***

The next day Ramon and I were working in the conference room, attempting to schedule his promotional tour for the new App we were set to launch in three months. We were both in the middle of an argument when suddenly Wally appreared in the middle of the room. 

Ramon stood up suddenly clutching his chest as if he was about to have a heart attack. " I told you I don't like when you do that whoosh thing!"

"It wasn't me..."

We didn't have a chance to further question him before Jade also appeared soon followed by Iris and Barry. It took a moment to fully process what was happening, and when the pieces of the puzzle clicked I was filled with a moment of rage from being lied to once again. 

Because Barry Allen was a speedster. 

"Who are you?" I asked, suddenly feeling protective of everyone in the room, including Ramon. The deception and lies that Barry was been telling us, being the only true thing I knew about the man, the strangler, in from of us now.

"The man who's gonna help you stop the Rival." He declared, and what came next left us all in a cold silence. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but a story about time travel and different timelines was not it. 

Even after Barry finished talking we all sat in silence, taking in all of this information. Weighing the truth of it. 

"Okay, so I can tell from the "I don't believe you" looks on your faces that you don't believe me." Barry stated after the silence stretched out for too long. The truth was I simply didn't know what to say. 

"We believe you're a speedster," Wally said, being the first who seemed to snap out of their thoughts. "but you're gonna have to explain that part about Flashpoint again."

"All right, look. This is as simple as I can put it." Barry continued visibly stressed by this whole situation. "I went back in time, stopped the Reverse Flash from killing my mom. In doing so, I created an alternate timeline, a whole new existence where you're Kid Flash."

"The Flash." Wally attempted to correct. 

"Kid Flash." Everyone in the room corrected, resulting in a look of disappointment and betrayal from Wally"

"And Cisco's a billionaire." Barry stated quickly, and somehow learning that there was a timeline where Cisco wasn't rich was slightly satisfying. 

"So you're saying there's a time line out there where I'm not rich?" Cisco questioned in disbelief, finally showing some interest in this whole mess we seemed to find ourselves in. "Boy, that's a glitch in the universe." 

"No, not buying it." Wally insisted still in denial. And as crazy as this whole story that Barry was telling us seemed. I believed him. Maybe it was the desperate look in his eyes, or that ridiculous feeling that I could trust him. But I did believe him. "Um, my life is my life. Didn't just start three months ago, okay? I've always been me."

I didn't miss the occasion glance that Barry seemed to give me anytime he spoke. It was clear that he wanted me to say something. He was expecting something from me. Something that I couldn't give even if I knew what he wanted. "Yeah. I don't know what to tell you, Wally. It's complicated."

"Okay, look." Jade suddenly spoke up. And while the rest of us seemed to still be trying to make sense of this whole situation, she simply looked angry and frustrated. " Even if we did believe you, why are you telling us this now?" 

At this point it seemed that Iris and I were the only ones who had lost the ability to speak. But, as I looked over at Iris I realized that she seemed to not be able to take her eyes off of Barry. In the same way that Barry seemed to not be able to stop looking over at me. There was something wrong in this whole situation. Whatever it was, it was one that belonged in a timeline that was not this one. This wasn't right. Everything about this felt wrong. 

"Because I've been hiding here for too long. The Rival needs to be stopped. I stop the bad guys." Barry stated firmly as he looked us all in the eye. "And we can all take him down together."

Hearing this didn't seem to comfort Wally. "I can get him myself."

"Then why haven't you?"

"But there's more isn't there?" I asked, tired of his vague replies to our questions. "Why haven't you gotten him yourself?"

Barry almost seemed relieved that I was talking to him. "It's complicated."

"More complicated that time travel and multiple timelines?"

He looked at me, seeming completely lost on what to say. Or if he should say anything at all. And for the first time I realized what the look in his eyes was. 

It was grief. And sadness.

At first I thought it could be over his dies mother. But there was no grief when he mentioned her only moments ago. And it was frustrating nor being able to place that sadness. 

"Well, I'm not interested." Ramon declared as he stood up. A declaration that I expected, knowing his hate to anything relating speedsters. "I don't know how many times I gotta tell you freaks, I already did my bit for queen and country."

I expected Barry to seem disappointed, but Ramon's word didn't seem to register. Barry was deep in thought until suddenly he seemed to remember something."Wait, we're missing something. Hold on. Excuse me."

Barry quickly walked across the room at one of the computers. His hands almost invisible as the typed on the keyboard. 

"What are you doing? Hey, don't touch that." Ramon scolded as he went after Barry, but in a instant her was gone. Before anyone was able to fully process Barry's absence, he was back.

