Chapter Text
Hours after the fight, everything at S.T.A.R. Labs is tense. Nobody knows what to do now that they have Wells captured in the pipeline. By an unspoken agreement, everyone is waiting for Barry to get back from Nanda Parbat. Queen waited a whole ten minutes before calling in that favor and having Barry go free his team from a group of assassins. Len still hates that his life has changed so drastically in the past year that he can say that his son with superspeed had to run across the globe and rescue another group of vigilantes from a secret society of ninja assassins with a straight face.
Mick and Lisa had headed home an hour ago, exhausted and not needed anymore. Stein and Ronnie had separated, and Ronnie has been glued to Caitlin’s side the whole time, the couple having missed each other. Stein had called his wife, but told her not to come to S.T.A.R. Labs, that he’ll come to her when everything has settled down.
Barry finally returns and changes out of his suit.
“So, how was the Legion of Assassins?” Len asks, feet up on a table.
“I’m pretty sure Oliver called them League of Assassins, and it was dope. They had the whole bad-guy dungeon aesthetic going, you would have appreciated it.”
“Guess I know where my next vacation spot will be.” Len muses.
“Anyway, how’s our prisoner doing?” Barry asks, getting down to business.
Cisco puts the security footage from Wells’s cell up on the large monitors. “He’s just been standing there, dude. At one point he asked for Big Belly Burger, but that’s it. We’ve been waiting on you, figuring you would want to talk to him first.”
“Thanks.” Barry says flatly, any traces of his good mood earlier completely gone now as he stares at his Flash suit.
Len brings his feet down and sits up straight. “Want me to go with you, Kid?”
Barry shakes his head. “No, it’s fine. This is something I need to do on my own.”
~~~~~~~
Everyone listens in as Barry talks with Wells. Len hates how calm he is, like he’s just playing some game with Barry the whole time. This guy is psychotic, the way he’s proud of himself for killing Nora just to break Barry, and his hatred of future Barry.
What really makes Len pissed is when he starts to tempt Barry, offering him the chance to go back in time and save his mother. How he’s trying to be the hero in Barry’s eyes by solving the problem he caused in the first place, all so he could go home.
“...You can reunite the Allen family.” Wells finishes his pitch and waits for Barry’s response.
Barry shakes his head. “No.” In a fit of anger, Barry pounds the glass dividing the two. “I wanna kill you right now.” Barry growls. Len believes him, he’s seen that kind of anger in the mirror.
Wells doesn’t even flinch. “I know that rage. I used to feel that rage every time I looked upon you. And now, somehow, I know what Joe, Len, and Henry feel, when they look on you with pride. With love.”
Len stands abruptly. “That’s it. Barry’s done talking to him.”
No one tries to stop him as he marches downstairs to the pipeline.
After exiting the elevator, he rounds the corner only to run right into Barry himself. Len grabs him by the shoulders. “Whoa there, Kid. Slow down a minute.”
Barry’s face is twisted up in anger still and he shakes his head. “I meant what I said in there. I hate him so much, I don’t care what he offers me, I just wanna kill him like he killed my mother.”
Len pulls him into a hug and Barry buries his face in Len’s shoulder. “I know, I know.” Len whispers into the top of his head. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel the same way. But we need him to confess, it’s the only way to get Henry out of that jail cell.”
“It’s not the only way.” Barry mutters into his shoulder. He takes a deep breath and pulls back. “I could go back in time, prevent him from killing Mom in the first place, then Dad would never go to jail. I’d get to grow up with a normal life.”
Len brushes Barry’s hair back. “I think if that’s something you’re serious about, we should go upstairs and talk it out with everyone, weigh all the pros and cons. Okay?”
Barry nods and they do just that. Up in the cortex, Len hangs back, sitting behind the console next to Hartley, as Barry broaches the subject with everyone. Caitlin feels it’s obvious that Barry should do it, but Stein is more sceptical. Len agrees with him that this might not be the best idea, but he doesn’t say it aloud, since it’s for more of a selfish reason.
One of his first thoughts about this is that he wouldn’t get to be reunited with Barry. Len only challenged Barry in the beginning because he thought the kid was the Man in Lightning and was responsible for killing Nora. If she never dies, and Barry doesn’t become the Flash, there would be no reason for them to seek one another out.
He knows he has no right to Barry since he gave him up, but he’s still his kid. A dark little voice in his head wants to keep everything the same, and have Barry stay by his side. He’s so much happier since Barry came back into his life and he doesn’t want to lose that happiness, lose the chance to see the wonderful young man his son has become.
He barely listens as Stein goes on about parallel universes, until he gets to the part on how, if Barry did go back and change everything, then he wouldn’t remember this current life. That nobody would remember this life.
