Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Brian, move tomorrow’s 2 o’clock to Friday,” Cisco said without looking up from his phone.

“Yes, Mr. Ramon.”

Cisco walked through a door that read CEO Francisco Ramon, Ramon Industries. He closed it behind him without looking up, engrossed in a work email. Suddenly, the lights dimmed and a leather-clad hand covered his mouth. An armored chest pressed into his back as the smell of jasmine took over Cisco’s senses.

“Give me the combination to the safe, and no one gets hurt,” someone whispered in his ear, moving their hand away from Cisco’s lips.

“Which safe? There are seventeen in the building,” Cisco said, keeping his voice even.

“How about the one that’s hiding…an engagement ring?”

Cisco chuckled, turning to face his assailant. “Fat. Chance.”

Hartley pouted—the sad-puppy expression especially adorable with Hartley in full Pied Piper gear. “Please.”

“I am not admitting to the existence of such an item.”

Hartley’s eyes lit with mischief. “You know, Pied Piper is a very hot commodity these days. If I were you, I would put a ring on that.”

“Well, I do have a tracker on him,” Cisco said, stepping even closer to brush a hand behind Hartley’s ear where the comms and GPS tracker rested. “I think that should be more than enough to keep the fanboys of Central City away from what’s mine. I do get an alert if he falls into any sketchy beds after all.” Hartley shivered as Cisco’s fingers ghosted down his neck and across his jaw. Their lips met. Cisco wrapped an arm around Hartley’s waist but froze when Hartley winced. “What happened?” he asked, stepping back and pushing his glasses up to inspect Hartley.

“Nothing,” Hartley said, the lilt in his voice giving him away.

Cisco strode around his desk and hit the intercom. “Brian, get a medic in here right away.”

“Yes, Mr. Ramon,” trilled over the speaker.

“I’m in my suit!” Hartley protested.

“That’s what non-disclosures are for. Take off your jacket.” Cisco’s tone was clipped as he crossed his arms over his chest. Hartley rolled his eyes, pushing his hood off before grappling for the zipper. Cisco could see the pain Hartley held back as he moved the garment off his shoulders. The jacket was tossed unceremoniously onto the couch, and Hartley raised his arms in a see-I’m-fine motion. “Now your shirt.”

“You know, if you wanted a strip tease, you need only ask.”

“Brat,” Cisco chided softly. Hartley struggled with the shirt a bit more, so Cisco walked over to help. He pulled the garment over Hartley’s head, momentarily distracted by blue eyes and disheveled hair. Hartley grinned at him, trying to pull Cisco into another kiss, but Cisco stepped back. “Hartley, what the hell?!”

There were dark purple bruises littering Hartley’s chest and side. They were tinged yellow around the edges and dipped low over Hartley’s right hip. “You should see the other guy.”

“Who did this? I want a name!”

“Relax! It was just that pillock, Earl Povich—oh, excuse me, Fury,” Hartley rolled his eyes again. “He’s in custody now. He never stood a chance against Pied Piper.” Cisco smiled, but only a little. “Hey, I’m okay. I promise.” Hartley put his hands on Cisco’s face, running a thumb along his cheek. Cisco kissed him and took care to only touch Hartley’s left side.

“I don’t want you going after The Rival,” Cisco said when they pulled apart.

“You are such a tease,” Hartley complained.

“I’m serious. Let Kid Flash handle it.”

“’Cis, I’m trying to do something good here. Kid Flash can’t handle everything. The city is going to hell in a handbasket.”

“I don’t care about the city. I care about you. Leave the speedsters to the speedsters.”

“You so want to marry me.”

“Hartley.”

“Leave the speed demon to the yellow guy. Got it. Can we kiss now?”

Their lips barely touched before a knock sounded at the door. Hartley let out a groan that had nothing to do with the bruises on his chest.

Chapter Text

“I’m off to a late dinner.”

“Ooh, dinner. Anyone special?”

“Very. My parents.”

~

8 Months Later

Barry Allen.

Barry Fucking Allen.

Cisco glowered at the steering wheel. He’d bolted from Star Labs after Barry admitted to creating another timeline. Barry had gone back in time to save his mother—because all the rules went out the window when Barry Allen’s family was on the line. Flash Point was the uninspired title for the timeline Barry created. The timeline he came back from, changing everything for everyone around him—again.

The sorrow Cisco had felt for weeks was giving way to simmering rage. He used to be a happy person, content with his work and his friends. His family life had always left room for improvement, but that only made Dante’s death more difficult to bear. If they had just tried harder to be close, would things be different? If Cisco had made more of an effort, would his brother still be alive?

This train of thought never got him anywhere. He couldn’t change the past. But Barry Allen could. Cisco’s anger snapped like a stretched band. A tearing noise filled the car. Cisco looked down. He’d reopened a hole in his jacket sleeve, one he’d stitched up only a few days ago. It was a childhood habit that had resurfaced after Dante’s death. Cisco used to wear holes in his sleeve hems when he got anxious at school. His mother would sigh when she saw the damage and gather his shirts for his abuela to mend. As Cisco grew, Abuela taught him to mend on his own—the origin of his supersuit-making abilities. This thought brought him back to the bitter present, and he stepped out of the car.

Dante died six weeks ago. People stopped bringing food after two. Cisco felt no desire to cook anymore, so he’d been living on microwave dinners and takeout. Occasionally, Caitlin would bring something to his apartment, and those nights were less lonely. Cisco was grateful to have Caitlin in his life.

Cisco tossed his keys and looked around his apartment. Most of the shelves were bare as, days after the funeral, he’d thrown his collectibles into boxes in a fit of despair. He couldn’t stand to look at anything that once brought him joy. It suddenly seemed ridiculous to have an apartment full of toys when his brother was gone. He even pulled the pride flag down from his bedroom door, the guilt of having never come out to his brother too much to bear. He didn’t throw the boxes out, which had been his original impulse. Caitlin found him mid-meltdown and stroked his back as heaving sobs wracked his body. Afterward, she helped him stack the boxes in his closet. He’d yet to recover anything.

The beep of the microwave startled Cisco out of his thoughts. He stared at it for a moment. He couldn’t remember putting anything in there, but, sure enough, there was an empty instant dinner box next to it. He pulled the steaming plate out and ate a few bites before tossing the rest away. He went to bed.

~

Grief counseling always left Cisco wrung out. He supposed it was helping as he no longer spent the nights sobbing and throwing his things into boxes. Caitlin had even loosened the reins on him. She hadn’t wanted him to be alone in the beginning. Although, today’s session had been frustrating as he tried to express his anger at Barry without mentioning time travel or speedster abilities—an impossible feat that ended in a gentle lecture on displaced anger. Even his therapist seemed to be on Barry’s side.

Cisco plopped onto a stool in his lab. Physically and emotionally drained, he stared unseeing at his gauntlets. Time meant nothing until the blare of Star Labs’s alarm system jolted him. A glance at his computer monitor told him the breach room was compromised. Cisco dashed from his lab and met Caitlin and Barry in the breach room—in front of a fully formed breach.

A moment later, Harry Wells sprang from the breach, followed by a Jesse-shaped speedster. Cisco watched her dart around the room, lowering his weapon in relief.

“When did that happen?” Caitlin asked, referring to Jesse’s new abilities.

“It started a couple days ago. I was hoping you could run your tests,” Harry said, moving to clap Cisco on the shoulder. Cisco felt a sudden surge of emotion at the sight of his friend and had to swallow it down. Who knew being a basket case was such a full-time thing?

“To the speed lab!” Cisco managed. Harry’s brow furrowed, but he motioned for Cisco to lead the way. Their party moved to the speed lab which had been built shortly after Barry woke from his coma—at least in this timeline. Harry and Jesse looked around like they’d never seen the place before.

“The timeline change didn’t affect you because you were on a different earth,” Caitlin said in awe.

“Timeline change?” Harry asked, causing Barry to stammer through yet another Flash Point explanation. Cisco wore at the hole in his sleeve and tried to tune him out.

“I see,” Harry said, giving Barry his best scowl.

They let Jesse loose on the track, and Cisco marveled at her results alongside Caitlin. Harry hovered and pestered them to run every test possible—twice. While Caitlin had Jesse in the medbay, Harry and Cisco caught up a bit. Cisco told Harry about Dante, and Harry was mercifully silent as Cisco forced back tears. He placed a hand on Cisco’s shoulder and squeezed when it was over.

“So, Team Flash,” he asked, “the rest of them are busy?”

“Um…Joe and Iris are working. Wally is probably in class,” Cisco shrugged. Harry waited a moment too long before nodding.

~

They ran every test they could think of on Jesse, but Harry insisted they stay a few more days to make sure everything was okay. It was obvious he was stalling, putting off Jesse’s inevitable desire to be a superhero as long as possible. No one was complaining. Jesse was a delight to Caitlin and Wally, and Cisco liked having Harry around. The older scientist even weighed in on Barry’s husk dilemma, something Cisco had been neglecting in an effort to avoid Barry.

“The team isn’t the same without Harrison Wells,” Caitlin insisted, and thus Harry’s scheme to obtain a new Harrison Wells was born. He spent the rest of the afternoon working on an algorithmic riddle to send out into the multiverse.

“You’re sure this is gonna work?” Cisco asked, fiddling with his vibe goggles.

“Yes, anyone able to successfully solve this riddle will have all the skills necessary to help Team Flash. Now, open a breach.”

“Where?”

“Everywhere.”

Cisco rolled his eyes before opening a breach. He cleared his mind and felt the world open up to him. The bait was set.

~

The responses began to roll in a few days later. A collection of holograms was gathering through a device Harry had set up in Cisco lab. The excitement lifted Cisco’s spirits a bit. He couldn’t wait to watch the hologram messages and had been bemusedly reprimanded by both Caitlin and Harry to wait until more had come through. Harry decided enough time had passed on day four. Cisco suspected he’d made them wait an extra day just to torture him.

“Play them,” he demanded like an impatient child while Harry set up the projector. He could tell by the teasing smirk on the older man’s lips that he was being slow on purpose. Caitlin watched in amusement.

As the first Wells spoke, Cisco wished he’d thought to make popcorn. All the different Wellses were thoroughly entertaining. One spoke with a British accent and asked if he could bring over his Pomeranian. Another seemed to be wearing a tux made entirely of duct tape, a fashion choice he assured them was common on his earth. The next Wells was nearly naked with only a cloth covering himself. Harry skipped him rather quickly. The next Wells was in a wheelchair. Cisco felt a jolt of panic that dipped him straight into a vibe.

Cisco and Hartley Rathaway were standing in the pipeline intake. “Hartley, the man in there doesn’t even know who you are. This isn’t the closure you think it is.”

“You don’t know the half of what that man did to me, and I don’t need your permission to see him!”

“Maybe so, but if you really want to talk to him, you’ll have to get past me first,” Cisco said, crossing his arms.

Cisco blinked out of the vibe. Stepping into other versions of himself never got less weird.

“It’s okay, Cisco. It wasn’t him.” Cisco realized Caitlin was speaking to him as he tried to get his heartbeat under control. “He was from Earth-38.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Cisco said, still coming back to himself. He looked up to find the hologram gone.

“Shall we continue?” Harry asked. Cisco watched the rest of the Wellses with less enthusiasm. His mind was stuck on the vibe. Why would the thought of Dr. Wells spark a vibe about Hartley Rathaway? They hadn’t even heard from the guy since he helped with the time wraith last year.

They finally settled on the Harrison Wells from Earth-19.

~

Cisco could barely hold his eyes open before falling into bed that night. Caitlin had made him go to dinner with her so she could make sure he ate a proper meal. They’d sent their official invitation to Earth-19 Harrison Wells, and he would join Team Flash in the morning. This also meant Harry would be leaving, and Cisco tried not to dwell on that. While Harry may be a pain at the best of times, Cisco enjoyed having him around, and there was no guarantee this new Wells would fill the void.

Cisco stood in a forest, near a pavilion. The Star Labs van was parked nearby. He blinked. Hartley Rathaway stood next to him with wide, fearful eyes.

“Who are you?” Hartley spoke. That’s when Cisco noticed the meta. In front of them was a man with glowing red eyes that made Cisco nauseas.

“They call me Immanere.”

Ugh, who came up with that one? Hartley explained it was Latin because, of course, he would still be a know-it-all at a time like this.

The meta attacked Hartley. Incredibly, the man hadn’t even moved and Hartley was on the ground gasping and clutching his head. Immanere’s powers were of the mind. Cisco’s chest surged with panic. He called Hartley’s name desperately, but when that didn’t work, he stepped toward the meta, only to succumb to his power as well.

Cisco shrieked as his head screamed, breaking open at Immanere’s will. Dante won his first soccer game, and their father wore the proudest smile Cisco had ever seen—a smile never obtained by Cisco. Jake Puckett smashed Cisco’s solar system on the cafeteria floor. The laughter of his classmates burned his cheeks as he picked up the pieces.

“Guess who I asked to prom!” Dante said. “Melinda Tores!” From his bedroom window, Cisco watched the love of his life climb into a limo with his brother.

Cisco woke up in the hospital after his first, and last, college party. Abuela’s funeral. His college boyfriend cheated on him. The particle accelerator exploded. Ronnie! He shut Ronnie in the pipeline. A vibrating hand through his ribcage. How could Dr. Wells do this? Dante-2 dead inside Jitters. Hartley in pain.

Cisco gasped, throwing off his tangled sheets and scrambling for the light. His heart hammered in his chest, and he had a migraine to end all migraines. That was a vibe. That was a long, terrible vibe. Call Caitlin. He needed to call Caitlin. He looked for his phone, his vision blurred by the splitting headache. He found it on the floor where it had fallen from the nightstand. It was nearly three in the morning. Cisco breathed, throwing his legs off the bed and scrubbing his hands over his face. He was sweating and…crying. He trudged into the bathroom for painkillers and splashed water on his face.

There was no need to bother Caitlin at this hour, but he was absolutely not going back to bed. He moved to the living room and put on a movie he’d seen a hundred times. What was that vibe? Was it another earth? Another timeline? Had he already lived it, or was it the future? Damn, his powers were confusing, and they were getting stronger. That was the clearest dream-vibe he’d ever had, and he’d felt all the terror his vibe-self had felt. He loathed to imagine what other feelings he could catch from his vibe-selves.

~

Panic always seemed to itch in Cisco’s veins whenever Harry prepared to go back to Earth-2. It was as though he needed to ask him something, like Harry held some life-altering knowledge that could only be unlocked with time and the right questions. It was ridiculous and most likely leftover trauma from Dr. Wells Original, but knowing that didn’t stop Cisco’s pulse racing as Harry slung his bags over his shoulder. Team Flash gathered in the breach room, ready to meet the new Wells and see Harry and Jesse off. Cisco held open a breach until he felt a tug, and out popped a shiny new Harrison Wells.

Cisco gave the closest thing he could muster to a smile these days as he introduced himself. “I’m Cisco,” he said, shaking the man’s hand.

“Call me H.R,” he said, “Your hair is cool.”

“Thank you,” Cisco said, ignoring the chuckle Caitlin gave at this. Once H.R. had moved on, Cisco stepped up to Harry to say goodbye.

“Ramon,” Harry said, pulling Cisco into a hug. Cisco felt a familiar rush.

“I can’t say there isn’t a part of me that enjoys the idea of testing a weapon on Harry,” Hartley said as he and Cisco stood over a frequency device. It looked like the one they’d used to defeat Zoom’s metahuman army, but Hartley hadn’t been around then. At least not in their current timeline.

“Did you just call him Harry?” Cisco asked. He looked at Hartley like that was the oddest thing he’d ever heard.

“He’s growing on me,” Hartley shrugged. “Don’t tell him I said so.”

The vibe ended as quickly as it began. Harry’s hands were on Cisco’s shoulders, and he wore a concerned crease in his brow. “Anything important?” he asked.

“No…I’ve been having these random vibes—just out of nowhere lately. Maybe it’s because I’m using my powers more? They’re getting stronger?”

“Nothing is random,” Harry said thoughtfully, “Perhaps they’re trying to tell you something. And yes, you are getting stronger, but if anything, that should make your vibes easier to control.”

“I don’t suppose you’d like to stick around and help me figure it out.”

Harry chuckled. “My earth beckons, but,” he held up a finger, “I’m only a breach away.”

Harry and Jesse said goodbye to the rest of the team before disappearing through the breach.

“I’m famished. Do you guys have Big Belly Burger on this earth?” H.R. asked. And so it began.

~

As Cisco had feared, H.R. did not fill the void left by Harry, and, over the next couple weeks, Cisco’s excitement rapidly descended to gloom. It was nice while it lasted, Cisco supposed, feeling nothing as H.R. handed him a cup of coffee and rambled again about the blight on his earth. He hated the hollow despair and simmering rage he oscillated between. He just couldn’t pull himself out of it.

It caused him to pull away from Team Flash. He still showed up every day and worked in his lab, but he felt disconnected from the team. He had little desire to sit in the cortex and guide Barry. He’d rather not see Barry’s face every day as his pitying gaze was salt in Cisco’s wounds. The word depression had been kicked around by his therapist. There was an invisible wall between Cisco and Team Flash, and he wasn’t sure he cared enough to tear it down.

“Hey, Cisco, do you know where Caitlin is?” Barry asked, coming into Cisco’s lab one day without knocking. Barry had gone from treating Cisco like a grenade to acting like nothing ever happened.

“She said she would be gone for a few days. Didn’t say why,” Cisco said. He didn’t turn around and hoped Barry would take the hint. He didn’t. Barry proceeded to update Cisco on the husks and how a man named Alchemy was behind them, complained about Julian Albert taking over his lab, and, finally, tried to ask what Cisco thought of H.R.

“He’s fine,” Cisco said.

“Cisco, are we ever going to be okay again?” Barry asked. Cisco turned on his stool.

“I don’t know, but pretending we’re okay isn’t going to fix it.” He couldn’t push any emotion behind the words. He was empty—the anger he’d felt toward the speedster lost but not forgotten.

“I’m sorry, Cisco,” Barry said, and thankfully, he left.

Chapter Text

It had been another stellar day at Star Labs. A holographic monster terrorized the city, and in the chaos, H.R. was revealed to have no technical knowledge whatsoever. He wasn’t a scientist at all. He was an “idea man.” Cisco rolled his eyes as he thought over the day’s events and wrapped up the cable he’d made earlier to thwart the monster.

“Oh, good! You’re still here!” H.R.’s voice rang from the doorway.

Cisco tied off the cable with an annoyed flourish and shoved it in a case. “What do you want?”

“Look, San Francisco, I just want to say I’m sorry again,” H.R. said, waving his drumsticks around as he spoke, “And thank you for giving me a second chance. I won’t let you down. I promise.”

“Considering my expectations are now zero, I don’t think that’s possible,” Cisco said. H.R. looked genuinely hurt for a moment, and Cisco braced himself for a pang of guilt that never came.

“You know, when someone on my team back home seems particularly disgruntled at a coworker, I find that it’s usually not about that person at all.”

Cisco scoffed. “Are you forgetting that you’ve been lying to us this whole time?”

“Yes, yes, I know, but you’ve been Mister Moody since I got here, and I don’t think it started because of me. Maybe you have a problem? A conundrum, perhaps? Let me help, and I can prove myself to you by fixing whatever’s bothering you.” H.R. started picking things up and juggling them as he spoke. Cisco grabbed for a small tool that was too fragile for H.R.’s treatment and their hands brushed.

“Maybe I should be trying to figure out my powers. They could be the key to this,” Cisco said to Harry. They were standing in his lab. Neither of them noticed Hartley come in.

“Your what?” Hartley said, startling Cisco.

He spun around. “Oh, um,” he stammered. Cisco could feel his body wound tight like a coil. He’d been so self-conscious of his powers then.

“Ramon is a metahuman who can see between the vibrations of time and space,” Harry said, that impatient edge to his voice.

Cisco cringed at Harry’s bluntness. Cisco couldn’t drag his gaze up from the floor as silence stretched on. “Can you give us a moment?” Hartley asked Harry. The man left after a mild protest.

Hartley approached, and Cisco wrapped his arms over his chest, forming a protective barrier against Hartley’s judgment.

“I should have realized sooner,” Hartley said. “It explains your humming noise.” Cisco looked up then. His shoulders relaxed as something in Hartley’s gaze told him he wasn’t going to be cruel about this.

“My what?”

“Ever since I joined the team, I’ve noticed a low humming sound when you’re around. It must be your vibrational signature.”

“Is that why you’re always messing with your aids?”

“Yes and no. Rory got a little excited one night. He fired up the heat gun a little too close to my face. The aids have been touchy ever since, and the deafeners are completely shot.”

This ignited Cisco’s engineering mind. He hadn’t taken temperature extremes into account when he’d made the aids. They could easily be reinforced though. The deafeners were tricky, but he had a feeling Hartley appreciated that feature and would want it back.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of—having powers, I mean,” Hartley went on. “I bet you’ve already thought up a name for yourself.”

Cisco felt a smile pull at his face. “Actually, Barry came up with it. It’s Vibe.”

“Vibe,” Hartley repeated, and Cisco wasn’t sure why the name coming from Hartley’s lips gave him a thrill. “That’s good. What do you say we close some breaches, Vibe?”

“Let’s do it, Piper.”

Cisco came out of the vibe with a gasp. The tool he’d tried to catch was on the ground in two pieces.

“Are you alright?” H.R. asked, his tone sobered.

“I need to go home,” Cisco said, “Goodnight, Har—H.R.”

~

Cisco walked the floors of his apartment. He needed space to think. His vibes were out of control. Why? He was getting stronger, so theoretically, he should have more control, not less. Harry said they were trying to tell him something, but what? His vibes hadn’t been this intrusive since the beginning when he kept seeing Dr. Wells murder him—which happened in a timeline Barry erased.

Cisco stilled in his pacing, sinking down on the couch as he thought. What if the vibes were from the timeline Barry erased? The timeline before Flash Point? Cisco’s stomach turned over. There was only one way to find out.

Cisco closed his eyes, steadied his breathing, and focused on the timeline Barry erased. It was like running his hand over a silky swatch, his fingers catching on a tear in the universe. He allowed himself to fall through the frayed edges.

He was in the medical bay.

“Your vitals look good. You’re going to be fine, Cisco,” Caitlin said over him. Cisco was one with his vibe-self again.

“Thanks to you and Barry,” Cisco felt himself say.

“And Hartley,” she said. “He was with you when you started to seize. He called for help.” So this was last year when he’d nearly been erased from existence.

“Where is he?”

“I’m not sure,” she said.

“He stumbled that way,” Harry said.

Cisco opened every door down the main corridor of Star Labs. He nearly passed the last one before seeing a huddled shape in the dark.

“There you are,” Cisco said, hitting the light-switch before making his way over to Hartley.

“Here I am,” Hartley said, and the man sounded exhausted. Cisco joined him where he sat on some steps.

“Caitlin told me what you did.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Hartley said, turning toward Cisco a little.

“Hm, still…thank you,” Cisco said knowingly. Caitlin spilled the beans on your bleeding heart, Rathaway.

“I’m sorry, Cisco,” Hartley said after a moment, “I should have said it a long time ago, but you’re a great engineer, and you absolutely did not deserve the way I treated you when you first came to work here. Can you ever forgive me?”

“I think I just did,” Cisco said. Tension visibly drained from Hartley, and Cisco smiled at him.

Cisco gasped out of the vibe. His hands ached from clutching the couch cushions so hard. Hartley had been a part of the team before Flash Point. He and Cisco were friends, if the other vibes were anything to go by. So where was Hartley now? Why wasn’t he on Team Flash in this timeline? Why hadn’t Barry mentioned him? Had he even bothered to check where Hartley ended up? Did he even care about anyone on the team? Bile threatened to rise up Cisco’s throat as his disgust with Barry intensified.

~

Besides avoiding Barry, Cisco hadn’t accomplished anything in his lab during the days Caitlin was gone. Hours passed as he stared at blank computer screens. He would often come back to himself to find half the day gone. This was how Caitlin found him.

“Cisco,” she said, suddenly in front of him. He might have jumped if he hadn’t been so deeply in the abyss. “I need your help.”

“With what?” Cisco asked, trying to pull himself together.

Caitlin picked up the three-day-old water glass in front of him, and, in a blink, it was frozen.

Her manifesting ice powers were the reason she disappeared. She went to see her mother who told her that the more she used her new powers the less control she would have. Cisco tried to wrap his mind around the idea. This was Caitlin. She was his best friend and the kindest person Cisco had ever known. He couldn’t get the image of Killer Frost out of his head though. Could Caitlin become her? He had certainly changed a great deal. Perhaps Caitlin was due her own metamorphosis.

“I need you to vibe me.”

“What?”

“I need you to tell me if I become her. I need to leave if I do.”

This woke Cisco up. He couldn’t lose her too. “Caitlin, that’s not going to happen, and you wouldn’t have to leave.”

“Cisco,” she pressed, and how could Cisco say no? He took her hand in his and felt a tug inside his mind.

Killer Frost’s cackle filled his ears. “Poor, poor, Cisco. Too busy chasing after a broken boy to notice his best friend becoming a monster.”

“You’re not a monster! You’re Caitlin Snow,” Cisco pleaded. He was in full Vibe gear, and they were standing in a forest.

“Not anymore.” She sent an icicle straight at his heart.

He gasped out of the vibe, his temples giving an angry twinge. Caitlin waited for him to say something with wide, expectant eyes.

“You’re gonna start curling your hair again,” Cisco said.

Caitlin let out a relieved little laugh. “That’s it?”

“That’s it,” he said. She threw her arms around him. Cisco’s chest ached with guilt.

~

When Joe West was worried about one of his kids, the world stopped spinning. This was why Cisco agreed to be on comms during a sting where Wally would be used to bait Alchemy. Apparently, Wally was a speedster in Flash Point, and Barry believed Alchemy was going to try and give Wally his speed back.

The plan was simple. Wally would lead the police to Alchemy’s lair, the police and Flash would take Alchemy down, everyone would live happily ever after, bing bang boom. This, of course, was not how things went down. The police had barely breached the building when suddenly Flash was being dragged across the city at unbelievable speeds.

“Is that another speedster?,” Caitlin spoke over Cisco’s shoulder. They were standing with H.R. in the cortex watching Barry’s location ping all over the city.

“It has to be,” Cisco said, preparing to open a breach. He wouldn’t let his anger towards Barry stop him from helping the Flash. It wasn’t the city’s fault Barry Allen was a bad friend.

“I’m going with you,” Caitlin said.

Cisco stared at her for a moment, guilt gnawing at his gut. Was she planning to use her powers? Should he tell her not to? He didn’t have time to think about it. He checked Barry’s location on his phone and raised a fist, focusing on the Flash. A breach opened, and he and Caitlin jumped through. Cisco’s feet barely touched the ground before he was sucked into a vibe.

“You don’t have to do this, you know,” Hartley said from the passenger side of the Star Labs van. Cisco sat in the driver’s seat as they stared up at an abandoned children’s hospital. Cisco recognized it as the place where he’d opened his first breach.

“You think Barry’s ever really going to stop if I don’t?” Cisco asked. It was so strange to see through the eyes of another version of himself, to feel and think what this version did. Hartley was looking at him so sweetly.

“You’re not alone.”

By the time Cisco regained his bearings, whatever was attacking the Flash was gone, leaving a panting Barry and a pile of ice shards in its wake.

~

The monster that attacked Barry called himself Savitar. Cisco mostly tuned out H.R.’s musings on the alias as there were more pressing matters at hand. The team knew about Caitlin’s powers now. Barry had asked many questions and only received a glare from Cisco when asked if he knew. How could Barry expect Cisco to trust him with anything these days? Wally was stuck in some kind of cocoon Alchemy put him in. Caitlin told them to leave him be, and then she promptly disappeared.

Cisco hung around the cortex, reluctant to leave with Wally in such condition. It felt rude to sulk in his lab when so much else was going on. He hadn’t noticed Caitlin left until Joe came in and told them she’d been at CCPD.

“What why?” Barry asked, as Cisco hacked CCPD’s camera feeds. He had a terrible suspicion. Caitlin had used her powers to save Barry from Savitar because Cisco told her she wouldn’t become Killer Frost. If anything happened to her, it was his fault. He found footage of her freezing a security camera. Her eyes were ice-white, and her hair was streaked with silver.

“She’s gone Killer Frost,” Cisco said.

Barry’s phone buzzed in his pocket. “She took Julian.”

Guilt twisted inside Cisco as H.R. babbled about cold signatures. Focus, he told himself. H.R. was right. He could use the satellite to find Caitlin.

“She’s at a frozen food plant downtown!” Cisco shouted a moment later.

Barry left in a gust.

Cisco wasted no time hacking into the factory’s security feeds. He found Caitlin and Julian just as Barry reached them.

“Caitlin, what are you doing?” Barry said.

“Julian is going to help me find Alchemy,” she said in Killer Frost’s warbling tone.

“Why?”

“To take away my powers,” she said. The twisting Cisco felt sharpened. He’d been a terrible friend to her lately. She needed someone, and he’d been too wrapped up in his own grief to be there for her. That would change, he vowed. He would help Caitlin no matter what it took.

“Let us help you, Caitlin. We’re your friends,” Barry tried.

She scoffed, “You don’t care about your friends. All you care about is yourself and your family. Well, what about Cisco’s? Huh? Is Cisco listening right now? Does he know that Dante was alive before you created Flash Point?”

All of the air was gone from Cisco’s lungs. His vision swayed. Iris had to grab hold of him so he wouldn’t fall. She roughly pulled out a chair and pushed him into it. Cisco was scarcely aware of the rest of the altercation. He stared blankly toward the screen, none of it taking hold as he grappled. He heard Barry come back. Caitlin had stabbed him in the leg. She got away. This was the thought that finally dragged Cisco back to the surface.

“Cisco,” Barry said, limping over to him.

“Stay away from me!” Cisco said fiercely, standing.

Barry looked stricken. “Cisco, I’m so sorry.”

“Is it true? Was my brother alive before you messed with the timeline?”

“Yes.”

Cisco wasn’t a violent person, but he wanted to punch Barry. He wanted to kick and scream until the pain was gone. Until Dante was alive again. His breath came out in seething pants as H.R., Barry, Iris, and Joe stared at him warily.

“The only reason I am still here is because of Caitlin. I will stay to help her, but you and I, Barry, we’re done.” Barry looked as though he’d been slapped. He hung his head, not meeting Cisco’s eyes.

~

Cisco managed to track Caitlin down at one of Alchemy’s follower’s homes. They fought, and after nearly taking an ice shard to the face, Cisco defeated her. Seeing her in the pipeline was hell. Guilt ripped at Cisco as he met her icy gaze. He feared nothing would get through to her, but then Wally needed her help. Joe had prematurely cut him free of the cocoon, and they desperately needed Caitlin’s medical expertise. Cisco pleaded with her to help Wally, and finally Caitlin managed to break through the surface, her chrome eyes melting back to brown. She whipped up a serum, and just like that, Wally was officially a speedster.

The following week, Cisco dove into his commitment to be a better friend to Caitlin. He spent the next few days building power-dampening cuffs she could wear at all times. It wasn’t a permanent solution, but it would lend them peace of mind. Cisco was grateful for a project that kept him in his lab and away from Barry and H.R. Their new Wells was growing more irritating with each passing day as he struggled to add value to the team. However, now that he knew about Dante, he seemed to take more care when speaking to Cisco, so that was something. However, this grace was counteracted by the idea of a Star Labs Museum. H.R. pitched this to anyone who would listen, and Cisco was growing tired of telling him no.

Cisco fell into bed, marking the end of Not Talking to Barry: Day Six. Holding a grudge with someone he had to see everyday was exhausting, but at least Barry seemed to get the message this time around. He’d made no attempts to try and get back on Cisco’s good side, giving him space.

