.:13:.

Cadence closed her eyes, holding them as tightly as she could, hoping the effort would keep the pain at bay. Around her, doctors and nurses continued to give her words of encouragement but she couldn't focus on it. It was babbling nonsense to her at the moment, the pain was too blinding. She felt a rag get pressed against her forehead and let out a long breath.

"It's alright, Cadence, your baby is nearly here. I can already see the head. I just need you to give one more big push, okay? Just one more big push."

Cadence gritted her teeth together and slightly lifted herself up, pushing as hard as she could. An exhausted sigh, mixed in with a threatening sob, came out of her mouth. It wasn't fair. It hurt too badly. There was the chance for a reprieve when the doctors left and her healing powers could kick on, but she had to concentrate on not allowing herself to heal too much until she was in the safety of her home. Still, she had never felt pain as bad; not even when she had the fever that landed her in the hospital. Even as she found herself twisting and turning, hoping the cold flashes and aching limbs would stop.

"C'mon, Cadence, just one more. Your baby's almost here. One last big push, okay? One more."

Cadence pushed again and let out a cry of relief when she heard the sounds of a baby wailing and the doctors and nurses around her giving her words of encouragement. Next thing she knew she had her baby bundled up and in her arms, gently making cooing noises, lips puckering and falling as he got used to the world. He shifted every now and then, and Cadence could feel his feet gently push against her. With a smile, Cadence lifted her hand and gently ran her finger down her son's cheek. He let out a whimper and turned his cheek into her touch. Then he lifted his tiny hand and grabbed onto her finger with more strength she thought possible.

He whimpered again then his eyes slowly blinked open before focusing on her face. Then his eyes closed once more and he tightened his grip on her finger as if wanting to hold on forever. "Hey Brady," she greeted him in a hushed whisper. "Hey."

Brady gently licked his lips before yawning.

"I'm going to take great care of you, okay? I'm not going to let anything happen to you." She leaned forward and gently pressed a kiss to his forehead. With a tired sigh she tilted her head back and laid it down into her pillow.

Her parents had only jus left the room to get some coffee and were probably going to be back within a few minutes to be able to hold their grandson. Ryder wasn't there, neither were his parents. She wasn't entirely surprised but it still hurt. After his promise that he didn't want to leave and that he still loved her, he hadn't responded to her messages that she was in labor and going to the hospital.

It was okay, though.

She didn't need anyone other than her son. They'd be okay.

…

..

.

"Mom?" Cadence felt her left eyelid get pulled open before her right one was given the same treatment. "Mom, are you awake?" After she didn't move it was done again and she stretched before opening her eyes. Brady stood over her in his soccer clothes, backpack packed. "Mom, I'm going to the bus stop." He paused and tilted his head to the side. "Aren't you going to be late for work?"

Startled, Cadence pushed herself up and looked over at her clock. Eyebrows furrowing together, she gazed at the time for a long moment before picking up her cell phone and illuminating the screen. She was going to be late. Quick as a flash, Cadence leapt to her feet and bounced across the bed to her bathroom to put on her makeup. She could be running late for anything, but she didn't ever leave the house without at least putting on a little bit of mascara and foundation.

"Why didn't you wake up?" she called as she ran the water in the sink, and wet her toothbrush. Brady stood in the doorway to the bathroom, hands in the pockets of his jeans as he shrugged.

"You needed some sleep," he said innocently. "Besides, you can teleport, it's not like you're actually going to be late."

Cadence paused for a moment, realizing the truth of his words, and then nodded. "Good point. You are too smart than your own good, bud." Brady smiled as Cadence reached out and ruffled his hair. He then frowned and patted it, making sure every strand of hair fell back in place. "Go ahead. And have a good practice."

"I will." Brady gave her a kiss on the cheek before leaving the bathroom. "Have a good day!"

"Thanks."

Cadence quickly brushed her teeth then washed her face before putting on mascara and lip-gloss. Then pulling her hair up into a ponytail she went to her room, changed into her workout clothes—being sure to bring a bag filled with her outfit for the day—and jumped into her shoe. A blinking light on the answering machine caught her attention. She paused, looking at it for a moment before reaching out and pressing her finger into the button. There was a low beep and then the message started.

"Cadence, this is Dr. Lepeck down at Central City Mercy Hospital—"

She reached out and erased the message as soon as it started. The silence that filled the room after immediately drove her out of the apartment and down to the fitness center. She dropped her bag into the locker room and immediately headed into the room. "Sorry I'm late," she apologized as she went to pick up the head-mic that was sitting in the corner of the room. "Let me tell you that you know you're running behind when your own son is the one waking you up." She held up a hand as some of the students chuckled. "Especially if he does it the way mine does, by opening my eyelids to make sure I'm actually awake and not 'resting my eyes'." She used air quotes around the words, gaining another round of laughter. "Alright, so just give me a minute and then we can get started."

