Rise Up

by noblecrescent

Zoom is coming for the Flash so there's no time to waste. Along with Zoom comes his terrible band of metas to terrorize Central City. While the Azalea makes her return to the city, she unknowingly marks herself as the target of another dangerous hunt. Together, Belén & Barry must work with STAR Labs to prevent their Earth from falling as Earth 2 did. It is time to rise up.

25. Anais

Author's Note: This chapter introduces a new Arrowverse OC I'm currently drafting. If some of you follow my Tumblr account then you can probably guess which OC it is.

The pronunciation of her name is: 'Ah-na-EESE'

---

"Okay, you guys. I'm here. You got my location?" Barry leaned a hand against the Keystone city limit poster and waited for the others to get back to him.

"You're good? You don't need to, like, stretch or something?" Cisco soon replied over the comms.

"No, no, no, I'm good, I'm good," Barry prepared himself for the first testing of his new speed device. He was finally going to able to test-drive it after dozens and dozens of trials in STAR Labs.

"Let's take this tachyon enhancer out for a test drive!"

Barry strapped on the new tachyon device to his chest and did a couple hops in place as the device whirred alive. A blue glow emitted from its corners, and Barry soon felt a rush of energy. "Hoo, yeah. I feel that."

"That is the tachyon device powering up the Speed Force in your cells like a quick charge battery," Caitlin remarked. "How do you feel?"

"Different," Barry admitted, but a good different.

"Please don't disappear into nothing like Eliza," came Belén's precautionary voice a second later. She stood in a Central City street that Barry would stop at the end of his trial run. She was in her civilian form, not wanting to take the Azalea out for this run. She just wanted to be outside and closer to Barry during his 'big moment'. He hadn't stopped talking about it ever since Harry implied they were getting closer to taking the tachyon device out for a test.

Barry laughed for a moment. "Promise I won't do that. This is free energy after all."

"Yeah, created by Thawne let's not forget."

"And double checked by our not evil Harry," Cisco reminded. "But alright! Let's see how long it takes you to get back here. On my count. Three, two, one—"

"GO!" Belén cut in to finish it, laughing when Cisco yelled at her for cutting his moment short. "My boyfriend, my countdown," she said as her only argument.

Barry ran as fast as he normally would but after only a few seconds, he could feel the new speed energy coursing through his body, pushing his legs to go faster. Everything around him because blurry faster than previous times. He almost felt like a breeze.

"Is it working!?" Belén eagerly awaited for either Cisco or Caitlin to answer her with a 'yes'. She anxiously waited to see Barry arrive at the stopping point.

"Oh, it's working! It's got him cruising!" Cisco said in true awe.

"And his vitals are doing perfectly fine," Caitlin added to their triumphs.

"Guys, I can go faster," Barry communicated through. He was just entering Central City but he knew that the energy building up inside him wanted to push for more.

"Do it!" Belén encouraged him, anticipation behind those words.

"Your wish is my command!" he replied and heard her laughter. He fueled up and pushed for more speed.

Belén skidded to the very edge of the sidewalk. She could see the wind picking up from a good distance but just as he was supposed to stop where they planned, a bright blue portal swirled into existence. "Wait a minute!"

Barry didn't even notice the portal — he was going incredibly fast. He zipped right into it.

"Barry!" Belén called as the only trace of him left was the trail of wind that pushed her hair back.

"Belén? What happened?" Caitlin asked, concern filling her voice in seconds once they realized Barry had disappeared out of nowhere.

"He's just...there was a portal..." Belén's eyes had glued to the spot where the portal had been seconds ago. "Like the...like the one you used to get into Earth 2..."

"Where's Barry?" Cisco quickly asked.

"I don't know. He's just...gone..."

~ 0 ~

Barry never noticed he'd crossed worlds. All he knew was that he was in a street, about to stop where Belén was waiting for him, until he heard the shattering of glass and a woman falling down a 20 something story building. He charged on for the building and caught the woman in his arms then tried to stop himself altogether. With his new speed, he might have to go back to basics for a while.

As he sped away from the site, he missed an average height blonde woman hovering in the air just above the building. "Kara!" she scratched her head in utter confusion. "What?"

Barry was able to stop himself in the outskirts of the city and finally let go of the woman who was wide awake...and on fire. "Oh!" he went to help her when he remembered how that had ended with Felicity. He pulled his hands away and instead searched for some water to bring, but then he noticed that the woman, a blonde with glasses, was staring at their new environment. "You don't seem that bothered by the fact that you're on fire."

She looked down at herself and saw her shirt was billowing flames. She gave it a careless pat and turned to him, rather confused with his presence. "I didn't need you to save me." Even her words seemed distracted.

Barry didn't know how to react so instead a small chuckle escaped his lips. "You just fell from a skyscraper. So if I hadn't been there, you would have gone splat."

The woman wasn't quite listening. Her mind was somewhere else, at her job, where she was sure that other people were going crazy trying to find her body. It would definitely give the culprit of her fall the chance to escape. "I have to get back to the city." She literally jumped into the air, leaving behind her clothes.

Barry gawked as the woman flew into the air. Was she like Nina? Either way, he would find out. He sped after her, keeping up with her pace, and soon caught her eyes. She came to an abrupt stop in the air and slowly hovered down so that they were once again face to face.

"How did you do that?" Barry asked her slowly. He needed to be cautious with her until he knew she wasn't a threat. "You're a meta too?"

The blonde still looked lost as ever, though. "I'm Supergirl," she said in a manner that seemed like it should be enough explanation. It would have been if Barry was actually part of her world.

"You're who now?" Barry looked the woman over, still unsure of how she had changed from day clothes to a...costume? Now he was sure that he'd never seen her nor heard about her. He would remember - or at least Cisco would remember - her blue and red-skirt costume with the odd 'S' symbol on her chest.

"How did you save me?" Supergirl inquired.

"Well I... Y... You fell out a window and I... I caught you and... ran you... all the way out here-" Barry realized they were practically in the middle of nowhere, "-which I did not mean to do but I've been working on my speed and...guess I'm faster than I thought."

"Clearly," Supergirl admitted. "But who are you?" Like Barry, she was studying his suit and, just as he had, she concluded that she'd never seen him. But then her eyes widened and narrowed with anger that did make Barry take a precautionary step backwards. "Wait a second, are you the one who's been stalking Anais?"

Red alert. This time it was Barry's turn to say his name and think it was enough explanation. He did not stalk anybody! "I'm the Flash."

Supergirl did not blink. Apparently, his answer wasn't enough to ease her suspicions about him. "The who now?"

"Wait, do you not know who I am?"

"Should I?"

"What about the Azalea?"

Supergirl questioned it with a look and shrugged 'no'.

"Green Arrow?"

No winner.

"Black Canary? Black Orchid? The Tempest?" Barry was getting more and more distraught seeing none of those names were familiar to her. Nobody could fake that type of confusion. "Firestorm? Atom? Datura? Zoom?"

"Sorry," Supergirl sheepishly smiled.

Barry started making the conclusion that he was not in the right place, not in the right world! One moment, he was telling Belén and the others that he'd be running faster and now suddenly he was in a different world!? He'd truly become faster than what he expected. "Oh boy...not as sorry as I am." He removed his mask and released a big, weary sigh. Of course this would be happening to him. Things were going far too good to be true. "Hey, I'm Barry Allen. I'm the fastest man alive. Also I think I am on the wrong Earth...and I'm gonna need your help."

~0~

Getting back to Supergirl's - or Kara Danvers' - job was a breeze, literally, for two fast people. Luckily for Barry, Kara and her friends - who Barry had yet to meet - had a secret, small office in an abandoned floor of the building where she worked. Barry was quick to start searching for any familiar names he knew who could help get him back home. He didn't even want to think what his friends, and Belén, would be thinking at the moment. Had he been gone for a couple minutes? Days? Years? Barry shook those thoughts out of his head.

He was sure Belén would kill him if he was gone for years.

Kara, on the other hand, was oblivious to those thoughts. She had just learned there were other earths and that Barry was from another Earth. It all sounded too impossible. She paced behind Barry's chair, asking zillions of questions. "So what do you mean, you're from another Earth? What, how many other Earths are there other than this one?" Barry tried to answer her but she kept firing more questions. "You know, we're Earth."

The door of the room burst opened and in came a woman with long, slightly wavy, blonde hair and grey-blue eyes. She could have passed as Kara's sister had it not been for her brighter hair and stormy hair. She came to an abrupt stop when she saw Barry at the computers. Her eyes were wide to the point they might bulge out of her head.

"Anais!" Kara turned to her friend.

Anais' wide eyes were glued on Barry. "Kara…?"

Barry turned his chair around to meet the woman's gaze but found he was being scrutinized from head to toe. "Uuh...hi?" Her eyes seemed like they were permanently stuck being that wide. It was actually very concerning.

"Uh, Anais, let me explain," Kara cut in before things went further. She wasn't sure what Anais was thinking other than there was a strange man in their secret base. "Barry's the one who 'saved'-" she put quotation marks in the air, causing both women to momentarily laugh, "-me after Siobhan."

"I did," Barry made a face, but was not acknowledged.

"Also, he's from another world!"

"Universe," Barry corrected.

"Wait, wait," Anais pointed at him, her hair shaking with her as her head bobbed during her thought process. "You're...you're from another universe? Like...like that multiverse theory thing Winn talked about the other day?"

"Yes!" Kara exclaimed.

Anais took a moment to process this. She'd seen the lightning streak coming back into the city, and since Supergirl followed out of her own accord, Anais figured there was no danger. It allowed her to focus on finding the culprit of Kara's accident instead. Unfortunately, it hadn't been a very successful search. But she was seriously not expecting that man to show up, nor the news that other worlds existed.

