"So we found a way to get Thawne back to his own time. You're still on the mend, so I won't bother you with all the details just yet, but we set up a plan with a machine where Barry can send him back to his future." I looked up at Cisco, still weary from my near death experience. Water wasn't making me any better and I still felt so weak.
"That's good, Cisco. Any luck finding out why I am not getting better immediately from the water bags?" I coughed and winced at the pain. Cisco looked like he was ready to cry again.
"No, we've been running all sorts of tests but don't know what's wrong. I don't get it. It must be from you changing the timeline. I am not sure how this instance is affecting you when the last one didn't. But... I don't know," he shook his head. I breathed out a long sigh.
"Well how about you update me on what happened while I was out? I swear, I need to not be out cold for days at a time whenever this stuff happens. I could miss something important like-"
"Me getting married?" Caitlin popped up flashing a ring on her finger. I still felt like shit, but I widened my eyes and my jaw dropped.
"No way girl, Ronnie came back? And you got married? And I missed it?!" She grinned and nodded. I had a loopy smile on my face and reached out to take a closer look at her band. It seemed to not be a real wedding band, but something put together to look like one from afar. My quizzical look made her answer my unspoken question,
"It's not real, this is what we could do on such short notice. But it was really beautiful. Stein, Joe, Iris, Eddie, they were all there to support us. After we get Eobard back to his time we plan on going on a honeymoon." I smiled up at her, so grateful she was getting her happily ever after. "I just wish you could've been there as my bridesmaid." I let out a small frown and teared up,
"I would have loved to have been your bridesmaid. I'm sorry I was out for so long," I sniffled a bit and sighed. "I can't believe this happened in the few days I was out cold. I seriously need to stop being unconscious for days at a time. I get left out of everything cool," I joked.
"Yeah right, you goof," she laughed. I felt peace in the moment, and I even started to feel a little better. A little less sore; a little less sick. "Hey, your vitals are getting back to normal. You already feeling better?" I nodded shakily.
"I don't want to jinx it, but yeah. I think I am starting to feel a little better."
"Finally," Cisco came over to check the screen which showed my readings. His relieved facial expression turned puzzled. "Why all of a sudden, though? Did you feel anything happen in the last few minutes?" I shook my head 'no' and shrugged.
"Where did Barry go? I can't seem to feel him," I murmured the last part as I looked around the Cortex and tried sending him.
"He is off talking with- well, that's actually one of the things we needed to catch you up on. Remember how we said we might assemble a little team?" Caitlin started unhooking wires from me and spoke to me with side eye.
"Yeah, but that was supposed to be for what we thought would be the big fight. It wasn't anything too bad, though, so I thought we weren't going to call them in." Caitlin stopped working, which I now realize was her just trying to keep busy, and sat down next to me on the med bed.
"Well, we ended up calling them anyway since you were out. We have Firestorm, the Arrow and Diggle, and Felicity also showed up." I slowly nodded as she listed them off.
"Too bad we don't really have any other good metas to be on our side. Especially since I have a really bad feeling something awful is going to happen," I started to sit up and swung my legs off the bed next to Caitlin. She pulled me up by my chin to get a good look at my face, feeling my forehead and cheeks as I felt them flush from the head rush. She gave me the okay to stand up and helped me over to the main desk of the Cortex.
"You aren't wrong, about feeling like something bad is going to happen. We figured out a way to send Wells- Thawne, home. Stein, Barry and Ronnie are all working on it right now. Cisco is still pretty upset though and is letting his hatred for him over power the want for him gone at the moment, though I am sure that won't last long," she half-laughed.
"Soo," I dragged out the word and gave her a face of 'go on,' "What's this plan to get rid of Eobard then?"
"You should honestly hear it from Barry, not me." She looked guilty. Like she knew something I didn't.
"Where is Allen?"
"There you are, I've been searching all over for you," I weakly laughed as I stumbled toward the Pipeline on my wobbly feet.
"Hey, yeah. Sorry Murray, I've been putting together this Time Machine- trying to at least. I really need Cisco to help me work on this. It just isn't my area of expertise, and even Felicity can't really help as much as Cisco can... but don't tell her I said that." I let out a small laugh and his smile turned to a frown. "Wait a sec, what're you doing up? You were just in pretty critical condition not too long ago. Are you feeling okay?" he asked me.
"I-"
"Hold on. Why can't I feel you?" My mouth was open but no sound came out. We stared at each other for a moment and he took up my hand, feeling a tiny spark. I felt even better for a second before the feeling of unsettled-ness fell over me over. I closed my eyes and tried to hear his thoughts once more.
"What's wrong with me?" I asked. "I don't know what even made me feel better before, but I still don't feel completely good. And now I can't hear you or feel your emotions. Everything just feels wrong," my voice cracked and a single tear rolled down my cheek.
"Hey, hey, it's okay. We can figure this out," my boyfriend smiled down at me.
"You say that, but what if we can't? I like having that connection with you. Now that it's gone I feel like I am going through withdrawal. It was only after talking to Caitlin about the wedding I missed that I started to feel better." His eyes flashed with confusion for a split second before becoming determined.
"We are talking to Thawne about this." He started to pick me up as if to run me there, but realized how weak I still was and just carried me down the rest of the way to the containment cells. He set me down before pulling up Thawne's cell. I looked into the eyes of Harrison Wells and couldn't even muster up the energy to hate him. His dark eyes went from a cocky smirk to concern.
