I will return don't you ever hang your head,
I will return in every song and each sunset,
Our memory is always within reach,
I will return I will return
Don't you ever hang your head.
I Will Return, Skylar Grey

"Hello! Hello! Is anyone there?! Guys, I really need some help here!" Cisco's voice echoed through the cortex, coming from the comms. "For god's sake, Rachel, if you're writing your book again instead…" he started threateningly, but then she finally answered him, giving him the intel he wanted.

"Knew it!" she heard his triumphant scream a few seconds later right behind her, causing her to jump in her seat.

"Don't do that to me! I hate when you do that!" Cisco's abilities were growing and he had more control over them now, therefore was able to make breaches and constantly jump in and out in the places he wished. He loved to come back from the field and surprise his friends like this.

"You totally deserved this!" He pointed his finger at the second monitor when coming closer.

She quickly minimized the word editor, but he already caught the sight of it.

"I know you're a great writer and under a deadline, but when I'm in the field because…" he came to a sudden stop, awkward silence following.

The only reason Cisco was the one going out to fight metas was the absence of Barry. And Caitlin – or maybe Killer Frost. Gypsy was helping sometimes in between their dates and her own job at Earth 18. Other than that, it was just Rachel and Cisco. And Harry. But Harry was mostly tinkering, trying to figure out a way to bring Barry back.

His absence left a gaping hole and it was extra hard on Rachel. She felt lonely and missed him way too much. Sometimes the pain in her chest got so strong she immediately needed a distraction since she didn't know how else she could handle it. Also, said distraction could be easily provided by her writing - just about the only thing that made her happy those days; the document she minimized bearing a title 'The Return of the Hero', a direct sequel to her previous book. It was truly as though she was writing it to cope with the harsh reality around her. The first part she'd written out of fear that Barry would die and the second one was contradicting the pain she was feeling as she was bringing the character back. Just like she wanted to bring back Barry. Still, right now they were nowhere when it came to making that happen.

"How did it go, Ramon?" Harry asked on entering the cortex, however he didn't sound or look like he truly cared.

"Fine," Cisco answered, shrugging. "Any good news for us?"

"Nothing to get Allen back, but I might've found Snow."

"Wait… really?" Rachel turned around in her swivelling chair. "Where?!"

"You're not gonna believe this, but… she works in a bar."

"A doctor with three PhDs," Cisco pointed out, not really able to believe that.

"That's why it was so hard to find her. You guys want to talk to her? Because I don't think I can get any further with my work without her. We need a bio-technician in order to trick the Speedforce into giving us Barry back."

"We should definitely try tomorrow. Tonight I'm bumped. See ya, guys!" And Cisco left.

"In his defence, he's been trying really hard to save this city recently," Rachel told Harry.

"Trying being the crucial word here."

"Hey! He's doing his best and he's exhausted."

"I know! You don't think I know that?!" Harry suddenly snapped and she shot him a look. "I'm sorry, ok? But nothing is getting any better. Barry is still stuck and so far we haven't been able to help him and I'm still here like I promised him, only that ain't really the reason, is it? Because my own daughter hates me."

Jesse was back on Earth 2 and not speaking to her dad after what he'd done to keep her from facing Savitar and Caitlin.

"She'll come around, Harry. What you did is understandable, considering how protective of her you are," Rachel tried to alleviate him and then got up from her seat, making her way to him. She stood right in front of him now, looking up at him. "She projects her pain onto you. Nothing more. She blames you and hates you because she can't deal with what happened to Caitlin. She can't deal that Killer Frost chose not to take the cure despite the love Cait had for her."

"Well, maybe that's another proof that Caitlin is just gone."

"We can't know that for sure."

Harry sighed before running his hand over his tired eyes and then he looked at her. She was standing so close he could smell her perfume, something sweet like vanilla mixed with something tantalizing and hard to recognize.

For a moment, she too looked into his blue eyes, seeing there the echoes of what seemed like years ago, the echoes of the man she'd used to love and who'd betrayed her. It didn't affect her as much now anymore, losing Barry creating a fresh wound in her heart and getting him back being the only goal she had at the moment. Well, that and meeting her deadline, but her writing also helped her deal with the situation and not completely fall apart…

Harry's face was suddenly closer and she thought how easy it would be to just let herself go, to take the comfort she could have and temporarily…

"No," she said, pushing her hand against his chest and making a step back. "We can't do this again."

