#what part of 2024 did you look at and go 'I should force this disabled person with a history of difficulty regarding phone calls-

[alienjaes]

Disability paperwork: How would you rate your ability to make/take phone calls

Me: 0, Abysmal

Disability agent: Hi! Please call me at your earliest convenience! I won't tell you what this is about until you call!

[saiilorstars]

It Had To Be You

Ch.26: I Am Who I Am // Story Masterlist

Fandom: The Flash

Pairings: Barry Allen x Female OC

Pronunciation of OC’s name: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ‘Helen’ would be.

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Chapter Summary: Barry comes face to face with Eobard Thawne, the man behind his family's destruction. Belén is on the opposite side as she's down one more Palayta.

{Previous chapters}

"After an epic street battle with the Reverse-Flash, our city's very own Scarlet Speedster disappeared in an explosion of light…" Caitlin stopped reading from the futuristic article to look over at Barry, the man still in shock. "The date is from the future," she said, although she didn't know if this was a good or bad thing honestly. Everything was so confusing. "April 25th, 2024."

Barry looked for the sentence that Caitlin had read, forcibly tearing his eyes from the article's authors underneath. "When I fought the Reverse-Flash at Christmas, he said that we'd be fighting for centuries."

"But if that's true then it would implicate that Dr. Wells, or whoever he is, is also...from the future," Caitlin blinked, quickly looking back to the article.

Cisco spoke up finally, but not about the current problem. "I have to say, I'm really digging the brighter red suit. And the white on the symbol? That's dope." But then his initial happiness faded. "Wait a second. Suppose we now change the color on your suit. Will it be because we got the idea from this picture? That would mean we're living in a causal nexus. This... wow. This is so trippy. Like, Marty and the Polaroid trippy. Not as trippy as the name on the byline though." And then he smirked. "Annah-Belén Allen?"

There was an indescribable expression on Barry's face. Once again his eyes were drawn to that name. It gave him a little...ping? No, no, a definite wham in his heart. That was his Bells, his Bells with his name. At some point, despite everything bad, they'd gotten married. She was his wife.

Oh boy, that made his mind spiral with different thoughts all at once, some of them leaving him a bit red.

"Mazel tov? Cisco slowly went, both he and Caitlin assuming Barry was still in the middle of processing the news.

But suddenly, an entirely different voice responded. "Hebrew. Ancient language of the Jewish people."

"Uh-uh. What the hell was that?" Cisco quickly scanned the room.

Barry snapped out of his stupor momentarily to face the problem. "Is someone here? Hello?"

A blueish holographic head appeared just in front of the three, giving them a fright. "Good evening, Barry Allen."

"Uh... H-hi…" Barry and the others took a large step backwards. "You know who I am?"

"Of course. Barry Allen, director of Central City Police, CSI Division."

"Director?" Caitlin repeated. "I guess you get a promotion."

Gideon continued, "Also known as The Flash. Founding member of…"

But Barry didn't care to listen that ending. "What are you?"

"I am Gideon, an interactive artificial consciousness."

"AI. Sick," Cisco said, clearly impressed.

"You know Dr. Wells?" Barry asked.

'Yes."

"Do you know who he really is?" further asked Caitlin.

"I don't understand the question," Gideon responded.

"I... I mean, what is he doing here?" Barry explained better. "W-why did he come here?"

"To kill you," the bluntness in Gideon's response made everyone freeze.

Cisco's phone vibrated and he quickly pulled it out of his pocket. "Wells is in the building."

Caitlin snapped her head his way. "What? How do you know that?"

"I put a tracker on his wheelchair," Cisco explained and immediately Caitlin shifted disapprovingly. "Which, if we're wrong about him and he is paralyzed, I'm going to hell for that one. He's in the Cortex. Ask questions fast."

Barry had many questions to ask but there was one he needed answered. "Why did he kill Nora Allen?"

"Because he was angry."

"About what?"

"That you escaped."

Barry felt dumbfounded, honestly, to learn that his mother died because he hadn't.

Cisco, who remained on his phone tracking Wells, spoke up. "He's on B level. He's coming this way."

"What does he want from me?" demanded Barry.

"For you to be The Flash."

"Maybe that's why Wells let the particle accelerator explode, so that you could become The Flash," Cisco remarked from behind.

"Why?" frowned Barry, who took a moment to think. "I mean, for what reason?"

"Guys, we got to go. He's almost here," Cisco said, tapping Barry on the arm. "Hurry!"

But they had only made it halfway when Cisco stopped them. "Wait a second. Wait. What if HAL over there tells Wells that we were in here?" he pointed to Gideon whose holographic head remained in place.

"That would be bad," Caitlin blinked.

"If I can get into its operating system, maybe I can disable its memory core…" Cisco theorized, and prompted Barry to ask Gideon for her operating system. After taking a look at such system, Cisco scoffed. "Yeah. Nope. That's not gonna happen." He quickly checked his phone again and panicked. "Guys, he's in the corridor."

Feeling desperate, Barry resorted to just simply asking, "Gideon, could you just, like, not tell him that we were here?"

Gideon surprised them all by responding, "Of course. I will accept any command given to me by you."

"Barry. Come on," Cisco motioned them to get going again. "We got to get out of here."

Barry shook his head and remained right where he was. "Wait, wait, wait. Why would you accept my commands?" he asked Gideon.

"Because you created me."

That answer left Barry even more stupefied. He let the others drag him out of the room.

~ 0 ~

"Hey," Iris tapped Belén's desk and laughed when Belén's eyes snapped up at her in shock. "Snap you out of some good fantasies?"

"What - no!" Belén shook her head, lowering her pen she'd been chewing on while thinking.

Iris put down a freshly printed out paper on the desk and tilted her head. "Then why did you look so spaced out?"

"I just...I'm worried over Maritza. She's been gone for a week and I still don't know where she is nor why she left," Belén leaned back against her chair, almost biting blood off her lower lip from the force.

"And she hasn't even tried to call Axel yet?" Iris asked.

Belén shook her head again. "No, and that's what gets me. She just got up and left us."

Well, that wasn't entirely true, Belén thought. Maritza left a short, cryptic letter for them explaining she was leaving. Of course, it didn't really explain anything.

Belén, I'm sorry. I am so sorry but I can't do this anymore. I've been drifting for months now and my actions have finally caught up with me. I'm not brave enough to do it, to face you all, so the only thing left for me to do is go. I love my family, and I love my son but now Axel is better off without me. I'm not the mother he deserves. Please look after him, you're his favorite aunt and I know you love him almost as much as I do.