Wait, a second...did he just say he was…?

"And so, from this other world you're...fast?"

Barry nodded his head. "Yeah."

"Oh!" Kara made the connection. "He's just like you!"

Anais had doubt on her face. She placed a hand on her hip and looked Barry up and down. "I'm probably faster."

Barry's face fell at the statement. He didn't know who this woman was but he knew she was wrong. "Hey! I don't know who you are but—"

"Thank God you don't," Anais said, just a tad wide-eyed. Oh my God she had to be dreaming but... this was too crazy even for her.

"Obviously," Barry mimicked her for a moment and elicited a small smile from her. "I'm from another universe. Literally. And I'm trying to find my friends from this world…" he trailed off and plopped down in front of the computers again to continue his search.

Anais cleared her throat, getting serious. So, this wasn't a dream. This was happening, this was real. "Hm, and let me guess? Not going so well?" she inquired.

"Nope! You guys have Central City but you don't have S.T.A.R. Labs. No Cisco Ramon, no Harrison Wells, no Caitlin Snow. Nobody who's gonna be able to help me get back home," Barry leaned away from the computer dejectedly. "I don't even see a Belén Palayta anywhere on this thing. That's the real downer here."

He missed Anais' small smile.

"Hey!" a tall, dark-haired man came through the doors along with a taller, dark-skinned man. "Kara, are you alright?"

Kara nodded reassuringly at them. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. What happened to Siobhan?"

"Oh, well, after she went all Mariah Carey on you, she just split," the shorter brunette man replied.

"Yeah I tried looking for her on my own but I couldn't find her," Anais explained, pretty disappointed the woman had evaded them so easily. "Oh, and you-" she flashed a smirk at the dark-brunette man, "-owe me. I was so right about her. She's a banshee."

You really think this is a good time for that!?" the man exclaimed.

"Oh, so we both have Mariah Carey. That's something." Nobody paid attention to Barry's comment but it did make them realize he was there.

"Who are you?" The dark skinned man inquired suspiciously.

"Hey, sorry, I'm Barry Allen," Barry got up from his chair and went to shake hands with him.

"James Olsen. And this is Winn."

"I'm Anais!" the second blonde introduced herself with a strange excitement in her voice. "I just realized I didn't introduce myself to you. Anais A...Anais Mjorkland," she extended her hand to Barry. Barry shook her hand and missed Anais' friends exchanging mutual confused expressions behind them.

"Uh, you guys…" Kara laughed at the impossible thing she was about to repeat. "I'm not quite sure how to tell you this - well, I do know how to tell you, I just -"

James cleared his throat, hoping to get her to move on. "Kara?" Barry grinned because Kara sounded like she usually talked, or rambled, more than necessary. He missed Belén already.

"Yeah, right, sorry," Kara shook herself to get back on track. "Uh, Barry... ...is from another universe."

Winn appeared like he had just heard it was Christmas already. "Cool! So the, the theory of the multiverse, that's true?" Barry gave the confirming nod and flinched when Winn gave a loud "AHA!" at the others. "See!? I told you! Didn't I tell you?"

Anais rolled her eyes at him. "To be fair, half the science things you say sound kind of warped to me."

Winn didn't seem very amused by her comment, much less when James and Kara nodded in agreement. "You guys are bad friends."

Barry couldn't help but think of Cisco right at that moment. "It's true."

"That seems a bit tetchy," Anais crossed her arms but then shot Winn a squinted-eyed glance. "And I just refuse to believe that he gets everything right." Winn returned the favor with his own narrowed-eyed look, though a few seconds later he was smiling smugly.

"I still can't believe it. And I'm from another planet," Kara laughed.

Barry's head whipped in her direction almost instantly. "What?"

"Oh, yeah. She's an alien," Winn pointed at Kara like Barry was unable to see her. "And so is Anais."

"Thank you for that disclosure, Winn," Anais pursed her lips together and was subjected to a crazed look from Barry too.

"So, do you have, like, other aliens on this Earth?" Barry knew that would be tricky to wrap his head around. Metahumans, easy. But aliens? That was something else...considering both Kara and Anais looked completely human.

"What do you mean by 'this Earth'?" James asked.

"Uh... Ah, hold on," Barry looked around and found a white board with one marker below. He uncapped said marker and began to draw normal circles on the board. "All right, so, imagine there are multiple versions of Earth. Um, one where the Nazis won World War II. One where Kennedy was never assassinated…" he gestured to each circle meant to represent each different scenario.

"Ooo!" Winn once more pointed excitedly. "Oh, yeah. One where all of us are evil!"

Barry turned back, completely scowling. "Been there. Girlfriend is evil so...it sucks." That wouldn't even begin to cover what he felt for Earth 2 and its doppelgangers.

"That cannot be fun," Winn scrunched his face.

"You have a girlfriend?" Anais asked with eyebrows raised together like she was suspicious.

Barry wasn't sure what her problem was but he wasn't going to spend time dwelling on it. He continued on with his explanation. "So all of these Earths occupy the same place in space, but they vibrate at a different frequency so they can't see one another."

"So, theoretically speaking, or not so much in your case," Anais gestured to him, "If someone were to go...impossibly fast...it's possible to open, like, a breach, and then travel between worlds?"

"Yes."

"Interesting…" Anais pondered on the concept on her own. She'd have to try that in her training sessions. Though she was sure if she traveled through worlds without permission, her parents would kill her. "I'm a speedster too but none of my people - as far as I know since I didn't grow up on my home planet - have ever done that."

"There's alien speedsters too...cool," Barry felt like his head would be spinning soon if they kept dropping more alien facts about themselves.

"What about you, though? You're human," Anais leaned forwards with curiosity, "How did you get your powers? You weren't born with them, right?"

"Um, so, I was struck by lightning the same night a particle accelerator exploded. And I became a superhero," Barry explained and suddenly Anais laughed. Had he said something funny?

She stopped laughing when she noticed his serious face. "Oh, you were serious?"

"Kind of, yeah..."

"Sorry, aren't humans supposed to die if they get struck by lightning?" Anais looked to the others for some help.

"Livewire didn't do that," Winn reminded.

"Yeah, but that was different. Kara acted as an intermediate for that." James' explanation didn't help her either.

"Let's just call it a miracle," Barry shrugged.

"Still weird…" Anais tilted her head. "And so, you can just...pop back and forth between universes?"

"Uh, no actually. This happened by accident," Barry released a breath, still confused on how the hell he managed to do that. "I have traveled through time before by accident. I've never jumped parallel dimensions without meaning to. So until I can figure this out, I'm stuck here."

"Well, don't worry. Don't worry at all because we're gonna help you," Kara backtracked to her friends, everyone board save a weary James.

"First things first, food. I have to consume about 10,000 calories a day…" Barry began but Anais finished for him.

"Because you burn through your calories incredibly fast, right?"

"Yes…"

"Mhm," Anais smiled her first genuine smile. Now like that, she seemed like a friendly person. "Believe me, Kara and I know places. Well, I know them because Kara knows them. I just moved here."

Kara hummed as ideas started invading her mind. "Mr. Sherbets?"

Anais quickly agreed. "Mr. Sherbets."

Barry looked between them, frankly their 'idea faces' scared him a bit. "What's a Mr-"

"Do you like donuts?" Kara asked.

"Who doesn't like donuts?"

"That settles it!" Anais beamed. "James, I'm taking a personal day!"

"Wait, what-" James didn't get to finish because the woman had already led Barry and Kara out.

~0~

Kara was heading for her desk to pick up her purse when she crossed her boss' office and the blonde woman saw her.

"Ker-rah, you're alive," Cat Grant called from her desk, merely raising her stark blue eyes from her laptop for a second.

Kara had forgotten that everyone in the office had seen her crash through glass because of Siobhan. She hurried into Cat's office to explain. "Ms. Grant, don't worry, I was rescued…"

Anais, Barry, Winn and James followed Kara in just to back her up in case Cat asked too many questions.

"Stop stating the obvious. You're in the middle of breaking news and I want you to act like it," Cat spoke with a sharpness usual to her. "And yes, yes, another one of my ex-employees went all revengey. But... there's a new superhero in National City." She turned over her laptop to reveal a perfectly clear picture of a red blur going down a street. "Miss Allen, you are proving to be quite gifted." Cat was truly dazzled with the work Anais had given her so far.

Kara shot Anais a look but Anais innocently smiled back. There was no way in hell she was going to be fired anytime soon with these pictures.

Barry was staring at Anais in confusion. "Wait, your name…"

"This is huge. I thought it would be Golden Girl but the color scheme is off. So it has to be direct competition for Golden Girl and Supergirl" she waved a hand in the air, practically seeing the headlines now."

"He doesn't have to be because he's probably not," Anais chimed in. "He's not as fast...trust me."

"Um," Barry tilted his head in her way, offended. "I would think he is."

Anais remained with that innocent, yet tighter, smile. "I would think he's not. But I'm sure she's open to having a sidekick?"

Kara kept looking between the two since she was in the middle of them. Her mouth opened several times to make an interjection and hopefully stop them from actually arguing, however Barry reached his limit before she could so.

"Why a sidekick!? Why not an ally? Even a new partner, maybe!?" Barry erupted into a streak of alternatives so that they could both come out looking good in the eyes of this city. Cat loudly cleared her throat, making him stop. Her gaze was far too intense for him. "Speaking was the wrong choice, I see that now…"

Cat's eyebrow raised but it was still hard for him to decide what she was. Angry? Upset?

