Tricks of Fate

Chapter 36

[Six years later]

Iris finished placing the candles on the cake when a gust of wind sent her curls flying behind her.

"Come on you two. You know I don't want you running around the house." she said and the mini cyclone slowed before it completely faded. In the middle of it all stood her perfect little bundles of joy filled energy.
"Why aren't you two outside with your friends?" she asked as they both took a seat opposite her on the island.

"We wanted to tell you something mommy," Dawn said, her wild hair mirroring that of her mother. She looked across at her mother but kept her eyes down, a sign (Iris knew) that she was nervous. Iris looked from her daughter to her son and Don gave her a meaningful look confirming her suspicions that Dawn was the one with a story to tell and Donovan was simply there to offer his sister moral support.

The twins have been inseparable since birth and their opposing personalities made their bond unbreakable. They completed eachother, balancing out eachothers traits and that made them eachothers best friend. The sound of the garage door opening announces Barry's arrival and Iris smiles at how in sync they are. She was just looking for an excuse to get Dawn alone.

"Donovan why don't you go and see if daddy needs help with the groceries?" she instructs and getting the hint he quietly slides down the high chair and zooms out.
"Be careful!" she called out after him but he was already gone. Iris rounds the island and takes a seat next to baby Dawn, wrapping her arms around the little person. In a soft voice she asked,
"So my little ray of sunshine. What did you have to tell me?"

"I had a bad dream." Dawn whispered and Iris brought her daughter onto her lap for a hug.

"Aww honey. That's alright, it was just a dream. Nothings going to hurt you. Daddy and I will always keep you safe," Iris reassured her and even then, six years later, a Nora sized part of her heart still ached a little when she made that promise.

"I know that but this dream just felt different. It felt real. It felt like it happened before," Dawn persisted.

"What happened before?" Barry queried as he walked into the kitchen and placed some grocery bags on the counter.

"The bad dream that Dawn had," Iris answered, looking up at him concerned.

"Oh no, my princess had a bad dream?" Barry dramatised as he took the seat Dawn was previously in.

"Do I need to have another talk with the Sandman?" he asked, in a playfully serious tone and Dawn chuckled.

"No daddy. It's fine. Mr. Sandman didn't give me this dream. I did."

"What do you mean princess?" Barry asked, echoing Iris's confusion.

"Well it's a dream I always have on my birthday I just never remember it. Till now." she explained while she played with a lock of her hair.

"Baby, tell mommy and daddy everything. What happens in your dream?" Iris asks.

"Well. When it starts I'm at a place I don't know in the middle of no where and there's fluffy clouds everywhere. I have big white wings with pretty feathers and a pretty white dress. Then I'm sleeping on a cloud and looking down into a hole with lots of water and mommy and daddy are in the water. So I reach in to touch you and I fall in. Don was looking down at me and he tired to catch me but I was falling too quickly. When I'm falling, it doesn't feel like I'm falling into a dark hole. It feels like I'm falling into the sun cause everything is so bright that I have to close my eyes. Then Smash! I hit the floor and that's always when I wake up." she explained leaving her parents speechless.

Barry is the first one to regain his composure so he takes Dawn from Iris and carries her towards the sliding glass door that leads to the back yard.

"That's not a bad dream baby, it's a good one. So don't be scared OK?" he assures her and she nods before asking,

"How is it a good dream daddy?" Barry thinks about his answer for a while.

"One day, when you're a little bigger than you are today mommy and daddy will tell you the story of how we met and then we'll explain why its a good dream. For now all you need to know is, that the dream is telling you that you're a special little girl," he finally said.

"Now run along, Don was with aunt Patty and I'm sure she'd love to see you," he added. Dawn's face lit up and as soon as her father put her down she rushed out to join the party. Barry went back to the kitchen and, not surprisingly, found it completely empty.
He went in search of his wife and found her in their bedroom staring wide and teary eyed at two photos in her hand.

She looked up at him as the tears streamed down her face and incredulously declared,

"It's her."

Barry made himself comfortable on her bed and looked at the pictures in her hand. One of them featured the twins on their fourth birthday. They were hugging eachother and smiling brightly at the camera. The other he recognized as the picture from the locket he had given Iris in Star City on the night of the book launch. A younger, more naïve version of himself stared back at him with a care free smile and on his back rested a cheerful Nora. The resemblance hit him immidiately he couldn't breathe as he looked back and forth between the two photos. The girls were identical. The same searching eyes, the same untamed hair, the same heart warming smile.

"Dawn is Nora," he breathed out and Iris nodded with her eyes closed against the flow of tears.

"It all makes sence now," she sobbed.
"How she called us mommy and daddy, the connection she had with our parents, the feeling we had, like she was apart of us. She was ours from the start, she just hadn't been born yet," Iris explained.

"So she was an angel waiting to be reborn. She was our daughters soul that had fallen by chance. That's why she was made of energy. And now she's..."

"Here with us." Iris cut him off.
"I carried her Barr. I grew Nora inside me for nine months. We've been raising our little girl this whole time," she added as she remembered the feeling of the twins kicking inside her. Iris had found out she was pregnant one month after they lost Nora and her children helped her find the will to live again but Nora's memory was still a wound she had to live with. And now here she was, finding out that their little girl had been there all along. All the birthdays where her and Barry had visited her grave without the twins. All the sunshine filled days at the park. Their kids first day at school and their first teeth. Their wedding. In all those moments they wondered what it would have been like if Nora had been there. Now they knew, she was, and suddenly they saw those moments in a new light.

"Iris, she saved us." Barry realised out loud. "Our daughter saved our lives. I've been dying of guilt all this time, thinking that maybe if I'd been a little stronger, or if we'd just taken that monster out the first time that, that..." Barry broke off as the realisation sunk in.

"We don't have to be guilty anymore Barr. She came back to us. Our baby came back."
Barry smiled through the tears before embracing Iris who returned his hug with just as much warmth and happiness. They shared a quiet moment as they thanked the universe for bringing her back to them and for giving them a second chance with her.

The couple made their way outside to join their family and friends as they celebrated the twins fifth year of life. As the crowd sang "Happy Birthday" and the twins blew out the candles everyone cheered at how far they'd both come. In their hearts, Barry and Iris shared a secret celebration of their own. A celebration of life and second chances. A celebration because for the first time since that dreadful night they finally knew the answer to every question they had regarding their loss. Somethings in life weren't ment to be explained. They're simply tricks of fate.

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And so we've reached the end.
Thank you so much for staying by me and allowing me to take you on this journey I trully appreciate it.
Until next time shippers 😍
Ship-ya-later
XOXO
💜💜💜💜