Sorry it's a little later than usual, but here we go. The next episode in our favourite couple's lives. Thank you everyone who's expressed their interest in the story. I'll take them all no matter your reasons. Special thanks to my co-authors Brightburn1985 and Bartholomew Henry Allen.

Disclaimer: The Flash is not mine.

There was arguing in the Cortex, and this time, it wasn't just between Barry and Caitlin.

"What are we going to do about this Jay guy?" Cisco asked.

"We talk with him, figure out what he's doing here, but he stays in the Pipeline," Barry ordered.

"You know, besides trespassing into STAR Labs, the guy hasn't done anything wrong," Iris pointed out.

"That person knows who we are. And he claims that he was The Flash. That there is this 'Zoom' character out to get me through these space rifts all over Central City. The man is clearly insane," Barry said.

"Not necessarily Mr. Allen," Stein interrupted him. "Mr. Garrick has claimed that he has come from an alternate Earth, where he was The Flash,"

"Hold on. You lost me," Joe said, trying to wrap his head around a whole other Earth. "What do you mean 'alternate Earth'?"

"I will try to explain," Stein said, grabbing a marker and getting a white board. "This right here is us. Let's call it Earth-1," Stein created a circle and wrote E1 in it. "This is where Mr. Garrick claims to be, let's call it Earth-2," Stein created another circle beside the original and labelled it E2.

"Here, history might be similar, but vastly different to the one we know. For instance, here Joe, you are a detective. But Joe West of Earth-2 might have a different profession. Perhaps an electrician," Stein tried to explain while creating multiple other circles. "The possibilities are endless with infinite Earths, each holding different people who have led different lives or lived them out in different ways,"

"So I'm guessing all these people from these Earths, they all have jobs that they need to afford food and such," Joe was just trying to relate to these other people that were not existent here.

"I would assume so," Stein agreed. That may not be the case on some Earths, but it would stand to reason to remain consistent on a majority of them.

"Good, at least we got that in common," Joe was just going to have to accept that this was his life now.

"Yeah, but how can we be sure that he's telling the truth? Can you somehow do a lie detector test on him, Cait? Just to make sure that he is telling the truth." Barry looked at the ice witch, hoping that she would do what he said.

"I don't take orders from you Fleet Feet. If I'm just a run of the mill doctor, then surely you can do it yourself," Caitlin yelled at him.

"Please Ms. Frosty, this once there cannot be room to argue. There is a man in lockup in our facility that we need to verify whether he is telling the truth or not. We can't do that if we're forced to never let him out," Barry pointed out.

"So you think just because I'm a pretty face that this man is going to reveal his whole plan about being a deceitful, lying bastard that's out to get you?" Caitlin told him her opinion on the matter.

"No! It's not that at all! I didn't ask you to do it because I was hoping you would seduce him, I asked because I know you can talk to him. I don't expect you to take orders from me since I'm the reason that Ronnie died but if there is any amount of respect you have for me, you will do this for me." Barry tried to convince the ice meta while he slowly and cautiously approached her.

Caitlin mulled it over in the few seconds it took for Barry to reach her before she pushed him to the side, making her way to the Pipeline. "Just to be clear, I'm only doing this because I respect The Flash and everything he's done for the city. Not Barry Allen,"

With that, she went down to retrieve the suspected man from his prison to lead him to the med bay where she could perform a checkup and secretly perform the lie detector test.

Caitlin had placed several wires on Jay. Some were meant to be medical, but a few tiny ones were monitoring his heart beat and sweat glands as a form of lie detection.

Knowing she had to start with something he would never lie about, she said his name. "So Jay,"

"Huh?" he responded immediately. His heart rate was a little raised, but considering he used to be a speedster, it wasn't that surprising.

"You said you were The Flash from your world. How did you get your powers?" Caitlin asked innocently with a small smile.

"Well I was working in my lab one night, trying to purify heavy rain water from its contaminants, when a lightning bolt struck me, and next thing I knew I could run faster than the speed of sound," Jay easily answered.

His heart rate remained consistent, but one thing stuck out that he said. "Lab? Are you a scientist?" Caitlin asked, now heavily intrigued by this man.

