Helena opened her eyes and found herself face down on the floor. She groaned and sat up, holding her head. She picked up the device gingerly and removed the handle—she didn't want any more accidents—and then slowly stood up. She was still in her room, of course, but…it looked like her room. Trying to ignore her headache she snatched the calendar—her calendar!—from the wall and almost cried when she saw the date. She was back.

She skidded to the framed photo on her desk, the one they'd taken last Christmas when they'd managed to get the whole family under the same roof for once. There they were. Mom. Dad. Dick. Jason. Tim. Damian. Cass. Alfred. They're here. "I'm back. I'm back!"

Her door was open and she heard a familiar pattering down the hall. She flew across the room and pounced. "Ace!" she squealed. She leaned down to pet him enthusiastically. "You're such a good boy, aren't you, darling? Oh, it's so good to see you!" She kissed the dog's fur before standing up and racing down the stairs.

"The chandelier is gone!" she shrieked. "The chandelier is gone because Dick broke it!" She laughed.

"Of course it's broken," her father said, looking at her in confusion as he came out of the study. "It's been broken for the past twenty-five years. What are you—umph!"

Helena cut him off by leaping into his arms for a hug. He stepped backward at the force of her embrace.

"I'm back! I'm back, and I missed you so much." She looked up into his face and laughed. "Gosh, you've got a lot of gray. It's nice. I missed it. You don't look like you without it."

"Yes, you're back," Dad said, still bewildered. "You've been gone less than an hour. Where's the car?"

"Wait—what?"

"I didn't see the car pull in." His brow furrowed. "Helena, don't tell me you got into another accident."

"What? No! Dad…I've been gone for…did you say less than an hour?" She tried to wrap her head around the fact. She'd automatically assumed that the machine would have sent her thirty years into the future…which meant the same amount of time would have passed in the present as it had for her in the past. But looking at the clock, it appeared that it had only been minutes since she found the device in the first place. "Dad, I've been gone for days."

He didn't get chance to respond.

"You're back soon. Did you find everything you were looking for?"

"Mom!" Helena felt like she was five years old again, seeing her parents for the first time after they'd been away on a trip. She fled from her father into her mother's arms.

"Yeah, I missed you too." Mom said dryly as she patted her back. She looked over Helena's shoulder to give Dad a funny look. "What's going on? Did I miss something here?"

"She said she was gone for days. Helena, what happened? Are you all right?"

"'Lena?" Mom asked. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing…nothing's wrong, not anymore. I just…I'm so glad you're you. I missed you…And you freaking drugged me!" Helena remembered with a shriek, pulling back from her mother's arms and looking at her with a sort of amused disbelief.

"What?"

"You drugged me." Helena's hands were gripped on her mother's shoulders. "I came to you for help and I offered to pay you, and you drugged me and then ratted me out to dad," she pointed to her father. She was this close to laughing hysterically from the absurdity of it all.

The strangest look came over Mom's face, and Helena realized she was starting to put the pieces together. "No."

Helena waited.

"No," her mother repeated. "That was you?"

"Well…"

"Oh, baby." Mom pulled her to close to her and then gave a sort of strangled laugh. "How in the world—?"

"I accidentally triggered a time machine. It was not fun. Well," Helena added on second thought, "maybe it was a little fun." She turned to look at her dad. "Did you guys ever find out what research those guys were trying to destroy over at the labs?"

Her dad looked like someone had just tasered him. "Bertinelli?"

"I mean, you knew it wasn't my real name even then," Helena looked at him a little sheepishly, even though she couldn't help her smile. "It wasn't like I could just tell you who I was."

In two steps, Dad had her and her mom in an embrace. "I'm so sorry, Helena. I didn't know."

"Oh, come on, Dad. How on earth could you know?" Although, Helena did wonder that it never occurred to them how similar she looked to that girl they'd met so long ago. Then again, it had been years, and she was certain the events that followed her visit had eclipsed her adventure with them entirely.

Well, maybe not entirely.

"So…I'm wonderful, huh?" Mom glanced at Helena with a small smirk on her face.

"Ugh." Helena buried her face in her mom's shoulder. "I can't believe you remember that."

"No, Helena. It was…sweet."

"I just wanted you to know." Helena said, finding it hard it to express. She'd never been good at explaining her feelings. "Because you really believed that, and I didn't want you to."

"What's this?" Dad asked.

"Just a conversation Helena and I had on the roof the night we broke into the lab. I must admit, I did wonder why a strange girl seemed so insistent on convincing me I would make a good mother one day. That was a little risky, Kitten."

"I know," Helena said. "But what else was I supposed to do when you kept insisting on insulting yourself?"

"How did we not figure it out?" Dad wondered aloud. "You look just like your mother at that age."

"Well, and just enough like you to really freak Alfred out." Her eyes widened. "Oh my gosh. Alfred!" She yelped. "Where's Alfred?"

"I think he's in the kitchen—" Dad began. "Wait, he knew?"

But Helena was already flying down the hall.

"Alfred!" she yelled for him, running so fast she accidentally hurtled into the opened kitchen door. "Umph. I'm back!"

Alfred was pulling something from the oven. "Just in time, Miss Helena. Did you find a present for Master Jason or…" he turned to look at her. "Have we made a much longer journey, then?"

"Longer, Alfred. But not as long as you. I took the shortcut. You took the long way around."

"That I did. But it was a good journey, I must say. Even with its trials." He set the baking tray down and Helena hugged him.

"I can't believe you kept that secret for so long. Did you ever wonder if I'd accidentally messed things up and wouldn't exist?"

"Every day until the morning your mother came down stairs into the kitchen, smelled the onion soup on the stove, and flew to the toilet. Then I gave a sigh of relief knowing that you would be joining the family soon."

Helena laughed. "That's awful, Alfred," she said, as she heard the footsteps of her parents coming to join them, probably bringing with them more questions.

"But I was right," he said. "Incidentally, I made no small amount of money on betting you were going to be a girl."

"I'm glad I proved to be so profitable," Helena's face was beginning to hurt from all of the grinning she was doing, a grin that only grew wider when she saw just what Alfred had removed from the oven.

"Now," he said moving the baking tray from the stove to the island, "I believe I had a thirty-one-year-old promise for oatmeal cookies to fulfill?"

The End

* "How did Alfred know when Helena would be back?" you ask. "Alfred knows everything," I reply.

And…it's done! This story has been a long time coming- I first thought of it over a year and a half ago but put off writing it because I wasn't sure when during Gotham it should take place (plus, I've only ever written two other pieces of fanfic, and that was over two years ago). Then Season 4 happened and I thought "Yep. It happens now-I better write this now or never." However, because I'd been thinking about Flashback for so long, it went through a LOT of story changes—including some plot points and scenes I'm really sad didn't work out in the end. HOWEVER- that leads me to a question for you guys. Would y'all be interested in an extra bonus chapter that's sort of an alternate scene where Bruce and Selina find out who Helena is? Ultimately I didn't think it would work in the story because I couldn't see how that wouldn't affect the future or their current relationship, but it is kind of a satisfying scene to write, you know? Anyway, if any of you guys are interested, I can totally write that up and post it at some point.

Anyway, thank you all so much for your kind comments! I really enjoyed writing this story and I'm glad you guys seemed to like it, too. :D Much love and God bless!