song: Breathe, Aeralie Brighton
"Life 1.1, there are no happy endings," still sounded in his head once he finally found a way out of DeVoe's trap and somehow landed in the river, his opponent crashing nearby, his wheelchair going up in flames.
No one even knew that Barry had been taken as not much time had passed and clearly, there was no crisis requiring the Flash's immediate attention. All that Barry noticed after he came back to his apartment was a text message from Rachel, asking if they were still seeing each other at her place that night. Right, he thought, for a moment considering just grabbing a change of clothes in his overnight bag and heading straight to his girlfriend without calling the team and telling them what had happened first. He was actually quite tired of always packing and unpacking and seriously considered just asking Rachel whether they should move in together, meaning – look for a flat for them since both his and hers were pretty small. The idea sounded very good in his head and felt right in his heart, his only concern being that it was maybe happening too fast. Then again, after everything they'd been through and how they'd finally gotten together and how well they fitted, maybe time did not have any meaning here anyway.
He stopped midway to his bedroom, almost missing something, but then…
His phone rang in the exact same moment. Caller – unknown.
"You really thought you won, did you?" he heard a familiar, yet strange voice and he had to frown. The person on the other side was clearly DeVoe, but the voice sounded like it belonged to someone else entirely.
Once he realized what happened and how he'd been duped, Barry had two options – run or stay and try to prove that he, indeed, hadn't done anything.
There was sudden banging on the door – police.
He could run. He could be out of his apartment in a split of a second, but… then what? Would he just be the Flash? Hiding in the shadows? Never having a life again? By his act only proving that he'd really done it? No normal work, no social life, no going out with friends, no… spending quality time out in the open with the woman he loved. Forever hiding. Forever a criminal…
It was past midnight when panicked Rachel ran into the cortex, having sent an SOS to everyone on the team and meeting with a very sleepy Cisco, angry Ralph, alert Harry and intrigued Killer Frost.
"What happened? What can be so urgent to get us out of beds?" Ralph asked, complaining while the rest of the team was just waiting for her to explain why she'd called them there at this ungodly hour, knowing that it must be important and that it clearly involved Barry.
"Is Barry ok?" Cisco wanted to know.
"Yes and… yes and no," she responded, trying to catch her breath, her hands visibly shaking as she brought them up to fix her messy hair. "He's been arrested. For the murder of Clifford DeVoe."
"What?!" Harry snapped whereas Frost transformed into a very concerned Caitlin.
"He used his one phone call on me. We need to help him…" Rachel gave them a shortened version of what had happened, same as the one Barry had told her over the phone before he'd been forced to hang up, his time over, his 'I love you' interrupted.
They were all stunned, hearing how it happened and wondering how they could possibly prove that the body found in Barry's apartment maybe was, indeed, real, but he wasn't the killer. In fact, no one was as DeVoe found a way to jump into another human vessel and continue his life while gaining telepathic abilities of the meta he killed by taking over.
"I… I… I don't know what to do… He didn't want to run… He wants a life. Being the Flash is not enough for him. It's never going to be a full life and that's why he decided to let them lock him up, but… how… Oh my god… How are we ever going to prove that he didn't do it?!" Rachel screamed, panic finally catching up with her.
Harry made an awkward movement as though feeling obligated to come over to her and give her a hug, but Caitlin was closer, so she did.
"I… I guess I'll head to my office and start working," to all of their astonishment's, said Ralph. "I'll do what I do best – be a detective."
Barry was immediately put on trial, which was pretty surprising and only pointed to connections or strings DeVoe himself must've pulled to get him sentenced as quickly as possible. If that wasn't enough, Rachel did not only not get to see him; she also had to attend a finalizing book deal meeting as everything was set up and ready to go, the timing truly being the worst.
"What are you doing?" she asked Cisco the day of the trial when they all gathered themselves up to go, but he got in her way.
"What are you doing?" Cisco asked her right back.
"Um… heading to court for a trial of the man that I love?" Rachel hinted, clearly not understanding what the problem was.
"That would be a career suicide, would it not?" Harry followed with and it completely took her off track.
"You're a public person whether you like it or not, Rachel," Barry was the one who continue now, being briefly present as released on bail, his ankle bracelet Ciscoed. "So far, no one has associated you with me and we should keep it that way. If you show up in court for me, your career will be over. You'll be dating a murderer."
His words struck her a little too much.
"But I am dating the hero that was my inspiration," she still argued.
"Yes, but they won't see it that way."
"But… Barry, I… I need to be there."
"No, you don't," he assured her when making his way to her and putting his hands on her shoulders while looking at her with soft expression. "I know you want to stand by my side, but I'm telling you it's ok to stay here. I don't want your reputation to be ruined as well. You still have so many books to write. There are people out there who will read them and live your adventures. If you stand by me in public now, they won't want to."