Rubbing her hands together, Cadence brought her palms to her forehead as she walked to the far side of the dance studio. She probably should have listened to the message that was left for her, it would've been better than arriving at her hours for residency that day and being blindsided with anyone. He didn't make a lot of phone calls unless it was needed.

It probably didn't help that her week long absence in Starling City wasn't explained very well. But there were some more important things to think about, knowing that Captain Boomerang was only seconds away from blowing up the city in five locations to get back at Lyla and the rest of ARGUS for something that had happened to them before…she couldn't sit back and let that happen.

Now…there were always repercussions that were bound to come up. She knew that. It was something she had seen Barry go through, his consistent lateness, even with his super powers, had some sort of backlash against him. He wasn't that highly regarded amongst his peers with the CCPD, he typically had to be told to be somewhere at a different time so that he arrived on time…there was always something going on.

At the moment she wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to juggle everything. It was starting to drive her crazy, to be honest. Not that Ryder's appearance had helped at all. She couldn't keep her mind off the child support he had finally given them or that Brady wanted him to be at his birthday party. There were so many feeling and conversations the two hadn't had and now it was being thrown in her face. Why did he want to give child support now rather than secretly send it to her? Why hadn't he shown up when she was in labor? Why did he allow his parents to control his life so much? What was it that had him suddenly want to turn everything around and be part of the life he had left behind?

That wasn't the only thing that held her attention. Another part of her brain held onto the fact that she and Harrison knew each other better than they thought. Yes, the man was her father, but he wasn't her Dad…not like her own Dad was anyway. He wanted to have a relationship with her and she had no idea how to do that. He was a family friend to her, the person that showed up at her birthday parties or school events here and there as she grew up. But to know there was more to that…add in a holidays where family was the most important and she was stuck. She had no idea what to get him as a gift, though the rest of Team Flash's odds and ends had come along very easily. But Harrison…

For days she agonized over what to get him and thought about the kind of music she thought he would enjoy. Remembering some of the music he played around STAR Labs she thought an orchestra recording would be the best way to go. She had no idea that he would have remembered her love of the piano, which she had been playing since she was a little girl. Nor did she know that he played the piano as well, something he obviously passed down to her.

"Yes, I've been a fan of the piano for a long time," Harrison said in response to Cadence's shocked expression at the piano themed tea set he had given her. "If I remember correctly you play as well. I'd hoped there was something that I managed to pass down to you, you already have your mother's looks."

"I have your eyes," Cadence pointed out.

Harrison lifted a hand and waved it back and forth. "A combination effort of your mother and I." He replaced his hand to his lap. "Thank you for the recording. I shall definitely use it while I'm at work."

"Thank you for the tea set," Cadence agreed. She gently lowered it to the ground, crossing her legs at the ankle. "If you want…I could play you some of the piano sometime."

If Harrison was surprised at the invitation, he didn't show it. Instead, a smile tugged at his lips and he folded his hands in his lap. "I'd really like that."

Closing her eyes, Cadence shook her head before and forth. That wasn't her focus right now. She had to pay attention to her class. Turning back towards the class she noticed her eyes in the mirror, seeing they were glowing orange, steadily turning a dark red. With a light gasp, Cadence closed her eyes, pressing the hells of her palms against her eyes and opened them again, where they returned to their normal color.

She let out a low sigh, trying to catch her breath, feeling her heart hammer in her throat. What was that? She had never seen her eyes do that before. Normally it only happened when she tapped into her power to do something subtly. Startled, Cadence jerked her head back and looked towards the ceiling, as if expecting the sprinkler system to go off. When the coast was clear she lowered her chin, eyes resting on the reflections of Barry, Iris, and Eddie as they walked into the room.

"Hey," she greeted them, turning around. "I didn't think I'd see you in my classes anytime soon. You haven't been in a while. Though I can understand things may have gotten in the way," her eyes moved towards Barry as she said that, and she winked at him, causing him to hide a knowing smile.

"Well, considering everything we've eaten for Christmas we thought it would be a good idea to get some more exercise back in," Iris said, accepting the hug that Cadence gave her. She laughed to herself as Cadence and Eddie hesitated before hugging a well—they were friends, but still close to being acquaintances than anything else. She gazed at Cadence wistfully. "We can't all be as tiny as you."

