Within Seconds: Sylas & Allen

Hoe Don't Do It

"And we aren't handing over Kendra and Carter, so what's the plan?" asked Parker.

"I don't know. That's why I should probably be in the house," said Barry. A glance over at Parker struggling to get on the saddle caused him to stop his work. Feeling his eyes on her, she turned. He raised his eyebrow, offering his help. Parker rolled her eyes and nodded. He lifted her body on the horse.

Mildly shocked by his ease, she made an impressed noise. "Yes, I lift. You, almost every day," laughed Barry. "Nah, I guess some strength came with the fast running."

"I expect your leg muscles to be excessively nice," she said.

"Oh, they are, wanna see?" asked Barry eagerly.

Laughing, she declined. Instead, she waited quietly for Barry to mount his own horse, then they were riding beside one another, in the direction of the fading sunset. For a while, a peaceful silence matched the serenity filled surroundings. The sounds of nature, the sunset-- it was something not often seen in the city. To be together, in such a place, brought Parker and Barry to a point of peace they thought couldn't be achieved.

At last, Parker broke the silence. "Anything you wanna tell me?"

"Are you accusing me of something?" asked Barry.

"I wasn't, but you seem defense," said Parker, glaring at the side of his head. "Got a side hoe I should know about?"

"No, I don't have a side hoe, Park. But I guess there's some things I should mention to you," he said.

"What things?" she asked.

"It can wait until later. It's just.." he trailed off. "Stuff."

Parker chuckled. "Okay, Rick Grimes. Could you be more vague?"

Barry cracked a short smile. "Park, on my way to the warehouse, when we met with Savage, it happened again."

"What happened again?"

A faint troubled call in the distance from Cisco interrupted their talk. Without having to glance at each other, their horses were kicked into a quick gallop, racing back to the farm.

"Cisco!" yelled Parker when she saw him waiting by the barn. "What's wrong?"

"Where were you two?!" he yelled. "You missed the whole 'save the world, or turn my girlfriend over to an immortal psychopath' briefing!"

"We needed some time alone," Barry defended. "Look, I need my voices of reason right now."

Cisco glared at Barry. "About what?"

"I ghosted last night," mumbled Barry.

"Oh, no, don't say it," pleaded Cisco.

"I think I'm going to time jump."

"I just said don't say it," said Cisco dryly.

Barry slid off the horse. "I just don't know what else I'm supposed to--"

"The first rule of time travel is that we do not talk about time travel, because you're not doing it," Parker said.

"Not only that, but by having this conversation, we are screwing history," Cisco said.

"I know that time travel has consequences, I mean, the last time you vibed--" started Barry.

He was interrupted by Cisco. "Well, I'm not vibing anything right now," said Cisco. He took a breath, following the two and their horses into the barn. "All right. Let's all stop panicking. A: you don't know that you time jumped for a bad reason. It could have been a good one, right?"

"When has it ever been good?" asked Parker.

Cisco shot her an unhelpful look. "B: now that you know you've time jumped, you might not doing it. So knowing the future might change the present, which might change the future."

Barry's face twisted. "What?"

Cisco held the same pained look. "My head hurts."

"I know one thing for sure," Parker said. "In twenty four hours, you're going to run me to somewhere I'm safe. I want to be as far away as possible."

Cisco took the liberty to explain to a confused Barry. "There are many reasons we think you may run back, but there's one we know for sure.."

"I'd run back to save her," finished Barry.

"And I won't take the chance of you changing the timeline again," Parker said.

"Even with you out of the way, what if I still have to?" he asked.

"You won't, not with Team Arrow backing you up," she insisted. Exiting the house, Oliver Queen jogged towards the group. "Speak of the Devil.."

"Barry, can I borrow you?" asked Oliver, his voice holding a forced niceness to it.

Parker caught Barry's hand before he had the chance to follow. "Promise you won't change the timeline if something happens to me," she whispered.

Barry kissed her forehead. "You know I can't do that."