"All five of you standing there doing nothing, you look like the attractive yet non-threatening, racially diverse cast of a CW show." Cat then directed her gaze specifically on Barry. "Who are you?"

"Uh, he's my cousin," Anais quickly supplied and had the support of her friends. "Barry Allen. He's just visiting…"

"Mm," Cat gave the matter no importance. She snapped her fingers specifically at Anais and James. "I'm going to need a better image for this speedster. Preferably one that shows the face. Or is that also undo-able?"

Barry got the jist that the woman was waiting for the pair to do something she wanted. They naturally looked nervous. He would be too if that's who he worked with. Suddenly, Captain Singh was a dream!

Anais cleared her throat. "Consider...almost...done…?"

"And Ker-rah, there are a lot of people who wanna know what happened. Speak to no one. You're mine. I will let you know when you should reveal this exclusive information," Cat turned her laptop to continue working. "Now, I have to name this hero. I was thinking about 'The Whoosh' or 'The Red Streak' or 'The Blur.'"

How Barry missed Cisco at the moment. Cat didn't possess his ability to give good names. "What about The Flash?" he decided to help her. "I'm just saying, I think that's a pretty cool superhero name. Right?"

Cat looked to the side and tested the name out. "The Flash? Sounds like someone whose only superpower is jumping out of an alley in a trench coat." Anais and Kara covered their mouths to hide their laugh while Barry resisted the urge to snap back. "No, I want mystery, I want intrigue, I want the Blur. Boys, be gone. Girl-" she pointed a perfectly manicured finger at Kara, "-stay."

"I'm getting donuts," Anais warned Kara as they left her in the office. "And cookies, and brownies - oh, and cupcakes!"

"Anais, what about that picture Cat wants?" James stopped her on her way to her desk just outside his office. "And you still have that crime scene I told you to check out."

"Um, well," Anais turned around fast that Barry bumped into her, "If Barry's willing then I can snap that easy-peasy no problem."

"Ah, I, uh...I guess?" Barry couldn't find a problem with that. He hoped to be out of the city (and the world) before people actually got to recognizing him.

"There we go!" Anais clapped and glanced at James again. "I'll have it in tonight. I should get the hospital thing done in five minutes tops too."

"You just started working here, you can't take personal time," Winn had to point out but then he got to thinking himself and entered a state of doubt. "...can we?"

"Not unless you want Cat to go after you," James' warning was enough to make Winn backtrack for his desk. "Anais," his more stern look made the blonde in question shift. There was something else she wasn't telling him, but he doubted she would spill in the middle of the office.

"Please James, can I just go already?" she asked quieter. "I'll get the pictures, trust me."

In the end, James gave a small nod. He warned her to be careful, and that made Barry wonder if he should take offence or not.

~0~

Anais kept her word to take Barry to 'Mr. Sherbet's' that afternoon. As soon as she snapped the pictures James wanted from the crime scene, she led Barry into the cafe shop. Though she was still new to the city, the cafe shop had become her daily stop for snacks. The employees were already getting to know her.

She just got an unforeseen call on the way that she couldn't let pass. "Yeah, Mom, no it wasn't me. You read right. But I'll tell you more about it later. Talk to you later," Anais sheepishly hung up and put her phone away. "Sorry, my parents saw the picture Cat already published and they thought it was me."

"She already got that posted?" Barry got to wondering who was the real speedster, them or Cat Grant?

"Oh yeah," Anais took a seat at the counter and waved a hand to get the attention of an employee. "She's fast like that when it comes to superhero claimage."

"So she's done it to you, then?"

"Eh…" Anais swayed her head, "I haven't really let her. It's not quite up to me yet to reveal myself to the city. It's up to the government and I guess my parents…"

"O-okay," Barry wasn't sure how to respond to that, even if he did understand exactly what it meant. He chalked it off as alien related, which then prompted him to ask, "So, wait, when you said your parents, you meant…"

Anais caught on to what he meant and chuckled. "Adoptive parents. They adopted me when I was really young."

Unknowingly, she got Barry to sympathize with her in that one second. "What happened?" he found himself asking before he could think it through. He regretted it when she answered.

"She, um, was murdered...by some humans…"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…"

Anais' warm smile only made him feel somewhat less guilty. He knew exactly what it felt like when people asked him what happened to his parents and now here he was doing the same thing to this girl.

"It's fine, Barry, really," she promised him. Since no employees had come by despite her initial gesture, she called to one of the men instead. "Miles? Can I get a dozen cupcakes? I honestly don't care what flavor they are. Oh, and donuts. Kara's basically gonna kill me if I don't come back with new donuts."

"You ate them already?" Miles blinked. "But she bought those last night. Between you and Kara you'll run us out of our stock!"

"Can you just..." Anais felt her face warm up with embarrassment. The fact he had said that not so quietly made it worse for her. It didn't help when Miles said something more.

"I gotta give you bravery points for being so open about your big appetite on a date," his glance at Barry sent the two speedsters into stammering states.

"We are not on a date!" Anais practically shouted. "No thank you!"

"Yeah, I have a girlfriend!" Barry added on, loud and clear. It was fairly comical for Miles to watch them both nod their heads at the same time.

"Honestly, Miles, I'm calling the manager!"

Miles laughed but did ultimately apologize for his assumption and promised them some sweet cinnamon rolls on the house.

Anais shook her head. "Sorry about that," she said after Miles left. "Does your world also have the, uh, 'women and men can't be just friends' thing too?"

"Yeah, unfortunately," Barry nodded. "Hey, about your name...you're not like related to me, right? Not a secret wife or anything? No offence, I mean, you're pretty and, yeah, but, I-I just…" he was stuttering and rambling now. Belén would have smacked him by now. God he really missed her. "I have a girlfriend."

"I'm not," Anais reassured. "Total coincidence. And yeah, I get that you have a girlfriend. By now I'm sure the entire shop knows that."

"Sorry," Barry flushed and cleared his throat. "I just...wanted to make that clear...for everyone."

"Mission accomplished," Anais rested her elbows on the counter then put her chin over her palms. "It's not easy being in a world different to your own, huh?"

Barry knew where she was coming from and sheepishly nodded his head. "Yeah. I-I still don't understand how it happened. I mean, I was just running and then-then…" he stopped talking when he noticed Anais' sudden movement out of her chair. Her head snapped to the entrance doors. "Are you alright?"

"He's doing it again," she whispered.

"He...?" Barry noticed her gaze was on the doors so he naturally shifted in his stool to see what was claiming her eyes. As far as he could tell, there was nothing significant going on. "Who's doing-"

Anais ran off, leaving him to call and chase after her. Barry didn't understand what had made her change like that but he wasn't a strange to it. He chased after her until she stopped at the end of the street.

"Anais, what are you looking at?" Barry could see the urgency in her eyes as she scanned the streets. He knew that all too well. "Who's out there?"

"I-I'm sorry, you should go back into the cafe shop," she said distractedly, taking a step forwards.

"Why? What's happening?"

Anais seemed to find what she was looking for, only this time the figure had started to run. Before she took a step forwards, the man sped past her and Barry, causing a familiar force of wind to push them back. Barry barely had time to process there was another speedster with them when Anais took off after this new speedster with her own speed.

"Maybe I haven't left Central City," Barry rubbed the back of his neck as he stared after the two speedsters. Was it really going to be that in every earth there'll always be two speedsters going at it? Whatever the answer was, he'd have to follow them. He had to help Anais however he could.

Anais was determined to catch this man who, for some reason, thought she was his personal plaything. She could feel his presence in her mind in the form of a tickle. The whispers were faint despite her close to him. She was just behind him and yet nothing about his back seemed special. He was just another civilian by appearance.

Barry watched the culprit go up a building and then Anais following a second later, but the blonde didn't seem to have a good hold of her balance. She screamed as she fell plummeted down. Barry charged on faster to catch her on his way up and safely brought her to the rooftop.

"Are you alright?" he set her down on her feet but despite their impromptu chase, her gaze was still searching for that mysterious man.

"Yeah, I'm - OW!" she felt an immense pain jab at her head. She fell to her knees, hands clutching her head with her eyes shut.

Barry wasn't sure what was going on but he assumed it was that man making her feel that pain. He looked up and saw the man in the air, but the sun's rays were shadowing his appearance.

"He's in-in m-my head!" Anais cried, shaking her head as if it would shake off the pain.

Barry glared at the man and decided to use his own Earth 1 tricks. He raced in a circle, charging up until he could produce enough electricity for lightning. Anais' eyes widened as Barry kept going in circles. The pain in her head had gradually subsided but she knew it was just because the man up in the air was probably coming up with something worse to hit her with.

Barry finally stopped when he had enough power and threw a lightning bolt at the man. He was mighty satisfied when it knocked the man backwards, electrifying him while he spun in the air.

"Oh my God..." Anais' voice made him turn around to see her slowly standing up. Her blonde hair was all over her face but she'd perfectly seen what he'd done. "How...how did you do that!?"

"Uuh..." Barry flushed at her awed face. "I...somebody taught me. Has no one taught you that?"

Anais shook her head fast. "No! I've only just started actually training! But nobody..." A laugh momentarily took her over as she hurried up to him with her gaze in the sky where the man used to be, "Nobody's taught me how to do that!"

"Well, if you'd like," Barry started, intending on offering himself as a brief teacher when suddenly she shot into the air. "Aaaand she can fly...cool..." She's an alien, flying is probably part of the package deal or something, he thought to himself.

Anais didn't waste a second and delivered a second attack at the man. Golden energy swirled around her hands and put together created a mass streak of energy that shot forwards. The man was hit again but when Anais fired heat vision from her eyes, the man did the same.