Cadence managed to keep from bursting out into laughter. "I work out a lot."

Iris didn't need to know that her lithe figure was mostly credited towards her fast metabolism—whether that was from genetics or her metahuman abilities she wasn't quite sure. Not when it was one step away from revealing her secret. As it was, Brady, Team Flash, her parents, and one or two other people knew about the abilities she could do and that was only because she didn't trust many to keep it. Also because she was already looked at funny when they found out about her family life.

Now that Ryder's back…you might need to tell him about it, she reminded herself. Just so that he isn't suddenly overwhelmed if you ever have to drop Brady off with him. Frustration crept back into her body and she reached up a hand to rub her neck.

"Are you okay?" Barry asked, eyebrow furrowing together. "You look kinda…funny."

"Just having a slow start, but thanks for asking, Tholly." Cadence patted him on the arm as she walked by him. She then turned on her heel and looked him in the eye as she pressed her hands together, pointing at him with her index fingers. "Just for that I'm going to make an example of you. We're working on Meringue today. So I expect you to get those hips moving."

Barry groaned, tilting his head back as Iris and Eddie laughed at his plight. "You like to torture me don't you?"

"Oh you have no idea," Cadence said. Her smile widened. "And to add in on the fun, I can't help but notice that Eddie struggles a bit when doing this and you're about the same height…" She walked behind Eddie and slapped him on the back, causing him to take a step forward. "So you can be his partner."

Iris's laughter increased in volume as the two men looked at each other, their smiles fading.

"Okay, guys!" Cadence bounced over to the boom box that sat in the corner of the room and started up the music so that it blasted through the room. "We're going to do a few quick steps just to get warmed up, but then we're going to get into partners and start off on a new routine. Are you all ready?"

She got cheers—halfhearted ones from Barry and Eddie—in response.

"Great!" She beamed. "Follow me."

"Wasn't that great?" Iris asked as she, Eddie, and Barry walked into the front doors of the CCPD. "I already feel like I have more energy for the rest of the day!" As if to prove her point, she stretched her arms over her head. Lowering her arms back to her side, she turned back to Barry and Eddie, who did their best not to look at each other. "Oh come on, it's not that embarrassing."

"Easy for you to say," Eddie said. He ran a hand through his hair. "You and Cadence are the same size, so doing a lift wasn't hard."

Barry's eyes widened and he held up his hands defensively. "It's not my fault that I'm all arms and legs. I told you that I was the one that should have lifted you."

"Could you hold me up?"

Barry gave Eddie a look and Iris immediately slid between the two of them, pressing their hands against their chests and pushing them back. "Okay, guys, I know you're taking this out on each other because you were so uncomfortable…" she paused and started laughing once more. "But it was so funny. I'm sorry, I just can't help it."

"Well, I'm glad you got some sense of entertainment out of it," Barry said. He took a deep breath and pled his hands on his hips. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go finish some sample analysis for Captain Singh. God forbid I do something wrong now that he's stopped glaring at me every time I pass him." He bid Eddie and Iris farewell before walking away.

Eddie looked after him for a moment before turning back to Iris. He spotted the amused smile on her face. "Look, it's not that funny." Iris continued to smile then noticed the serious expression on Eddie's fac. She raised an eyebrow, prompting him to say something. "It's nothing," he said quickly. "But, I mean…well…it's just Barry's Christmas gift to you."

"Yeah…?" Iris tilted her head to the side, brushing her hair out of her eyes. "What about it?"

"He gave you a ring, Iris," Eddie pointed out. "I mean…do you ever think…he…maybe might…like you?"

Iris's eyes immediately widened. If she had been drinking anything she would have spit it out, done a double take, and spit it out once more. What? Really? He thought that Barry Allen liked her? Like, liked her liked her. That was ridiculous. "What?" She couldn't keep her voice stead as the word came out. It was just…so strange, so ridiculous. There was nothing between them. "You got all of that because he gave me a copy of my mother's wedding ring? We're just friends. Best friends."

"Friends don't give friends wedding rings, Iris," Eddie pointed out patiently.

She slowly stopped smiling. "They do when it was something important to one friend." Defensively, she reached up and gently tugged on the ring that hung around her neck. "You don't get it…my Mom….she's been gone for a long time. Almost as long as I can remember. She was really special to me and Barry knew that."

"How come I didn't know that? You never talk about her?"

"What's there to talk about?"

"Barry talks about his Mom all the time." Eddie crossed his arms. Iris let out a little scoff and tilted her head to the side. What was the best way to try and explain this to him? I never realized it was going to be so hard. "I mean, I understand it's hard to figure out how to avoid it when everyone else knows about it? It couldn't have been easy if everyone in Central City seems to have known what happened and acted nice to his face."