"I do care about you more now than I did then, but… yes, you're right. It still wouldn't be enough… and Allen…" Harry started apologetically and, in his typical fashion, awkwardly. She did realize that whenever he wanted to say he was sorry, he always took the way around it and never actually said the word itself.

"I care about Barry way too much to do something like this again. I just want him back. And he definitely doesn't deserve… this to happen," she pointed herself and then Harry. "I'm just going to go home and get some sleep. We'll try reaching Caitlin tomorrow."

Harry nodded, swallowing hard and not saying anything else, just watching her go instead.

Rachel couldn't really believe her own eyes the next afternoon as she and Cisco visited the bar Harry had been talking about and, indeed, spotted no one else but Caitlin Snow working there. The surprising part was that it was truly Caitlin and not Killer Frost. Gone was the white hair and the leather outfit, though she still dressed up quite sexy, probably a requirement for being a bartender.

As the two approached the bar, they still had no idea what to say to her when she spotted them, sighed and then murmured, "I should've known you would find me even in here." It sounded more like a complaint than her being happy to see them. "Barry's still stuck in the Speedforce?"

"You know about that?" was the first thing that left Cisco's mouth whereas Rachel kept on staring. It was hard for her to accept that her best friend had been taken over by an evil ice queen and when released from her hold, she hadn't even dropped by.

"Cait," she finally said her name, her voice not really sounding like her own. She felt a bit distraught. She hadn't only lost Barry, she'd also lost her best friend and she'd done her very best so far when keeping the company of Cisco, Harry, even Julian, but in the end it hadn't been the same. "Cait, are you you again? Why haven't you come back? We missed you. I missed you."

Caitlin froze briefly; the cloth she was holding to polish the glasses at the bar, momentarily suspended in the air. Then she sighed again – or more like released a deep breath she clearly needed in order to handle this conversation.

"It's… complicated," she eventually responded with. "I'm sorry." At least she sounded genuine when she looked Rachel in the eye. "I know I should've been there for you. I should've been there for all of you," she then moved her gaze to Cisco. "It's just…"

"…complicated?" he supplied with. "Yeah, we heard that already. Caitlin, Jesse would be so happy to see you back to normal…" he then started again.

"Don't," she immediately interrupted, holding her hand up. "Don't talk to me about Jesse right now, please."

"But you took the cure, right?" Rachel prompted. "Because what else could bring you back to normal?"

"I am… not back to normal," Cait eventually said in a very slow and hesitant voice. "Not entirely."

"What does this mean?"

"I took the cure, ok? I did. But it didn't exactly reverse the whole process. I don't want to talk about it right now. Just tell me why you're here. It's because of Barry, isn't it? You need my help to get him out."

Rachel and Cisco exchanged pained glances before turning back to Caitlin.

"Whatever happened, whatever is still happening…" Cisco started, "you can always count on us. You know that. You could've…"

"Will you stop, Cisco? Please, just… stop… What do you need me to do?"

"Helping Barry is one reason, yes," Rachel informed, "but that's not why we've been looking for you. We've been looking for you because we care about you, because we love you and we want you back. We want everyone back. The team isn't complete without Caitlin Snow and Barry Allen."

"Just tell me what you've got so far…"

It was so surreal to suddenly have Caitlin back at the Labs. Caitlin. Not Killer Frost. The change was so not expected and it felt like she was never truly gone. And they jumped right back into doing their best to save Barry and suddenly, after so many weeks of their work leading absolutely nowhere, after all the time Rachel had just been doing her best to go on with her life, to pick it up right after giving up her own powers to finally breath, yet still having to deal with Barry being gone… She had absolutely no idea how she would react on seeing him again. They'd left things in such an ambiguous place… She'd finally opened herself up to the idea of being with him. She'd admitted she indeed had very strong feelings for him and she wanted to see where they would lead them both… She'd kissed him and the memory of this kiss had been haunting her ever since. It was like a promise they'd given to each other before forced to say goodbye…

Now she was standing in the cortex, feeling completely disoriented and with her heart beating way too fast in her chest as she was listening to Cisco, Caitlin and Harry discussing bringing the Flash out of the Speedforce and Cait having the brilliant idea of an orb that would fool the Speedforce into thinking Barry never left…

"Hey, are you ok?" Julian was suddenly there by her side, his hand gently touching her shoulder. She didn't even register him coming over. "Must be quite overwhelming, right? To be so close to finally getting Barry back."

