Come one, come all, to the newest chapter. I hope everyone is liking what I'm doing with season 5 so far. It'll get better as we go along. I've made such an intricate story that I can't wait to share.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Flash.

That night, Barry was plagued with terrible dreams. Visions of things he was doing that he had no recollection of. Barry was running through the streets of Central City. Experiencing it for himself as though he was actually running through the city, but instead of being on the lookout for danger, he was abducting people left and right. It was all seemingly random. Barry took people of all ages and across racial lines. He had no idea what he was doing. And then it all paused for a second as he finally stopped.

All the people Barry had kidnapped were before him, each in a glass container with wires and tubes coming out of them. The containers were exactly like the ones Clifford Devoe had used. But that was impossible, he was dead. His entire operation was destroyed by his own hubris. How was this all here?

Barry needed to save these people. But he didn't move. He just stared at them with barely any reaction.

Something came floating up beside him. It had to be Devoe. "Thank you for your assistance. It's good to see you know how to take orders. You have been most helpful in my endeavors."

Barry was horrified. Why was he helping Devoe? This was wrong. This was all wrong.

"Now, let us see how I am to make them dance for me," Devoe pushed a button on his chair. Multiple things happened, where unknown substances began entering the tubes and into the victims' bodies. Some started to convulse whilst others remained eerily still.

He had to stop this. Barry wanted to shout. But he was helpless as Barry was forced to watch the people he had abducted suffer.

On the other side of the bed, Caitlin's dreams weren't any better. It was as though Caitlin was watching herself, but she didn't recognize the person she was seeing.

Caitlin was viewing all the worst moments of her life. Every blowup she ever had with anyone. The biggest fights she'd ever had with Barry, all the criminals she'd beaten to a pulp. She watched herself nearly kill a purse-snatcher simply because she was in a bad mood. And other fights where she'd taken the battle too far sometimes.

And the dreams weren't even just since the particle accelerator. They showcased her entire life. Screaming matches whenever bullies would stick gum in her hair. She'd be reprimanded for causing a disturbance but never more since things never got physical. Arguments she'd have with her mother whenever Caitlin felt ignored.

The thing that made Caitlin feel really guilty was the moment before Caitlin went off to college. She was having another argument with her mother. Carla was yelling at her about not having discussed this with her, about going so far away, which Caitlin yelled back about she might have mentioned it if she was around more. And even when she was, her mother was still a thousand miles away, so Caitlin decided to head the other direction.

Caitlin brought up a lot of awful arguments in her anger, about not being her mother anymore, talking about how her mother should have saved her dad if she ever really loved him.

The last thing Caitlin said before storming out of the house was, "I wish you were the one who died and not dad!"

Caitlin wouldn't see her mother for years. And the worst part was Caitlin had completely forgotten about this whole thing until now.

The couple's terrible dreams woke them both up at 3 in the morning. They looked at the other to see they were both awake and said "I need help," together.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Sharon Finkel. I'm going to be your therapist today." A woman with a clipboard said. She tried to put on a comforting smile for the couple. "Now I understand you both chose to be here willingly, and that's great. Admitting you have a problem is the first step. So what seems to be the problem with you two? Don't be shy,"

Barry and Caitlin both looked at each other with a bit of confusion. Looking to see who would go first. Barry gestured to himself a tiny bit and Caitlin nodded for him to go ahead.

"Okay, well the reason I came is because lately I've been having dreams at night about… people being hurt. People I could have helped but I didn't, and that scares me."

Dr. Finkel looked at him for a moment. "People suffering? Care to elaborate? What kind of people? Your wife?" she gestured to Caitlin.

"No, no!" Barry shouted. "Random people. A couple months back, I suffered from something like a blackout. There's a few weeks of my life where I don't remember anything. I'm scared about what I went through during that time. And lately I've been getting dreams about those people being hurt, memories that I don't remember having,"

"Your wife doesn't know?"

