Love Through Different Worlds

Decision

If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day
'Til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you  

Time in a bottle - Jim Croce

STAR labs, November 12th, 2014. Earth 2.

"Hi, I'm Cisco. Cisco Ramon." He looked at Barry and smiled.

"Doppelganger! Awesome... Judging by your faces I can guess that you know another me?"

"Yeah, you work with both of us back on our Earth." Caitlin replied, to be followed by Barry saying "You actually helped me get here."

"Oh, awesome, I can guess that you guys need help home, well I can help you with that, I'll be right back."

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Cisco returned wearing some sort of high-tech goggles, and he had a small gadget in his hand. Walking over to Barry, he handed him the device. "This can help control inter-dimensional travel, and to study it. I can imagine you would be interested?"

"Yeah, awesome, thanks", Barry replied, smiling at Caitlin who was next to him.

"So, you guys ready? If you don't mind, I just need to complete a quick body scan on one of you to find some remains of some 'dimensiony particles' that will allow me to tell where you are from."

"Yeah, sure." Caitlin volunteered. 

A few minutes later, everything was set up. Cisco had taken them to a room underneath STAR labs, where a large blue vortex was swirling. Just like the one that Barry had created, except that this one was stable. Cisco told them to get ready, and they stepped up onto the platform, next to the vortex. Cisco activated something on his goggles and pointed his hand towards the vortex.

"Okay, when I say go, jump into the vortex, and trust me from there." 

The pair walked up to the front of the vortex, ready to enter. Still slightly anxious, Caitlin grabbed hold of Barry's hand. 

"GO!!"

They both jumped, closing their eyes in the process.

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Central City, Barry's Lab, 20th of March, 2024 

The pair fell out of a vortex and into Barry's surprisingly still intact lab. In fact, it looked as good as it did before the incident. This time, neither of them passed out, and just stood up from the fall.

"I should probably go and check on my family, they are most likely worried about me", Caitlin exclaimed.

"Yeah, good idea, me too."

"Erm, would you mind if I came by here later?"

"Yeah, of course," Barry said, smiling.

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A lot had happened that day. Both of them had been welcomed back by their co-workers, Felicity, Harrison, and Earth-1 Cisco. Barry had explained everything to his family, everything was okay there. 

"So Cisco, I met someone on Earth-2"

"Oh, yeah, who?"

"I met the doppelgangers of both me and you, not only that, I had super speed and you had the ability to create wormholes to any dimension you chose. You also gave me this," Barry said, showing Cisco the device given to him by the other Cisco. 

Cisco seemed instantly excited by the whole idea of doppelgangers and non-stop asking questions about his. 

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It was late that day, and Barry was in his lab studying some of the particles created by the vortex. This was when he realised how good it was to be home, but at the same time how amazing the thing he had created was. There were literally infinite possibilities to explore, to research. He remembered what he was thinking about before he fell through the vortex, about how he was worried about his life decisions, but now he was happy. He had made something amazing, and wanted to explore it, wanted to enjoy it. He was worried that he would never find someone to love, someone to care about. But he realised that he still had time, time that he shouldn't waste worrying. It was just at this moment, that Caitlin Snow walked in.

"Hey Barry", she said with a large smile.

"Hey", he said, instantly cheered up. Despite not having known her well at all 24 hours ago, his spirits were now lifted when she walked into the room. 

"So, I just wanted to thank you. It's a weird thing to thank you for, but believe it or not, I really enjoyed it all, and you are a great person Barry."

"Thank you, I'm glad you don't want to kill me," he replied as a joke.

"So, I was thinking. The whole reason I did this was because of how my mother was murdered. But I have realised that it may be time to move on and use this for something other than my own revenge-worthy needs. So I have decided that I might go back. Now I have that device that Cisco gave me, I can control it all, and do a lot of research along the way, learn how it all works. I have been worried about not finding love, but I realised that for now, that may be okay. So I guess you could say, I'm going on a journey, but a lot less dramatic than that sounds."

"Oh, cool, I guess a good luck would be helpful?", she said, sounding somewhat disappointed.

"I have to admit it will get quite lonely, travelling through dimensions on my own. But it should be okay, for the research and all. It should be worth it in the end. Well, that is..." He paused for a moment.

"That is unless you want to come with me?"

This made Caitlin's face light up, revealing a large smile on her face.

She thought about it for a moment, even though she honestly knew what her answer was.

"This may not be the answer you would expect, but I really enjoyed our time together. You are an awesome guy Barry.", she, like Barry, paused for a moment.

"And I would love to come along with you."