She could only nod, glad he understood what she was going through at the moment and then, an hour later on their arrival at Ferris's old airport strip, fear hit her. She was afraid of what would come next. She wanted Barry back so badly, but in the same time she felt this paralyzing fear because she had no idea how to act once he was back. It'd been so long, the memory of their parting so vivid in her mind, yet he himself was blurry. She didn't know what to expect and it was driving her crazy.

Especially after everything was put into motion and… nothing happened.

"I… I really thought this would work," Cisco commented in a disappointed voice.

They all seemed defeated, not understanding why Barry wasn't standing there with them, why he wasn't back. And Rachel… well, she froze, realizing what that fear she was feeling truly was – it wasn't that she was scared of seeing him again. She was terrified she wouldn't… that he was truly lost to them forever.

"Rachel…" she heard her name coming from Harry's mouth as he made a step in her direction, but she was never going to find out what he wanted to say because Julian's phone rang and he seemed quite shocked when he picked up.

"What?! Really?! Ok… no, no… don't call a doctor. I'll be right there. Please, let me handle this first… It's Barry," he informed the team when he hung up and turned to face them. "A police patrol picked him up. Apparently, a truck almost ran him over. He was also… um… naked."

They all opened their eyes widely in shock.

"Just be careful…" Julian was instructing as he was leading Rachel, Cisco and Caitlin through the halls of the police station; Harry not present for obvious reasons since he was wearing the face of a murderer. "They say he's in shock, probably caused by the accident he was in… but something tells me if may be a bit more than that. I managed to convince them not to call a doctor. I told them we're close friends and I knew he was coming back, but the accident… anyway… Here." He pushed a door open at the end of a long corridor and let them in.

Rachel's heart was beating so hard in her chest and she was inhaling so much oxygen that she felt dizzy. She still couldn't believe this. She couldn't believe that they had Barry, that whatever they'd done, it'd worked. That he was back with them and he was there to stay. She could have him back. She…

He didn't change much. They could tell the police gave him a station t-shirt and sweatpants, but he still looked like himself. Well, except the beard he'd managed to grow during his absence. His face, though, even with the additional facial hair, and his eyes, they were just as handsome as they always were and…

"Barry?" Rachel couldn't help it. She said his name and led by instinct wanted to just come closer. Her heart was calling out to him and she smiled brightly, nearly hyperventilating, still feeling his kiss on her lips and then seeing him disappear in the Speedforce in her mind. But he was there now. He was back. Her mind didn't want to believe it just yet, but she saw it with her own eyes.

Something in her mind told her to stop, though. There was something in his face that seemed foreign out of the sudden and she found out why immediately.

"Who's Barry?" he asked and they all paled. "Stars are melting… Nora shouldn't be here... Your honour, I didn't do this, I didn't kill anyone…" he was mumbling pure gibberish before he started screaming and that was when Caitlin came closer to him and injected him with a sedative.

She should've known it wouldn't be that easy. That nothing in their lives ever was and when it came to her own personal relationship with him, well… it was a disaster from the start; the memory of seeing him die in agony in her vision still so painful to recall. She didn't even know whether this was something yet to come or maybe it'd already happened when he'd given his powers to Zoom and then Harry helped him retrieve them… She couldn't know anything because her own powers were gone and it was a blessing. But also an opening to a huge unknown. Then again, even if Rachel was still haunted by that vision, she would never be able to tell whether it was real or whether – as Cisco suspected – might've been put there by Thawne to keep her and Barry apart. She would simply never know. All she and Barry ever had and would still have was the present and now even that was taken away from them.

Rachel was just standing there, almost shaking as she was listening to Caitlin's possible diagnosis. She so did not like the idea of Barry having already spent so many years in the Speedforce that his mind had become senile. She much more liked the other one that his synapses were moving way too fast for a human brain at the moment, prompted by him being in the Speedforce for so long.

There was only one way to find out.

"We need to try and wake him up," Caitlin agreed.

"And I might just have the perfect song for that," Cisco volunteered.

"No," suddenly came loud and clear from Harry who had so far been silent, only listening on.

They all looked at him now in surprise.

"She should do it." He pointed Rachel. "And she alone. She can have the biggest impact on him. Seeing all of you may be confusing again, but her… he loves her. And if that were me, seeing my daughter would do the trick. Therefore, you should let her go alone and stop with those ridiculous music ideas, Ramon."

There was silence as they were all processing what he just said. It felt a little bit awkward for Rachel since Harry simply stated that Barry loved her. Yes, it was no secret to anyone present in the cortex, though still something that had never really been said aloud among them.

"I prepare everything," Caitlin offered. "Rachel, come with me."

