chapter forty-four ; the final verdict
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The two cousins were sat on the floor amidst a pile of scattered notebooks, journals, magazines, tablets, Snapple bottles and empty packages of chocolate truffles. Natalie smiled at the familiar 'pop' of the cap when she twisted it off, the sweet taste of kiwi-strawberry putting her back in a happier mood as the two girls sorted through things. Caitlin huffed as she watched her cousin, "Remember it's just gonna be simple. No chairs, no aisle, no band, no-
"-no big guests or fancy reception. I got it. Jeez, you'd think I don't know how to plan a wedding," Natalie said before she scribbled down some names of dress stores, a red marker placed in her mouth as she switched it out for the pencil.
"You don't know how to plan a wedding," Caitlin mumbled.
Natalie stopped writing, the marker falling from her mouth as snapped her head up, "I've been planning both of our weddings since we were eight."
Caitlin furrowed her brows, "Why mine?"
"Because you were too busy playing with your chemistry set."
Her cousin glared at her before peeking over at what Natalie was writing, "Oh, I already have a dress. I bought one before the particle accelerator blew. I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of it afterward.. but I guess it's a good thing now."
Natalie moved her pencil tip roughly across the paper, cringing as she heard it rip through the page, "You're supposed to tell me these things before hand, Cait. Anyways, that's probably better. You like the dress and we'll just get it tailored. Now go call this number and schedule an appointment."
As her cousin walked away, the brunette opened another box of chocolate, her mouth open ready to scream when, in a gust of wind, the box had disappeared from her lap.
"Watcha doing?" Barry asked as he sat in the chair in front of her, popping a chocolate truffle into his mouth.
Natalie pushed herself off of the floor, walking up and snatching the box out of his hand to take back her comfort food, "Wedding planning."
Barry leaned back as he placed both of his hands behind his head, "We don't have to get married to have kids, babe. It doesn't matter which order we go in. But to be honest, I don't think my dad meant he wants grand kids now. And Joe certainly won't be too happy about 'little Allen's'-"
The brunette paused herself, the truffle hovering in front of her open mouth before she closed it, "Sweetie, the wedding isn't ours. It's Caitlin and Ronnie's." Barry looked confused at the new information before he let out a small laugh.
He scratched the back of his neck, smiling to himself as he watched her concentrate on planning, her nose scrunching whenever she read something. Barry shifted himself off of the chair and crossed his legs as he sat on the floor beside her, resting his head on her shoulder, "Are you ever gonna tell me?"
Natalie rubbed at her nose, trying to scratch an itch and unintentionally smudged the black marks on as she did so, "Barry to be honest, I don't care what order things happen in. I love kids and I love you but I don't think now is really the right time-"
"Nat." The brunette snapped her head towards Barry, who laughed upon seeing the marks on her face. He chuckled as he used his sleeve to wipe them off, earning him a kiss from his girlfriend. "Nat, I wasn't talking about kids and marriage..but if you want to talk about that.." The speedster took a deep breath as he struggled to spit out the question, knowing fully well how hard it was for the brunette to answer in the car, "Natalie," he started as he took her hands and lowered his voice, "I need to know what you think I should do. I've spoken to Joe, my dad, and Iris, but you haven't told me. I can't make this decision without my whole heart in it, and you have my heart.."
Natalie looked at the floor, her lips forming into a tight smile, "That was really cheesy, Bare."
"Come on, Nat. Be serious," Barry urged.
She sighed as she leaned into him, Barry wrapping his arms around her as he pulled her into his lap. Closing her eyes as all of the thoughts and possibilities flooded into her mind, she had no trouble imagining that if Barry went back, they would never meet. Sure, she would still come to Central City to be near Caitlin, but what were the chances that she would bump into Barry? And if he never lived with Joe, then certainly he would fall in love with his best friend, and not a want for love but a real love. "I can't tell you that, Barry," Natalie whispered as Barry rocked her.
Barry shifted so that he could press his lips to her cheek, "And why not?"
"Because if I tell you, it might not be what you want," Natalie answered simply as she held tightly onto his arm.
"I know that," Barry huffed, "I just need someone to tell me what to do."
Natalie tilted her head so that their noses brushed against one another, her brown eyes meeting his green. "Barry, you're a grown man. You have the ability to move faster than the speed of sound but you're taking this long to make a decision?"
Her boyfriend groaned, "You give me this look like you're finally going to tell me and then you make a sarcastic remark."