He was hugging Dante. His brother’s arms were around him, his sweater digging into his palms, and his strong cologne filling his senses. He wanted to hold on forever, to yell at his vibed self to never let go. But he had no control here. He let go of Dante, a passenger in his own body as he turned toward the doorway and held out a hand. Hartley stepped towards him and took it.

“Dante, this is my boyfriend, Hartley,” Cisco said. He watched his brother’s eyebrows raise in surprise, but then he shook Hartley’s hand with all the acceptance Cisco longed for.

“It’s good to meet you,” Dante said. Cisco turned to look at Hartley. He was all blue eyes and relieved smile as he shook Dante’s hand while squeezing Cisco’s in the other.

“You too.”

Cisco woke to sobs wracking his body. He stumbled out of bed, desperate, as though the truth was something he could escape with distance. He came out to Dante before Flash Point. Dante was alive, they were trying to mend their relationship, and he’d introduced Hartley to him. Hartley. His boyfriend. Cisco’s head spun, his room splitting in two. He blinked against the sensation.

It was only seven in the morning by the time he’d showered and pulled himself together. His face felt hot and swollen from crying, and his head ached from the strain of his powers. Usually, Cisco found this unfair, especially with dream-vibes because it wasn’t like he’d consented to vibing and dealing with the resulting migraine. This time, however, he desperately wanted to know everything about the previous timeline. How had he and Hartley gotten together? Why did Hartley rejoin the team in the first place? Was it because of him? Were they serious? Or was it a casual thing? Cisco didn’t think it was casual if he’d introduced Hartley to Dante. It couldn’t have been casual if he came out to his brother for it.

He wanted to vibe. He wanted to sit with a bottle of aspirin and electrolyte drink and vibe the old timeline until he knew all of the answers. He’d never done anything like that before though, and his head already felt split open. So he sat. He sat in his kitchen and stewed, thinking about how Barry screwed up his life—about how much he’d lost.

He’d worked himself into a proper frenzy by the time he got to Star Labs. He debated with himself whether to go in or not. He wasn’t going to, fearing he was too angry to face Barry, but the thrumming need for answers pulled him inside. If he couldn’t get answers from his powers, he was going to get them out of the speedster who created the questions.

Caitlin, Iris, and Barry were in the cortex. Information about Alchemy took up each screen around the room. Cisco didn’t care about their new Big Bad at the moment.

“Were Hartley and I together before Flash Point?” he demanded, his voice shaking with rage. All three of them turned to him with wide eyes, Caitlin because that statement was absurd, Iris because Cisco was so angry, and Barry because…Cisco didn’t know why Barry looked so surprised, but it only made his rage burn hotter. “Well?” he snapped.

“Yes,” Barry said, as though the answer had been startled out of him. “You were.” Caitlin looked back and forth between them like they were both growing second heads.

“He was part of the team, wasn’t he? And him and I…?” Tears burned Cisco’s eyes. He clenched his fists, the pain of his nails digging into his palms keeping him in check.

“He was. In the old timeline, before Flash Point,” Barry amended, “Zoom forced him to join the team as a spy. Hartley eventually told us and helped defeat him. And yeah, you and Hartley got…close. I’m so sorry, Cisco.”

“And where is he now? Hartley,” Cisco asked, knowing Barry wouldn’t know the answer. The speedster was silent. “You don’t know, do you? Because you don’t care.”

“Cisco-”

“No! You don’t care about any of us, do you? You have Iris and Joe and Wally, so it doesn’t matter that everyone else’s lives are torn apart. Tell me, Barry, is there anything else we should know? Anyone else we’ve lost to your carelessness?”

“Cisco!” It was Caitlin who tried to cut him off this time. Cisco turned to her, the fire in him still raging. He opened his mouth to remind her Barry messed up her life too when a flicker caught his eye. Dante stood in a doorway across the room. He smiled at Cisco and passed through like a ghost. A sob escaped Cisco. Caitlin stood, moving to touch him, but he stepped back.

“Don’t,” he choked, backing out of the cortex. He fled to his lab.

Chapter Text

Caitlin gave him a few minutes alone before checking on him. She came in with a pill meant to calm him down, but he refused it. She sat with him while he worked a sizable hole in his sleeve and tried to calm himself.

“What do you need?” she asked eventually.

“I need to vibe,” he said. “I need to see the other timeline—everything that I lost when Barry changed things.”

“Cisco, I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“I can’t live without knowing, Caitlin. I can’t just go on knowing that I had a different life, one where I was out to my brother because I had a boyfriend I cared about. I need to see it, and I’m doing it with or without help.”

Caitlin looked thoughtful for a moment. “Then you’re doing it with help,” she said, “How’s your head? And don’t lie.”

“It hurt when I woke up this morning, but it’s better now.”

She sighed, biting her lip in thought. “I need to monitor you. You’ve never tried to vibe that much time before. You could have a stroke or worse. We should do this in the medbay.”

“No, I don’t want to do this around Barry.”

“Fine, I’ll bring the equipment in here. You,” she pointed at him. “Don’t do anything until I get back.”

“Okay.”

Cisco bounced his leg anxiously as he waited. He picked up his goggles and fiddled with the settings. Hopefully, they would help him stay in control. His goggle-induced vibes tended to be more focused than raw ones. Caitlin returned with an electrode harness, a heart monitor, and several other devices. She spotted the goggles in his hands, and her eyes brightened with an idea. She fled the room again only to return wheeling a chair he’d dubbed the-sinister-dentist-looking-chair. The name was a work in progress.

“You gonna strap me down?” he asked.

“If it seems like you might hurt yourself.”

He was joking. She clearly was not.

Cisco helped clear a space, and she began plugging things in and setting up. He considered locking the door, not wanting Barry or H.R. to stumble in, but decided against it. Having a speedster on standby in case his brain started to cook wasn’t the worst idea in the world—even if said speedster was the reason for all of this. A locked door wouldn’t keep Barry out anyway.

“Ready?” Caitlin asked finally. “You know, you can change your mind.”

“Let’s do this,” Cisco said. He sat down and allowed her to put the harness over his head. She then set up the heart monitor and the other machines.

“If you start to get in trouble, I’m going to touch something cold to your neck. If you feel that, you need to try and pull out of the vibe as quickly as possible.

“Okay,” he said, feeling anxious with so many wires attached to him.

“Breathe. Take your time,” Caitlin spoke.

He breathed deeply, counting to ten in his head. He put on the goggles, and focused on Hartley Rathaway.

“I know what Mardon and Trickster are planning.”

Cisco swung around in his seat. “What the hell?” he demanded, at the sight of Hartley Rathaway in the cortex.

Hartley came to the Christmas party that year.

“You’re back,” Cisco said, days later.

“I didn’t want you to miss me too much,” Hartley said.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Cisco was speaking to Caitlin now.

“He apologized, and he’s been a real help to the team since he’s been here,” she said.

“It’s hard enough having another Wells walking around.”

“You work really well with Dr. Wells, and I think you could get along with Hartley if you tried. You might even find you like him if you’d give him a chance.”

Cisco felt himself scoff before the scene changed again. It was like watching a movie in double time—only he was the main character.

Cisco was walking toward the break room when Hartley’s voice stopped him. He was in his lab with Harry, and he sounded upset.

“…I was his guy. Then I realized what he was up to—that he was going to set the particle accelerator off on purpose. And he tossed me right back in the gutter where he found me. He tarnished my name so no one would believe me, and no one in the science community would hire me. I had nothing when he was finished, and then he put me in the pipeline and every night he…”

Hartley came barreling out of the room and nearly collided with Cisco. His eyes were full of tears. He looked heartbroken.

A new day, Cisco asked Hartley why he wouldn’t call their new Wells Harry.

“If Dr. Wells bothers you so much, I’m sure I can come up with a different moniker. I think Jackass is rather apropos,” he said. They laughed together. They laughed until Cisco’s sides hurt.

Cisco made Hartley new aids.

“Cisco! Be careful over there,” Hartley said to him before he left for Earth-2. Something in his voice struck a chord.

Reverb and Hartley-2 were less than subtle.

“I would never hurt you, Francisco. Unless you asked me to,” Hartley-2 said, running a finger over Cisco’s lips, an emerald ring shining between them.

Hartley was hurt. Joe told Cisco about Hartley fighting a meta by himself while they were on Earth-2. The sight of Hartley lying in a hospital bed made his chest ache.

“Easy,” he said when Hartley tried to sit up. “Wow, you almost look happy to see me.” It was true. Hartley’s eyes lit up at the sight of him. Cisco felt a warm tug of fondness.

The time wraith. Hartley stayed. He didn’t leave to never be heard from by Team Flash again. He stayed, and Cisco drove him home. Hartley directed him to a shabby building downtown. Cisco hated leaving him there.

They were on a bench outside. Cisco could feel the cold even in the vibe. Hartley was speaking, his voice thick with emotion. “I was only sixteen when I met Harrison. My parents had just thrown me out. I had nothing and nowhere to go, and he took me in. He told me every day how smart I was and how I was exactly what he needed. I didn’t know what grooming was then,” Hartley scoffed. “He had me thinking I was special. He paid for my education and gave me a job at Star Labs as his right hand man. He told me he loved me, and then...”

“I was homeless again. My education didn’t mean a damn thing once he was finished with my name. The accelerator exploded, and I got my powers. I was so angry. After I ended up in the pipeline, he came down each night to rub salt in the wounds. He loved reminding me that my life was over. He would threaten to starve me or manipulate the oxygen valve. I think he just liked the power of it.”

Cisco never hated Eobard Thawne more.

“You are good, and powers or not, nothing is ever going to change that,” Hartley said, and Cisco kissed him.

Zoom had a hand around Hartley’s throat. Cisco would have done anything in that moment. “We’ll do it. Just let him go,” he pleaded.

Hartley spent the night in his apartment—spent every night in his apartment. He wore Cisco’s t-shirts and looked so cute in the mornings with his frumpy hair.

Cisco made Hartley a Pied Piper suit, and damn, he looked amazing in it.

Hartley was there when Dante-2 was killed in front of him.

“You know, if you ever decide Vibe needs a suit of his own, perhaps you could fulfill my leather fantasies.” Hartley was under him, and Cisco felt, for the first time, he might love this man.

Hartley-2 broke into Star Labs and told Cisco everything. He told him about Hartley spying for Zoom and how encouraging Cisco to use his powers was his real mission. Cisco was so angry.

“You’ve fulfilled your duty for Zoom. Just go home. Your home!”

Cisco’s head was starting to hurt as the vibe cut again.

Hartley saved Caitlin from Zoom. He could have been killed. Cisco was livid.

“Team Flash needs Pied Piper, but I don’t need Hartley Rathaway.”

They were broken up. Cisco was miserable. Hartley was fighting Zoom’s metas every day, and Cisco was so worried about him.

The vibe seemed too bright somehow. Cisco’s head was really starting to hurt. His vision swayed as the scene changed.

Zoom killed Hartley-2. Cisco watched his body hit the pavement, and in that moment, he couldn’t differentiate this Hartley from his.

“I’m thinking that it’s my fault Zoom killed him. I’m thinking that I shouldn’t have made your suit look so much like his, but if I hadn’t, Zoom might’ve killed you instead. I’m thinking that you shouldn’t have gone there in the first place, and…I’m so worried about you fighting all of these metahumans.” He cried in Hartley’s arms. “I can’t do this.” He fled.

Cisco could feel himself starting to slip from the vibe, his vision going hazy around the edges. He focused harder, forcing himself to stay in.

Hartley and Cisco made up after fighting Immanere. Hartley’s skin was soft under Cisco’s calloused hands. He was home again.

Cisco felt a shock of cold against his neck. He had to keep going. Their time was running out. He could feel the end of the timeline looming just ahead.

Hartley tried to call his father after Henry’s funeral. The man rejected his call, and Cisco held him extra close that night.

They beat Zoom.

Cisco asked Hartley to officially move in with him. Cisco lov-

A trash bin was pressed into his hands. He heaved into it, the effort exacerbating his blinding pain. Caitlin rubbed his back until he was finished. His body felt hot and worn out in a way he’d never felt before. Caitlin guided him back against the chair, his head falling on cool leather.

“Rest,” she said, her voice oddly far away.

“I loved him,” Cisco said before the world went dark.

~

“Cisco,” a voice cut through the darkness. “Cisco.”

Cisco dragged his eyes open. Why were his eyelids so heavy? He was floating on a sea of exhaustion, his body weightless, his limbs numb.

“Cisco!”

Dante’s voice washed over him. Was he dead? Did he vibe himself to death? His thoughts were scattered, like fireflies he was too depleted to catch.

“Cisco, I need you.”

That pulled some reserve of strength from him. Cisco turned his head to see an apparition of his brother standing over him.

“Dante,” he breathed, forcing himself up despite his protesting body. His head felt dangerously light, causing him to sway on his feet.

“Cisco, I need you. Come with me.”

Dante walked out of the room. Cisco dragged his legs over the side of the chair, observing his feet like they belonged to someone else. He couldn’t lose Dante again. He pulled himself standing, his swimming head threatening to pull him back down. He slowly followed Dante, each step an upward climb. What had he done to himself?

He followed Dante so long, he thought they must be nearly out of the building. Cisco couldn’t think—couldn’t remember the layout of Star Labs over the floating water of too tired. They stopped in the testing lab. Cisco couldn’t think of the name of the machine in front of him. He was drained.

“Cisco.”

Dante’s voice pulled him to the surface a bit more. “Dante,” he whispered.

“I need you to open this box.”

Cisco looked down at a stone box. Where had it come from? It looked like an artifact out of some explorer movie. What was it doing here? What was it?

“Dante, wh-”

“Open the box, Cisco.”

He did. The box opened easily at his touch, and then he was cloaked in a warm, blue light. “Oh,” he whispered.

“Beautiful, yes?” Dante appeared in front of him, more solid than before.

“Dante,” Cisco said, tears stinging his eyes. “You’re here.”

“Yes, and I’ll stay so long as that box is open.”

Cisco nodded fervently, unaware of the monster unleashed. All he cared about was his brother. “I missed you so much.”

“I know.”

“You’re here.”

“I am.”

Cisco heard heels click into the room, fast like someone running. “Cisco!” Caitlin called. He didn’t want to turn away from Dante, but he wouldn’t ignore Caitlin. She was his friend.

He was slow still, his brain taking too long to process each movement. “Caitlin, Dante’s here.”

“That’s not Dante. It’s Savitar!” she said frantically.

Savitar? Who—? The monster that attacked Barry…why would Caitlin think—? She didn’t understand.

“No, it’s Dante. He came back. He told me to open the box.” He looked over to Dante who was still beside him, smiling.

“We can be together again, Cisco,” he said.

“Cisco, you have to close that box!” Caitlin yelled.

“I can help you find Hartley. We’ll bring him home. We can be a family again,” Dante said.

Caitlin took a step forward, and Cisco raised a hand. “I won’t lose my brother again.”

“Cisco, if you don’t close that box, Barry will die.”

“I don’t care!” He was awake now. He understood now. He could have Dante back. He could have his life back. All the answers were in this box. Everything Barry took from him.

“Cisco,” Caitlin pleaded. “I know you don’t mean that. You’re confused. You’re worn out from vibing. Please, listen to me. I care about you, and I know you’ve been hurting. I’m so sorry, but you have to close that box. Whatever you’re seeing, it isn’t real.”

Pain stabbed at Cisco’s chest. Caitlin looked so sincere. He didn’t want to believe her, but Caitlin would never lie to him—not about this. He took one last look at Dante’s smiling face, burning the image into his mind. He looked away as he closed the box. A sob escaped him, and he fell to his knees, the box clattering to the floor. Caitlin darted forward and wrapped her arms around him.

“It’s okay. I’m so sorry. It’s okay,” she whispered, rocking them a little. Cisco was shaking, sobs gasping out of him. He’d lost so much, and he kept losing over and over.

Caitlin set Cisco up in the medbay with a sports drink that was too sour for his taste. She’d offered him a sedative, but he refused again.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Like I ran a marathon and then put my brain through a meat grinder.”

“All of your scans look good. You’re just exhausted. You shouldn’t try to use your powers for a while.”

“What’s a while?”

“Until your head  doesn’t  feel like you put it through a meat grinder,” she said.

Cisco nodded, rubbing at his temples with trembling hands. “So…what was that thing? The box?”

Caitlin filled him in on the happenings of Team Flash. Apparently, they’d been busy while Cisco was off in Vibe Land. Julian, Barry’s coworker, was unmasked as Alchemy by Barry. Julian had discovered the box on an archaeological dig, and ever since, he’d experienced black outs during which he became Alchemy. They now believed the box was somehow keeping Savitar contained. Savitar nearly killed Barry and Wally while Cisco had it open, but as long it was closed, Savitar couldn’t hurt anyone.

“We’re going to use the box to try and talk to Savitar through Julian,” she explained. “And we could use some help…”

Cisco sighed. He’d known it was inevitable he would be dragged into this. “Okay,” he agreed, not at all because he felt guilty about unleashing an evil speed god on his ex-best friend. Caitlin smiled at him knowingly.

~

Cisco set up the necessary equipment in the speed lab. It was slow going as Cisco still felt like he was moving through water, but, without Harry around, he was the most qualified for this kind of work. He repurposed the electrode harness Caitlin used on him earlier, connecting it to the box. Barry came in and offered his assistance, which Cisco declined. Cisco then tripped over the cables, and Barry sped over to steady him.

“Don’t.” Cisco shrugged him off.

“What happened to you?” Barry asked, staring down at Cisco’s shaking hands.

“Is Julian ready?” Cisco asked, aiming the question at Caitlin.

“He’s right outside.”

Barry didn’t try to speak to Cisco again. Once Julian was hooked up to the box, Cisco stood back, leaning heavily against a nearby table for support. H.R, Caitlin, Iris, and Wally had trickled in while Cisco was setting everything up. All eyes were on Julian as his face took on a hard edge.

“None of you are on your knees. Don’t you know it’s proper to kneel before a god?” Julian’s voice was no longer his own. It was now the drawl of an angry specter.

“You’re not a god,” Barry said.

“I am Savitar, God of Speed, and I will destroy each of you in turn. I am the past, present, and future. I know your destinies. One shall betray you. One shall fall. One will lose their true love by that love’s own hand. One will suffer a fate far worse than death. This is the knowledge I have for you.”

Barry questioned him more, but Savitar continued his God of Speed shtick, giving them nothing else of substance. It was obvious he couldn’t do any real damage so long as the box was closed. Barry severed the connection, and Julian was Julian again.

Barry decided the best way to get rid of the box was to throw it into the Speed Force. Thankfully, he didn’t need help with that, so Caitlin insisted she drive Cisco home. He was in no position to argue, considering he was falling asleep where he stood. Cisco could feel Barry’s eyes on his back as they left.

Chapter Text

Somehow, after fourteen hours of sleep, Cisco was still exhausted. He cursed the afternoon sun that pierced between his curtains. At least his head didn’t hurt anymore, and his hands were no longer shaking. He sat up and grabbed his phone, finding he had a text from Caitlin.

Caitlin:  Told the team you wouldn’t be in today. Rest up and call if you need anything.

Cisco sent her a quick text to let her know he was fine. He stared around his bare-shelved room, his thoughts wandering to everything he’d learned the day before. He was at a crossroads. He could go forward in this timeline and forget about the life he had before, or he could pursue his old life, see if he could get back some semblance of what he had.

He showered and thought about Hartley. They weren’t on bad terms in this timeline, but they weren’t exactly friends either. The last time Cisco saw Hartley was when he helped Team Flash defeat the time wraith. They never saw or heard from him after that. Cisco had never even thought about him, but now he was all Cisco could think about. He felt his emotions from the other timeline, the tugs of affection when Hartley crinkled his nose, the fluttering in his stomach when hit with that blue-eyed smile, and the earth-shattering worry when Hartley was in danger. That was love. It was messy and painful and beautiful. And Cisco wanted it.

By four o’clock, he had a plan. He would find Hartley and peek into his life. If he was happy and fine, Cisco would leave him be, but if he wasn’t, if his life seemed screwed up by Barry’s meddling too, Cisco would step in and see if there could be something between them this time around. He left his apartment, thinking the best place to start was at the beginning. Hartley had been living in some squalid apartment in the previous timeline. Perhaps he was still there. The thought of Hartley spending an extra year there sent a twinge of dread through him.

He drove downtown in circles until he finally recognized the building. It looked even worse now. The graffiti was faded, and the building across the street had been torn down, probably why Cisco hadn’t recognized it at first. The front door of the building pushed open with ease, the lock busted. Cisco made his way up the creaking stairs to the door he remembered to be Hartley’s. The numbers had worn off each door, but Hartley’s was the first on the left. The hallway was freezing from a broken window. Cisco hoped he wouldn’t find Hartley here, if only to know he hadn’t been living like this.

He knocked on the apartment door. Nothing. He knocked again, feeling the knot in his stomach loosen as seconds ticked by. He tried the knob, and the door opened, squeaking on its hinges. The room didn’t look much different. The yellowed fridge and peeling counters took up the right side of the room, a small table and chair in the middle, and a cot shoved in the left corner. The only things missing were Hartley’s stack of books and the photo of his sister he kept on the fridge.

Cisco walked further into the room, inspecting every corner, suddenly desperate to find some sign of Hartley. A spot of blue caught his eye under the cot. He reached for it and pulled it out. It was a torn Ravenclaw bookmark. Cisco felt a rush of fondness that took him by surprise. How could he be so smitten with someone he’d technically never been with? He felt his vibes fiercely, and through them, Hartley had grabbed a hold of his heart. He only hoped he wasn’t setting himself up for a new world of hurt.

There was no more Hartley in the apartment. Cisco walked out and shut the door behind him with a screech. He wasn’t entirely sure where to go from here. He could scour the internet, though he’d never known Hartley to be a heavy social media user. He supposed he could try to vibe Hartley. Cold January air struck Cisco’s face as he stood near the cracked window. He pulled the Ravenclaw bookmark out of his pocket. Nothing. He was still tapped out from the day before.

“Cisco?” a voice asked behind him.

Cisco wheeled around. “Lisa!” he said, surprised to see her.

“What’s a cutie like you doing here?” she asked, though her usual charm fell a little flat.

“I’m…looking for someone. What are you doing here?” he asked, hoping she wasn’t living in this frigid nightmare.

“Oh, I like to come here and wander now and again. It’s the last place I lived with Lenny.” She sounded so sad, Cisco’s stomach fell.

“Is he…?”

“A few months ago,” she confirmed.

“I’m so sorry. I…I lost my brother too.”

She looked surprised for a moment. “Dante? The cute one Lenny froze?”

This startled a strained laugh out of Cisco. “Yeah, that’s the one.”

Lisa stared at him for a moment before walking forward and enveloping him in a hug. Cisco held her tight, willing tears not to spring to his eyes. After a moment, she pulled away. “Who are you looking for?” she asked, feigning strength. Cisco could see her fighting back her own tears.

“Hartley Rathaway.”

“Oh, it’s been forever since anyone’s seen him. He just up and disappeared one day.”

“Really?” Cisco asked.

“Yeah, I think…wasn’t he going to Star Labs, to help you all with something? I can’t remember now, but he never came back after that.”

“Really? What about his stuff? The apartment is empty.”

“The new owners. Since Lenny’s gone, the old owner felt safe to sell the place. The new guy’s been cleaning out the units, trying to ward off squatters. You know how it is.”

Cisco did not know, thankfully, but he felt a pang of sympathy for Lisa. She didn’t even have her brother or Hartley now. Cisco recalled from his vibe that her and Hartley were close before. “If you ever need anything,” he said.

“Oh, don’t you start with that, Cisco,” she cut him off. “I’m tougher than I look. You know that better than anyone, and I’ve still got that gun you made me. I can take care of myself.”

Cisco smiled, nodding to appease her. “Still. Call me if you need anything.” He offered her his phone. She put in her number, naming herself Golden Glider with a kiss emoji at the end.

“When you find Hartley, let me know?” she asked.

“I will.”

She kissed him on the cheek, and they parted ways.

~

The next day, Cisco still had no luck vibing the bookmark. He slept late again, still a bit strained from The Long Vibe, as he’d taken to calling it. He’d placed the bookmark on his nightstand, and it made him miss his Hufflepuff blanket. He went looking for it in the grief boxes and pulled it out along with his Hedwig plush. It didn’t hurt to look at them anymore, and he found comfort in them.

Cisco was in no rush as he got ready for the day. He would take any excuse to avoid Star Labs. Although, while he felt justified in avoiding Barry, he was starting to feel guilty for abandoning the team. He feared Caitlin was still in the woods with her powers, and now Savitar’s dire predictions were on constant replay in his head. They didn’t even have a competent Wells anymore. However, his thoughts always managed to circle back to Dante and Hartley, and he was left angry again.

H.R. was waiting for Cisco as he stepped off the elevator. “San Francisco!” the man said cheerfully, “Cup o' joe?” Cisco took the proffered cup with a tight smile. “So…you remember the incredible—if I do say so myself—idea I pitched to you guys? The Star Labs Museum?”

“The idea we nixed immediately, yes,” Cisco said.

“Well, it’s almost ready for its grand opening!”

Cisco stopped in his tracks, turning to H.R. slowly. He had to be joking, but H.R. stood with his drumsticks in hand and jovial smile firmly in place.

“You’ve been working on the museum this whole time?” Cisco asked. H.R. nodded. “Even after we said no?”

“Well, I thought once you saw it, you might change your minds. Come on, San Franny! It’s a good idea. Star Labs needs funding, and it’s a good cover for your covert operations,” H.R. whispered the end of this statement.

Cisco stared at him for a moment longer. “Yeah, okay, you know what, I’m not in the mood for this. Do you know where Caitlin is?”

“She’s in the medbay charging!” H.R. said, with a wave of a drumstick. Cisco shook his head before walking away.

He found Caitlin in the medbay, and, exactly as H.R. had said, she was charging. “That’s what he meant. You’re charging your cuffs,” Cisco said aloud.

“Yes, with all two feet of cord. Dog leashes are longer than this,” she complained. Cisco felt a pang of guilt at this. He was still being a bad friend, and he needed to do better.

“I’ll work on something else,” he promised, sitting near her on a bed. “I’m sorry I’ve been so preoccupied.”

“You’ve been through a lot. How are you feeling?”

“Still a little tired, but okay. I can’t vibe though.”

“I think you may have strained that particular muscle,” she said dryly, “It needs rest.”

“I’m going to try with my goggles and see if that helps.”

“Why do you need to vibe so bad?” she asked.

He hesitated for a moment. “I tried to find Hartley yesterday.”

She looked surprised at this. “Cisco, you two didn’t exactly get along in this timeline.”

“Yeah, but we didn’t in the other timeline either, but we worked it out, and then we…Look, I just want to see how he’s doing now. If he’s okay, I’ll leave him alone. I just need to know.”

“Okay, let me know if you need any help, and please be careful with the over-vibing.”

“I think you just invented a verb.”

She rolled her eyes fondly before looking off toward the doorway. Cisco turned, seeing Barry with a sheepish look on his face.

“Guys, can you come in here for a minute? Cisco, please,” Barry said. Caitlin gave Cisco a look before unplugging her cuffs. Cisco followed her out to the cortex, avoiding Barry’s gaze along the way.

The whole team was there except for Joe. Barry and Iris stood at the front of the room, while H.R, Cisco, Wally, and Caitlin waited for them to say something.

“When I threw Alchemy’s box into the Speed Force, I accidentally ran forward in time,” Barry started. Cisco bit back a scoff at this. Barry and his time travel. What else was new? “I saw Savitar kill Iris. Four months from now.”

The team was silent for a moment. Cisco felt like he’d been punched in the gut. Wally was the first to speak. “Iris is going to die?” his voice was choked.

“The future isn’t set. I believe we can change it, and we will,” Barry said firmly.

“But I thought Savitar was gone. You got rid of the box,” Wally said.

“I don’t know. I thought so too,” Barry faltered, “But I know what I saw.”

“So, how are we going to change the future?” Caitlin asked.

“Might I make a suggestion?” H.R. piped up. “Perhaps, if we revisit the scene, gather as many clues as we can, that will aid us along in changing the outcome.”

“How do we do that?” Iris asked.

“By vibing the future,” Cisco said. All eyes turned on him.

“You’ll help us?” Barry asked. Cisco looked at him for the first time in a while.

“For Iris.”

Team Flashed was piled in the breach room within the hour. The transdimensional energy was highest there, and Cisco needed the boost. He only hoped the room and his goggles would be enough to bring his powers back.

“If you start to feel unstable, just end the vibe. We can try again in a few days,” Caitlin said, low enough for only Cisco to hear. He nodded as he set the goggles to their highest setting. He hoped it would be enough to pull Barry along with him.

“Ready?” Barry asked, approaching Cisco like a wild animal.

“Yeah, ready.”

“Look, man, thank you for doing this. I know you’re mad at me, and you have every reason to be-”

“Like I said,” Cisco cut him off. “I’m doing this for Iris.”

Cisco put on the goggles, and they clasped hands as the rest of the team watched. For a moment, nothing happened, and Cisco feared he’d maxed out his vibes for good. Then, he felt the familiar pull, and suddenly he and Barry were standing on an empty street. They watched as past-Barry fell out of the Speed Force. They were in the right place.

“The news reel,” Barry said, pointing to a television over a bus stop. “The headlines are scrolling.”

“Call them out. I’ll write ‘em down,” H.R.’s voice penetrated the vibe.

“Luigi’s opens after murder,” Cisco read.

“Jerrie Rathaway wins All State Spelling Bee,” Barry said.

“Joe West honored at city hall.”

“Star Labs Museum Closes.”

“Killer Frost still at large,” Barry said solemnly.

“Son of Rathaway Industries CEO, Hart—Oh my god,” Cisco faltered.

“Son of Rathaway Industries CEO, Hartley Rathaway, commits suicide, pending investigation,” Barry finished.

Cisco was floating outside himself. This couldn’t be real. Hartley wouldn’t—he couldn’t. Hartley’s smile played in his mind. He was happy before. Before. A scream broke his trance. He and Barry turned to see Savitar holding Iris in the air. H.R. was on the roof with a rifle. Cisco closed his eyes when Savitar pierced Iris through the back. He pulled them out of the vibe.

“The future isn’t set,” Barry said frantically as Cisco grappled with everything they’d just seen. “The future is malleable. H.R. wasn’t on the roof the last time I was there, meaning we’ve already changed things.”

“You’re right. These headlines are a roadmap to change the future,” H.R. said, hitting the board with a drumstick.

“It’s not just my fate that has to change. Caitlin’s and Hartley Rathaway’s too,” Iris said. “Cisco, are you alright?”

Cisco had a death grip on the table next to him. His vision swayed. “I need…I can’t,” he stumbled out of the room and made for his lab. Every memory of Hartley he’d regained was coming back to him in gut punches. Hartley was brilliant, and sarcastic, and beautiful. What was he now? How was he suffering?

“Cisco, man, are you alright?” This was Barry’s voice. Cisco had expected Caitlin to follow him. He didn’t know what to do with Barry.

“Am I alright?” Cisco repeated dully.

“Yeah, that was dumb. Just…tell me what I can do. I’ll help you find him. I’ll do anything,” Barry pleaded.

“You’ve done enough,” Cisco said, turning around to face him, “I’m so tired of feeling like the villain for being angry at you when all of this is your fault! Hartley was here. He was here, and he was happy. And now he’s out there somewhere hurting, and I have all these feelings now—feelings that he doesn’t have because you erased them! You erased us.” Cisco’s voice cracked, and he wrapped his arms around himself. “I’ll find him myself. You focus on Iris. I’ll focus on Hartley. And we’ll both try not to let Caitlin down along the way,” he said bitterly. Barry nodded with that kicked-puppy look that only made Cisco angrier.

Barry left the room. Cisco started packing some of his things. He needed his goggles to strengthen his vibes and find Hartley. He also took some tools, materials to make a better power dampener, and his work laptop.