"Well, part-time physicist, part-time superhero," Jay let out a light chuckle. "Well guess I can drop the superhero part,"

Caitlin soon found herself engaging in this man rapidly. There was so much she felt that she could just talk about with him. Now came the physical tests.

"I need you to take off your shirt," Caitlin bluntly stated.

When Jay just stared at her in mild shock, Caitlin was quick to correct herself. "I mean, I need to attach more wires to you so we can measure your physical abilities on the treadmill,"

Jay just smiled at her, finding her rushed speaking and embarrassment extremely cute. "I will gladly comply,"

Jay shrugged off the shirt he was currently wearing, revealing his chest to Caitlin which she just could not take her eyes off. She mentally slapped herself. She was a professional, and Barry had given her a job to do, but looking at the results, everything he said remained consistent, so either he is very good at lying, or he is being truthful.

When Jay was lightly jogging on the treadmill, Caitlin was looking over the results that were given to her. Everything looked perfectly healthy for an adult male, but that was the problem right there.

Iris soon walked up to her, wanting to check how things were doing. "So, how is everything?" Iris asked.

"Jay seems to have no trace of the Speed Force in his system, but his overall vitals are in good condition," Caitlin informed her, but her eyes stayed glued on the man behind the glass.

"But nowhere near Barry's levels," Iris stated the problem in Jay's story.

"No, but he is certainly above the average male," Caitlin hungrily eyed the shirtless man who was sweating profusely.

"In more ways than one," Iris eyed Caitlin suspiciously.

"Oh? I didn't notice," Caitlin teared her eyes away and started typing something into the computer.

Iris looked between Caitlin and the suspicious man before coming to a conclusion that angered her to her very being.

"Behind my brother's back?" Iris shouted at her.

"What are you talking about?" Caitlin asked, confused at what Iris was getting at.

"You, and this Jay guy," Iris pointed at the two. "That isn't supposed to happen. You are Barry are supposed to fall in love and get married and give me a couple nieces and nephews,"

"You are looking way too far into the future," Caitlin waved her off.

"So you admit it's going to happen," Iris stated, confidently.

"No, Barry and I are never going to happen. I don't know why everyone thinks we are, but we aren't," Caitlin firmly stated. "Let me make this clear, Barry Allen is the most arrogant, self-righteous man that believes he is the answer to the whole entire universe. The day I even consider being romantically attracted to him, is right next to the month of 'Never Going to Happen,' and the week before 'Pigs Fly,'"

"You know, I just wish you could see how my brother looks and talks with you differently than anyone else. He looks at you like you're his whole world. I just wish you could see it with your own eyes before you miss it in a flash. And trust me, when you finally notice these things on your own and he moves onto a different girl, you will regret not seeing it sooner." Iris said to the bioengineer before walking away.

Caitlin had no idea what that was all about. Shrugging her shoulders, she went back to work.

During the night, Barry was responding to a fire alarm at an old warehouse. The firefighters were already on the scene, but the flames were so large, Barry went in to deal with it himself.

It took a couple more seconds than he was used to, due to the massive amount of flames, but eventually he managed to quell the fire.

Taking a few deep breaths, Barry readied himself to make his exit when he thought he saw something moving from the corner of his eyes.

Approaching where he thought he saw movement, he started hearing something that sounded like sand scraping against the concrete floor.

"Well lookie what I got here," a voice sounded behind him. "The Flash,"

Turning around, Barry saw a man that he swears wasn't there before. He had no idea the man was even there. Bracing himself, Barry prepared for a fight. He had no idea who this man was, but considering the circumstances, he probably wasn't up to any good.

"I've been looking for you. Zoom sent me," the man said.

Immediately, Barry is brought back to the night they confronted Atom Smasher, and as he was laying there, he said something similar. That Zoom was going to get him.

"Who is Zoom?" Barry demanded.

"You're not going to live long enough to find out," the man said. He pulled back his fist, as if he were preparing for a punch despite being several feet apart from each other. When he launched his fist forward, something strange happened. His entire arm seemed to transform and take on a beige hue. The fist extended forward and managed to strike a blow against him.