Barry glances at Joe, and then Len behind him. “So if I go back and save my mom, my dad doesn’t go to prison. I never go to live with Joe and Iris. I never get to meet my other dad, or get Hartley as a brother.”
“You might never meet me, or Caitlin, or Ronnie.” Cisco adds.
“Truth is, there is no real way of knowing what your life will be.” Stein summarizes.
Barry looks back at Joe. “There’s no choice here, Barry. You have to do this. You gotta change the past.” He grabs his coat off the railing and leaves everyone stunned. Barry’s the first to recover and runs after Joe.
With Barry and Joe gone, everyone’s attention shifts to Len, which he’s not comfortable with. To get the eyes off him, he gets up and heads to the treadmill room.
After he sits on the edge of the treadmill, the door opens and closes with a small click. He glances over and rolls his eyes when he see Stein standing near the observation window, giving him some space.
A couple moments later, Stein still doesn’t say anything, waiting for Len to talk first. He sighs and stretches his legs out. Len learned long ago that the only person more stubborn than him is Stein. “May I help you?”
“You were very quiet back there. It seems in all the chaos of wondering how this could all affect Barry, no one stopped to wonder how changing the past could affect you.”
Len raises a brow, not expecting that. “Me? What do I have to do with this? The only thing saving Nora would change for me is the past six or seven months, Barry’s entire life would change. He’d get the life I wanted for him in the first place.” It hurts to say it out loud, but it’s true. Over fifteen years of changes for Barry far outweighs the less than a years change for him. He’d gladly sacrifice his happiness for Barry’s without a second thought, every time.
Stein just looks at Len like he said two plus two equals five. “Why did you sneak into my lectures all those years ago, Leonard?”
Len’s thrown. “...Because I dropped out of high school and didn’t have the time or money to go the legit way? What does this have to do with anything right now?”
Stein shakes his head and looks annoyed. “No, not the sneaking in part, why me and that lecture in particular?”
Now Len sees where Stein is going with this. “You were the leading expert in physics and you were giving a lecture on strange lightning phenomenon and how it could affect electronics.”
“Which, if Nora never gets killed by the Man in Lightning, you would have no reason to sneak into that lecture.” Stein explains, more gently now.
“If I never go to that lecture, then I never meet Raymond or you. But me never being in a couple of your classes can’t affect you too much in the long run. I’m only one person in the thousands of people that have attended your classes.”
“It was more than just a few classes. Even after that lecture ended up being a dead end, you stuck around for about a year.” Stein pauses and starts again. “When Ronald and I merge, I am still aware of everything going on. I may not be in the driver’s seat, as Cisco would say, but I can still hear and see. I saw how much you still mean to Dr. Palmer to this day, he thinks of you as a best friend.”
“So what you’re saying is, it’s not just my life that could change.”
“Without your impact on his life, he could be a completely different person.” Stein leaves Len alone after that, forcing him to think twice about his opinion on what Barry should do.
When it was just him, he had come to make peace with the fact that his life would be worse without Barry’s influence. But now that Ray is thrown into the mix too, he’s not so sure anymore. Losing his happy ending was fine, but worse case senario, Ray might not create his own company. Before Len came into his life, he had no self confidence and little to no friends. He opened up so much with Len’s influence. He made other friends through Len and stood his ground more. He wouldn’t let others take advantage of him, including his terrible brother.
When Ray talked Len into going to some holiday parties at Casa de Palmer, Ray was shocked when Len didn’t ditch him for his brother like others had in the past. And Len wasn’t sure which twin was more shocked when he was able to tell the two apart - something even their parents struggle with from time to time - when Sydney tried to pretend to be Ray, something he always did to embarrass Ray.
Len definitely had more thinking to do.
~~~~~~~~
With Len and Barry gone, and everyone else distracted, Hartley’s able to slip out of the cortex undetected. He starts out determined, heading straight downstairs, but then once he gets on the floor that the pipeline is on he loses his momentum.
He begins pacing in the hallway, trying to build up the courage again to confront Harrison. The man had used him to create his stupid particle accelerator, then threw him aside when he got in the way. He had completely ruined his life and destroyed his reputation, all for his own agenda.
Now that Harrison has shown his true colors to everyone and is trapped, Hartley wants to yell at him, curse him, hurt him, and maybe, if he’s being honest with himself, kill him like Barry wants to. He’s been wanting a chance like this for over a year, and now that he has it, he can’t make himself walk in there.
Hartley starts to walk back to the elevator bay, when the doors open and he comes face to face with Cisco. “You following me now, Cisquito?”