“Going somewhere?” Caitlin asked, appearing beside him as he zipped his bag.

“Hey, I wasn’t going to leave without saying goodbye.”

“Tell me you’re not leaving the team.”

“Of course not. But I’m going to find Hartley—as long as it takes, and I don’t think I’ll be back until I do. I’m working on your battery issue though, not to worry,” he said, patting his bag. “I’m not leaving the team. I’m here for you and Iris…and H.R. I’m just not sure I can be here for Barry right now.”

Caitlin wrapped him in a hug. “When you find Hartley, let me know what’s going on. I want to help. Whatever he’s struggling with.”

Cisco nodded against her shoulder. “I love you,” he said thickly.

“I love you too,” she chuckled, rubbing his back.

“And don’t worry,” Cisco said as he pulled away, “we’re going to make sure the Killer Frost headline doesn’t happen either.”

~

Cisco spent the following days tinkering, thinking, and trying to vibe. The bookmark was still a no-go. Perhaps it never belonged to Hartley, and its presence at the apartment was an unlikely coincidence.

“Solar energy,” he mused aloud, taking apart the device in front him. Hartley Rathaway. If someone had told him he’d be hung up on Hartley Rathaway four years ago, he would have called them crazy. Now it wasn’t just the feelings The Long Vibe stirred. Hartley was in trouble, and Cisco was so worried he couldn’t sleep. He dreamed of Hartley having his heart shredded by Zoom, falling from twelve-story buildings as Hartley-2 had, lying in a pool of his own blood. Each image sent him gasping awake, desperately clutching the now-creased bookmark in futile attempts to vibe—to find Hartley and save him from the monsters in Cisco’s head.

Cisco yawned for the umpteenth time. He could barely hold his eyes open, but he didn’t want to dream up the horror that swirled in his subconscious. He pulled out his phone, hoping he wouldn’t regret this move in the morning.

Cisco:  What was Hartley like the last time you saw him? Do you have any idea where he might have disappeared to?

Lisa:  Good evening to you too, cutie. Like I said. He went to Star Labs and never came back. Lenny even went looking for him. Broke into Star Labs one night to see if you locked him up again. Said he wasn’t there.

Cisco:  Your brother did what now?

Lisa:  smirking emoji

Cisco:  Can you think of anything else? Any reason he would vanish?

Lisa:  He was really nervous. Hart said he would never go back to Star Labs. Probably because of that Wells guy. But didn’t that guy die?

Cisco:  More or less.

Lisa:  shrugging emoji

Cisco:  Thanks, Lisa.

Lisa:  You ok?

Cisco:  Yes. You?

Lisa:  Always

Cisco fell asleep at his desk.

The first thing Cisco noticed was the ceiling. It was so high for a bedroom. It sparkled white like pearl. The sky-high shelves contained countless leather-bound books. The closet door was open, revealing neat rows of cashmere and silk. In the center was a mahogany bed that looked like it’d been pulled from a magazine. On top was a man also worthy of a magazine spread. Hartley Rathaway was face-down, clad only in pajama pants. Cisco was close enough to count the freckles on his back. Hartley’s shoulders hitched, and Cisco’s heart fell.

“Hartley,” he whispered, but, of course, Hartley couldn’t hear him. Cisco was condemned to watch Hartley suffer alone, the vibe dragging on as broken sobs poured out of him. Finally, Hartley quieted and turned over. There were tear-tracks down his face, leading all the way to a busted lip.

Cisco startled awake, sending the device he’d been working on clattering to the floor. Was that a vibe or a nightmare? It was getting difficult to tell. They both left him shaky and panicked. He collected his project off the floor and rubbed at his eyes, feeling clamminess along his forehead. He was cold and hot and frustrated. He took a shower.

Cisco woke just after nine that morning, having forced himself into bed around three a.m. in an attempt to regain a normal sleep cycle. Coffee was the only thought his brain could process at the moment. Where was H.R. when you actually needed him?

He really should take heed to old adages as “be careful what you wish for” seemed to slap him in the face from time to time.

“Good morning, sleepy head!” H.R. cheered as Cisco entered the kitchen. There were two cups of coffee on the counter, and the room smelled like pancakes. Sure enough, H.R. turned back to the stove and flipped a pancake high in the air. “I hope you’re hungry.”

“What are you-how did you get in here?”

“You had a spare key in your lab, so I let myself in. You know on my earth, it’s customary to gift keys to friends so they can drop by—because you never know when the urge to make someone breakfast will arise!”

Cisco stared at the man for a moment before shaking his head. Could he get mad at the man for making him breakfast? Sure, breaking into his apartment, not great, but, on the other hand, coffee.

“So this is just a casual, no-strings-attached breakfast?” he asked suspiciously.

“Of course! Well, perhaps the small price of information, or help if you’d be so inclined. See, I was thinking,” H.R. set a plate of pancakes in front of Cisco. “If someone were to, I don’t know, make a hologram of say…you, how would one go about doing that?”

Cisco froze with his fork in the air. “H.R, why are you making a hologram of me?”

“Wh—I didn’t—I just thought…” H.R. stammered. “Okay, look, we need tour guides for the Star Labs Museum, and since you’ve made it clear that you’re too busy, I thought you could be a  virtual  tour guide.” He finished this statement with jazz hands.

“You’re going ahead with the museum even after seeing the future headline?”

“Well, yes, San Francisco! The future headline only served for further motivation to make the museum as incredible as it can be, hence the hologram idea.”

Cisco rubbed his temples. “I can’t help you with this right now, H.R. You saw the headlines. The museum is low on the list of priorities.”

“But don’t you see? By changing the fate of the museum, history is altered, or the future rather. The more you tweak, the more it will change.”

Cisco stared at him. What if he was right? What if, in some inexplicable way, saving the Star Labs Museum also saved Hartley? He’d seen The Butterfly Effect after all. “I see what you’re saying, but I have to find Hartley right now.”

“Okay!” H.R. agreed. “Then let’s find Hartley!”

“I—no. That’s not what…” Cisco tried.

“After breakfast though. You know breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Of course, on my earth we call it First Meal. Breakfast sounds fancier though. I wonder where that came from,” H.R. rambled. Cisco sighed and dug into his pancakes.

“So, how do we find Hartley?” H.R. asked some time later, as the breakfast dishes were put away.

Cisco sighed. Apparently, this was happening. “Well, I’ve tried to vibe his location off something I found in his old apartment, but I’ve gotten nothing from it. The only thing I really know about him is that he used to be a world-class jerk, and then he became slightly less of a jerk. He helped us out with a time wraith last year, and no one has seen him since.”

“The time wraith kidnapped him!” H.R. announced.

“The time wraith did not kidnap him,” Cisco said, “Hartley beat the time wraith, which was actually kind of badass.”

“Hartley beat the time wraith,” H.R. amended, twirling his drumsticks in thought. Where did he even get those? “So, what else do we know about Hartley? Perhaps the best place to start, as with most cases, is from the beginning.”

“The beginning,” Cisco muttered. “Well, I met him when I came to work at Star Labs…”

“Further back!” H.R. interrupted. “Come on. Who is Hartley Rathaway? Where is he from? What was his life like before Star Labs?”

“He…” Cisco thought for a moment, “He didn’t talk about his childhood much. But it’s pretty public knowledge that he was disowned by his parents…”

“His incredibly rich parents I’m assuming by the CEO title,” H.R. mused.

“The bedroom,” Cisco breathed.

“What?”

“I had a dream, a vibe, of Hartley in his bedroom,” Cisco said.

“Okay, whoa! Maybe not that much detail,” H.R. laughed.

“No, the room was…regal. Rich.” Cisco suddenly remembered the last thing Hartley said to the team before he left. He was going to have dinner with his parents. “I think he went back to his parents.” Cisco got up and grabbed his laptop, bringing it back to the kitchen table. He searched for news on Rathaway Industries, and sure enough there was a news article from three days prior boasting of Rathaway Industries latest buyout. The photo was a picture of Osgood Rathaway shaking hands with someone, and in the background was Hartley, giving the camera a bland smile.

“We found him,” Cisco said, “We found him!”

“Yeah, we did!” H.R. cheered, clapping Cisco on the shoulder. Cisco felt elated as he stared at the blurry photo of Hartley. He was okay, and he was alive. That was the best Cisco could have hoped for after seeing the headline.

“Thank you, H.R,” Cisco said, dragging his gaze away from the screen.

“Ah, no need to thank me,” H.R. beamed, “Well, actually we still have the matter of the hologram…”

“I’ll work on the hologram. As soon as I make contact with Hartley, I’ll get started on it.”

“How are you going to make contact?”

“I have no idea.”

Chapter Text

Francisco Ramon,

You are cordially invited to Central City’s Annual Museum of Fine Arts Gala - Sponsored by Rathaway Industries

Cisco read over the words to distract himself. He’d hacked into the event coordinator’s files and downloaded a copy of the official invitation. He’d spent days looking over news articles and Rathaway Industries’s social media for glimpses of Hartley. It seemed Hartley was gradually becoming the face of the company. He was a frequent fixture in their photographs over the last several months—though his smile never looked genuine to Cisco. Perhaps it was only Savitar’s dire predictions making him think this, but Cisco knew what a genuine smile from Hartley Rathaway looked like—even if he hadn’t seen one in this timeline.

Cisco parked several blocks away from the event. He wasn’t ashamed of his car. He liked his car, but it wasn’t a Tesla or a Rolls-Royce or whatever gala-going-rich-people drove. He needed to look the part, at least long enough to lay eyes on Hartley. He adjusted his bow tie once more as he sloped up the marble steps into the museum. He held his breath as the greeter glanced at his forged invitation.

“Have a wonderful evening, Mr. Ramon,” she said, handing the parchment back to him. He nodded, not trusting his voice. He followed red velvet ropes to the ballroom, ignoring the small gatherings of Central City’s high society and the reporters bouncing between them.

Once in the ballroom, he felt as though he’d stumbled onto the set of The Princess Diaries, only he was the schlubby teenage Anne Hathaway. The entire room was ivory and gold. A live orchestra played a soft tune that a few couples were already dancing to. He was only a few steps into the room before a server offered him a champagne flute. Cisco took it with a grateful smile—glad to have something to do with his hands. There were hundreds of people milling around the room, all better dressed than Cisco in his rented tux. He’d worn the only suit he owned to Dante’s funeral. He could never wear it again.

Cisco weaved around the room, careful not to bump into anyone or spill his champagne. This was not his scene. The sooner he found Hartley, the better. Thirty minutes ticked by. Then an hour. The music grew louder, but not so loud people couldn’t talk with those around them. Cisco picked up snippets of conversations and realized, with each forward step, how different these people were. How many boats did one person need anyway?

Maybe Hartley wasn’t here. He sighed, abandoning his still-full champagne flute—he was driving after all—before a shock of emerald caught his eye. Across the room, a slim figure in a tailored, dark green suit stood with his own champagne flute in hand. Hartley Rathaway was immaculate with his artfully gelled hair and a photo-perfect smile aimed at the person speaking with him. Cisco’s heart leapt at the sight. He slowly made his way to Hartley, weaving around socialites and politicians. Hartley looked better with each step closer. A pocket-watch chain hung from his vest, glinting in the light, and the flattering cut of his trousers made Cisco wish he’d taken a swig of that champagne after all.

Cisco waited as an older woman spoke with Hartley, feeling a bit of a spectacle as he hovered—not that anyone was looking at him. These people seemed to look right through him, much like Hartley had when they first met. Cisco felt a sour twist in his stomach, remembering how Hartley used to be. Was he just setting himself up for hurt? Was this timeline’s Hartley back to being an utter dick? He still had to try with the future headline looming over them, but it would certainly make things more difficult. The woman moved on, so Hartley was free. Cisco stepped in front of him before he could lose his nerve.

“Hartley,” he said, sharper than he’d meant to. He winced at himself, wishing he’d kept that champagne flute as he suddenly didn’t know what to do with his hands again.

Hartley paused for a moment, a hint of surprise on his face. When he spoke, his voice was void of anything but practiced politeness. “Hello, Mr. Roman. Lovely to see you.”

This isn’t Hartley.

Cisco was so taken aback by the thought that he floundered for a moment. “Uh…” He had to get it together. “Hartley, it’s me, Cisco.” Obviously. They’d established Hartley recognized him by the use of his last name, but Hartley’s vacant stare had thrown him. He’d thought the worst case scenario was Hartley being a dick again—that day fighting the time wraith a long forgotten memory. He’d also been harboring a fantasy that Hartley had been in love with him this whole time. Neither of these seemed to fit the hollow gaze in front of him.

“Yes, of course. How’s…” Hartley paused for a moment too long, “Dr. Snow?”

“She’s f—well, she’s been better actually.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. Please give her my regards.”

“Your regards? Hartley, what is going on?” Cisco had never known Hartley to go this long in conversation without sarcasm, Latin, or a biting comment. Hell, he’d picked the rental tux knowing full well it would bait Hartley. He knew from the other timeline Hartley could be sweet, but this Hartley wasn’t anything.

“Excuse me, I don’t believe we’ve met.” A tall, stocky man with an almost-unibrow stepped between them, so close that Cisco took an instinctive step back. The man was middle-aged, dark buzz cut, and in an ill-fitted rental suit of his own. He didn’t appear to belong here any more than Cisco.

“I’m Cisco Ramon. Hartley and I used to work together,” Cisco said, catching his bearings and putting a hand out. The man shook it in a vice grip.

“I see,” the man said, “always nice to catch up with old friends at these things.” Cisco couldn’t get a read on the guy. Was he Hartley’s boyfriend? He had to be at least twice Hartley’s age, though that hadn’t stopped him from being with Dr. Wells. Cisco finally tore his gaze from the man to look at Hartley. The party-smile Hartley had been wearing was gone, his eyes now downcast, shoulders slumped. Before Cisco could ask if he was okay, Tall, Dark, and Rude spoke again. “It’s also nice to mingle, catch up with  everyone .”

This seemed to snap Hartley out of his stupor. “Yes, it was nice to see you, Mr. Ramon. Have a good night,” he spoke to the space next to Cisco before walking away, the other man following a few paces behind. Cisco stared after them wondering what the hell just happened.

Cisco made the slow trek back to his car, his mind racing from the brief interaction. He was nearly home before he realized the man who’d interrupted them hadn’t even told Cisco his name. He went to bed with more questions than answers.

~

Cisco desperately needed to be good at something right now. His mind was a tangled mess of questions and doubts. Engineering was the only way to untangle it. Cisco always thought best while working on a project, so the following morning found Cisco in his lab, working on the hologram, as promised, as well as a new power-dampener for Caitlin.

“San Francisco!” H.R. greeted. “Cappuccino?”

“Thanks, H.R,” Cisco said distractedly. H.R. watched over his shoulder for a while, making comments and suggestions that were ultimately useless. It would have annoyed Cisco to no end merely days ago, but he was learning to work with the background chatter. In a way, it was nice having H.R. around. He’d helped with Hartley, and for that, Cisco had a little more patience for him.

H.R. apparently grew bored with pretending he knew how to help, so he moved on to peppering Cisco with questions about Hartley. “Not to break your concentration on the power amplifier—”

“Dampener.”

“Dampener,” H.R. amended. “How did things go with one Mr. Hartley Rathaway?”

Cisco sighed, rolling his shoulders as he adjusted his grip on the tool he was using. “Things…went.”

“You found him?”

“Yep.”

“And?” H.R. prodded, dragging out the word.

“And—he was different. Quiet. Polite. Unnerving.”

“Unnerving?”

“Yes, a quiet polite Hartley Rathaway is unnerving.”

H.R. chuckled at this. “You found him at one of his family fortune gatherings, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Well, there you go! I, for one, would probably be quiet and polite around the people who threw me out, without so much as a cent to my name—at sixteen, no less—and then suddenly allowed me back into the fold. I mean, can you imagine? Telling your parents something important about yourself and getting the boot. And then what your Wells did to him, gosh—I can’t even imagine.”

“How do you know so much about Hartley all of a sudden?” Cisco asked, having set down his tools to look at H.R.

“Oh, I read his files. Yeah, there’s loads of them in Old Eobard Wells’s office—folders on all of you. It’s how I learned all your coffee orders. They’re very thorough but none in such detail as Hartley Rathaway’s files,” H.R. laughed, “His are quite intimate. You know, there’s a chart of Hartley’s moles. It even includes the birthmark on his—”

“Okay, got it! You read his files,” Cisco cut him off, feeling queasy at the knowledge that Dr. Wells kept intimate records of his time with Hartley. Cisco needed to destroy those and hope there weren’t backups lingering anywhere. Hartley wouldn’t want any of that information falling into the wrong hands.

“Anyway, my point is, Hartley is different because he’s in a different environment, one he must be very careful in. Imagine you’re on a tightrope…”

Cisco tuned out H.R.’s analogy. He hadn’t considered how much Hartley would have to change to fit into his new life—or old life rather. How much of it was for show? That blank version of Hartley had to be an act. He couldn’t have changed so much to be zapped of any personality. Cisco wasn’t sure how long he’d let his mind spin with questions before H.R.’s speech finally drew to a close.

“…and that’s what we would call, on my earth, a walrus.”

“Thank you, H.R,” he said, keeping most of the incredulity out of his voice.

~

In the following days, Cisco completed the hologram tour guide. H.R. was thrilled with the result and had begun planning the museum’s opening with vigor. It was scheduled for the upcoming week, and everyone tried to show enthusiasm for it. Proving they could change the future by keeping the museum open was, after all, easier to focus on than the other issues at hand.

Caitlin vowed to keep Cisco up to date on all things Savitar, but no further progress had been made since the box was thrown into the Speed Force. The new power dampener still wasn’t holding a charge, and every day it wasn’t complete filled Cisco with endless guilt. It didn’t help that Cisco couldn’t stop thinking about his encounter with Hartley. Hartley’s fate loomed over Cisco even as he slept, blending his vibes and nightmares until they were indiscernible from each other. The lack of restful sleep didn’t help in the least.

There was another Rathaway event at the end of the week. Cisco had hacked Osgood Rathaway’s assistant and now had his itinerary, which unfortunately for Cisco held much more than company events. There was, however, a celebration on the books that Cisco hoped Hartley would be attending. From what he could tell, it was a smaller gathering, less formal, more business casual. Cisco suited up in a white button down, black tie, black pants, and dress shoes. He feared his usual love of patterns would draw attention.

He parked in the lot at this event, noting the work vans and caterer’s vehicles. He didn’t need to worry about his standing out. The invitation had been easy enough to replicate. It was merely an email, and, better yet, the man at the door didn’t even ask to see it. The room was small compared to the gala, mahogany accents giving it a warm library kind of atmosphere. There were desks and armchairs placed around the room. The walls were covered by art and bookcases filled with leather-bound books. Cigar smoke lingered in the air as middle-aged to older men slowly filled the space, creating small, noisy clusters.

Cisco scanned the room, no one paying him the least bit of attention, but Hartley wasn’t there. Osgood Rathaway, however, had commandeered the center of the room, a gaggle of men laughing around him. Would Hartley not have come with his father? Needing a break from the smoke and noise, Cisco wandered toward a side room he’d seen caterers coming out of. A woman’s shrill voice stopped him just outside the door.

“The plates need to be moving at all times. Do not pester people, but be available. These men are very important. Do not embarrass this company.”

“Yes, Mrs. Rathaway,” came a small chorus of meek voices. Another rush of caterers filed out, each carrying trays of food or beverages. Cisco backed away from the door, thinking better of going inside with Rachel Rathaway. However, Hartley’s name stopped him.

“Hartley,” her voice came, less shrill but still authoritative, “finish your tea and join your father. He wants you present for the announcement.”

Mrs. Rathaway exited the room, her black dress emanating power. Her hair sat in a severe bun, and her jewelry glinted in the low light. She took two steps into the room before her eyes pierced Cisco. They were Hartley’s eyes—cold as she scanned Cisco up and down. It brought Cisco back to the day he met Hartley.

“You’re late,” she hissed at him. “I will be informing your supervisor of this as I’m sure he will not appreciate you costing his company its reputation. And straighten your tie!” She walked away from him, her heels clicking the hardwood like a metronome. Cisco’s mouth had popped open at her words, but no sound came out before she was already speaking politely with the closest cigar-holder. He felt an all-too-familiar twist in his gut as he stared after her. He shoved it down, reminding himself he was on a mission and stepped into the room.

A few caterers remained in the center of the room, preparing food on a large table and chatting quietly amongst themselves. Hartley was as far from them as he could be—a shadow in the corner, sipping from a lavender coffee mug. Cisco approached him, taking in his appearance. Since reliving their relationship from the other timeline, Hartley Rathaway would always be attractive to Cisco, but something was off. Hartley was perfectly dressed in black monochrome, button down shirt and trousers with a dark, satin bow tie, but his hair wasn’t quite as put together as it had been at the gala. It hung lowly over his face, needing a trim if Hartley planned to keep it neatly short. Cisco noticed his eyes were red-rimmed as he got closer.

“Hartley,” Cisco said softly.

Hartley jumped, raising his gaze to meet Cisco’s. “Cis—Mr. Ramon,” Hartley faltered, his eyes darting around the room.

“Hartley, are you alright?” Cisco came closer and put a hand out. Hartley shrunk further into the corner, so Cisco brought his hand back to his side.

“I’m well, Mr. Ramon, and you?” There was that practiced tone. It was beginning to set Cisco’s teeth on edge.

“I would be better if I could talk to the real Hartley Rathaway,” he muttered. Something crossed Hartley’s features then, a dark twitch around his eyes, but it was gone as soon as it came.

“What brings you…here, Mr. Ramon?” Hartley faltered again, seeming to realize Cisco had no other reason to be here than to see him.

“I came to see you, Hartley. We didn’t get a chance to talk at the gala.”

Hartley seemed to search for the proper response to this. His eyes continued to dart around the room every so often, his hands wringing over the mug in his hands. He brought it to his lips and took a long sip. When he finished, he asked, “Would you care for a drink? My mother has procured quite a selection for the occasion.”

“I’m fine,” Cisco said, though Hartley’s words had already attracted the attention of a server who came over briskly to recite a long list of options ranging from fine wines to aged whiskeys. Cisco stamped down his impatience, thankful Hartley hadn’t taken the opportunity to flee the room. Instead, he remained in his corner, sipping and staring at the floor. When Cisco told the server, again, that he was fine, she nodded and went back to her colleagues.

“Hartley, I just want to catch up. We haven’t heard from you since the time wraith,” Cisco whispered. “I just thought that maybe being attacked by a flying monster would bring us all closer, make us friends. Maybe you would start coming around Star Labs more. We could always use an extra brain around.” Cisco tried to keep his tone light, but he felt desperate as though the headline foretelling Hartley’s fate was scrolling over their heads.

Hartley’s expression was blank, his hands still wringing around a mug that had to be empty by now. “I’m sorry to hear that, Mr. Ramon.”

Cisco could have beat his own head against the wall. “Hartley,” he said, just managing to keep a lid on his exasperation, “Lisa’s worried about you.” That seemed to garner a response from Hartley, another flicker, stronger than the last.

“Please send her my regards,” he said in the same flat tone. Cisco threw his hands up then.

Hartley flinched.

“Hart—” Cisco was interrupted by another server.

“Mr. Rathaway, I’m sorry to interrupt, but Mrs. Rathaway said to remind you that the celebration has started.”

Hartley blinked at her. “Yes,” he said, “thank you.” He handed her his empty mug and pushed off the wall.

“Hartley!” Cisco called, stopping Hartley just before the door. “We’ve converted the east side of Star Labs into a museum. The grand opening is this Friday.” Cisco wasn’t successful in keeping the desperation out of his voice that time.

Hartley turned his head back to Cisco, meeting his eyes, though his body was still angled toward the door. Cisco could see pink splotches around Hartley’s features and a heavy emptiness in his gaze. Hartley’s mouth moved as though to respond, but no sound came out. Then he was gone.

Chapter Text

Cisco channeled his frustration into reworking Caitlin’s power dampener. He wanted to make it run on solar energy but struggled to make it so small. His lab was quiet that week since H.R. was busy with the museum opening, so by Thursday, Cisco was finally able to finish. He shot off a text to Caitlin immediately, unwilling to keep her waiting for a second longer.

“Hey, did you need something?” Caitlin asked as she stepped into his lab.

Cisco turned with a grin. “I present to you, Dr. Snow, your brand-new, power dampener  necklace .” He held up a glowing blue necklace in the shape of a snowflake.

“Cisco,” she breathed, taking it and putting it on. The cerulean glow bounced off her blouse. Cisco watched anxiously as she took off the dampening cuff, wincing at the red indentation it left on her wrist.

“How do you feel?” he asked, taking the cuff from her.

She paused for a moment, holding her hands out. Cisco held his breath as he watched, but no icy mist formed. “I think I’m okay,” Caitlin said. “How often does this need to charge?”

“It’s solar!” Cisco said excitedly. “It’ll recharge when you go outside.”

Caitlin flung her arms around him. “Thank you,” she said into his shoulder. Cisco hugged her back, laughing into her hair. He hoped this would be enough to change her future.

“Now, tell me about Hartley,” she said once they’d settled. She sat across from Cisco while he munched on Sour Patch Kids. “H.R. said you saw him again.”

“Yeah, last Saturday. He’s…different. He was all huddled in the corner, and when he talks, he’s like a robot or something.”

“He’s depressed,” she said like Cisco already knew, which, fair enough. They’d assumed as much after the headline, but it was one thing to think it and another to see it.

“It’s not just that,” Cisco said, trying to explain. “He’s like this perfect version of himself.” Caitlin gave a look at this, and Cisco faltered. “Not like—I mean, he is, but that’s not…” Caitlin’s mouth quirked into a teasing smile, causing Cisco to sigh and start over. “It’s like he’s been programmed to be the perfect party-goer. He’s all stoically polite, and vacant! His eyes, Caitlin. It’s like he’s not even in there. There’s something wrong. Just…something.”

Caitlin looked thoughtful for a moment. “Maybe if you saw him outside of a Rathaway event, you could get him to loosen up.”

“Yeah, I thought that too, so I kind of invited him to the opening,” Cisco said. Though he wasn’t sure that had been the best idea, and he’d forgotten in his moment of desperation that Hartley probably wouldn’t have a great reaction to H.R.

“Wait, you ‘kind of’ invited him?” she asked.

“Well, I really just…shouted it at him. As he was leaving.” He realized how bad it sounded as he spoke. Caitlin crossed her arms.

“So you have no idea if he’s actually coming?”

“No.”

“What exactly did you say to Hartley when you saw him?”

Cisco struggled to remember what he’d greeted Hartley with. “I told him I wanted to catch up,” he shrugged.

“That’s it?”

“Well, what am I supposed to say? Hey, Hartley, I know we aren’t exactly friends, but I accidentally tripped over my feelings for you from another timeline, and then an evil speed god showed me the future where you’re dead. Wanna catch up so I can maybe stop that from happening?”

“Okay, no, but you need a plan,” she said. “What are you going to say if he shows up to the opening?”

“Did someone say The Grand Opening of the Greatest Science Museum there ever was, because I think that’s what I just heard,” H.R.’s voice rang from the doorway. He entered with a tray of coffee cups and a Big Belly Burger bag. “Also, I brought lunch. You know, Big Belly Burger and coffee sounds like a gross combination, but it’s actually…”

Cisco and Caitlin shared exasperated looks as H.R. prattled on, though the looks were more fond than annoyed. The three of them ate lunch together while H.R. caught them up on his plans for the opening. He also noticed Caitlin’s necklace and complimented it, making her smile and wink at Cisco. Cisco’s face began to ache, and he realized with a jolt it was from grinning so wide. He hadn’t been this happy since before Dante’s death. He became so lost in this thought he almost missed Caitlin’s next words.

“Cisco invited Hartley to the opening.”

“Well, that’s fantastic! You know, I think the museum will make for an excellent date spot.”

“It’s not a date!” Cisco protested. “And I don’t know if he’ll show. I just told him about it.”

“If he does come, you should be the one to show him around,” Caitlin said, ignoring Cisco’s words.

“Yes,” H.R. spoke up, pointing a drumstick at Cisco, “rather than a virtual tour guide, you can be a  personal  tour guide to one Hartley Rathaway.”

“There’s not a single thing in that museum Hartley isn’t already an expert on,” Cisco said.

“That’s not the point, and you know it! What are you going to wear?” Caitlin asked excitedly. “The opening will be formal. Right, H.R?”

“Indeed. We here at Star Labs dress to impress.” H.R. flipped his hat.

“I need a new suit,” Cisco said sheepishly.

“The opening is tomorrow! We’ll go shopping tonight,” Caitlin said. Caitlin wasn’t typically the Let’s Go Shopping kind of friend, so she was either really excited about the opening or just being supportive of Cisco and Hartley. Cisco suspected with a fluttery feeling that it was the latter.

“There’s another problem,” he said, “Something I should’ve thought of before inviting Hartley.”

“What’s that?” H.R. asked.

“You. Hartley and Harrison Wells had a,” Cisco hesitated, “rough history.”

“Oh, well, I may have gathered that from the files I told you about,” H.R. said with a chortle.

“Files?” Caitlin asked.

“We don’t need to get into those again. Ever,” Cisco cut her off. “I just don’t think he’s going to react well to seeing Harrison Wells again. He didn’t last time.”

“In the other timeline?” Caitlin clarified. Cisco nodded.

“Funny you should bring that up, San Francisco. There’s something I’ve been meaning to show you!” H.R. held up a finger before running from the room.

“H.R. found files on Hartley?” Caitlin tried again.

“You don’t want to know.”

Their attention snapped back to the doorway when a perfect stranger walked through. Cisco stood, readying himself to throw a vibe blast if needed. The man held up a finger just as H.R. had and clicked a pen under his chin. His face transformed into H.R.’s grinning profile. “It’s a transmogrifier,” he explained.

Cisco and Caitlin shared another look.

“Cool,” she said.

~

H.R. herded them into the museum excitedly, riding around them in circles on a Segway. Cisco had offered Caitlin his arm and was walking with her beside Iris and Barry. Cisco consciously kept both women between him and Barry. They looked amazing, Iris in a bright red jumpsuit, and Caitlin in a midnight blue dress. Wally trailed behind them alone as Joe couldn’t make it. The opening wasn’t for another half hour as they found their places in the lobby. The smell of coffee permeated the air as H.R. ran around making minuscule adjustments to the already immaculate space. Cisco had to admit, the museum turned out nice. Hopefully, it’s fate would alter alongside Caitlin, Iris, and Hartley’s.

“It’s time, gang!” H.R. announced. “Are we ready? Should we put our hands in? Do the on-three thing from the movies?” H.R. started to spiral into one of his rants, and Cisco shook his head at him.

“Open the door, H.R,” Cisco said.

“Okay, you’re right, okay,” H.R. said, unlocking the front door and throwing it open with a flourish.

Nothing happened.

H.R. peaked his head out, but there was no one waiting outside. Cisco felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. They hadn’t changed the fate of the museum, and if they couldn’t change that, could they change anything else?

“We didn’t really expect people to show up this early?” Caitlin said.

“You’re quite right, Dr. Caitlin Snow,” H.R. said, having lost none of his cheer for the occasion, “I’m sure this room will be flooded within the hour with curious minds ready for science!”

They waited. Cisco became jittery, having given into the temptation of coffee. The suit Caitlin helped him pick the night before was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

“Stop messing with your collar. He might still show,” Caitlin admonished. Cisco scoffed a little, feeling bitter as the night wore on. A few people trickled in here and there. Some were on dates, others had children with them. The hologram was a big hit, and everyone was smiling as they left. Hopefully they would tell their friends, and the museum would be a success after all. Still, disappointment seeped into Cisco as the night dragged on with no appearance from Hartley.

The museum was quiet again with nearly two hours left to go. Everyone was silent in their boredom. Even H.R. had deflated a bit, moping by the coffee stand. Finally, an elderly couple came in, and H.R. mustered up a warm welcome.

