I'll Be There in a Flash

77

I wake up and feel an arm around my waist and I turn to see Barry asleep. Barry. That's all I can think about right now. What's his decision about traveling back in time? Barry's eyes flutter open and he looks at me and smiles. "Hey." he says and I smile at him too. "Hey." I say to him and he pecks my lips. "What's your decision about traveling back in time?" I ask him and he looks down. "I'm gonna do it." Barry says and I look at him. "This was your decision, right? No one made you do it?" I ask him and he nods. "Ok. What do you have to do?" I ask him again and we sit up. "Wells told me that we need to use the particle accelerator." Barry says and I widen my eyes at him.

"The particle accelerator? But the last time he used it, it caused an explosion that hurt a lot of people." I say.

"He says that this time, the accelerator will operate exactly the way it was designed to. Except instead of two particles moving in opposite directions colliding at the at the speed of light in the inner ring, we're only gonna inject one particle into the accelerator, and I'm what it collides with. He said that if I hit the particle with enough speed, I'll punch a hole right through the fabric of reality and it will create a portal connecting this time... to infinite times." Barry says and I widen my eyes.

"Won't that do something bad?" I ask him and he shrugs.

"We're gonna find that out today. Stein was helping Cisco out with calculating the possible harm that this could to me, so we're heading to S.T.A.R. Labs." Barry says and I nod.

"Wait, Barry, what if you don't reach the right speed when you make contact with the particle?" I ask him

"I could die." Barry says and I widen my eyes.

*~*~

We get to S.T.A.R. Labs and sure enough, Stein was explaining it to us. But I couldn't get my mind off of Barry possibly dying when he makes contact with that stupid particle. I didn't want Barry to die, but this is his decision and I don't want to disrespect it. Barry grabs my chin and makes me look at him, "You ok?" he asks and I just stare into his green eyes knowing that if he dies I'm gonna miss them. "Kind of." I say and he looks at me in concern, but I know that if I keep staring at him, he's gonna make me cry. "Once Barry reaches optimum speed we then launch a hydrogen proton into the accelerator. Once the collision happens a wormhole forms... opening a gateway into time itself. Into that moment, I plan on shouting along the lines of: "Eureka," or possibly, "Excelsior." I'm uncommitted." Stein says and Barry turns and looks at me. "What do you think?" he says turning to Cisco. "I mean, on the one hand, it does kind of make a sense. On the other hand, why?" Cisco asks and I had the same thought.

"Why? Why would you ever consider doing this?" Cisco asks.

"You know why." Barry says and I feel the tears sting my eyes.

"So for this to work, how fast would Barry have to go?" Caitlin asks.

"By my estimates, Mach 2 at a minimum." Stein says which I didn't understand, but one look at Caitlin says that that was impossibly fast.

"You've never gone that fast." Caitlin says.

"So, what happens if Barry doesn't reach that speed? I mean, I'm imagining a bug hitting a windshield. How far am I off?" Joe asks and I already know the answer.

"Not very far, I'm afraid." Stein says.

"Let me worry about how fast I need to go." Barry says and I turn to him with furrowed eyebrows and he looks at me.

"Let you worry? You have everyone worried, Barry! Especially me! I don't disrespect your decision, but I can't help but think what our future becomes. I don't want to see you get killed by this thing, but that's not my choice. It's yours." I say and walk out of the Cortex with tears running down my cheeks. I don't like getting angry at him, but I can't help it at this point. I head in the elevator and push the button to go to the lobby, but as I head down, I slide down the wall and hug my knees to my body and cry. I can't hold it in anymore. I can't fake how I feel about all of this. I hate the idea about possibly loosing my boyfriend, but what can I do about it. The doors to the elevator open and sure enough Barry was standing in front. "Tori?" he calls me and I bury my head in my arms hearing his voice and tears keep rolling. Barry sits next to me and I hear the elevator doors close. Everything was quiet and I just feel Barry's eyes on me. "I don't want to see you die, Barry." I say to him and I feel his hand on the small of my back. I let go of my legs and hug Barry tightly with my head on his chest. "I don't want to lose you." I sob and he rubs his hand gently up and down my back."You won't. I promise." he says grabbing my chin and making me face him. He wipes the tears away and I nod and calm down a little. Suddenly Barry's phone vibrates and he looks at me. "We have to go back up." Barry says and I nod and we both stand up and press the button to go back up.