Except that he wasn't alone. A women in a doctors coat was standing in the center of the room looking around disoriented.

"What just happened?" She asked quietly as she looked at the people around the room. 

Ramon seemed to be the first to react as he looked over at Barry in irritation. "Stop bringing strangers into my lab!" 

"Who is this?" I asked looking at the stranger who had now joined us. I couldn't imagine what she was thinking as she seemed to still be in her work clothes. 

"This is Dr. Caitlin Snow." Barry introduced, seeming satisfied with himself and not seeing the horrible situation he just put the woman in. "In my timeline, she's a part of our team."

"Did you you just kidnapped this woman." Ramon stated as we all began to realize what Barry had just done. 

"No, I didn't...well, yeah, I guess....I she's a scientist." He declared as if that fact somehow justified his actions. "We need her."

Dr. Snow seemed to finally snap out of he state of confusion at the mention of her name. "I'm not a scientist."

Barry seemed surprised and disappointed to her this. "You're not a scientist?"

 "I'm an ophthalmologist."

"An eye doctor?" He asked his voice seeming to crack for a moment.  

"Pediatric eye doctor." She corrected cheerfully, which seemed extremely odd for the situation that she was currently in.

"Can I talk to you in private?" Iris asked Barry after a moment.  He seemed to look at me almost, like he was silently asking for my permission. Or if I was okay with this. Furthering my understanding that there was still so much he was hiding. 

"Excuse me." Dr. Snow asked quietly. "Have I been kidnapped?"

"Unclear." Wally and Jade replied in unison. 

While Barry and Iris were talking outside in the hallway, Cisco began talking to Dr. Snow with scientific language I could even begin to understand even if I tried. But as the remaining people in the room gathered around a computer, we seemed to do the impossible. 

We found The Rival. 

***

As Barry and Wally prepared to go against The Rival, I noticed my sisters absence in all the excitement that was occurring in the room. It was odd that only a couple of moments ago we Barry was telling all of us that the lives that we are currently living are a result of changes to the timeline  he created. That our lives should be drastically different than what they are now. But, now that we all seemed to have a common goal we were all working together in a way that felt almost natural. 

Yet, I couldn't deny the fact that something felt terribly wrong. Iris described it as feeling that she had now gained a piece of herself with the arrival of Barry into our lives. I wished I could say the same. 

But the reality was that I didn't. In fact, I felt as if a large part of who I am is now missing. Feeling like a hallow ache in my chest that everything was wrong. 

"What's wrong Jade?" I asked as I took a seat beside her on the cold marble floor. Jade had always been a difficult person to understand, though it wasn't a surprise considering everything that we had been through. Even I couldn't deny that I am always guarded and can tend to be rather difficult, however Jade always seemed to be a million miles away. That had recently changed with Wally entering our lives, and I couldn't help but wonder if that same connection translated into the timeline that we were supposed to be living. 

Jade turned towards me with a look of disbelief, her reaction making me feel ignorant. "You can't tell me you don't feel it too."

"Feel what?"

"How wrong this all feels." She stated confidently as she stood up and walked towards the center of the old lab that she had hidden herself in. The only reason that I knew that I would find her in this room, was because this was the room that I escaped to when I felt overwhelmed. "Not just the fact that the life we're living isn't real, but there also the fact that Barry is still hiding something."

I didn't want to tell her that I felt the same as she did. Not yet. More than anything I wanted to understand more of what I was feeling. Because, I had now way of completely describing what was wrong. "What do you think he's hiding?"

"Have you seen the way that he looks at you?" My sister continued her voice only a whisper now. Her annoyance, quickly becoming distress. "There is so much pain in that look. You know there's holes in his story. And I'm sure that it has something to do with you."

"He said that it was continuous loss that led him to save his mother and change the timeline." I repeated as I began to voice my suspicions. Suspicions that even as I spoke them, I didn't want to believe. 

My sister slowly nodded her head, the horror and distress in her eyes were unmistakable as she came to the same conclusions as me. "You must have been his beloved in that other timeline."

"I was something to him in that other timeline."

"He loves you."

"No." I replied, as I stood up to join my sister across the room. "And even if it's love that he feel it's love for another version of me. I am not the women he believes he loves."

The silence in the room was almost deafening as the reality of the situation began to settle. There was simply nothing more to say. What Barry did didn't matter anymore because this was our lives now, and nothing could change that. 

"I don't like this." Jade whispered after a moment of tense silence. "He's going to change everything."

***