What Tears Us Apart(Sequel to What Brings Us Together)

Chapter Sixteen: Spoiler Alert

"Ok, a Latte for me, a decaf Flash for Nora, and two Killer Frosts for Laura and Hannah."

"After serving it to you so many times, I figured I had to try it." She told me.

"Isn't it incredible?" I asked. She nodded in agreement. Nora looked down at the lightening bolt drawn in her coffee.

"Wow. Dad's lightening bolt is way cooler than Lightning Lad's." Nora said.

"Yeah, no competition." Hannah agreed.

"Do you think he's gonna be back soon?"

"Well, you know your dad, whenever there's a problem he's gotta run off and fix it." Nora sighed, and I sensed an awkwardness between then. "But, this gives us a chance to connect."

"You're not worried about messing things up like he is?" Nora asked.

"I-well, I just want to get to know you a little." Iris said. "Both of you, because I have a feeling you guys are best friends, right?"

"Have been practically since birth." Nora said, smiling at Hannah.

"And always will be," Hannah said, "Even if you drive me insane sometimes."

"And even if you have a tendency to be a stick in the mud."

"You call it stick in the mud, I call it voice of reason." I chuckled.

"Ok, how about this. We will ask you questions about your lives, and if we're right, you just blink twice. I mean, blinking never broke the timeline, right?" She looked at me.

"Right."

"Ok yeah, I mean, if you guys really want to." Nora said.

"Yeah, I think it'll be really fun."

"Ok, why don't we start with occupations?" I suggested. "Iris, why don't you and Nora go first?"

"Ok, you are...a reporter for a newspaper that you can only read on Instagram." Nora furrowed her eyebrows.

"Um...ok, Hannah, let me guess...you are...a cop." She shook her head. I looked to Iris.

"You're a...a CSI?" Nora blinked.

"You're a CSI. Just like your dad."

"Good choice! You have great taste." I told her. She smiled at me. I turned to Hannah. "Ok, I'm going to go off of Nora's answer and guess that you are a PI." Hannah blinked. "Really? Do you work with your dad?" She blinked again. "So you have an agency together?" She blinked again. "Great! Oh, that's so great, I love that."

"Ok, well what about you and I? Do we-do we like have dinner every Sunday?" Iris asked. I looked at Hannah, asking the same question silently. She blinked. "Do we talk on the phone?" Hannah blinked again, looking slightly more uncomfortable. Based on Nora's reactions, I was starting to see why. "Do we still get coffee at Jitters?" Nora closed her eyes, looking down awkwardly. "Was that a blink?"

"No, I just-I have something in my eye. You know, a coffee in our time at Jitters is forty-three dollars a cup."

"Wow."

"That's one thing Hannah and I really like about now. 2018 is way schway."

"Schway?" I questioned, looking at Iris.

"Oh, yeah, I guess it's a future thing."

"Oh-oh,no. Oh, 'schway'. No, we know, we're hip, we know what schway means." Iris said, silently urging me to play along.

"Right! You know, like 'I'm schway, you're schway'." I said, furrowing my eyebrows.

"We're-we're schway baby." Hannah and Nora looked at each other with furrowed eyebrows.

"It's good to see that you were always cringey, Mom." Hannah told me. I laughed. Nora and Iris exchanged awkward looks. "Oh, and let's see your ring! It's grandma's, right?"

"Yeah, yeah it is. I mean, it feels weird being engaged when we haven't even met each other's parents yet."

"You haven't met grandma?" Hannah asked. I shook my head.

"We just hadn't gotten around to it. A lot was going on with DeVoe and then your dad...you know...died there for a little while."

"Mr. Dibny died?" Nora asked. A pang of guilt went through my stomach. Nora seemed more interested in talking to me than she did her own mom.

~~~

We got a call from Caitlin and Cisco that the tachyon enhancer was ready, so it was time to send Nora and Hannah home. I was a little sad, but I know I'll get to see her eventually.

"I can't believe I'm wearing the same tachyon enhancer my dad used when you two met Supergirl for the first time." She told me.

"I remember that! That was fun." I confirmed.

"All set." 

"Wait, what happened to the second version? The smaller one that was inside the emblem of my dad's second suit? Um, if he wore that one he could harness tachyons and share them with me."

"Hey, fangirl, relax." Cisco said, holding up what she was talking about. "We know."

"Did all these suits shrink?" Barry asked, coming into the room with Ralph trailing behind him. "And why does it smell so bad?" 

"Because it's the one you used when you swam against King Shark." Nora told him.

"Oh yeah, yeah."

"Flash, Zoom wants you dead." They both chuckled.

"Yeah."

"I know King Shark is technically a bad guy, but you should see, just wait. When he fights Grodd-"

"Dude!" Hannah interrupted. "Spoiler alert!" 

"We should get going, actually, let's..." Hannah came to a stop in front of us.

"It was really cool meeting you guys before you became the parents that I know. I can't wait to see you again, both back in my time and as a baby." I smiled at her and Ralph put an arm on my back. "Sorry I haven't gotten to talk to you a whole lot, Dad."

"That's probably my fault. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this whole time travel thing. But we've got your whole life to get to know each other." She nodded before jumping forward and wrapping her arms around our necks.

"I love you guys." She pulled away. "I don't expect you to reciprocate those feelings. You haven't had time to properly fall in love with me yet, but you will."

"Oh my gosh, she is your daughter." I told Ralph, who rolled his eyes. Hannah turned around and I looked at the others.

"I'm sorry we didn't get to spend more time together." Iris told her.

"Oh, it's fine, Mom. We spend our whole lives together." I felt bad for Iris. Her relationship with Nora seems distant and broken. Nora quickly hugged Barry.

"Alright." They put their masks on and Hannah jumped on Barry's back.

"This is fine," She said, "Not degrading at all." I laughed, and Ralph wrapped an arm around my waist.

"We're gonna be kick-butt parents one day." He whispered in my ear.

"Let's just focus on getting married first." I replied. Cisco opened the door to the pipeline and Nora activated the Tachyon enhancer. They sped off, Barry's lightening yellow, and Nora's a mixture of purple and yellow.

"Did they already leave?" I looked up to see Wally had sped into the room, back from taking Nora's DNA sample to the Wave rider.

"Yeah, why? What's up?" Iris asked.

"We have to stop them."