The Line Between Living and Dying

No Regrets

Astra had been gone for hours. And yet, Dani sat alone on her couch in her quiet apartment sipping a glass of wine as she replayed her newly returned memories.

In the time between Astra's departure from the early plane and this moment, Dani's phone had gone off somewhere around a million times. The team was desperately trying to contact her but Dani tuned out everything but her thoughts.

Such a response was natural, though. Dani did have an entire day's worth of memories shoved back into her brain by a cosmic being. She just needed time to adjust and sort out her mind.

However, her adjustment time was ended abruptly by the sound of a fist rapidly banging against her apartment door.

"Coming!" Dani called as she stood up and walked to her front door, her tone showing her annoyance. But when she opened the door, her annoyance towards the intruder was replaced by surprise at the sight of Barry Allen standing in her doorway.

"Dani?" Barry asked cautiously.

"Yes," Dani answered simply.

A relieved sigh escaped Barry's lips. "You're okay." He walked into Dani's apartment, turning around to face her as she shut her front door behind him.

"Of course, I'm okay," Dani said. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Barry's relief quickly dissolved into anger. "Well, I don't know, maybe after you ran out of Jitters the other day, you got kidnapped by Snart and Rory. Who, by the way, came back to town with Snart's sister, kidnapped Cisco, and tortured his brother until he gave up our identities."

The air stood still around Dani and Barry as she processed everything he had said. If it weren't for Barry's heavy breathing, the stillness would have been accompanied by complete silence.

"What?" Dani finally spoke.

"Everyone from the team has been trying to contact you for days." Barry's voice began to rise in anger. "We had no idea where you were, if you were okay, or if you were even alive!"

A beat of silence passed before Dani spoke again. "Days."

"Yes, days," Barry stressed.

"But we were at Jitters this morning," Dani argued.

"What? We met at Jitters three days ago."

"Three days ago?"

Barry's expression immediately softened at the sight of Dani's terrified and worried one. "You don't remember anything since that morning?" He asked, his voice much softer and kinder than it was before.

"No, I do," Dani said. "I remember panicking after what you said at Jitters because of this stupid vague and ominous warning Astra gave me the day before. Then I came straight here a-and summoned her and..." She trailed off, remembering her restored memories.

"And what?" Barry questioned, taking a step closer to Dani.

Dani looked up into Barry's eyes feeling all of the love she had pushed down for years surging to the surface. Without a second thought, she closed the small gap between her and Barry, crashing her lips against his.

The kiss took Barry by surprise. But he quickly pushed the shock aside, kissing back as he wrapped his arms around Dani's waist and she circled her arms around his neck.

Although the kiss felt like it lasted forever to Dani and Barry, it had really only lasted a few seconds before their need to breathe tore them apart. But when they did pull apart, their foreheads rested against each other.

"What was that for?" Barry heard himself asking before he could truly process what happened and decide how to react.

Dani pulled her head away from Barry's so that she could look him in the eyes. "I remember." She said simply.

"You remember what?" Barry furrowed his eyebrows. He wanted to make sure that he and Dani were on the same page, despite his hope screaming at him that they were.

"That day you accidentally erased," Dani answered. "After I summoned Astra, she told me what you did and gave me all of those memories back. And everything I said at the park was true. I've loved you for years and I wish I had realized that I was still in love with you at Christmas because then I could have told you that I felt the same way."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that we have waited too long to tell each other how we feel because we were too afraid that our feelings wouldn't be reciprocated. And I don't want to wait anymore because I regret that wasted time more than anything else."

A smile grew on Barry's lips as he cupped Dani's face and pulled her in for another kiss. "No more regrets." He said after pulling away.

"Nope." Dani agreed as she reconnected hers and Barry's lips.

* * *

The next evening Barry sat in the cortex at S.T.A.R. Labs with Dr. Wells. All was silent until Barry got the sudden urge to seek Wells' input.

"Do you think I made a mistake letting Snart go?" Barry asked.

Dr. Wells looked back at Barry, thinking before he answered, "I think you did what you felt was right in the moment. And really, Barry, that's the best any of us can hope for." Barry nodded in response. "Now, let's be thankful the timeline remains intact," Wells added.

Barry smiled, thinking about Dani when another thought crossed his mind. "Oh! I keep forgetting. I've been meaning to ask you. It's about Simon..." He trailed off when he saw the computer monitor in front of him switch to a news story about the missing Mason Bridge.

Barry's eyes widened in shock as he stared at the screen.

"You were saying, Mr. Allen?" Dr. Wells prompted Barry to continue speaking.

"Uh..." Barry panicked. He quickly turned off the monitor. "Nothing. Sorry." He apologized as he stood up to leave whilst grabbing his coat. "Night, Dr. Wells."

"Goodnight, Barry," Wells said, not even bothering to rip his gaze away from his computer.

* * *

After seeing the news headline about Mason Bridge going missing, Barry was left to assume the worst: that Dr. Wells was the Reverse-Flash.

So, once he had put enough distance between himself and S.T.A.R. Labs, he contacted the only three people he felt like he could trust at the moment.

"Barr, what's up?" Joe asked as he walked into Barry's lab followed by Zander and Dani.

"Why'd you want all of us to meet up here so late?" Dani asked through a yawn.

"I think that maybe you were right about Dr. Wells, Joe," Barry admitted.

"Which part?" Zander questioned. "Because he had a lot of theories."

"All of it."

A/N: Hey y'all! I'm sorry that it's been so long since my last update but I've been dealing with writer's block and I've also been busy with work. But I'm going to try to update more regularly from now on.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to vote and/or comment if you enjoyed this chapter!