So this man was a meta, and had the ability to stretch himself apparently. Not giving a moment of rest, Barry pushed himself forward, trying to keep the meta off balance, but then the man disassembled himself into what appeared to be grains of sand. He literally slipped through Barry's fingers.

Barry couldn't get a grip on the guy, and he didn't know what he was supposed to do against someone who could slip out of his grasp with ease. He'd always had someone solid he could take down.

Despite that, Barry tried to keep the meta as contained as possible while he came up with a plan. Barry began to circle the perimeter of the room, the wind he was kicking up was managing to keep the unknown meta from escaping, but unfortunately that also left Barry vulnerable to an attack.

Barry didn't know how, but he was somehow able to keep track of Barry's movements, and landed a solid hit against him. Barry was sent flying into a wall where he collapsed from the exhaustion and pain.

The man was stalking towards him, but a silent cracking could be heard that made the man pause. Lifting up his hand to see, his skin appeared to be breaking. "Looks like you're in luck, pal. I'm running out of time, but next time we meet will be different," he said before he escaped, transforming himself into millions of grains of sand.

Seeing him leave, Barry let out a breath of relief. He didn't know what happened, but he just knew if given a little more time, he may have died. He caught his breath and ran out of there as soon as he could.

In the morning, he was called to the crime scene from last night. When he got there, he recognized all of the faces in there except from one person. A blonde girl standing next to Joe.

"Detective West, I want to show you something. I believe that what I found is the cause of the fire." The blonde girl said to the detective.

"Detective Spivot, what brings you here?" Joe asked, clearly already having been introduced to the new detective.

"Well, active crime scene," Spivot gestured behind her with a smile on her face. Her smile was so contagious that Barry couldn't help but smile along. "Just doing my job. Anyway, come with me,"

"Who is that?" Barry whispered to Joe about the woman they are currently following, his eyes never leaving her.

"Detective Patty Spivot," Joe answered. "I met her when she asked to join the metahuman police department,"

"What did you say?" Barry asked in curiosity. Perhaps he would be seeing more of her if she became Joe's new partner.

"I said no," Joe left it at that as they continued to follow the woman.

They were led to a backroom where a wire was cut and the ends were covered in what appeared to be sand. Barry immediately set to work, trying to see if he could get some prints off. Maybe they could find out who that person was.

"I was already able to pull off some partial prints off it, and look at this," Patty pointed to the end of the wire as she handed some files with the fingerprints to Joe. "It looks like this was cut by some type of heavy sandblaster."

Taking a quick glance, Barry was actually surprised at how quick she was able to gather all this information in such a short amount of time. "Wow, that's great. Thank you. You should've become a CSI," Barry jokingly says. "I'm Barry-"

"-Barry Allen," Patty cuts in. "I know. I've read all of your reports,"

"Wow. I don't think I have even read all of them," Barry says in disbelief that someone actually took the time to read something that even bores him sometimes.

"The amount of detail you provide is so illuminating. It's as if you were there yourself when someone was being gruesomely murdered," Patty exclaimed in excitement.

Patty quickly caught herself when she heard what she actually said. "Not that you actually did have any part in the murders. I mean…" Patty tilted her head down in embarrassment. "I'll just leave you two to it," She then promptly left the room to join the others outside.

Barry chuckled at her. He found her demeanor extremely cute, the fact she could get flustered so easily. She just seemed so happy that it made him happy as well.

Joe just looked between Barry and the direction Patty left as Barry was still stuck on staring at the exit with a goofy expression, even though she'd already disappeared from sight. Letting out a groan, he realized what was going on.

"Did you say something Joe?" Barry asked as he heard something coming from Joe, but couldn't make out what.

"Forget about it Barry. Just get back to work, I should get these processed down at the station," Joe gestured to the files in his hands.

"I'll meet you there. I just want to double check everything," Barry said before he got back to examining the rest of the room. There could be something else in this room to indicate who their meta was. At the very least, it was the source of the massive fire last night. It needed a thorough sweeping.

