A Speedster's Past and A World's Future (A Young Justice Fan Fiction)

Chapter 3

It was Sunday evening and Iris had been cooking a big meal all day. Wally and the Garricks were joining them for dinner. Having four speedsters over meant that she would need a lot of food. Luckily, she had two very good helpers. "Wait... I thought you cooked pasta in the oven?" Well, she had one good helper. And one husband who meant well...

Iris laughed and pulled the pot out of the oven and put it on the stove. "It goes here, dear."

"Oh..." Barry grinned "Oops?"

She smiled "It's ok, why don't you just cut up the vegetables and leave the cooking to Bart and I?"

"Fine..." he pouted as he walked over to the cutting board and chopped carrots at super speed.

"How does this look?" she went over to Bart who had been separating eggs for her.

"That looks great Bart!" she took the bowl from him. "Did you help your mom in the kitchen a lot growing up?"

"Huh? Oh uh..." he rubbed the back of his neck "Not really no. Most of what I've learned is... self-taught..."

~flash back~

"Which part is the egg white?"

"The clear liquid on the inside," Nathanial answered.

"Shouldn't the outside part be the egg white? Cause you know, it's actually white?" he asked.

Nathanial laughed, "no that's the shell. You don't eat that part."

While they were walking Bart had found an old cookbook. He was fascinated by it and ogled at all of the different dishes. He was committed to memorizing every page.

"Wow..." Bart was practically drooling when he turned to the page with French toast. "This all looks so good! Have you had some of this stuff?"

Nathanial nodded. "Yeah, a lot of the dishes in that book were very popular in the past. I was always fond of pizza, that was on one of the earlier pages."

"Nathanial," Bart started "Do you think I'll like the past?"

He smiled "I think you'll love it..."

~end flash back~

"That's nice." Iris smiled at him. "So, did you cook for your parents often?"

"Yeah... every once and a while..." he turned back to what he was doing without another word. Iris was concerned that she had said something wrong. But she couldn't think of what it could be...

~time skip~

"Yes!" Wally grinned "I love Aunt Iris' meatloaf!"

Iris and Bart had just finished putting all the food on the table. Iris smiled at him "Thank you Wally, but it really isn't anything special."

Jay laughed "Iris you don't give yourself enough credit! You're an amazing cook! Sometimes Joan and I wonder if that was the reason Barry married you!" they all laughed.

Barry blushed "That wasn't the only reason... but it was a perk..."

"Iris you shouldn't be working so hard." Joan worried. "What with the twins on the way."

She smiled "I'm ok. Besides, Bart was a great help. He did a lot of the heavy lifting for me." She gave him a kiss on the cheek as he took a seat between her and Wally.

He was blushing like crazy. "It was nothing really..."

Wally bumped him in the arm "Give yourself some credit too. Us speedsters are almost never allowed to help in the kitchen!"

Iris and Joan rolled their eyes "That's because the three of you have a nasty habit of eating everything before it's even been cooked!" they all blushed "Bart was very good and didn't eat a thing before it was ready. He was very polite."

Wally huffed "I bet it was an act..." Bart stuck his tongue out at him and Wally smacked him on the head. They all started laughing.

~time skip~

When the food was getting passed around, somehow three giant pieces of meatloaf had gotten stacked onto his plate. Plus, a pile of mashed potatoes, several spoonsful of green beans, and a few pieces of bread. It all looked so good, but he knew he wouldn't be able to eat it all...

~flash back~

"Here Bart, I know you speedsters need to eat a lot." It was his second day in the past and Mrs. Garrick had made dinner.

"Thank you." He let her put another helping of spaghetti onto his plate, which he then ate.

Unfortunately, a few minutes later he didn't feel so good. He quickly excused himself and ran off to the bathroom. He spent the next five minutes throwing up everything he had just eaten. After that, he quickly learned that his stomach was not able to hold as much as normal speedsters. Or normal people for that matter...

~end flash back~

"Bart you need to eat more than that..." it had been a few minutes since they had started eating and Barry noticed that Bart was now just pushing the food around on his plate.

He looked up and saw that everyone was looking at him. "I uh... I'm just not that hungry..."

"You know..." Barry continued "You never seem hungry. You're a speedster, you should be eating all the time, but you don't. Why is that?"

"Umm..." Bart bit his lip "Not sure really..." he went back to eating so that the would stop asking him questions. It seemed to work, and they went back to their own conversations. However, after just a few more bites Bart started to feel sick. He quickly ran to the bathroom and immediately started throwing up.

Everyone was concerned when Bart suddenly got up from the table and ran upstairs. "I'll go check on him..." Barry stood up and walked upstairs. He saw the light was on in the bathroom "Bart? You ok?" there wasn't an answer, but he heard something strange. He twisted the handle and saw it was unlocked. When he walked in, he found Bart kneeling in front of the toilet throwing up.

Barry kneeled next to him and rubbed small circles on his back. Once he was finished he handed him a towel and helped him clean up. It was then that he noticed Bart was crying. "Hey, it's ok..."

Bart sniffled "I'm sorry...'

Barry put a hand on his shoulder "What are you sorry for?"

Bart looked down "Grandma worked so hard, and I couldn't even eat it..."

"That's nothing to feel sorry for..." Barry wrapped him in a hug "But I do want the truth, you didn't get sick out of the blue, did you?"

He shook his head "I get sick when I eat too much..."

Barry raised an eyebrow "But you hardly ate anything..."

Bart sighed "In the future... we don't eat as much as people do now. My body has gotten used to that. So, when I came here... It looks like I don't eat a lot..."

Barry was concerned "Why don't people eat as much?'

Bart bit his lip "It's um... for health reasons..."

"I see..." that would explain why Bart never seemed like he was hungry, but Barry wasn't sure he believed his story.

"I uh... I think I'm going to head on to bed if that's alright...?" Bart asked.

Barry smiled "That's fine, go ahead. I hope you feel better..."

"Thanks." A second later he had run off to his room.

When Barry walked downstairs, everyone was waiting to hear what had happened. "We need to talk about Bart..."

After Barry had explained what Bart had said, they all shared the different things they had noticed as well. Iris mentioned him only wearing long sleeve shirts. Wally said that Tim told him Bart got really spacey sometimes. Jay and Joan also pointed out how Bart wouldn't know the names for everyday things or places. If one thing was for sure, something wasn't right with Bart...

(A/N - Hey guys! :) I hope you liked it! :) Stay crash and don't feel the mode!)