"Eddie…" Iris shook her head. "Please tell me this isn't what you wanted to talk to me about. He wasn't proposing to me, silly." She reached out and gently nudged him on the arm, finding her smile once more. Anything to lighten up the situation. "He and I are just best friends. I love you." She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. "Okay?"

Eddie stared at her for a long moment. Then he brought a hand up and wiped it across his mouth then smiled a little. "Well, if that's the case, I hope he doesn't mind that I give you this." He reached into the pocket of his slacks and pulled out a tiny box, handing it over to Iris.

Her eyes widened immediately at the prospect of getting another Christmas gift, this time one that she wasn't expecting, and eagerly grabbed onto it. What could it have been? He already gave her a diamond necklace, what else could he have gotten her? She puffed up her cheeks a little. Not to self, Iris. Think of Christmas gifts for next year now. She wasn't going to allow herself to be one-upped every year. Taking a deep breath, she looked up at Eddie once more and he nodded encouragingly.

She grinned and pulled open the top of the box, and stared. Inside lay a tiny copper key. One that would seem to fit the front door of any house or apartment. But this one was a special one; she recognized it as the one that went to his apartment building. More importantly, as she would guess from the way Eddie was staring meaningfully at her, it was the key to his apartment.

"I figured that we've been together a year now and you stay there most nights anyway…" Eddie trailed off, waiting for her response.

Iris blinked rapidly. She had no idea how to respond. She wanted to scream and yell and grin like a loon. But nothing on her body was allowing her to move. She was frozen. Not in a way that would keep her rooted with fear, but out of happiness. She hadn't expected it at all. Lifting her gaze, Iris gazed at Eddie, really gazed at him. His blue eyes bore back into hers; showering her with love and warmth she had never felt from anyone or anything else. Not even her childhood puppy looked at her with so much love. And everything he had said had been true. They were together for a year, she was there most of the time anyway—though her father wasn't particularly happy with that—he protected her at every turn…

Why wait any longer?

"I love you," she said, feeling herself get choked up. A lump formed in her throat and she did her best to keep from smiling like a lunatic. "I love you, so much."

A grin slid across Eddie's face and she could see his shoulders slump with relief. With so much relief, in fact, it looked like he was seconds away from being knocked over. "So I take it that's a yes," Eddie said.

"Of course it's a yes. Yes, it's a yes!" Iris threw her arms around Eddie's neck and hugged him tightly. She held onto him for a moment before leaning back and giving him a kiss. "How did you wait so long…? I could've been there already."

"Well…I wanted to be sure it was the best time. I wanted everything to go perfectly."

Iris raised an eyebrow before removing her arms and placing her hands on her hips. "And you thought that doing it in the lobby of the CCPD was that?"

"Well…" he licked his lips. "I could have done it before Zumba class but that wasn't great, and I could've done it after, but by then I was all sweaty and gross and that wouldn't have been a good look for me." Eddie smiled down at her. "I'm glad you're moving in. I love you."

"I love you, too." Iris kissed him again. His arms encircled her and he lifted her off her feet and placed her back onto the ground. They were so wrapped up in each other they didn't notice Joe coming their way until he cleared his throat from right beside them. Eddie reacted so violently that he nearly threw Iris off him and she landed on the ground, stumbling slightly.

"Joe!" Eddie wiped off his mouth once more. "I, uh…we…we didn't see you there."

Joe only had eyes for his partner. "I can see that, Detective," he remarked. Then his eyes moved to Iris to Eddie, back to Iris, then back to Eddie again. "Is there something wrong?"

"No!" Iris clasped her hands behind her back. "What makes you say that?"

"Because you're both looking at me like you just got caught cheating on a math test," he said slowly. Iris laughed calmly and shoved her hands into her jacket pocket. The new jacket her father had given her for Christmas and she absolutely loved. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, daddy," Iris said. "Not much. We were just talking about future plans. You know…because of The Flash and all of these other people that come around here…you never know what the future holds." She smiled over at Eddie before turning back to her father, who stared at her suspiciously. "Is there something wrong, Dad? You look worried."

For a moment Joe looked confused. Then his expression cleared and he clapped Eddie on the shoulder.

"We need to get to Mercury Labs," he said. "Something big has gone down."

After soccer practice, Brady headed off field with the rest of his teammates. He hummed to himself as he went, thinking about the different plays they had just been given. He gently kicked a soccer ball forward as he went, flicking it up to bounce on his knees ever few seconds.

