.:29:.

No Such Thing As A Coincidence

Harrison zoomed back into the time vault, placing his Reverse Flash suit onto the mannequin. He stretched out his arms and rested them on the back of his head, closing his eyes. He needed to calm down. Just because he had a minor setback this time didn't mean his plan was completely failed yet. As it was, he needed more time to make sure things were set up just as he needed them to be. Lowering himself into his wheelchair he headed out into the cortex and frowned when he spotted Barry sitting at an empty computer, staring into space.

He resisted the urge to get up and take care of him in that moment. The time wasn't right. Instead, he moved to get Barry's attention. "Barry. Barry? Barry?" Barry jerked and looked around at Harrison as he moved his wheelchair next to him. His mouth curled up in the corner. "It appears that it's not only your body that moves a mile a minute, but your mind too."

Barry laughed though his nose. "I've gotten used to that," he remarked. "Sometimes it makes it hard to sleep, but I've gotten used to the constant thoughts that buzz through my head."

"Right." Harrison nodded. There was a long silence between the two of them before Harrison spoke up once more. "I believe that Cisco and Caitlin are currently showing Ronnie and Professor Stein around the Pipeline…is there something you wanted to speak about? I can't imagine the CCPD would give you the day off when you're the only forensic scientist that has actually done something about crime scenes around here."

With that remark, Barry looked at him out of the corner of his eye. There was no doubt that Harrison Wells was someone who was very private about his own life, but also had a habit of being…strangely correct on a lot of things. As Cisco would probably say about someone else who seemed to understand Barry's and other metahuman's powers more than anyone else, he was 'shadier than Lex Luthor'. But the comment about a crime scene stuck out to him the most due to studying his mother's crime scene for so many years and now with Joe suspecting Harrison may have something to do with his mother's death just made him wonder that much more.

He hated that he was questioning it, but he was questioning it all the same.

"Oh, no, I've finished my shift. I'm on call. I know it's weird…" Barry started off. "That I'm here…" He leaned forward in his seat, staring at the blank computer monitor in front of him. Harrison's reflection looked back at him, staring intently at Barry. Barry kept his gaze as he watched the man. "But there're just some things that I can't figure out. My dad…I'm sure he knows I'm the Flash. I don't know how he figured it out but I think he knows. I want to tell him but I don't want him to become a target, to worry more for me than I need to worry about him being in there. That I am going to prove to everyone he didn't kill my mother."

Harrison continued to nod at Barry's explanation, resisting the urge to let anything show on his face. It didn't appear that Barry was entirely onto him but that still didn't sit well with him. He needed to be more careful. Especially now that Tess was around, he needed to work on that reveal carefully, only at the right time.

As it was, he didn't know how much Barry knew about her anyway. But that reporter…Iris…she does seem to put her nose in everyone's business, probably has a big mouth as well. Harrison narrowed his eyes.

Yes, it was quite possible Barry knew about Tess.

He just needed to know for sure.

"Barry, we're going to do everything we can to help you," Harrison said instead. "You know that. As it is, we need to focus on you getting faster. The faster you get, the better things will be for all of us." He started to turn his wheelchair around to go to his computer then paused when he got a good look at Barry. Something washed over him, that pushed away the feeling of resentment that had plagued him a moment before. Now he was a few seconds away from grinning. "Why are you so dressed up?"

For a moment Barry looked confused, then his eyes widened a little. "I…uh, actually, I'm going out on a date," he explained."

"Not with Iris," Harrison prompted.

"No. Not with Iris." Barry sucked in a breath, almost wincing. "Um, with Cadence, actually."

Harrison then chuckled, noticing the almost terrified expression on Barry's face, as if he was expecting Harrison to leap out of his chair and strangle him. "Well, it's about time," he remarked causing Barry's face to quickly—almost instantly—relax. "My priorities in life may have shifted since Tess's death but I'm not blind, Mr. Allen. Not a lot gets by me."

No, it certainly didn't.

...

..

.

Barry ran his hands over his face, knees bouncing up and down as he waited for his father to sit down across from him. His conversation with Harrison hadn't helped anything. As a matter of fact, it made him nervous. So very nervous despite not really understanding why. Or not allowing himself to understand it. No. There was just no way Harrison was the Reverse-Flash, the "Man in Yellow" who killed his mother.