“Hartley Rathaway referred us,” said the woman as she paid for their tickets. Cisco and Caitlin perked up, turning to listen intently. “He’s such a kind young man. He knows how much my Bill loves science.” Bill, presumably the man she entered with, was already looking around at the attractions in the lobby. He jumped when Cisco’s hologram appeared before laughing and clapping for it. Cisco felt a smile pull across his face. The couple followed the hologram holding hands.

At least Hartley had heard him, Cisco mused as the final hour drew to a close, the older couple having just left with promises to tell their friends. He watched dejectedly as H.R. locked the doors. Why hadn’t Hartley come? Was he busy, or did he just not want to? Caitlin squeezed his arm.

~

Cisco twirled his phone on the sticky Jitter’s tabletop as he waited for Lisa. He’d spent the week watching less and less people fill the museum every day while H.R.’s constant cheerfulness took on a somewhat manic quality. They were all desperate to cross a headline off the board, but it seemed the museum’s fate was inevitable. Hartley never showed, and Cisco’s initial disappointment turned to worry, igniting his commitment to the mission.

Hartley wasn’t on any social media. Even the abandoned Facebook page he’d had in the other timeline was taken down. The phone number Hartley had while employed at Star Labs was disconnected. He didn’t have so much as a gym membership to show where he might spend his time. It was like Hartley only existed when Rathaway Industries needed his face. Discouraged, Cisco reached out to Lisa again, hoping she might have remembered something useful about Hartley since they last spoke. They agreed to meet for coffee.

“Hey, cutie,” she greeted, strolling up to the table in a sea of brown curls and red lipstick. Cisco swallowed.

“H-hey,” he said, pushing a cup toward her. “Hope you don’t mind. I ordered for both of us.”

“How chivalrous,” she purred. She took a sip, momentarily covering her salacious smile. Cisco shifted in his seat.

“Hartley,” he said, reminding them both why they were there.

“Hartley,” she agreed, setting her cup down. “You first.”

“I’ve seen him. Twice. At Rathaway Industry events.”

“Rathaway Industries? He went back to his parents?” She sounded scandalized.

“Looks like it,” Cisco said. “I think they’re getting ready to make him the face of the company. He’s in all the recent photos on their website.”

“But they disinherited him for being gay.”

“I guess they changed their minds,” Cisco said, though he got a nagging feeling as he thought. Had Hartley’s parents changed? Or had Hartley changed? “You don’t think they shoved him back in the closet, do you? I mean, Hartley would never go along with that.”

“The Hartley we knew,” she said. “What was he like when you saw him?”

“Reserved,” Cisco said thoughtfully, “It’s like he’s there, but he’s not there. Caitlin thinks he’s depressed.”

“Well, Dr. Snow is the expert,” Lisa said, a hint of sickly-sweet venom in her voice.

“I’m worried about him,” Cisco admitted. Lisa put a hand on his arm.

“Can I ask you…why do you care so much about Hartley all of a sudden?”

Cisco paused. He couldn’t tell her about the future headline or the past timeline without giving himself away as Vibe, and she was still too connected to the Rogues to know about his powers. Instead, he settled on, “I’m not sure how sudden it is,” and found it wasn’t a lie.

The afternoon Jitter’s rush came and went as Cisco and Lisa spoke. They talked about Hartley and what he was like before he disappeared: snarky, brilliant, proud. It made Cisco remember how he glowed after defeating the Time Wraith. There was no trace of that Hartley now. Lisa asked Cisco how he was doing without Dante, and the question startled him. He realized with a pang he hadn’t thought about his brother much since vibing the headlines. They commiserated over moving on after their brothers’ deaths. She told him she was thinking about moving, getting out of the city and away from the remaining Rogues, but she felt guilty, like she was leaving her brother behind. Cisco comforted her. They left separately, exchanging sad smiles, and Cisco promised to keep her updated on Hartley.

Cisco drove straight to Star Labs after leaving Jitters. He knew he wouldn’t sleep after the day’s revelations and didn’t want to go back to his bare-shelved apartment freshly sad about Dante and Hartley. It was late on a Saturday, so Star Labs was empty. Cisco paced in his lab, his thoughts jumbled and frantic. He pulled two marker boards into the center of the room. On one, he copied the headlines: Luigi’s opens after murder; Jerrie Rathaway wins All State Spelling Bee; Joe West honored at city hall; Star Labs museum closes; Killer Frost still at large; Hartley Rathaway commits suicide. As far as Cisco knew, none of them had changed.

On the other board, Cisco outlined a calendar, marking the day Barry saw Savitar kill Iris. He highlighted three days before that as possible days Hartley could be in danger, assuming Rathaway Industries would keep the story quiet as long as possible. That gave Cisco little more than three months to change Hartley’s fate. It looked like a long time, the calendar messily taking up the entire board, but Cisco feared it wasn’t enough.

“You’re working late.”

Cisco turned to see Barry in the doorway. He stared for a moment, too weary to feel his usual ire. “What are you doing here?”

“Couldn’t sleep. Thinking about Iris.”

Cisco knew the couple had moved in together. He hadn’t gone to the house warming party, still too angry with Barry. Barry came in and stood next to Cisco, reading the boards.

“We have thirteen weeks to save them,” Barry said.

Cisco wanted to say they wouldn’t need saving if it weren’t for Barry, but even that part of him was tired. Holding a grudge took too much energy, and as much as the speedster deserved it, Cisco needed to focus on Hartley.

“I guess working separately hasn’t gotten us very far,” Cisco said. He could see Barry perk up in his periphery.

“Yeah, no, it hasn’t. Cisco, I’m sorr—”

“I know,” Cisco said tiredly. “I know.”

A moment of silence passed.

“You wanna tell me how it’s going with Hartley?”

Cisco sighed, pushing his hair back. He turned and plopped onto a stool, waiting for Barry to do the same. “I’ve seen him twice at Rathaway Industry events. He went back to his parents.”

Barry nodded like he already knew this. Cisco had suspected Caitlin was keeping him in the loop.

“He’s different. It’s like he only lives for Rathaway Industries, and he’s just…void of anything. There’s nothing of the old Hartley there,” Cisco scrubbed a hand over his face. “I can’t reach him.”

“You will,” Barry said confidently, “When are you going to see him again?”

“There’s nothing on the books for next week. I don’t know where he spends his time other than Rathaway Industry stuff.”

“I could find out. I can phase into the Rathaway Mansion, see if he has a planner or something,” Barry said, his eagerness buzzing around him like his lightning. Cisco couldn’t help but chuckle.

“You wanna stalk Hartley for me?”

“Is that not what you’re doing?”

Touché

Chapter Text

Cisco woke to someone knocking on his door. His bedroom door.

“I am no longer in need of a babysitter, Caitlin,” he grumbled loudly. Caitlin had made liberal use of her key while he was grieving Dante. It’d been weeks since she’d turned up unannounced though.

“It’s me,” came a voice that was definitely not Caitlin's.

Cisco pulled himself out of bed with a groan. He opened the door to see the far-too-chipper face of Barry Allen. “Do you have any idea what time it is?” Cisco groused.

“Actually,” Barry said, looking behind him and rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s after ten. You were at Star Labs pretty late last night, so I thought you could use a pick-me-up. There’s bagels and coffee in the kitchen. Meet me in there?”

Cisco nodded blearily and shut the door as Barry walked away. He wasn’t sure how he felt about Barry dropping by unannounced less than twelve hours after their tentative reconciliation, but at least he brought breakfast. Cisco emerged fifteen minutes later in all his graphic tee glory. Barry grinned at him as he entered the kitchen. “Chocolate chip still your favorite?” he asked, passing the box of bagels over. Cisco nodded, taking one and a cup of coffee out of the nearby drink carrier.

“You’re in a good mood,” Cisco observed.

“I’m glad to have my best friend back,” Barry said.

Guilt writhed in Cisco’s gut, partially for being angry at Barry for so long and partially because he was nowhere near ready to consider Barry his best friend again.

“Too soon,” Barry said, seeming to read Cisco’s face. “Sorry, I actually came because I learned where Hartley’s going to be this week.”

“That was fast,” Cisco said.

“I want to fix what I broke,” Barry said solemnly. “So, I phased into Rathaway Mansion and had a look around. Hartley doesn’t have a planner, but his mother and sister do. His mom’s throwing a retirement party for someone at some country club. The uh…Central Garden something. I wrote down the address. It’s on Thursday, and Hartley’s on her list of volunteers. Oh, and his sister! This is the best part! Tomorrow, Jerrie Rathaway is competing in a spelling bee.”

“Jerrie Rathaway Wins All State Spelling Bee,” Cisco recited.

“Exactly! If she wins tomorrow, she’ll go to state in May.”

“When she wins tomorrow,” Cisco corrected. “Would it be too crazy to throw a middle school spelling bee to prove we can change the future?”

“Maybe a little.”

“Thought so.”

Silence followed as they munched on bagels and sipped coffee. It wasn’t the stifled silence of resentful ex-friends though, so things were looking up.

“Thanks, Barry,” Cisco said.

“Anytime.”

~

The audience inside Central City Middle School’s auditorium was sparse. Apparently, spelling bees didn’t rank high on exciting Tuesday afternoon activities, but that didn’t deter the enthusiasm of the maybe-thirteen-year-old handing out programs at the door. After a quick scan of the room proved Hartley hadn’t arrived yet, Cisco took a seat near the back and flipped open the peach-colored program. There was a list of schools competing on the first page. Jerrie Rathaway attended a private school and would be arriving to CCMS by bus.

Cisco watched as parents trickled in and took up the front rows. He’d been so focused on Hartley, he was only just realizing how odd it was for a grown-man, with no relation to any of the students, to attend a middle school spelling bee. He drummed his fingers over the program anxiously and considered leaving before the sight of two men caught his eye. Hartley Rathaway wore jeans, boots, and a dark brown flight jacket. It was the most casual Cisco had seen him dressed in this timeline, and he found this version of Hartley just as breathtaking as the emerald-suited one from the gala.

The man following Hartley was the guy who’d interrupted them at said gala. Cisco felt bitter as he watched them move down the rows of seats. If they came to this together, surely they must be dating. Cisco watched as Hartley took a seat in the desolate fifth row and Eyebrows sat two seats down. Strange. Perhaps that nixed the dating theory, unless they were just trying to be discrete given the setting—though discrete had never been Hartley’s style.

“Welcome friends and family to this year’s Regional Spelling Bee!”

A woman holding a microphone pulled Cisco out of his thoughts. She briefly went over the rules and wished the students luck. The red curtain was drawn then to reveal eighty or so students sitting in rows of straight-backed chairs. The first name was called.

“Shalonda Hill,” said the announcer. A girl in a blue school uniform and a wave of braids stepped up to the podium. “Your word is Incandescent.”

“Incandescent,” said the girl. “I-N-C-A-N-D-E-S-C-E-N-T. Incandescent.”

“That is correct!” Applause rippled lightly throughout the crowd as the girl reclaimed her seat. This was going to be slow and torturous. Cisco suddenly wished he’d brought gum or something to keep himself awake as the kids stood one-by-one for their turns. Twenty minutes in, Jerrie’s name still hadn’t been called. Only a couple of kids had been eliminated so far, and Cisco’s hands were growing numb from the obligatory applause. Hartley had clapped for each student as well, never once turning to look at his companion.

Cisco was pulled from his thoughts when Jerrie’s name rang out. A blond girl in a green school uniform stepped up to the podium. She waved excitedly at Hartley who waved back with just as much enthusiasm. Cisco felt a fond tug in his chest and smiled. It was good to see Hartley close to his sister. In the other timeline, Hartley had been devastated he couldn’t have a relationship with her.

“Your word is Facsimile,” said the announcer. Jerrie asked for the definition, and Cisco felt an anxious twinge—then berated himself as he already knew the outcome.

“Facsimile. F-A-C-S-I-M-I-L-E. Facsimile,” said Jerrie.

“That is correct!” Applause scattered through the audience again, Hartley’s obviously the most enthused.

Then something odd happened. While Hartley was clapping for his sister, the man next to him reached over and touched his arm. Hartley stopped, deflating like a balloon. He dropped his hands and hunched in on himself. Cisco watched the man pull his arm back and face the stage again. Hartley didn’t move.

Cisco watched Hartley’s still form as several more kids took their turns. Hartley didn’t clap for any of them. During the applause for another student, Hartley stood and mumbled something to the man before squeezing past and leaving the auditorium. Cisco stayed still as Hartley’s companion watched him leave, only turning back around once Hartley was out of sight. Cisco waited until the next student was halfway through their word before darting out to follow Hartley.

A set of restrooms was just down the hall. Cisco entered the men’s room when he didn’t see Hartley in the lobby. He rounded the corner and found Hartley leaning over one of the sinks, his breathing coming out in heaving bursts. Cisco remembered the panic attack Hartley had in the previous timeline, and it seemed he’d just caught Hartley coming down from one.

“I just need a minute,” Hartley said sharply.

“It’s me,” Cisco said.

Hartley looked over at him, his face splotchy and eyes bloodshot. “What are you doing here?” he asked hollowly.

“There was nothing good on tv,” Cisco said, shrugging.

Hartley huffed, pushing off the sink and turning to Cisco. He looked exhausted. Up close Cisco could see Hartley had lost weight—not much, but enough to bring out a sallowness that was cause for concern. “You keep showing up. Why?”

Cisco’s heart sped up. This was the real Hartley—world-weary, but real. “I told you. We haven’t heard from you since the Time Wraith. I wanted to see how you’re doing.”

“You wanted to see how I’m doing?” Hartley asked, a bitter edge to the question. His eyes wandered the room, never landing on Cisco for too long. He tugged on his earlobe, sending a fond pang through Cisco that startled him a little. Hartley did that often in the other timeline, usually when he was anxious.

“How are your aids?” Cisco asked. He’d wanted to ask since seeing the other timeline where the aids had been damaged by Heat Wave. Hartley’s dark matter enhanced hearing was debilitating without the aids and miserable when the aids were damaged.

“They’re…fine. They’re great actually. Thank you—again.” Hartley seemed taken aback, like he didn’t know how to act around Cisco, which was fair since Cisco didn’t really know how to act around him either.

“Your number’s changed? Lisa noticed too. She’s wanted to call you since her brother died, to catch up—”

“Leonard died?” Hartley looked up then, meeting Cisco’s eyes with his exhausted blues.

“You didn’t know? Hartley, I’m sorry.”

“When?” Hartley croaked, his gaze falling again.

“A few months ago. He—well, it’s kind of a long story, but he died protecting people.”

“That’s Leonard. Protective to a fault,” Hartley said, shaking his head. “I’ll call Lisa as soon as I can.”

“Good. She’s thinking about leaving the city.”

Hartley made a noncommittal noise. Silence stretched for a moment as Cisco took in Hartley’s fidgeting form.

“The man you came in with…you were with him at the gala. Is he your boyfriend?” Cisco asked.

“No,” Hartley said sharply. A complicated mix of emotions played over his face followed by more earlobe tugging. Relief washed over Cisco, though he felt guilty for making Hartley uncomfortable.

“Jerrie’s really smart.”

A ghost of a smile appeared then. Hartley’s hand went still and dropped back to his side. “She’s brilliant,” he agreed.

“Like her brother,” Cisco couldn’t stop himself from saying. Hartley’s eyes met his again, and Cisco could see his pain. Cisco desperately wanted to know what was going on in there. He wanted to take his pain away and be close like they were in the other timeline. He wanted back everything that was stolen from them.

Panic filled Hartley’s eyes suddenly. Cisco startled at the change, having no idea what caused it. In the next blink, Hartley’s hands were on his shoulders, shoving him into a stall. “Hartley?” he protested, but was shushed harshly as Hartley pulled the stall door closed, leaving Cisco alone behind it.

A second later, the bathroom door squealed open. “Son, what are you doin’ in here?” came the gruff voice of the man from the gala.

“I just need a minute,” Hartley said, repeating his greeting to Cisco.

“You cannot hide every time you feel something you don’t like. You have to face it head on, like a man,” the man said. Cisco noted a slight southern accent in his cadence.

“I’m not hiding. I told you I just need a minute.”

The man paced further into the room. Cisco held his breath, feeling his heart pound with unease.

“Do you see how being angry at yourself causes you to lose touch with the ones you love?”

“God, can you not do this here?” Hartley said. His voice was thick like he was near tears. Cisco felt desperate to go to him, but Hartley shoved him in the stall for a reason.

“You should be out there supporting your sister, but instead you’re in here. The life you’ve led has caused you to become self-centered, unreliable, irresponsible—”

“SHUT UP!” Hartley yelled, making Cisco jump. “JUST SHUT THE HELL UP! Is this facing it head on enough for you? Is this how a man tells someone to FUCK OFF?”

The room fell into silence. Cisco moved a hand to the door, ready to pull it open and throw a vibe blast if things got physical. The stranger was nearly twice Hartley’s size. Cisco could feel his powers surge in his fingertips.

The man stepped closer to Hartley, shoes squeaking on the tile. “Get back in that auditorium and watch your sister win this stupid competition so I can tell your father we had a good day today, yeah?”

Nothing happened for a moment. Cisco’s heartbeat was so loud he feared it might give him away. Then Hartley’s boots stomped from the room, followed shortly by the other man.

Cisco stood frozen inside the stall, unsure what just happened. He wanted to go after them and give that man a piece of his mind, but by now they were likely back inside the auditorium which was hardly the place to make a scene.

He walked out of the restroom, freezing when he met a cold stare. The guy who’d just yelled at Hartley was leaning against the wall just outside the auditorium. Cisco felt cold dread seep through his veins. The man seemed to peer into his soul with all the suspicion of a school principal. He then walked back into the auditorium, holding eye contact with Cisco as he went. Cisco left with an inexplicable feeling he’d just gotten Hartley in deep trouble.

Chapter Text

“And then you left?” Caitlin asked as she put the finishing touches on a LEGO tree.

Cisco had recruited her help in building a 3D model of Savitar’s future attack on Iris. She and H.R. peppered him with questions about Hartley while they worked.

“What was I supposed to do? Stay and watch them leave together?”

She grimaced and placed the completed tree on the board. “Who even is this guy? If he’s not Hartley’s boyfriend…why would he put up with someone who speaks to him like that?”

“Yes!” H.R. agreed boisterously. “Who and why is this man speaking to Mr. Rathaway in that way? Hey, that rhymes!” He drummed on the table, causing some of the LEGO pieces to scatter to the floor.

Cisco sighed and leaned down to pick up the pieces. “He said something about Hartley’s father. Like, he was reporting back to him,” Cisco said, struggling to remember the man’s exact words.

“He works for Rathaway Industries?” Caitlin asked.

“Maybe.”

“What if he’s a PR person? You said Hartley was becoming the face of the company. It makes sense they would want to maintain his image.”

“You mean, make him seem straight?” Cisco scoffed, but a cold feeling flooded him. The guy had said something about being a man and the life Hartley had led. Was he trying to change Hartley? But Hartley would never go along with that. Would he? Cisco’s mind reeled. “He spoke to Hartley like some twisted therapist.”

He thought about Hartley and that man. Hartley had always been proud and confident in who he was—in this timeline and the last. Hartley had pushed back at the man’s words, but why was he putting up with him in the first place?

A blaring alarm cut off Cisco’s musings. They rushed to the cortex where Cisco pulled up security footage from the alert. Outside stood a woman in full leather with a black braid trailing down one shoulder.

“There’s nowhere to run, H.R. Wells. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. It’s up to you,” she spoke into the camera.

“You know her?” Caitlin asked.

“Yeah, uh,” H.R. scratched his head with a drumstick. “Her name is Cynthia Reynolds. She’s a collector on my earth.”

“A collector of…?” Cisco asked.

“Me. Well, people, but in this case me.”

A breach opened across the room. Cynthia popped out and shot H.R. with some futuristic stun gun. H.R. was propelled backward by the force. Without thinking, Cisco aimed a vibe blast toward her, moving between her and H.R. while she recovered.

“Let’s just talk about this,” Cisco said calmly.

“You can vibe,” Cynthia said, a smirk playing on her face. “This should be fun.” She breached out of sight, and Cisco was thrown forward, body slamming against the medbay door frame. His chin struck metal, making his jaw ache as he rolled onto his front. “Had enough?”

Cisco sat up slowly, his body protesting. H.R. was in a similar state with Caitlin standing over him with widened eyes.

“You’re harboring a fugitive from Earth-19,” Cynthia spoke to the room. “Inter-dimensional travel is strictly forbidden by our laws. Harrison Wells, you have one hour to get your affairs in order. Should you attempt to flee, a kill-on-sight order will be released and the entire agency will be on your trail.”

“Cynthia,” Cisco started.

“That’s Agent Reynolds to you! Make no mistake, I will arrest anyone who tries to help this man escape. I suggest you say your goodbyes.” With that, Agent Reynolds breached away.

Cisco watched Caitlin guide H.R. to a chair as he sat dumbfounded by what just happened.

“Cisco, are you alright?” Caitlin asked, suddenly in front of him. She tilted his face up to look at his chin. It flared with pain as she touched it, but she didn’t look overly concerned.

Once they were both off the floor, H.R. explained inter-dimensional travel was an executable offense on his earth, but he’d felt it worth the risk. Barry arrived a while later and got the story as well.

“We can’t just let her take H.R,” Barry protested, pacing back and forth in Cisco’s lab.

“I don’t know, man. She’s really powerful, and it’s not like she’s one of our usual villains. She’s legit law-enforcement where they come from,” Cisco said, pushing his hair back. Barry said nothing for a long moment. Finally, Cisco asked, “What are you thinking?”

“H.R. was on the roof in your vibe of the future. That means we didn’t let her take him.”

“You’re right. We can stop this,” Cisco said, relief flooding his chest. They were going to save H.R. Cisco wasn’t sure when he became so attached to the man.

“What if we don’t?” Barry asked.

“What?”

“What if we let Agent Reynolds take H.R? Then we changed the future,” Barry said, hands moving wildly as he spoke. He had a desperate look in his eyes.

“Barry-”

“No, listen, what if this is what saves them? What if letting H.R. go would save Iris, would save Hartley, and Caitlin. Don’t you see?”

A sour pit grew in Cisco’s stomach. “So you would trade H.R.’s life for Iris? Just like you traded my brother for your mother.”

Barry froze. “Cisco that’s not…you said yourself she’s law enforcement. It’s not like-”

Cisco raised a hand to stop him. He couldn’t even look at Barry. He had no words. Cisco walked out of his lab and back to the medical bay where Caitlin was checking over H.R.

“How do we stop this from happening?” he asked firmly.

“Cisco, are you alright?” Caitlin asked. Cisco was trembling. His anguish had taken over in a way it hadn’t in weeks.

“I’m fine. I just need to know how to stop this.”

“Ah, I appreciate it, San Francisco, but there’s nothing,” H.R. said, his paled face giving away his fear.

“Yes, there is! There has to be! We saw you. Me and Barry. In the future.” Cisco’s thoughts were coming in fitful bursts. “You were standing on the roof aiming a weapon at Savitar. That’s three months from now, meaning we do something to stop this!”

Caitlin put her hands on Cisco’s shoulders. He hadn’t realized he was shouting until she touched him.

“There’s only one way, and I can’t let you do it,” H.R. said, shaking his head.

“Tell me,” Cisco said, looking around Caitlin desperately. “H.R, tell me!”

H.R. sighed. “You can challenge her to trial by combat.”

“Then that’s what I’ll do.”

“Cisco!” Caitlin yelled.

“It’s to the death. I would never ask you-”

“You’re not asking,” Cisco said, ignoring Barry as he entered the room behind him.

“What are you-?” Barry started, but an alarm cut him off.

“That’s her,” Cisco said, stalking from the room with Barry and H.R. hot on his heels.

Cisco burst out of the building, spotting the leather-clad agent. “I challenge you to trial by combat,” he said in a breathless gush of adrenalin. She looked taken aback as H.R. and Barry caught up.

“You realize that trial by combat is to the death?” she asked.

“So I’ve heard.”

“He doesn’t know what he’s saying,” H.R. said, attempting to intervene.

“It sounds like he does,” she said.

“No, he doesn’t,” Barry said. “I’ll challenge you. Leave Cisco out of it.”

“That’s not how it works. See, he spoke fist. H.R.’s fate is in his hands now,” she said. “I grant you the customary twenty-four hours to prepare. You better not try anything.” She aimed the last statement at H.R. before breaching away.

The thrum of anger in Cisco’s chest began to fade in her wake. “She’s going to kill me, isn’t she?” he asked, dread seeping into his limbs.

“No,” Barry said. “We have twenty-four hours to prepare. You can do this, Cisco.” Cisco turned to him, trying to muster the anger he’d felt only a moment ago, but it had evaporated into a pool of panic. He nodded while H.R. stood uncharacteristically silent beside them.

~

Cisco was flat on his back, panting on the training room floor. He wished he’d trained with his powers more over the last year. His head ached sharply, and his hands had grown numb from shooting vibrations—blasts that missed their targets by five feet or more. His dread turned to despair. His hours were numbered. Caitlin appeared above him with a glass of water and a deep crease between her brows. She helped him up and pressed the glass into his hands.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, dropping into a chair.

“Cisco, maybe you shouldn’t do this,” she said carefully. Cisco didn’t meet her gaze. He was in far over his head. Agent Reynolds was highly trained with and without her powers while Cisco had spent the last year and a half being too resentful of his to even think about training with them combatively.

“Guys, we have a problem!” Barry said, bursting into the room with power-dampening cuffs glowing around his wrists. Cisco stared for a moment, confused as he hadn’t even noticed Barry leave. “She took H.R!”

“What do you mean she took H.R?” Caitlin asked.

“We tried to…we tried to double cross Agent Reynolds, and she caught us,” Barry said, waving his cuffed hands awkwardly. “She took H.R. so we couldn’t try anything else before the battle.”

Caitlin and Cisco spoke at the same time.

“How did you get back here?”

“Why would you do that?”

“I called Wally. He left class early to bring me back. Look, we were just trying to help you, Cisco.”

“Help me? What happened to, ‘you can do this, Cisco. I’ll help you train, Cisco.’”

“You can, and we are! I know you can do this. We were just trying to fix it so you didn’t have to.”

Cisco shoved his hair back, pressing into his temples. Barry clearly didn’t believe he could fight Agent Reynolds, and Cisco lost hope the twelfth time he’d hit the mat. “Space,” he said tiredly. “I need space.”

“How long-?” Caitlin started.

“Indeterminate amount of time,” Cisco called as he beelined for the door. He walked straight outside, the cold evening air a refreshing change from the stuffy training room. He realized halfway to his car he’d left his keys inside. Unwilling to go back, he opened a breach, focusing only on taking himself far away from his problems and living out his last hours somewhere peaceful.

He didn’t land in his living room.

His feet sunk into plush carpet, a fresh linen scent surrounding him. He looked around, taking in the ceiling-high bookshelves and large windows letting in the purple hues of sunset. The room was familiar in an odd sort of way, like Cisco had seen it in a dream. His heart stopped when he turned to see a familiar bed and realized with startling clarity he’d breached himself straight into Hartley Rathaway’s bedroom. Worse yet, Hartley Rathaway was staring right at him.

“Hartley!” Cisco yelped. Actually yelped. He scrambled in his head for an explanation, scrambling to remember if Hartley even knew he was Vibe in this timeline—he didn’t. How could he explain this? What would Hartley think? Would he call for security? Surely the Rathaway Mansion kept a small security staff given Osgood Rathaway’s status.

“Cisco,” Hartley said, and Cisco’s panic eased at the soft tone. Hartley didn’t sound angry or even surprised to see him. He was curled up on the bed wearing flannel pajama pants and a gray t-shirt. His arms were wrapped around the pillow his head was resting on, and he looked at Cisco with mild interest, like his presence wasn’t completely out of the ordinary.

“Hartley, I’m sorry I just dropped in. Uh…did you see? Never mind, just, sorry,” Cisco stammered.

“I’s okay,” Hartley said, his words slightly slurred that time. Cisco looked over his nightstand, spotting an Oscar Wilde book, Hartley’s glasses, a framed photo of Hartley and Jerrie, and an empty coffee mug. Cisco slowly approached, sitting on the edge of the bed when Hartley didn’t protest. His muscles sighed as he relaxed. Hartley continued to stare at Cisco vacantly. Up close, Cisco could see his eyes were glassy with dark bags under them. Cisco had seen him the day before at Jerrie’s spelling bee, but somehow, he looked worse now.

“Hartley, are you okay?” he asked.

It took Hartley a moment too long to respond. “Yes,” he said, and slowly, as though moving through water, Hartley reached a hand up to Cisco’s face. His fingers were cold against Cisco’s jaw as Hartley thumbed the bruising welt on his chin. Cisco didn’t dare move, his breath catching as Hartley touched him. “Areeyou…okay?” Hartley asked, his words slurring again. Perhaps Hartley was drunk, though he didn’t seem quite that disheveled. He also didn’t smell like alcohol. Cisco couldn’t recall if Hartley wore cologne in the previous timeline, unsure if scent really came through in vibes, but Hartley was wearing it now. Jasmine and nutmeg enveloped Cisco, and he wanted to wrap himself in it and sleep away this awful day.

“I’m…not okay,” he found himself saying. Hartley stared up at him, his hand returned to the bed, and the entire story of H.R. and Agent Reynolds came pouring out of Cisco. He managed to gloss over the whole Earth-19 thing and that H.R. was Harrison Wells’s doppelganger, but he couldn’t hold back details about his powers. He told Hartley he didn’t like using his powers combatively, he didn’t think he could beat Cynthia, and he was going to die and take H.R. with him. It was all so pointless. He felt empty once his words ran out.

If Hartley was alarmed to learn Cisco had powers and would soon die at the hands of a mysterious agent, he didn’t show it. He spent the whole time blinking up at Cisco as he spoke. Cisco was half convinced he wasn’t aware enough to listen. He took in Hartley’s appearance once more. Hartley looked so tired. Perhaps he was running himself exhausted with his new responsibilities at Rathaway Industries. Though Hartley had never buckled under the immense pressure at Star Labs. It unsettled Cisco to see him this way.

Cisco waited for Hartley to say something, but silence stretched on. The sun had set, leaving only city lights blinking through the windows. When Cisco turned back to Hartley, his eyes were closed. Cisco stood slowly, careful not to jar Hartley, and pulled his blanket up around him. Cisco felt an urge to run his fingers through Hartley’s hair, but he’d already exhibited an alarming level of stalker-like tendencies for one evening. So, he abstained, turning to open a breach back to Star Labs, but Hartley’s voice, suddenly sharp, stopped him.

“Cisco,” he said, and Cisco turned. Hartley’s widened eyes were clearer than before. He seemed strained like he wanted to sit up but couldn't quite manage it. “You’re too focused on your own weaknesses. You have to find hers. If you can figure out her weak points then she won’t have the advantage anymore.”

“Okay,” Cisco said, marveling at Hartley’s sudden cognizance. “Thank you, Hartley.” The declaration seemed to have drained Hartley. He sunk back into the pillow, his eyes falling closed without another word. Cisco felt another ache of concern, but he was on a clock. Now he had some idea how to beat Agent Reynolds, there was no time to waste. He would save H.R. Then he could focus on Hartley. He breached from Hartley’s bedroom into his lab.

~

Cisco beat Agent Reynolds. Hartley’s advice had been crucial as Cisco won using her moment of weakness as she emerged from a breach. Caitlin flung her arms around him as he reentered the cortex with a newly exonerated H.R. in his wake. Barry beamed and clapped him on the back. H.R. thanked him profusely and promised to write Francesco Ramos as the hero in his next novel. Cisco was riding high on their praise, but the urge to check on Hartley persisted even as Iris and Wally arrived with champagne.

