Do you feel safe?
Out in the light
Or is this the place
Where monsters hide?
You're not such an easy target
One minute I know you then I don't
I know you then I don't
You're not such an easy target
One minute I know you then I don't
I know you then I don't
Hello, who are you?
Hello, who are you?
Who Are You, SVRCINA

After her horrible nightmare and the reaction she had to it, Rachel decided not to bring it up again, push it to the dark recesses of her mind and to just enjoy her life for now. Because truly, there was nothing at the moment that they should be worried about with Barry back and the Speedforce calm. Reverse Flash, Zoom, Savitar… they were all gone as well. And they needed to move forward, live their lives and keep protecting the city from criminal metahumans that were still bound to come.

"So, how far are you? When do I get to read the sequel?" Barry was just asking Rachel as they were leaving the Jitters with coffees for the entire team. They'd had an amazing morning, waking up together for the first time and deciding to grab breakfast at their favourite coffee shop. None of them mentioned what happened during the night, both of them just wanting to move on after their conversation and do their best as not to worry about something – like Barry had said – that might not even happen.

"I still have a few chapters to go," she informed. "My publisher's already very excited, though. He thinks it's going to be huge after the success of the first part."

"I have no doubt in my mind," Barry assured her with a huge and happy smile on his face and she couldn't help but reciprocate it, letting the happiness just fill her in. Right now life was good. In fact, it was better than good as everything was back on track and they even managed to get Caitlin back, though they still needed to talk to her seriously about what happened to her and her evil alter ego.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" someone just squealed in panic and they came to a stop, making sure the coffees they were carrying were still intact.

They were facing a young red-headed girl who clearly almost bumped into them when trying to get inside the Jitters.

"I'm sorry!" she repeated, clearly embarrassed. "I swear I can be so clumsy sometimes…"

"Don't worry about it," Barry assured her with the same never-fading smile on his face. "It's all good! Have a good one!"

"Oh, I will!" she told him, smiled brightly at them again, taking her time to look at both their faces and then she finally walked around them and disappeared inside the coffee shop.

"I knew it!" Cisco clapped his hands when Barry and Rachel surprised him, Caitlin and Harry with their favourite Jitters coffee in the morning. "You, guys, are having quite the happy morning after, aren't you?! You're a couple now!"

"Thank you for being so descriptive about it, Ramon," Harry grumbled, grabbing his coffee and drinking it immediately, scolding hot and black, just the way he loved it, always informing that desecrating said liquor with milk or sugar was a sacrilege.

Caitlin rolled her eyes at him and thanked for her own mocca.

"It was about time," she commented when sending both Rachel's and Barry's way a smile. "I was really rooting for you, guys."

"What about you?" Rachel wanted to know, sipping on her own vanilla latte. "Do you want to tell us something, Caitlin?"

The woman hesitated, taking her time to enjoy her coffee and postponing the inevitable.

"The cure didn't work all the way," she eventually informed. "I'm mostly… me, but…" she took a deep breath, "sometimes when I get angry or scared… I… I'm her."

There was silence in the cortex as they were processing that information.

"She's not going full on evil Killer Frost anymore. I don't think she ever truly hurt anyone, maybe just gave a mild frostbite to guys who hit on her… but… well, this is my new reality and I was trying to still find a way to get rid of her. That is why I haven't reached out to you, guys."

"And when doing things like that on your own ever worked?" Cisco simply asked. "Caitlin, we're your family. We're here for you and we want to help you."

"I don't think that's really possible. I think I need to learn to live with this and to control it. For the same reason I can't talk to Jesse. I cannot risk accidentally hurting her just because I got angry due to a silly fight or something."

Rachel risked a glance at Harry at the other side of the cortex, but he seemed to be completely unmoved, just working on his computer.

"Does this… does this mean the cure for Rachel also didn't work all the way?" Barry suddenly asked and everyone, including the lonely man in the corner, looked at him now.