It made absolutely no sense. Why would Harrison want to kill his mother and what would that mean for him if he did? What would he gain from that? Barry was smart, but the only thing he certainly wasn't' smart enough to do was outsmart Harrison Wells. No, Harrison Wells had a vast knowledge of many things and whatever his reasoning to do things was something only he shared when he felt was a good time. Barry shook his head and leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes.

You have to stop thinking like this, Barry, he thought. It's just Joe's suspicions over nothing. He focused his attention on his father as he was maneuvered into the seat across from him and grabbed onto the phone to speak. "So I'm starting to think that you're going to come up with some excuse to stay in here with me, Slugger."

Barry laughed lightly. "What makes you say that?"

"Because this is the most you've visited me than you have in the last couple of years." Henry's smile faded for a moment and his eyes narrowed. He studied his son and despite how Barry kept his expression neutral, he was a father and he knew his son better than anything. "What's the matter, Barry? It seems like every time you come in here you're less cheerful than you were before, too."

A light sigh escaped Barry's lips. He turned his head to eth side then turned back to the phone, practically pressing his lips directly onto the phone. "There's just…there's a lot of things going on that I don't know if I can handle it anymore. There's so much pressure being put on me and I don't…I don't know Dad, I just don't know."

It was the first time he said it out loud and as much as he felt a weight off his shoulders, his eyes started to well up, too. There was a lot of pressure on him. He had the promise he made to his mother and father to figure out what happened to his mother. But that was before he became The Flash, that was before he had a duty to save the entirety of Central City, that was before the Rogues and the Black Flash, that was before Ronnie and Professor Stein, that was before the Assassination Bureau and the Suicide Squad, it was before everything became so dire and he couldn't think straight.

Even the thought of having a day to himself where he would do absolutely nothing Flash related made him break out into a cold sweat. The last thing he ever wanted to do was let anyone down, but the thought of letting the entire city down. He tossed and turned with flashes of Captain Cold, Heatwave, Golden Glider, Weather Wizard…or any other metahuman they hadn't come across yet taking over the city and ruling it under a controlling empire that would make him obsolete. And the idea of losing Cisco, Caitlin, Cadence, Brady, Ronnie, Professor Stein, Iris, Eddie, and Joe like that…?

"Barry."

It was that voice again. The same tone Henry used when they were speaking about the Flash. And as Barry looked Henry in the eye, he still knew that his father knew. He just…he couldn't get the words out to confirm it for him. Not when there was already so much at stake.

"And there you go again, Barry. You always have to go running after trouble to keep someone else out of it," Henry said. "All those times you got chased around by those bullies because you wanted to help someone else who was too weak and small to be picked on…" a deep chuckle escaped Henry's lips, making his eyes crinkle up in the corner and gleam. "You always do seem to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, especially if it's not your weight to carry."

"Hey, I learned from the best," Barry defended himself. "You were the best surgeon Central City has ever seen. Whenever you had a patient who couldn't afford the procedure you'd pay for it yourself. You're the least selfish person anyone could ever look up to, Dad. And I'm glad I'm your son."

"But?"

"Who said there was a 'but'?"

"There always is."

Barry chuckled. With his experience with as many metahumans that seemed to come his way for fun, that certainly was the truth. He couldn't ever have anything go easily for him anymore. "But, sometimes, I'm not as cut out for greatness as everyone else seems to think I am."

"Barry…" Now Henry took a deep breath and looked Barry right in the eye. "I want you to listen to me very carefully. Your mother and I…we never wanted for you to follow us in our footsteps. We wanted you to make decisions on your own. If you wanted to go travel the world, then it would be because you wanted to travel, not because of your mother's stories. If you wanted to go into a career in medicine, it was because you wanted to, not because of me. You're destined for great things, Barry; I've known that in my bones since you were born. And I've loved following you around as you discovered everything you've ever wanted to discover. When you talked about things that I had no idea even existed I listened with an ear and a heart full of pride. It's normal to think that you're not cut out for things, that you may have made a mistake with your life. But you haven't. I know that and I know you know that."

Barry nodded.

"You have to live your life for you, Barry. Do that first and everything else will fall into place." Henry reached up a hand and wiped a tear away from his eye. "If all else fails I'll always be proud of you."

