Hands on his hips, Barry watched his girlfriend aggressively tuck her youngest brother into the guest bed. Slightly amused, he mumbled, "So much for horseback riding."
"If you would have waited for me to explain why I didn't come to the farm, we wouldn't have this problem," Parker said.
"Or," said Barry, annoyed with her tone, "You could have just told him I was the Flash."
"Don't even start!" she shouted, spinning to face him. "He is a fifteen year old boy. He can't keep a secret for shit."
"What's the worse that happens? He tells your family?" Barry asked. "It's your family. I trust them."
"You've never met them!"
"If they're anything like you, I see no problem in telling them."
"They have no reason to know. The people that know your secret are the necessary ones. The people on our team, other dedicated heroes, your close family. They know because they need to, and that's the standards we need to keep it at," she said.
At a loss of a counter-argument, he said, "I don't think you should use my secret as a justification for knocking your brother out."
"I didn't do it for fun, Barry, I did it to keep us safe. I will not risk your secret."
"And what happens if you do?" he challenged.
"Where would we be safe?!" Parker yelled. She was at a loss of words for several minutes, distraught at how utterly ridiculous their fight was. "You keep this carelessness you have about your identity, someone lethal will find out. That happens, we're all in danger, because we're all connected to you. For the safety of everyone we know, your secret stays hidden. I won't risk their lives, or mine. You better do the damn same," she snapped.
Explanation included, Barry understood why she went to such great lengths to keep his secret. In short, it was for him. Parker wanted to take every possible chance she got, in order to stay in his life for as long as she possibly could. Although he understood, he stayed silent. Satisfaction on yet another win over a verbal fight was something he didn't feel the need to give her.
His cell phone beeped; a text from Oliver Queen. "Oliver and Malcolm set a meeting up with Vandal Savage," he said.
Parker tilted her head. "Why?"
He shrugged. "But I don't plan to negotiate with terrorists. I'll get you when I'm done?"
"Without speed," she warned.
"Oh, relax."
"Barry, I'm not kidding," she said exasperatedly. "Don't do it."
His face lit up. "When you wanna get to it--" he sang, before she pointed at the door, saying a strick, "Get out of here."
Barry laughed, athen he was gone from her house, off to a meeting with Savage. It didn't take long; ten minutes and Barry returned to Parker's apartment. "He's still out?" he asked. "How hard did you hit him?"
Parker shrugged. "What did you learn?"
"I'll tell you on the farm. We should go," he said.
Parker looked sadly upon her brother. Leaving him to wake alone in her apartment wasn't what she aimed to do, but the Flash world called for her return. On Dylan's chest, she left a brief note. A kiss to his forehead was delivered, then Barry swept her into his arms, and he used his speed for a quick transportation to the farm.
On the mass open area of land, behind the house, stood a red barn. Together, Barry and Parker readied two gorgeous horses for a ride. He spoke as they did so. "We have twenty four hours to turn over Kendra and Carter to Savage, or he destroys our cities."
"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."