It was a struggle since it seemed like the two were matched in the heat vision department. Suddenly, the man ducked down, leaving Anais to fall forwards in the air. In that second-span, the man fired a jet of orange energy that threw Anais down to the rooftop. Even if Barry wanted to catch her, the fall had been too fast to process. Anais fell with a harsh thud. The ground cracked with her force.

The man watched her for a second from the air then flew away.

"Anais!" Barry quickly went to Anais' side and hoped she came with a fast healing ability too because that kind of fall would require immense medical attention. Anais landed on her side and despite the bits of cement stuck on her clothes and face, she seemed fine, if not a little groggy.

"I really hate that guy," she swallowed hard then made a face as she tasted cement on her tongue.

"Who was he?" Barry helped her stand up.

"...I have no frikin idea," she glared at the sky, the man no longer being in sight.

~ 0 ~

The D.E.O. turned out to be even better than STAR Labs. The moment Barry got there he sped all around the rooms he could just to check them out then finally stopped in the main control room to bask in it. "Yo, this place is amazing, all right?" he laughed, still too excited to calm down. Anais, Kara (as Supergirl) and Winn laughed at him.

"Wow, so...you're a dork too," Anais concluded with a shake of her head.

Barry stopped laughing momentarily to point and say, "You know, I get the feeling you and Belén would get along really well."

Anais smirked.

"Okay," Kara raised her hands to get their attention. "So here's the situation. There's a villain I foguht a while ago named Livewire. She escaped from our custody with the help of Siobhan-"

"-the banshee that threw Kara out CatCo.," Anais said for Barry's benefit. She then shot Winn an apologetic glance. He was taking Siobhan's new evil route a little hard.

"Yes," Kara continued on, "And now they're probably both about to have a vendetta against me and Cat. We're going to need a lot of help."

"Which is why I brought Barry over of course," Anais gestured to the speedster.

"And, actually, you said this place could help get me home," Barry pointed out and received a big, innocent smile in return.

"Yes, and while we put these two crazies back I can have my godparents look into it, yeah? They're scientists and they really know their stuff about molecular force and all that crap involving speed."

"Supergirl?" A petite, dark-haired woman in black, emerged from the side and was flanked by several employees. "Anais? Who is this masked man? Alien?"

"Metahuman," Barry waved a hand, a bit nervous of all the 'guards' probably just waiting orders to take aim on him.

"Well, we have protocol for visitors at the DEO, Supergirl," the woman said, still waiting for an explanation.

"Lucy, it's fine," Anais turned around, making a gesture for the guards to leave them. "He's here to help us find that Livewire woman."

Lucy turned her gaze into an even more authoritative one. "You were supposed to be in two hours ago for your training."

Anais opened her mouth as if to give a proper explanation for her tardiness, but at the end she closed it and smiled. "I was busy."

"I'll remember that next time you press to go out there," Lucy retorted with the same smile. She then looked over her to Barry. "I'm allowing it because we do need all the help we can get. So what do I call you? Speedy?"

Barry pulled his hood off and waved once more. "Barry Allen."

"Lucy Lane. I hope you're bringing more to the table than just quick reflexes."

"As it just so happens, catching criminals is both my night and day job," Barry smiled to himself but quickly added, for reference, "I'm a CSI," for everyone's benefit. "By the way, do you guys have a crime lab here?"

"Yeah. My sister's lab's right over there," Kara nodded and started leading the way.

"Wait, you have a sister?" Barry's voice did a high pitch much like a child would. "Where is she at?"

"I wish I knew," Kara admitted with a small sigh.

~ 0 ~

After getting introduced to the D.E.O's system, Barry got to work on helping Kara find her missing enemy. It turned out Winn was definitely Cisco's counterpart in this new world because the man was smart. God help him if the two men ever met each other.

"Guys," Anais's voice drew Barry, Kara and Winn in. She had just walked in with Lucy and James, the former looking very expectant.

Barry knew that look all too well and decided to present what they had so far. "So I wrote an algorithm to monitor variations in meter usage around the city, and it all leads to that warehouse," he pointed to the blinking dot on the screen behind him. "I see bad guys love their abandoned warehouses on your Earth, too, huh?"

"Isn't that kind of like, universal, for villains?" asked Anais with a faint trace of amusement. Barry nodded, smiling to himself.

"I'll authorize a drop team," Lucy turned to leave but Kara stopped her.

"No. No, no! She's too dangerous!" she stopped and motioned to Barry. "Let's go."

"What? Just like that?" frowned Anais. "You're not meant-"

"Barry!" Kara's voice went over Anais and anyone else who would speak up.

The speedster quickly got up from his chair and got ready to listen. "So, what's the plan?"

Kara had a plan alright. "Catch the bad girl, bring her back here so she can't hurt anyone. 85% chance of punching."

"Okay, that I get," Barry nodded. "But like, what's the plan? Maybe we can overload her somehow."

"Yeah," Winn remembered the last time they fought Livewire, "What about the Industrial Capacitor you were gonna trap her in last time?"

Kara quickly shot the idea down. "No, no. It went busto."

"Well, Dynamic Duo will build you a new one," Anais shrugged and clapped Winn on the shoulder, the man agreeing fairly fast.

Kara still disagreed. "No. If we wait, we lose her. If we lose her, God knows what kind of damage she could do, or who she could hurt! I defeated her once before. I can do it again. With your help…" she turned to Barry with hopeful looks.

"Kara…" Anais stepped forwards but the blonde Kryptonian suddenly pointed a warning finger at her to stay put.

"You're staying here!"

"But-"

"Barry, let's go!" Kara marched right out, leaving Anais with the words in her mouth. Barry awkwardly, and confusedly, followed after Kara.

"Lucy…" Anais turned to the woman in question pleadingly. "I can-"

But Lucy stopped her with a hand in front of Anais's face. "No, you're still in training." And with that, Lucy left her as well.

From the main control room, they monitored Kara's location and, therefore, Barry's. As it turned out, Livewire had chosen an old warehouse just across the city. And because it was abandoned, there were no security cameras to hack into to better monitor.

"What about the streets?" Anais planted herself on the chair next to Winn. "Can we see better from the streets?"

"Um…" Winn began to try and hack into the nearby camera streets but by that time, Livewire had already introduced her newest partner: Silver Banshee.

"Winn!" Anais went like it was his fault. "That's your psycho girlfriend!"

"It's not like I told her to become...weird...like that…" Winn couldn't even acknowledge the fact his girlfriend, or rather ex-girlfriend now, Siobhan, had turned evil.

"Banshees are evil in mythology," Anais reminded.

"Whatever she is, she needs to be taken in," Lucy's voice drew the two back to business.

It took about one second for the fight to actually begin, and unfortunately it was not going good for their side. Because Kara was unprepared, there was no strategy to use and Barry was out of his element. He had yet to meet a meta with a killer cry - Hartley's was technologically produced and could be taken easily - and plus, he didn't know this 'Livewire' would act as a conduit for his own power. He could really use his own team right about now. If he had Belén, he would know their dynamic and between each other would come up with an actual plan!

"They're getting creamed out there," Winn mumbled and looked to the side to see Anais staring with wide eyes. Her face was panicked, unusually so, and so suddenly she was gone. "What? Where-"

In the abandoned warehouse, Barry had just been thrown over a wooden box that crumbled with him. That one hurt. Silver Banshee's scream smacked Supergirl against the opposite wall. As the two were getting back, hopefully, on their feet, Livewire began a crazed hum between her lips. Lightning crackled around her hands as she made a round in the middle.

"Which one should I get first…?" she pretended to think about even though she was already turning in Supergirl's direction. But above came a crash and suddenly Livewire was slammed straight first against the ground.

Silver Banshee went to use her sonic scream but Anais drew an arm and released a bright blast of orange beam directly at her. Supergirl had finally gotten back on her feet and was awed yet worried for her friend who seemed a bit...out of it. Anais had an odd determination on her face that seemed to want to protect. Funny, she had only worked with Anais for a short while now and had never seen that face.

Livewire rolled on her back and attacked by surprise with a thunder blow that threw Anais away. There was a loud crash as the blonde hit the wall and fell over an already crumbling shelf.

"No!" Supergirl flew over to make sure Anais was fine and gave the perfect escape for Livewire and Silver Banshee.

~ 0 ~

Barry never thought he would meet someone who could outmatch Joe and Veronica in the 'parenty scolding lecture' department until he saw Lucy Lane going at it with Anais. After returning to the D.E.O with Anais, the blonde woman was taken to the medbay and subjected to various tests and observations. It reminded Barry of his early days at STAR Labs where basically everything he did was recorded and observed.

"Hey," Kara met with Barry just outside the medbay. "How are you doing?"

"Well, aside from my eardrums ringing like church bells, I'm okay," Barry gave a light shrug of his shoulders. The injuries he'd gotten from hitting the walls and the furniture had already vanished by the time they returned.

Kara apologetically smiled at him. "I'm sorry I made you rush in on Livewire without a plan. I didn't know she was gonna have a cohort."

"That's the thing about being a superhero. You have to somehow be prepared for the unexpected," Barry said, and couldn't count the many times he had definitely not been prepared for something out in the field.

"Something happened to me a few weeks ago. I was exposed to this substance that made me crazy. I did a lot of horrible things. And when I was helping people as Supergirl, I was... I was so happy. And now that the people don't want me to help them, I feel lost. And I'm in such a hurry to prove myself again, I'm making stupid mistakes. Like today."