"He sort of ran away from home. It really wasn't until after the whole thing that we found him again," Caitlin slightly stretched the truth. It was true enough, but it gave the impression that nobody knew where Barry was for the entirety of his possession and returned on his own without any other involvement.

"So just to be clear, you're not having relationship issues?"

"No? Why would you think that?" Barry asked.

"Well, in addition to being a psychiatrist, I'm also a couple's counselor. And most couples I meet with are dealing with issues within their relationship, not individual problems."

"Oh, I saw that in your profile, but we don't need that at the moment." Caitlin said.

"Maybe in the future," Barry lightly laughed at his own joke. Caitlin met his gaze with a disapproving frown. "That was in bad taste,"

"Yeah," Caitlin curtly agreed.

"Alright then. Mrs. Allen, seeing as you're here I'm assuming you have your own problems you would like to discuss?"

"Yes, it's something I've had a bit of a problem accepting, but it's something I can't ignore anymore. I have a bit of a temper,"

Barry scoffed. "Ain't that the truth,"

Caitlin glared and elbowed him as hard as she could.

The doctor made a note on her clipboard. "So what is it that you are each looking for in these sessions?"

"Well I'm sort of looking to accept the things I've gone through during my… blackout despite not knowing exactly what it is that I've done." Barry said.

"I want to learn how to control my anger. I don't want to be so angry all the time that my husband and our friends get worried about me."

"So you're looking to alleviate your guilt of something you suspect you went through," Dr. Finkel pointed to Barry. "And you're wanting to see about learning to restrain your anger. Do I have that right?"

The two nodded to themselves before looking at each other. Obviously they couldn't tell the whole story, but hopefully they should be able to tell enough without clueing in this woman about who they actually were. "Yeah, that sounds about right,"

"Right, well I hope you understand that your problems aren't going to be solved instantly. This is going to take some time, not just with me. I'm just meant to guide you on the right path. You need to want this, because most of the work is going to rely on yourselves."

Barry and Caitlin nodded again. "We understand,"

"Wonderful," Dr. Finkel said. "Let's begin."

Caitlin and Barry were in a bright room. They put their entire focus on the task at hand. One mistake might ruin everything they hoped to achieve.

"Careful. Careful," Caitlin was saying as Barry was at the table. "This step is crucial,"

Barry huffed. "Call time of death,"

With a look, two pumpkin pies were side by side, one looking like the epitome of perfection whilst the other was crooked in most places. A perfect representation of the two personalities.

"It's okay. It's a pie. It's not meant to be a piece of cake," Caitlin said seriously but couldn't help the little upturn of her lips.

"Really? Wow, Caitlin Snow-Allen making a joke. Who are you and what have you done with my wife?" Barry laughed at the high-hearted mood.

"Oh, she's around, just waiting for something to unleash the fury hidden behind this calm demeanor." Caitlin said.

"Well, glad someone is putting therapy to good use," Barry commented.

"And you aren't? This was your idea too you know. You wanted this just as much as me,"

"Yeah, but Dr. Finkel thinks I'm a drunkard, and that's how my blackout was induced. We should have gone with amnesia. Maybe that would have gone better."

"Well, it's too late to turn back now. We're sticking with the blackout story." Caitlin said.

"It's just not going as well for me as it is for you. For you, you're dealing with your anger issues, which is completely true, but for me, I'm trying to deal with what I did during my possession without revealing that I was possessed. Half the time I spend with her is just her trying to get me to admit I'm an alcoholic, which you know for a fact isn't true. And if I'm not an alcoholic, it means I suffer from epileptic seizures or some other medical term, so I don't require a therapist, I need to see an actual medical doctor to prevent such a thing from happening again. Which isn't what I need,"

"So what do you need?" Caitlin asked.

"I'm looking for how to deal with my guilt when my therapist is more concerned about helping me with something that doesn't exist,"

"I think she's mostly unsure of how to go about your issues. I mean, you don't really remember what you did during that time. Your brain has locked those memories away. You're only remembering fragments of your time with Devoe."

