I woke up to the sound of Barry murmuring in his sleep, he was having another nightmare. "Barry," I said turning over to face him and shook his arm. He shuttered at my touch, "Barry?" I don't know how many times this had happened, almost every night now. Barry shot up looking around the room and looked at me awake beside him.
"I'm sorry, was it another...."
"Nightmare, yeah," I nodded yawning.
"I'm sorry, Sadie," he sighed laying back down as I scooted closer to him.
"It's okay, I'm here, it wasn't real," I said holding onto his arm, "Just go back to sleep."
Barry sighed pulling me in closer putting a hand on my cheek rubbing it with his thumb softly as I slowly fell back to sleep. The next morning when I woke up Barry was gone like always, probably off to work. I got up slowly and put on my glasses and yawned. After taking a long shower I got out changing into a white long sleeve and jeans slipping on a red bomber jacket. Barry had left a pot of coffee in the kitchen and I poured some into a to go cup warming it in the microwave. Then I left heading downstairs to my car to head to Star Labs. When I got there everyone one was rushing out of the cortex. "Woah, what's going on?" I asked as they all passed me.
"Hey morning," Barry said kissing me.
"What's happened?" I asked.
"Turtle is dead," he answered as we followed everyone else to his cell.
"He better not be pulling a Juliet," Cisco said as Caitlin and Barry looked at the body, "Yeah, that's right. I see plays."
"He's dead, Cisco," Caitlin answered.
"I mean he tried to make me into a forever American Girl doll, but I wouldn't want him dead," I sighed.
"How'd this happen?" Harry asked.
"Preliminary brain scan shows an acute brain aneurysm," Caitlin answered.
"The night we captured him. How's that for timing?" Jay sighed.
"What does that mean? You think I did this, Garrick?" Harry asked, "This man is the key to us stopping Zoom, the key to me saving my daughter. Why would I do that?"
"Never understood why you do anything, Harrison," he shot back.
"That's fine with me, Garrick," he answered.
"Guys, look," Barry sighed walking out of the cell past us and turned around, "We need to figure out how to stop Zoom. Everything we've tried so far has failed. We need to start thinking outside the box. I mean, we haven't even figured out how to close the breaches yet. Maybe that's where we should start."
"That's a good idea. I'll get on that," Harry nodded walking out.
"I'll help," Cisco offered following him.
"I've got to get to the CCPD. I'll check in with you guys later," Barry said looking at his phone before in a flash he was gone. I went to the cortex just as I was about to sit down Cisco ran in.
"Sadie, you have to get to Mercury Labs now," he said as I jumped to my feet throwing on my suit and hopping on my bike.
"What exactly am I doing at Mercury Labs?" I asked as wove my way through traffic.
"The Reverse-Flash, he's back," Cisco answered, "I'm trying to get ahold of Barry."
I made it to Mercury Labs and found two security guards unconscious on the ground and heard a scream from upstairs. I bounded up the steps and found the Reverse-Flash and Christina McGee. I phased running towards her and stood in front of her.
"You're coming with me," he threatened.
"She's not going anywhere," I fought back.
"We'll see about that," he started to run forward but Barry was beside me, "Flash."
"Eobard Thawne," Barry answered.
"You know who I am?" Eobard asked.
"You died!" He yelled.
"Good to know," he chuckled, "And guess what, Flash. I know what time period you're from. So that means very soon you will die."
"No!" I shouted reaching out for Dr. McGee but he had her and they were gone.
We met back up with the team and I noticed Barry zoning out. Joe noticed the same thing and turned to him, "You okay, Bar?" He asked.
"I'm good, yeah," he nodded standing up. "It's just a lot."
"Eddie Thawne died, so Eobard Thawne should have been erased from existence, right?" I asked.
"Not necessarily," Harry answered, "It's possible Eobard was in the Speed Force, protecting him like a bomb shelter, keeping him alive and his timeline intact. It's known as a timeline remnant."
"A what now?" Joe asked.