“No. Well, in this instant I am. It’s just, I saw you leave the cortex and when I checked the cameras I saw you pacing down here. I figured since Len and Barry are in their own funk right now, no one is able to come and check how you’re doing. Are you okay?”
Hartley’s caught off guard by Cisco’s simple act of kindness. It’s refreshing in a way, to have someone other than Len and Barry worrying about him. “I don’t know.” Hartley answers truthfully. “I know that what Harrison did to me is nothing compared to Barry, or even you in that other timeline, but I still hate him so much. After my parents disowned me, my career was all I had and he took it away from me.”
“Hey, he betrayed all of us. He did horrible things to all of us. Just because he hurt you in a different way doesn’t make it any less important. You were vulnerable after what your parents did and the things they said to you, and he took advantage of that. If anything, I think you’re one of the strongest people I know for being able to move on after everything he did. You have a great job now at Mercury Labs and you built your own family with Barry and Len.”
Hartley never thought of it that way. He doesn’t need to prove anything to Harrison. After being fired and the particle accelerator blowing up, all he obsessed about was getting revenge on Harrison for ruining his life. Then Len cornered him in that alley and changed his life for the better. He finally got the family that accepts him for all of him and a great job in a field he loves. Who knows what would have become of him if he had gone through with attacking his parents building and fighting the Flash, all he knows for certain is that his life wouldn’t be as good as it is now.
With his confidence back up, Hartley spins around without a word and goes up the ramp to the pipeline and opens the door, Harrison’s cell on the other side.
Harrison doesn’t look that shocked to see him, but Hartley cuts him off before he could get in his head like he did with Barry. “I don’t need you and I never did. I spent so much time and energy on wanting revenge on you, but now I realize I never needed it. I have an amazing life without you and all I’m going to think when I think of you now is how sad and pathetic you are. You had to come to me when I was at my lowest to get me to work with you, all because you weren’t able to kill some kid and got yourself stuck in the past. A kid who I’m proud to call my brother now and will always be better than you.”
Not giving Harrison the chance to talk back, he closes the door again. He closes his eyes and sighs in relieve.
“Feel better?” Cisco asks as he rounds the corner and walks up the ramp to stand next to him. Hartley’s glad Cisco stayed out of sight and let him do this on his own.
Hartley opens his eyes. “Tremendously. If you tell anyone about anything that was said down here, I’ll cut your hair in your sleep.”
Cisco smirks. “Guess we’re even, because if anyone finds out I was nice to you, I’ll tell them about that one time you fell asleep in the lab and-”
“Alright, I think I get the idea!” Hartley squints at him. “You promised to never speak of that again.”
“Just know that now we have mutually assured destruction. You ever even go near my hair with a pair of scissors and I’ll tell everyone.”
Hartley holds out his hand to shake. “Deal.”
He’s glad he has finally gotten his closure with Harrison, now he really can move on.
~~~~~~~
After talking with Iris on the rooftop of Jitters, Barry is left with even more indecision. He heads to the roof of S.T.A.R. Labs and is relieved to find his dad up there, staring at Central City.
“I love this city at night.” Len says without turning around. Even if Barry didn’t use his speed to get up here, he still would have known it was him. If it wasn’t for the stories that Mick and Lisa told him about Len doing stuff like this as long as they’ve known him, Barry would have thought that Len was a metahuman too.
“I prefer it in the day myself.” Barry replies as he walks up next to him. “Makes it seem brighter.”
“Have you decided what you’re going to do?”
Barry was hoping they didn’t have to talk about this so soon. He sighs as he stuffs his hands in his pockets. “Joe, as you know, thinks I should do this, that I should get the chance to live with both my parents. I went to talk to my dad and he has the complete opposite opinion than Joe. He doesn’t want me to change, that if mom knew she wouldn’t want me to change for her either. With that, I went to Iris to see what she thinks I should do. She just wants me to follow my heart, to do what I need to do.”
“And what is that?” Len’s been keeping up his poker face since this whole thing started and Barry, for once, can’t get any sort of read on him.
Barry shrugs and kicks a pebble. “I don’t know. All I’ve ever wanted was for Mom to come back and to be able to hug her, just one more time. But on the other hand, I’ve had an amazing life. I had a great time growing up with Joe and Iris, and meeting and getting to live with you has been incredible. Can’t you just tell me what to do?”
Len sighs and turns to fully face Barry. “Not this time, Kiddo. This is something that only you can choose.” Barry’s eyes start to sting and Len wipes the tears away, causing Barry to lean into the hand that stays cupping his face. “Just remember, no matter what happens, I’ll always be your father.”
Barry buries his face in the crook of Len’s neck and holds on tight. “I love you, Dad.” His voice sounds muffled.
Barry feels Len hold him back just as tight. “I love you too, Kiddo. So much more than you’ll ever know.”
