Short on Time

Chapter 123

"Who is this guy?" Lucia asked as Barry and I explained what happened in the time vault. 

"You'd think I'd remember what baby me saw," Esther muttered. 

"The Monitor?" Cisco asked. 

"Where did you see him again?" Iris asked. 

"We went in the Time Vault, right after putting Chester in the MAC," Barry explained. "The Crisis that he spoke about last year, it's the same one in the plinth's newspaper. And it's not coming in 2024. It's coming December tenth, 2019."  

"Are you sure about this?" Cisco asked. 

"The jackass lied to you," Frost said simply. 

"We thought so, too, but Barry went to Earth-3, and Jay Garrick helped him see that it was true," I explained. 

"How did he do that?" Cisco asked. 

"Jay projected my mind forward into the future," Barry said. 

"Okay," Iris said. "What did you see?" 

"I saw a giant wave of anti-matter sweeping over our Earth," Barry said. "Vaporized all of Central City and everybody in it. Including you all of you."

"Great," Frost said as she stood up and walked away. "I'll go mark my calendar."

"We still have seven weeks to make sure none of this happens," I said quickly. 

"Guys, Barry's right," Iris said as she looked at me. "We've changed the future before. We can change it again."

"So, what else did our Asgardian cosplayer say?" Ralph asked as his phone buzzed.

"That was pretty much it," Barry sighed. 

"It's Joe," Ralph said. "Needs me at CCPD, but that can wait. We-we need to get on this."

"Yeah, we should spend every minute we have on this," Cisco said. 

"No," I said quickly as I grimaced in pain. "What we should do is take a well-deserved time-out and come back tomorrow with clear heads."

"Okay," Cisco said. 

"If you think so," Ralph agreed as they left. 

"What now?" Lucia asked, and then we saw an ice dagger impale itself onto the wall. 

"Good place to start," I said as I stood up, and then groaned in pain. 

"That can't be good," Esther said as they both jumped up.

"Just Braxton hicks," I said. "They're practice contractions, had them a lot with you."

"Are you sure about that?" Lucia asked with concern. 

"You are due soon," Iris said. 

"This week," Barry added.

"Fine," I said again, as I cringed.

"Why don't we go and put you on bed rest?" Iris suggested. 

"I'm coming with, you might need a speedster," Lucia said, and I rolled my eyes. 

"Just give me a minute," I said.

"Mum," Esther said in an annoyed tone.

"Go make sure Frost doesn't freeze something expensive," I told her. 

The three women all gave me a tense look but left, well mostly. "I'll wait for you outside," Iris said.

"Ginger," Barry said as soon as they left. "What is so important that you couldn't go lay down. This can't be good for you."