"Here, let me show you," he answered walking over to the whiteboard as Cisco tossed him a marker as he drew three circles connecting them, "This is now. Here, today. This is the time Thawne comes from. This is the moment you all erased him from existence, but since Thawne is from the future, this is where his timeline begins. That's why he's still alive. This Thawne has not yet traveled back in time to kill Barry's mother. He's here now in this time period for the first time. Timeline remnant."
"Explains why nothing's changed," Cisco nodded.
"Yeah, it also explains why he didn't know my name or that we have met before," Barry added.
"To him, you hadn't," Harry answered, "Not until the future."
"If Thawne dies before he can time travel again, will that save Barry's mother?" Joe asked.
"No. That's not how it works. In our timeline, Barry's mother is already dead, and her death is a fixed point," he answered, "Nothing can change that."
I looked at Barry who sighed, "Alright, well, I'm gonna end this, him, in this time once and for all," he crossed his arms.
"Let's find Dr. McGee, then we'll figure out what to do about Thawne, okay?" Joe suggested, "I gotta go check on Iris."
Harry called Cisco aside and they left the room. Barry leaned against the desk turning towards Caitlin.
"Caitlin, I know you're worried about Dr. McGee, but we're gonna get her back," he told her.
"It's not that. It's Jay," she answered.
"What about Jay?" I asked swiveling in my chair.
"He's sick, and it's getting worse," she explained, "When Zoom stole his speed, it affected him on a cellular level. We need to do something about it."
"Alright, like what?" Barry asked.
"I think we should replace his dying cells with healthy ones indistinguishable from his," she said.
"How do we do that?" I asked.
"We find his Earth-1 doppelganger," she sighed.
Barry suggested that we go to CCPD so he could run through tests in his lab after Star Lab's facial recognition didn't find anything. He put the picture of Jay into the computer to check more databases when Patty walked into the room.
"Uh, can we talk?" She asked Barry.
"Yeah, sure," he nodded looking at us to leave.
I rolled my eyes glaring at Patty as I passed her and left the room with Caitlin.
"She's actually pretty nice," Caitlin said as we went to the break room to get some coffee.
"Yeah, we'll see about that," I answered starting up the machine.
"Well you'll be happy know that she's leaving for CSI school," she said.
"Really?" I asked.
"Yeah, she never really wanted to be a detective. She only did it to find her dad's murderer, which she did so I guess she's done here," Caitlin shrugged.
Barry joined us a few minutes later saying Cisco called asking for us to come back. Cisco sat with his head in his hands as we entered the cortex and gave us the bad news.
"Dr. McGee is dead?" Caitlin gasped.
"Harry and I were trying to hone my powers to find Zoom, and then we ended up using them, finding the Reverse-Flash, and that's when I saw him kill her," he explained, "And then he left."
"He left?" Barry asked, "What do you mean, he left?"
"McGee built him some kind of speed machine and he ran into and got flung back into the future," he answered as Barry sighed.
"You'd need superluminal energy to send someone through time," Harry noted.
"You mean tachyons?" Barry asked as Harry walked over to a computer, "We can track their location once they've been activated." We waited for the computer to look before he asked, "Anything?"
"Nothing," Harry sighed.
"Cisco, you're sure that's what you saw?" I asked.
"I'm positive," he nodded.
"Alright, what else did you see?" Harry asked.
"There was all sorts of weird tech everywhere. There was a clock," he answered.
"What time did the clock say?" He asked.
"9:52. How is that relevant?" Cisco asked.
"It's 6:00 now," I noted. Cisco stood up quickly throwing his chair back.
"Are you telling me I can see the future?" He asked.
"That's exactly what I'm telling you," Harry nodded.
"Those goggles are getting named immediately," he mumbled.
"But that means Dr. McGee is still alive," Caitlin answered.
"That's right," Barry answered, "Okay, we have 3 hours and 52 minutes to find her and stop Reverse Flash. Let's do it."
