away from the hanger, finding it too creepy to keep staring at it.

"It was because of cellular degeneration," Caitlin told them, pursing her lips together. The thought of Jay was still raw for her after all.

"Jay warned us V-9 was dangerous. At least now we know why," Joe gave a light shrug of her shoulders.

Cisco noticed Harry walking in from yet another failed trip of finding Jesse. None of them really knew where Jesse had gotten to. "You find Jesse?"

"She went out," Harry left it at that and Cisco decided not to keep asking.

"Barry, what's wrong?" Belén had seen him a bit too silent and pensive even for him.

He was reliving the moment he saw Eliza disappear into nothing. The way her blue lightning was the last thing he saw. It hadn't been blue the last time he had fought her, but then...Jay's had always been blue...and…

"Barry?" Belén's voice cut through his thoughts.

"It's just right before Eliza disappeared, her lightning, it turned blue…" he began to share his thoughts.

"What if it's a side effect of the V-9?" Joe theorized, something that both Belén and Iris agreed on.

"Yeah, but Jay took Velocity-9, and his lightning didn't turn blue," Caitlin was quick to point out.

"About how fast was he running?" Barry inquired.

"Not as fast as Eliza."

"All right, so what if V-9 is what turns your lightning blue? I mean, that would explain why Zoom is so much faster than me."

"If that's true, then that means he's sick, right?" Joe followed the same guidelines from other issues.

There was a tough atmosphere left in the air as everyone came to the same conclusion.

"Zoom's dying," Belén released a small, bitter laugh. "He's dying too. And that's why he wants your speed," she motioned to Barry. "Same as Datura. What are the odds?"

But in all those discoveries, Barry had made another connection. "Same as Jay."

Caitlin was horrified at such an assumption. She fervently shook her head and exclaimed, "No! Absolutely not!"

"See, he died right in front of us," Cisco reminded just to make sure they were all thinking logically. They had all seen it, after all.

"Reverse Flash tricked us, remember?" Belén crossed her arms. Her eyes were gazing towards Jay's helmet under the display case. "Who's to say Zoom didn't do the same."

Caitlin pursed her lips, her face going pale with horror. She couldn't believe they were actually discussing this - they were actually doubting Jay's integrity.

"I guess now would be a good time to tell you all I've been vibing Zoom," Cisco scrunched his face after his admission. Everyone gaped.

"What? You... for how long?" Barry turned on him.

"It started when we closed the last breach. And every time it's happened, I've been near that thing."

Barry rubbed his face, unable to actually believe the same thing was about to happen again. He snatched a silver object from a nearby table and stormed over to the glass display. There was no hesitation as he shattered the glass to get to the helmet. Caitlin gasped and stepped back, bumping into Iris in the process.

"We need to know," Barry held out the helmet to Cisco.

Gulping, Cisco took the helmet and focused on the vibe. Everyone unconsciously gathered closer to him, anxiously waiting for him to give the verdict. Cisco suddenly gasped and dropped the helmet. His hand flew to his forehead, completely terrified.

"I saw Jay! He's Zoom!" he said so fast that it was almost impossible to hear.

"No," Caitlin whispered and nearly fell back if Iris hadn't caught her.

A true rage crossed Barry's face at the revelation. He had really fallen for it again!? Had the world truly set him up like that again? He kept trusting people and they always failed him in the end.

Belén wasn't a mind reader but she was guessing where Barry's thoughts were heading. She could see the tightening of his jaw from where she stood. "Barry...?" she barely reached a hand out when he zipped out of the cortex. "No!"

He had to scream, scream so loud so that maybe he would knock himself out to see blissful darkness. Because if he stayed right where he was, he might just destroy everything in his path out of utter rage.

Author's Note:

I struggled hard to write this chapter because of how Belén was reacting. I wanted her reactions to be both about the mere fact that people were creating cures behind her back but also to show that she was a little afraid of what it meant that Datura was her doppelganger in regards to herself and Barry. But I felt better when I got to write in Iris' and Shivhan's parts here. Belén always fails to see how much good she's done in the past!

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.