"I don't care," she still said, though her voice was more quiet now and tears appeared in her eyes. "Barry… what if…? What if I don't get to see you again… without… without bars?"
"You will. I promise you. I love you."
"I love you, too."
He leaned forward to kiss her and then he was gone with every member of the team except Harry as he also needed to stay behind. He could not possibly show himself up in public, not to mention the court of law, because of his face.
"How am I supposed to just sit around and wait for the worst?" she asked him when wiping tears away with her sleeve.
"I honestly have no idea," he told her, at least not trying to sell her a story that it would all end well, "but you're gonna have to. In the meantime, I'm going to try to search for DeVoe and find out what he's up to."
"Harry, for real… he orchestrated all of this," Rachel told him, spreading her arms widely. "From the beginning this was exactly what he was planning. Every little step. I don't think we can beat him."
"He might be the smartest mind from this earth," Harry commented, not moved by what she said at all, "I'm on mine. And I'm gonna get him."
A dangerous radioactive metahuman crisis in the middle of Barry's trial did not do him any favors, only proving him to be unreliable.
They were doomed. Truly and utterly doomed, Rachel thought when hearing the sentence on TV, her entire nervous system going into shock.
Because Barry was going to prison and so far, they only failed in getting him exonerated. She had no idea how they would ever lawfully set him free. The only way in her head seemed to be the one he did not want – to run. Or he could tell the city he was the Flash, but that was also out of the question.
So far, she'd held on, but the moment she heard the verdict, she burst out crying, not able to take this anymore and, as she was just standing there in front of the bloody screen, weeping as though someone had just died, she felt Harry's arms closing around her. She must've looked really pathetic if he, out of all people, actually hugged her.
She didn't care, clinging to him in need of any kind of comfort that she knew wouldn't help anyway.
In the same moment, Barry walked through the door, fulfilling his earlier promise that she would see him again and the moment she did, she left Harry and ran straight to her boyfriend.
"I need to go away for a while now," he whispered into her ear while they were embracing.
She only hugged him tighter in response, not ready to let him go.
"We're going to get him, Rachel. We will," he assured her. "I'll be ok. But for now, we need to say goodbye."
"Again," she only commented when moving away, tears flooding her face for which he reached in order to to wipe them off.
He looked above her shoulder and she heard him say, "Take care of her for me?"
"Anything for you, Allen," Harry's answer came and Rachel frowned. She didn't need Harrison Wells's protection or shoulder.
"I need to go to the sentencing," Barry then told her in a quiet voice as he leaned his forehead against hers. "I love you. I'll come back to you."
"I love you, too."
And just like that, once again she needed to let go of the man she loved.
The following days were extremely hard on Rachel. She knew that with the release date of her newest book set, she needed to start writing again, but she'd never felt like doing it less. In fact, once more she felt like her entire life was put on hold, a huge vision of doom looming over her future. Barry was in prison and so far, they had nothing on DeVoes despite watching them practically twenty four seven. Still, that meant there was hope and if Barry refused to make a run for it, they were digging and they were digging hard and as much as they could. If there was the slightest chance that they could find something that they could present at his appeal, they were never going to stop looking for it.
Caitlin was sadly not that much present at the moment, partially because of her Killer Frost persona as she was still adjusting to letting her come out to help save the city, now much eager to do so than before the Nazis invaded the earth; but maybe also partially because she was ashamed of her own behavior. Although she should've known better, Rachel would never judge her, considering what she'd herself done in the past… with Harry. So maybe it was truly because her friend was just busy, already having two people occupying her head and trying to make some sense of what was happening when she wasn't in control. That must've been beyond scary, Rachel thought. And speaking of…
Harry was there. Surprisingly, he was always nice and helpful those days, keeping her busy while they were trying to exonerate Barry. He was simply there for her and she found it hard to believe he was doing it just because Barry had asked him to. She thought there was more to it, that he genuinely wanted to help. He still refused to talk about his daughter though.
Barry could receive visitors now and Rachel was all too eager to go, but unfortunately, once again facing with a huge no from the team.
"Someone can still see you," Cisco reminded her. "I know you want to visit him badly, but he went to all this trouble to keep you away from all of this. You can't just throw it all away now."
"She can be doing research for her new book," Harry just threw idly and there was sudden silence as they all stared at him. "What?"
"That's it!" Rachel pointed at him, getting excited. "I could be doing research for my new book as technically, I am supposed to be writing again! Thank you!"
She was gone before anyone could protest.
At first, Barry got a bit scared when he saw her. Yes, his face lit up, but he quickly showed the same concern Cisco had earlier.