"But I still did those things. I know I did, I just don't know what I did. All those people I kidnapped, and I couldn't save them when Devoe was torturing them, when he collapsed the pocket dimension. They're just gone, and I'm the reason they were there. How is it fair that I'm the one that got out of there but nobody else?"

"You know what this is, Fleet Feet? This is survivor's guilt. You feel guilty about being the sole captor of Devoe's metahuman collection that managed to escape. That's nothing to be ashamed about."

"Is it? If I was just another meta in a tube, if I wasn't your husband, would I even still be here? Because the way I see it, that is the only reason I'm still here, because you specifically came for me. None of the others."

"That's not fair. You know we would have tried to save the others, there just wasn't any time. You were our priority,"

"You're just proving my point. I'm only here because people with the power came looking for me, but none of the others had that luxury. It's not fair,"

"You're right, it's not fair, but you know what? It happened. It's over, it's too late and there's nothing for us to do about those people anymore. They're gone. There's no changing that, but you can change what you do know. You can make sure they're deaths weren't in vain. Maybe they didn't die for you, but they did die because of you. So you need to be able to keep going for all those people that are gone,"

Barry sighed. "You should have gone for a psychology major,"

"I know, I'm amazing," Caitlin says.

The door opens. "Hey Mom and Dad. I'm back," Ace greets his parents.

"Ace, welcome back. Did you get everything we asked for?" Barry asked.

"Yep, gravy, some bread, cranberry sauce, and a turkey. Why did you leave getting a turkey for Thanksgiving to the last minute? Do you know how many stores I had to go to just to find this one tiny turkey that I'm like 67% sure is just a chicken? Wow, that pie was not put together well." Ace commented on the misshapen pie his father made.

"It's edible, that's all that really matters," Barry tried to defend himself.

"How is it that you operate on bodies for a living, but you can't put a pie together?" Ace asked.

"First of all, I'm a CSI. I do the bare minimum with any corpses I handle. You're thinking of a medical examiner or a coroner. Second, have you done this before? It's like a game of Jenga," Barry complained.

Ace sped off and completed another pie that was picture perfect. He looked smugly at Barry. Barry looked from the pie to his son and back to the pie. "You cheated,"

"I did. I used the steady hands I got from Mom's side of the gene pool. Thanks Mom,"

"No problem honey," Caitlin placed her lips on Ace's forehead.

"So, what were you guys talking about before I came in?" Ace asked.

"We were just talking about how our therapy sessions have been going." Caitlin said.

"Wait, you guys have been going to therapy?" Ace asked, completely shocked.

"Yeah. To be honest, it's been a long time coming," Barry said.

"It has?"

"Yeah," Caitlin agreed. "You think after all these years of being subjected to the worst of humanity, we won't have any issues we need to talk about? You're living in a fantasy land. We've got things we need to get off our chest and work through,"

"Okay, that is good to know I suppose," Ace commented.

"Hey, we're human. These things happen where we need a little help. It's not a sign of weakness. It's because we've gone through so much that we need this. And if you're going to walk the path of a hero as well, someday it'll be you spilling your guts to a stranger on a couch." Barry said.

"Life lessons with Mom and Dad. Just another day in the Allen household," Ace laughed.

"Well, good to know we're going to be passing our words of wisdom to our kids in the future," Barry said.

"Yes, because what I want our kids to take away from us is that we're wise old sages that give out life advice when someone questions our own life choices." Caitlin rolled her eyes.

"So, is that a chicken or a turkey?" Cisco asked, pointing at the cooked poultry.

"You know, I honestly don't know," Barry said. "Ace picked it up,"

"Well, that's what you get for going grocery shopping last minute for Thanksgiving," Ace shouted in his defense.

"Yeah, because that is either a deceptively small turkey, or it's a larger than average chicken." Cisco continued.