I'm sorry.

- Maritza.

"It has been a week since she left...why not go to the cops?" Iris was cautious in how she said that. She didn't want to make Belén think about the fact something bad could've happened to Maritza.

"Yeah... I've been putting it off hoping that Maritza would come back, but...maybe it is a matter for the police," Belén figured she would talk to Barry about it and then decide if STAR Labs could handle the job right now - what with investigating Wells being an almost full time job - or if she should really leave it to the police. After all, she did have ties to the police both in Central City and in Starling.

"You want me to come with you during lunch?" Iris was up and ready to help if Belén needed her, but Belén shook her head.

"No, thanks. I just have to do some thinking first."

"Okay," Iris didn't even want to know what it would be like being in Belén's place at the moment, but she would be there if Belén needed her. "Do you want to talk about some new topics for this week's paper?"

"Yes please," Belén admitted it was nice getting to some normal issues of life, even if it was just for a bit. Iris was really good at reminding her that she did have a normal life despite everything.

Iris beamed and slid her paper over to Belén. "Okay, so check this out. I've been trying to figure out more about that blue guy that showed up at the Mayor's auction bit - remember him?"

"How could I forget?" Belén mumbled as she began skimming the single paper.

"Well, I thought he reminded me of someone and then I realized that it was the same man who once broke into this place, with that Plasticine woman and Pixel, right before you were kidnapped," Iris said, beginning to speak a little more fast the more she got excited over it.

"Also remember that," Belén made a face.

"But all of a sudden he's just disappeared. And do you know the crazy part? That other woman, Plasticine, she's sort of gone too…"

"So you want to write about them now?" Belén wasn't sure if this was the best idea, writing about her brother's comrades. It could provoke them into coming back and worse.

"Yeah, I mean, I think no one's realized that we got a got like a little band of evil metahumans in the city," Iris smirked. "I thought we could be the first. And...you know…" she leaned forwards on the desk to speak in a hushed tone, "...maybe you could ask the Flash to give you some info about them?"

"Iris," Belén sighed, although mildly amused.

"Oh c'mon, he has a crush on you so you know he'd do it," Iris playfully jabbed Belén on the arm. "Pleeeeeeeeease?"

"I can't believe we're still on that topic," Belén rolled her eyes and handed Iris her paper back.

"Be grateful I haven't told Barry about that," Iris said, playfully pointing at Belén. "He'd go ballistically jealous. Who wouldn't be if he was the competition?"

"Iris," Belén rubbed her forehead.

"N-n-n-no, don't worry, I won't tell anything about it," Iris promised seriously. "But could you please just ask about the metahumans? Please?"

"Okay, fine," Belén said, just to get Iris to leave it alone. "I will see what I can do…"

Iris beamed and promised her she would earn a nice Jitters if it all went well.

~0~

Barry could not find himself focusing on anything right now that didn't get him a step closer to taking Wells - or the Reverse Flash - down. It was all so confusing not to mention horrifying. It was no wonder Singh called him out on his lack of productivity at work. But then, it only lasted a minute or so until Singh too was distracted with something else of his life - marriage. That only sent Barry into a further state of overwhelm. That theme wouldn't stop, and it appeared it wouldn't stop with Eddie either.

"Oh my God!" he nearly fell backwards when Eddie showed him the engagement ring meant for Iris, tucked inside a small turquoise box.

Unfortunately, Barry was not the only one to see.

Belén could barely contain her squeals as she crossed the lobby to reach the two men. "I saw a turquoise box! Where's the turquoise box!? Show me the turquoise box!" She wiggled her fingers excitedly. Eddie was half amused and did as told lest she hit him. Belén gaped at the beautiful ring inside. "Oh my God," she smiled and looked up at Eddie.

"You can't tell her!" were his first words, making her chuckle.

"Secret for a secret," she raised a hand in solemn swear. "So have you thought of how how you're going to do it?"

"Well-" Eddie was going to explain his dilemma but Belén, just too excited, cut him off as she began to ramble on much she typically would.

"Oh! Are you going to do like the traditional, but cliche, hide-the-ring-in-a-piece-of-cake thing? No wait-" she looked to the side, quickly thinking of something else, "- it was a breadstick. I can't remember what movie that was. Or are you going to have like an airplane fly in the sky writing the words 'Iris, will you marry me?'" she made a gesture of each word with her hand. She stopped smiling a little when she saw both men staring at her. "What?"

"You thought about all this?" Barry was the one to speak up, though after clearing his throat.

"Well, what kind of girl hasn't thought about her wedding?" she countered, crossing her arms. "Haven't you thought about it?"

And just thinking about the future article again made Barry quickly shake his head. "No! I have never thought about us getting married, nope…"

Belén, more amused than annoyed, pointed out, "I never said about us. I just asked in general." Barry stiffened, his face quick to give up a flush. "But it's nice to see you're already nervous about it." She laughed and turned to Eddie. "So, what's the plan?"

It was then that Eddie could tell them his problem. "I was gonna propose tonight. All right. But I went to Joe to ask for his blessing. He said no."

"He did?" Barry repeated, confused.

"Repeatedly. I need you to talk to him, find out why…"

Barry made an apologetic face, "Uh, Eddie…"

"Look, I know me asking you like this, it's a little awkward," Eddie amended, "But you know how heartbroken Iris is gonna be if she finds out that Joe's not on board."

"He will most definitely do it, Eddie," Belén assured the man, then placed a hand on his arm, beginning to giddy up again, "And then we can plan the perfect proposal! Eek!"

"Oh, thanks. I appreciate it so much," Eddie said to both of them, and couldn't help get excited when he added, "And so will the future Mrs. Thawne. Iris Thawne..." he tested the name, chuckling, "Sounds pretty good, huh?"

"I think she's going to wanna hyphenate," Belén teased when Eddie left, chuckling to herself as she looked back at Barry and added, "That's what I wanna do."

"I have a feeling you wouldn't," Barry mumbled to himself but the moment she turned her head in his direction he jumped to change the topic. "What can I do for you, Bells?"

Belén got serious pretty fast, and judging by her face Barry knew exactly what she wanted to talk about. It was the topic he'd been desperately trying to get brave enough to be honest about.