And those were the exact words Barry needed to hear. The words that pushed all of his fears aside. He wouldn't have been able to get that sort of response from Harrison, despite how much of a mentor he had become ever since he had received his powers. Maybe even before then when Harrison, Caitlin, and Cisco had helped keep him alive. He remembered hearing bits and pieces of their conversations as they went and Harrison had been by his side for a lot of it, coaxing him into letting them know he was going to waken soon. It took a long time after he had awakened for Barry to piece it all together but still…

"Now, is there anything good that you want to tell me?" Henry pressed. "Like why you're so dressed up?"

"This isn't that dressed up," Barry defended himself, now a little annoyed. Okay, so maybe he had spent a lot of time getting changed to figure out what to wear. And maybe Joe had threatened to shoot him if he went back upstairs to change for the twentieth time after Barry rejected Joe's advice. "Yeah, I'm going somewhere later. After I finish talking to you." He looked at his watch and groaned a little. "Actually, I'm running late."

"Then you better get going," Henry insisted. "And don't you dare try to use me as an excuse, Slugger. Be a man and own up to your mistakes."

A laugh escaped Barry's lip as he started to stand. "Alright, Dad. I'll see you later."

"Unless you or someone else is dying, please don't make it too soon. You're really starting to worry me." Henry smiled and placed his receiver back in its cradle, smiled at Barry once more, and turned to the guard to lead him away. Barry pressed his hand against the glass to say goodbye and closed his eyes. When he opened them again he stared at his reflection for a minute then jumped backwards in surprise. His reflection had been different; old and withered as if he had rapidly aged within a span of a few seconds.

Not quite.

There were cracks and rivulets in his face filled with blood. That wasn't the part that made him jump back, what startled him was what appeared to be the reflection of the Reverse-Flash standing behind him as well. But there was no gust of wind that accompanied it as it always did when he moved around. Nothing. Just a reflection, as if he hadn't been there at all.

Barry brought his hands up to his face and rubbed it, feeling the smooth skin. And his reflection, his good reflection, did the same. He shook his head and tried to catch his breath. If not taking a day for himself was going to make him see things, then he really was his own worst enemy.

...

..

.

"And this is where we hold the metas," Cisco explained as he waved his arms out, like a magician.

Caitlin squeezed Ronnie's hand as they strolled along behind Cisco and Professor Stein, who marveled at the particle accelerator. He smiled back and squeezed her hand back. As a fluttery of happy butterflies moved through her stomach Caitlin tried to get them to keep the distinct feeling of fear at bay. She was afraid of what would happen if she touched him if he was, potentially, going to burst into flames—which was a fear she had since he and Professor Stein had managed to split, and was afraid of her own supposed abilities. She hadn't felt cold or had been able to momentarily freeze things for a long time. Not since the Suicide Squad and Assassination Bureau had left Central City.

And then, of course, there was Harrison. She had been avoiding him since Ronnie came back around but there was unresolved issues and not just because of their feelings for each other but because Caitlin wasn't sure if she entirely trusted him anymore. He had wanted to right into potentially killing him and Professor Stein with no thought to it, and he had been the one that knew the Particle Accelerator had a chance to explode and went through the plan anyway.

He was her mentor and now he was as much of a stranger to her as anyone walking down the street.

Caitlin was broken out of her thoughts as Ronnie's hand slipped from hers. She turned to the side and watched as Cisco opened the door leading to a particle accelerator pod and shook her head when she spotted Hartley sitting back against the ground. His arms encircled his legs, hands that grasped each other's wrists tightly enough to shake, and an intense expression with closed eyes and lips firmly pressed together. Hartley lifted his head as the door opened and he practically glared at Cisco.

"Wow, you weren't kidding," Ronnie commented, walking closer to the pod. "You really do have Hartley in there."

Hartley's eyes shifted over to Ronnie and he tilted his head to the side. Removing his hands from each other he brought up his right hand and started to gently tug at his ear lobe. Caitlin knew because of having removed Hartley's hearing aids he was in consistent pain due to damaged hearing and ear-drums since the explosion. But the pain he was enduring was enough compared to what he had done to the rest of the STAR Labs team.

"Well, if it isn't Ronnie Raymond," Hartley commented as the engineer came closer to his pod. "I have to be honest; I'm surprised you managed to make it." He shrugged and his gaze slid over to Caitlin. "You have to make up for lost time, I suppose."