~~~~~~~~
Len couldn’t do it. No matter how much he wanted to tell Barry to stay, to not feed into this maniac’s plan, he just couldn’t get himself to say the words. He had planned on telling Barry everything that he was feeling, how he wanted everything to stay the same. His doubts on how changing the past might affect Ray, but he didn’t. Barry’s sacrificed enough in his young life and has always put others happiness ahead of his own, Len just wants his son to make this choice purely on what he wants. Even though he’ll never say it, Ray’s his best friend too and he cares a lot for him, but his son will always come first, no matter what.
The next morning, after Barry spoke with Wells, Stein began his calculations right away. It took a couple hours - all of which Len stayed glued to Barry’s side - but Stein got it all complete. He gathered everyone into the cortex to explain what exactly Barry had to do in order to open a portal. Len soaks in every word, listening intently about how Barry needs to reach the right speed in the pipeline, then have a hydrogen molecule released in the opposite direction that he’s running in, and when they collide a portal is suppose to open, letting Barry head to the past and Wells to the future.
Stein seems the most excited, and Len doesn’t blame him, the possibility of time travel has been practically his entire life’s work.
“...opening a gateway to time itself.” Stein finishes. “At which point I plan on saying something along the lines of ‘Eureka’ or possibly ‘Excelsior’. I’m uncommitted.” He shrugs.
Barry turns around and faces Cisco, who’s sitting at the console. If Len had to choose one word to describe him right now, it would be unimpressed. A blind man could see how against this plan he is. “What do you think?” Barry asks him.
“I’m leaning more towards ‘Excelsior’, ‘Eureka’ is such a cliche.” Len cuts in before Cisco could say anything.
Barry spares him a glare, then looking back at Cisco, who goes on to admit the plan has some merit, but then quickly, before Barry could continue on this stupid plan, begging him why he wants to do this in the first place. He clarifies that he understands the motivation behind it, but if all this risk is worth it.
Len has to bite his tongue from commenting on how fast Barry has to go - mach two, a speed he’s never reached - and how if he doesn’t reach that speed, he’ll be “A bug on a windshield.” as Joe said.
As Barry takes Cisco, Hartley, and Ronnie to a workshop to build a time machine (and seriously? He used to think building a time machine was awesome, now he just wishes it would go back into the sci-fi genre where it belongs), while Caitlin and Stein head off to work on something in another part of the building, leaving Len and Joe alone in the cortex.
“Okay, spit it out. I can hear the gears turning in your head from here.” Joe says as he pulls up a chair and sits down.
“Why are you actively encouraging him to do this? How are you able to just stand there and listen as they make a plan that has a very real possibility of getting Barry killed?”
“Probably for the same reason you haven’t said anything this whole time, Barry deserves the chance to grow up with a normal life, one without tragedy or heartache. How close am I to the mark?”
Len doesn’t say anything, giving Joe all the answer he needs to know that he was spot on.
Joe shifts in his seat and leans forward, sighing as he does so. “I’m not gonna lie to you, I’m completely terrified about all of this, but when I look at Barry, I’m reminded of the little eleven year old boy that had to come live with me, all the pain he went through while he grieved for his mother, all the times I had to run to his room in the middle of the night because he was screaming himself hoarse from the nightmares of the Man in Yellow. If there’s is a chance that he can go back and make it so that he never has to live through any of that, I think he should take it. And you know just as well as I do that if either of us show even a hint that he shouldn’t be doing this, then he won’t. I don’t know about you, but-”
“You don’t want him to regret not doing this in the long run.” Len finishes and Joe simply nods. “I’m glad that out of all the people to watch over Barry, it was you. You’re a good man, Joe. For a cop.” Len adds the last bit with a grin.
“And you are a good father, Len. For a criminal.” Len ducks his head in embarrassment, still not used to this type of praise. Joe gets up and pats him on the shoulder. “C’mon, I don’t know about you, but I’m dyin’ to watch those kids build a time machine.” Joe pauses. “Ya know, it’s times like these I’m happy I get to say things like that with a straight face.”
Len follows him out of the cortex, relieved the subject changed to something a little lighter. “My inner geek has been freaking out ever since my life has become something out of a comic book. I bet Barry is faster than Quicksilver.”
~~~~~~~
Right when Len and everyone completely came to terms with what Barry would have to do, that’s when they ran into another problem. Stein’s calculations showed that there was a risk that a black hole could open up above Central City. And why not? This day has already been weird enough, a black hole is just par for the course at this point.
When they brought this problem to Wells, he was already fully aware of the risk. He had already planned for it and explained that as long as the portal gets closed after one minute and fifty-two seconds, then everything will remain stable. Of course, that just means that Barry will only have enough time to save Nora, and not stop Wells from going back home to the future.