"I'm really worried about Maritza," Belén felt like a broken record the way she talked so much about her sister's disappearance. "It's been a week and she hasn't called, texted, or returned from wherever she left to. I've tried looking for her myself in her old neighborhood but she's just not there. I'm thinking about finally going to the cops. I mean, for all I know, that letter could've been forced or forged. Do you think STAR Labs has time to look for Maritza or should I just go directly to the cops?"

In all the time Belén had been talking, Barry had tried to get some courage to speak up. He was trying - really trying - to tell her the truth about Maritza. He honestly never thought Marirza would choose the coward's way out and abandon her son and sister, leaving him to tell Belén the truth. Over the past week, he'd been working hard to convince himself that it wasn't his fault Maritza left. After all, he offered her the chance to come clean to Belén - he offered her the opportunity to mend her mistakes. It wasn't his fault Maritza chose wrong.

That was a difficult thing to accept when he kept seeing Belén so concerned and even scared over what happened to her sister.

"Barry?" Belén's voice brought him back to the present.

His eyes snapped back to her and realized he'd been silent for over a minute. To her it must have appeared like he hadn't heard a word of what she said. Fortunately, Belén was much smarter.

"What's going on with you? You've been so...distant with me. And whenever you do that, it's because you're not telling me something," she crossed her arms and looked him over, up and down.

"I-I just have a lot on my mind," Barry rubbed the back of his neck. It wasn't a lie, but the way he said it made Belén even more suspicious.

She looked at him in her special way - a look all too difficult to look away from - and frowned. "So get one thing off your mind right now. I'm all ears."

Stop being a coward, Barry berated himself. Belén deserved the truth and he really wanted to say it but...he couldn't imagine her reaction. Already she was having trouble dealing with her brother's reality and now he was going to add a second villainous sibling? But how could he word it to avoid a bad reaction?

"Barry," Belén said with annoyance lacing her tone. Perhaps it was because of everything on her plate that she got so irritated with him so quickly. She turned away and started heading for the elevator.

"Belén, c'mon," Barry sighed and went after her.

"Barry, I have enough problems and the last thing I want is an argument. So-" she pressed the elevator button, "-I'll just go and cool off. Maybe it'll give you time to speak up about whatever it is you're keeping from me."

"You're mad at me..." Barry threw his head back, scrunching his face for a moment.

Belén stepped into the elevator and turned to him with a flat face. "No, I'm irritated. And tired. And confused. But I've told you all about it. So sad you can't do the same."

Barry felt the sting of her words and even more so when the elevator doors slid shut. Thanks a lot, Maritza, he felt actual anger towards that woman.

~ 0 ~

"She's mad," Barry crossed Joe's living room, retelling the argument he had with Belén with Cisco and Caitlin. They were waiting on Eddie and Joe to come back from work so that they could talk about their findings in STAR Labs.

"Well, here's an idea - and it might be a good one," Cisco sarcastically turned his palm up beside him, "Why don't you just go ahead and tell her that Maritza is Plasticine."

Caitlin, who sat next to Cisco on the couch, was shooting Cisco a glare. "Because obviously that's not an easy thing to say." Barry made a gesture at Caitlin, thanking her for being much more understanding.

Cisco shrugged his shoulders. "Better Belén be angry at Maritza than Barry, right?"

"Dude, that's not it," Barry brought his hands to the back of his head. "I am trying to tell Belén it's just..." he once again gestured to Caitlin, "It's not an easy thing to say. I mean, how am I supposed to explain to Belén that, apart from her brother, her sister is also an evil meta who has killed and robbed and basically made our lives miserable for almost a year now?"

"Yeah, okay, I see your point but Maritza ran and if you don't say anything it'll just get worse."

"Cisco's right," Caitlin said after a minute. "You decided to give Maritza a chance and - I'm sorry if it sounds mean - but you basically gambled and lost."

Barry loved his friends but right now, he was irritated that they were right. Thankfully, Joe and Eddie arrived so Barry jumped at the opportunity to change topics. Once Joe learned what Belén had, he couldn't help become the father figure who scolded the children after they did something bad.

"Really? For three very smart people, that was really stupid. What if Wells had caught you in that…"

"Time vault," Cisco thought to help.

"Okay," Eddie shook his head, looking confused, "I know we've seen a lot this past year, but time travel?"

"I did it," Barry blurted and quickly received looks from the others. "Or I will do it, I mean…"

Eddie looked flatout done. "Excuse me?"

"One of the two speedsters in Barry's house the night his mother died was Barry. I mean, The Flash," Cisco began to explain. "He was there. Which means that one day in the future, Barry will travel back in time to that night."

"Okay. Actually, I wasn't talking about that. I kind of already time traveled," Barry said, thinking it was best to just tell them the truth now. "By accident."

"You did what?" Eddie asked.

"I was running to try and stop a tsunami from hitting the city…"

"And when was that?"

"A few weeks ago," Barry replied then looked at Cisco, "Right before you started getting those dreams."

"Oh, you mean the ones where Wells uses his super-speeding hand to shred apart my heart?" Cisco sarcastically said. "Those?"

"Yes, right. So, what if they're not dreams?"

Now it was Caitlin giving him a look. "What else could they be?"

"Memories. What if, that day, Cisco found out that Wells is the Reverse-Flash, and then Wells killed him? But when I ran back a day, I changed the timeline so that event never happened."

"If it never happened, how can Cisco remember it?" Joe asked thoughtfully.

"Because I'm clearly special enough to remember my apparent death," Cisco had answered pretty glumly.

"Maybe we should try to expand on those memories then," Eddie hummed. Cisco's eyes snapped to him, appalled at the idea. "I'm just saying maybe there's something else in those memories that could help us figure out this mess."

"He's right," Barry finally spoke up, the thoughts of the alternate word consuming him for a moment. "We have to access Cisco's memories somehow. Somewhere in his subconscious is the key."

"The key to what now?" Cisco frowned, seeing the others begin to go with the idea.

"Getting my dad out of prison."

"And how are we going to do that?" Eddie inquired next.

"We're gonna get Wells to confess to killing my mom."

And the idea was born.

~0~

"Auntie Belén, what are we going to have for dinner?" Axel asked for the third time as he and Belén walked down the street. Well, Belén was carrying him on her hip and doing her best to not drop her bag with her laptop inside. She'd already taken an early day off work and had to pick up Axel from a babysitter Maritza used to have, since Mrs. Andrews wasn't going to be home today. That babysitter had been pretty upset Belén was late to pick up Axel.

"Um, I don't know yet," Belén felt awful keeping Axel like this but she was doing her best to pay all the bills now while maintaining a solid babysitter for Axel and doing her full hours at work.