Despite the situation shadowing the two, Natalie couldn't help but giggle at his comment, "I wasn't being sarcastic so much as asking a real question." She played with his fingertips as silence fell over them, "I want to make this clear that I will not tell you what my opinion is on you going to save your mom. The question you should be asking is what do you think you should do. You said you couldn't make this decision without your whole heart in it, but you do. I'm telling you that after all of your hard work helping others, help yourself. It's okay to selfish, Barry. You're human. I'm not gonna hold you back from that.. And something tells me that you already know what your decision is.
Barry nodded his head against her shoulder, "I'm just scared."
"I know," Natalie said as she looked back up at him from their hands, "But the final verdict is always going to strike fear into people's hearts."
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"According to Wells' calculations, Barry super speeds inside the accelerator ring. Once Barry reaches optimum speed, we then launch a hydrogen proton into the accelerator. Once the collision happens, a wormhole forms.. opening a gateway to time itself," Professor Stein explained as the group gathered in the Cortex. After Natalie and Barry's heart-to-heart, the speedster left to have a talk with his reverse, who then explained to him how he was going to travel back in time.
Natalie stared up at the modeled scenario, wincing every time the particle and dot representing Barry collided. She looked back to Barry as he spoke to Cisco, "What do you think?"
Their long-haired friend sat glumly at the computer desk, his hands plastered to either side of his face, "On the one hand, it does make a kind of sense. On the other hand, why? Why? Why would you ever consider doing this?"
Barry sighed, "You know why."
"And you. How could you let him go through with this?" Cisco asked as he focused on Natalie.
She was silent for a moment, the two friend's eyes locking and she desperately wanted to say that she didn't want Barry to go through with it, but instead she smiled sadly. "It's not my choice to make."
"So for this to actually work, how fast would Barry have to go?" Caitlin asked as she sensed the slight change in mood.
"At my estimate, Mach 2 at a minimum," the professor answered, causing Caitlin to grimace.
"You've never gone that fast," she noted as she looked at her speeding friend.
Natalie bit her lip and raised her hand slightly in the air, "Um.. for those of us who aren't geniuses like most of you are.. how fast is that exactly?" Joe nodded in approval of her question.
Professor Stein pulled his lips into a thin line, "...roughly around 1,522 miles per hour."
"Holy shit," Natalie muttered as her eyes widening, her hand covering her mouth when she realized she had cussed. Normally she didn't use the strong curse words in front of a crowd of people. "Pardon my language, but I mean.."
"It's completely understandable, Ms. Reed," Stein said.
"So what happens if Bare doesn't reach that speed," Joe asked, voicing the question that Natalie pondered as well. "I mean, I'm imagining a bug hitting a wind shield. How far off of that map?"
The professor shook his head, "Not very far."
As Barry, Cisco, and Ronnie headed off to another part of the complex to build a time machine for Wells to travel home with, the two cousin's journeyed around town to check off some things for the small wedding. Caitlin had picked out a bouquet of flowers in her favorite color, gotten her dress fitted, and even picked out a dress for Natalie, which she had insisted on her wearing. As the two girls entered the cake shop, both of their phones went off, one after another, alerting the two to get back to S.T.A.R. Labs.
"You take the car," Natalie said with a nod of her head. "I'll finish up everything here and catch a cab." Caitlin smiled at her gratefully and gave her a quick hug before dashing out to her car.
After making the arrangements for the cake, which included bribing the baker to use their Great Aunt Karen's special wedding cake recipe, Natalie hurried her way through the halls of S.T.A.R. Labs after she had practically jumped out of the car.
"Okay, I'm here. What's the- What's problem?" Natalie heaved as she bent over, hand placed on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. "God I need to workout more." Her sudden arrival drew the attention of the many gathered around in the Cortex.
Barry handed her a bottle of water as he helped her over to a chair, pulling her onto his lap so that she was more comfortable in her usual curled up position. He stroked her hair softly and kissed the top of her forehead, "There's a risk with our plan, Nat."
She shifted her head on his chest so that she could face him, "We already knew that, Bare."
"No," he said as he shook his head. "According to Professor Stein, there's a chance that we could create a blackhole."
"What?" she asked, her eyes widened and frantic at the sudden information. Professor Stein nodded his head, "Well hopefully we'll get some answers." The brunette looked up at her boyfriend, confused at the professor's response until the said man pressed a button and the live feed of Dr. Wells in his cell was being streamed on the screen in front of the group.
Natalie and the rest of the group listened carefully as the professor and the doctor argued over the risk of the singularity, the bickering seeming to go nowhere and earn no answers.
"Let me ask you a question," Dr. Wells began as he leaned against a wall of his containment cell, "How many dangers did we face this year together? Or did you forget that was me, fighting alongside each and every one of you."