“You’re dying to get out of here. I can tell,” Caitlin said. Cisco had managed to free himself from the spotlight, which H.R. was more than happy to bear as he acted out the plot of his latest novel for his tipsy audience.

“I’m worried about Hartley,” he admitted.

“You still have three months before something happens.”

“Something’s going on with him now. He was acting really strange last night. Like he was sick or something.”

“How do you mean?”

“At first I thought he was drunk, but that wasn’t it. He was lying in bed and it was like he was there, but he wasn’t there. He just had this dazed look, and I thought he wasn’t listening to me, but then, all of a sudden, he was awake and telling me how to beat Agent Reynolds.”

“And then what happened?”

“He went back to sleep.”

Caitlin scrunched her eyebrows in thought. “I think for now we should assume he’s depressed, which is obvious, but I want you to keep an eye on his symptoms. Observe, and tell me everything.”

“Okay.”

“When are you going to see him again?”

“Right now?” he said, sheepishly.

Caitlin smiled. “Go. I’ll tell them I told you to get some rest.”

“Thank you,” Cisco whispered, slipping out behind her.

~

The retirement party was in full swing. Cisco snuck into the Central Garden Country Club to find a sea of dancing senior citizens. Cisco struggled to navigate the crowd, keeping an eye out for Hartley as he dodged stray canes and harried staff members, one nearly dumping a tray of drinks over Cisco as a woman with a walker knocked into them. Suddenly, a gaggle of elderly women flocked Cisco and asked him to take their picture, each handing him their phones in turn. He managed to politely remove himself from their group and eventually ducked into a supply closet. It was no wonder Hartley always seemed exhausted.

An idea formed as Cisco stood in the darkness, and he wondered how it had never occurred to him before. “Hartley,” he said at a normal volume, feeling a little foolish as he spoke to the towels at large. “I’m in the supply closet closest to the entrance.” Hartley likely kept his aids turned low at parties, canceling out his enhanced hearing, but it was worth a shot. Cisco waited two minutes before starting toward the door. Before he could reach it, however, the knob turned. Cisco’s heart seized as he imagined being caught by a staff member or worse, the hulking man who always trailed after Hartley. Instead, Hartley’s blue eyes met his before he threw himself into the room and shut the door.

“Oh my god! You’re okay! I was so worried. Have you just been standing in the dark? There must be a light switch somewhere.” Hartley’s words came fast, and the closet filled with light. Hartley turned back to Cisco with a brilliant smile. Cisco’s heart soared as he took in Hartley’s appearance. He was dressed in sneakers, blue jeans, and a casual button down. The bags were gone from underneath Hartley’s red-rimmed eyes. He still didn’t look well-rested, but he somehow buzzed with excess energy.

“You beat her? And saved your friend, right? You’re out of danger?” Hartley spoke at warp speed as something wild reared in his eyes. Cisco was getting whiplash from all these versions of Hartley.

“Yes, yeah,” Cisco stammered, “I beat her. H.R.’s safe.”

“Thank God,” Hartley said, and then he was hugging Cisco. Cisco’s brain ground to a halt at the contact. Before he could even think to hug Hartley back, Hartley was on the other side of the closet. “I’m so sorry! That wasn’t okay. I’m sorry—please, don’t—I shouldn’t have done that! I’m sorry.”

“Hart, it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine!” Hartley shouted. Cisco winced, fearing someone would overhear them, but thankfully, the music outside was very loud. Hartley’s arms were wrapped tightly around himself, one hand high enough to tug on his earlobe, as he muttered too quietly for Cisco to hear.

“Hartley,” Cisco said softly. “You’re okay. Everything is fine. The hug was fine.”

“No, no, no. I didn’t—I didn’t hug you. I can’t. This never happened. I have to go!”

“Hartley!”

Hartley bolted from the closet, slamming the door in Cisco’s face. Cisco pressed his hand to the other side, breathing deeply. He wondered if he might be making things worse for Hartley. What if he was driving Hartley over the edge faster? What if he didn’t have three months to save him anymore? He wanted to chase after Hartley if only to make sure he didn’t do anything reckless, but there were too many people around. After a while, he breached back to his apartment, facing another restless night.

~

Cisco replayed the closet scene well into the next day. Why was Hartley talking so fast? He seemed wild and frantic. He said he was worried about Cisco, but was that really why he was acting so strange? And why did he freak out about hugging Cisco? Sure, they never had a huggy relationship in this timeline, but that was no reason to lose it.

The look of panic on Hartley’s face haunted Cisco. There was something bigger going on, some pain Cisco couldn’t see, and he worried again that he was hurting rather than helping. Cisco needed desperately to speak to Caitlin, but it was her day off. He didn’t want to bother her. He managed to make it to late afternoon before the need became too great. He called her cell.

“Hey, Cisco. Is everything okay?” she asked. She was out of breath, and Cisco realized with a pang of guilt that he’d disrupted her workout.

“Hey. Yeah, no, everything’s fine. I’m sorry I—”

“Cisco, it’s fine. I’m finished anyway,” she said impatiently. Cisco could hear the beep of a treadmill being powered down.

“I was just calling about Hartley.”

“What’s going on? Did you see him last night?”

“Yeah.”

“And?” she asked, the impatient note sharper than ever.

“And he’s still acting strangely. This time he was talking a mile a minute, and his eyes.”

“What about his eyes?”

“They were…wide and red-rimmed.”

“Like he’d been crying?”

“I don’t—I don’t think so.”

“What else?”

“He was…buzzing with energy. Imagine Barry when he’s excited, but with a like… manic quality,” Cisco struggled to explain. Caitlin hummed, and Cisco got the impression she was writing this down. “And then he hugged me.”

“Oh,” Caitlin said, surprised, “Cisco, that’s great.”

“Yeah, but then he totally freaked out and ran away.”

“Oh. Not great.”

“Yeah, not great,” Cisco said, pushing his hair back from his face. There was silence for a moment. “What if I’m making things worse? What if I pushed him over the edge last night? He was so scared. I’m freaking out right now. I’m so worried about him, Caitlin.”

“I don’t think you should approach him again—at least for a little while,” she said carefully. “He may need time.”

“Yeah, yeah, I thought so too, but I have to know if he’s okay. I can’t think. I can’t sleep for fear that last night triggered him to—” The words caught in Cisco’s throat.

“Have you tried to vibe him?”

Cisco thought for a moment. “Doctor Caitlin Snow, you are a genius.”

She huffed a laugh. “Thank you, but I think it’s just that I’m the only one thinking clearly right now.”

“That too. Okay, I gotta go. Thank you!”

She laughed a goodbye and hung up.

Cisco’s goggles were at Star Labs, and while he didn’t necessarily need them to trigger a vibe anymore, he definitely couldn’t do it without the goggles and without an object from the subject. The only thing he could think of was the bookmark he’d found in Hartley’s old apartment. Cisco hadn’t thrown it away. He hoped his new connection with Hartley might make it work.

Cisco rummaged in a drawer, looking for the blue bookmark. He’d taken more of his things out of the closet and even put his bi pride flag back over his door. It felt good to have his things out again, though his apartment was taking on the cluttered quality it always had before. He liked it better that way. Under a long-deceased Tamagotchi at the back of the drawer, Cisco found the bookmark.

“Gotcha!” he muttered triumphantly, gripping the cardboard eagle in his hand. Almost instantly, he felt the falling pull of a vibe.

He stood in what looked like a young girl’s bedroom. There were posters on the walls, one for Into the Woods and one for some Disney show featuring Dove Cameron. Cisco’s focus was pulled to the right by a giggling sound. At a small, white table sat Hartley and Jerrie.

“You did it!” Hartley said, beaming at his little sister.

“I got it right that time! By myself!” Jerrie squealed. Her math homework was splayed out in front of them. Hartley was looking at Jerrie like she was his whole world, and the fear Cisco felt for him eased, melting the ball of anxiety in his chest as Jerrie worked the next problem with Hartley smiling down at her proudly.

Cisco slipped out of the vibe and the bookmark hit the floor with a soft tap. He breathed easier and truly imagined things might turn out alright.

Chapter Text

It had been an insane few weeks.

Cisco’s vibe goggles were in five pieces because that’s what happens when they’re used to escape murder by gorillas. He wondered, not for the first time, how his life had become a bad sci-fi movie where he spends his time fighting evil and trying to fix his best friend’s time travel mistakes. And yes, he’d taken to calling Barry his best friend again because that’s what happens when you survive a gorilla attack together.

The fallout of said gorilla attack is what led to Cisco ducking under a flying dry-erase marker. “You know, I think I actually missed you throwing things around my lab.”

Harry merely grunted in response. Disgruntled was Harry’s natural state, but he’d been in a particularly sour mood since the day before when Jesse informed him she was staying on Earth-1 to be with Wally. He’d been brooding in Cisco’s lab ever since. Cisco was kind of glad Jesse was staying. It was good to have another speedster around, and she encouraged Wally to get faster. They were going to need that speed to save Iris from Savitar.

“Don’t erase that!” Cisco exclaimed, catching Harry moving in on his calendar board.

“What is this?” Harry asked, gesturing at it with eraser in hand.

Cisco dropped his tools with a sigh. Harry had missed a lot during his months on Earth-2. He already knew about Flash Point, but he didn’t know about Savitar, Savitar’s prophecies, or the future headlines. Cisco did his best to catch him up.

“So, if you don’t find a way to change the future, Miss West and Rathaway will be dead and Snow will become Killer Frost—all in two months’ time,” Harry said, summarizing everything Cisco had told him.

“Yep,” Cisco said, popping the ‘p’ tiredly.

Harry stared at the calendar pensively. “What have you done so far?”

“I made Caitlin a portable power-dampener. That seems to be holding for now. H.R. and Barry are training Wally to get faster—”

“H.R. is an idiot,” Harry interrupted.

“And I,” Cisco continued pointedly, “have been checking in on Hartley, trying to see what’s going on with him.”

Harry grunted thoughtfully. “I trust you’ve vibed your life before Flash Point by now.”

Cisco stared at him, remembering that Harry lived the timeline before Flash Point because he was on Earth-2 when Barry changed things. “Yes—and wait, you lived that timeline, so you remember Hartley joining the team! And you’ve seen me and Hartley together! What were we like? I mean, I saw everything but just in vibes. It’s not the same. I can’t—”

“Ramon, you need to forget what you saw,” Harry said firmly.

“What?” A ball of lead dropped in Cisco’s stomach.

“If you want to save Rathaway, you need to forget what you saw in those vibes.”

“What do you mean?” Cisco demanded. “My connection with Hartley is helping me save him.”

“Do you hear yourself, Ramon? You don’t have a connection with Rathaway! That connection has never existed in this timeline.”

“I know, but if I can just get things back like they were, I can—”

“No, you can’t! Ramon,” Harry yelled, smashing another marker down. “The Hartley Rathaway you were in a relationship with does not exist. The Cisco Ramon who was in a relationship with Hartley Rathaway does not exist. The relationship that you had, the circumstances that led to that relationship—Do. Not. Exist.”

“So what am I supposed to do? Not try?” Cisco threw his hands out.

“No,” Harry said calmly. “You save Rathaway because that’s what Team Flash does. And to do that, you have to know who he is now. If you’re busy chasing a version of him that no longer exists, it’s not going to turn out well for either of you.”

Cisco sagged on his stool as Harry’s words sunk in. Cisco had been so focused on who Hartley was in the old timeline he wasn’t seeing this new Hartley clearly. This Hartley had lived a different life over the past year and had different struggles. Cisco had been trying to save the version of Hartley who wanted to be part of Team Flash and maintain his friendship with Lisa, but this Hartley was trying to be a good brother and be part of his family again. They were completely different people.

“You’re right,” Cisco admitted softly.

“I know.”

~

Cisco drummed his fingers on the cortex console as his phone rang against his ear. He was doing some neglected maintenance on the computers and thought to check in with Lisa while they rebooted.

“Hey, cutie,” she answered. She sounded breathless and muffled by traffic noise.

“Hey, bad time? It’s noisy.”

“I always have time for you, Cisco, and New York City is always noisy.”

“New York, huh?” Cisco said, surprised. “How long have you been there?”

“A few weeks now. I like it. It’s fast, like me. And yummy pizza!”

Cisco chuckled. “You sound happy.”

“You don’t,” she observed.

“Yeah, I just said goodbye to a friend, that’s all,” Cisco said, and it was true. Harry had gone back to Earth-2 the evening before, leaving Jesse and a well-threatened Wally behind. “I didn’t want to leave you hanging on the Hartley front for too long, but there really hasn’t been much change.”

“He still being weird?” she asked.

“More or less. By the way, did he ever call you? He said he might. I told him about…about your brother.” Cisco winced. He hadn’t called to make her sad.

“No, he hasn’t called. I kinda gave up waiting for him to. I just need a fresh start, reliable friends, people I can count on. At the risk of sounding…cold, that just isn’t Hartley anymore.”

“I get it. I’m sorry, Lisa.”

“It is what it is.”

The rest of their conversation was brief. Cisco hung up the phone, suddenly feeling he’d lost two friends, Harry and now Lisa. It was ridiculous. It wasn’t like he and Lisa were particularly close, but it felt like another tether to Hartley had been severed. If they didn’t have Lisa in common, what did they have? A short period of being toxic coworkers and two people who happened to be traumatized by the same person? His thoughts were interrupted by H.R. bounding into the cortex.

“Top of the morning to you, Mr. Ramon,” he said at full volume, slapping his drumsticks against the desk in front of Cisco. “What is on the itinerary on this fine day?”

“I’m updating the computers and then simulating a course for Wally to prepare him for going up against Savitar.”

“And how can I help in these endeavors?” H.R. asked.

“You can stand there and not break anything.”

“Will do. Will do, Mr. MgGoo!”

A drumstick twirled in the air, and Cisco rolled his eyes fondly. He finished the computers by the time Caitlin came in. She was soon followed by a very chipper cluster of Wests and Barry. Barry passed out coffee from Jitters, much to the excitement of H.R.

“What’s going on with you two?” Joe asked, gesturing to Iris and Barry who’d moved to the front of the room. Everyone turned to the couple. After a beat, Iris raised her left hand to reveal a shining engagement ring. Cisco’s mouth popped open as everyone gushed over the couple. He had no idea Barry was ready to propose and worried maybe their friendship wasn’t fully recovered after all.

As Cisco watched Caitlin hug Iris, a memory of a dream resurfaced. Hartley stood in front of him, dressed in full Pied Piper gear. He was teasing Cisco about putting a ring on him because Pied Piper was a hot commodity. They were kissing, but Hartley was injured somehow. The memory was gone as soon as it came. Cisco wasn’t sure if it had been a vibe of some other earth or timeline, or if it really had been a dream, but, in any case, he shouldn’t be thinking of it now.

“I’m so happy for you, man,” Cisco said, stepping forward and hugging Barry.

“Thanks, Cisco,” Barry said, clapping him on the back and pulling away, “I wanted to ask you, will you be my best man?”

A mix of guilt and warmth flooded Cisco’s chest. “I would be honored,” he said. Barry gave him the brightest smile.

The day only improved from there. Wally beat his best time on the course Cisco created, theoretically making him fast enough to save Iris. Cisco had devised a plan to save Hartley that was fairly similar to his old plan, but with a renewed mission to get to know the new Hartley. He realized after talking to Harry things weren’t going to just fall into place with Hartley, but that didn’t mean Cisco couldn’t help him. For the time being, it felt like Team Flash would be okay.

~

Peace was a fleeting anomaly.

With three speedsters at the ready, crime was nonexistent in Central City. Minor emergencies were handled in seconds. Jesse had taken to finding missing pets to pass the time. So, Cisco thought nothing of directing the speedsters to a burning building downtown. One moment, they were running, the next, Wally was screaming ten feet in the air. Savitar had gotten into his head again.

“We can’t just sit around and wait for Savitar’s next move,” Barry said fiercely, pacing in the cortex as Caitlin looked over Wally.

“I agree,” Joe chimed in, “but what do we do?”

“We need to talk to him again—figure out where he’s trapped, why he can’t fully manifest yet. We need to get ahead of him, and to do that, we need answers.”

“Don’t we need the stone for that? You threw it into the speed force,” Joe said.

“Not necessarily,” Cisco piped up. “We still have the frequency data from the first time. All we really need is Julian.”

Barry groaned. “Is there any way we can do it without him?”

“Probably, but I’d need about a century to figure it out,” Cisco deadpanned.

Barry laced his hands behind his head and groaned again. “Okay, I’ll talk to him,” he said.

“I’ll go with you.” Caitlin’s voice surprised Cisco. He hadn’t noticed she’d finished with Wally.

The pair returned some time later with an aggrieved Julian Albert in tow. Cisco had prepared the electrode harness despite H.R. buzzing around him nervously anticipating what they were about to do.

“Okay, so just like last time. Just sit back and relax,” Cisco instructed, placing the electrode harness on Julian’s head.

“Yes, and allow a murderous entity to take over again. Bloody brilliant,” Julian muttered.

Cisco grimaced in empathy before turning the dial on the machine. The gasp that came out of Julian made everyone jump.

“You all have witnessed my power and still none of you are on your knees,” the voice of Savitar roared from Julian.

“Cut the almighty crap,” Barry said, “You’re no greater than any of the other evil speedsters we’ve fought.”

“Not true, Barry Allen. I am the true speedster. The God of Speed and Time,” Savitar said. H.R. scoffed and Julian’s gaze snapped to him. “Hello, pretender. Such a shame you survive my wrath. Though I could change that, if I so choose.”

“Where are you?” Barry asked. “You said that I trapped you in the future.”

“In a place only you are fast enough to reach. I’ve been here long enough to lose my mind several times over. Through sheer force of will, I’ve managed to stay on this side of sanity.”

Cisco scoffed this time. “This Speed God shtick is what you call sanity?”

“Cisco Ramon,” Savitar rasped. “One would think your loyalty to Barry Allen misplaced given how much you’ve lost, how much you will lose. Still trying in vain to save Hartley Rathaway? You will fail. It is your destiny. Just as it’s his to die.”

“You’re wrong,” Cisco ground out.

A smirk played on Julian’s face. “We’ll see.”

“Enough!” Barry yelled. “Why are we enemies? Why do you hate me so much?”

“We had to be enemies. From the moment of my creation, you were my true enemy.”

“I was there for your creation? Are you saying I created you?”

“No, Barry Allen, I created myself. I created myself to be all powerful.”

“Not powerful enough to escape wherever I put you, and you’re never getting out. We got rid of the stone,” Barry said.

“Did we?” Savitar asked, eyes darting left where Caitlin and H.R. stood.

“I am closer to my freedom than I have ever been. Every move you make, everything you do, brings me closer to my freedom and Iris West’s demise. None of you can change the future because I am the future, Flash.”

Barry yanked the electrode harness off Julian’s head. The connection was severed. Julian startled awake. Cisco powered down the equipment as Barry thanked Julian profusely as he made a hasty exit.

“Did we actually learn anything from that?” Cisco asked tiredly.

“He hinted that we didn’t entirely get rid of the stone,” Barry said, coming back into the room.

“He’s obviously still trapped, wherever he is,” Joe chimed in.

“So, what now, gang?” H.R. asked.

“I’m going to check in on those Alchemy followers again,” Barry said, “Maybe they know more about the stone than they’ve let on.”

“Great, everyone else should get some rest,” Caitlin spoke up, rushing from the room.

“Yeah, I’m gonna head out,” Cisco said, trailing behind her. Savitar had squashed all his confidence about the Hartley situation.

~

“Who are you?”

Cisco’s heart stopped. Jerrie Rathaway was on the floor, curled up in the corner, wearing a ruffled, red dress, eating Sour Patch Kids. Against his better judgment, Cisco had snuck into a gathering at Rathaway Mansion. After realizing he’d wildly underestimated the dress code, sticking out like a sore thumb among the throng of CEOs and socialites, he’d ducked into what looked like an empty study to breach away. He’d clearly misjudged its occupancy.

“Sorry! I didn’t know anyone was in here. I’m Cisco. And I’m leaving,” he stammered, hoping he hadn’t intruded on a safe space.

Her eyes went wide with recognition. “You made Hartley’s aids!” she said.

That was the last thing Cisco expected to hear, and his hand dropped from the doorknob. “Yeah, I did.”

“Cool! I’m Jerrie, his sister! Hartley told me all about you. He says you’re a genius! You used to work together at Star Labs, and when Hartley asked for your help, you made him special aids so he wouldn’t get headaches anymore.”

There was a lot left out of  that  story, but Cisco was too shocked Hartley had called him a genius to care. Also, Jerrie Rathaway didn’t need to hear about her brother’s villain streak, especially from someone she didn’t know. “Yeah, that was me,” he said awkwardly, lingering next to the closed door.

“So….what are you doing here?” she asked curiously. She was still curled up on the floor as though random strangers often dropped in and Cisco’s presence wasn’t alarming in the least.

“I came to see Hartley.”

“Are you his boyfriend?” she asked casually. Cisco gaped at her. The silence stretched so long, she spoke again. “I’m twelve. I know things,” she said matter-of-factly. “I mean, I didn’t know. My friend, Pen, pointed it out after they met Hartley. It was kind of obvious after that, but he’s just my brother, you know?”

“I’m just a friend,” Cisco said, struggling to absorb the girl’s lightning fast speech.

“Good. Hartley needs more friends. Though, I don’t think you’re going to get to see him tonight.”

“Why’s that?”

“Father invited  Mr. Bundy . He doesn’t leave Hartley alone for more than three seconds at these things. We can’t even sneak off and play chess anymore.”

“Mr. Bundy?”

“That’s just what I call him. His real name is Ted. Ted Strand. Ted Bundy. Hartley says I shouldn’t call him that, that I shouldn’t make him angry. I hate Ted.” She said this so darkly in her Disney-princess-like voice Cisco almost laughed.

“Why?”

“He’s mean to Hartley! And he’s always telling Father things about him like he’s done something wrong—where he goes, what he says, who he talks to. Mother says he’s here to help Hartley, but Hartley’s just sad all the time now. He barely comes out of his room. He doesn’t even want to go to the movies anymore! He always says he’s tired, but I don’t think that’s it. I mean, it’s better than it was before, but not by much.”

“Before?” Cisco asked.

Jerrie bit her lip. “Mother and Father told me not to tell anyone at school about the other man, but you’re not at school. You’re in Father’s study!” she said brightly. She stood and pulled herself up to sit on the desk, the red tulle of her dress cascading around her, a stray candy falling to the floor. Cisco’s responsible adult brain told him to correct this little loophole, but he needed to know what was going on with Hartley and here was an almost-teenager willing to tell all. He moved into the room and dropped into a chair in front of the desk.

Jerrie’s voice dropped to a whisper. “The first guy Father hired only lasted a couple months. I think Hartley was scared of him. He didn’t want to be alone with him, but Father made him. They would stay in Hartley’s room together for hours. I wasn’t allowed to see Hartley after the guy left, but I saw him one day. He was crying, and Mother’s nurse was bandaging his hands. I tried asking him about it, but Hartley said he was fine and the bandages were from an accident. But then, Hartley came down to dinner one day with a busted lip and a big, black eye. Mother was furious because she’d hired a photographer and had to reschedule. She made Father fire the guy, and now they have Ted.”

“Do you remember the man’s name?”

Jerrie paused. “I wasn’t allowed to meet him. He didn’t hang around all the time like Ted does. But he had a funny accent! Like, Mater from Cars.”

Cisco couldn’t stop the huff of laughter, and Jerrie smiled at him. “Do you think…can you help Hartley? I just don’t want him to be sad anymore.” She sounded so small. Cisco’s heart ached for her.

“I’m going to try,” he promised.

“Jerrie! You better not be hiding in there!” A woman’s voice called through the door. Cisco jumped in his seat, his heart beating wildly as he realized what an odd sight he and Jerrie made. “Your friend, Penelope, is here with her parents. You should go and say hello.” Jerrie gave an exaggerated eye roll that made her look so much like her brother Cisco felt a tug of fondness.

“I’ll be out in a minute, Mother,” she called.

Rachel huffed on the other side of the door. “One minute, Jerrie,” she said firmly.

“Don’t worry. She won’t come in here. She says Father’s study depresses her because he spends more time with it than her,” Jerrie said, standing and smoothing her dress out. “Do I have any candy on my dress?” she asked, giving a twirl.

Cisco chuckled and shook his head.

“Thanks,” she said, sticking her hand out for Cisco to shake. He did, gently, and she smiled at him. “It was nice to meet you, Mr. Ramon,” she said in a faux-snobbish accent.

“The pleasure was mine, Miss Rathaway,” he agreed in a terrible, British accent.

She giggled before leaving the room in a whirl of red chiffon.

Chapter Text

Cisco spent the next morning looking into everything Jerrie had told him. He started with a blanket search for a middle-aged, white, Ted Strand living in Central City. Nothing. Ted Strand didn’t appear to exist. Cisco had a nagging sense of dread ever since they’d locked eyes at Jerrie’s spelling bee, and now he was determined to get to the bottom of who he really was. He searched through photos from Rathaway events, finally making it back to the gala photos.

Hartley really had been stunning that night. The sight of him in that emerald suit sent heat down Cisco’s spine, but he also felt a twinge of sadness. The gala was barely two months ago, and Cisco could see Hartley had lost weight in that time. Photograph Hartley had fuller cheeks, his eyes clear and bright. Whatever was happening to Hartley was happening quickly. The future headline was two months away. Would there be anything left of Hartley by then?

“Cisco!” Wally interrupted Cisco’s thoughts. Cisco turned to see Wally and Jesse standing behind him in their suits.

“What’s up, Mr. And Mrs. Quick?” he asked, furrowing his brow at the serious looks on their faces.

“I need you to vibe me to the future.”

“You wanna see if Harry makes good on those threats?”

“I need to see what Savitar does to Iris.”

“Absolutely not!” Cisco admonished.

“Cisco—”

“No! I’m not going to show you your sister’s death. That’s not something you can unsee, Wally!” Cisco said. Wally was like a little brother to the entire team. Maybe the seven year difference didn’t loan Cisco much authority, but he was protective of the teen nonetheless.

“Please, Cisco. I’ll do anything to save her, but I gotta know what I’m getting into.”

That put cracks in Cisco’s resolve. Cisco was doing some ridiculous things to save Hartley. He couldn’t blame Wally for doing the same.

“Fine, but just this once. And if you need to get out of there, you say the word.”

“Thank you, Cisco.”

Cisco merely sighed in acknowledgment as he grabbed his goggles and set them to the right frequency. Wally buzzed next to him, that speedster impatience radiating from him, making the hairs on Cisco’s arms stand on end. Cisco took as much time as he could with the goggles, giving Wally plenty of time to change his mind, before asking, “Ready?”

“Ready!” Wally said eagerly, holding out his hand for Cisco.

Cisco grasped hands with him, feeling the familiar tug behind his eyes. Soon they were standing outside the bus stop two months from now, Cisco’s vision hazed in dark blue. His head snapped to the bus stop television. The headlines scrolled by: Jerrie still won the All State Spelling Bee, the Star Lab Museum closed, and Killer Frost was still at large. It was like a gut punch. He hadn’t saved Caitlin yet. But then, Hartley’s headline never appeared. A soaring feeling filled Cisco’s chest. Had he saved Hartley? Or what if Hartley had done it sooner? Or was still going to do it? Cisco experienced a whole range of emotions as the possibilities hit him, until the news anchor spoke.

“Breaking News Tonight. A body was found underneath Main Street Bridge which has been identified as Hartley Rathaway, son of Rathaway Industries CEO, Osgood Rathaway. Authorities were alerted by a concerned citizen who spotted an abandoned car near the bridge. It remains unclear if this was the result of murder or suicide, but we will keep our viewers up to date. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Rathaway family and, of course, Hartley Rathaway’s fiancée.”

Cisco only had a moment to take this in before Barry’s voice pulled his focus. He ran to Wally’s side, reaching him just as Savitar’s blade pierced Iris’s back. They watched Iris fall into Barry’s arms. Grief lapped at Cisco as Wally stepped closer. He desperately wanted to grab the speedster and pull them out of this nightmare, but Wally was pointing at something, trying to get Cisco to focus. Iris’s hand. Her left hand. She wasn’t wearing a ring. Cisco pulled them out of the vibe.

The steely determination in Wally’s gaze was something Cisco could relate to a little too well. Barry messing with everyone’s lives, leaving some broken, some angry, some gone. Cisco was angry too, somewhere deep inside, buried in the most exhausted part of Cisco. He watched Wally stalk from the room, Jesse hot on his heels. He couldn’t bring himself to try and stop him. Iris deserved to know, and Cisco was tired.

Cisco fell back onto his stool, a leaden ball in his chest dragging him down. He hadn’t saved Caitlin. He hadn’t saved Hartley. Wally couldn’t save Iris. Everything was broken. Hartley was about to be engaged. To whom, Cisco didn’t know. Did Cisco know Hartley at all? Hartley was so far out of Cisco’s reach, how could he ever dream of saving him? And Caitlin. How had he failed Caitlin so badly?

As though conjured by his anguish, Caitlin appeared in the doorway. “Cisco,” she said in a timid voice.

Cisco raised his head, his neck a rusty gear. “What’s wrong?” he asked, noting the guilty look on her face. Had her powers taken over again? Was this the moment Caitlin would be lost? Panic thrummed in his veins.

“I need to tell you something. I’ve done something terrible,” she said, the line between her brows growing deeper with each word.

“Caitlin,” Cisco stood. “What’s wrong?”

“You remember when Barry threw the philosopher’s stone into the Speed Force?” she asked. Cisco nodded. “It wasn’t the whole stone. I kept a piece of it.”

“Caitlin,” Cisco breathed.

“I know! I thought I could use it to get rid of my powers, and it was such a small piece, I hoped it wouldn’t matter! But now Wally’s seeing Savitar again, and…he said you saw the future. Things haven’t changed because I betrayed everyone.” Caitlin was close to tears. Cisco pulled her into a hug.

“There’s still time to fix this,” he assured, stroking her back as she rested her chin on his shoulder. “We need to tell the team.”

“I know,” she said, “Barry’s going to be so mad at me.”

“That’s not Barry,” Cisco said, “He’ll forgive you.”

Caitlin nodded against his shoulder and pulled away. “I just wanted to get rid of my powers,” she repeated, her voice small. Cisco felt his heart break all over again.

“We’re going to figure this out,” he said. “No one is dying or losing control, not if I can help it.”

~

It unfolded like a horror movie.

Caitlin confessed to the team about keeping part of the stone, and they realized that piece was what kept Savitar from escaping when Barry threw the rest into the Speed Force.

But they figured it out too late.

While the rest of Team Flash celebrated their accidental victory, Wally was goaded by Savitar into throwing the stone shard into the Speed Force. The alert that Wally was in danger broke the brief moment of bliss in the cortex. Team Flash watched on the monitors as Savitar crawled out of the Speed Force like a demon from hell.

Now Barry was squeezing the life out of Cisco’s hand, one of Savitar’s talons sticking out of his shoulder. Cisco felt a nauseating lurch as Caitlin ripped it out and Barry nearly broke his fingers. Wally babbled apologies as Barry writhed against the pain. The speedster was unconscious a moment later, and Cisco lowered his hand to his side. He stumbled back a few steps, urging his stomach to stop rolling. He looked up to see horror on each of his friends’ faces, as though it was dawning on each of them.

Savitar was free.

~

Cisco wasn’t able to resume his Ted Strand research until the following week. Monday morning found him back in his lab, pulling up the neglected gala photos. He hoped this time he wouldn’t get intercepted by a needy speedster.

In the background of a photo of Rachel Rathaway, Cisco found a decent photo of Ted Strand’s face. His stomach twisted at the sight of him. He ran the photo through facial recognition and came up with the name Alastor Dolion. Alastor had a bumpy start to his career having dropped out of several colleges, finally becoming a licensed therapist in 1998, only to be stripped of said license in 2005 after complaints of “cruel and dangerous practices.” Cisco couldn’t find any details on said practices, so his imagination tried to fill in the blanks. He really shouldn’t watch so many horror movies.