"Why would you think so?" Cisco wanted to know. "Do you… do you still…?" he hinted when turning to the woman in question.

"No. I'm completely cured," she assured them. "I had…" she sighed before she finished, "I had a nightmare last night… but it was nothing more than that, I promise," she turned to Barry for the last part. "It was just a bad dream. My visions are gone."

"But there must be a reason to why the cure worked so well on you, but not on…" Cisco started again.

"Well, those were two different cures," Harry provided with. "Not one and the same. We could've made a mistake somewhere. I'm going to check up on it."

"Harry, you don't need to…" Caitlin started, but he simply shrugged and told them he had nothing better to do anyways.

"Do you think we should be worried about him?" she then asked the rest of the team.

"I've recently been doing that a lot, actually," Rachel told her. "Jesse's not speaking to him, blaming him for not letting her get to you on time," she then provided an explanation. "I keep telling him he should reach out to her, mend fences, but he's stubborn as fuck."

"Well, that's Harry," Cisco confirmed. "But I'm sure he'll get there. He just needs more time like a certain someone…" He shot Caitlin a look.

"Cisco, I told you the reason."

"Yes, but don't you think she at least deserves to know you're more or less ok?"

"It's my decision what to do and when about Jesse."

"Fine!" Cisco raised his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I still think it's a stupid one! Rachel and Barry are finally happy and me and Gypsy - we're doing great. You should give yourself a chance as well… By the way, before Gypsy gets here for our date… I made some improvements to your suit, Barry…"

The next few weeks brought not only one new meta – who'd actually gotten his powers recently and not in the original particle accelerator explosion – but two.

The team was confused for quite some time, trying to figure out what could trigger this and eventually, it was Harry who traced the dark matter to the exact spot where Barry said he'd come out of the Speedforce. Once again, it was their fault that new people ended up with abilities and they hadn't exactly turned good so far.

Currently they were dealing with a woman who could turn everyone's fortune to her own advantage and as a result she was the one with extreme luck and everyone else was not.

"Do you think Rachel's avoiding me?" Barry asked Caitlin that very day, a bit put off by the behaviour of his girlfriend. The night before she hadn't said anything and just headed to her own place despite them so far spending nights together. It wasn't that he didn't want to let her go and allow her for a lonely night if she clearly needed rest, but the fact that she hadn't said anything and seemed somehow absent in her head, bothered him.

"Um… I heard her talking to her publisher on the phone earlier and she didn't look all that happy," Cait replied. "It's probably that. Barry, I would never think she's having second thoughts about being with you or anything like that."

"Her publisher?" He frowned. "But she always tells me stuff like that… I'm sure her next book is just as amazing as those before and…"

"Why don't you just ask her?" Caitlin suggested, a bit exasperated by being asked for romantic advices.

"Well… I kind of don't want to do this till we have the case with Becky solved. I don't want to push my luck... I'm afraid we're going to have a fight just because we've been having so much…"

"As I said before, this meta is out of reach right now, therefore we cannot have…" Harry started just then and was forced to stop immediately as an alarm sounded, indicating that the particle accelerator turned on…

"You were saying?!" Cisco screamed when running into the cortex.

With Becky Sharpe tucked away in meta prison, Barry still waited a little bit, but as Rachel hadn't sought his company out on her own, he took a deep breath and went for a search for her, praying that they were, indeed, alright. He could only hope they hadn't happened too fast and in the spur of the moment and now she wasn't having doubts.

He found her in one of the smaller labs, having just hung up the phone.

"Rachel?" he asked tentatively. "Can we talk? Is everything ok with you?" He walked inside and closed the door behind himself when he didn't hear any word of protest. Still, he felt rather awkward, not knowing where they stood and what had happened to cause this weird breach between them. "Tell me if I'm wrong, but… I have the feeling you've been avoiding me recently. Was it because of Becky? Did something happen?"