"Relax. It was all Harry's idea. I simply said I'm doing research for my new book," she informed. "Sadly, we shouldn't act like a pair of people in love with each other too much, but… but we can at least see one another," she said, her voice breaking a little. During the few days he'd already been there, he'd grown a bit of a stubble which would've actually been sexy if it hadn't been for the circumstances.
"Rachel, I'm so sorry that you have to go through this. I wish…" he started then.
"Barry, it's not your fault," she shut him up. "Nothing that ever happened that caused me or you pain was truly your fault."
He sighed when running a hand over his eyes.
"It's good to see you, though. Quite the sight for sore eyes."
"How are you doing? I hope it's not too awful… I mean… it's a prison… but…"
"I'm fine for now. Just hope we can really successfully appeal."
She didn't have much time since she truly had no better reason to see him and couldn't tell the guards the truth, so they needed to say goodbye way too soon, but they were still happy she'd managed to sneak in to talk to him at least for a moment and that definitely elevated their spirits a bit. She came back to S.T.A.R. Labs with renewed energy, determined not to rest till they found something. And who knew, maybe in the end she would write a book about an innocent man sentenced for life in prison and the struggle of his wife.
Over the next few days, they faced a new threat to the city and Ralph – after a few minor hiccups – had risen to the challenge wonderfully, becoming the newest hero called the Elongated Man.
"You were so mean to him during the whole thing," Rachel told Harry as they were left alone in the cortex in the evening. "It wouldn't kill you to be nicer, you know," she then added.
"Maybe nice just doesn't lie in my nature," she got in response. "And it worked, didn't it? Disney's a hero now."
"You know well that his name isn't Disney," she protested.
"No, but it's still fun to peeve him."
"And everybody else?" she hinted, raising her eyebrows. "Although, I don't recall you being rude to me for a very long time now…"
Harry just shrugged in response and began to work even more eagerly.
"Harry?"
"Yep?"
"Don't take this the wrong way, but…" she started, not sure how to even formulate her question as she approached him. "Has something changed… for you… since… you know…?" God, she was being way too awkward and should've just kept her mouth shut.
Luckily – or unluckily for her – he seemed to get her point and sighed, rubbing his forehead before facing her, but somehow still avoiding her eyes.
"Listen… the way you and Barry love each other… I had that. I had that with my wife, Tess and… and then she was gone." His blue eyes briefly met hers. "However I may care or… it doesn't matter. This matters." He pointed her heart. "Hold onto him and always fight for him, because I know how much it hurts to lose it." Then, he simply directed himself to the door, deciding this conversation was over.
"Then go see Jesse," she threw his way and he came to a sudden stop.
"What?" He turned to her.
"She's your family. Go see your daughter and mend fences. You love her, Harry. You should do it."
He left the cortex without a response.
Rachel was just packing her newest book and addressing the heavy envelope when Caitlin walked into the cortex.
"Where are you sending it?" she asked in curiosity, knowing full well that the book hadn't been officially out yet and her friend received a sample exemplar to make a final confirmation.
"Julian," the answer came.
"How is he, by the way?"
"Actually, very good," Rachel replied and smiled at her friend. "He's happy. Everything is going well for him."
"That's great. He really deserves that. I like that you, guys, still keep in touch. Or maybe it's just his evil plan to get your books earlier," Caitlin joked and they both laughed.
"How are things going with Killer Frost? Are you managing somehow?" Rachel wanted to know since with the Flash being absent, it was up to Ralph, Cisco and Frost to protect the city.
"We're doing quite well, actually… Listen, I'm sorry I haven't really been there for you recently. I…"
"It's ok. I can only imagine how hard it must've been to adjust to having someone else occupying your body and I am really proud of you to be taking the chance on her to help ever since Earth X."
"Thanks."
Things would actually be going pretty great if it wasn't for Barry still stuck in prison and them not really able to come up with anything to get him out. In fact, they'd hit such a roadblock that Harry got frustrated with not being capable of helping that he finally took the trip to Earth 2 about which Rachel was very proud of him. Joe West's girlfriend, Cecile, got pregnant and developed telepathic abilities. Ralph became the Elongated Man and rose up to the challenge of being the newest hero in the city. If only… Rachel sighed heavily, her happiness always evaporating the moment she remembered about the man she loved. Those days her heart was always heavy and anxiety permanently resided in her stomach. Sometimes she was briefly distracted by what was happening around her or when it was related to work, but in the end, it always boiled down to her having her partner incarcerated for something he didn't do…
And then, Cecile brought news that none of them wanted to hear.