"You know what I think? I think we should all shut up and be thankful for that's what this day is all about," Caitlin said with a tight grin.

"Therapy has only made Caitlin scarier with her hiding her rage," Cisco whispered to Barry.

"Well, you're the one who suggested therapy," Barry whispered back.

"Well I didn't know this would be the result,"

"Hey! You know I can hear everything you're saying? I'm right between you two," Caitlin said, looking back and forth from her husband and best friend.

"Sorry," they both said sheepishly.

A knock came at the door. "Are we expecting anyone else?" Barry asked.

"Hopefully not more of your future kids," Cisco joked.

"No, I know exactly who it is," Caitlin said. She walked to the door and opened it. "Mom. Thanks for coming,"

"Well, my daughter invited me for the holidays and I had no reason to decline, so here I am. Now let me get a look at that husband of yours." Carla came in.

Carla swept into the house and took a look around, appraising it in an instant. She finally brought her attention to the man in question. "Barry! So nice to finally meet you in the flesh. I can't remember if I said this at the wedding, but welcome to the family,"

"You were at the wedding?" Cisco couldn't help but ask, not remembering seeing the woman there. But a sharp elbow courtesy of Caitlin caused him to change his tune. "You were at the wedding!"

"It's okay. It's understandable. I left early for some inane reason that I can't seem to recall at the moment. I'm sorry I had to leave so early," Carla said to her daughter.

"No, it's completely fine. We were busy pretty soon after," Caitlin said, laughing a sad laugh.

"I know, I heard about that group of neo Nazis shooting up parts of the city. You know, I didn't think there were so many of them in America, and as such a concentrated group," Carla said.

"Yeah, it's a mystery," Cisco said awkwardly.

"I'm just glad you two were able to clean up that mess without it interfering with your honeymoon." Carla smiled at them. "So, how soon am I going to be a grandma?"

Barry laughed. "Funny thing about that. Pretty soon, we think," Barry looked over at Ace who simply nodded. Barry looked relieved at that and led Carla to him. "Carla, this is Wallace. Ace for short, and he's our child from the future,"

"Hey Nana. It's nice to see you," Ace greeted her.

"Oh my goodness. You look so much like your father. I hope you know that, but at the same time I can still see some of my Caitlin in you," Carla looked overjoyed at seeing him, taking in the weirdness of it all in stride.

"You say that to us everytime Nana." Ace rolled his eyes, not noticing his slip of the tongue.

"'Us'? Are there more of you here?" Carla looked around as though expecting to see mini versions of her daughter and son-in-law come in at any moment.

"No Mom. Ace has told us he has siblings, but unfortunately none of them came with him," Caitlin said.

"Well then, I suppose you're just going to have to bring them to me the traditional way." Carla winked at her. "Treat her right Barry,"

"You have my word," Barry dipped his head with a smirk on his face. Caitlin blushing up a storm at her mother's comment.

"Can we not talk about that right now? I came here for a feast. Not to talk about my best friends having a baby. They can do that on their own time," Cisco shouted from the table.

"So, having your mom over was really great. It was great to finally meet her," Barry said as they entered the bedroom after all the guests left the house.

"Yeah, well I figured it was time for the two of you to meet. I mean, you were already social media friends before we even got together. This should have happened a long time ago." Caitlin said.

"So, about what she said. About us bringing her grandchildren the traditional way…" Barry trailed off.

"You're still thinking about that too?" Caitlin said, her eyes lighting up in glee. "You don't think this is too fast?"

"No! We already have a kid in the house, sort of, and this just feels like the next step. We're in the prime of our lives right now, and we're not getting any younger. This just feels right," Barry said.

"So this is it? You really want us to… start trying?" Caitlin asked tentatively.

"You know I want a big family. One that I never got for myself. And we already know we're going to be having a couple kids in the future. It's not like the baby is going to appear tomorrow. We've got time to prepare. I want this. I love you," Barry said.

"Oh Barry," Caitlin kissed him. "I love you too. Now get out of those clothes."

