Alright, before we begin, a little update on how i will end this story. I have decided to do BOTH. I will end the story with the option where he returns to 2019 and i will do an additional chapter with the alternate ending.
I love the second one, i won't spoil why just yet. I also know the second option got more votes but there were also some very compelling arguments for the first one. Mainly that eventually, 2019 Caitlin would never get to see her Barry again and that thought alone just made me sad. :'(
SO, BOTH IT IS. Hope you don't mind. XD
It was an early morning for Barry, he got called into work because of a break in at mercury labs. Everything was going as planned so far in the timeline department.
"Hey, what are you thinking?" Joe said as he came walking up to Barry.
"The blood splatter patterns and the trajectory of the remains, only high speed collision could have done this but to cause this type of damage to a human in this space, whatever hit them must have been moving fast." Barry explained keeping he voice low.
"Get this, the witness says all he saw was a blur, sound familiar?" Eddie said with a suspicious grin.
Barry and Joe moved over to the scientist. "You said you saw a blur, what did it look like?" Barry asked quickly.
He sighed. "Uh... it looked like a man, in some kind of yellow suit."
"Thank you." Barry said calmly before moving back to his work.
"Barry, are you okay?" Joe asked looking a little confused. "You seem to be taking this quite lightly. I mean, this is the man in yellow that we're talking about."
"Yeah. I'm fine." Barry reassured him with a faint smile leaving Joe looking even more confused.
They went to star labs to consult with Dr. Wells and to explain the situation.
"Cisco, let's start engineering a trap." Wells said as he rolled off with Cisco following not so far behind.
Caitlin moved over to Barry. "How are you holding up? I can't imagine this being easy for you."
"I'm actually not too bothered by it. I know we can catch him." He said lightly.
Caitlin looked surprised. "Wow, I thought you'd be more upset knowing that the man who killed your mother is back."
"I guess with time, I've just learned to accept what happened." He shrugged. "Anyways, do you want to get some coffee?"
"Alright, let's go." She replied with a smile before being swooped up by Barry, letting out an adorable little squeal in the process.
"Woah." She said as he put her down around the corner from Jitters.
With a guilty expression Barry moved over to hold her steady. "Sorry, I forgot this was your first time as super speed."
"You're lucky you're cute." She said laughing.
They moved inside and as Barry came back with two cups he said. "So, are you excited to see what I got you for Christmas?"
She looked like she had just seen a ghost. "Is that a no?" Barry asked confused.
"I forgot to get you something." She blurted out before getting up and running for the exit.
"Cait, you don't have to..." He started but by then she had already left. "Get me anything..." He sighed and returned to his coffee.
He knew he could just speed after her but he also knew she would still try to get him something not matter what so he just went back to the CCPD to get some work done.
He was sitting in his lab, he finished his work and started staring at the board with his mother's case.
He was remembering that any time now he would see a man in a yellow suit stand on one of the roofs nearby.
"Barry." A voice said, distracting him from his thoughts. It was Iris, he completely forgot about this.
"I called your name like..." She noticed the board. "Your mom's case."
Barry quickly remembered this conversation and hoped it would turn out like it did last time. "I used to study this board everyday. Lately I haven't looked at it as much as I should've."
"Didn't know you did that." She said.
He smiled. "I guess there is still some stuff about me that you don't know."
"Eddie thinks that you like me, romantically." Iris said quite nervously.
Barry chuckled. "You can tell Eddie that he has nothing to worry about, I'm actually interested in someone else."
"Oh really? Who?" Iris asked surprised.
"I guess you'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out." Barry said with a cheeky smile.
"Alright. I guess I should get going. Bye" And with that Iris headed for the exit.
Barry looked out the window and that's when he saw the reverse flash. He started running after him but he soon found himself to be closing the distance quite rapidly.
He slowed down as much as he could but it was still too fast. He only now came to the realization of how much faster he had gotten over the years.
They ended up at the stadium and Barry did his best to lose the fight. For the first time he was trying really hard to lose a fight. After a while he successfully lost, a little more beaten up then he would have hoped.
The next morning as he was explaining his encounter with the reverse flash, Caitlin came running in.