"Brady. Brady!"

Brady turned around and caught his soccer ball in his hands as Connor ran over to him, sports bag flopping at his side as he went. "Hey." Brady turned back towards him and looked around for a moment. "What's up? Good practice, huh? I think we're going to win this upcoming game."

Conner smiled as he came to a stop by Brady before they fell in step with each other. "Totally. I heard that the other team hasn't won a game yet so far. And we're all really good."

"I hope the coach already has our pizza ordered then," Brady joked, already starting to get hungry from the promise their coach had made to them at the beginning of practice. It looked like it was going to be a reality rather than wishful thinking.

"Anyway, do you want to come to my house? My Mom says it's okay. I have a lot of video games we can play or we can practice the plays we just learned."

"I'm kind of tired, actually. But I can't say no to a video game. Which ones do you have?"

"A lot. I have a Wii, an Xbox, and a Playstation 4."

Brady's eyes widened. "Wow! Your Mom let you get all of them?"

Connor shrugged. "They were birthday and Christmas gifts." He gazed and Brady curiously. "Does your Mom not let you play?"

"I can play," Brady replied. I just think going to STAR Labs is a lot more fun. He pressed his lips together, knowing he couldn't say anything like that. There were too many people that already knew of Barry's secret and not many that knew about his Mom's. It wasn't his secret to tell. "But my Mom says she doesn't want me to be spoiled so she doesn't get me everything." But she can also teleport me wherever I need to go and does a bunch of fire powers that no one else has.

"Oh, I get it." Connor grinned. "Your grandparents give you a lot of gifts, right?"

Brady laughed. "Right."

The two continued across the field, heading towards the parking lot. "So how come you've been out of school a lot? You weren't in class last week?" It was an innocent question but Brady wasn't really sure how to answer it. One thing he could say for sure, he had gotten really good at lying.

"My Mom had some stuff for work that she had to do."

"Why didn't you just stay with your Dad?"

"He's not around. Not really." Brady shrugged.

"Oh." Connor frowned. Then he brightened slightly. "My Dad's not really around either. So I know what it's like. But I guess my Mom feels kind of guilty about it, so I sort of get what I want. My Mom's cool though."

"So's mine," Brady agreed. He tossed the soccer ball into the air and shot it forward with a header and Connor immediately raced after it, trapping it with his feet before sending it back towards Brady, who trapped it, kicked it up into the air with a quick flick of his feet, and punted it down field. The boys ran after it, gently pushing each other out of the way before they reached the parking lot where a young woman stood by a car, looking at her phone.

Abandoning the ball, Connor raced towards her. "Mom!" He called, waving a hand over his head. "Mom." Brady picked up the ball and trotted after him. "Mom, this is my friend Brady Nash. Brady, this is my Mom."

"Hi." Brady greeted Ms. Hawke with a warm smile.

"It's nice to meet you, Brady," Ms. Hawke said with a smile of her own.

"I invited him over to the play some video games," Connor said. "His Mom said its okay." Without a backwards glance he opened the back door and slid across the seat to leave room for Brady. He climbed into the backseat of the car after him and quickly buckled up.

"Well, it's good to have you with us, Brady," Ms. Hawke said. She rounded the car and got into the front seat. "If there's anything you need please let me know. Is there anything you want for a snack?"

Brady twisted his mouth to the side as he thought about it. "Popcorn?"

"Popcorn it is then." Ms. Hawke turned on the car and started to back out of the parking lot.

Brady smiled and leaned back in his seat, but then frowned a second later as something on the radio caught his attention. "…at Mercury Labs. The witness says he saw a yellow blur, a man in a yellow suit, from his hiding place. At the moment there are no leads to a suspect. However it is still unknown how the man had managed to get onto a floor hat was so heavily guarded by security. The CCPD are investigating."

His breath catching in his throat, Brady fumbled for his backpack and started to root through the pockets. Connor looked at him curiously. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah." Brady grabbed his phone and immediately punched in the speed-dial. "I just need to call my Mom."

A/N: Finally got to the Reverse Flash stuff. I'm so excited. I think I may have said that before, haha. Anyway, this chapter took longer than I anticipated to be put up, I had a lot of school work I had to do before break, which I'm now on. So I should be able to update again soon.

I apologize for any misspellings that I may not have caught, or missing letters. The keyboard on my computer isn't working so well and I'm going to get a new one soon. So we got a little more into Brady's POV, for something to look forward to there's some big things happening with him soon. And I got a Harrison/Cade scene in, though I still have to do some with Harrison and Brady.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Cheers,

-Riles