Karry Universe

Disclaimer: You know this.

Note 1: I know this isn't as long as some of my stories recently, but please remember that Karry Universe is built on fluff pieces and this is very much a fluff piece.

Note 2: Since we won't ever have a 'Runaway Dinosaur' chapter here, this sort of takes its place… you'll see.

Ghost of the Past

Barry sat on the couch smiling as he watched Kara and Krypto at play. The superheroes both had the day off and Barry enjoyed just watching the two Kryptonians have fun. Kara waved a special dog toy around that Krypto went to pull at – normal dog toys broke too easily for Krypto, but Kara had asked Cisco a long time ago to make toys Krypto could play with and Cisco had, at the time, reluctantly agreed. Krypto had never liked Cisco.

That was when there was a knock on the door. Barry jumped over the couch and went to open the door. "Dad!" Barry said with a smile upon seeing his father, and hugged him.

"Henry," Kara said, pushing Krypto off her and standing up. Krypto barked sadly that the playtime had been cut short, so Kara tossed him the toy and the dog went to play on his own. "What brings you to town?" Kara asked as she hugged her father-in-law.

"Tomorrow," Henry said, making Kara raise an eyebrow until she remembered what day tomorrow was.

"Oh," Kara said nodding.

"I'm sorry I didn't call," Henry said noticing Barry's suddenly darkened face. "I needed to talk to you in person about this Barry."

"There's nothing to talk about," Barry said, not meeting his dad's eyes now as his father crossed the threshold and Kara closed the door behind them.

"Yes there is," Henry said. "Tomorrow is the anniversary of your mother's death... It's the first time since I got out that I can actually go and see her burial site – I want to go to the grave and do something to honor her, in her memory, and I want you there with me."

"No," Barry said dismissively. "I'm not going there."

"Barry…." Henry started; even though Barry had done his best efforts to free Henry from prison for so many years, Henry had known that Barry had never once visited his mother's grave since her funeral; he had hoped his release would ease some of that pain and Barry would be willing, but it didn't seem so as he looked at his son, now moving away from him in anger.

"I will not go there," Barry said, Kara feeling his anger and possible guilt within him as he then suddenly took off, leaving the apartment in a flash.

Henry sighed and looked towards Kara. "Maybe you can understand him better than I can," Henry said sadly, knowing of the mental link between the couple. "Joe tells me he never visited Nora's grave. Do you know why?" Kara shook her head, honestly never having brought it up with Barry before. "But you have a mental link… I thought you two knew everything about each other?"

"We can keep some things private," Kara reasoned. "And this has never come up before."

"Really? You've known him for years and you never noticed he never visited her grave. Never wondered why?" Henry asked in bewilderment.

"It never came to my mind, truthfully," Kara said, knowing that on the anniversary of his mother's death, Barry usually went into a mournful wallow, but it never accorded to her about visiting the grave to bring peace. "It's not Kryptonian tradition to bury our dead." Kara explained. "On Krypton there were no graves to visit; even on Earth there was no grave to visit for my family or even Jeremiah Danvers, so I just never gave a thought to it here." Henry nodded in understanding – never having seen it that way for Kara. Of course, he knew Kara was from a different species so assumed there were different traditions but had never had such insight into her life like this before.

"Well… can you talk to him for me?" Henry asked.

"I could right now if you want," Kara said. "He's just running around."

"No," Henry cautioned, not wanting to see a mental conversation he couldn't hear. "Wait until he comes back and blows off some steam. I'm going to go back to my hotel." Kara nodded and smiled at Henry as he left.

-Superflash-

Barry came in rather late to find Kara waiting for him. She turned off the TV as he entered and looked at her husband. "Nice run?" Kara asked coolly, and Barry just nodded. "We need to talk about your mother." Before Barry said anything Kara thought to him: Sit down, now! Barry knew he wasn't getting away from this and sat down next to his wife in irritation now. "Tell me what's going on?" Now asked verbally "Why won't you visit her grave?"

"Because…" Barry started out loud and then thought God, I'm the worst son in the world!

No Barry, that's not true. Not many sons would do what you did for Henry.

"I could go back and save her, but I don't want to because I would lose you and Clark, and Lois, and people I consider family. How can I go to her grave and say I miss you when I put my life ahead of hers?"

"Barry, that not how it works and it doesn't make you a bad son," Kara said reasonably, taking his hands into hers. "Let's forget what that Gideon thing told us about how dangerous time travel was… Let's say you could go back and save her with no consequences and you do lose the life you have. Like you just said, all of us would be strangers. It's not a bad thing to not want to change the past… Sometimes good things come from bad moment. It doesn't make the moment any less sad or mean you miss your mom any less than you do."

"How can you say that?" Barry asked.

Bad things happen to me too Barry, Kara thought to him and Barry was treated with the memory of Krypton exploding along with a taste of how Kara had felt at that moment. "What if Krypton hadn't exploded? Actually what if I could go back in time and give my people the solution to stop it. What would happen then?"