Caitlin's upper lip curled and Ronnie took a step towards him. A bright, almost smug smile was on his face which was very unlike Ronnie. "I'm sure you would do the same if you were able to get out of here." He took a step forward and Hartley shrank back a little, looking Ronnie up and down. "If you had anyone to get back to."

With a light roll of his eyes, Hartley pulled harder at his ear lobe. "Always going for the low blows, Ronnie. Who is it that seems to have the preference for male attention? Me or the frat boy?"

"Trust me when I say the only thing that's managed to keep Ronald's attention, apart from pizza, is this young lady over here," Professor Stein said, motioning to Caitlin, causing her to smile. It widened when Ronnie turned and smiled her way as well.

This is real, she reminded herself. It's all real. He's back and he's normal. And he's going to stay here with me. He's not going anywhere.

"How very touching," Hartley said without an ounce of warmth in his voice.

"Hey, Pied Piper," Cisco spoke up. "We're just here on a little field trip, okay? To show off our little trophy a bit." He smirked as Hartley then sent a glare his way.

"So how do they use the bathroom and get fed?" Professor Stein asked. He walked closer to Hartley's pod and pressed his hand against the glass as if looking for a giveaway or some hidden secret about it. "Isn't it a bit unethical to keep them kept up in here while the rest of you continue to live and walk free amongst your lives?"

Caitlin and Cisco exchanged a glance. It was something they had debated with Harrison a lot. Something that made Caitlin feel a little weird about at first. They essentially had a prison beneath their feet, a prison for metahumans, but a prison nonetheless. Yes, they gave those metahumans a chance to go the bathroom and gave them food but it was easy to forget about them once they were in the cortex.

"Once you can see what all of these guys can do, then you start to realize there are many sacrifices we have to make," Cisco said after a moment of silence. He cleared his throat. "We take shifts to let them use the facilities and give them food. We don't leave them here just for shits and giggles."

Ronnie turned and motioned to Hartley. "Are you sure about that?"

"Okay, maybe we do with that one," Cisco admitted. "But the others, we use them for our studies .To get a better understand of how one person's abilities differ from another's. Is it possible for metahuman abilities to mix and be used together."

"More specifically we want to see what it is that links metahumans together," Caitlin agreed. She motioned for Cisco to close Hartley's pod. "I think we've had enough fun poking him with that proverbial stick today, Cisco." She walked over to Professor Stein and clasped her hands together. "I know this may seem like it is unethical, but there are really good things we're trying to do. If we can figure out what has changed in someone's DNA after the explosion—"

"—like a strand of the DNA or some sort of a genetic link," Professor Stein broke in. His eyes shone as he started to pace back and forth, gesticulating wildly. Ronnie leaned back out of the way with every pass of his hand. "Yes, yes, that's brilliant! If there is a way to determine if there is one, then that can open a plethora of research opportunities. If there's a gene that can be found, then maybe the ability to be a metahuman was within the person before the particle accelerator explosion."

"Exactly," Caitlin agreed.

Ronnie's eyebrows furrowed together. "You actually got that?" He asked. "I've had this guy in my head for ages and I still don't understand half of what he says."

"I assure you that I am very articulate," Professor Stein defended himself.

"If by articulate you mean you go off on tangents, then you're right."

"Excuse me Ronald—"

"—Ronnie!"

"—But we would've died out there if it weren't for me running my…our…your body. You think you could continue to live off of nothing but pizza and beer? I know you were a frat boy once but that's not the sort of diet that was needed to upkeep our…your body if it was altered by metahuman powers."

Ronnie started to say something else but then cut himself off and Caitlin knew the reason why. They had been in such close proximity for a long time, being able to take time outside of the laboratories—as Hartley had correctly deduced—had made it easier for them to understand their fate within their new home. Their time together had been everything she had been waiting for.

It was perfect.

She listened as Ronnie and Professor Stein bickered with each other, a half smile on her face. She and Ronnie used to bicker the same way, when he was trying to push her to do new things and she tried to make him organized and more of a forward thinker. It was nice to see how much had managed to remain the same while things had changed around them.

"So how long do you think Siskel and Ebert going to keep this up?" Cisco asked, coming to Caitlin's side. He grinned as he watched the two, not waiting for Caitlin's answer. "I can't wait to see what these guys can real do now that we've got their powers under control. And just think of how helpful they're going to be in terms of the new metas we're bound to come across. We already know they can fly, but is it really flying or their jet propulsion because of their flames and how much around them can their flames burn."