We walk into the room where they were working on the time-machine and Stein looks at us. "We have a problem." he says to us. "What?" Barry asks him and I wonder what the problem is. "There is a danger." Stein says and we all know the danger. "I know. I'm ready to take the risk." Barry says but Stein shakes his head. "No, not just to you, but to everyone." he says and I look at him in confusion. "Wells didn't tell us everything. Barry, even if you do reach the right speed colliding with the hydrogen particle, there is a chance that explosion could create singularity." Stein says.

"What's a singularity?" I ask him.

"It's a black hole." Cisco says and I widen my eyes.

"We could destroy Central City." Barry says to Stein.

"For starters. If we create a singularity here and then cannot control it, we could be looking at a global catastrophe." Stein says and I look down.

"So long, and thanks for all the fish." Cisco says and I look at Barry.

*~*~

We all head into the Cortex and we talk to Wells in his cell. "Sure, there is a bit of a risk." Wells says and I roll my eyes. "I would hardly refer to possibly causing an extinction-level event as "a bit of a risk." Stein says. "Yeah, and your accelerator's been about as reliable as the beater I drove in high school." Joe says and Wells just laughs. "Let me ask you a question. How many metahumans, how many dangers have we faced this year together? Or did you forget that was me fighting alongside each and every one of you? I have been planning this for almost two decades. It will work." Wells says. "And how do we make sure we don't open a black hole in the middle of Central City?" Cisco asks him.

"So, once the wormhole stabilizes, Barry will have one minute and 52 seconds to alter the past and return to this time. If and when he does that, you can close the wormhole and we can live happily ever after." Wells says and I look at Barry and see him smile and shake his head and look down. "Almost two minutes. Almost enough time to save Nora." Wells says. "But not enough to stop you from going home?" Barry says and I look at the monitor again. "Everything's a choice." Wells says to him. "And what if I'm late?" Barry asks him.

"You won't be. I believe in you, Barry. Always have. So I guess the question is, do your friends and family believe in you as much as I do?" he asks and Caitlin turns off the monitor.

I look over to Barry and he walks to the treadmill room. Me and Joe look at each other and walk over to the room. We head in and shut the door behind us and Barry laughs. "So if I don't run fast enough to collide with the particle, then I'm dust. And if I run fast enough but I'm not back here in time a black hole will form, swallow up the city, and possibly the world." Barry says and sighs. "You sure you still wanna look me in the eyes and tell me that this is for the best?" Barry asks. "I'd be lying if I told you I did." Joe says and Barry sits on the treadmill. "I never liked this idea, but I respected your decision. It's still your decision to make, Bar." I say to him and I sit next to him. "Truth is I don't know what to think" Joe says.

"I thought you were the sure one. I-" Barry fades off and rubs his eyes. "I was kind of banking on that when I made my decision the first time." Barry says.

"I was faking it." Joe says and I widen my eyes at him. "Sometimes parents do that. Most of the time, parents do that." he says and I nod.

"When my dad would be away, me and Barry would sleep over at your house and hangout with Iris and you'd fake being happy with us sometimes when we were too loud." I say and Joe nods. "Look, of course I'm scared. But I didn't want you to not help your mother because you were worried about me." Joe says. "Well, I'll always worry about you, Joe, just like you'll always worry about me and Tori." Barry says and I nod. "Sorry, but you can't stop that." Barry says and I grab his hand.

"Do you think I can do this? Do you think I can save my mom? I mean, do you think I'm fast enough?"

"Yes." me and Joe say at the same time.

"We know you are." Joe says and I nod.

"You know, I've dreamed my whole life about saving her, freeing my dad, and I never thought I'd have to lose another parent to do that." Barry says.

"I've always been so focused on everything that I lost that night. But I gained so much too. I was born with one father and that tragedy gave me two others." Barry says talking about Joe and my dad and I start to tear up. "And I don't think I can lose you." Barry tells Joe and then looks at me. "And especially you, Tori." he says and the tears fall down my face. "You will never lose us. Ever. You hear me?" I say and he looks at Joe and he nods. "Ever." Joe says and I lay my head on Barry's shoulder.