"What's wrong?" Barry scoffed in response,
"You're saying you don't know?"
"Well I have an idea but I need to know what is happening before giving my assessment." He put his hands behind his back and stepped up to the glass to inspect me.
"Cisco vibed me back. I think changing the timeline is affecting me hard, but I don't know why," I rubbed the back of my head and stared at the floor.
"Of course it is affecting you. You have no idea what was supposed to happen," Thawne replied condescendingly.
"Alright, if you want our help you need to drop that fucking attitude and talk," Barry barked at him. Wells/Thawne raised his eyes in surprise but conceded.
"Your sister, my other aunt, Raine, was supposed to defeat you on the bridge, but only temporarily. Weiss wasn't supposed to be destroyed. Luckily what happens to either of you doesn't effect my existence, but the space time continuum has realized things didn't go according to plan and faltered. What you're feeling is the impact of an altered timeline that greatly effects your future.
"Like I said, you weren't supposed to get rid of Weiss like that. He was a big part of some stuff in a couple of years. Now that all has changed. I presume besides feeling ill you are experiencing other side effects? Perhaps, that mental bond has diminished?" Barry angrily looked away but I nodded to let him know he was right. "It will come back. Don't worry. You've still got hard times to come, and good times as well. I almost wish I could be there for them," he remarked wistfully, his gaze lowering and away from us. I sent a confused look at Barry, but he was still angry and kept looking away. Wells/Thawne shook his head and sent me a tight lipped smile. "You will be fine. Time will sort itself out. In the mean time you should rest. This is how I felt for a while after I-"
"Don't. Even. Say it." I gave a stern look and moved to stand in front him him. He chuckled and raised his hands in defense.
"Alright, alright. I'll back off for now. In the mean time, feel free to ask any questions that might be bothering you. You know where to find me." He backed up to lean against the wall of the cell. Barry huffed and gave me a light kiss on the forehead before saying something about getting Cisco and left. I turned back to Thawne who had Wells' smirk plastered on his face. I sighed. "Go ahead, ask."
"Am I really going to get better?" He nodded.
"You will. It'll be sooner than you think, too. You'll be fine."
"How come talking to Caitlin made me feel better?" I inquired.
"How do you know it was talking to her that made you feel better?"
"It was kind of obvious since I felt awful and after talking to her my vitals suddenly got better," I rolled my eyes. He nodded,
"Yes, that was something that was supposed to happen, her and Ronnie getting married. I believe it was her telling you about it and catching you up with the correct timeline that made you feel better." I understood what he was saying, but it still felt too sci-fi fantasy for it to be real. I tried to think of anything else I could ask before he gets sent off.
"What about those monthly checks to me, did you do that? My parents were never able to find out about the origin of them, and I could never understand why you might possibly do that." He sighed,
"Yes, those were me. I had a fortune, what's a few thousand here and there for you?"
"Okay, but why?" he rolled his eyes.
"Look, I may be a villain to you guys but you forget: we are family. Though you pass very soon, your grandson- my second cousin twice removed- started to develop a technology that could bring you back. His daughter then carried it on and was able to bring you back. You had all of your memories from now and were devastated to hear what happened, but you were always sweet to me. Mostly because I was a direct descendant of your brother, who I actually looked quite a bit like when I was younger. Of course, what I am doing now had not yet happened so you had no biases against me yet. You were always fun to be around.
"My parents were never the types of parents they should have been, but they knew what you meant to my family, as you become quite famous, so you were around a lot. I felt normal around you. You made me feel," he paused for a moment, leading me to believe it could be the end of his sentence. He inhaled through his nose and closed his eyes, looking like he was trying to calm himself down. He then smiled up at me, "You made me feel loved. I was hoping helping you throughout your life I could help bring some comfort, seeing as I put you in the position you were in." I felt weirded out and gross hearing his story.
"That's a bit much for me to take in. I am not so sure I'm happy with your response. But- thank you, for telling me." I felt a lump in my throat. I either wanted to throw up or I had really bad heart burn. "I have one last question."
"Shoot."
"Why is Barry helping you? I understand he wants you gone, but I feel like he wouldn't want to send you back to your own time. What convinced him?" He smirked that stupid fucking smirk and I knew I was going to hate this answer too.
"I told him he could go back and save his mother by sending me home." My eyes widened.
"But, the repercussions- didn't you tell him? It could change everything. He can't-"
"He seems pretty set on doing so. I am not so sure you can stop him." Thawne shrugged and I glared at him.
"You can't let him do that! I know what he wants but it just isn't going to fix anything-" a voice cut me off,
"You can't stop me, Murray. I've made my decision. I didn't want you to find out this way, but I have to do it. I have to save my mom." I turned around with tears in my eyes.
"If you do that, everything will change. I will never meet you. We won't be together," my voice cracked. His face scrunched up with anger.
"I have a chance to bring back my mom and that's all you care about?"
"You don't care about it at all? How could you decide to do something so drastic, something that effects everyone, and not tell me?" His face softened but was still annoyed.
"Look, you can't change my mind. I at least have to try. Thawne will be gone, and who knows. We might still end up together," he reached for my hand but I drew back from him. I glared at him before pushing past him and walking out, turning back once more to say,
"I wish I was still unconscious. Then I wouldn't have to experience you breaking my heart just now. For once, Barry, I wish you wouldn't run into this."
-
Wooooow update after wayyyy too long. It's been almost a year! Hope the few of you still reading get to this update. It's not edited much, so let me know if you guys still enjoy this!