Cold to the Touch

Chapter Five

(Caitlin's POV)

Ever since Nora had told me that Iris wasn't her mom, I could get the subject off of my mind. I just kept replaying the conversation in my head, over and over.

"Iris isn't my mom." Nora said.

"She's not?" I was shocked to say the least, but now that I was looking at her, I understood, for the most part, how this could be true. She didn't really share any similarities with Iris. She mostly looked like Barry. How could I have missed this?

"She's not." She shrugged. "My dad made some different choices in this timeline than he has in past ones. That's why I got so upset. Now I feel like I messed with the timeline and I'm scared that when I get back, mom and dad will be mad at me or things will have changed, and not in a good way."

"Oh Nora," I said softly. There were tears in her eyes once she had finished explaining. This had been weighing on her for a while now.

"I know," Nora sniffed. "I know they won't be mad forever, but I feel like I messed up so much already, dad is bound to ground me for life after this. He told me so many times about how dangerous time travel is."

"Nora, everyone makes mistakes, especially when they are young. You're only eighteen, you have so many years to train and perfect using your powers." I said softly, trying to reassure her. She was shaking her head as I spoke though, a few tears slipping down her cheeks.

"People don't make mistakes like this though." She sighed, reaching up to wipe away the fallen tears. "People don't just accidentally time travel because they're mad at their parents."

"You're right, not a lot of kids are going to accidentally time travel, but every kid is going to make mistakes before they get it right." I reassured her carefully, moving closer, hoping to offer her the comfort she needed. "For example, when I was twenty, I decided to shave my head. Completely. All of my hair? Gone." I waved my hand over my head.

"What?" She gasped out, letting out a surprised laugh as she wiped a few more tears from her cheeks.

"Yup, I shaved my head completely bald." I nodded, laughing along with her.

"Did you have a reason?" She asked, smiling softly. I mentally celebrated the win. Hopefully I could have her feeling better before she left this evening.

"I had a lot of reasons, all that I thought were completely logical. All of it was to spite my mother. She made decisions I didn't agree with, so I shaved my head." I answered, shrugging my shoulders easily. "She was livid, as I knew she would be. It was well worth it."

"I accidentally ran back in time because I didn't agree with my dad." Nora said softly, realizing that we had both made mistakes in the names of our parents. "This talk really helped m- Caitlin, I really appreciate it."