"This is gonna sound ironic coming from me but, um, you need to slow down. Just keep doing your good work," Barry advised with a true heart honesty." Don't worry about the rest. The public will forgive you, I promise."

"How can you be so sure?"

"'Cause the same thing happened to me."

Kara blinked. "Really? So what finally fixed things?"

"Time. When you're used to fixing things with brute strength, or in my case, amazing speed, it's hard to accept that there are things out of our control."

Kara took a breath and nodded, hoping the words would stick by her for the next time she felt bad. With the silence between her and Barry, the increasing voices from the medbay started to carry over.

"We must inform them, Miss Lane," one of the examiners was saying while Anais, seemingly more panicked than ever, shouted 'no!'.

Lucy nodded her head, calm despite the mood over them. "Yes, I understand."

"No!" Anais jumped off the bed when the examiners began to leave with Lucy. "You can't do that!"

"I'm sorry Anais, it's out of my hands-" Lucy stumbled back when Anais sped around the room to snatch every clipboard holding her information. "Anais."

"You can't tell them," Anais insisted. "Th-they won't let me work with Supergirl if they know I went out before-"

"You were ready?" Lucy finished for her. "Well, you should have thought of that before you went out. I'm sorry." She gave the nod for the examiners to take back the clipboards and finally leave.

Anais rubbed her face when they'd taken the clipboards from her then stomped back to the bed.

"Anais, what's wrong?" Kara walked in with Barry behind her. "The yelling…?"

"She clearly got told she shouldn't have gone out," Barry said. "I know that. Went through it...still do…"

Anais gave him a small, sideways smile. "Yeah...you would…" Barry, in return, gave a questioning look at the way she had said...like she KNEW knew him.

Kara, on the other hand, didn't notice. All she knew was that her friend was in distress. "Anais, you shouldn't have gone out like that…"

"I know!" Anais threw her arms in the air. "And now that I have, my parents are going to be informed about it and...knowing my Dad, he's going to overreact and bring me back home."

"What's the problem if you went out?" asked Barry.

"I'm not technically supposed to go out until I finish training," Anais explained. "It's part of my contract with this place...with the government…"

"Why'd you go then if you knew you could get into this big of a trouble?"

"Because you were in trouble," Anais said, shrugging her shoulders. "You...guys...were hurt, and I had to help."

"This is my fault," Kara sighed and shook her head.

"It's not, I made the decision," Anais promised her and glanced at Barry. "And if I had to do it again I would. No doubt."

"You're such a good friend," Kara reached out and hugged her.

"Yeah I am," Anais smiled in agreement. She smiled specifically at Barry for a second before Winn came in.

"Are you alright?" he'd been barred from talking to her due to the fact she was rushed directly into the medbay. "I looked away for like a second and-"

"-I'm sorry," Anais plopped down on the side of the medbed. "I just can't get anything right today."

Both Kara and Winn exchanged confused glances. Of course they still didn't know what Anais went through earlier. Barry cleared his throat behind them, gaining their attention, though he was looking straight at Anais. "You should just tell them." He understood what she was trying to do - keep secrets about the dangerous things that'd happened to her - and he told her before that he'd done the same and it blew up in his face. It was funny, actually, how much Anais reminded Barry of himself when he first started out as the Flash. He felt kind of odd being the teacher now.

"Tell us what?" chorused Kara and Winn.

Anais felt her eyes tear up now that she was thinking about both failed attempts to be a hero. "He came back, Kara." Her voice had gone shaky, but it wasn't clear if it was out of fear or weariness. "He made me chase him around the city and then-then he hit me with his powers, and I-I was weak!"

Kara looked back at Barry for some confirmation. Barry gave a silent nod. She hurried to Anais side and set her hands on the woman's shoulders. "Anais, why didn't you say something?"

"I'm confused," Winn raised his index finger in the air. "Say something about what? Who did you chase?"

Anais rubbed some loose tears from her face and sniffed. "Remember that guy I ran after the other day?" he nodded. "He came back today. He's a speedster too and he can fly, he's telepathic, and he has this sort of power like mine…"

"And you went after him on your own!?" Winn exclaimed.

"I wasn't alone," Anais smiled a teary-eyed smile at Barry.

"And you don't have to be alone ever again," Kara reminded her. "Just because you moved here to be independent doesn't mean you have to take things up on your own."

"It's just difficult processing," Anais sniffed again, hoping to calm herself down. "I haven't even exposed myself to the city and I already have an enemy? That's got to be a record."

"Well, you know what, we'll double up on our training," Kara decided then. "If this guy wants to fight then he'll get a fight."

"Yeah, and you know what?" Winn came to Anais' other side on the bed. "Your suits done," he whispered and proceeded to smile widely. "In case you wanted to take it out for a spin, or…"

Anais laughed as did Kara.

In that moment, watching the trio of friends converse over their course of plan, Barry really missed Belén and the others. Being a world apart literally hurt his insides. I wonder what Belén is doing right now, he wondered. She'd been waiting to congratulate him at the end of his race and he'd strung himself into another world. His heart ached for his Bells.

~0~

Kara and Anais crowded over Barry as he worked on small devices on a table. He had Winn helping him create the devices but only now was explaining what he was doing. "So back on my Earth, we fought a villain who used sound waves as a weapon. He called himself Pied Piper…" Barry explained while he worked the last turn of a screwdriver.

"That's a weird name but a catchy one," Anais swayed her head in thought.

"Yeah," Barry agreed. "So I whipped up these bad boys."

Anais ignored the earbuds for a moment. "I'm sorry, did you just say 'bad boys'?"

"Yeah, sorry…" Barry pretended to wince.

Kara had picked up one earbud to examine it. "Are they earbuds?"

"Yeah. It'll protect us from Silver Banshee's yelly voice."

"Why are there three sets?" Anais asked once she noticed.

Barry smiled at her. "Why do you think...Golden Girl?"

Anais laughed. "That's definitely not what I'm calling myself."

"Cat Grant would say otherwise," Winn sent her a smirk.

Lucy and some other employees came striding into the area. "James just called. Livewire and Silver Banshee kidnapped Cat!"

One of the employees followed up at the nearby desk to put on a video left by Livewire. "Hello, Red and Blue. Come to National City Park now if you don't want Cat's blood all over your hands or all over the street."

Anais winced at Livewire's maniacal laughter. "Seriously, what's wrong with her? Who's more insane - Livewire or Silver Banshee?"

Winn, who stood beside her, shook his head. "I would rather we never found out."

Kara sighed. "You don't have to do this, Barry. This is my fight."

Barry shook his head to disagree while he got up from his chair. "One for all and all for…" he stopped for a second, "You guys have Three Musketeers here, right?"

Kara smiled. "All for one. C'mon!"

"Be careful!" Anais was left to call as the two headed out. She glumly leaned against the table with her arms folded. "I cannot believe I'm benched...again."

"It could be worse," Winn said, offering her a kind smile but Anais was just too upset. "Hey, I'm sorry. Really. How mad are your parents going to be when they get here?"

"I don't know, honestly," Anais sighed.

"Anais," Lucy called and had the blonde lean off the table, "Your parents are on their way."

"Guess that's it then..." Anais sighed again but before she could truly feel sorry for herself, a new idea popped into her head. It wasn't so much of an idea but more of a...realization. "Wait...if they're really mad then they can't actually get more mad than what they already are, so..."

Lucy and Winn exchanged looks, both assuming what Anais was leading up to.

Anais clapped her hands with a newfound gleefulness. "I can't possibly get into more trouble! I'm going out there!"

"What!?" Winn's eyes widened. "But you were just saying that-"

"Lucy!" Anais sped up to the brunette, startling her with the gust of wind that slapped her face. "How's about you-"

Lucy was quick to cover up Anais' mouth. "Whatever you're thinking of, don't tell me. I'm not here, I'm not listening..." She pulled her hand off Anais' mouth and walked around her. "I don't know, I don't hear...la...la..la, la…" she flashed a smile at the blonde as she walked out.

A big smile spread across Anais's face. "Love the temporary boss." She sped up to Winn, ignoring his cry for her to stop doing that and grabbed him by the shoulders. "You were making the suit!"

"Yes...but listen, shouldn't we-"

"Show me the suit," Anais' face fell serious, leaving no room for Winn to even try to persuade her to stay.

~0~

Supergirl and Flash had their hands full with Livewire and Siobhan. Cat Grant had been saved in time but that didn't mean the rest of the city were too. Livewire and Siobhan didn't exactly care what their destruction hit or caused. And just because Silver Banshee's cries couldn't affect Supergirl and the Flash didn't mean everyone had the same immunity.

Supergirl had been thrown by Silver Banshee's scream and the latter didn't wait for a recovery. She was getting frustrated by the crowd around them and since Livewire was still throwing with the Flash up on a rooftop, she decided to get rid of them herself.

"Enjoy my singing," she smirked and sucked in a breath to deliver her fatal cry.

A golden figure streaked over the crowd and threw forwards a golden ray of light that blinded Silver Banshee. "I'd stop if I were you," Anais, in an orange and gold suit with a golden half-mask over her face, stopped across from Silver Banshee. "My light can be terribly awful."

"Who are you?" Silver Banshee picked herself up and threw Anais a dirty look.

"Someone nicknamed me Golden Girl but I have to disagree. Call me Solar," Anais detected an incoming sonic scream and acted before it came. Her hands glowed golden seconds before she fired a series of energy jets that made Silver Banshee skip around until one shot knocked her over the same bench Cat had been tied to.

At the same time, Livewire zapped into the area and a second later the Flash arrived as well. Livewire sent a growl at the helicopter in the air and decided she despised it. She raised her hands and emitted electricity at the helicopter but before it reached the helicopter...Supergirl got in the way.