She looked at him and then she just started with, "Barry, I'm sorry… I…"

"So I haven't been imagining things." He nodded, suddenly feeling sick to his stomach. She was the one person he couldn't lose. Not after everything that already happened, not after he'd already lost so many of the people he loved.

"No, you haven't, but it's nothing that would threaten our relationship. I promise," she assured him quickly and at least this loosened the tight knot that had begun forming in his stomach. "And it probably really was because of Becky… My publisher, he didn't like my manuscript."

"What?! But how could he? I'm sure it's amazing!" Barry couldn't be more surprised.

"Well, apparently he didn't expect the story to take this particular turn." Rachel shrugged. "But it's solved now. He changed his mind. He just apologized to me and said that he had a bad day and thought it was too much of a happy ending, but then his wife, who's a crazy fan of mine, sneak read it and she loved it. She reminded him how they fell in love. It softened him, so he said even though he didn't expect this, he wants to publish it because the fans will love it too."

"That's amazing!" Barry got excited when coming closer to her.

"Yes." She nodded and then bit on her lip.

"Why do I get the feeling that this isn't all you want to tell me?"

"Because it's true. Can we sit?" she suggested, pointing the two chairs in the lab, each on opposite sides of a desk. He grabbed the further one and pulled it closer.

"You just said that we…"

"We are perfect, Barry," she repeated, reaching for his hand briefly and giving it a little squeeze. "I love you. That will never change."

"Then what is it?"

"I…" she took a deep breath, "I was afraid I was… pregnant," she confessed and it completely stupefied him. He froze there in shock for a moment while she continued. "Don't worry. I'm not. I felt sick because of some bad food I ate and I was late… Well, that was probably just stress. It's all good now."

Barry was still silent, not really knowing how to handle his thoughts and emotions before finally asking, "But… but why would you think being pregnant is bad luck? Because that's what you mean, right? That we dealt with this meta and we all had a wave of bad luck."

It took her a few more seconds to speak, "Barry, I love you, but even if we ever consider having a child… I just can't have it right now. I don't want to. It'd be a disaster. I want to enjoy this," she pointed him and then herself, "with you. We have literally just gotten together. Besides, I don't even know if I want to have kids. The idea terrifies me when I think of how my body would change and…" she stopped for a while to take a deep breath.

"Rachel, you can tell me anything," he encouraged even though he didn't really know how to handle this conversation. She was probably right. Her getting pregnant now would, indeed, be a disaster.

"Not this," she disagreed.

"If we don't have trust…" he started very slowly, afraid to really start a fight now.

"I never planned on having children with Harrison, ok?" she finally got it out and it effectively shut him down. "We simply didn't want to. We were happy to have our life the way it was. Him having S.T.A.R. Labs and science and me writing."

"Um…" Barry grunted and then followed with, "you guys… went so far… as to… to discuss…"

"Well, yes," she admitted, avoiding looking at him and now just talking to a wall. "We practically lived together. We were planning our future together. He was serious about it, about me… that's why…" She briefly closed her eyes and then shook her head as though fighting the pain that was threatening to suffocate her again. "The accident… well, fake accident, clearly… it put a wedge between us and no wonder since the explosion created you and he was too busy to tend to our relationship like before… Then again, nothing really changed between us. Our plans didn't change either."

"I just hate him," Barry said, clenching his fists. "I hate him so much for…" he stopped and then sighed heavily. "I'm sorry… I know I have no right…"

"It's ok. I get it. I understand. I hate him too for doing this to me; to… us, but once upon a time things weren't like this. Once things were real to me. Before I found out it was all a lie."

"I wish I could just erase it all. I wish I could prevent him from ever going back in time to try to kill me as a child… I wish we could know what our lives were originally like."

She nodded.

"But you can't," she then said. "Because you know the consequences. Like in Flashpoint."

"Yes," he agreed.

"The important part is that we've eventually found each other." She reached out to touch his hand. "We're together now."

Barry nodded and managed to smile at her before reaching for her and kissing her.