Caitlin turns the monitors off when they got all the information, and so they don’t need to see his gloating face anymore. Barry, visibly upset, retreats to the treadmill room to get away from everyone.
Len and Joe share a look and both go to follow Barry, where they find him pacing. He laughs at them and throws his hands up. “So, if I don’t run fast enough to collide with the particle, then I’m dust, and if I do run fast enough but not back here in time, then a black hole will form and swallow up the city and possibly the world.” Barry’s stopped pacing, now he’s just kicking at the treadmill with his foot. He sighs and looks to Joe. “You sure you want to look me in the eyes and tell me this is for the best?”
Joe fiddles with his hands. “I’d be lying if I told you I did.” Barry scoffs and sits on the edge of the treadmill. “Truth is, I don’t know what to think.”
“I thought you were the sure one. I- I was kinda banking on that when I made my decision the first time.”
Barry looks so completely devastated that Len takes a seat next to him, letting the kid lean against him. He doesn’t say anything, this conversation more for Joe and Barry, but he’ll still be here as support.
“I was faking it.” Joe admits. “Sometimes parents do that, most of the time, parents do that.” Joe pauses for a second to collect his thoughts. “Look, of course I’m scared. But I didn’t want you to not help your mother because you were worried about me.”
“Well, I’ll always worry about you, Joe, just like you’ll always worry about me. Sorry, but you can’t stop that.” Barry sighs and Len rubs his back. “Do you think I can do this? You think I can save my mom? I mean, do you think I’m fast enough?”
Joe doesn’t hesitate. “Yes. I know you are.”
“You know, I’ve- I’ve dreamed my whole life about… saving her, and freeing my dad, and… I never thought I would have to lose my other parents to do that.”
“Barry…”
“No, Joe. It’s true, it’s true. I’ve always been so focused on everything I lost that night, but I gained so much too.” Barry grips Len’s hand as he looks right at Joe. “You are just as much my father as Len and Henry. And I don’t think I can lose you.”
Joe swallows a lump in his throat and crouches in front of Barry. “You won’t ever lose me. Ever. You hear me? Ever.”
~~~~~~~~
On a lighter note, everyone gathers out on the lawn of S.T.A.R. Labs for the marriage of Ronnie Raymond and Caitlin Snow. And it also looks like Iris and Eddie made up from their fight, since they are holding hands. Mick and Lisa had finally made it, and are standing awkwardly off to the side on account of not knowing Caitlin or Ronnie that well. Cisco was in charge of the music, playing some light pop song, while Stein reassures Ronnie that yes, the wedding will be legally binding, he really is a Rabbi and is able to make the wedding ‘legit’. Len cringed when he heard Stein say the word legit.
Len knows the best place to go and get a wedding dress for Caitlin and had Barry go ‘borrow’ one. (Joe wasn’t too thrilled that Len was encouraging Barry to take a page out of the ‘family business’ but didn’t say anything on account that Len will probably not see Barry again after today.)
Iris really had outdone herself helping Caitlin get ready, the simple jewlery and the small orange bouquet of flowers look beautiful.
The couple face each other in front of Stein, waiting for him to get started. “If it’s alright with everyone, I’d like to skip all the Hebrew.”
“And cheapen our identity? What would your father think, Professor Stein?” Len couldn’t help but say.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Leonard, would you like to come here and read all the Hebrew? Wait, that’s right, we don’t have all day to wait as you sound out each word like an elementary student.”
Stein’s words may be a little harsh, but they are completely true. Len’s only been to Temple a grand total of about ten times in his entire life. Most of them were when Dad was in prison and his mom was able to make time to take him, and only one time as an adult. After his mom died and Dad got together with Lisa’s mom, he never wanted to go back. But then when he had told Ray about it, he had managed to talk him into going just once more on the day of his mother’s birthday.
Len, if he’s being honest with himself, wanted to show off a little with Ray and went to Stein for help on brushing up on his Hebrew. That had gone over like a lead balloon. The only stuff that Len had remembered was the alphabet and pretty much had to start from scratch with everything else. They had spent hours in Stein’s office practicing, but Len was only able to read basic sentences by the end of it and Stein had just told him bluntly to stick with English.
“Then by all means, continue professor.” Len makes a sweeping gesture, and Len’s sure he hears something along the lines of “That’s what I thought.” but doesn’t comment.
“Anyway, as I was saying, I’ve learned a lot about merging one’s life with another this past year. Yet, for all the incredible advancements in science we’ve all been party to, the mystery that brings two people together through love is still the province of magic. Mr. Ramon, the rings please.”