"Well, technically it isn't really fire," Caitlin reminded him. "Rather than the heat of their nuclear energy." She placed a hand on his shoulder. "But I get your point Cisco."

"You must be really excited for him to be back," Cisco remarked, reaching up his arm and put it around Caitlin's shoulders.

"Yeah, I am."

She could've said something about Harrison but didn't. Cisco couldn't said something about Harrison but didn't. And that really helped. But she couldn't ignore it forever.

"Hey, I've got something I need to check out for a minute," She said to him. "Make sure these guys don't kill each other by the time I get back. Feel free to use that new serum I invented if you'd like." She laughed at Cisco's gleeful smile and almost girlish shriek before she left the pipeline. Caitlin gave herself a pep talk as she went up to the cortex and still found that she didn't entirely know what she was going to say.

"Dr. Wells?" Her voice echoed along the Cortex as she looked around. "Dr. Wells? There's something I want to speak with you about." Still receiving no answer, Caitlin walked to his office and knocked on the door before going in. He wasn't in there, either.

She started to leave the room then stopped, realizing something that made her blood run cold. Something that made her wonder if her secrete keeping made her as bad as the man she was looking for.

He left his wheelchair behind.

...

..

.

Cadence pulled back her hair and focused on warming the palms of her hands. As she pulled the strands of hair through her hands, with the heat, they became straightened before falling around her shoulders perfectly. She looked up as there was a knock on the door and before she could call out for Brady to get it, she could hear his rapid footsteps across the wood floor before yelling, 'I'll get it', as he flew by her bedroom door.

Chuckling to herself, Cadence slipped on her shoes and walked to the door after him. Brady stood on his tip-toes to look through the peephole then grabbed the doorknob, pulling it open. "You're late," he said before Barry could say anything. "You're not supposed to be late for your first date." He looked back at Cadence as if making sure he had said the right thing and Cadence did nothing but laugh louder.

"I'm sorry I'm late," Barry apologized, taking a few long strides through the front door.

"For someone who heralds himself as being the fastest man alive, you move incredibly slowly," Cadence remarked.

Barry nodded once, holding up his hand defensively. "I know. I've had a long day and I just went to go visit my Dad and there were some things we needed to talk about. I'm sorry. "He pulled his other hand out from behind his back to reveal a slight droopy rose. Apparently it couldn't withstand Barry's speed on the way here. "I thought about bringing you more but I thought that would've been, I don't know, a bit desperate. And now looking at this pathetic one maybe I should've gone with the bigger bouquet."

"No, Tholly, that's okay," Cadence reassured him. She reached out to take the flower but Brady got to it first. He plucked it out of Barry's hand and twisted it back and forth as he examined it before handing it over to Cadence. "Thank you," she said. Then she blinked and tilted her head to the side, shifting her gaze to Barry. "You used the front door," She pointed out.

"I, what?" Barry twisted around and looked back at the door then at her again. "Oh! Right. Well, I was thinking that since this was an official date and everything that I would do the right thing and pick up through the front door."

"I think picking someone up generally means that you use a car to do it. And you don't drive."

"I'm the fastest man alive, I don't need a car."

"Oh yeah?" Cadence's eyes flashed as she crossed her arms. "How'd your driver's test go? You got a license?"

"It went fine," Barry defended himself. He shuffled his feet. "After the second try. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, just one thing." Lifting her finger, Cadence turned and pressed it into the tip of Brady's nose, pushing it flat. "Cisco will be here in about ten minutes. What are the cardinal rules?"

Brady sighed heavily, rolling his eyes. Then he started to count off on his fingers. "Be on my best behavior. Go to bed no later than ten. No cooking unsupervised. No prank calls. Not too much junk food."

"And?"

"And 'no means no'. Especially when a girl tells you that."

"You got it." Cadence then leaned down and gave Brady a slew of noisy kisses on the cheek as he made sounds of disgust and squirmed to get out of her grasp. "Oh, I'm just waiting for the day when you're begging for my attention. Chances are that's going to happen the next time you get sick." She ruffled his hair and pushed him away. "Okay, we're leaving now."

"Wait!" Brady leaned over and picked up his iPad. "Aren't you going to take a picture?" He jumped onto the couch and held up the iPad, turning it this way and that so that he was able to get a good shot then waited expectantly for his mother and friend to get into a pose.