Rachel had no idea what to do.

She felt completely ridiculous when just staying alone with Barry as Caitlin left the lab. She mentioned he should wake up within a few minutes, but those minutes suddenly started to turn into what seemed like hours to Rachel. The clock seemed to stand still and she was just sitting there in a chair by the bed in which Barry lay; his face so peaceful, so different with the beard, yet still the same, dear and familiar to her.

Should she take his hand? Or should she just wait? Would he prefer her to keep her distance? Would he even know who she was? Would this work…?

She thought of him looking into her eyes, of her cupping his face and abandoning all her fears before she kissed him… and it felt so right… It wasn't fair that she needed to watch him leave afterwards, but she also knew there was no other choice. He was and would always be the hero this city needed and she had to accept that. The thing was that she also realized she needed him as well. And so much. Maybe even more than she'd ever needed anyone.

He stirred and she froze, her hand suspended in the air a few centimetres over his as she still wasn't sure whether she should touch him.

And then it was too late, because he opened his eyes and looked around till his gaze fell upon her and she waited there with bated breath, praying that he would remember everything, that he would remember her.

To her great relief, his eyes shone with recognition and he whispered, "Rachel."

"Oh my god, yes! Barry! You're back!" She reacted purely on instinct when getting up from her chair and throwing herself into his arms as he sat up in the same time, holding them open for her and burying his face in her hair as they embraced.

"I'm back," he assured her, laughing and tightening his hold on her.

"Barry… I… It's been so hard without you… I thought I lost you…" she confessed, hugging him even tighter and feeling completely overwhelmed by all the feelings she was now being bombarded with. To feel him next to her, to be able to hold him like this, to have his warm body against hers… it was too much.

"You'll never lose me," he promised in a whisper directed straight into her ear.

In that moment the door to the lab opened and their friends spilled out, each and every one of them eager to hug him and tell him how happy they were to have him back.

"Cait, it's so good to see you back to normal," Barry commented when it was her turn to hug him. By now Rachel moved away, giving them all space to say hello and knowing that time would come later on when she and Barry would be able to talk.

"I hate to break the bubble, but…" Cisco started, "we just got an alert on some crazy Samurai wrecking the city… Are you up for it, buddy?"

"Never been better!" Barry assured him, speeding to get his suit.

One crazy Samurai-android defeat later, they arrived at a point when Julian announced he was ready to go back to England due to some unfinished business and he finally could since Barry was back to work.

"Will you come back to us?" Rachel asked when she hugged him. "You're part of team Flash now, Julian."

"I wish I could say yes, but… truth be told, I need to finally face my family and… there's actually someone special I left behind. I owe it to both myself and her to tell her how I feel. Maybe it's worth the risk, if she still…"

"If she truly cared for you, then I am sure she still does," Caitlin assured him with a smile.

"You, guys, really showed me that escape is never the answer and if you have something real," Julian glanced at Barry and then at Rachel, "you should fight for it no matter what. And that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"Well, the door is always open if you want to come back or just visit, remember that. And thank you for everything. Thank you covering for me with captain Singh." Barry hugged him as well.

"That was the least I could do. Take care of yourself, mate."

"Well…" Barry went over to Rachel as Julian left the Labs. "I think we also have some unfinished business," he hinted while smiling at her brightly and she couldn't help but smile back, though her heart was hammering in her chest so hard she had no idea how to react or what to say. "What do you say we grab some coffee or maybe dinner later on? Are you free tonight?"

"Yes," she responded with a nod and a smile, feeling like a whole new world was just opening up to her. "Yes, I am. You can pick me up at 6."

"6 it is, then."

Before Rachel followed everyone else and headed home for both a well-deserved break and a quick look through her closet, she spotted Harry still working.

"Are you all right?" she asked him when approaching him.

He raised his head from the computer screen he was staring at.

"Yes, why?"

"I just… I guess I'm a bit worried about you, Harry. I know things have been tough and Jesse…"

"Stop," he immediately shut her down. "Stop worrying about me. Be happy to have Barry back."

"Harry…"

"I mean it. Don't look at me. Don't be concerned about me. Go out there and finally start living your life the way you were always meant to. Leave Harrison Wells and everything he ever did to you and Barry behind. And remember I'm not him."

"I know that."

"Then what are you still doing here? Go!"

Eventually, she listened, but she still wouldn't give up on making him go see his daughter. She would also need to work a little bit on convincing Caitlin to do the same. First things first, though. She had a date to go to and it was long overdue.