On another Earth, the world was in ruins. The land was charred and the oceans red with blood. The hint of life was a man in a red speedster suit crawling towards an open book. The man was just an arm's stretch away when he suddenly slackened, succumbing to the darkness.

Another man, this one suited in a bright glowing outfit. This man, this being, radiated power. The power to make man kneel before him and worship as a god. And all he was doing was standing there.

"Don't worry. This was simply a test. One that you have failed," the Man said. The Man picked up the book, opening it to a random page. With but a thought, the corpse had been reanimated and brought back to life with a sudden gasp of air.

"Why did you bring me back?" the speedster asked with tears in his eyes. "My world is destroyed. Everything I've ever known is gone. There's nothing left for me here. I have nothing. There is literally nothing!"

"Relax. With the book, I will restore your world. Everything shall be as it was." The Man picked up the book, and with a thought, it began to glow and change the world back to a prosperous land. "You have failed my test. Not your world."

The speedster took a look around to see that everything was back to normal. It was as though the apocalypse had never happened. There were even people going about their day, totally unaware of what had just occurred. "So what was all that about then? Why did it happen?"

"There is something coming in the future. Something that will destroy all worlds, and this time permanently. I need to build an army in order to stop this coming crisis. Think of what just happened as a preview of what is to come. I tested to see whether you would be able to stop what was happening, and you didn't. Meaning you are not who I'm searching for. Now you may continue to live your life as though I never came, whilst I continue on my quest to construct my army. And when the time comes, pray that I will be successful."

"Let me help you then. I can help, I promise,"

"No, you have already failed once. There is too much at stake. Forget I ever came. You are of no use to me anymore,"

"So what will you do now?" the speedster asked.

"Time to see where I'll be looking next," The Man held out a tiny item between his fingers. It was about the size of a die, and looking at it more closely, the speedster realized it was in fact a die, but one that had ever changing sides, with numbers appearing and disappearing in seconds. If ever there was an infinity sided die, this was it. The Man dropped it to roll on the ground for a little before stopping, the top number showing a large 1.

"Hmm. Earth-1. I hear there have been some interesting things going on there lately. Maybe this one won't be so disappointing," The Man said and in a blink of an eye had disappeared with nary a sound.

The Man, who had gone by several names over the entirety of time, was observing the world before him. This was Earth-1. On the surface, nothing special. Similar to the rest of the worlds he'd visited. But like always, there was a spark of hope within him that there would be someone worthy of finding. So far, he'd been unsuccessful. Every Earth he'd been to and tested had failed. But he needed his army. With every passing moment brought them closer to Crisis, and without someone to stand against it, everything would be lost.

The Man regarded the world for another second before hurling the Book of Destiny at it where some lucky inhabitant would find it and sow the seeds for the apocalypse.

The Man followed the trajectory of the book for a second before looking away. He'd check in on it in a few hours. That was usually when the chaos would begin. In the meantime he had something of utmost importance to do. Tracking down his sworn foe and finding which people he'd managed to sway already.

Sorry that this chapter is a little more on the short side. I wanted one more chapter before the crossover. A little more domesticity before a few darker chapters. Barry and Caitlin have gone into therapy, which is to be expected. After all I put them through, it should be no surprise that they're dealing with some things and need to talk about to a neutral third party.

A little Thanksgiving feast to get Barry and Caitlin started on having a baby. So if you do the math with previous information, you should know about when Ramona will be born.

A little preview to Elseworlds. Somebody asked me if I was going to do this crossover and I am. The Monitor is slightly different, in that he's not a complete douche. The way I see it, he's an immortal being looking to prevent the destruction of the multiverse, but he doesn't need to make a mess of it along the way. With the Book of Destiny in his hand, it shouldn't be much effort. So Novu isn't benevolent or malevolent. He's just trying to do what he needs in the way he deems best.

Any questions will be answered without giving anything away. I'll see you next week where things get a little strange.