"And I could do this quite a lot."

"Oh, yes… and more," she agreed, smiling and returning the fervour.

In that moment Cisco's voice sounded in the comms.

"Oh, damn it," Barry complained and she giggled. "Need to see what he wants now."

It turned out they found an 'I owe you' business card in the pocket of the bus driver that had been affected by the dark matter when Barry had come out of the Speedforce and it belonged to one Ralph Dibny. It prompted a very strong reaction from Barry and Rachel understood why when he explained who this man exactly was.

She needed to leave for an official meeting with her publisher, but when she came back, she was met with a certain predicament this Dibny guy was currently in.

"Oh my god! Oh my god!" He pointed a finger at her as soon as he saw her. "It's you! Man, I love your books!"

"You read…?" Barry asked, actually surprised.

"Give me a little credit here, man, ok? Now, why is this amazing and such beautiful writer here?"

"Because she's my girlfriend," Barry simply explained, his expression not really happy with all the interest Rachel was getting.

"Oh, come on! Everything's coming up Allen!" Ralph immediately complained and Rachel chose that moment to leave, so far not very keen on his presence and no wonder since Barry disliked him so much. Barry never really hated people unless he had a valid reason.

A little bit later though, she did walk in on Barry and Caitlin having a heated conversation, even bordering on arguing about Ralph. Caitlin believed everyone deserved a second chance, especially after their life was so drastically changed with powers they never asked for and Barry insisted people didn't change.

"I did," she disagreed. "And Killer Frost did. Why can't you just give him a chance to do better? Maybe in the end he'll surprise you."

"Well, technically you lose nothing by it," Rachel backed her friend up. "I understand, Barry, believe me, I really do, but you're always the one taking chances on metas we meet. Maybe you should give one to Ralph. If he doesn't deserve it, he'll prove it to you. Believing in people, after all, has always been your strong suit."

Barry eventually nodded and then sighed. "Ok," he agreed. "One chance."

So far Ralph did a pretty good job at proving to Barry that he was, indeed, worth taking a chance on and being trained. He made a few silly mistakes, but also learnt fast. What bothered the latter now was the name that had come from Dibny's mouth when asked about the client thanks to whom their paths crossed – DeVoe.

As Barry remembered, Abda Kedavra had named DeVoe as one of his strongest opponents and it couldn't be a coincidence. Someone sent that Samuroid and after taking a closer look, it seemed like the same someone orchestrated the bus full of new metas and Barry coming out of the Speedforce right next to it. Now, while Barry was training Ralph, Harry with the help of his new 'friends' - who turned out to be his own doppelgangers spread throughout the multiverse - tried to find the right DeVoe that fitted the profile the most.

In the end, they pinpointed one Clifford DeVoe and immediately paid him a visit only to…

"He's in a wheelchair?" Rachel frowned when listening to Barry and Joe telling them all about it. "You mean, he could be an evil mastermind like… Thawne?"

"Or just a nice guy, fighting for his life ever since he was diagnosed with MS," Cisco suggested. "Barry, beside the Council of Wells indicating him, we got nothing so far. He's a college professor and he couldn't be more clean. Besides, he's happily married to a lovely Mrs. DeVoe…"

"...and he has a picture of a Samurai in his living room!" Barry argued.

"Many people appreciate Japanese culture," Joe provided with.

"No, it cannot just be a coincidence! There's something fishy about this guy and we need to find out what!"

"We really want to help you, but so far, we got nothing."

"What if I got you a DNA sample?" Barry suggested.

"Barry, how would you even… Barry?!"

"I cannot believe you went to talk to him again," Cait murmured under her breath when analyzing the cup Barry stole from the professor.

"Attending his lecture and then talking to him afterwards isn't a crime."

"There's nothing," the doctor provided with the info almost immediately. "Clifford DeVoe isn't a meta."

"But that doesn't really prove anything, does it?"