There was nothing of great interest after that, so Cisco dug into his financial records. Alastor was receiving monthly cash deposits of twenty-thousand dollars for the past four months. Going back further, there were no deposits for a while before those, but for a few months the previous year, he was depositing fifteen-thousand a month. Alastor's records went on that way for the past ten years, receiving boatloads of money for a few months with six or more in between. Whatever Alastor Dolion or “Ted Strand” was doing, it was happening under the table, and his clients were willing to pay dearly for it.

The thought Cisco desperately didn’t want to have was creeping in, undeniable in its evidence. Still, Cisco had one more person to look into. This could still be a misunderstanding. Jerrie had mentioned a man before Ted, someone who’d only lasted a few months. If Osgood Rathaway was paying these men in cash, then there would be no paper trail. Jerrie said the man stayed in Hartley’s bedroom at Rathaway Mansion, so he started there.

The Rathaway Mansion didn’t have cameras inside, but there were many outside. Cisco spent hours combing through footage, only taking a break when H.R. brought him lunch. He would have pulled an all-nighter had Caitlin not insisted he go home for the night. He’d protested, but Caitlin gave him the look like she knew his vision had gone blurry with exhaustion. He returned early the next morning and picked up where he left off.

“This is boring,” H.R. announced, looking over Cisco's shoulder. Cisco was staring at fast-forwarding footage of the Rathaway’s courtyard.

“You don’t need to be here,” Cisco said.

“Yes, yes, but I just wanted to make sure that your coffee cup was full, which it is, so I guess I’ll just go see what the speedsters are up to,” H.R. said jovially and left the room. It was a relief not to have the man yammering behind him as his head began to ache. Just as he was about to pause for a break, there was a flicker on the screen. Cisco stopped the recording and scrolled back.

August 10, 2016

2:11 p.m.

There was a man in a red plaid shirt exiting the side door of Rathaway Mansion. He kept his back to the camera as he walked out of the frame. Cisco’s heart began to race, sure this was the man Jerrie told him about. Cisco cut back to the camera feed of the driveway and watched the man climb into a black SUV.

The license plate number pulled no results. Cisco stared at the screen, his growing sense of dread leaking adrenalin into his veins. The Rathaways hired someone who used a fake license plate. Did they know? Osgood Rathaway was paying him under the table, so maybe he knew but didn’t care. The most pressing question bobbed to the surface. What was he hired for?

Cisco wracked his brain to figure out how he could identify the man. He searched Rathaway Industries's financial records along with Osgood Rathaway’s personal records. He found two cash withdrawals of eight thousand dollars during the months of August and September, but they were untraceable. Cisco felt a twinge behind his eyes and looked away from the screen. His vision was blurry as he stared across his lab.

He wandered into the cortex, needing to stretch his legs and hydrate with something other than coffee. The break room had a fridge full of water bottles. Cisco took one out and grabbed a non-speedster power bar from the cabinet. It tasted like chalk as he stared at the counter, thinking hard about the strange man on the camera feed. He didn’t even notice Barry walk in behind him.

“Hey, man,” Barry greeted, pulling Cisco out of his stupor.

“Hey, you look like hell,” Cisco observed.

Barry nodded, bracing his hands around the back of his neck. “Yeah, I can’t sleep thinking about…everything.”

“Yeah,” Cisco agreed. “I’m sorry I let Wally out your proposal intentions. He said he needed to see the future, and I didn’t know.”

“It’s not your fault. She needed to know, and I shouldn’t have done what I did,” Barry groaned. “You’re probably tired of me saying that.”

Cisco felt a twinge of guilt. He’d given Barry a hard time for too long. That wasn’t what any of them needed now. “You’re just trying to save the person you love in any way you can. I get that.”

“Do you get it enough to let me stay with you for a little while?” Barry asked sheepishly. “Iris and I, we kind of called off the engagement, and things are a little weird right now.”

“Yeah, dude, of course you can stay with me.”

“Thanks. How are things going with Hartley?”

Cisco sighed before dropping into a chair, waiting for Barry to do the same. Barry listened, his eyebrows raising higher with each piece of the puzzle Cisco laid out. “I need your help,” Cisco finished.

“Anything,” Barry said eagerly.

“A guy worked for the Rathaways regarding Hartley during August and September last year.”

“Regarding Hartley, how?” Barry asked.

The answer that was becoming more obvious by the second reared in Cisco’s mind, but he shoved it down with a healthy dose of denial. “I don’t know, but he physically hurt Hartley at least twice. And get this, he was using a fake license plate.” Barry, ever the detective, perked up at this. “I need to know who this man is. There’s no digital record of him, nothing traceable. Osgood Rathaway must have some information stored somewhere.”

“I’m on it,” Barry said, standing.

“You don’t have to go now.”

“I’m on it,” Barry said again, leaving with a gust. For the first time in a while, Cisco was grateful to have a speedster friend.

Cisco trudged back to his lab, and Barry returned almost an hour later with a tablet in his hands.

“Osgood Rathaway keeps records on everything—and I mean everything,” Barry said, resting the tablet on the table. “It looks like Osgood was paying someone eight thousand dollars in cash during the months you mentioned. I followed that to a file on a man called Peter Bell. That name was definitely an alias. Here’s some photos,” Barry said, scrolling to the photos he’d taken of the file.

The man had a hulking frame. He was completely bald, but bushy, brown eyebrows shadowed his eyes. Cisco couldn’t tell how tall the man was, but he looked menacing and strong. The thought of this man putting his hands on Hartley, giving him a black eye, made Cisco sick. “Did you get his real name?”

“Yeah, they ran a background check on him in September. His name is Declan Trent. It’s pretty bad. I’ll let you read for yourself,” Barry said, scrolling to a different set of photographs.

Declan Trent had a criminal record with a long history of violent crime. His first offense was a felony where he critically injured a gay man in his hometown. He served time but went on to stalk and harass other gay men and women over the years. He was arrested again in 2001 when a protest against a pride event turned violent. The events were spread out over the years, each against an LGBTQ+ person or group, but then tapered off in the last five years.

It seemed, on paper, Declan Trent had cleaned up his act. He completed court-ordered anger management counseling and community service. He became self-employed in what was vaguely described as a consulting business before going to work privately for wealthy families. Nowhere did it say what he did for those families, but Cisco couldn’t deny the truth any longer.

“Conversion therapy,” Cisco said hollowly. He wasn’t an expert, but he’d read stories on the internet. He knew the practice was ineffectual and cruel, and the suicide rate was very high for people subjected to it. And, he was pretty sure conversion therapy was illegal in some states, if not for adults then at least for minors.

“Cisco, there’s something else,” Barry said.

Cisco wasn’t sure he could handle anything else at the moment. “What is it?”

“There was a file on you,” Barry said, reaching over and swiping to the next screen. Cisco’s driver’s license photo stared back at him.

“What the hell?” Cisco muttered, zooming into the information. It contained his occupation, age, college information, even the make and model of his car. The next page showed Cisco’s more personal history. His college boyfriend, his summer job between semesters, the robotics tournament he won five years ago, the grief counseling he attended after Dante’s death. A random assortment of facts about his life.

“This is the work of a private investigator,” Barry supplied as Cisco read.

“You think they hired a private investigator? To look into me?” Cisco asked, an odd rushing in his ears. Barry nodded in his periphery. Cisco scrolled to see more photos of himself, photos he’d posted to social media years ago and forgot about. The first photo was of him wearing a pink, yellow, and blue shirt at Central City Pride 2012. Someone had penned PANSEXUAL in black sharpie underneath the photo.

Why had Osgood Rathaway looked into him? Had Hartley told him about Cisco's visits? Had he seen Cisco sneaking around? Cisco got his answer when the last page revealed a surveillance photo of himself in the lobby of Central City Middle School. Ted Strand had told Osgood Rathaway about him. Cisco could still feel the weight of the man’s chilling stare.

~

Once Barry was settled in Cisco’s guest room, Cisco gave into the urge to check on Hartley. He breached into Rathaway Mansion, right outside Hartley’s bedroom door. It was after nine o’clock on a Tuesday, so he hoped Hartley would be home. He knocked softly.

“Come in, Jer,” came Hartley’s tired voice.

Cisco cracked open the door, spotting Hartley in bed facing the far window. He closed the door and walked around so Hartley could see him, his steps padded by plush carpet. “Not Jerrie,” he said, “I can go if you want.”

Hartley seemed to take a moment to register Cisco’s presence, his gaze dragging over Cisco. His eyes were dull in the same way they’d been the last time Cisco found him despondent in bed. He was there, but he wasn’t. Hartley Rathaway was a beautiful mirage.

“Hartley,” Cisco said, “is it okay if I sit?”

Hartley stared for a moment before nodding. Cisco sat on the edge of the bed. Hartley was wearing an old t-shirt from a private high school. A garment that had to be nearing a decade, and should have been too big on Hartley, was swallowing his frame and pulling sideways at the neck, threatening to fall off his shoulder. Hartley’s face was thin in a way that wasn’t natural to him, and Cisco wanted very much to breach him away from this place and feed him and take care of him and never let the Rathaways touch him again.

He couldn’t do that though. He had to do this right. Hartley needed to understand what was happening to him and leave willingly. But how could that happen when Cisco kept finding Hartley like this? And even if he could talk sensibly with Hartley, would he be willing to leave? Cisco wondered why Hartley had stayed long enough to get this bad. Why had he let his parents hire someone to hurt him?

Cisco thought about this. Did Hartley believe there was nothing on the other side of leaving his parents? It made terrible sense. What had Hartley accomplished by striking out on his own after his parents disowned him? He’d immediately fallen into Dr. Wells’s clutches, been fired and abandoned by him, hurt by the particle accelerator, homeless, adopted into the rogues. What if Hartley did believe there was nothing else for him?

Cisco was pulled from his thoughts by Hartley’s gaze meeting his. Cisco could see there was no reaching Hartley in that glassy stare, but at least he was alive and warm in his bed. For now, that had to be enough.

“You make me think the bad thoughts,” Hartley warbled suddenly.

Cisco felt a sorrowful smile tug at his lips. “Bad thoughts like you wanna kill me? Or bad thoughts like you wanna kiss me?”

Hartley furrowed his brows, a gesture that would be cute if the moment wasn’t so tragic. “I don’t want to kill you,” he said. An amused huff escaped Cisco.

“Glad to hear it,” he teased softly. “It’s okay to want to kiss me, you know.” Cisco recalled how proud Hartley had been before. Despite his parents casting him out, Hartley had worn his pride like a badge of honor. He was unashamed and shined so bright he lit up the world around him. Sure, he was a bully at times, his biting tongue a whip knowing just where to strike, but by now, Cisco saw that for the armor it was. The person Hartley was before was proud and strong in ways he had to be, and there was a time when Cisco loved him for it.

Hartley hadn’t said anything to Cisco’s statement, but tears were beginning to fill his eyes. Cisco’s heart ached. He reached over slowly, giving Hartley time to stop him, and stroked his hair. Hartley closed his eyes, pushing two tears down his cheeks. They fell onto the pillow as Hartley leaned into Cisco’s touch.

“What are they doing to you, Hart?” Cisco asked softly, not expecting an answer. He didn’t get one, and soon Hartley was asleep, lulled by Cisco’s fingers in his hair.

Cisco was about to leave when he noticed Hartley’s open palm on the bed beside him. Splotchy red scars glared at Cisco. Jerrie had told him Hartley’s hands needed to be bandaged after seeing Declan Trent. Cisco pulled his phone out and snapped a photo of Hartley’s hand for Caitlin. He paused, thinking, before also grabbing the coffee mug on the nightstand. With a last look at Hartley’s gaunt face, Cisco breached away.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Cisco dressed and ate the breakfast Barry prepared in record time. He even took Barry up on his offer to run Cisco to Star Labs so he could be there the moment Caitlin arrived. This gave him an hour to be fed coffee by a babbling H.R. By the time Caitlin arrived, Cisco was buzzing with impatience.

“I need you to look at something,” he said before she’d even stashed her purse.

“What’s going on?” she asked. Cisco held out his phone, the photo of Hartley’s hand pulled up. The scars looked even worse in the light of morning. She studied it for a moment, giving a worried crease. “Is this Hartley’s hand?” she asked. Cisco nodded. “This looks like frostbite.”

“Frostbite?”

“It’s healed,” she said quickly, “But frostbite leaves scars if it’s serious and isn’t treated properly. I’d say these marks are a few months old—at least. Also…” She studied the photo again. “The pattern is strange. It looks like this happened over more than one incident. See how this set of scars is lighter than this set.” She pointed to the blotches, zooming into the photo. Cisco couldn’t see a difference, but he trusted Caitlin.

“What do you think caused frostbite like that?”

Caitlin bit her lip. “It isn’t from a railing or anything. It’s odd, but it looks like he was holding ice, or something at a freezing temperature, until it burned him.”

“How would that—?” Cisco felt sick. He reminded himself this happened while Declan Trent was working for the Rathaways. Had he held Hartley down and ice burned his hands? It sounded ridiculous, but nothing about this situation made any sense.

“There’s something else,” he said, pulling the mug from his bag. He’d placed it in a plastic bag to preserve whatever might be inside. “I grabbed this from Hartley’s nightstand. He was out of it again last night. I think…I think they may be drugging him. Could you test it?”

“Drugging him? Cisco, why would you think that?”

Cisco told her everything he and Barry had found the night before. She had a determined expression when he finished.

“If they are drugging him, it may take some time to identify the substance they’re using,” she said, taking the mug.

“Thank you, Caitlin,” Cisco said, feeling a wave of affection for her. She squeezed his hand and got to work.

~

It all started with the intrusion alarm blaring inside Star Labs. Cisco broke into a run into the cortex and pulled up the security feed. A well-dressed man with curly black hair waved at the camera before vanishing.

“Who the hell is that?” Barry asked over Cisco’s shoulder. It was early morning, so they were the only two in, Barry from pulling an all-nighter and Cisco from arriving early to work on the suit.

“I’m the Music Meister,” said a cheerful voice behind them. In a flash, Barry had the intruder against the wall, his forearm pressed to the man’s throat.

“How did you get in here?” Barry demanded. Music Meister merely chuckled, seeming unfazed by the muscle pressed to his windpipe. His eyes began to sparkle and spin, and Barry collapsed in a heap on the ground. Cisco took an involuntary step back, nearly tripping over a chair.

“Relax, Cisco,” said Music Meister, walking toward him casually. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

“How do you know my name?” Cisco asked.

“Well, that one’s easy. I know everything,” he said. Cisco didn’t have time to conjure a sarcastic comeback before Music Meister’s hand was on his chest, Cisco’s back suddenly against the wall. Cisco spotted H.R. enter the cortex, a look of horror as he found Barry’s collapsed form, before his attention snapped back to Music Meister. “Sleep tight, Vibe.”

Cisco was falling, or flying maybe? He was going around and around. It was dark and rather disorienting before everything went still.

“Why, it's a man!” said a far-off voice, pulling Cisco out of the black. He tried to speak, but his tongue was immovable, pressed against the roof of his mouth.

“Cisco,” he heard Barry’s voice mutter. Cisco felt something cold touch his face, a greasy liquid cascading over his lips, making them unstuck from each other.

“What happened?” Cisco asked once he was able. He blinked against the bright sun. When did he get outside?

“You must have been out here a long time. You’ve completely rusted over,” cried the voice again. Iris. That was Iris’s voice.

“Iris?” he asked, feeling the warm liquid on his elbows now. He could move again! He hadn’t realized he couldn’t before.

“Cisco?” Barry asked.

Cisco turned to him with some difficulty, his neck making a creaking metal sound. Barry was wearing a black hat and a solid green, flannel shirt, all of which had straw sticking out. There was a burlap collar around his neck with a twine cord. “Barry?”

Something like relief washed over Barry’s eyes. He was holding an oil can and continued to spritz Cisco with it up and down his legs and arms. Cisco felt better with each squeak of the oil can, but why? He looked down and wished it hadn’t when he saw his body was silver.

“You’re made of tin,” said Iris wondrously. Cisco turned to her and saw that she was wearing a blue and white checkered dress and jeweled, ruby shoes—certainly not Iris’s usual style. She reached over and rapped her knuckles on Cisco’s chest. A hollow clanging sound alarmed him, but he couldn’t feel the panic in his chest. “You have no heart!” Iris exclaimed.

“Iris, what’s going on?” Cisco asked, looking back and forth between Barry and Iris with less difficulty than before.

“Iris?” she asked, her face creased in confusion. “My name is Dorothy, and this is Scarecrow. We’re off to see the Wizard!”

Cisco looked to Barry who shrugged in an exasperated sort of way. A dog jumped out of Iris’s basket, and she chased after him, calling, “Toto!”.

“Something tells me we aren’t in Kansas anymore,” said Cisco.

“Dude, do you remember anything that happened before we got here?” Barry asked in a hurried whisper.

“Yeah, some guy calling himself Music Meister broke into Star Labs. He knocked you out. He must’ve knocked me out too, but I remember seeing H.R, so hopefully the team knows what happened.”

“Can you breach us out of here?” Barry asked.

“I don’t have my powers,” Cisco said, feeling nothing as he concentrated on his body. It was odd having no heart beating in his chest. His powers were always buzzing in his veins, but he couldn’t feel it now.

“Yeah, me neither. I was tied to a pole in a corn field when I woke up, and then Iris—Dorothy, came along and got me down.”

“So, she’s not Iris here?” Cisco asked. Barry shook his head. “How did we get dropped into the most problematic movie of all time?”

“I don’t know, man.”

Iris came back with Toto in her arms. “Can you walk now, Tin Man?” she asked. Cisco took a few shaky steps, his legs making horrible screeching sounds. Barry continued to spritz him with oil, and each step became easier.

“Oh, wonderful!” Iris exclaimed. “We’re off to see the Wizard! He’s going to send me home! And he can give you a heart, Tin Man! And you a brain, Scarecrow!”

Barry grimaced at this, and Cisco suppressed a laugh.

“Follow the yellow brick road!” Iris chirped, leading the way. They didn’t get far before a puff of red smoke blocked their way.

“Where do you think you’re going?” cackled a familiar voice.

“Caitlin?!” Barry and Cisco exclaimed.

Caitlin’s skin was green, and she wore a billowing cloak with a broom clutched in her slender fingers. “I’m the Wicked Witch of the West!”

“Of course you are,” Cisco muttered.

Suddenly, Iris and Caitlin froze, like they were paused on a screen. Barry looked back and forth between them and snapped his fingers in front of Caitlin’s face.

“What happened to them?” Barry asked. A floating, pink bubble caught Cisco’s eye, and he pointed to it. When the bubble reached the ground, it transformed into the Music Meister. “Welcome to the Land of Oz, boys. So glad you could make it!” he exclaimed. He was wearing a bubblegum pink tuxedo jacket with tails that draped over a full, pink skirt.

“Let me guess…Glinda?” Cisco asked.

“What did you do to us?” Barry demanded, charging toward Music Meister.

“Relax, Scarecrow! I didn’t do anything to you. We’re inside  your  heads.”

“Then how do we get out of here?” Cisco asked.

“You follow the plot, of course,” Music Meister said as though it were obvious. “Though, one little tip, if you die in here, you die out there. Toodles!” Music Meister transformed back into a bubble and floated away.

“Man, I haven’t seen The Wizard of Oz since I was like ten,” Cisco said.

“Yeah, me neither, but how hard could it be?”

Iris and Caitlin unfroze in an instant. The Wicked Witch threw fire at Barry. “Whoa!” Barry yelled, as his shirt blazed. Cisco knocked him to the ground and started beating the flames. The fire extinguished almost too easily, and when they looked up, the Wicked Witch was gone.

“Oh, that was terrible! Are you alright? You poor thing!” said Iris, alternating between grabbing Barry’s face and running her hands over his singed chest. Barry was looking at her with a besotted expression, and Cisco fought the urge to roll his eyes.

“Let’s keep this moving,” he said, helping Iris pull Barry to his feet. Iris, apparently quick to recover from traumatic events here, continued down the yellow brick road at a skip.

Soon they were in a dark forest. “I don’t like this one bit,” said Iris. “What if there are lions and tigers and bears?” she asked.

“Lions and tigers and bears,” Barry repeated.

“Lions and tigers and bears,” Cisco said, looking around.

They heard a rustling behind them, and Iris screamed as a Lion…Man came running toward them. Cisco watched in bewilderment as a man-shaped lion sprung toward them at a crouch.

“Put ‘em up! Put ‘em up!” yelled the Lion. “I’ll fight you. I’ll fight you both if you want. Put ‘em up!”

“Hartley?” Cisco asked, catching Hartley’s blue eyes behind the curly mane. The Lion turned to him in confusion, reminding Cisco that nothing was as it seemed here. Suddenly, Toto broke past them in a run, and the Lion turned to chase him. Iris smacked him in the nose and scooped Toto up in her arms. Hartley began to cry.

“I wasn’t gonna hurt him,” the Lion cried. “You didn’t have to hit me.” Cisco moved toward him with a clanking sound, running his metal hand through Hartley’s mane as he cried into his paws.

“Oh, don’t cry!” Iris pleaded, joining Cisco’s side to comfort the Lion. “Would you like to come with us to see the Wizard?”

Hartley’s sobs subsided, and he looked up at her. “Do you…do you think he could give me some courage?”

“Oh, yes! Anything! I’m sure of it!” Iris said, and the four of them were moving again.

“This is the strangest thing that’s ever happened to us, and that was a high bar,” Cisco muttered to Barry as they followed behind Lion and Dorothy. Barry nodded, watching their companions in resigned bewilderment. “Also, the script is terrible. Was this movie always so terrible or is it us?”

“Probably us,” Barry snorted, covering it with a cough when Iris looked back at him. “What do you think is happening back at the lab?”

“Caitlin’s probably got us in the medbay, tracking our brain activity. We must be in comas,” Cisco answered.

“Great,” said Barry, an experienced coma patient.

The darkness subsided as they walked out of the forest. Iris’s ruby slippers began to sparkle in the light as she clicked along the yellow brick road. She gasped, halting Cisco which caused Barry to run into him. “Oh, look!” Iris cried, “It’s Emerald City!”

Sure enough, in the distance, they could see an emerald green castle at the top of a hill. Between them and the castle was a field of poppies. Dorothy and Lion skipped forward without a second thought.

“You do remember this part of the movie?” Cisco asked Barry.

“Do we have any other choice?”

Cisco couldn’t think of one, so they walked, feeling drowsier with each step through the poppies. Cisco’s metal limbs felt heavy, like he was treading through honey. Dorothy was the first to collapse. Barry ran to her, falling next to her in an exhausted heap. Lion sat next to them, swaying on the spot. Cisco reached them a moment later and fell to his knees.

Poppy stems tickled Cisco’s ears. He couldn’t remember deciding to lie down, but he could hardly keep his eyes open. Lion Hartley was near him, his curls tangled in the flowers around him. Cisco wracked his sluggish brain for this part of the movie. He remembered the Wicked Witch planned to poison them with the flowers, to make them sleep forever, but how did they escape? How did…

“Cisco! Cisco, please wake up!” Hartley pleaded.

“It’s okay, Lion. We’ll see the Wizard soon,” Cisco slurred.

“Cisco!”

“You’re so brave, Hartley. So…courageous.”

“Damn it, Cisco! Wake up!”

Cisco heard Iris’s voice in the background, pleading for Barry to wake up. How had they pulled themselves from the poppy sleep?

Cisco had started to drift into blackness again before soft lips met his. The smell of jasmine overpowered the poppies, and Cisco kissed back like he was coming home. Warmth flooded him as the rough ground transformed to cotton sheets and his heart thumped in his chest. His calloused hands cupped Hartley’s smooth face.

Cisco broke the kiss when he heard a chorus of relieved gasps. He looked around to see H.R, Wally, Joe, and Caitlin standing around the medbay. Barry and Iris were to his right, Barry in his own bed with Iris sitting next to him. Barry had electrode leads on his face and chest, making Cisco aware of his.

He looked down at his Star Wars t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. His tawny arms he could move uninhibited by rust. He looked up. Hartley, whose face was free of lion fur, was staring at him—staring at him because he’d just kissed Cisco awake like Sleeping Beauty. Hartley suddenly looked around with wide, panicked eyes before bolting from the room.

“Hartley!” Cisco called, springing out of bed. He pulled at the leads desperately.

“Cisco, wait,” Caitlin said, rushing forward, “I need to check—”

“Not now, Caitlin,” Cisco said, pulling himself free of the final lead.

“Hartley, wait!” Cisco called, catching up to Hartley outside the stairwell. Hartley turned, looking around. His shoulders dropped a little when he only saw Cisco. “Look, I’m not entirely sure what just happened.”

“Some guy came to me and said you needed help. When I got here, you and Barry were flatlining. When your friend touched Barry, somehow his vitals picked up, so I tried to do the same to you and saw…I don’t know what I saw.”

Hartley was pulling on his earlobe, and Cisco felt a tug of affection for him. “And you kissed me.”

“You wouldn’t wake up,” Hartley said defensively.

“Sure, Prince Charming.”

“Stop it.”

Cisco stepped closer, thankful Hartley didn’t pull away. “Thank you, Hartley, for saving me, again.”

Hartley gave him a complicated look. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“I don’t want anything to happen to you,” Cisco said meaningfully. “But something is happening.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hartley said sharply. He turned toward the stairs.

“Wait! Please,” Cisco said, stopping Hartley again. “Give me your phone.”

Hartley gave him a skeptical look. “Why?”

“Please?” Cisco asked again, and Hartley pulled out his phone, unlocking it before handing it over. Cisco put his number in and texted himself, relieved to finally have a way of getting in touch with Hartley. Using his own phone, he then transferred the code for the alert app he created for Team Flash and friends.

“Here,” Cisco said, “If you’re ever in trouble, just press this app. It will alert me and the Flash. I also put in my number. If you ever need anything, I’ll come running.” Hartley took the phone and stared at it for a moment. Cisco took a breath before saying, “Hartley, I know what they’re doing to you.”

“Excuse me?” There was an edge in Hartley’s voice.

“I know about Ted Strand and Peter Bell. I know your family hired them to try and change you.”

“You don’t know anything, Cisco!”

“They’re hurting you! Jerrie told me—”

“What the hell are you doing talking to my sister?!”

“She’s worried about you! She said Peter Bell hurt you, and that you never come out of your room anymore.”

“You have no business speaking to my sister!”

“Okay, fine! I was out of line talking to Jerrie,” Cisco said, frustrated, “But this isn’t about her. It’s about you! I’m worried about you, Hartley. They’re hurting you! I can see it!”

“No one is hurting me! Nothing is happening without my consent.”

“Including the drugs?”

“What?”

“They’re drugging you, Hartley,” Cisco said, “I took a mug off your nightstand after I found you out of it in your room again. We found traces of a chemical compound. Caitlin’s working to identify it, but it appears to be some kind of hallucinogen.”

Hartley gaped at him. “When were you—how…”

Cisco stepped forward and put his hands on Hartley’s shoulders. “Look, I’m sorry for talking to your sister and showing up unannounced. I’m sorry for every time I upset you these last few months, but I’m worried about you. Hartley, you’re hurting. They’re hurting you. Please, stay here, and we can talk about this and figure it out.”

“No!” Hartley said, throwing Cisco’s hands off of him. “You don’t know what you’re talking about! Stay away from me! Stay away from my sister! And mind your own damn business!”

Hartley turned and stomped down the stairs. Cisco listened until the echo faded. After a moment, Caitlin’s clicking footsteps sounded behind him.

“Music Meister’s gone,” she said.

“So is Hartley,” Cisco said, turning to face her. “I really messed up.” His voice cracked, and Caitlin wrapped him in a hug. “He’s going to die, Caitlin.”

“No, he’s not,” she said, rubbing his back as Cisco’s tears hit her shoulder. “He’ll come around. Hartley’s smart. He’ll realize you’re right, and everything will work out. You may have just saved him by telling him what’s going on.”

Cisco hadn’t realized how loud he and Hartley had been. Everyone in Team Flash probably heard, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“What if he doesn’t trust me enough to believe me? I’ve broken so many boundaries trying to save him. He probably thinks I’m a stalker.”

“No,” Caitlin admonished softly, “Cisco, everything you’ve done has been to save Hartley. The future is a burden you shouldn’t have to bear. But you do, and you’re doing the best you can with that. He’ll understand one day.”

“I just want him to be okay,” Cisco said, pulling away from Caitlin and swiping at his eyes.

“I know.” After a moment, when Cisco’s tears were dry, Caitlin said, “Now, get in the medical bay so I can look you over.”

Cisco laughed wetly and saluted Caitlin before trudging back into the medbay.

Chapter Text

Cisco respected the boundaries set by Hartley and stayed away. Even after nights filled with visions of Hartley’s mangled body underneath the bridge, Cisco managed to refrain. The nightmares were taking their toll, however, as Cisco dragged himself into Star Labs every morning, trying to occupy his mind with work. They had only a month now to save Hartley and Iris, so when Barry asked Cisco to vibe the future again, Cisco was more than willing to put on the goggles.

“Breaking News Tonight. Hartley Rathaway, son of Rathaway Industries CEO, Osgood Rathaway, was found dead under Main Street Bridge. Authorities have ruled the incident a suicide. The Rathaway family asks for privacy in this time of grief. Our hearts go out to them as well as Hartley Rathaway’s fiancée.”

“Killer Frost still at large.”

Iris’s screams. Barry’s screams.

“Nothing’s changed,” Cisco said, pulling the goggles off.

Barry groaned, lacing his fingers behind his head as he paced in Cisco’s lab.

“Everything we do creates tiny changes, but it’s never enough to alter the outcome,” Cisco said tiredly.

“There has to be something we’re not seeing. Something right in front of us,” Barry said. His phone buzzed in his pocket. “There’s a robbery in progress at Stagg Industries.”

~

Cisco tried to distract himself with some forgotten projects. Nothing held his focus as he worried endlessly. Caitlin would become Killer Frost soon. The phrase ‘still at large’ meant she’d been creating havoc for a while. How long did they have? A week? Two weeks? And who was this mysterious fiancée of Hartley’s? Was the news anchor mistaken? How was Hartley even seeing anyone under his current circumstances? Cisco tried to ignore the sour feeling in his gut, passing it off as worry rather than jealousy.

“Cisco!” Caitlin bounded into Cisco’s lab. “I have the test results. I know what they’re dosing Hartley with.”

“Tell me!” Cisco said, standing to meet her.

“It’s a—” She was cut off by an alert. Cisco pulled out his phone.

“Hartley pressed his panic button,” he said, terror flooding his veins.

“Go!”

Cisco threw on his Vibe gear in record time and breached to Hartley’s location, Rathaway Industries. The Flash was already on the scene. Alarms blared all around them. The building shook. Smashed furniture littered the ground, tripping people as they tried to flee.

“Flash!” Hartley called from somewhere behind them. They turned to see Hartley supporting a woman with a deep gash in her leg. Barry whisked her away.

“What’s going on here?” Cisco asked, taking in the chaos. People screamed as machines sprayed sparks in their paths. Part of the ceiling collapsed, creating a dusty haze.

“A meta broke in. He seems to be looking for something, and he’s destroying everything to get to it,” Hartley said in a rush. “Oh my god!” He pointed up. Two employees were dangling from a broken banister. They had a thirty-foot drop below them. A tremor made their hands slip. Cisco threw out his hand. A breach opened below them, and they landed safely on the ground below, immediately joining the throng of fleeing employees.

“Cisco, that was amazing,” Hartley said, too soft to be overheard in the chaos. Cisco felt a rush of heat in his body, but a voice broke the spell.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Vibe and Pied Piper. Quite the duo you two make.” The meta was blond and smarmy looking.