"No!" Anais cried and zoomed towards Supergirl but the Kryptonian had fallen to the ground first.

Livewire laughed and started heading for the fallen alien.

"Leave her alone!" One woman from the crowd stepped forwards. Little by little, the crowd assembled in front of Supergirl to prevent Livewire From reaching her.

Livewire could not believe her ears. "Yesterday you people were ready to string her up. Now you're willing to die for her?"

"She was willing to die for us," the same woman answered and had the agreement from everyone else.

Livewire turned to Silver Banshee who had just gotten back on her feet. "What do you say we thin the herd?" her hands crackled with re-charged electricity.

"Or…" Anais rolled her eyes and shot a yellow blast of energy at a fire hydrant near the two women. Water burst and gravely shocked Livewire and Silver Banshee till the two fell unconscious.

"Nice one," Barry stopped beside her. "...Solar."

Anais smiled to herself with glee. She turned around and was even happier to see the citizens helping Supergirl get back on her feet. The city was once again with Supergirl, just like it should be.

~0~

Barry moved around the cracked cement of the DEO's training field. It was fairly similar to the STAR Labs field so he knew it was the perfect spot for Anais to try out the lightning bolt. Since there was still no word about his way back home, Barry figured it was the perfect opportunity to try teach Anais the things he learned about their speedster abilities. If it wasn't now then when would it be?

"Alright Miss Solar," he turned around to see Anais smiling proudly at her new name. It reminded him too much of when he and Belén used to train in their earlier days. Anais had the same young spark that Belén had when she was first exploring her powers. "You've seen me do the lightning trick so it's not entirely new."

"Except it kind of is," Anais folded her arms over her chest. "Because I've never done anything like that. Hell, the only thing I've done is just run and that's only because it's part of my DEO tests. I'm basically at zero, Barry. I couldn't even run up a building."

Barry of course remembered the fact he had to catch her before she plummeted down. "Okay," he took in a breath while he re-assessed this training session. It was unfortunate that he only had a couple of hours to teach her what took a long time. But if he could just introduce her to the concepts then he could leave knowing that she had the idea of how to keep training on her own. "Why don't we start with the building thing, then? The key to staying on balance is to keep your speed at a certain level. I'm sure that Winn or somebody else at the DEO can calculate that for you because every speedster has different speed levels."

"Okay," Anais dutifully nodded her head, preparing to take mental notes of everything that Barry would tell her. "Something else basic? Just to keep my confidence up?"

Barry smiled with amusement. "How about the windmill trick?"

"The what?"

Barry nodded and turned sideways away from her. "This one's super easy, I promise." He extended his arms to his sides and started propelling them in fast circles until he create the familiar wind. As basic as it was, it still left Anais awed.

"Let me try!" She took a few steps away from him and imitated his arm movements. Sure enough, she started creating the same air force. "Oh, that was easy! And it's handy!"

"It is," Barry pointed at her. "Never think because it's a basic movement that it won't be helpful. I can't tell you how many times I've used it to stop people from falling."

"What else?" Anais put on her best listening ears for her temporary teacher. Like Barry, she was aware that there weren't really any other speedsters like them so whatever he would teach her now was it.

Barry started with being able to handle doing several tasks at light speed while giving each task the sufficient attention. At first glance, Anais seemed a bit distracted so Barry presumed she might have a struggle with that but it wasn't something impossible. He was a bit all over the place too in the beginning. He then moved onto actually running over difficult structures, such as water. Fortunately, that was one of the tests the DEO ran - Anais remarking about the terribly cold water and them just shoving her into it - so Barry moved on pretty quick. He switched to the explanation of calculated speed jumps to vibrating their molecules - a concept that completely fascinated Anais because how else would she be able to sneak up on her friends? - and finally to the lightning bolt trick.

Anais watched him go in endless circles just like he had before on the rooftop. He came to the same stop and chucked the lightning bolt into the air. "That is really cool," she sighed in content. "I can't wait to do that."

"You'll be able to one day," Barry assured her. "The key is to be connected to your speed, to the Speed Force."

"The Speed Force?" Anais repeated, sounding and looking utterly lost. "What's that?"

Barry blinked at her, for a moment there he thought she was joking...but her grey eyes were blank. "You don't...you don't know about the Speed Force?" Anais shook her head. "Anais, the Speed Force is the origin of your speedster abilities. How could you not know about it?"

Anais felt self-conscious with her lack of knowledge, something that Barry hadn't intended on. "I just...I didn't get to really know my heritage. My real Mom died before I could access my powers. I don't really know who nor what I am."

"That's okay," Barry said quickly once he saw her dejected face getting stronger. "It's never too late. I literally got my powers two years ago and I'm still learning. Somebody," - he chose to omit that the 'somebody' he referred to was Thawne - "taught me that the Speed Force is a force that drives your powers. It's a sentient force that we can actually go into."

"That would be so cool," Anais bit her lip anxiously. "It talks to you?"

Barry nodded. "It's helped me out and I'm sure that it's helped me out in situations where I never even realized. This force, Anais, is a force you want to get to know. You should try to connect to it."

"How do I do that?"

"It all depends on the speedster. I'm sure you'll find a way."

Anais nodded, though she didn't look very convinced she'd find that way. "Must be nice having people that could teach you, though," she smiled sadly. "Kara tries her best to teach me but she's not connected to this force you're talking about. She's just speedy but not like we are. I wish you could stay here."

"Yeah..." Barry scratched the back of his head. "As tempting as that sounds, I really would like to return home. No offence to you or anyone else but...I have somebody I need to get back to." Anais began to smile knowingly even before Barry named this person he needed to get back to. "Belén needs me and I need her."

"She's your girlfriend, right? The one you keep mentioning?"

Barry sheepishly nodded. "Yeah, I miss her. She was waiting for me where we planned the stopping point of my training and...I wonder if she's still there? Has it been minutes for her or...or days?"

"I wouldn't think about that," Anais said, though she knew her words would probably mean very little to him right now. "Why don't you tell me about her? Your, uh, your girlfriend? I won't get to meet her so...what's she like?"

Despite the situation, Barry smiled to himself when he got to thinking of the answer. "Belén is...incredible. She's amazing. She's a metahuman-"

"A speedster too?" Anais curiously guessed and became even more curious when Barry shook his head.

"She's a botanical metahuman. She controls all plant life but she emphasizes a lot on azaleas, it's why calls herself 'the Azalea'."

"Those are poisonous flowers."

"Yeah," Barry agreed with a nod. "It's part of her powers so-"

"Don't piss her off, got it," Anais chuckled.

"She's really great, though. She cares a lot about her meta community and she always tries to show them that the Azalea is there to help them whenever they need it. And when she's not being a metahuman, she's this fantastic woman who loves to write and aerial dance and, recently bake amaretti cookies."

"Chocolate?"

"Yeah!"

Anais smiled silently.

"She's, uh, she's been having some trouble lately. We've met other doppelgangers, you know? And hers is a scientist, and...not nice." Barry would once again choose to omit some of the uglier parts of the story. "Belén likes to think of herself as the 'runt' of her doppelgangers because she's not a scientist. She's 'just' a reporter."

"What? I'm sure she's great!"

"She is. She's a reporter, or...was. She's suspended because she published an article that she didn't get approval on."

"Why would she do something like that?"

A soft smile spread across Barry's face. "Because people needed help and that's what my Bells does. She wrote an article specifically for her botanical metahuman community and she was suspended for it. But people are backing her article up so I just know that there'll be some justice for her. It's only fair."

"Well, she does sound amazing," Anais folded her arms over her chest, "And, uh, I'm so sorry I won't go to the wedding." Barry blushed red and looked away. "But she sounds like somebody CatCo. would love to have."

"Belén working for Cat Grant?" Barry cocked his head to the side. He was truly unable to see how that would work out. "I just really wish I could get back to her."

Anais watched him slowly fall into his glum state, a rightful response given his situation.

I shouldn't do it...

But Barry looked so upset and it was partly her fault for making him talk about his girlfriend...

Ah screw it, you're already in trouble anyways!

~0~

The next day, Barry was still not having much luck with a concrete way of getting home. He had one idea that he shared with the others and since they had nothing much to go by on, they decided to give it a try that afternoon.

Anaís was leading Barry down the DEO hallway in quite a hurry, even for a speedster. It was early in the morning, really early that only a few DEO employees had clocked on, but it didn't matter for Barry. He hadn't slept at all anyways. Spending the night on this Earth meant that he still didn't have a way back home. So whatever plan Anais had going on, Barry just let it happen because he really had nothing else going on. Plus, she seemed very cheery for some reason.

"Anais, where are you taking me exactly?" He finally asked when the curiosity got the best of him.

Anais was too giggly for this to be DEO related. "My parents are here and they wanted to meet you!"

"What? Why?"

Anais whirled around, forcing Barry to crash into her since he'd been right behind her. "Because I told them all about you. So, a warning: I told them everything! But don't worry, they're really good at keeping secrets. I mean they kept me a secret from the world and they basically keep themselves from the world too so really, it's like their whole main thing!"

"O...kay…" Barry never knew that he would find somebody who could talk faster than Belén but Anais was sure tempting him to give her the title.

Anais stopped suddenly again and turned around. "So a little bit about them. Um, they're scientists. They, uh, they adopted me after the DEO found me and they've been looking after me ever since. They're completely human but they've tried helping me use my powers safely. They're intelligent beyond belief. If anyone can get you home, it's them. And believe me, they want to. They understand you."