Axel was interested in her hair, never noticing how quickly his aunt was going down the block. "I'm hungry."

"I know, sweetheart, I know," Belén shifted him a bit and nearly dropped her bag had it not been for a sudden gust of wind catching it.

"Barry!" Axel grinned at the meta who'd appeared in front of them. "Hi!"

Barry offered the boy a light smile before looking at Belén, who wasn't smiling back. She reached for her bag, which almost caused her to drop Axel.

"Let me help you," Barry said after helping her straighten up.

"I'm good, thanks," Belén said curtly and held her hand for the bag he still held onto.

"Bells, don't do that," Barry quietly spoke so that Axel wouldn't catch on they were having a rough moment. "Let me help you into the house."

"I don't need your help," Belén thought that was the biggest lie she ever said. She always needed his help.

"Auntie Belén, I'm hungry," Axel let his head rest against her shoulder. "When can we eat?"

A sigh slipped through Belén's lips. She met Barry's look and felt guilty for letting her nephew starve just for her problems with her boyfriend. She didn't have to say anything for Barry to know, so she moved around him and continued towards her house.

"Can we have macaroni and cheese?" Axel asked her but Belén honestly couldn't see herself cooking at the moment.

"How's about some pizza instead, hmm?" Belén walked down the front yard and up the steps to her door.

"With pepperoni and sausage!?" Axel's head popped up from her shoulder.

"Of course," Belén put him down to search for her keys. She patted her pockets for a minute but stopped when Barry leaned beside her and stuck her key into the door. She dropped her hands to her side and kept quiet as Barry opened the door for them.

Axel ran right in. "Can I call the pizza? I want to order it all by myself!"

Belén walked in after and searched for phone. Once again, Barry stepped in with her phone and bag. She couldn't help glower as she snatched both items. "Thank you," she said politely. "You can go."

"Bells, c'mon," Barry reached for her arm but she stepped away.

"As you can see, I don't have time to argue again," she spoke quietly while her eyes watched Axel go for his toys left on the couch. "As of late, I don't have a lot of time in general."

"Then let me help you," Barry motioned to himself. He vanished and reappeared in all of ten seconds holding two boxes of pizza in his hands.

"Aww, Barry, I wanted to order all by myself," Axel playfully stomped his feet towards the dining table.

"Sorry, Axel," Barry smiled at the boy then looked at Belén, gesturing to the pizza boxes in his hands. Belén crossed her arms and stepped aside so that he could leave the boxes on the table.

Barry put down the boxes of pizza on the table and gave Axel a plate. Axel eagerly opened up the top pizza box and crinkled his now. "Ew, why is there chicken on this pizza?"

"Because that's your auntie's favorite kind of pizza," Barry glanced at Belén, the woman shifting on her feet. "Pepperoni, chicken and ham."

"Eww," Axel promptly pushed the box away and reached for the second box.

"Bells?" Barry called the woman over but she refused to move from her spot.

"Can I get my juice?" Axel turned back on his chair to see Belén. He put his hands together and pouted. "I promise I won't spill."

Belén hated having both of their eyes burning on her so she sighed and let Axel go on. "Only one juice pouch."

"I only have one left," Axel's reminder that she hadn't even gone grocery shopping made her slap her hands over her face with a groan. She wasn't getting this at all.

"I'll go buy some soon, I promise," she dropped her hands and saw Barry coming up to her. "Look, thank you for the pizza, I'll pay you back-"

"-now you're just offending me," Barry said with a flat face. Belén rolled her eyes and shifted on her feet. "Belén, there are so many things going on right now that the last thing I want is to argue with the person I care about most. Really, I just want to hold you tight."

Belén looked up at him, and without saying it out loud, Barry knew she felt the same. "I'm so tired," she closed her eyes and slumped her shoulders.

"I know," Barry moved around her so that he could hold her from behind.

"Mrs. Andrews couldn't babysit today so I had to practically beg Maritza's last babysitter to watch him for today and she screamed at me because I was late picking him up," Belén started rambling and of course Barry let her go on until she'd need to breath. "And then I had to leave early from work so that I could pick him up so that was a fun conversation with our editor. On top of that Iris is asking me to ask the Flash about some information on my brother, Pixel, Plasticine and Azul-"

"Auntie Belén!" Axel came running out of the kitchen waving his juice pouch above his head. "I need more juice!"

Belén shut her eyes and let her head hang. "And I have to go grocery shopping because I'm starving my nephew."

Barry only slightly smiled behind her. He knew she was under excess stress and it killed him that he held the biggest stress bomb she'd hear. He tightened his grip around Belén and planted a kiss on her head. "You're doing the best you can and look, Axel's doing just fine."

Belén raised her head to see Axel wiggling his bottom on his chair. He took a big bite of his pizza and hummed despite having a good chunk of food in his mouth. He looked like any ordinary four year old having dinner.

"I can't do this forever," Belén admitted quietly. "I'm his aunt, I'm not...I'm not a mom. I don't know what to do when he cries at night. I definitely don't know what to do for dinner every night for a four year old. Me? I can make frozen food and I'm good to go but he...he's four. He needs nutrients and vitamins that I have never looked at." She paused to take in a deep breath and exhale. "I gotta find Maritza."

Barry closed his eyes for a moment, willing himself to speak up. "Bells..." his arms let her go, allowing her to turn around. "Maritza..."

Belén watched him struggle with his words that didn't even spell a coherent sentence. It concerned her, honestly, when she saw how much conflict she saw on his face. "Barry," she put a hand on his arm, essentially stopping him in the middle of a stutter. "This thing that...you can't get off your mind, is it about me?"

Barry pursed his lips together and gave a small nod. "Yeah..."

"It's not good, is it?"

"No...it's not."

"I don't like being kept in the dark of things, you know that, but if you're having that much trouble telling me...it has to be something really serious," Belén crossed her arms and did her best to not be so impulsive to get the information out of Barry. "I don't know what it is, but I really hope to know sometime this week."

That was fair, perhaps more fair than Barry deserved. He didn't know how, but he would tell her the truth by the end of the week. He had to. "I promise you I will."

Belén took that deal with a nod of her head. She turned back to Axel and saw he was covered in pizza sauce already. "I also discovered that I am not good at getting four year olds to take baths."

Barry laughed behind her. "That's every four year old, Bells."

Belén groaned. The more she thought about things, the worse she felt. Knowing this, Barry endeavored to distract her.