She was a lawyer, defending Barry as Joe had brought her into the team, especially now that she developed powers of her own and was in the need of guidance. It was thanks to her recent mind reading skills that they found out Barry was about to be sold to a meta dealer and they were powerless to stop it.
At least till they witnessed Ralph accidentally morphing into one of his old buddies and a plan crystallized in their heads – he could change into the prison warden and call off the deal before it even took place.
Despite his best efforts, it all went horribly wrong, which in the end sent both Cisco and Frost to interfere and to bring Barry home.
Rachel was pacing back and forth in the cortex, biting on her nails and ready to welcome her man home, even though she had no idea what their lives would look like from now on with him being a fugitive and only able to show himself as the Flash and her being a public figure when…
The breach opened again, but the only two people jumping out of it were Cisco and Frost.
"Where's Barry?" she asked, immediately saddening, the problems that would arise with him getting home suddenly insignificant as all she truly wanted was to just be able to touch him again and to sink into his arms.
"I'm sorry," Cisco only said when shaking his head. "He refused to go. He still wants to be released the right way."
"The right way?!" Rachel erupted, starting to shake. "He's in there because he's been framed! Nothing about this was ever right!" She'd been holding on quite bravely with a few small hiccups on the way those past few weeks, but now she was truly and finally at her breaking point, not able to take this any longer. The Reverse Flash, the deception and all the pain and killing and then the visions of Barry dying and Barry being thrown in prison just like his dad all those years ago… it was all too much to take. And if she was feeling like this, then she was truly terrified about his own well-being. It was bound to only get worse.
Cisco and Caitlin – as Frost turned back into her, clearly not being the fan of emotions – looked at one another and then made a move as though they wanted to go over to Rachel when…
Ralph entered the cortex and suddenly, Rachel gasped.
"You," she said, pointing at him. "You can get Barry out!"
"How?" They all jumped on hearing Harry's voice and then looked towards the entrance, spotting him there as he'd clearly just returned from Earth 2. Perfect timing, indeed.
"You can shapeshift," Rachel reminded Ralph, her eyes set on him. "Why don't you just turn into DeVoe and prove that he's alive?"
There was sudden silence as everyone was clearly thinking about it and then Cisco shook his head. "No. Rachel, I'm sorry, but using Ralph to impersonate someone to make a deal is one thing, but to make him look like a dead man in the court of law…"
"DeVoe's not really dead," she cut in immediately.
"But his original body is," Harry backed Cisco up, though she could tell that he was thinking hard about her idea. She knew this face all too well. "Who's to say we don't have a shapeshifting meta in the city and we're desperate to fool the judge, which is exactly what we're doing."
"And there's still a body," Cisco mentioned. "A body buried in the ground. Full of DNA."
"Then make it disappear," Rachel suggested.
"What?!"
"Why not? Make the original body disappear. If they dig the grave up, they won't find it. They won't have any other choice but to deem Barry innocent."
"But how…?" Cisco started again whereas Harry was just intently listening and thinking. This alone made Rachel hope that she was really up to something, like they really stood a chance if they carefully planned their steps.
"Killer Frost would have fun helping with that," Caitlin said out of the sudden. "We could dissolve the body in acid. And before that, I could take a sample."
"A sample for what?"
In the end, their plan worked brilliantly.
With the body being gone and DeVoe seen alive in court at Barry's appeal case, it was all boiled down to a crazy metahuman activity – especially with the final check. Thanks to the DNA sample Caitlin had extracted from the dug up body and a little trick, the blood taken from Ralph while he was pretending to be DeVoe only proved his identity.
Barry was declared innocent and free to go.
As he left the court, he knew that Rachel wouldn't be anywhere close by since he still didn't want to risk her being photographed and recognized, especially not now when they'd so far managed so well. But he could feel her somewhere nearby all the same and instinctively looked just in the right direction.
There. Far away at the end of the road, standing in the shade of a huge oak tree.
In that moment, nothing mattered anymore. Just getting to her.
As soon as he was away from everyone and not seen, he used his superspeed and was immediately standing right in front of her, marveling at her beautiful face.
She didn't say anything. Her expression alone told him everything when she smiled at him brightly, tears of happiness shining in her eyes and then, she simply walked into his embrace, finally feeling his arms close around her.
They didn't need to talk. They just stood there, embraced, with no barriers, breathing each other in and just being.
Eventually, Barry moved just a bit to kiss her.
"Welcome home," Rachel finally whispered. "Actually, you can keep the stubble for a while. Looks quite sexy on you."
He smiled since he couldn't be happier to be able to come back to her, to finally be free. And then, he suggested, "Do you think we should maybe get a place together? I know it maybe seems fast, but…" He didn't finish as she closed his mouth with another kiss.