The brunette scrambled up out of Barry's lap, walking closer to the screen and crossed her arms, "That means absolutely nothing. It was all for your benefit and the only reason you did that was so you could get Barry close to you, to know every strength and weakness of his. To make him believe in you."
Dr. Wells shook his head and laughed, "It may have been how this started, but once I got to know Barry and Caitlin and Cisco and Ronnie.. dare I say, even you.. I've grown to care for all of you." He sighed as he saw the displeased expression on her face, "I have been planning this for almost two decades. Trust me, it will work."
Natalie scoffed and then nodded in approval after Cisco had spoken up, "And how do we make sure we don't open a blackhole in the middle of Central City?"
"So, once the wormhole stabilizes, Barry will have one minute and fifty-two seconds to alter the past and return to his time." The group looked around in disbelief at his words as Dr. Wells continued to speak. "If and when he does that, you can close the wormhole. And we can all live happily ever after. One minute and fifty-two seconds. More than enough time to save Nora."
"But not enough time to stop you from going home," Barry concluded.
Dr. Wells held his hands out and smiled smugly, "Everything's a choice."
Barry shook his head and gritted his teeth, "And what if I'm, late?"
"You won't be. I believe in you," Dr. Wells answered simply. Natalie felt immediately guilty, like she was betraying herself, when she thought she heard an ounce of sincerity in his words. "Always have. The question is, do your friends and family believe in you as much as I do?"
"Oh please," Natalie said as she clenched her jaw, grabbing the remote from off of the desk and clicking off the screen, erasing Dr. Wells' image from view.
She turned around, hearing a groan and saw the back end of Barry slip into the training room. Joe held his hand up and shook his head when she took a step after him, "Let me handle this, Natalie. You just work on this wedding. It's the only good thing that's happened in the past few days." The brunette sighed and reluctantly nodded, sending her boyfriend's foster father after him as she trudged over to her cousin.
"Let's hash out the last few details, shall we?" Natalie said as she grabbed her pile of wedding planning material and pulled it with her onto the floor. "Caitlin, Ronnie, your wedding is happening around eleven tomorrow morning which gives us.. a little bit more than thirteen hours to get everything done and set."
Caitlin, Ronnie, and Cisco all gathered around, forming a mini circle as they sat around her. "Okay, Ronnie, you will be on music selection, decorations, and personal touches."
Ronnie nodded his head in approval, "Great. Now when are we gonna have my bachelor party?"
"This is your bachelor party. If you want someone in red leather tights, go find Barry. It's okay, I give you permission to borrow him for the night," Natalie deadpanned as she scanned over her list. Ronnie looked over at his bride-to-be, who was shocked at Natalie' words, and bit his lip trying not to laugh. Cisco shook his head in disapproval.
"Cisco,"
"Yes ma'am," her long-haired friend responded, rubbing his hands together as he readied himself for orders.
Natalie smiled approvingly at his enthusiasm, "Cisco you will be in charge at finding temporary rings since we don't have time to find real rings, get them sized, nor do we really have the money. I have full faith that you will be able to design and create them."
Cisco smiled at his task as Caitlin placed a hand on his shoulder, "I just want things simple Cisco. No need for diamonds. Or lasers or fire or-"
Cisco placed a hand on his chest in a mocking tone, "It hurts Caitlin that you think that I don't already know that. But are sure a fire symbol wouldn't wor-"
"No!" The long-haired engineer put his hands up in surrender.
"So who's gonna officiate the marriage?" Caitlin asked as she leaned her head onto Ronnie's shoulder.
Natalie's eyes went wide as she suddenly remembered the one piece of the plan she had unintentionally omitted.
"I can officiate the marriage," Professor Stein mentioned as he took a step towards the group, towering over them as they were at his feet.
Ronnie looked up at him skeptically, "I'm sorry but I think maybe we should-"
"- No that's perfect!" Natalie answered as she jumped up, giving Professor Stein a hug, the older man stumbling back in surprise but slowly raising an arm to pat her back. She laughed slightly as Ronnie grumbled in Caitlin's ear. "This is great. So Caitlin, all that's left is for you to go home and get some beauty rest. Tomorrow's the big day."
Caitlin kissed Ronnie before standing up and smiling sadly at her cousin after she glanced at the room Barry and Joe were still holed up in, "Yeah.. tomorrow's a big day. In more ways than one."
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27 August, 2015
I think there are only going to be two chapters left!! And a playlist coming out soon so if you have any song suggestions that would help speed things up for the playlist.
Thank you for the over 25k views!! Let's get this to 100k by the end of 2015!!!
LillianXX