"Make a list of what you need for groceries," he left her and came back with a pen and notepad.

"Right, cos I'll forget," Belén figured and took the pen and notepad from him. She jotted down the things she remembered straight off the bat and when she kept pausing every so often, Barry started speeding through their kitchen.

Axel laughed from his seat. "Auntie Belén, what is Barry doing? Is he being silly?"

Before Belén could answer, she felt the pen and notepad disappear between her fingers. Barry came to a stop in front of her. "Uh, so you also needed Cinnamon Toast Crunch, definitely more apples, some bananas, a couple more pasta boxes - you guys eat a lot of pasta!" He threw her a look.

"We're Italian," Belén reminded him.

"Right."

"And spaghetti! I want spaghetti tomorrow!" Axel exclaimed.

"Gonna need more spaghetti," Barry said, pointing at Axel before jotting it down too. "Does that sound like it's everything?"

Belén nodded her head. "Yup. I guess I'll get up earlier tomorrow before work and-" But she stopped after being slapped in the face by Barry's trail of wind.

Barry returned a minute later with grocery bags but of course he put those away where he thought they belonged, since he never really went through their kitchen before. "Done!"

Belén raised her eyebrow at him, momentarily surprised but soon she started to smile. "Thank you," she walked up to him and hugged him tight.

Barry gave her a light sway and kissed her head. "Would you like to have some dinner?"

"Please," she chuckled.

~ 0 ~

The following night everyone save Eddie and Iris gathered in Barry's lab to conduct the memory goggle experiment. Caitlin had set up the controlling computer for the project while Cisco made himself comfortable on a small bed brought in for the occasion. It would, supposedly, allow Cisco to delve into the other world where his 'memories' were originating from.

"So, just for the people that don't speak geek-" Belén gestured between herself and Joe smiling innocently while the three scientists with them have her looks, "-how is this going to work exactly?"

"Yeah, Cisco is going to put the glasses on, fall asleep, and start dreaming," Caitlin simplified. "It's not that hard, actually."

Cisco scoffed as he took the goggles from her. "Yeah, except I'm pretty sure I die in this dream. If I go back into it, am I gonna die in real life? I mean, what are we talking about here? Is this Inception or Dreamscape?"

Joe held out a glass of milk for him. "Here. Drink this."

Cisco eyes said glass looking mildly offended. "What, am I five?"

"Just drink it."

Cisco sighed, figured why the hell not, and took the glass. "Okay, I'll drink it."

"You're gonna be fine, Cisco," Barry said as he took the now empty glass from him.

Cisco took I'm a deep breath as he placed the goggles on and laid down. Caitlin began to monitor. "Okay, the glasses are emitting a low-level delta wave which should help you fall asleep."

Cisco nodded. "Okay. I gotta warn you, though, usually it takes me a long time." But his slurred words betrayed him. "I mean... I'm not saying I'm, like... an insomniac or any…" he fell asleep mid sentence .

"Ah, so that's how you get him to shut up," Joe remarked, causing Belén to snicker.

"Now we know for when others start to ramble on and on," Barry ended up saying, and looked right at the ombre-blonde.

She gasped. "You'd do that to me?"

"If you keep insulting me," he shrugged.

"I'm so sorry," she said and kissed his cheek. "Better?" Barry nodded silently, although his smirk said it all.

"He's entering REM. It's working," Caitlin announced, sounding surprised her idea had worked.

Barry moved closer to speak with Cisco. "Cisco. Can you hear me? You're dreaming, bud."

Cisco suddenly spoke back, but his words were slow and dream-like. "Whoa. Guys, this is mad freaky."

"Okay, um, where are you?"

"Um, in the Cortex. I mean, I know I'm just dreaming that I'm in the Cortex, but it feels so real."

"Cisco, focus please," Belén said. "What exactly are you dreaming about?"

"Caitlin just left. I asked her to take Wells to Jitters."

Caitlin looked at the others in confusion. She had no recollection of such event.

"Why... why do you want Wells out of the lab?" Barry asked him.

"I think he might have tampered with my work. I need to check. Okay. Okay, I'm walking to the bunker." There was a moment of silence before Cisco sudddnly said, "Oh, man, I love this shirt. I thought the dryer ate it."

Joe had to laugh - the kid got distracted so easily!"

Belén, downing her own laugh, once again made sure Cisco focused.

"Okay, okay. All right. Now I'm running tests on the containment system. This data... It doesn't make any sense. All the supercapacitors... They were all still fully charged. There's absolutely no reason that the Man in Yellow should have escaped. Oh, my God. It was just a hologram. He tricked us."

Everyone now looked at each other stunned.

"Oh, God, Wells is here!"

"Cisco, it's just a dream. He can't hurt you," Caitlin reminded him.

"You better be right about that!"

"Eobard Thawne…" Cisco said, but it didn't sound like he was talking with them at the moment.

"Thawne? Like Eddie Thawne?" Joe asked, making the others think of the connection.

"You killed Nora Allen," Cisco continued.

"Nora? What about my mom?" Barry quickly asked.

"He's confessing," Cisco answered.

"Cisco?"

"He... he didn't want to kill her. It was you, Barry. He was trying to kill you."

Caitlin had gone back on the computer to read Cisco's vitals. "His blood pressure's 200 and his heart rate is 147. Guys, he's losing higher brain function. Cisco, you're gonna be okay. It's just a dream. You're gonna be okay."

But Cisco continued to grow in panic. "His hand... It's vibrating. He's gonna kill me! Oh, God!"

Caitlin went mad going between Cisco and the monitoring computer. "He's gonna have a stroke."

"Get him out of there!" Belén shouted frantically.

"Help me, please!" Cisco pleaded, still in his dream. Caitlin remained on the computer trying to get wake him up, eventually jolting him with a bit of a spark. "Aah!"

Caitlin gave him a sideways hug. "You're okay. It was just a dream. You're okay."

Cisco panted as he slowly came back to the real world. "Oh, God. It felt so real."

Barry felt his phone vibrate and picking it up he was greeted with Wells demanding where he was. Nervous, he couldn't come up with a right answer.

"A fire. A huge fire just erupted," Wells finally explained.

"A fire? Where?" Barry turned to the others, putting him on speaker so everyone else would hear.

"New Brighton. Bradford Tower High-Rise.c

Joe blinked. "I know that building. That's where Captain Singh's fiance works."

