Within Seconds: Flashpoint Edition

Time May Change You

Barry only found her because he missed his Parker. He was fully aware that not everything was going to be the same when he changed the timeline. Despite it, he prayed Parker was going to share a range of the same aspects as his own girl. He was desperate while with her to find similarities and fall in love with those. 

But, as he sat across from her, nitpicking her mannerisms and the way she was, Barry found it within himself to quit. He accepted that she was going to be different, because of the actions he took against the timeline. For the first time since he arrived, he thought that, perhaps, he could open himself up to fall in love with this Parker, too. 

Parker cleared her throat, softly letting the plastic fork fall from her hands. She clasped her hands on the table and pushed her back straight. She looked down on him, over her glasses. If Barry wouldn't have known about her job, it was the way she looked at him that would have gave it away. 

"How long have you been a teacher?" interrupted Barry. 

Parker raised her eyebrow. "Uh... A little under a year. I only graduated last year."

"You've really got the intimidating look down," he praised. 

"Yeah, it's great because of my little..." she started to stay, then came to a stop and cleared her throat. "Right, so, at some point during this encounter I was going to have to ask you to elaborate on the whole, 'missing' me thing."

"Why did you just air quote me?" laughed Barry. 

Parker dropped her head into her hands. She raised her head, the curve on her lips obvious, but a serious look continued to live within her eyes. She struggled to find the words, to convey the confusion by Barry's insistence to see her. 

"You and I haven't spoken since senior year, Barry Allen. Senior year. That's six years that we haven't talked, texted, e-mailed, uh, I don't know, sent a carrier pigeon--"

Barry failed to hide his soft exhale. A joke. He had never been happier to hear such a thing in his life. It was a Parker tendency to over-exaggerate in a ramble. Hearing this Parker do it, to unknowingly channel the other her, doused the hopeful fire in his heart to rage. 

"--and I don't know why. I have no idea why you would be the one to come back to me, after I left you. I mean, at the school, that was the first I ever spoke to you since that letter..."

"Oh, yeah. The letter," said Barry flatly. Underneath the table, he scribbled 'letter' on his arm with a pen. "Uh, I don't know. I just thought it was time we get over everything and talk."

"But why?" breathed Parker. "I left you. I left you with a goodbye in a letter, I changed my phone number, I moved, I did everything so you wouldn't find me again, and now you come back? How have you forgiven me for that?"

"Because I found out about them."

"No. Barry, you found out about them when we met at the school. The reason you searched for me is different than just seeing them," she disagreed. 

He scratched his head. "Well, you certainly thought about this. Okay. I guess it's no use to lie, huh?"

"No," she said instantly. "Six years, Barry. That's what I don't understand. Why have you just chosen now to get over what happened? Why haven't you moved on?"

"Did you expect me to?" he wondered. 

"We were high school sweethearts, which, yeah, meant something, but--"

"Did you?" 

Parker fell silent. She lowered her head to tuck her fallen strands of hair behind her hair again. Her obvious avoidance of the question told him everything. 

"Well?" tempted Barry.

"No, I didn't," she said, irritated. 

"Why's that?"

"Because--!" she stopped, again, from speaking about her children. 

"You can talk to me about them, Parker. You don't have to hide them from me anymore. You did enough of that for six years."

"They're not yours," denied Parker. 

"Like hell they aren't," he argued. 

"We had sex once, Barry, that doesn't automatically mean they belong to you."

"Are you implying you were sexually active during or directly after you left me?"

"...Yes."

"Parker," chuckled Barry. "Come on. I'm still me. I'm sure there was a time where you and I trusted each other with everything, where we were honest with one another about it all. Time can't change that."

"I don't know what you want me to say. I dated you from sophomore until senior year, we were each other's first everything, and I was in love with you. You were my first time. You know that I left you."

"And what happened after that?"

"I went to college in Keystone. The school district there doesn't have a good reputation and I want them to go somewhere I don't have to overly worry about them, so I came back here. I found a job. I brought my babies back to my home."

"'Was'?" mumbled Barry.

"What?" asked Parker. 

"'I was in love with you,'" he quoted. 

Parker frowned. "What do you want me to say to that?"

"I still do," he whispered, avoiding her eye. 

"It's not as though I don't, Bar. Some part of me is always going to feel something for you. Always," she admitted. 

"Parker?" he asked hopefully. 

"Present," she sighed. 

"Those kids are six years old. If they're mine, that means six years that you kept them from me. That's six years I've missed out with our children," he told her. 

Parker opened her mouth to protest. 

"I'm going to ask one more time, one last time. If you tell me right now they're not mine, I won't ask again."

Parker agreed. 

"Are those children mine?"

"No."

"Parker," said Barry pointedly. 

"I am the Virgin Mary. My twins came from my loins all by themselves."

"I made sure you weren't the Virgin Mary, and you don't even have loins."

Parker took a sassy swig of her drink. "Then it's a miracle, isn't it?"

Barry rolled his eyes. "Can I ask you another question?"

"If you have to."

"Can I meet them?"

Parker bit her lip. 

"Are you really going to make me buy more gifts to convince you?"

"I'll tell you what," she decided. "If you let me buy you ice cream right now, then they're yours to meet."

"How could I ever pass that up?"