"That's very kind of them," Barry nodded, truly grateful because he honestly didn't know what he would do if he had to spend another night here.

"No, Barry, uh...they really understand you," Anais' expression turned serious fast, her eyes boring into Barry's in a way that made the speedster shift.

"What do you mean?"

Anais opened her mouth to seemingly explain but closed it when she got a better idea. "I'll just let them explain." She reached back for the doorknob and motioned him to follow her in. "Mom! Dad! Do you have the tachyon…"

There were two adults in the room, their backs to them, and they were bickering

"No, you idiot! I told you not to!" the woman was frantically gesturing to the bowl on a table near them.

"Are you - what did you call me!?" the man was scarfing down something in his mouth because Barry was sure it sounded like he was quickly trying to chew something.

"You're a child! I told you not to bite the amarettis until your daughter showed up!"

Anais sighed. "And they're embarrassing. They're really embarrassing." Barry smiled at her while she looked absolutely mortified. "Mom! Dad!" She hissed at her parents and fortunately stopped their bickering. "Jesus, you just can't be normal, can you!?"

"It was your father's fault!" Anais' mother huffed, smacking her husband's arm. "We're trying to make a good impression!"

Barry nearly keeled over when she turned around, even more so when both of them had faced them. Beside him, Anais struggled not to laugh...even though she really wanted to.

As it turned out, Anais' parents were very familiar.

"Barry, I'd like you to meet my parents," Anais walked over to the pair, moving behind them to then squeeze her way between them. "But you already know them."

Barry did. Because her 'adoptive parents' turned out to be his doppelganger...and Belén's. An older version of their doppelgangers. Suddenly, many things made sense. Anais' last name? Cat had said it! He was an idiot, he really was.

"Hello Barry," the older Belén - or simply Belén - greeted softly. "Feels like it's been ages…"

Barry's doppelganger huffed at the comment. "I'm not that old!"

"You guys are freaking him out, shush," Anais tried to say but her mother's eyes narrowed down on her. Barry recognized that look and couldn't help but wonder if that'd be the look his Belén would one day give to a child of theirs.

"Don't you shush me!"

"Sorry Mom,"Anais' eyes widened and lowered to the ground.

"Mom…" Barry repeated with a small, confused, smile. "Anais...what is going on!?"

"Exactly what you see," Anais shrugged. "Meet my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Allen, special DEO scientists that only a select few know about. It's why you couldn't find them on a public search engine. Nobody really knows them."

"But it's...it's you…" Barry pointed at his doppelganger. "I've met another you but you were...we were the same age!"

"Right, the multiverse theory," Earth 38 Barry nodded with a hum. "You know Cisco talks about that a lot but we never really tested it out."

"Cisco…" Barry laughed. "You have Cisco!"

"My godfather!" Anais exclaimed. "And my godmother is Caitlin! You mentioned her too!"

"You're scaring him," Belén put a hand over Anais' shoulder. She gave the young Barry a soft smile, just like before. "I'm sorry, our daughter tends to get a little bit overexcited. But it is very nice to meet you, well...this version of you."

"Me too…" Barry was in a sort of trance as he studied them from head to toe.

His doppelganger was exactly like him except for the peeking wrinkles here and there on his face. His eyes were the same shade of hazel green but Barry could see the extra years in them. His dark hair was still sticking up like his own was, and he even dressed the same. A burgundy sweater with the checked blue and white collars sticking out with dark pants. The one stark difference though was the wedding band on this Barry's finger that Belén was also wearing.

Barry's eyes flickered to Belén's doppelganger.

Her face was framed by curly, light brown hair but...with the signature ombre blonde tips. Her curly mess of a hair was pulled up into a bun with some stray curls left sticking out. Just like Barry's doppelganger, her chocolate brown eyes were layered with years and experience. She was dressed in a loose white blouse and dark slacks. One more difference were the thin pink glasses in front of her eyes. But she wore the wedding band...

Man, his doppelgangers seemed to be better at the game than him. Earth 2 may thoroughly suck but his doppelganger had managed to marry his Belén too. Was he doing this wrong!?

"I'm old, aren't I?" Belén presumed that's where his thoughts had gone too. She nervously laughed and brought a hand to push her glasses up. "I bet the younger me can still see and doesn't have wrinkles."

"No, you're...you're just as beautiful, Bells," Barry smiled at her, his words had come out like a blurt and it was all true.

"Hey that's my wife you're talking to," his doppelganger sarcastically snapped.

"Shush," Belén waved him off. "If he wants to call me beautiful then you let him."

Her husband rolled his eyes then flashed Barry a sharp look. "Does she have a huge ego in your world? Because I don't know how to turn it off and I have been looking for the off button for 23 years now."

Barry's eyes widened and his mouth almost hit the ground. "Twenty years?" he repeated. His doppelganger nodded but Belén was too busy glaring at him to answer Barry's question. "You've been married for 23 years?"

"Well, 20 years but we've known each for 23," Earth 38 Barry reached for his wife's hand, forcing Anais to step back so they could interlock hands. "You know, our anniversary is coming up…"

"Hmm, it is," Belén agreed, blushing.

"Can we not do this right now?" Anais groaned, bringing a hand to cover her face. "Seriously."

"Anais, why didn't you tell me this?" Barry was at a loss for a proper word to describe what he felt right now.

Anais dropped her hand from her face, almost laughing if her parents weren't right there. "If had I told you 'oh yeah I know you, you're my adoptive Dad on this world' it would have freaked you out."

Barry opened his mouth to argue but...but it was a very good point. He had met his other doppelganger and Belén but it wasn't the same learning they were only married to 'they were married and they had an adopted child'.

"But these are them," Anais looked between her parents with a big grin on her face. "They're my Mom and Dad and...if your Belén is anything like my Mom is then I know she's the best."

"Every version of me is the best, sweetie," Belén shrugged casually, completely missing her husband mouth 'See? Ego.' at Barry. "But after what Anais told us about you, Barry, and my doppelganger...we were very impressed. You two sound incredible."

"I'm just a bit stuck on the 'got struck by lightning' part," Earth 38 Barry remarked, bringing his arms over one another. "That...that sounds like it would hurt."

"It did," Barry assured him with a shudder.

"But of course only my husband could be a superhero," Belén remarked, sending her husband a dreamy smile.

"And my wife had to be right beside me," Earth 38 Barry brought her hand up to his lips for a kiss.

Anais audibly groaned and rubbed her face. "I swear to God, Barry—" she dropped her hands to shoot the Earth 1 counterpart a glare, "—if you do this to your own child I will find a way to cross worlds and smack you! It is unbearable!"

Barry's eyebrows shot up at the same time his doppelganger grabbed Anais' arm to scold her. "Don't talk to him like that! He's your Dad-"

"I'm really not," Barry tried to say but his words were a bit out of reach on account of the mad warmth he felt on his face.

"Oh, he's not even married, Dad!" Anais pulled her arm out of her father's grip.

"Really?" Earth 38 Barry blinked and after Anais nodded, he shot his doppelganger a look. "Kinda late there then."

"No he's not, be quiet! The two of you!" Belén scolded them both and sighed. "This is what I deal with." She then offered the younger Barry another soft smile. They seemed to be a big part of her personality and they fit her so well. "There is no rush. I imagine every world has us at different paces."

"So you just assume that every version of you is going to end up with each other?" Anais scoffed, intending on riling them up but Earth 1 Barry shut down the game without even noticing.

"I believe that we would meet each other in any world." Barry felt his heart ache for his Belén. Those were the words they said to each other back when he was debating whether or not to go back in time to save his mother. In his indecisive state, Belén had asked him if he believed that they would meet each other again regardless of the time lines. Barry knew without a moment's thought that they would. They belonged to each other in every world, no matter if they were a scientist and a reporter, or evil and good, or...a pair who had to raise an alien hybrid. They were each other's.

Belén smiled at the silent doppelganger. She side-glanced her husband, sharing the same knowing smile with him. The only one who didn't quite understand was Anais.

"Barry, are you okay?" her soft voice pulled Barry out of his thoughts.

"Yeah," Barry cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. "I just...I just really miss home, you know?"

"Misses Belén," his doppelganger said. Barry wouldn't agree out loud but he was sure his face said it all for him. "I'd go crazy if I was stuck in another world...which-" he pointed a finger in the air, "-is why this was a rush job." He turned around and pulled cloth from the tachyon device Anais had taken from Barry.

"My tachyon device!" Barry exclaimed while his doppelganger gave it a last study.

"Interesting device, though can't say it doesn't scare me a bit," he handed the device over to Barry. "But we got it working again."

Barry's eyes lit up at the news. "Seriously!?"

"Yeah, just jumpstart it with your speed, obviously, and you can use maybe Anais' or Kara's speed as well to help bring the energy levels up when you're running. Once you do that, you should be able to cross worlds again. Just try to get into the right one this time."

"Yeah," Barry gladly held onto the tachyon device and looked at his doppelganger and Belén. "Thank you. I really need to get home."

"Oh, here!" Belén reached a hand into the bowl that she and her husband were bickering over earlier and pulled out a familiar chocolate cookie. "

Barry's heart skipped a jolt when he took the chocolate amaretti from Belén. "You make these too?"

"Hey! Those are mine!" Anais frowned. "You always make those for me!"

Belén nodded at Anais to answer Barry's question. "They're my specialty. And-" she glanced at Anais, "-you would've had more if your father hadn't ate most of them!"

"Dad!" Anais shot her father a look.

"They're good!"

Barry smiled and took a bite of the cookie. He really did love them. "My Bells just started making these," he shared once he swallowed the first bite. "She thinks she could make them better but I think they're delicious!"