Getting into his car, Joe pulled out his phone to call Iris. He was just exiting the parking lot when Iris finally answered. "Dad?" she questioned.

"Hey baby, there's something I need to tell you." Joe said.

"Tell me about it. Everything is not going how it was supposed to between Barry and Caitlin," Iris complained into the phone.

"You already know?" Joe asked, confused. How could she already know Barry was interested in someone else after just meeting this new woman a few minutes ago.

"Of course I know. How do you know?" Iris asked.

"Barry and I just talked to this new detective on the force and Barry seemed quite taken by her," Joe informed his daughter.

"What? No! Caitlin's gone and developed a crush on our house guest, Jay," Iris said bitterly to him.

"Listen sweetie, I know you wanted them together, but they're both mature adults. They're allowed to make their own decisions in their lives and if they choose to go after other people, then it's their choice," Joe said.

"But they're not supposed to be with other people. They are meant to be together. The future says so. I want my nieces and nephews," Iris whined.

"Iris, honey, if they're meant to be together, then they will. You just need to have faith that everything will turn out alright in the end. Be patient, they've been dense enough to not be aware of being in love this long. Sooner or later, they'll come to the conclusion themselves. One of them needs to make the first move," Joe tried comforting his little girl.

"Well it better be sooner, because I cannot stand them not being together any longer. I need to live vicariously through them," Iris complained.

"What's up with you? Did Caitlin give you another one of her speedster concoctions?" Cisco asked, seeing the goofy smile on the speedster's face.

"If you must know, I met a really cute girl earlier at a crime scene. Her name is Patty Spivot and she is Joe's new potential partner." Barry replied, making Caitlin snap her head towards his direction.

For a moment, Caitlin thought back to what Iris said to her earlier but quickly dismissed it. She is not Barry's girlfriend and never will be. She has no reasons to be feeling anything if Barry was to get himself a girlfriend.

"Oh," Cisco says, shocked. He thought that if Barry were to ever go for someone, it would always be Caitlin. The two were practically married since day one. Cisco silently cursed the two for their obliviousness of their feelings. Why did they have to be so frustratingly dense?

"I'm actually thinking about asking her out," Barry said, looking directly at Caitlin.

Caitlin noticed his intense gaze on her and started to get defensive due to her confusion. Both on the situation and this uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Why are you looking at me like that? If you want to go out with some random woman you just met, by all means. I'm not stopping you Fleet Feet,"

Barry just rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Forget it. I don't know what I expected from you Ms. Frosty, but I'm obviously just going to be disappointed,"

"Well, if you want me to say something, how about this? I'm thinking about asking Jay out to dinner?" Caitlin said.

"Seriously?!" Cisco shouted, raising his chin towards the ceiling as if praying for an answer.

"What the hell are you doing Caitlin?" Barry yelled at her.

"Excuse me?" Caitlin asked, offended.

"That man is nothing but trouble. Since the moment he's gotten here, everything he's said could be a lie. We can't trust him," Barry pointed out.

"Maybe you can't trust him, but not all of us are you." Caitlin glared at him. "Maybe you can't see past your own mental problems, but not everyone is going to be a Reverse Flash. There are good people out there, and I trust Jay,"

"We don't even know if that's his actual name!" Barry argued, waving his hands in anger.

"You know, I did that lie detector test you asked of me, and all the results came back positive. Everything he's said to us has been the truth," Caitlin yelled at him.

"Those things aren't reliable. He could just be speeding up his heartbeat to make it seem like he's being truthful," Barry grumbled at her.

"Then why did you ask me to do it? There's no way he could be controlling his heartbeat. There's no trace amounts of Speed Force energy at all in his system." Caitlin informed him. "Why can't you just trust him?"

"Trust him? Like you trusted me?" Barry gestured to himself. "You are such a hypocrite Cait. You're willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but you couldn't for me?"

"I was, until I learned what an egotistical asshole you were," Caitlin shouted.

"Well, lucky for me I figured out what a vicious, crazy bitch you are," Barry snapped at her.