Cisco frantically pulls the ‘rings’ out of his pocket and kneels down to let Caitlin and Ronnie pick them up out of the palm of his hand. Really, the rings are just two nuts that Hartley had found that fit both of them. They put the rings on each other’s fingers and Ronnie says, “I owe you a real ring.”
“We could have just had Barry grab them when he was getting the dress.” Len points out, only to get elbowed by Barry. “What? It’s true, you already committed a felony getting that dress, you might as well go big or go home.” Barry only elbows him again, so Len takes the hint and shuts up.
“It’s fine, I don’t need one anyway. I have everything and everyone that I could ever need, right here. And, if all the events of the past year have led us to this moment, it was worth it. I love you, Ronnie.”
“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
“Stop telling me what to do.” Ronnie tells Stein before kissing Caitlin.
There’s clapping and Iris even raises the hand holding the bouquet up in joy. Len doesn’t miss the small looks Cisco and Lisa keep sending each other, but keeps his mouth shut about that too, not wanting to ruin the mood.
~~~~~~~
Too soon, everyone is gathered outside the pipeline. Barry has his Flash suit on and is getting hugs from all his friends. Caitlin’s first, and then Cisco steps up to go over the plan one more time.
“Okay, there are going to be three yous back there; the you from the future that saved younger you from the Reverse-Flash, and now you you. Remember, wait until future you gets younger you out of there, and then you can go save your mom.”
Barry nods with a smile. “Piece of cake.”
Cisco grips Barry’s arms. “May the speed force be with you.” Leave it to Cisco to make a nerd reference. Len’s going to miss that. Or not, if Barry changes the past correctly and Len never remembers meeting anyone here.
Barry steps up to Mick and Lisa next. “Uncle Mick, Aunt Lisa, I wish I could have spent more time with you. It was an honor meeting you two and getting to know you.”
Mick puts his big hand on Barry’s hair and messes it up. “Yer not too bad yerself, Cub. Fer a badge.”
“Come here, sweetie.” Lisa pulls Barry into a hug. “I hope we get to see each other again.” She whispers into his ear, but Len is close enough to overhear.
“Me too.” He whispers back and pulls away reluctantly.
Hartley is next, who’s trying to look like he’s not bothered by the whole thing. “What? I’m not gonna get a hug from my favorite little brother?” Barry asks with a grin.
Hartley tries to fight the grin that starts to grow on his face. “I’m your only brother, idiot.” He says fondly. He goes in for the hug anyway, and they whisper things to each other that Len can’t quite hear, but must be meaningful, judging by the tears that the two quickly wipe away like they were never there.
“Goodbye, Dad.” Barry says to Joe next, who looks like he’s fighting back tears.
“Goodbye, Son.” Joe says as he hugs Barry.
Len’s next. Barry pulls him into a hug and Len rests his head on top of the other’s, getting one last deep breath of Barry’s scent. It was hard enough having to give away his son the first time, this time it hurts even more. “Remember what I said last night.” He whispers into Barry’s hair. “I’m so proud of you and the man you’ve become, and I hope to get to see you again someday, with both Henry and Nora with us as well.” He feels Barry nod against him, and he give him one last squeeze before pulling away, letting his hands rest on Barry’s shoulders. “Love you, Kiddo.”
Barry smiles at him one last time. “Love you too, Dad.”
Len doesn’t listen to what Barry and Iris say to each other, more focused on just watching Barry and memorising every bit of him that he can.
All too soon, Cisco opens the door to the pipeline. Barry walks into it, and then Cisco closes the door behind him, cutting off Len’s vision of his son for the last time. Mick sticks close to his side, him being the only one there that also had to witness Len saying goodbye to Barry the first time and therefore knowing what he’s going through this time, and they all head upstairs to the cortex to monitor everything that happens in the pipeline.
Stein is behind the console speaking with Barry over the intercom as they walk in. Len hangs back with the other non-scientists to stay out of the way of the ones working. Stein spares Len a sad smile, before getting back to business, watching the red speck on the monitor that is suppose to be Barry running around the pipeline at top speed.
Ronnie says something about the structure holding as he looks over Caitlin’s shoulder, when they hear a faint boom and the building shakes. “What was that about the structure holding?” Len asks as he braces himself against the wall and looks around. “I’m no structural engineer, but buildings shouldn’t shake.”
“Is Barry okay?” Joe asks.
“Yeah,” Cisco says with a slight smile. “He just passed Mach Two.”
“I knew the kid could do it.” Len says with pride.
