The Line Between Living and Dying

Bombshell

The next morning, Barry sat excitedly in Jitters waiting for Dani to arrive. He had already ordered her favorite coffee and pastry to make everything a little extra special.

When Dani finally did come through Jitter's big glass doors, Barry couldn't contain his smile.

"One chocolate chip muffin and one caramel macchiato with an extra shot." He announced. "Just the way you like it."

"Just the way I like it," Dani spoke at the same time as Barry. After the dream she had the previous night and the warning from Astra, Barry's behavior made Dani a bit uneasy.

"Yeah, I know." Barry sighed, still smiling. "I know you, Dani."

Dani smiled awkwardly, a pit forming in her stomach. "So... what is going on with you?" She changed the subject. "You're acting like Christmas came early or something."

Barry laughed lightly. "Yeah. Yeah, no, I guess it did, kind of." He suddenly cupped Dani's hand in his. "Look, Dani, um... I still think about you all the time and I know you've been thinking about me too, so let's just stop thinking and start doing."

"Barry--"

"I know. I know that we both have awful timing, but we were meant to be--"

"Barry, what are you talking about?"

"You and me," Barry said. "We like each other."

Dani's dream replayed itself in her mind. Somehow, it seemed like Barry knew what she had confessed to him in her dream. Then, Astra's words came echoing back to her.

"Don't trust anything"

Dani gently pulled her hands away from Barry's. "What did you do?"

Barry's smile fell. "What do you mean?"

Instead of pursuing an interrogation, Dani decided that the best thing for her to do was run. "You know what, I completely forgot that my boss asked me to come into work early today." Dani lied as she grabbed her things and rushed out of Jitters despite Barry's protests.

* * *

Since it seemed like Astra was the only friend she could trust, Dani teleported back to her apartment to try and summon her.

The second she materialized in her living room, Dani tossed her jacket and purse on the couch and glanced around her apartment.

"All right, Astra, I know you're listening," Dani spoke to her furniture. "Stop showing me cryptic visions and tell me what's going on! Why can't I trust anything?"

"You're quite demanding." Dani heard her own voice from behind her.

Dani spun around to face Astra. "You would be too if a cosmic being was playing games with you."

"I'm not playing games." Astra corrected. "I'm trying to help you."

"Help me?" Dani scoffed. "How does a dream of me confessing my feelings to Barry help me."

"Because it's not a dream," Astra said.

Dani's eyebrows furrowed together. "What are you talking about?"

"All of those visions you've been having are your actual memories from a day that Bartholomew erased."

"Barry erased an entire day?"

"Not on purpose, no. But two days ago, Bartholomew was running along the beach from the park that was in your 'dream' last night to create a wind barrier against a tsunami."

"Mardon," Dani whispered in realization.

"Yes." Astra nodded. "However, Bartholomew ended up running so fast that he accidentally ruptured the space-time continuum and traveled back in time a day."

Dani sat down on her couch, taking in everything. "So you've just been returning memories that were accidentally taken away from me."

"I was."

"That's why Barry has been acting so weird."

"It's hard for someone to adjust to the changes they've made to the timeline when they had no idea what they were doing," Astra explained.

"There's one thing I still don't understand," Dani said.

"What's that?" Astra asked.

"Why did you tell me not to trust anything?"

Astra sighed. "I meant, 'don't trust your reality'. Not, 'don't trust the boy who's in love with you'."

"Yeah, it would have been helpful to have that clarification."

"I'm sorry." Astra apologized. "If it's any consolation, you can still fix it."

"How?" Dani looked up at her curiously.

"Well, honesty and a confession would be spectacular but for right now, how about we start with giving you your memories back."

Dani stood up, a determined glint in her eye. "Let's do it."

A/N: Sorry this chapter is a bit short but this felt like the best place to end it before I moved on to the end of the episode.

Anyways, thanks so much for reading and please vote and comment if you enjoyed this chapter!