"Children! Please! I thought we had already forgiven each other on bad first impressions," Cisco shouted at the two. Sometimes they just got on his nerves. There were days where they could actually seem like friends. Then there were days where they got angry at each other for absolutely no reason. Why was he cursed with such a burden of being their friend?

"He/She started it!" they both yelled at the same time.

"Ms. Frosty, you cannot date him. He is a menace," Barry boldly stated.

"You don't control me Fleet Feet. I can go out with whomever I choose, and perhaps you're too blinded by your issues to see that not everything is about you," Caitlin countered.

The two had a stare off with each other for what seemed like hours, but was actually more like 20 seconds. Their attention was diverted when Barry's phone alerted them of a notification.

Peering down, Barry took a quick glance at the screen. "It's Joe. They found whose prints we got from the crime scene and they brought him to holding. I need to get over there,"

"That's right, walk away Fleet Feet," Caitlin called out to him.

"This conversation isn't over Ms. Frosty," Barry shouted before running to CCPD.

"So, thanks for all your help the other day. Without you, I don't know how long it would have taken to find the room and get the prints off the cable," Barry thanked Patty as Joe was interviewing their suspect.

"It was no problem, but if you could just give me some advice, I would greatly appreciate it," Patty asked of him.

"Of course. Ask me anything. I'm an open book," Barry smiled at her.

"Joe. I requested to be part of his metahuman task force and he just shot me down without giving me a reason. If you could help me out with convincing him…" Patty trailed off.

Barry just laughed at the thought of actually being able to read the behaviour of Joe West. "I have been trying to crack that code since I was 11 and I'm still no closer than the day I started,"

"Well, that's a shame," Patty said, disappointed but she didn't let it show. She kept her ever present smile on her face, which just made Barry smile all the more.

"I'm sorry if he was too hard on you," Barry apologized on Joe's behalf.

"Oh don't apologize. But he does kinda remind me of the permission Sphinx. Or like a magic 8 ball with just one answer." Patty just laughs it off in a good gesture.

Barry laughed as well. He could relate to that in many ways. He couldn't keep track of the amount of times Joe had denied him something he'd been longing for. The primary example being denying him the right to see his father after he was incarcerated. But he later learned Joe was acting on his father's behalf. That his father didn't want Barry to see him in chains, treated as nothing but a man who murdered his wife, even though they both knew the truth.

"Or like, you know, the Bridgekeeper protecting the Holy Grail," Patty continues to list pop culture references relating to Joe's current behaviour.

"What is your quest?" Barry says in a fake british accent, referring to the last one she listed.

"Oh, to join your task force," Patty plays along, using her own british accent.

"No," Barry immediately says, causing both of them to burst out laughing

"Well, maybe I can put in a good word for you," Barry suggested after they both calmed down a little, but silent laughs could still be heard beneath their speech.

Patty gave him the biggest smile she could produce. "That would mean a lot to me Barry," Here was a guy she idolized since first learning about him, and he was offering her his help in something as trivial as having a conversation with his foster father on her behalf. She couldn't express how much she appreciated the gesture.

After the interview, Joe called Barry out to have a private discussion of their own. "So the guy in there, Eddie Slick, he wasn't in Central City the night of the particle accelerator explosion,"

"That doesn't matter. There was a meta Oliver brought to us, and he was in Star City the night of the explosion. I mean, who knows how far this dark matter reached that night? Slick is the guy who jumped me last night. I'm sure of it," Barry argued.

"He's not a meta Barry. He's a dirtbag and an arsonist, but he's not a liar. Do you think that Slick has a…" Joe said, but didn't know the correct word to use for the circumstances.

"A doppelganger?" Barry supplied. "I don't know Joe. I mean what do we have to base off this? A story from a man who tries to break into STAR Labs and just expects us to believe him?"

"Look, I know I don't fully understand all this infinite Earths talk, but if that man can give us a lead on what is happening, it may be worth it to hear him out," Joe said.