"On my way," Barry said, hanging up and speeding off

~ 0 ~

As it turned out, Wells was very good at keeping his charade of a kind man only wanting to help. He had helped Barry discover a new ability that enabled the metahuman to suck up all the fire in the site and save everyone. Things like this made Barry even more confused on Wells' intentions. Who goes through so much trouble to help the enemy just so that in the end he can kill the enemy?

Eobard Thawne, apparently - whoever that was.

That's exactly what Barry told Joe later that night when they returned home. If he didn't tell someone Barry was sure he'd go crazy. "We have to get him," he insisted, "I don't know how but we have to get him to confess." But then, another "bad idea" popped in his head. "He thinks of Cisco as a son, maybe.. maybe if we set everything up right, he'll genuinely let his guard down with."

Joe was on board with the idea, thinking for the moment it was the only one that would work. "Well, then we need to do a better job protecting him than I did protecting you."

Barry gave a tilt of his head, puzzled. "I'm not sure what that means."

"Barry, this is all because of me," Joe began, "I never should've let Wells take you from that hospital. None of this would've ever happened."

"If you hadn't let him take me, I would be dead, for sure," Barry argued back.

"But even then, I knew something wasn't right. Everything in my gut was telling me not to trust him, but I did, because I was so desperate to see you okay."

"Joe, this isn't your fault," Barry affirmed. "It's not your fault. Look, every bad thing that has happened to us - to all of us - is because of him. And now he's gonna pay for it."

At that moment, the front door opened and Iris walked in, hearing the last of the words. "Who's gonna pay?" she asked distractedly while closing the door behind her.

Quickly glancing at each other, the two men devised a simple, yet plausible, excuse.

"Just a new criminal we're trying to catch," Barry said.

"Oh, hope you do then," Iris said, heading for the staircase.

"What are you doing here anyways?" Barry asked her, catching Joe giving him the warning to keep everything quiet. He headed out himself afterwards.

"Oh, I was going to stay over at Belén's tonight but I realized I forgot some of the things we use over here."

"Like what?"

"Girl stuff," Iris laughed. "Not sure you're actually interested in that, are you?"

"You caught me," Barry mocked defeat and began making his way to the staircase himself when Iris stopped him.

"You are a very bad boyfriend, though," she pointed at him, her accusation filled with purposeful exaggeration but still managing to get Barry worried.

"Why?" He frowned. Although then he started making up a list that could give more than sufficient reasons to back up Iris' statement.

But of course, Iris knew none of those and came out with something different. "You are supposed to be over there, not me!" She playfully hit him on the arm. "What kind of boyfriend doesn't stay with his girlfriend who recently started living all alone?"

"The...kind that hasn't been invited yet?" was Barry's answer, and he thought it was a good one.

Iris rolled her eyes at him. "You are so new at this."

"Walk me through it oh great one," Barry sarcastically waited for her.

Iris tried her best not to smack him for that and just continued to explain. "It's a big house and she's lonely there. I'm not saying stay every night but a couple times just to show her she isn't alone would suffice."

"That...makes some sense…" Barry said after thinking on it. "But, I mean, we haven't been dating for so long. Wouldn't it be kinda weird?"

"Only if you make it weird," Iris answered in a tone that implied it should be obvious. "This is your problem: you overthink everything. This isn't science. You don't have to stay in her room on her bed, hell you don't even need to spend the night there, just...wait till she falls asleep, wait until she's at peace and can sleep for the night."

"Yeah, I can do that," Barry nodded, moving to leave again when Iris stopped him.

"But for tonight, she's mine," she smiled cheekily and finally started up the stairs.

"What - hey!" Barry called after her.

"You snooze you lose! It's my night!"

"Unbelievable," Barry was left to mumble downstairs, resigning to a night without his Bells.

~0~

The next day, everyone was set in the bunker room where the old trap for the Reverse Flash was meant to be caught. Caitlin and Belén were the last to walk in, and the latter carried a red folder with a rather serious face.

"We just talked to Dr. Wells. He's attending a lecture downtown, won't be back until 5:00," Caitlin informed them.

"All right, Cisco, you know when he gets here you need to be working on the trap so he sees you set off the hologram," Barry said.

"Hold on, isn't that, in your dream, when everything went all…"

Cisco cut Joe off by making a rather shaking gesture with his hand, meant to hold something. "Kali Maaa Temple of Doom. Yeah, that definitely happened."

"Please tell me your super intelligence figured out a way around it?" Belén gave him a weary face.

Cisco smirked and nodded. "I'm ready for him." He turned and made it into the trap. "I originally designed the force field to keep a speedster from getting out. But I've reversed it. Now it won't let one in." Holding a small remote-like device, he pressed a button and made a reddish forcefield build around the trap then becoming invisible. He gestured Barry with an index finger to try it out.

Barry cringed internally as he prepared to take a whack from the barrier. "Back up," he warned the others as he got into position. Taking a deep breath, he ran straight for the trap...and was repelled strongly. He crashed into a metal, wheeling, table and landed on his side over the ground.

Belén rushed over to him. "Barry, are you okay?"

The metahuman turned on his back, eyes wide and blinking fast as he came back to normal. "Ah. It works…"

"Does it make me a bad girlfriend if I wanna laugh?" asked the struggling woman as she helped him sit upright.

"Absolutely," Barry sent her a face.

"Good thing I don't wanna then…" Belén looked away holding back the biggest laugh possible.

"Okay, as long as I'm inside, Wells won't be able to get near me," Cisco said as he stepped out of the trap.

"And Bells and I will be in the Cortex watching and recording everything that happens," Caitlin glanced at the woman to see if she was still coming with her.

"Yes," Belén turned around, setting lose part of her smile.

"And as soon as we get the confession we need to free my dad, I'm moving in," Barry said afterwards.

"So what do I do?" Eddie asked, looking at him for further instructions.

"Wells also threatened Iris, so if something goes wrong here, we need you to keep an eye on her until Wells is neutralized," it was Joe who had answered, and despite their problems Eddie took it seriously.

"I'll always keep Iris safe, Joe," he said in a low mutter and walked out of the room.

Confused, Joe looked at the others and was met with a sharp look from Barry. "What?"

"Come here," Barry nodded for Joe to follow. The two made it into the corridor where they could talk freely. "So, um, Eddie told me what happened, that you kiboshed his proposal."

Joe sighed. "That was supposed to be between him and me."

"I so agree with that. But I'm also curious," Barry admitted. "Eddie is a great guy and we both know he really cares for Iris-"

"I know that," Joe cut him off to agree, but it only confused Barry even more.