Cadence shot Barry an embarrassed glance and he shrugged and smiled easily, moving to her side. "It's been a while, but I feel like I'm about to go off to prom," he commented.

"Huh." Cadence twisted her mouth to the side. "I never got the chance to go to prom."

"Really?"

"No."

Brady made an impatient sound with his voice. "Okay, you could stand a little closer," he commented, staring at the two on his screen. "At least act like you like each other." He paused. "I mean, you don't have to kiss or anything, that's gross."

"Well, since you never went to prom…" Barry bent down and to Cadence's surprise he lifted her up into his arms with ease. Cadence grabbed him around the neck to steady herself before smiling widely for Brady to take the picture.

"There we go!" Brady smiled as the sound of a camera shutter went off. He set the iPad aside and jumped up, tucking his legs under him and flopped down to the couch. "I'm thinking Christmas Card."

"Okay, now we have to go." Cadence waited for Barry to lower her back to the floor and kissed Brady on the forehead in goodbye then followed Barry out the front door. "I'm sorry about that," she apologized again. "Brady's just…really excited to know that we're going out."

"Don't be. I'm excited to. Especially to see the look on your face when you see where I'm taking you." Cadence eyed him warily; unsure of what the massive grin on his face was for. It was as if he had just opened up the best Christmas present, but he was the one that already knew about it. Before she could even ask or guess what it was, Barry took her hand and raced the two of them to what looked like an unfamiliar and unexciting building.

Barry's smile only widened when Cadence gave him a confused look and he tightened his grip on her hand, walking her into the building. Then her eyes widened when she got sight of the gymnastics equipment set up around the facility. Everything from uneven bars to a pummel horse to rings, to trampolines, and a spring-loaded tumbling floor greeted her.

"What…?" She started to ask.

"Well…" Barry took his time saying the world, allowing it to curl over his tongue as he did so. Cadence reached out and shoved him on the chest and he took a step back, laughing. "You talk about being a cheerleader a lot and I can tell you miss it. Or at least being able to practice gymnastics and it's in your fighting style. When we went to the circus for Brady's birthday I could see, for the part that we got to see, that you really did miss it. So, I thought why not have a gymnastics date?"

"What do you want me to do? Dress up in a cheerleading uniform and do a special cheer for you?" She teased.

A blush came to Barry's cheeks. "No," he said, barely stuttering over the word.

Liar, Cadence thought. He's already forgotten I can tell when he lies. But that was something she found endearing about him as well. He really didn't like to be embarrassed and she was certainly having a lot of fun pushing his buttons whenever the time came.

Barry rushed to get the rest out before Cadence could tease him ore. "I know it's not something that you usually do on a date but I thought it would be different."

"It definitely is different," Cadence agreed. Then she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Barry's neck. "But that's really sweet, Tholly. Thank you." She stood on her tip-toes and kissed him with everything she had in her. When she pulled back her face was alight with excitement. "I'm not really dressed for the occasion but it'll be fun."

"I mean, it doesn't look too hard, either," Barry remarked.

Cadence raised an eyebrow as she took off her shoes and rolled up the legs of her jeans. "You want to try?" She motioned towards the uneven bars. "I mean, I know the salmon ladder was something you mastered in a few seconds…" she took a step back.

Barry looked at her, momentarily looking as if he had made a mistake, and then did the same as Cadence had. He took off his shoes and rolled up his jeans before walking over to the uneven bar. He stretched his arms in front of him and behind his back, then over his head before grabbing onto the bar. Lifting his feet off the ground Barry's momentum swung him forward. Once his legs were clear of the floor he used his speed to start shooting back and forth across the uneven bars with Cadence frantically trying to keep up with his blur.

Then she winced as there was a cry of surprise then a loud slam when Barry fell face first onto the mat. She hurried over as Barry rolled onto his side, hands over his nose. He blinked a few times as she stood over him, and his eyes focused once more. "Okay, that wasn't as easy as I thought it would be," he said.

Finally, Cadence started to laugh. "Sorry, but you hit the floor hard." She continued to giggle at Barry's pain. "I mean, you really bit it."

"I got that the first time, Cade, thanks," Barry said. He took Cadence's outstretched hand and sat up. "I don't know how anyone can do that."