~~~~~~~
Barry’s running, faster than he ever has before. It’s a blue blur all around him, and he starts to hear voices. Joe, telling a young Iris that Barry’s coming to live with them. Caitlin, pale, white hair and blue lips, as she blasts ice out of her hands. Len, but instead of the regular parka, he has on a short sleeve blue and white vest that still has his fur hood. He also still has his goggles on, but instead of holding up the cold gun, he just has his hands up and Barry can see ice forming on the tips of his fingers. Then Barry hears Wells’s voice over all the images. “Barry, what you’re seeing is the Speed Force: your past, your present, your future all at once. So you need to focus on where you want to go.”
Barry sees himself in an Iron Heights uniform, talking to someone in the visitor's center while he has handcuffs on. “Think about that night. Think about your mother.” Wells says further. The next image is of Barry as a baby, wrapped up in a blanket and in a basket, as a blond woman is crying and leaving him on a doorstep. Barry’s never seen a picture of her, but from the little bits of descriptions that he was able to pull out of his dad, Barry’s guessing that that’s his biological mother.
Barry hears his other dad. Henry’s telling him goodnight, and Barry remembers it as the last time his parents tucked him in. Now he hears his younger self yelling for his mom and the image gets sharper as he sees his mom crying out for him to stay back as the two speedsters fight around her.
Barry focuses on that night, closes his eyes, and the next thing he knows, he’s in his childhood bedroom. The sounds of fighting downstairs fall to the background as he looks around the room, everything smaller than he remembers. His books are on his desk and the water is going side to side in his old fish tank. He gets pulled out of all the old memories of the room when he hears his younger self yelling downstairs. He heads down and cracks a door open to watch for a chance to save his mom. Right when there is one, his future self, having knocked the Reverse-Flash to the ground, in the bright red suit and white emblem, spots him and puts his hand up to tell him to stop. He looks right at him as he shakes his head. Then, he turns and Barry watches as he snatches up his younger self and gets him out of there, knocking out his dad in the process.
The Reverse-Flash has recovered by now and is standing right in front of Nora as she is on her knees crying. Barry can’t watch anymore and closes the door as she screams, leaning against the wall as he listens to the knife entering her flesh, then clatter to the ground.
~~~~~~~~
The timer is at fifty-eight seconds as Len and Joe head down with Cisco to the pipeline, both of them with their guns drawn. Len had the option to stay upstairs, but he couldn’t. He needs to be doing something, needs to keep his mind busy so he doesn’t need to think about the fact that he’s never going to see his son again. Making sure Cisco stays safe is the only thing keeping him from completely breaking down right now.
Wells has his Reverse-Flash suit on and is admiring the time ship (more like a bubble is Len’s opinion) that Cisco, Ronnie, and Hartley had built.
“It’s beautiful.” Wells says, not one hint of sarcasm. “Rip Hunter would be impressed. He built the first one of these. Interesting man.”
“Shut up and get in your bubble. We aren’t your buddies and aren’t here to have some chat with you.” Len gestures to the time ship with his cold gun.
A flash of light comes from the portal and a sliver metal helmet with lightning bolts on the side comes skidding to a stop beside them. “Now what the hell is that?” Joe asks.
Wells purses his lips together. “ That’s my cue to leave.” He walks up to Cisco and Len tightens his grip on the trigger, just itching for the excuse to shoot him. “Thank you, Cisco.” He says sincerely.
Cisco holds his ground and squares his shoulders. “Don’t ever come back.” Len doesn’t bother to hide his proud smirk, glad that Cisco’s words seem to have gotten under Wells’s skin a bit. That, or he’s irritated that he couldn’t get one last scare in with Cisco.
Wells goes to the time ship and sits in the chair, giving them one last smile as the glass slides shut and the ship starts to hover in the air. Joe holsters his gun, but Len keeps his out, just has it pointed at the ground now. He could probably put it away now, now that there isn’t any reason for Wells to hurt them now that he has what he wants, but Len just flat out doesn’t trust the psycho.
They all take a couple steps back as Wells turns the ship towards the portal and starts to press the buttons on the arms of the chair. Stein’s voice comes over the comms, telling them they have thirty seconds.
Another bright light comes from the portal, and this time it looks like the form of a person is coming through. Len squints against the light and sees that the form is dressed in all red. Before Len could say anything, the figure punches through the glass of Wells’s ship at a superhuman speed, causing a blast that pushes Len, Cisco, and Joe off their feet, Len’s gun being knocked out of his hand and skittering across the ground somewhere.
There’s a ringing in Len’s ears as he struggles to get to his feet, and he watches as Barry and Wells are already standing. Wells throws a large chunk of glass that was on him and he faintly hears it shatter somewhere in the distance. “Why?!” Wells shouts. “You could have had the life you wanted. You could have had everything you ever wanted!”
Barry takes a deep breath as he straightens out and glances over at Len and Joe. “I already do.” He says with a smile.