"Then why did you tell him no?"

"Because right now is just not the moment," Joe said as if it should have been obvious. "Wells is out there, looking for advantages, and if he knows about this...what do you think he's going to use against Eddie? Against us all?"

"Stopping them from getting married won't keep Iris anymore safe or put her in anymore danger," Barry clarified. "In fact, if anything, it'll just hurt Iris more to know if you don't agree to this."

Out of everything, Joe knew Barry was right.

~ 0 ~

"Everything's set," Caitlin announced after turning one of the computers off for when Dr. Wells returned.

"Positions, everyone," Cisco took in a shaky breath as he started leaving the cortex.

"Uh, Barry, wait," Belén grabbed the red folder she had originally brought with her and caught up with said metahuman just outside the cortex.

"Bells, we gotta-"

"Just one moment, please, it's important," she promised, gesturing to the folder. "It's about Iris."

"Wh-what's wrong with her?" Barry dreaded. For someone who didn't know anything about metahumans Iris seemed to get into trouble most!

"Last night she slept over at my place-"

"I know," Barry said, still disappointed Iris had beat him to it.

"She tricked me, Barry, she tricked me into getting information on metahumans to create this," Belén handed him the red folder for him to get a look himself. "She's created this entire profile - a good case - about a conspiracy of the Particle Accelerator and STAR Labs."

As Barry began going through Iris' work he began to see the numerous cases of metahumans that had attacked the city throughout the year.

"She's connected dots. She knows that whatever was released into the atmosphere the night of the Accelerator was the night everything strange started. She knows how metahumans got their powers."

"U-uh…" truly Barry could not come up with any coherent words at the moment.

"She thinks STAR Labs knows about this," Belén finished with a sigh. "And she's pretty convinced this is how the Flash and the Azalea got their powers. Worst part is : she wants to publish it."

And that's when Barry realized the problem. With eyes wide, he looked up to her concerned face. "We can't let her do that…"

"I know but it's a bit difficult shooting it down without making myself look suspicious," Belén pointed out. "She says this is what happened to my brother too. I only managed to get her to let me see all this but she's going to show you next - she's looking for the scientific perspective."

"Oh great, so now I have to shoot her down," mumbled Barry.

"Not shoot down but...maybe tell her it's all wrong?"

"I mean...I guess I could come up with some sort of story…" Barry sighed and closed the folder, already beginning to come up with bits of a good excuse.

"Oh thank you," Belén took back the folder, promising to keep it safe. "Knew you'd come up with something."

"I'll look into that tonight, promise," Barry assured. "Now I really gotta go," he planted a kiss on her head and rushed to get into position.

Belén turned to do the same in the cortex room.

~ 0 ~

Just as planned, Dr. Wells had returned about an hour after five and had gone first into the cortex room where Caitlin and Belén were - discussing Belén's current article. Upon asking for Cisco, he was directed for the Bunker room on account of Cisco 'finally figuring out what went wrong with their trap for the Reverse Trap'. Wells was out of there within the next minute.

When Cisco met with Wells, he no longer donned his glasses nor wheelchair.

"You're him," Cisco began the play, "The Reverse-Flash. Joe was right this whole time, wasn't he?"

Wells condescendingly laughed. "Good ol' Joe. Joe West had his doubts all along. Even from that first night in the hospital, Joe knew something wasn't right. Cops... as inconvenient now as they will be in a hundred years."

"You killed Barry's mother. I want to know why," Cisco demanded, knowing that was what Barry was waiting for - the confession that would set his father free.

Wells moved towards the man, cleverly explaining, "It was never my intention to kill Nora. But from my perspective, she was already dead. It just happened sooner than it was supposed to."

Barry looked at Joe helplessly after that 'confession' but Joe shook his head, whispering. "No. That's not an admission."

"You're not gonna get away with this," Cisco warned Wells, but it didn't look like his words affected Wells in anyway.

"I'm not gonna get away with it?" he instead walked for Cisco but as soon as he was an inch from the trap Cisco activated the force-field. "Oh, you're smart. You're smart, Cisco. But you're not that smart."

Cisco's smug face faded the moment Wells took step into the trap.

Wells raised a hand meant to strike Cisco the same way that he had killed Cisco in the alternative timeline. Cisco stumbled back but the man was nearing him. Joe rose from his hiding spot with Barry, quickly shooting Wells with three bullets.

"No!" Barry panicked and sped to catch the bullets, but was only able to catch two of the three. The last one struck Wells right on the chest. "He didn't confess," Barry ran a hand through his hair as they stared down at Wells on the floor.

"Cisco!" they heard Caitlin and Belén running into the room. The two made their way towards the trap.

"Are you okay?" Caitlin asked their affected friend.

Cisco couldn't stop staring at the now-dead Wells. "Yeah. I'm never ever gonna sleep ever again, but, yeah, I'm okay."

"Tylenol works," Belén distractedly said, the corpse of the man who killed her father taking it all away.

"He's dead. He didn't confess. Joe, this was it," Barry felt an overwhelming helplessness fill him up. "My dad's gonna be in prison forever."

"Barry, I'm sorry," Joe profoundly apologized to him.

But then Belén yelped. "Oh my god - what is that?"

They all stared as 'Wells' corpse reverted back to that of the metahuman Hannibal Bates, without a face.

"I told you this before-" the real Wells spoke over the speakerphones of the room, "-I am always one step ahead...Flash. Allow me to reintroduce to you Mr. Hannibal Bates and his incredible ability to transform into any person he touches. I knew that ability would come in handy. I did not expect it to come in handy this soon."

"You used him! Like you used all of us!" Barry shouted angrily, wishing the man would be there facing him.

"Well, he served a purpose. Didn't take much convincing. Just the simple promise of his freedom."

"You ruined my life! All our lives!"

"We stood by you after everything that happened," added Caitlin, pretty much matching everyone else's anger.

"I can see how this must be difficult for you to understand, but trust me, your lives now are so much better because of what I have done for you," Wells had the audacity to tell the group.

There, Belén had to speak up, full of anger herself. "You're saying that my life got better because you murdered my dad?"

"That was another accident," Wells revealed, fueling her up even more. "But what's one more alteration to the timeline?"

Belén raised a hand to her mouth, it was something else to hear that her father had - originally - supposed to live longer. She'd been robbed - her father been robbed of his life because someone greedy had an "accident".