"Yeah, they were a bit tricky for me too in the beginning. But we get them, especially when I have a very hungry pair over there," she nodded her head at her husband and daughter.

"Hey!" the two went in the same offended tone.

"Thanks," Barry said and laughed when Belén offered him another cookie.

"For the ride home," she winked.

Barry studied her for a minute before he would take the cookie. A part of him wondered if this is what Earth 2 Belén - Datura - would've been like if she hadn't gotten sick. Would she be as happy as she looked right now?

"I'm old, I know," Belén chuckled nervously again, lowering her gaze with a misplaced embarrassment.

"No," Barry whispered. "You are beautiful in any world. If you ever marry me, I would be the luckiest man alive."

Belén smiled at him with a light 'aw' slipping out. "Go on home, Barry. And, uh, pass on a little message to my doppelganger for me, yeah?" Barry nodded. "Even if she's not a scientist, she is the best of us all, not to mention the bravest. To fight every day against metas and willingly put her job at risk for people she doesn't even know...that is bravery. She is no 'runt' of the litter. She's just the best." She leaned forwards and pressed a small kiss to Barry's cheek. "Goodbye Barry."

Barry stepped back with his tachyon device and watched his doppelganger wrap an arm around Belén's waist. Belén raised her hand to touch her husband's face - letting Barry once again catch sight of her wedding band - and kissed his cheek as well. They looked so happy together. He hoped one day that could be him and his Belén too, but for right now...he needed to go see her.

He met Anais' face and gave her a nod. She grinned with understanding. It was time to go home.

~ 0 ~

Out in the same grassy field that Barry had come to with Kara was now the chosen area to get him back home. Supergirl led the way but almost had to stop twice to laugh when she heard the story of Anais's parents.

"It's really not that funny," Barry mumbled and took lead when Kara stopped to put her hands on her knees and laugh.

"Can I - can I get pictures, please?" Kara glanced at Anais with a hopeful look on her face.

"They'll be home for Thanksgiving, promise!" Anais laughed with her.

"Can we please?" Barry did his best not to snap. "I would really like to get home."

"Right, to see my Mom," Anais snorted into a new round of laughter.

"Fine, yes, whatever!" Barry rolled his eyes, but he wasn't very irritated. Each time Anais called him or Belén 'Mom' and 'Dad'. It actually made his face really warm.

"Okay, I'm sorry," Anais said after he got pretty quiet, though she misunderstood why. "You're not actually mad, are you? I mean...yeah, I probably should have told you sooner but I was a little nervous. I've grown up with these people and you can't believe how strange it is meeting a younger version of my Dad in our secret base."

Kara crinkled her nose beside her. That had to be strange.

"I always see my Dad as what he is: my Dad. He's taken care of me. He read me bedtime stories, introduced me to the concept of bedtime stories. He's-he's brought me to Disneyland and he had to learn how to play soccer because I wanted to play and Mom and I creamed him in all our matches." As she said all these words, Barry's lips curved into a deep smile. "You're my Dad. My birth name is Anais Mjorkland but the world knows me as Anais Allen, your daughter. I'm sorry if that's... that's weird…"

"Weird is a good word but...it's also nice," Barry cleared his throat. "It's like a glimpse into my future."

"Well, without the alien part, right?" Kara chuckled but abruptly stopped when she remembered he had already told them there wasn't a version of Kara nor Anais on his world. "If there's no Anais over there, then what would that-"

"They'd have their own kid, duh," Anais shook her head.

If Barry had been red before, now he was a deep scarlet. Oh God, I really gotta get home.

"So what are we meant to do, then?" Kara asked, suspecting this was a topic that Barry didn't want to talk to with them.

"It's simple. We just combine our speed and basically get to throw Barry like a ragdoll in the air," Anais smirked at him.

"Ha, ha," Barry rolled his eyes. "Technically, if you throw me forward at your fastest, then I break the dimensional barrier and get back home."

"I like the way I said it instead," Anais looked at Kara to see if she was on board. "You fly and we run."

"Yeah, I think that would work best," Kara agreed. "We could treat it as a race," she suddenly smirked.

Barry laughed. "Think you can keep up, Girl of Steel?" his eyes flickered over to Anais. "Golden Girl?"

Anais shook her head and warned him, "I'm Solar."

Barry smiled at her. She had the same proud face he had when he first used his meta name. "I like it," he told her. She beamed in return. "And you know, maybe you can keep Golden Girl as a nickname? Like Girl of Steel?" He gestured to Kara who dramatically bowed in return.

"Alright," Kara still sneaked in a laugh afterwards. She turned to Barry and offered him a hug. "I'm gonna miss you, Barry Allen."

"I'm really gonna miss you too, Kara Danvers," Barry hugged her back. "Or Kara Zor-El. Which is your alien name. Because you're an alien which I think is very cool. I think James Olsen thinks so, too."

Kara paled and Anais laughed.

"Right!?" Anais clapped her hands together.

Kara looked between the two in quite horror. "Why are you saying that!?"

"For real?" Anais gave Kara an incredulous look.

"You remember before when I told you to take things slow?" Barry asked Kara. "That's good advice for a superhero, lousy advice for two people who really like each other. Maybe it's time to speed things up."

Kara saw Anais fiercely nodding and smacked a hand over her forehead. "Yeah, alright, maybe…"

"Thank God," Anais mumbled before she went to hug Barry. "Bye young-Dad."

"Don't call me that…" Barry crinkled his nose as he pulled away from her.

"I don't think I'll be able to stop." she smiled. "But also say hi to young-Mom for me."

"Can do," Barry nodded. "And keep training, alright? It'll be hard sometimes but I know you can do it."

"Spoken like a 'Dad'," Anais chuckled but hugged him again. "Thanks."

"Let's do this?" Kara called and made a gesture for them to take their spots. She rose into the air on Barry's right while Anais stood to his left.

"On my count," Barry warned the two women. "One...two..."

"Three!" Anais exclaimed and took off, forcing Barry and Kara to chase after her. As soon as his legs moved, Barry felt the tachyon device on him whir alive which he hoped meant things were about to work out for him. A blue vortex came to life in midair suddenly and before Barry knew it Kara and Anais grabbed his arms and flung him directly into it.

Both blondes skidded to a stop on ground and beamed almost identically as the portal disappeared.

"Goodbye, Dad," Anais sighed contently...and Kara burst into laughter.

~ 0 ~

Barry felt like he'd gone in and out of the portal even quicker than before, because one moment he saw grassy plan and the next he saw the familiar building of his streets...his city.

'No, Cisco, you're not listening!' Belén's voice started filling Barry's ear comm. that had come to life now that he was back on his Earth. 'Barry's gone! There was a portal!'

'What portal!?' Cisco cried from the other end.

'Do you think we opened up another breach?' Caitlin asked with concern.

Belén was pacing back and forth on the sidewalk where Barry was supposed to be stopping, but for the past five minutes neither Cisco nor Caitlin listened to her. "Seriously! There was a-a blue portal! A breach! A-"

But Barry had come by and swept her off her feet. "I'm here! Guys, I'm fine!" Barry assured the two before coming to a stop in the outskirts of the city. He was still having trouble stopping after running that fast.

He set Belén on her feet and was grateful that she didn't catch on fire like Kara had. She was a bit disoriented from the sudden trip but once her vision adjusted and she saw Barry, she beamed. "Oh thank God! I saw you disappear and-and there was this portal - I mean breach! It was a breach wasn't it!? It had to be—"

Barry had slid his hands over her face to kiss her. Despite her numerous questions, Belén gladly accepted his kiss and was pretty dazed when Barry pulled away.

"Hi..." Belén whispered breathlessly, her eyes fluttering open. That was certainly a way to be greeted.

Barry was over-joyously smiling at her. After not seeing her - not being in the same world with her - there was nothing else he could do but greet her like that. Belén knew straight away that something happened to him but she wasn't going to ask him questions right now. She was just glad to see him alive and well. She instead reached for his cowl and gently helped him pull it off.

"Hi." Barry's mind filled with everything he'd seen on Earth 38 and most prominently the Allens he had met. All the feelings bubbled in his chest until he finally blurted his words. "Belén, I love you."

Belén smiled out of confusion but she would never turn away an opportunity to tell him that she loved him. "I love you too," she brought her hands to rest on his cheeks. They felt a bit warm and she suspected that it wasn't out of the running he did. There was something new in his eyes she couldn't quite place.

"No, I...I love you," Barry reiterated, although he wouldn't blame her if she couldn't understand where this new layer of feelings had come from. After meeting a version of her who had grown older with him, there was no way he could love Belén like he used to. He loved her more; with a new intensity that she might not feel just yet, but hopefully one day would.

Barry had been right. Belén didn't quite capture the new intensity of his feelings. She was too confused trying to understand what had happened since they last saw each other. Eventually, she was able to fit a few pieces together and understood he wasn't lying. There was something new in his eyes, a new fondness just for her. Her heart fluttered in her chest. She cupped Barry's face, her thumbs tracing his lips before she leaned in and kissed him.

---

Author's Note:

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Anais Allen-Mjorkland, my third OC for Arrowverse 1. And I'm calling it Arrowverse 1 because I have another Flash OC in the works in an entire new Arrowverse. What did you guys think of her!? And how about that little surprise there with her 'parents'? ;)

I think technically speaking, I have made Anais the youngest of my Arrowverse OCs since she's 23 in this chapter (and at the start of her story). Belén is 26 right now and Graciela (my Legends of Tomorrow OC) is in her thirties. So Anais is like my baby girl of Arrowverse !