"Unfortunately, your speed beat you on that one," Cadence commented. She nodded towards the uneven bars. "The point, while you're up there, is to focus on your next move and on the landing or else you'll get too ahead of yourself."

"Let's see you try it then," Barry suggested. He ducked his head, moving away from the uneven bars to safety. She didn't hear any challenge in his voice rather than sincere curiosity. Cadence shrugged and stood in front of the lowest of the uneven bar.

For a minute she closed her eyes and flashed back to when she had practiced day after day just to be ready for cheerleading camps. Then she took in a deep breath, held it for a moment, and let it out once more. Opening her eyes, Cadence took a leap forward and grabbed onto the bar. She lifted herself up so that her body was completely vertical, toes pointing towards the ceiling, and then swung back down again. Once she had enough momentum she let go at the apex of her swing and grabbed onto the higher of the bars, using that to spin herself again.

For a few minutes she went back and forth on the uneven bars, flipping and twisting through the air as she grabbed each one. Then she dismounted off the higher bar, after two consecutive swings, and then landed on the mat in a sloppy stop, nearly falling over.

She dusted off her hands, frowning. "I'm a little rusty, but that was fun."

"You're too modest," Barry accused.

"Actually, that was my worst event, I was better at trampoline. It was more fun." Cadence sighed and sat down next to him, crossing her legs. "I wasn't pushed so hard with that because with trampoline all you're trying to do is impress your friends with whatever flips you can do. Everything else…" she trailed off. "Wow, I can't believe how much I actually missed this."

Barry looked pleased. "So you're having fun?"

Cadence reached out with her foot and lightly nudged his chest. "I always have fun when I'm with you, Barry." She reached out and took his hands in hers. "And I promise I'm going to have to make things up to you on our next date."

He looked at her warily. "Why?"

"Because I'm going to stretch some muscles that you probably haven't used in a long time."

With that, Cadence dragged Barry off the ground and for the next hour helped teach him how to use each of the pieces of equipment around the training facility. She winced and tried not to laugh every time he hit the ground. Though to her surprise he took to the pummel horse with relative ease, looking as if he had been born to participate in the event, swinging his legs around as he focused on the piece of equipment below him.

The balance beam came up last and Barry quickly backed out of trying it, stating that his feet were too wide to keep himself perfectly balanced on it. Cadence then took to it, doing a few spins and turns, hoping to keep her balance up as she did so. With her arms stretched out to her sides she took a breath and in a snap movement, brought her arms in tightly and flipped backwards at the same time; pushing herself into a corkscrew flip. But when she landed she took too long to spread her arms out and lost her balance. Cadence tipped to the side and her legs crossed and she fell towards the floor.

Barry zipped to her side off the floor and caught her before she fell, but the force of her fall knocked them both to the ground. The two laughed, pushing themselves up into a sitting position. Barry smiled at her and reached out, brushing her hair back from her face before leaning in and giving Cadence a kiss.

Cadence grasped Barry's shoulder and pulled him closer to her, tilting her head as they kissed again. Barry lowered his hand and rested them on Cadence's neck, gently rubbing the skin and sent a cool shiver down her spine.

All of a sudden there was a rush of air that blasted between them. Cadence felt a hand on her chest shove her backwards while Barry was flung across the gym, landing on a practice mat. Then the two turned at the sound of rapid vibrations and looked up to see the Reverse-Flash standing in the corner of the gym.

A tense thickness filled the air, immediately erasing the easygoing one that had been there seconds before.

"Sorry to cut things a little short," The Reverse-Flash said. "But I thought you were starting to forget what I looked like."

"I'll never forget," Barry said through gritted teeth. He took a step forward. "You had your chance to kill me before and you didn't take it. What do you want? Why now?"

"To know the answer to that, Flash, you'll have to catch me."

A/N: Sorry for the wait on the chapter. For those that are enjoying all of the BarryCade moments, check out Sparks Fly which is a story that focuses entirely (as well as having a metahuman plot) that focuses on it.

There are a lot of things I want to show with a lot of people before this story ends so I hope you guys aren't too worried about the pacing of some things. I promise I'm doing my best to get to them all and I can't wait for you to see what happens. That being said, what I had planned for Ryder had to be shifted to the next chapter because of how long some scenes went as well as other things that ended up coming in a bit sooner.

So let me know what you liked about the chapter. Was there anything you were confused by?

-Riles