Barry had a reluctant look on his face. He didn't want to trust that man at all. The guy strolled onto Barry's property and gave them a lunatic story. One the others were actually willing to test out. And things may seem to check out for the moment, but that's still just theoretical. There's no evidence to suggest what he's saying is the truth at all. And he just comes into their lives and Caitlin-

Barry reeled back at his thought process. When did Caitlin become a part of this? Sure, she voiced her desire to ask Jay out, but he didn't think she was serious. Jay was going to stay in lockup until he gave the go ahead, and that wasn't looking likely at the moment.

"Yo," Barry called out as he walked into STAR Labs.

"Yo," Cisco responded. "So we just checked out this Eddie Slick guy. His story holds up. He was in Blackgate Penitentiary the night of the explosion, and his medical records since that night show no signs of dark matter,"

"I get it. It's not him," Barry grudgingly accepted it. The face he saw that night was the same as Slick. If Slick wasn't the man he faced last night, then maybe…

"I hate to say it, but it's looking like this Earth-2 theory might just be right," Cisco says, crossing his arms.

"For real?" Barry scoffed at him, doubt clouding his mind.

"What, you think Jay has been lying to us this whole time?" Iris asked, wanting to get to the bottom of why Barry was acting like this.

"I don't know. That's the problem," Barry says. "I'm not going to believe a guy who just walks onto private property and tells a story that may or may not be true,"

"He was right about Zoom. You said this Slick look-alike said Zoom sent him. And what about Atom Smasher?" Cisco listed how the villains they'd been facing always mentioned a Zoom in some way or form.

"What about Zoom? We're going to believe these criminals? One who was speaking on his deathbed, and one who decided being an arsonist was a good idea considering his powers," Barry said.

Barry had mentioned how he'd escaped that night, about how Slick's sand body had seemed to be drying up, similar to how wet sand starts to break apart after being left out in the sun for too long.

"We are scientists, you are a journalist," Barry gestured to the people around him. "We test, we prove, we report, but nobody seems to want to do any of that besides me. Have you found anything that can confirm Jay's story? Anything at all?" Barry asked Caitlin.

"No," Caitlin grudgingly admitted.

"Have you found any of these breaches that Jay claims to be littering Central City?" Barry addressed Stein.

"No, but I believe I've discovered a way to locate them," Stein tried to say.

"See, there is nothing to confirm this guy's story. Nothing he's told us has been shown to be true, and I'm not going to blindly trust him just on his word." Barry said.

"Can I speak to you for a moment?" Caitlin asked. "Alone?" She started walking into the hallway.

Barry followed her. If nothing else, she was his teammate. He was just going to have to see if she would say something beneficial to the team and not just another insult.

Once they were alone, Caitlin coated her hand in ice and slapped him across his face, leaving a large cut on his cheek that started to bleed, but the wound was already closing due to his increased healing abilities. "What the hell is going on with you?" she asked.

"What are you talking about?" Barry questioned.

"What happened to the Barry Allen I used to know? The one who wanted to become The Flash," Caitlin asked, because the man before her was not Barry Allen. He was just an empty shell of the man he used to be.

"A lot of things have changed. Guess you wouldn't know though, considering how long you've been gone," Barry retorted.

"Yeah, you've learned not to trust people," Caitlin said.

"Is that such a bad thing? Eobard Thawne pretended to be Wells. I trusted him! We trusted him and he betrayed us all! He played us all, we're all just pawns for him! And what do you know about the real Barry Allen?! Huh?! You hated me since the first day I woke up here at STAR Labs and you didn't even let me prove myself to you. You outright judged me, so I don't think that you're the one to talk about knowing who I am." Barry walked away, leaving no room for discussion as Caitlin stood there, stunned at his statement.

I hope everyone enjoyed it. From a couple comments I had last week, I apologize if I've offended anyone that read this story for the Snowbarry and not the arguments. But to be fair you decided to read this story with that story description. Here's an enquiry. Do you think I should change it? And if so, to what?

A fair amount have expressed that I should cut back on the fighting and my answer to that is I will make an effort. But if I feel that there's a certain scene that deserves a very special blow up, then I will. I've said this many times, but the excessive fighting will stop once season 3 begins.

I hope everyone remains safe as we continue through this dangerous time. I will see you all next week.