Everyone nodded before we both suited up and I hopped on my bike searching the city for Dr. McGee. The rest of the team waited for the computer to find tachyons. I wove through the street looking for any signs of the Reverse-Flash or the description that Cisco had given us.
"Tachyons! 87th and Avenue J," Cisco said in the com.
I made a u-turn as the wheels on bike screeched and went the opposite way, "On it."
"Must be one of Mercury Labs' off-site facilities," he said as I got closer, "Guys, hurry up."
I got to the building running through the wall.
"Sadie, take Dr. McGee, I'll handle Reverse-Flash," Barry ordered.
"Got it," I answered before phasing through another wall and found McGee and Eobard. Just as he was about to run at me Barry ran through the wall running at him before taking him out. "You okay?" I asked McGee.
"Yeah," she nodded.
"Let's get out of here," I said taking her arm and leading her through the wall to safety.
"Bar, you got to stop! Bar, don't kill him! Just bring him in," I heard Joe's voice through the com.
"Get the cell ready," Barry answered.
I led McGee to her car and followed her back to her home, "You're safe now. The Reverse-Flash was caught," I told her.
"Thank you," she nodded.
"No problem," I smiled before driving off back to Star Labs. I took my mask off as I walked into the cortex nearly into Barry.
"I'm going down there," he said.
"No, you're not," Harry countered, "The more he learns about you, the more you will alter the timeline.
"He killed my mom," he shouted.
"He's from the future. He hasn't done that yet," he answered calmly, "He doesn't even know you're the Flash, and you need to keep it that way."
"You already said that his mother's gonna die no matter what we do," Joe told him.
"There's ramifications any time anybody messes with the timeline, and it's impossible to predict what those ramifications are going to be," Harry answered.
"Barry, you caught him and you stopped him from killing Dr. McGee. In my book, that's a win," I told him.
"This doesn't feel like a win. I got to go," he sighed before he was gone in a blink.
Caitlin left to go meet with Jay and Cisco was gone for a bit before coming back with a towel to his nose, "You okay?" I asked.
"Yeah, I just need to lie down for a bit," he said before walking into the infirmary.
A little while later Caitlin came back, "Hey, Cisco just went into the infirmary with a bloody nose."
"Okay, I'll go check on him," she nodded before walking in the room, "Sadie!"
I ran into the room to find Harry holding Cisco down as he seemed to have a seizure, "What's happening?" I asked running over to help Harry hold him down. Caitlin went over the PA system and called for Barry. He was in the room a few seconds later.
"What happened?" He asked as I struggled to keep Cisco down.
"He's experiencing an uncontrollable amount of electrical energy in his brain, putting him in a prolonged state of chronic seizing," Caitlin answered trying to find a problem through his vitals.
"What? Can you stop it?" He asked.
"I don't know," she said truthfully before Barry was by my side holding Cisco. "Hold him down," she ordered.
"We're trying," I struggled.
"Sedate him, Snow, now!" Harry yelled.
"Come on! Come on!" Barry said urgently.
"This should do it," she said shoving an injector into Cisco's leg as the seizing slowly stopped.
"Finally," Harry sighed as we all backed away. Just as we did Cisco seemed to go transparent.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Where the hell am I?" Cisco yelled.
"Cisco!" Barry yelled.
"It's the timeline," Harry answered.
"What?" He asked, "What are you talking about?"
"When you captured Reverse-Flash, we ruptured the timeline," he answered stuttering, "That's what this...all the blood and the seizures and that and all. Cisco is being affected to...by the changes of the timeline. The changes to the past or the changes to the present. This is...what this is. We need to do something. We need to do it fast."
"Like what?" I asked.
"We need to restore the timeline. Barry, you need to get Reverse-Flash and send him back to the future as quickly as possible," Harry told him.
"What?" Barry asked.
"Barry," he started.
"I just caught him! You want me to let him go?!" He yelled.
"Keeping him here is killing Cisco!" Harry shouted back
"Barry, if this is the only way we can save him, you got to do it!" Caitlin told him, "You gotta let go of Thawne."