"Barry, dude's in a wheelchair and he has no metahuman gene. How is he supposed to execute his evil plans? While eating delicious mac'nd cheese? Because that's exactly what I vibed from the cup," Cisco added. "We got the wrong guy."

"No, no, we don't! And I'm going to prove it!"

"Barry!" both Caitlin and Cisco yelled after him, but then only sighed when he left.

"Everything ok?" Rachel asked on entering the cortex. "What's got you so rattled?"

"You really don't think Barry's a bit… obsessed with Clifford DeVoe being the big bad?" Cisco made sure. "Because we got nothing. Absolutely nothing."

"But it's like this guy is almost too clean, isn't it?" Rachel hinted and they both looked at her in surprise. "He's leading a perfect life – well, except the being terminally ill part – with his beautiful young wife and he just happens to be picked up by the Council of Wells? And to have a picture of Samurai in his living room?"

"It could all be a coincidence," Caitlin still tired to argue.

"Not in our world, it cannot be," Rachel disagreed, shaking her head. "I trust Barry's hunch. I also trust Harrison Wells and there are four of them now telling you that this is the guy."

"Or maybe we should check the one who scored second best?" Cisco provided, but then his phone rang. "Why would Joe be calling me?"

"You broke into his home?!" The team was very angry with Barry at this point when facing him in the cortex, shocked that he got himself suspended from work for two weeks and even had a restraining order now.

"Yes," Barry admitted. "I did. And they had me on a hidden camera in their house. Who has a hidden camera?"

"People afraid of burglars?" Cisco suggested.

"On the inside of their homes?" Barry asked him. "Come on! Besides, I confronted him again afterwards and he admitted he knows I'm the Flash."

"Wait… you did WHAT?!" Cisco erupted whereas everyone else was just staring at Barry.

"Clifford DeVoe is the right guy. He's been moving us like chess pieces ever since I came out of the Speedforce," Barry informed them. "He planted a camera in the Samuroid's head and has been watching us this whole time. He comes up with the plans and his wife, she executes them. She's some kind of a mechanical genius! He was affected by the particle accelerator explosion, he admitted it to me himself. It made him supersmart."

"Wait… that is why his body's failing," Harry picked up on that. "His superpowered brain takes too much energy."

"Exactly."

"Then what is keeping him alive? Shouldn't simple… waiting for him to die be enough?" Cisco asked with a frown.

"No. He has inhuman intelligence," Barry spoke again. "So I'm sure he has a plan for that as well."

It didn't take Cisco long to put a name on the blackboard – the Thinker.

"What are we going to do now?" Rachel asked Barry when coming over to him and placing her hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know. I guess we will try and get ahead of him, which will be extremely hard, considering who we're dealing with."

"Maybe not," Harry murmured. "He's not the only one who's smart."

"It meant a lot to me what you did…" Barry hinted when both he and Rachel arrived at her place. "Sticking by my side even though I did sound crazy there for a moment…"

"No, not really." She shook her head when turning to face him, her hands resting in the crooks of his arms. "Thawne betrayed us in the worst way possible and it was so hard to believe he could, so hard to prove anything… I believed you, because I knew you must be right. Yes, we've been burned and severely by the Reverse Flash, Zoom, even Caitlin there for a moment… but that doesn't mean we're immediately overreacting about everything. I believed you, because I know you're not crazy and you're not throwing accusations around. You're always the one who firmly believes in innocent unless proven guilty, taking your situation with Ralph in the past and even your father's case into account; so if you say it's this DeVoe, then it is."

"I love you, you know that?" Barry smiled at her and then pulled her closer to kiss her.

"Oh, yes, I do, but I might need a little reminder… you know… like a physical proof," she teased and he chuckled against her lips before pulling her towards the bedroom.

Unbeknownst to everyone, the Reverse Flash arrived at the city line, a flying silhouette hovering just above him and eventually, the Dark Arrow joined them.

"Now, let's dance," Eobard said.