“What do you want?” Hartley asked venomously.

“Oh, I got what I came for. Not to worry your pretty little head about it, Piper. I’m just enjoying the spectacle for a moment.”

“Moment’s over,” Flash said, returning to the scene.

“Barry Allen,” the meta drawled, sucking the air out of the room.

“How-”

“How do I know your name? I know all your names. Barry Allen. Cisco Ramon. Hartley Rathaway. You know, it really is a shame you changed the timeline, Flash. Pied Piper was such an asset to your little team. And sweet Vibe, in all the timelines and all the universes, you never quite reach your full potential without Piper. Pity.”

“You’re going to Iron Heights,” Barry said through gritted teeth.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” the meta said, throwing a handful of playing cards in their direction. There was a spark of Barry’s lightning, but the meta was gone, Barry floundering in the space where he stood.

“How did he-?” Cisco asked, looking around. “He’s gone.”

“We need to know what he stole,” Barry said to Hartley.

“It will take us a while to clear this up and figure it out. My father hasn’t been the best record-keeper over the years, and I’m afraid our cataloging system leaves something to be desired.”

“Let us know as soon as you can,” Barry said.

“Sure,” Hartley said, looking back and forth between Barry and Cisco. Barry stepped back, giving Cisco a meaningful nod before taking off. Cisco and Hartley stood in heavy silence while the chaos around them calmed. Soon they were the only ones left in the broken space, the only sound a terrible grinding noise from a toppled machine. Cisco watched Hartley turn his aids down.

“What did he mean?” Hartley asked. “About the timeline?”

Cisco hesitated. Hartley knew about Barry’s time travel since helping them with the Time Wraith, but Cisco didn’t want to burden him with the details of Flash Point and their lives before. “Barry changed the timeline after his father was killed. Things are a little different now.”

Hartley’s eyebrows pressed together. Cisco watched the gears turn behind Hartley’s eyes. “And the other thing?”

“The other thing?”

“Something about you not reaching your full potential without Piper. Does that mean…I don’t know what that means.”

There was no one around, so Cisco removed his goggles. “You helped me in the other timeline. I was just discovering the scope of my powers, and you were a big part of making me feel comfortable with them.”

“And I was Pied Piper?”

“You were a hero.”

A complicated mix of emotions played on Hartley’s face. Cisco couldn’t catch them all. “How do you know all of this if it happened in an erased timeline?” Hartley asked.

“I can see between the vibrations of time. The past, present, and future. Other universes and timelines. It started in dreams, and now I can tap into it at will. I call them vibes.”

Hartley let that sink in. “So in this other timeline, I was some reformed version of Pied Piper and we were…close?”

“Yeah.”

“Is that why you’ve been hanging around? Because we were friends in the other timeline?”

“Yes and no.”

Hartley paused for a moment, and Cisco could see a million questions running through his mind. “Was I happy?” Hartley asked finally. Cisco’s chest ached.

“You weren’t unhappy,” Cisco hedged. “You were just living a different life. You were close friends with Lisa, you hung around Star Labs….you had me. You missed your sister though. And your parents, I think.”

Hartley nodded. The pain behind his eyes seemed heavier than before, and Cisco cursed himself for it.

“I should go,” Cisco started.

“No! Wait!” Hartley said, “I need to apologize. I was a little harsh the other day. I didn’t mean—I don’t not want you around. I mean…If you want, you don’t have to stop coming around.”

Cisco let out a breath of relief, a smile tugging his lips. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Hartley said. “I talked to Jerrie. She said you were really nice to her.”

“She’s a sweet kid.”

“We had a long conversation about what you talked about,” Hartley said, tugging his earlobe.

“How did that go?”

“I’m worried I’m hurting her—making her worry about me all the time. I thought being there for her so she didn’t have to deal with our parents alone would be good, but maybe I’m wrong.”

“She loves you, Hartley.”

Hartley said nothing for a moment.

“If you wanna talk,” Cisco started hesitantly, “about what’s going on. About anything. I’ll listen. I just want to be there for you.” Hartley didn’t yell at him or run away, so Cisco continued. “Caitlin got back the test results on the mug traces. Why don’t you stop by Star Labs sometime so you can see for yourself?”

“She found something?” Hartley asked, his eyes wide.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll try to get away.”

“Good,” Cisco said, looking around at the mess surrounding them. “Sorry to leave you with all this.”

Hartley huffed. “Another day in Central City.”

Cisco smiled, putting his goggles back on. “Later, Piper.”

Hartley rolled his eyes. “Later, Vibe.”

Cisco breached away, a fuzzy feeling in his chest.

~

Cisco met Agent Reynolds’s cold stare when he returned to the cortex. He’d beaten her once before, but still, she demanded a healthy dose of trepidation.

“What’s going on?” Cisco asked, looking around. Everyone stared at Cynthia Reynolds.

“Agent Reynolds says that meta who broke into Stagg and Rathaway Industries is a wanted fugitive on Earth-19,” Barry explained.

“Once he’s captured, he’s coming with me to face execution,” Agent Reynolds said.

“You like execution on your earth, don’t you?” Cisco asked.

“He’s wanted for twenty-three counts of murder! And he will pay for what he’s done!” Her words were shrill, a slip in her composure. A glance at Caitlin told Cisco he wasn’t the only one taken aback.

“Okay, so how do we catch him?”

Agent Reynolds educated the team on “Abra Kadabra’s” strengths and weaknesses. The name had earned a snort from Cisco which was met by the scariest-death-glare-ever from the respectable agent. Once they were up to speed, Agent Reynolds left with fierce promises to return should Abra Kadabra resurface.

“Do we think he named himself Abra Kadabra? ‘Cause that’s bad even for a cheeseball supervillain,” Cisco said, after her departing breach closed. Iris chuckled, and Barry grinned at him.

“More important question—where is this guy gonna strike next?” Joe asked. “He’s already killed four people, and twenty Rathaway employees are in the hospital.”

“Yeah, and Agent Reynolds said you can’t vibe him,” Barry said, lacing his hands behind his neck.

“I might be able to track him with the satellite,” Cisco offered.

~

Cisco barely had time to turn on the computer before Barry entered behind him.

“What’s up?” Cisco asked. Barry’s face was shadowed in thought.

“Abra Kadabra is from the future,” Barry said. “Sixty-fourth century.”

Cisco whistled. “What does he want with us then?”

“He seemed to know a lot about us, like Thawne.”

A phantom pain twinged in Cisco’s chest.

“He probably knows who Savitar is,” Barry said.

“You don’t know that, man. Why would he be that invested in us when he has centuries of history at his disposal?”

“He knew our names! He knew your name and mine! He even knew Hartley was Pied Piper!”

“You think Hartley’s in danger?”

“No, I think if Abra Kadabra wanted Hartley he would have grabbed him at Rathaway Industries,” Barry said, scrubbing a hand over his face. “He could be the key to saving Iris.”

“All the more reason to find him then.”

Barry nodded and committed to pacing behind Cisco as he worked.

~

Cisco couldn’t find anything for the satellite to search for. Abra Kadabra left no trace at Rathaway or Stagg Industries.

“Has Hartley gotten back to us on what Abra Kadabra stole?” Barry asked for the second time that day. Barry was determined to figure out what Abra Kadabra was building with his stolen tech.

“No, the guy left the place a mess. I’m sure it’s gonna take a while,” Cisco said, spinning in his chair in the cortex.

“How is it possible he just disappeared?” Barry asked. “There’s really no way to track him?”

“You heard Agent Reynolds. The guy’s a ghost. We can’t even vibe him,” Cisco reminded him. Barry let out a frustrated huff, pushing off the console to pace around the room. He turned to say something else but was cut off by an alarm.

“What’s that?” Barry asked, rushing back to the console. Cisco opened the security footage.

“It’s him! He’s in the time vault!” Cisco yelled, the words barely out before Barry was gone. Cisco alerted the team before making his way to the pipeline, confident Barry would catch the guy dumb enough to walk right into Star Labs.

Abra Kadabra was already in a cell when Cisco arrived.

“Vibe,” Abra Kadabra said in a welcoming tone. “So nice of you to join us. I know you’re busy trying to save your own beloved.”

Cisco felt a twist at those words. Abra Kadabra did seem to know a lot about them. Squeaking footsteps sounded behind Cisco. Joe was soon at his side, followed by Caitlin.

“No Pied Piper or Iris West?” Abra Kadabra asked with a mocking pout on his lips. “Pity.”

“What were you trying to steal from the time vault?” Barry asked, not bothering to alter his voice.

“Who said I was trying to steal anything, Barry Allen?” Abra Kadabra said.

“We know it was you who killed those security guards at Stagg Industries. You’re going down for murder. The ones you committed here and on Earth-19,” Barry said firmly. Fear sparked in Abra Kadabra’s eyes. He likely knew Team Flash nor the laws of Earth-1 would have him killed, but Earth-19 was another matter entirely.

“Let’s make a deal, Flashy,” Abra Kadabra said, his voice coming out strained. “And Vibe, of course. Let me go, and I will tell you everything you need to change the future. Give me to Agent Reynolds, and watch Iris West and Hartley Rathaway die.”

The floor dropped out from under Cisco. They couldn’t give him what he wanted. They couldn’t let a murderer go free. But, this guy knew what would happen to Hartley. He knew how to save their friends.

“You got him!” came a voice behind them. Cisco jumped as Agent Reynolds stomped up to the glass. Abra Kadabra’s terror was palpable through the thick panes as Cynthia’s angry stare reflected back at them. “Give him to me.”

“Hold on. We need to talk first,” Barry said. She turned with a dark expression.

“Fine, but only because you caught him. Just know, no matter what you say to me, he’s coming back to Earth-19 to face justice.” With that, she turned on a heel and stalked past them. Barry, Cisco, and Caitlin followed.

~

Agent Reynolds wouldn’t budge.

“He has information that could save lives,” Barry said, waving his hands in frustration.

“You don’t know this criminal like I do,” Agent Reynolds said. “He won’t tell you anything. He will play you to meet his own ends.”

Arguing with Agent Reynolds was pointless. She stood with the laws of her Earth like wrought iron. What she didn’t know was Cisco might be willing to break those laws to save Hartley. He’d beaten her in a fight once already. The thought of taking down a law enforcer and making a deal with a murderer didn’t sit well, but what choice did he have? Hartley would be dead in a month. Desperation was closing in, threatening to crush Cisco.

“Just give us a day,” Barry pleaded, mirroring Cisco’s distress.

“Absolutely not. You’ve wasted enough of my time.” Agent Reynolds took two steps towards the pipeline, and before Cisco could stop her, a tremor nearly knocked her off her feet. Cisco grabbed onto the cortex desk to steady himself. A crashing sound sent Barry and the two breachers running to see the commotion. They found Caitlin and Joe on the ground with Abra Kadabra standing ahead of them.

“How kind of you to see me off,” Abra Kadabra said, a glowing piece of tech in his hand. Cisco recognized it from the time vault. It was one of Thawne’s futuristic trinkets. “Tell Iris and Hartley I said hello, while you still can. Oh, by the way, Detective,” Abra Kadabra continued, looking around Barry where Joe was lying on the ground. “Thanks for the assist.”

Agent Reynolds shot a blast of vibrations at Abra Kadabra, but he was gone before it made contact. “Damn it!” she screamed. “What the hell is wrong with you?” She rounded on Joe, uncaring if he or Caitlin was hurt. That’s when Cisco noticed Caitlin was clutching her side.

“Caitlin!” He knelt next to her. Barry was there in an instant. She was deathly pale, her face screwed up in pain. Cisco pried her hand away enough to see a deep laceration, blood spilling onto the floor.

“We can’t take her to the hospital,” Barry said. “They’ll recognize her as a meta.”

Dread seeped into Cisco’s veins. “Can you get her to the medical bay?” he asked. Barry nodded, vanishing with Caitlin.

Cisco arrived a moment later, taking in the sight of Caitlin clutching the sides of the bed in agony. Barry wheeled over a magnifying glass over the wound.

“This is full of shrapnel,” Barry said. He and Cisco shared a panicked look, neither of them knowing what to do. If Caitlin was a machine, Cisco could fix her in a heartbeat. He would enjoy the challenge of learning her circuitry and figuring out the exact problem and solution. He could make her stronger than before. But Caitlin wasn’t a machine. Caitlin was flesh and bone, and that was her territory, not Cisco’s.

“Phase it out,” Caitlin said through gritted teeth.

“What?” Barry and Cisco asked at the same time.

“Phase out the shrapnel. Clean it. Stitch it up,” Caitlin said, her eyes clenched shut.

“Caitlin, I don’t know if I—”

“Just do it!” she yelled, making Barry and Cisco jump. Cisco took her hand while Barry steeled himself for what he was about to do. Barry’s vibrating hand sliced through the wound in Caitlin’s side. She screamed and squeezed Cisco’s hand with bruising force. Cisco breathed through his nose and tried desperately not to think of Thawne as Barry’s vibrating hand moved in and out of the wound, metal shards landing in a tray with soft clinks.

“Is it supposed to bleed this much?” Barry asked.

“Normal,” Caitlin gritted, a tear falling into her hair.

“It’s all out,” Barry said, cleaning the wound as best he could with Caitlin writhing below him. “I’m stitching it up now.”

“Cisco,” she said, “Morphine.”

That he could do. Caitlin released him with some difficulty, and Cisco scrambled around the room, forcing himself to breathe so he could prepare the syringe with steady hands. Putting a needle in his best friend was not on his to-do list for the day, and he sort of blacked out the rest of the experience.

The next thing he knew, he was standing in the cortex, catching the end of an argument between Joe and Agent Reynolds.

“Is Caitlin okay?” Joe asked, catching sight of Cisco over Cynthia’s shoulder. He was ashen-faced and trembling, probably feeling guilty for allowing Abra Kadabra to escape and Caitlin consequently getting hurt—not to mention the tongue lashing he just received from Agent Reynolds.

“Barry patched her up. She’s sleeping now.”

Joe nodded. “I’ll be—I’m gonna go to work,” he stammered, avoiding Agent Reynold’s livid gaze. This left Cisco to bear the brunt of her anger.

“We have to get Abra Kadabra back before he hurts someone else. And when we do, don’t think for a second he isn’t coming with me immediately,” she seethed.

Cisco’s phone buzzed in his pocket. Agent Reynold’s gaze moved to Barry as he entered the room, so Cisco had a chance to check it. It was a text from Hartley. Abra Kadabra had stolen alloy casings specifically designed to withstand extreme temperatures in flight.

Cisco: thank you

Hartley: You’re welcome. Let me know when you catch the guy so I can send him our cleaning bill.

Cisco must have been doing a poor job of hiding his goofy grin because Barry elbowed him. Cisco looked up to see a murderous expression on Agent Reynold’s face. “Oh, uh, I think I may know what Abra Kadabra’s building.”

~

It was a time machine.

Of course.

Cisco was so over time travel. He wanted to kick time travel in the shin.

They were gathered in the breach room, Abra Kadabra held firmly between the Flash and Agent Reynolds, power-dampening cuffs glowing on his wrists. They had banded together—Agent Reynolds, Flash, Kid Flash, and Vibe—to take him down, and now he was off to Earth-19 to face execution.

“This is your final chance to do something good,” Barry said, an end to his impassioned speech trying to get Abra Kadabra to tell them what they needed to know. Cisco could tell by his smarmy expression he wouldn’t tell them anything.

“We’re enemies in the future, Flash. You and your little meddling team always getting in my way. But after Iris and Hartley die,” Abra Kadabra chuckled, “Flash and Vibe are never quite the same.” Agent Reynolds tugged him away, her impatience palpable. As she turned to open a breach, Abra Kadabra faced them one last time. “Time is a funny thing, Mr. Allen. I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”

In a haze of blue, he was gone.

Chapter Text

“You’re awake!” Cisco said, walking into the medbay with two cups of Jello. “How you feeling?”

“Like I was just operated on by a speedster,” she said with a pout, reaching for an orange Jello cup.

“Need anything?” he asked, rolling a stool next to her.

“I’m okay. How’d it go with the new meta?”

“Agent Reynolds took him. He didn’t tell us anything.”

“I’m sorry. I know you were hoping he could help save Hartley,” she said.

Cisco shrugged. “Maybe we shouldn’t rely on the evil murderers who pass through here for vital information.”

“Good thought.”

Cisco smiled at her, catching a glimpse of movement out the corner of his eye. H.R. walked into the medbay, humming and waving his drumsticks.

“Hello, hello, my fine friends,” he greeted. “What are we doing lying about on this beautiful day? Oh! My dear Caitlin, what happened to you?”

“Man, where have you been?” Cisco demanded. They hadn’t seen H.R. in days. Cisco was going to put a tracking device on that man.

“Oh, me?” H.R. said with a sly grin, “Well, I met a lovely lady named Cassandra at Jitters a few days ago, and we have spent the last few nights…”

“Oh, good lord, do not finish that sentence!” Cisco squeaked, causing Caitlin to laugh and clutch her side.

“Playing poker,” H.R. finished. “The dirty mind is all you, Franchesco. Although, it was strip poker.”

Cisco could never unhear that sentence.

“You guys are going to make me bust my stitches!” Caitlin protested. Time stood still. One moment she was laughing and clutching her side, and in the next, she was seizing.

“Oh my god, Caitlin!” Cisco called, his Jello cup hitting the floor unnoticed as he moved toward her. He didn’t know what to do. Caitlin was the person who knew what to do. She injected Cisco with something last year when he was seizing. But what? He couldn’t think. She stopped moving.

“She’s not breathing,” Cisco said, feeling for her breath and checking her pulse. Nothing.

“I’m calling an ambulance,” H.R. said, fumbling with his phone.

“There’s no time. Get the crash cart over here!” Cisco called, pulling the blanket away from Caitlin’s chest. The paddles were in Cisco’s hands before he could even think what to do with them.

“Clear!” he yelled, copying what he’d seen in movies. Caitlin’s body gave a terrifying lurch as the paddles made contact. No change. “Turn them up!” Cisco yelled. Another sickening lurch, followed by no change. “All the way! Clear!” A final crash of the paddles failed.

Cisco stepped back, the air taken out of his own lungs. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t see. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Caitlin was supposed to live. Her fate was to become Killer Frost, not this.

Killer Frost.

Cisco didn’t stop to think, lunging for the necklace keeping Caitlin’s powers at bay. He ripped it off and curled the chain in his fingers, gripping so tight the points of the snowflake threatened to cut into his palm.

“Please, Caitlin,” he whispered. The only sounds in the room were his own labored breathing and H.R.’s panicked whimpers. Then, a beep. The heart monitor began a steady rhythm. “Caitlin?” Cisco said, leaning over her. Her eyes snapped open, piercing blue hitting Cisco like a gunshot. “Caitlin!”

The floor fell out from under him, or maybe he fell out from under it. For a moment, he was flying, and then an extraordinary pain erupted in his shoulder before blackness took over.

“What do you think?”

“What do I know about jewelry?”

“Come on! You wanted to come. This was practically your idea,” Cisco slurred, his voice drawn out by alcohol.

“You proposing to Hartley was not my idea,” Dante said, pointing at Cisco rather unsteadily.

“Well, the spontaneous ring shopping after the idea was made was your idea.”

“What?”

“Just tell me what you think!”

“Not a gold ring. Get him something silver.”

“Nooooo, our love is golden. He deserves the—Hey! That one!” Cisco pointed to a white gold ring with an emerald in the middle. The gold was intricately knotted around the stone. “It’s perfect!”

The salesman pulled it out of the case for them to see. The green gem glinted in the light.

“I’ll take it!” Cisco said, louder than necessary. If the salesman had any qualms of selling such an extravagant piece to a drunk man, he didn’t show it.

“Are you ever gonna tell me what’s with Hartley and the color green?” Dante slurred.

“Shhhhhhh…” Cisco said, leaning heavily on the glass case, “It’s a secret.”

Dante laughed, but the sound was drowned out by something. Someone was touching Cisco’s shoulder, but it wasn’t Dante. Why did it hurt so much?

“Cisco!”

“It’s a secret.”

“Cisco!”

A cool hand grasped his face. Cisco blinked up at the person touching him. Why was the room so bright? He tried to move but pain erupted from his shoulder.

“Careful! There’s glass everywhere.”

“Hartley?” Cisco’s eyes focused, taking in Hartley’s worry-creased face. When had he gotten so tall? Oh, Cisco was on the floor. Surrounded by glass.

“Caitlin!” he said, moving again only to groan as jagged pieces of glass embedded themselves further into his skin.

“Stop! Let me help you,” Hartley said, the glass crunching under his boots as he moved to help Cisco up without touching any more of the shards.

Hartley walked them toward the bed, but the image of Caitlin flatlining caused Cisco’s stomach to lurch. He dropped into a chair instead, gritting his teeth against the pain. He spotted H.R. standing dazed in the corner of the room.

“Are you hurt?” Cisco asked. H.R. said nothing. “H.R!”

H.R. jumped and looked at Cisco. “What? No, I’m fine. You’re…” H.R. looked somewhere below Cisco’s chin, so Cisco looked down too. His arm was a bloody mess. Jagged pieces of glass stuck out of his skin at odd angles. Blood dripped from his elbow onto the floor. The sight made Cisco’s stomach lurch again, and his head swam.

“Okay, yeah, that sucks,” Cisco said, looking the opposite direction. Hartley was busy gathering supplies, moving around the room with the confidence of someone who used to work there. Cisco suddenly remembered the rough history between Hartley and Harrison Wells.

“Hartley!” he said, too loudly. Hartley turned and looked at him with widened eyes. “This is H.R! He’s from…” Cisco looked back, but H.R. was shaking his head. Hartley couldn’t see Harrison Wells. He’d changed his face for everyone except Team Flash using that weird pen thing he carried around.

“There will be plenty of time for introductions once you’re patched up, Cisco,” Hartley said, his tone patient but strained.

Cisco sat back, each passing second making him more aware of the pain. “H.R,” Cisco said, “If you’re really fine, please find Barry and tell him what happened.”

H.R. nodded and bolted from the room. Hartley approached Cisco with a rolling tray of supplies and a stool.

“I take it Caitlin isn’t here?” Hartley asked. Cisco shook his head, begging his eyes not to water. Hartley pulled on a pair of gloves, before moving toward Cisco with scissors.

“What are you doing?!” Cisco asked, flinching back from Hartley.

“I’m cutting your shirt.”

“I like this shirt.”

“Cisco,” Hartley sighed.

Cisco looked down at the wounds again, wishing he hadn’t as nausea threatened to overwhelm him. “Okay, do what you gotta do,” he said, looking away. Cisco hissed as Hartley pulled the fabric away, his head and stomach swaying as the room spun.

“This is going to hurt,” Hartley warned.

“Yeah, I gathered that.”

He could have screamed as Hartley began pulling the pieces out but feared he’d throw up if he opened his mouth. The pain crashed in waves. Cisco recalled the time he got seasick riding in his friend’s fishing boat. That nauseous, floaty feeling returned with a vengeance.

“Please tell me you’re almost done,” Cisco said, his voice sounding strange in his own ears. He was on the verge of passing out. Any second now he would slip into darkness.

“Just one more,” Hartley said, his left hand warm on Cisco’s forearm. Cisco focused on it as Hartley pulled the deepest piece out. “It’s all out!” he announced.

Cisco let out a noise akin to a sob, and Hartley squeezed his arm. “Breathe,” Hartley instructed. Cisco took a shaky breath in through his nose and out through his mouth, pushing air in and out like it was foreign. His vision blurred with dizziness.

“We still need to clean and dress this,” Hartley said regretfully. “Do you need a minute?”

“No,” Cisco said, swallowing. “Just do it.”

The disinfectant burned like fire, but it was over as soon as it came. Hartley’s deft fingers wrapped thick gauze around him. Cisco wasn’t sure how long they sat in silence after it was done, allowing Cisco time to come down from the nausea.

“Thank you,” he said, risking a look down his gauze-wrapped arm. “Poor Pokemon,” he said, referring to his destroyed shirt.

Hartley huffed. “If it means that much to you, I can get you a new shirt, Cisco.”

“I think that’s Caitlin’s responsibility.”

“What happened?” Hartley asked. Maybe it was because Hartley deserved to know after helping him or because Cisco’s inhibitions had gone with the blood on the floor, but he told Hartley everything about Caitlin and her powers, leaving out the future headline.

“It’s not your fault,” Hartley said. Cisco hadn’t realized he was crying until a tear fell from his chin.

“I took her necklace off.”

“You saved her life,” Hartley said, squeezing Cisco’s wrist. “Cisco, anyone would have done what you did.”

Cisco wiped at his face with his uninjured arm.

“So that man who left,” Hartley started, “he’s the friend you saved?”

“Yeah, that’s H.R.”

Hartley nodded thoughtfully. “You know, I don’t think that Abra Kadabra character was right,” Hartley said.

“About what?”

“About you not reaching your full potential without…Pied Piper. I think you’ve done magnificently on your own.”

Warmth bubbled in Cisco’s chest. “You helped me save H.R,” Cisco reminded him.

Hartley’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’m sure it wasn’t anything you wouldn’t have figured out on your own.”

Cisco leaned forward, putting his hand on top of Hartley’s on his arm. “Do you remember that conversation in your room?” he asked.

Hartley hesitated. “Bits and pieces,” he said finally.

Cisco stood, swaying. The room spun back and forth before steadying, and Cisco was able to walk without stumbling.

“What are you doing?” Hartley asked.

“The test results should be around here somewhere,” Cisco said, moving to riffle through Caitlin’s desk. He ignored the discomfort in his arm as he moved. “They’re in my lab!” he realized. “Come on.”

Cisco moved to leave the room, but Hartley stayed rooted in place. Cisco turned.

“Hartley?” he asked.

A battle waged behind Hartley’s eyes. After a moment, Hartley nodded to himself and moved toward Cisco, letting him lead the way.

~

Cisco’s heart pounded as he searched for the papers Caitlin had tried to show him earlier. The pain in his arm paled to the rushing panic of seeing Caitlin and Hartley’s fates unfold before his eyes. Cisco may have sealed Caitlin’s, but there was still time to save Hartley.

“Here they are!” Cisco picked up the pages with trembling hands. He turned to see Hartley hovering near the door, his arms crossed over his chest. Cisco held the pages out, letting Hartley come to him. Hartley’s eyes darted around before he stepped forward and took them.

Cisco watched as Hartley scanned the first page. The remaining color drained from Hartley’s face. His free hand reached out, closing into a tight fist as a strangled noise escaped him.

“Let’s sit down,” Cisco said, gesturing Hartley into a chair. He sat beside him and placed a hand on Hartley’s arm as stuttering breaths seemed to lodge in his throat. “Deep breaths, Hartley. Come on,” Cisco said, squeezing his arm. He’d witnessed Hartley’s panic attacks from the previous timeline, but he still felt helpless as Hartley struggled to push air in and out of his lungs.

“They wouldn’t. They didn’t do this. It’s not…” Hartley stammered.

“Who didn’t do what, Hartley? Talk to me.”

“My parents. They wouldn’t do this,” Hartley said thickly. He shook his head, rocking back and forth a few times. “They didn’t do this.”

Cisco stood to grab water and a box of tissues. He set the box near Hartley and opened the bottle before handing it to him. Hartley took small sips as his breath returned to him. They sat in silence for a moment as Hartley calmed down. Cisco did his best to ignore the discomfort in his arm as he waited for Hartley to say something.

“Did you read this?” Hartley asked. Cisco shook his head, and Hartley handed him the pages.

The top sheet was a summary page. Cisco had never heard of the drug, but the list of side-effects was alarming. Distorted vision and hearing, lost sense of time and identity, dream-like state, impaired motor functions, memory loss, mood swings, slurred speech, and depression. All of which explained Hartley’s recent behavior. Even more distressing was Caitlin’s hand-written note at the bottom of the page.

Often used by abusers to control victims in domestic violence situations.

“Hartley,” Cisco breathed, setting the pages aside. He leaned forward, wanting to take Hartley’s hands, do something, but he couldn’t overstep. He was on a cliff’s edge. One wrong move and he could lose Hartley forever. Hartley’s eyes were downcast. He wasn’t crying or hyperventilating anymore. He just looked exhausted. Cisco wondered how much of the drug was in his system at the moment, but Hartley’s eyes were brighter than before.

“Are you feeling any of this right now?” Cisco asked, nodding toward the paper.

“I don’t think so,” Hartley said dully, “After you told me Caitlin found something, I stopped eating or drinking anything I didn’t buy or make myself. I…my head felt clearer after a day or so, but my…my anxiety is elevated, as you could tell from the panic attack. It’s on the list of withdrawal symptoms on the second page.” Hartley pulled on his earlobe, eyes still on the floor.

“Maybe you should hang out here for a while,” Cisco said. “Work the drug out of your system, go back with a clear mind.”

“What with the supervision of the doctor who did that to your arm?” Hartley asked sharply. Cisco winced. “Sorry,” Hartley said, glancing toward the pages again. “For a lot of things.”

Cisco recalled Hartley’s apology in the previous timeline. Hartley had felt genuine remorse for how he’d treated Cisco in the beginning, and once Cisco had learned the history between Dr. Wells and Hartley, he’d understood. He didn’t need an official apology from Hartley this time around. Not now.

“I just want to help you, Hartley. They’re hurting you,” Cisco said.

“Not them. Him,” Hartley said firmly. “Ted Strand.”

“Your parents hired Ted Strand.”

“Not to do this! They don’t have anything to do with this!”

“Really, Hartley? Who’s been serving you the tea?” Cisco asked.

“Mother doesn’t know. She can’t know,” Hartley said, his voice wavering.

“I’m sorry,” Cisco said, “but you have to get out of there, Hartley. They’re killing you.”

“No! They aren’t!” Hartley was on his feet, sending his chair skittering backward. Cisco stood too, bracing himself for the storm behind Hartley’s eyes. “You don’t know me or my parents, Cisco! Don’t pretend you do!”

“I do know you, Hartley! You’re smarter than this. You look at the world and tell everyone who you are, and if they don’t like it, they can get the hell out of your way. You’re a hero, Hartley. You don’t compromise your beliefs for anyone, and you don’t let people control you.”

“Like I didn’t let Harrison control me?” Hartley said, his voice harsh and broken. “Don’t pretend you don’t know. Obviously, I told you everything in the other timeline. While we were dating, right? Come on, Cisco! That’s the only reason you would show this sudden interest in me and my well-being is if you were getting some.”

Hartley might as well have slapped Cisco. He could only stare at Hartley. Anger boiled under Cisco’s skin as Hartley’s old smirk slid into place.

“Nothing to say?” Hartley swiped, something wild returning to his eyes. “I should just come back here, right? Live here for a while, lose my family all over again, become Pied Piper, and we can ride off into the sunset. Is that it? Is that your big plan here, Cisco?”

“Stop it, Hartley! That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Isn’t it? You know me so well, and if memory serves, that didn’t come from this timeline! You’re trying to get back what  you  lost. You’re just another person trying to change me with no thought to what I want!” Angry tears sprung to Hartley’s eyes, and Cisco stepped forward, stopping when Hartley stepped back. Cisco threw his hands up in frustration, gritting against the discomfort of his bandages shifting.

“As usual, you’re one-hundred percent right, Hartley!” Cisco said fiercely. “Congratulations! You’re right! I know you so well because we dated in the other timeline. I know that you hate coffee, and that despite being a scientific genius, you’ve killed every plant you’ve ever owned. I know that you tell people Les Mis is your favorite musical because you’re too embarrassed to admit it’s actually Moulin Rouge. I know that you slept on the floor of your sister’s room for weeks after she was born. I know how badly Dr. Wells hurt you and that you didn’t actually want to hurt anyone when you became Pied Piper. You just wanted the pain to stop. I know you’re protective as hell, and I know how much you missed your family.”