"I heard what happened, are you okay?" She said as she was checking to see if he had any injuries.
"I'm fine, Cait." He said making sure she didn't feel up his shoulder, it was healing slowly but still hurt a lot if touched.
"Barry, me and Joe have been thinking, what if you stay out of the lab tonight when we try to trap the man in yellow." Wells said calmly as usual.
Barry knew that Wells didn't want him there for a reason, but this time he wasn't going to back down so easily.
"Dr. Wells, with all due respect, I will be staying right here in case something happens and you can't change my mind. Not this time." He said.
Joe looked surprised but didn't mind and Wells just silently nodded and rolled away. However just before he moved out of sight, Barry could swear Wells was looking even more suspicious then usual.
The trap worked as planned, well, as Wells planned it to fail.
"The super capacitors, the containment field is fluctuating." Cisco said worried as he was staring at the screen.
Caitlin gave Barry, who was sitting next to her, a desperate look and he nodded and flashed off.
As he got down there he grabbed the reverse flash and took the battle outside. He knew he had to do it himself this time around as in this timeline, firestorm didn't exist because professor Stein was still alive and well, at home.
Barry was trying not to move to fast but he surely wasn't holding back as much as the night before.
Caitlin and Cisco were watching from the sidelines. Barry took a pretty big hit and was knocked to the ground.
"Barry!" Caitlin yelled. She was trying to get to him but was pulled back by Cisco.
Unlike last time Barry got up again and resumed the fight. Eventually Thawne ran off and Barry dropped on the ground.
Caitlin was finally able to run at him and hugged him. He winced slightly as she hit his shoulder but in the moment, she didn't seem to notice. He just enjoyed the hug.
Later Barry and Caitlin were getting ready for the Christmas party at the West house.
"Ready?" Barry asked with a smile.
"Yup. Ready." She said and was immediately swooped up and put down in front of the door.
"I still need to get used to you doing that." She said a little disoriented.
Barry just laughed and opened the door. As they entered they were greeted by Iris yelling "I knew it."
The pair looked a little confused. "Wait, you two are dating right?" Iris asked. "That's what you hinted at yesterday isn't it?"
Barry shot Caitlin a surprised look before turning to everyone. "Yes, we are."
After a little while and as everyone was watching a Christmas movie, Barry led Caitlin to the front porch.
"What are we doing here?" She asked confused.
"Time for your present." Barry said with a grin as he pulled up a black box.
She opened it and for a moment she was speechless. It was a diamond necklace shaped like a snowflake.
Barry used the same tech that Cisco would use in the future to make their wedding rings. When Caitlin would get her powers in the future, the diamonds will turn blue when frost is in control.
He wanted to tell her but he could bring himself to do it.
"Barry, it's beautiful." She said in tears.
"Here." He said as he pulled it out and put it around her neck.
She hugged him as soon as it was on. "Thank you."
He chuckled. "Anything for you, Cait.
She pulled back looking rather sad. "I'm sorry, I went looking for something to give you but nothing just felt right and then, with everything that happened I didn't have time and..."
"Hey, it's okay." Barry interrupted.
"No, it's not. You gave me something so beautiful and amazing and I don't have anything for you." She said.
Barry put his thinking face on. "Okay, do you really want to give me something?" She nodded.
He flashed off and came back with a red bow that he wrapped around her waist.
She looked down rather confused. "I don't get it."
"I want you to be my present." He said as he wrapped his arms around her. "All I want for Christmas is you, Dr. Snow."
She immediately hugged him. "So I'll take that as a yes then?" He asked smiling.
"I love you so much, Barry Allen."
"I love you too, Cait." He finished with a kiss.
Okay, quick thing about Ronnie. I was hesitating weather or not to include him in this story but i just didn't know how i could make it work, i know that if i thought about it for long enough i would figure something out but i just couldn't. PLUS, Barry has to mess up something in the timeline... it just has to happen. He wouldn't be the flash is he didn't mess with the timeline. XD Though i might make something happen in the alternate ending... who knows.
Anyways, i hope you enjoyed Christmas in March. :D