"I can't," Barry sighed putting his hands to his head, "Okay, alright, look. I destroyed the tachyon drive in the speed machine. There's no way it'll reach a speed necessary to send him back home."
"You can," Harry sighed.
"What?" He asked.
"Your speed coupled with Thawne's speed, that'll be enough to catapult him through the time continuum. You can do it," he told him.
"Alright, alright. Let's do it," Barry sighed as they left to go to Eobard's cell. I stayed with Caitlin as we watched over Cisco.
"I wonder," I thought aloud as Caitlin came over to me. I reached for Cisco phasing my hand since we couldn't grab him ourselves. I grabbed Cisco's arm with my phased hand and it caught.
"What are you doing?" Caitlin asked astonished.
"It's working, I'm holding onto him," I told her. My arm started to turn the same blue color as Cisco's but the rest of my body was fine. "I can keep him here until they get back."
"Is that safe?" She asked.
"I don't know," I shrugged as we waited for the team to get back. Harry joined us as we watched Barry and Eobard run in the particle accelerator. Eobard disappeared from the accelerator and Barry was back in the infirmary a few seconds later as Cisco became full again as did my arm.
"He's gonna be okay," Caitlin said over my shoulder.
Everyone sighed calling it a night before heading home. Barry stayed at Star Labs for a bit and I left him knowing he wanted to be alone for a little while. I drove home to our apartment and started making dinner which consisted of mac and cheese because I didn't feel like making anything else. Then I changed into a sweatshirt and yoga pants just as it finished and got a bowl sitting on the couch waiting for Barry like I always did. There wasn't much on tv so I just left whatever was on playing. Just as I set my bowl to the side a burst of air flew past me and Barry was spread across the couch onto my lap. "How are you doing?" I asked rubbing my thumb on his cheek.
"It sucks," Barry sighed a shaky breath as his eyes started to water.
"I know," I said running a hand through his hair, "I guess we'll never understand the future."
"I just sent my mother's murderer to kill her," he said covering his eyes as his tears started to fall, "How could I ever forgive myself?"
"Barry, you saved Cisco today," I persisted, "There wasn't anything else you could have done. You couldn't let Thawne take another person you cared about."
Barry sat up wrapping his arms around me as he sobbed into my shoulder. I rubbed his back as he cried trying to calm him down. After a few more minutes he finally stopped.
"Thanks," he sighed sitting back as I wiped under his eyes with my fingertips to clear the tears.
"I made some dinner, if you'd like," I said pointing to the kitchen and in a flash he was gone and back sitting beside me.
"Thank you," Barry smiled starting to eat.
"No problem, it's one of the few things I know how to make," I answered.
"I meant thank you for being there for me," he rolled his eyes.
"Oh well why didn't you just say that?" I said sarcastically, "We're teammates. I got yo back."
"Don't ever talk like that again," he laughed.
"What you don't like my gangsta talk?" I asked.
"No," he shook his head setting his bowl aside.
"That's hella rude," I rolled my eyes getting up grabbing both of our bowls to take to the kitchen when Barry poked my side and I jumped. "Don't do that!" I shouted running to the kitchen but Barry was in the entrance before I was even there.
"You can't run from me," he said poking me in the side again as I set the bowls down.
"A girl can dream," I answered running through the counter but he was already there but before he could poke me I phased. We ran around the apartment as I giggled like a maniac and Barry grinned. I ran into the bathroom closing the door and hopping up onto the counter waiting for him to run through. The door flew open and I jumped landing on Barry's back. "I got you!" I yelled.
"Okay, truce," Barry laughed.
"Giddie up," I said wrapping my legs around his torso as he ran around the room as I tried to hold on until we were in my room and he fell backwards so that he would land on top of me. "Get off of me you buffoon," I groaned trying to push him off. Barry turned around putting his hands on either side of my head taking some weight off as he stared into my eyes. "I love you, Barry," I smiled.
"I love you too, Sadie," he grinned before falling forwards onto me again as I groaned.
"Just kidding I take it back! Get off of me!"