Wells puts his cowl on. “Not for long.” He growls, voice that deep gravelly one that Barry once said is caused by vibrating the vocal cords.
Wells speeds at Barry and the two starts fighting, so Len scrabbles around for his cold gun, not even wincing as the glass on the ground cuts up his hands as he makes a move to stand. Len spots his gun and goes to run for it, but his knee gives out and he crashes to the ground again. He must have twisted it when he crashed into the ground the first time. The portal above them closes and he watches Barry helplessly as Wells pins him against the wall, Barry’s cowl having fallen off some time during the fight.
“Just so we’re clear,” Wells growls as his fist is poised for another punch. “After I kill you, I’m going to kill them. And then I’m going to kill your father. I always win, Flash.”
Len jumps as a shot rings out and Wells drops Barry to the ground, backing up and his speed going in and out. Len spins his head around and sees Eddie holding a smoking gun and blood on his chest. Eddie drops to his knees as Joe runs up to him, calling his name.
“What did you do! What did you do!” Joe yells as he eases Eddie onto his back.
“No such thing as a coincidence.” Eddie mumbles, face pale and sweaty already.
Wells speed stops and Len can’t believe that Wells actually just called out for Cisco to help him. Barry gets to his feet, asking what’s going on, and Len has a faint idea on what just happened, but doesn’t want to say it. Cisco is helping Len up as he points at Eddie. “Eddie’s his ancestor. If Eddie dies, he’ll never be born, and…” Wells has his cowl down and they watch as Wells’s face morphes into that of a blond man’s. “He’s being erased from existence.”
“No, no! Eddie!” Iris comes running in, kneeling down next to Eddie. “Stay with me, okay? Stay with me!” Len has seen enough gunshot victims to know that Eddie isn’t going to last much longer.
“He was wrong, it turns out.” Eddie pauses, breath hitching. “I’m a hero after all.”
“You are, Eddie. You are my hero.” Iris cries.
“That’s all I ever wanted to be.” Eddie chokes out.
Cisco’s crying, whispering “no, no, no.” over and over again, and Len squeezes him with the arm that’s wrapped over his shoulders to help him stay standing.
Eddie goes still as his heart stops and that seems to send Cisco over the edge as he turns into his shoulder. Len looks away himself, wanting to give Iris some privacy. He watches as glowing cracks appear around Wells - or Eobard in this case - and little flecks of light crumble off him. “I’ve controlled your life for so long, Barry. How are you going to get along without me?” He says with a smirk.
His arm disappears first, then his legs. His scream echos away as he disappears in the light, for good hopefully.
Before they have time to process all the chaos around them, a portal opens again and the building starts to shake. “I thought that was closed in time! Why is it open again?!” Len yells over the rumbling.
“I don’t know, but it’s not good!” Cisco yells back.
Barry flashes over to everyone. “Iris, we have to go.” Barry tells her firmly.
“I’m not leaving him!” She grips Eddie’s chest.
Parts of the building are breaking apart and being sucked into the wormhole. “We have to go now, honey. I’m sorry.” Joe pulls her to her feet.
Barry turns to Len and Cisco. “I can only take two at a time-”
“We get it, go!” Len cuts him off.
Barry leaves with Joe and Iris, getting them to safety first, as Len and Cisco huddle against the gust pulling them toward the wormhole. They watch as Eddie’s body is sucked into the wormhole, and the next thing Len knows, him and Cisco are outside, gaping at the wormhole opening above S.T.A.R. Labs and starting to take some buildings in Central City with it.
Cisco is still holding Len up as he says, “So that’s what we didn’t want to happen.”
“Yes, thank you for that astute observation, Cisquito.” Hartley snarks.
“What’s it doing?!” Lisa asks over the wind.
“Feeding. The singularity won’t stop, not even after the Earth is gone.” Stein fills everyone in. “I’m afraid the accretion disc has already assembled.”
“What?!” Joe asks.
“The diffuse material that’s in orbital motion around the singularity!” Stein tries to explain, but only causes more confusion.
“What does that mean?!” Caitlin yells out.
“We have to disrupt the motion!” Barry explains. “Basically it’s just like a tornado, only upside down! And bigger! And scarier.”
Stein and Barry start talking more about the wormhole, but Len can’t keep up. What he does understand is that Barry’s about to do something extremely stupid. “Kid, I’ve already lost you once today! If you think you’re about to-”
“Dad, I’m sorry, but if I even have the slightest chance to stop this thing, then I have to try!” Barry puts his cowl on and nods at everyone, before flashing away, lightning streaking up a building toward the wormhole. The wind stings against Len’s face as he watches his son reach the wormhole by help of the debris and starts to run around the inside.