"Though I have to say I was never anticipating to create an evil version of Plasticine," Wells' words caught everyone's attention. "I guess I interfered too much with Maritza's timeline as well."

"What?" Belén immediately looked to the others to see their reactions. Seeing that no one, not even Barry, wanted to look her in the eye pretty much summed up that she was the only one out of the loop - well, her, Joe and Eddie.

"You want to kill me, go ahead. I'm not gonna fight you," Barry's words made Belén snap back to the present. "But just tell the police what you did. Get my dad out of prison!"

"I don't want to kill you, Barry. I need you," Wells corrected. "And…I also did not anticipate, as difficult as the past 15 years have been for me, how much I would come to love working with you. With all of you. And yet, that does not change what needs to happen."

"Then face me now!" Barry ordered in a loud shout.

"Oh, we will face each other again. I promise you. Soon. Very, very soon."

Cisco's phone vibrated with a new alert. "He's in the time vault!"

Barry wasted no time and sped out of the room, ignoring his friends' calls for him. He came into the time vault but only saw the empty costume display and Wells' wheelchair. What he did come across, however, was a wide panorama of various hidden cameras set all over his friends' environments. There was one of his lab at work, many in STAR Labs, some at Joe's, some even at Belén's home and work. But the one that stood out was that of Eddie's place.

"Oh my God, Iris," he soon realized she was the only one left out of the loop and thus the easiest to get to. Wells hurt everyone and Iris was the last one to deeply affect.

Everyone had relocated to the cortex when Barry returned.

"We have to find Iris," he told them.

"Why?" Joe asked, already alarmed.

"Wells. He's been watching all of us. He has surveillance footage set up everywhere. Our homes, my lab at the police station, Central City Picture News."

"Barry," Belén was scowling at him, of course furious with him and everyone else. "We're gonna need-"

"I'm sorry, I tried," Barry said before disappearing with a call to Cisco to get him the location of Iris and Eddie.

~ 0 ~

Just as Barry had feared, Wells had indeed gone after the out-of-the-loop person of the group. Eddie of course couldn't help with just one gun and was easily thrown to the side of the bridge they stood over.

Iris recognized perfectly the man in yellow but was frozen to her spot. "I know who you are. You killed Barry's mom. But you don't have to hurt anyone else."

But without saying a word, Wells raised a vibrating hand as he neared her. Iris' had never felt her heart beat so fast. Thankfully, Wells realized in time someone was coming and so left the place, but not without taking Eddie.

"Eddie!" Iris fell forwards in her shout but was kept sustained as Barry arrived.

"Hey, Iris. It's okay. It's me," Barry spoke through a modulated voice and with a blurred face.

"He took him. The Man in Yellow, he took Eddie-" Iris frantically tried explaining to him, thinking maybe he could catch up and find Eddie.

"I promise I will find him, okay?"

In tears, Iris stopped moving and looked at him. "What is happening?"

"Don't say anything to anyone. I swear to you, I will bring him back, all right?"

Iris saw that as he was going to leave her and reached for his hand, only to feel a struck of small electricity between her fingers and his when he sped off. And she remembered one person who had given off the same feeling long ago. But that had to be impossible, because...because, well...he would...he would have told her…

"Barry?" she was left to wonder on the bridge.

~ 0 ~

The night was of a full defeat in all aspects. To learn that for a year you had been played was something indescribable. But now to know that not only had her twin brother gone dark, but her older sister too.

Betrayal came nowhere close to describing what Belén felt.

She sat on the couch holding one of her favorite photographs of her family and just...released her feelings. Axel had been put to sleep upstairs so she was free to cry as she pleased. She wondered where her body could produce so much water honestly, but it wouldn't stop. She looked at her family, her brother who had meant to be with her still. Her brother who wasn't supposed to get powers; her sister who wasn't meant to lose her husband. They were supposed to be there at home with her.

But Eobard had ruined that.

Maritza had meant to be living with her husband, Christopher, with Axel. Hell, maybe she would have even had their second child by now. She knew Maritza always wanted two kids, Chris had wanted the same.

But Eobard had ruined that.

And then her father. Her father, the true accident, had meant to grown older. He was supposed to be working at his beloved job. He was meant to be there for her, for greatest milestones. Now there wasn't even anyone to walk her down an aisle in years to come. She knew that was one of his desires. He had done it for Maritza and always talked about the day his littlest girl would one day marry and move out

Eobard ruined that as well.

And then there was her. She was never meant to have all these losses. She wasn't meant to be living alone with her nephew, wondering where the hell her sister was. She was meant to be a journalist who danced on the side. She was meant to be normal. But now there she was, crying her grief in a silent, lonely home.

Thanks to Eobard.

The faint knock on her door brought her no surprise. She got up, leaving the family portrait on the couch as she walked up to the door. She reached to open it, knowing exactly who was on the other side, but was reluctant.

"Bells, please open up," Barry quietly called from the other side. "We have to talk."

"Now?" she couldn't help the sourness in her voice. "Now you want to talk?"

There was a brief silence but Barry willed himself to talk. She deserved far more than what he gave her. "I tried to tell you, but...but I couldn't find the right way."

Belén leaned against the door, closing her eyes as fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. She had thought about it, honestly, about the way Barry had been acting as of late. It made sense knowing what he knew about Maritza.

"It's my fault everyone's suffering. This Thawne man came after me and he ended up screwing up so many lives to get what he wanted from me. Look what he did to Caitlin and Ronnie? To the real Harrison Wells? And look at what he did to you. He hurt you and then he made me hurt you. Maybe it would've been better if Iris never introduced us, that way you wouldn't be here now."

Belén leaned away from the door and turned around to open it. She met Barry's overwhelmingly guilt-riddened face. "I would never regret meeting you," she said quietly.

"I ruined your family like he ruined mine. And you deserve better," Barry felt like that was the plain truth and it broke his heart.

"Thawne ruined our lives, Barry, not you," Belén cleared from tears from her face. "You should have told me about Maritza the moment you learned about it."

"I know-"

"-but I can understand it was a difficult thing to do," Belén said, honestly meaning it. If roles were reversed, she would have debated and kept quiet too. "But you-" she reached for both his hands and pulled him inside the house, "-are the best thing that has ever happened to me, and if it weren't for you, I would have cracked ages ago. You are the reason I stand here today, the reason I wanna help people. Because of you, I am who I am. We are not going to let Thawne get away with everything that he took away from us. We deserve better, and we're going to make sure we get what we deserve."

Barry nodded and pulled her into a much needed, tight hug.