"Well you'd be like 50 years old," Barry said with a small smile now.

"And living on Krypton. I would have never had Alex or Eliza." Barry saw in his head Kara's first meeting with them, how scared Kara had been. "You, Iris or Joe." Barry smiled as their first meeting was shown in his mind from the girl's perspective. "Jason and Ella would have never been born." Barry couldn't help but smile at the memories of his niece and nephew's birth. "Aunt Astra would still be in jail and Karen never made." Barry saw the moment Astra turned on her army and then Karen own creation from Kara's perspective. "Me and Clark wouldn't be Superman or Supergirl. People we saved would be dead. I wouldn't go back in time to save my planet. Doesn't mean I miss it any less."

"Still…"

"I think we need another," Kara said, knowing Barry was about to argue. "What if you never got struck by lightning?" Barry saw in his head himself lying on a hospital bed, felt a glimmer of Kara's fear and sorrow associated with those memories.

"We would have gotten married sooner," Barry answered.

"Your thinking of the good, but it was that moment that forced me into being Supergirl."

"Come on. You would have become Supergirl anyway, eventually," Barry said reasonably.

"Maybe, but not as soon," Kara said. "People I have saved would have died. You would have never been the Flash… We would have never met Cisco or Caitlin, never have taken down Eobard Thawne. We wouldn't have STAR labs." Barry looked down. See, good things come from bad situations. We still have to honor the bad though.

You think I should go.

It up to you, Kara kissed his cheek. But know I will be right beside you if you do go.

Barry had a lot of thinking to do.

-Superflash-

The next day Henry stood at the grave for the first time, staring at the words and the tombstone, talking to the earth and rock as if he was speaking to his wife. It was comforting to have these sort of conversations, he just knowing that wherever Nora was now, she was listening in somehow... "I honestly don't know if he'll come," Henry was saying. "He's a great boy Nora. He has a wonderful wife and a good life. Better than anything we ever imagined for him, in fact…"

"Really?" Henry heard a family voice behind him and turned to see Barry and Kara closing in. Henry smiled and mouthed 'thank you' to Kara as he hugged his son.

"Our boy Nora," Henry said as Barry looked at the gravestone. "Our boy."

"Hi mom." Barry said quietly. He was carrying a small bunch of flowers he remembered were his mother's favorite, picked out by Kara earlier too, and placed them upon the grave, a tear falling down his cheek as he added, "I'm sorry I never came before… I had issues I needed to work through."

"You actually talk to the gravestones?" Kara asked softly. "I thought that was just a TV thing." Barry smiled back to his wife as Henry politely moved to the side to allow Barry full access to the gravesite.

You have a religion – you're more religious than me, don't deny it. I hear you pray. Doesn't Krypton have a tradition of talking to their dead relatives? And I don't mean holograms.

No. Once someone is in Rao's light you do not talk to them until you join them again in Rao light, Kara answered.

That's… that's kind of sad… Barry thought back as Kara raised an eyebrow at this, not understanding the emotional relief talking to a dead relative or friend could do to a person. It was just not Kryptonian tradition.

"Come here," Barry said, holding out his hand and Kara took it, allowing Barry to pull in front of the grave. "My wife, mom. Kara Allen."

"Hi," Kara said, a little unsure what she was doing.

The three spent a few more minutes by the grave as Barry 'told' his mom about some aspects of his life, about freeing Henry and the reason behind her murder, when they parted Kara voiced a sudden concern. "I got to get to the labs… Why don't you two have some father-son time and I'll make reservation for us for dinner later. Somewhere nice to celebrate Nora's life. We'll bring Joe. I know he would like to do something for it."

"Sounds nice," Henry said. "But nowhere too expensive, please."

"No need to worry about money," Kara said coyly now, looking around to make sure no one was nearby. "We got it covered." Before Henry could respond Kara had given her father-in-law a little wink and was gone. Barry laughed as he put a hand around his father's neck in a little hug.

"Seriously, nowhere to fancy," Henry said reassuringly knowing Barry could tell his wife that through the link.

"It is really no problem," Barry said. "But I'll make sure Kara keeps it reasonable." Henry nodded, relieved. "Did you bring something nice to wear though?" Henry shook his head. "We might have to go shopping." Henry sighed and then chuckled as he brought Barry to his car and the two left.

Post Chapter: Like I said, not a long chapter, but it wasn't supposed to be long. It was supposed to be cute. I hope I accomplished that. Definitely a longer chapter next time though!

Please REVIEW

Legends of Today (NOT a rewrite of the Arrow/Flash crossover):-

Maxwell Lord has finally started showing his true colors – releasing something dangerous and destructive upon the city with a one-track mind to kill Kara. As usual, it's up to the heroes to stop it and discover what exactly this thing is and why it was released...

Karry Master OUT!