“We were together for months in the other timeline. We were going to move in together before Barry changed everything. And yes, when I sought you out, part of me was hoping we could get everything back, but I swore to myself that if you were fine and happy, I would leave you alone, but you weren’t fine. And you certainly aren’t happy! I know what you look like happy, and all those photos of you at Rathaway functions and galas, you’re not! You’re miserable, and I can see it because I know you!

The last few words came out like a plea. Tears leaked down Hartley’s face, but the fire seemed to have gone out of him,  his hard edges melted away. He looked at Cisco with a softer expression. Hartley stepped closer, putting his hands out to touch Cisco but seemed to think better of it. Cisco stood stock-still, afraid of spooking Hartley like he was a wild animal.

Hartley stared, his suffering eyes locked with Cisco’s. “Why couldn’t you just leave me to be miserable in peace, huh?” he asked eventually. “If I don’t come home, my father will cut me off again. I won’t get to see Jerrie anymore.”

“Hartley—”

“I know. Okay, I know. But I can’t lose them, Cisco. Not again. I’m sorry.”

Despite his words, Hartley didn’t move. He was so close. Cisco could smell his jasmine cologne. Then, Hartley turned and walked away.

Chapter Text

April 2024

“Rise and shine, San Francisco! We got company!”

Cisco pulled his blanket over his head and burrowed deeper into the couch as H.R. cast a shadow over him. It was moments like this Cisco wondered if he should have let that agent woman take H.R. all those years ago. There surely would’ve been more peace in Cisco’s life if he had.

“Go away,” Cisco grumbled.

“Up and at ‘em, my fine-feathered friend. You’re gonna wanna see this!” H.R. continued, unperturbed by Cisco’s lack of enthusiasm.

“I gave you that key for emergencies,” Cisco reminded, his words muffled by couch cushion.

“Yes, you did, San Franny, and I would venture an assumption that this would fall into the emergency family—perhaps a distant cousin, but emergency-esque all the same.”

Cisco threw the blanket off with a huff, sending flyaway hair along with it. H.R. wasn’t likely to go away until Cisco acknowledged whatever he came over for.

“What are you babbling about?” Cisco groused, pushing himself into a sitting position.

Barry Allen was standing in his living room.

“Get out.”

“Now, Francisco—”

“You too! Why would you bring him here?”

“This isn’t the Barry you’re thinking of,” H.R. said calmly. Cisco took another look at the wide-eyed speedster. He looked unbroken and young—younger than he had when Cisco had last seen him five years ago.

“You’re from before, aren’t you?” Cisco asked.

“2017,” Barry answered, cowl down and that signature puppy-eyed look as Barry took in Cisco’s appearance. Cisco could only imagine what Barry was thinking with Cisco sitting there in a frayed sweater, sweats, and gloves. Cisco hadn’t brushed his hair in days, and it sat in a rough ponytail. His face was stubbled.

“You never learn your lesson, do you?” Cisco asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Time travel,” Cisco spat bitterly, “You ruined all our lives with it, but you just keep…” Cisco stopped when he heard his fingers creak. He’d caused them to make a fist, and they could break if he wasn’t careful. Barry hadn’t seemed to notice the sound.

“I’m here to fix things,” Barry said.

“You can’t. Go home.”

“I’m not leaving until I get some answers.”

“And what answers are those?”

“I need to know who Savitar is,” Barry said. “You must know after all this time.”

Cisco scoffed. “My involvement with Team Flash ended long before Savitar’s downfall.”

Barry’s pitiful expression deepened, and Cisco gritted his teeth. Barry had no right to look at him that way. Cisco stood from the couch, throwing the blanket back.

“Look at us,” H.R. said, his wide grin never wavering. “Three of Team Flash’s finest together again. Cisco turned a deadpan expression on the newly published author. The slightly pornographic novel H.R. had signed and sent to Cisco was in a pile somewhere, still half wrapped.

“At least tell me where I can find…me,” Barry said.

“He won’t tell you anything.”

“I have to try.”

Cisco rolled his eyes. “Star Labs.”

“It’s early.”

“Star Labs,” Cisco repeated.

Barry left with a whoosh.

“Man, what the hell?” Cisco said to H.R.

“Someone’s cranky! Hey, why don’t I whip us up some coffee while you get that hair back to its usual shine?”

H.R. was far too cheerful to be standing in Cisco’s depression dumpster of an apartment. Cisco groaned. “I don’t want coffee. Why would you bring him here?”

“B.A?”

“Yes! Barry! Why did you bring him here?”

“Well, I’ll tell you. Here was little ol’ me heading into Jitters for my usual caffeine fix before a day of readings and book signings—it’s all going very well by the way. I hope you enjoyed it, and I marked page seventy-four for you in your copy—anyway, who do I see in the alley getting his ass handed to him by Top and Mirror Master but Mr. 2017 Barry Allen The Flash himself.”

“And you brought him here?”

“No! I offered him coffee first, of course. But he was full of a million questions, just one after the other, and I don’t remember anything from those days, except you saving me from Agent Reynolds, of course, eternally grateful.”

“Starting to regret that turn of events, especially if you don’t get to the part that landed you in my living room, H.R.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” H.R. continued. “So, I thought a retracing of our steps was in order, so I decided to give him the nostalgia tour of Team Flash. His own, personal Where Are They Now? if you will. So, after visiting Wallace at home with his nurse and Joe at the cemetery, our next stop was B.A.’s old pal, Cisco.”

Cisco pinched the bridge of his nose, wondering what he’d done in a former life to be punished in this way. Perhaps this was all Reverb’s fault. “What are the odds he’ll talk to himself and then go back where he came from?”

“Oh, slim. Very very slim!” H.R. said. “Don’t you see how great this is, San Francisco? This is the old Barry Allen.” Cisco gave him a skeptical look. “Old Barry Allen won’t leave his best friend like this,” H.R. said, gesturing around the room. Rude. “And Joe’s abandoned. And the team’s fallen apart. Rogues taking over the city. This Barry won’t just leave things like this. He’s going to fix everything!”

“H.R, don’t get your hopes up about this,” Cisco warned.

“He’s going to stay and fix everything,” H.R. repeated. “You’ll see.”

“Maybe,” Cisco muttered, heading for his bedroom. He turned. “Just remember one thing. This Barry broke everything.”

Cisco resigned himself to Barry’s inevitable return and took a quick shower. A glance in the mirror showed how little the effort actually made him look better. His face was gaunt with dark bags under his eyes. Despite the army’s worth of food that was regularly dropped at his door, Cisco didn’t have much of an appetite.

Barry returned mere minutes after Cisco had pulled the bulky sweater and gloves back on. H.R. had waited in the living room.

“You were right. He didn’t tell me anything,” Barry said upon seeing Cisco.

“Are we ready for the next stop on our tour then?” H.R. asked, clapping and rubbing his hands together.

“What’s that?” Barry asked.

“The illustrious Caitlin Snow!” H.R. announced.

“Good luck,” Cisco muttered.

“You’re not coming?” Barry asked.

“Absolutely not.”

“Well,” H.R. said hesitantly, scratching his head with a drumstick. “There’s just one little thing. A small favor, really.”

“What, H.R?” Cisco asked, pressing two gloved fingers into his temple.

“So, you know that super-high-tech-security building Caitlin’s brilliant doctor mother arranged for her after she was captured?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I maybe, partially, was totally banned from entering, so if you would be so kind as to escort B.A. to see our old friend Caitlin…”

“How did you get banned?” Cisco asked.

“Well, apparently, it’s quite a funny story actually, our, that being mine and Caitlin’s, one-sided chats have apparently left her so, shall we say overstimulated—their word was annoyed, but that sounds so cold, don’t you think?—Anyway, apparently, she was quite difficult to calm down for several hours after, kept freezing anything and anyone she could get her hands on. So, I’ve been asked to stay away indefinitely.”

Cisco stared for a moment. “You can’t be serious.”

“I believe the words ‘restraining order’ were used.”

Cisco groaned and Barry spoke up. “Please, Cisco. I’m trying to gather as much information as I can, and my future…Barry said she aligned herself with Savitar after she became Killer Frost.”

“She won’t tell you who Savitar is,” Cisco said.

“I have to try,” Barry repeated.

“Someone get me off this ride,” Cisco muttered. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”

“Yes!” H.R. cheered, leading the way out of Cisco’s apartment.

Cisco didn’t want to know why or how H.R. had the Star Labs van, so he climbed into the passenger seat without a word. Barry tried to fill the silence by peppering Cisco with questions. Who was trying to stop the rogues from taking over the city? Why was Star Labs shut down? Why did Cisco leave Team Flash? What was Cisco doing now?

Cisco ignored him, and eventually Barry fell silent. “You know I could speed us there,” Barry offered. “Just tell me where it is.”

Before Cisco could protest Barry touching him, H.R. said, “Where’s the fun in that, B.A? Time with friends should never be rushed! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I, for one, think it should be cherished as such.”

Cisco leaned his head back and tuned them out for the rest of the ride. When they arrived, Cisco had to show I.D. at the door. Security had been tightened in recent years, but Cisco’s name was still on their approved list of visitors. H.R. was asked to stay back.

“Tell her I said hello!” H.R. called after them. “Oh, and ask her how those meditation tips I gave her are working out!”

“What is this place?” Barry asked, walking a step behind Cisco.

“After Killer Frost was caught, her mom advocated for her to be kept out of Iron Heights—said she wasn’t in her right mind. So, instead, she was brought here, and her mom’s been trying to find a cure ever since.”

A security guard buzzed them into the observation room. The space was dimly lit with a large window looking into Killer Frost’s power-dampened cell.

“Well, well, well,” Frost drawled, spotting them. She stood from her cot. “Cisco Ramon. Come to yell at me again?” Cisco said nothing, leaning against the far wall, as far from Killer Frost as possible. “You’re pathetic,” she taunted.

“Caitlin?” Barry asked, stepping up to the glass. She turned her cold eyes on him.

“Barry Allen. Let me guess, 2017 edition?” she asked. Barry nodded, and she laughed. Cisco jumped at the shrill tone. “He said you’d come.”

“He?” Barry demanded. “Savitar?”

She nodded, a fake wide-eyed expression on her face.

“Tell me who he is!” Barry demanded. A smirk pulled at her lips. “Please, Caitlin. I can help you. I can make it so this never happens.”

“I don’t want your help,” she said, “Savitar gave me what I needed. Permission to be exactly who I am.”

“Caitlin, please!” Barry pleaded. Frost’s eyes slid away from him and back to Cisco.

“I guess you didn’t warn him what a stone-cold monster I’ve become before bringing him here,” she said. “Why don’t you reintroduce him to Hartley? Maybe he can shed some light.” Cisco glared at her as Barry turned with a shocked expression.

“Hartley’s still alive?” Barry asked.

“Against all odds,” Cisco said, still glaring at Killer Frost.

“Wait, if Hartley’s alive, could he know who Savitar is? Did he rejoin the team?” Barry asked.

Cisco scoffed, but it was drowned out by Frost’s cackle.

“Hartley doesn’t know anything about Savitar,” Cisco said.

“Well, that’s not true,” Killer Frost spoke up. “Barry was so desperate after you left the team, he went to Hartley for advice.”

“What did he say?” Barry asked. Frost gave a long drawn out shrug.

“You’ll have to ask him, and make sure you face him when you talk,” she said with a smirk. Cisco banged his fist on a table, causing Barry to jump and turn a bewildered gaze on him. Frost gave an icy smirk, and Cisco hoped his hatred burned through the glass.

“Careful, Cisco,” she hissed. “Wouldn’t want you to hurt your hands.”

“Smirk all you want, Frost,” Cisco gritted, “but it doesn’t change the fact that we’re out here and you’re in there.”

He stomped out of the room, heading for the exit in quick strides. He didn’t care if Barry followed or not. He had to get away from  her . The last time he’d been here, he was drunk, and he’d screamed at her until his voice was gone. Barry may have set everything in motion, but she was the one who took everything from him—and he would never let her forget it.

“I’m sorry, Cisco. I know that was hard for you,” Barry said, keeping up with Cisco’s angry pace. Cisco scoffed, but Barry continued. “Do you know what Hartley said when I asked for his help? Do you and him…are you?”

Cisco stopped in his tracks, crossing his arms over his chest. He glared fire into Barry, but the speedster was a wall of determination. “We talk occasionally, but never about Killer Frost or Savitar,” Cisco said firmly.

“Will you take me to him? Please,” Barry asked.

A wanting, needing ache gripped Cisco. He’d shoved it down for months, the temptation of Hartley’s sweet eyes and soft hands, but these ghosts from Cisco’s past chipped away the last of his resolve. Barry wanted to see Hartley. Cisco wasn’t being a burden if it was for someone else.

“Fine,” he said, leading them out of the building.

H.R. had made a Jitters run while they were inside. He held out a cup to Cisco as he neared the van. Cisco accepted it wordlessly and climbed into the passenger seat, shutting the door against the damp April air. He watched Barry approach H.R. with a thoughtful expression on his face. Cisco couldn’t hear the brief conversation between them.

“Buckle up, everybody! The Star Labs Express is heading for,” H.R. drummed on the dashboard, “Rathaway Industries!” He started the van, letting the engine rev against the silence.

Cisco’s name granted them entry once more. H.R. wasn’t barred this time, so he trailed after them pointing out interesting things like a child in a museum. Cisco could walk the path from the front entrance to Hartley’s office with his eyes closed. They were only a few steps into the CEO’s wing before a young woman spotted them and started to run full-pelt toward Cisco.

“Cisco!” she yelled, flinging her arms around him. He caught her with a groan, stumbling backward just a bit. “You never come for dinner anymore! We miss you!”

“I know. I’m sorry, Jerrie,” Cisco said regretfully, releasing her as she pulled away. “How’s Pen?”

“They’re great! Their studio is open now. You should come by and check it out sometime. We could give you the grand tour. Oh! And we’re talking about spending the summer in Italy! Hart’s gonna come for a week or two—as long as he can stand being away from the office,” she said, rolling her eyes playfully. “Maybe you could come with him!” Jerrie Rathaway always spoke a mile a minute, and—no matter how depressed—it never failed to make Cisco smile. She was a freshman at Saint Louis University, and Cisco was as proud of her as Hartley was.

“That’s fantastic, Jer,” Cisco said. “And maybe.” Jerrie smiled at him knowingly, no doubt she’d clocked the bags under his eyes. She was as painfully observant as her brother. Cisco hadn’t been around in months, and Jerrie was no stranger to Cisco’s—and Hartley’s for that matter—bouts of depression.

“You brought friends,” she observed, looking over Cisco’s shoulder at Barry and H.R.

“This is Barry, and you may remember H.R,” Cisco said.

Jerrie giggled as she shook their hands. “Hartley gave me your book.”

She and H.R. talked about the book for a moment, H.R. excitedly peppering her with questions, not seeming to pick up on Jerrie’s overall amusement. He didn’t stop talking until he caught Barry’s pointed look.

“We’re looking for Hartley,” Cisco said.

“Ugh, you and me both,” she said with another affectionate eye roll. “I haven’t seen Hartley for a while, but Osgood Jr. is in his office.”

Cisco huffed a laugh. “You better not call him that to his face,” he said. Jerrie mimed zipping her lips.

“Please think about dropping by the studio,” she said. Cisco nodded, and she kissed him on the cheek. “Nice to meet you both.” She disappeared around the corner.

“You guys seem close,” Barry said with a hopeful look on his face. Cisco nodded noncommittally as he led them to Hartley’s office.

Hartley’s secretary, David, was stationed at his desk. Cisco waved a hand to get his attention. David looked up and smiled widely, greeting Cisco with a wave. He typed a message to Hartley without prompting and grinned at the instant reply.

“He’ll see you now,” David said in sign language. He then stood and grabbed his jacket, making the sign for lunch with a wink before he left.

Cisco ignored the heat in his face—and H.R.’s smirk—as he pushed open Hartley’s office door.

“Cisco!” Hartley exclaimed, a wide, beautiful smile on his face. Hartley’s R and S sounds were warbled now, and Cisco would be lying if he said he didn’t find it completely adorable. Hartley came around the desk and moved to give Cisco a hug before the others caught his eye.

Hartley signed a greeting to them. H.R. responded with an exaggerated bow, drumsticks still in hand, while Barry looked on in confusion.

“Why are they here?” Hartley signed.

“Barry wants to ask you about Savitar,” Cisco signed, having to fingerspell Savitar. The gloves thankfully kept his fingers from clicking together in a telling way, but Caitlin had already planted the seed that something was up with Cisco’s hands. Barry would find out sooner or later, if he stuck around. Cisco didn’t expect anything from the speedster anymore.

“Why does he look,” Hartley paused for a moment, “young?”

“He’s from the past. He time traveled from 2017 to learn about Savitar.”

Hartley gave a dark look at this. 2017 had been a terrible year for all of them. If it hadn’t left them each permanently altered, they would have been happy to forget it’d ever happened.

“I don’t know anything about Savitar,” Hartley signed to Cisco.

“Hartley doesn’t know anything about Savitar,” Cisco said, signing as he spoke.

“Oh,” Barry said, seeming startled by the abrupt acknowledgment. “Caitlin said I came to him…”

“You can talk to Hartley,” Cisco said and signed.

“Right,” Barry said, bringing a hand to his neck in embarrassment. “Hey, Hartley,” Barry said loudly. Cisco rolled his eyes. Hartley’s amusement glowed next to him.

“Caitlin said I came to you and asked for your advice on how to defeat Savitar. What did you tell me?” Barry asked. Cisco translated. Normally, David would have called in one of the company’s translators, but he knew Cisco to be fluent in ASL.

Hartley signed, and Cisco translated, “I steered you toward a fellow physicist. She was a research student specializing in transdimensional energy at the time. I believe she helped you make some kind of weapon against Savitar. I don’t know how it panned out. You never followed up.” Cisco said the last part with a grimace.

“Do you remember the researcher’s name?” Barry asked. Hartley held up a finger and moved back around his desk, typing something. When he finished, he turned his screen for them to see. The name Tracy Brand shined at them.

“That’s great, Hartley! Thank you!” Barry said. Cisco made the sign for thank you, bringing his hand to his chin and moving it away. Barry copied him.

“You’re welcome,” Hartley signed.

“Okay, I’m gonna go back to Star Labs to see what Barry can tell me about Tracy Brand,” Barry said before whisking away.

“Glad to be of service, I guess,” Hartley signed. Cisco rolled his eyes in agreement. Barry had tunnel vision where Savitar was concerned. Cisco didn’t expect anything more.

“Now that that’s over,” H.R. said, his hands moving wildly. H.R. had revealed his true identity to Hartley a year or so after Team Flash disbanded. Hartley predictably had turned cold against the doppelganger for a while after, but H.R. was persistent in becoming a friend in Hartley’s life, if only to play constant matchmaker between him and Cisco. H.R.’s fumbling pursuit to learn ASL, and being another person who looked after Cisco, had eventually warmed Hartley to him. “What did you think of my book? I marked two chapters that I thought you would find particularly riveting.”

“I got ‘chapters.’ Is he asking about that god-awful book?” Hartley asked, signing too quickly for H.R. to keep up.

Cisco bit back a laugh. “Yes.”

“I read the first chapter and gave it to Jerrie. It was too—” Hartley made a sign Cisco didn’t recognize, so Cisco repeated it with a furrowed brow.

Hartley fingerspelled, “H-E-T-E-R-O.”

Cisco snorted, catching H.R.’s attention. “Hartley loved it and can’t wait for the sequel,” Cisco said and signed, earning a faux-murderous expression from Hartley.

A smile tugged on Cisco’s face as warmth filled his chest. He’d been in the storm for so many months, the clouds lifting threatened to take his breath away.

“Could we talk? Just you and me,” Hartley asked. Cisco met Hartley’s heavy gaze. Hartley could take one look at him and know he hadn’t been sleeping or eating well, despite the food Hartley regularly sent. Cisco hated Hartley seeing him like this. Hartley would know the reason Cisco hadn’t called or visited in months was because he’d fallen into another depressive episode.

“I’m gonna stay here for a bit,” Cisco said to H.R. “Don’t feel like you need to stay.”

H.R. looked between them with a sly grin. “Very well. It was lovely to see you again in your kingdom, Sir Rathaway. Au revoir.” H.R. bowed with a flourish and closed the door behind him.

“His ASL has actually gotten worse,” Hartley quipped. Cisco said nothing, suddenly self-conscious now they were alone. He didn’t realize his gaze had fallen to the floor until Hartley touched his face, brushing his thumbs over Cisco’s cheeks.

“I missed you,” Hartley said. It made Cisco’s heart tug every time Hartley spoke to him. He only spoke out loud to a handful of people these days—his mother, Jerrie, Lisa, Meredith, and Cisco.

“I’m sorry,” Cisco signed, unsure what else to say. Hartley continued his petting and kissed Cisco’s forehead. Cisco closed his eyes, basking in all that was Hartley. To the world, Hartley was a kind but no nonsense businessman. To his family and close friends, he was a pillar of strength with an understanding ear and level head. To Cisco, he was everything. And that wasn’t fair.

“It must be difficult, seeing Barry like that again,” Hartley said.

“I don’t want to talk about Barry.”

“Okay, can we talk about you? You’re not sleeping. Are your prosthetics bothering you again? We can readjust them.”

“No,” Cisco signed, knowing he was being difficult but not knowing how to stop. Hartley had endless patience for him—a fact that ate away at Cisco.

Hartley had grown into himself in the last several years. He’d made the most out of the life that allowed him to keep his family. He found a way to compromise with his parents. He’d become Jerrie’s go-to person after Osgood died and their mother fell apart. He’d stepped up as CEO of Rathaway Industries and made it a better and more diverse place to work. He made each location more accessible too, hiring translators in several languages, including ASL, and even incorporated mental health resources in the company, such as, quiet meditation rooms, counseling, and support groups. Hartley had offered Cisco an open invitation to the counseling and support groups, going so far as to input them into Cisco’s calendar on his phone, but Cisco had never taken him up on any of it.

When Cisco continued to offer up nothing, Hartley slowly wrapped him in his arms, giving Cisco plenty of time to say no. He rocked them back and forth gently, and Cisco felt tears prick his eyes. He shook his head against Hartley’s shoulder when it became too much, and Hartley pulled away.

“Please come by the house tonight,” Hartley said. “Meredith is in France, and Jer’s home for Spring Break.” When Cisco said nothing, Hartley signed, “Could you understand me?”

Cisco signed a yes quickly, hating he’d made Hartley question himself. He only ever made Hartley’s life worse. Hartley was better off without Cisco getting in his way. He didn’t need another person to take care of.

“I have to go,” Cisco signed. He turned to leave.

“Wait!” Hartley called, louder than he probably meant to. Cisco stopped. Hartley’s hand pushed on his shoulder until Cisco turned around to face Hartley again.

Hartley signed, “You’re not a burden, Cisco Ramon. Jerrie and I care about you. We want to see you when you’re happy and when you’re not.”

A few years ago, Hartley had made up a sign for Cisco’s last name just so he could lecture him, and Cisco kind of loved him for it. But as Hartley’s life got better, Cisco’s only seemed to get worse. He felt like an anchor pulling Hartley down, a parasite in Hartley’s otherwise perfect life, and he couldn’t do that to him anymore.

“I’m sorry,” he signed again before leaving Hartley’s office in quick strides. He was painfully aware of the irony that was his and Hartley’s role reversal.  Eight years ago, it was Cisco trying to pull Hartley from the brink. Now it was Hartley trying to piece Cisco back together as much as he would let him.

Chapter Text

A hired driver dropped Cisco off at his apartment building. The man had been waiting for Cisco when he exited Rathaway Industries, no doubt tasked by Hartley the second Cisco fled his office. Cisco had denied Hartley’s offer of a full-time driver for years, even though Cisco had long let his license expire and his car was more or less an abandoned heap in the lot.

Cisco trudged up the stairs and found his door unlocked. H.R. and 2017 Barry were on his couch talking and eating Big Belly Burger. The place was spotless. His doom piles of laundry and dishes were gone, the trash empty, and the kitchen fully stocked.

“Hey, champ!” H.R. called, “Back so soon? We got Big Belly Burger!” He held up a greasy bag.

Cisco stared at the scene, a sour mix of emotions stirring in his gut. He wasn’t sure what he meant to say, but what came out was, “I don’t need you to clean my apartment!”

Barry paused in his eating to turn to Cisco, giving a raised-eyebrow look that only made Cisco seethe. What right did Barry have to come into his apartment and touch all his stuff? What made him think Cisco needed his help after all this time? Had H.R. told Barry about his hands? Barry hadn’t even come to the hospital. Cisco didn’t need anyone’s help. People needed to stop trying to help and leave him the hell alone!

Barry crumbled the wrapper in his hands before standing to face Cisco. “Sorry, man. We were just trying to do something nice since you helped me out today.”

Cisco felt his shoulders drop, a bit of the seething anger cooling as he realized this was just Old Barry being Old Barry. Cisco scoffed at the thought, trying to hold onto the vestiges of anger that felt so much better than the emptiness. Old Barry had been the one to start this mess with his time traveling bullshit. “I don’t need you to do anything nice.”

“Cisco, look I can see that we aren’t friends anymore, and after meeting me twice now, I can see why. But I don’t want to leave you this way.”

Cisco scoffed. “You already did! All of this started with Flash Point! You realize that?”

“Hey, hey, hey,” H.R. said, standing and holding his hands out. “Why don’t we just turn the temperature down a little bit? Talk? Get some of our feelings out? It might make everyone feel better and give Barry here some of the answers he’s been looking for.”

Cisco sighed and dropped into a chair. He scrubbed at his face, the knit of his gloves harsh against his skin. He wanted Barry and H.R. to leave so he could go back to his miserable life in peace, but he also wanted them to stay. He wanted H.R. to talk his ears off, and he wanted Barry to ask him a million questions with that old everything-will-be-okay attitude of his. He wanted Hartley beside him rolling his eyes with affection. Barry and H.R. sat again.

“So…what do you do now that Star Labs is closed?” Barry asked hesitantly.

“Nothing,” Cisco said, because it was true. Cisco hadn’t bothered to look for another job after leaving Team Flash. Barry had kept everyone on the payroll for a while, even Caitlin, but it all stopped after Savitar was gone. Cisco had anticipated an eviction notice soon after, only to discover his rent was being paid in-full every month. The card on file matched the receipts for the food deliveries that regularly showed up at Cisco’s door. But none of this was any of Barry’s business.

“Barry said you were the first to leave the team. What happened, Cisco? You gotta give me something, man,” Barry said.

“The night Iris died,” Cisco started, pushing the words out with difficulty, “Hartley snuck off to Main Street Bridge. He said he stood over the edge for a while, thinking, and Killer Frost showed up. I guess she wanted to get back at me or prove what she was capable of…I don’t know, but she blasted him over the edge with her powers.” Cisco’s voice cracked. He wasn’t used to talking this much anymore. “He survived the fall, but the extreme cold shattered his aids. Even with his powers, the damage was too much. His hearing was completely gone.”

“I was so angry at Caitlin. After Hartley was stable, I went after her. I found her in Burnaby Forest and we fought. Full on Vibe versus Killer Frost.” Cisco shook his head. “Vibe lost.” Finger by finger, Cisco pulled the gloves off, showing off his robotic prosthetics. The mournful look on Barry’s face twisted his stomach, and he pulled the gloves back on. “Hartley and I, we both lost our powers.”

“Why didn’t I…I mean, how?” Barry struggled, looking back and forth between H.R. and Cisco.

“After Iris died, your only goal was to stop Savitar. Me, Wally, Hartley. We didn’t matter. You didn’t even come to the hospital after…” Cisco raised his hands again. Barry’s face fell.

“I’m so sorry, Cisco,” Barry said. Cisco said nothing. “You never came back to the team, did you?”

“I was of no use to you once I couldn’t track Savitar with my vibes,” Cisco said coldly.

Barry hung his head. “Are you and Hartley together?” he asked finally, an edge of hope in his voice as if Cisco’s life couldn’t be all bad.

“Hartley’s married,” Cisco said.

H.R. laughed, the sound strange in the tense atmosphere. Barry and Cisco gave him a look. “Meredith’s a riot,” he said, scratching the back of his head with a drumstick. Cisco couldn’t stop the chuckle that bubbled up.

At Barry’s confused look, Cisco explained, “His wife’s name is Meredith. Her father is some big wig CEO, so when she came out as gay, her father and Osgood Rathaway got together and decided she and Hartley should get married. They went along with it. Hartley because he wanted to stay close with his sister, and Meredith…well, Mere probably thought it was funny.”

“They’re best friends now, and Meredith travels the world with her girlfriend most of the year. They send out a Christmas card with a photo of themselves every year, and that’s about as coupley as they get. Everyone, including the media, knows, but they do a lot of charity work, so everyone adores them and lets their arrangement go unmentioned.”

Barry nodded slowly. “So…where does that leave you?”

Cisco pulled at a thread in his sweater. He wasn’t sure why he was telling Barry any of this. He should be angry at him—he was angry at him, but it’d been so long since Barry cared. This Barry was like having his best friend back, even if just for a little while. “It’s complicated. We’re not together, but we’re not not together.”

“So if you and Hartley are not not together, and Meredith is with someone, and everyone’s cool…why have you been holed up in this apartment?” Barry asked. H.R. gave an approving flourish of a drumstick at this question.

Cisco sighed. “You got a lot of questions,” he griped. Barry smiled but said nothing, waiting for Cisco to fill the silence. “I don’t…I don’t know. He’s asked me a few times to move in with him, but I’ve spent the last few years watching him…become Hartley . He’s thriving at his father’s company. He’s an amazing brother to Jerrie. He’s come so far, and he’s so happy. And I’m just the guy who tried to pull him away from all that.”

“Cisco,” Barry started.

“No! I am! Sure, it was bad when his father was alive, but now his life is perfect. And he doesn’t need me fucking that up for him. He doesn’t need another person to take care of.”

“Cisco, I think Hartley really loves you, and he wouldn’t see it that way.”

“You don’t know anything about it!” Cisco yelled. “This you! The other you! You know nothing of my life anymore!”

“You’re my…in my time, you’re my best friend. I just want to help you, Cisco. I can’t go back knowing I left you this miserable.”

Cisco felt a surge of anger again. He stood up. “You did this! You set all of this in motion, and now you wanna fix it? You can’t! You can’t just run through time and fix the things that are broken. You couldn’t save Dante, and you sure as hell can’t save me. Just go! Get out!”

“Cisco—”

“Francisco—” H.R. tried.

“Leave! Now!”

Barry stumbled toward the door and sped away. H.R. tried to put a hand on Cisco’s shoulder, but he shrugged him off and stomped toward his bedroom, slamming the door closed. Cisco fell into a sobbing heap on the carpet, wishing for the numbness to come back.

~

A lurching sensation woke Cisco from his fitful sleep. A hand steadied him on his feet before it was gone in a rush of static. In front of Cisco stood Hartley who looked equally ruffled.

“What’s going on?” Hartley signed. Cisco shook his head in confusion, looking around. They were standing in the dilapidated cortex inside Star Labs. H.R. was there, and a second later, a flailing Joe West was next to him.

“Okay, I think that’s everyone,” 2017 Barry said, standing at the front in his OG maroon suit.

“Barry,” Cisco signed.

“I was in a meeting.”

Barry ignored them. “Look, the rogues are taking over the city, people are getting hurt. Central City needs Team Flash, and I think you guys need each other.”

Hartley was pointedly ignoring H.R.’s attempts to translate, watching Cisco’s gloved hands as Barry spoke. When Cisco finished, Hartley signed, “I was never a part of Team Flash.”

“Maybe you were in his timeline,” Cisco signed.

“I hate time travel.”

Cisco signed a vigorous yes. He turned back to Barry, signing as he spoke. “We’re not a team anymore, Barry. There’s no one who can fight Scudder and Dillon now. Just go back to your time and leave us to ours.”

“Yeah, Bar, this is a nice thought and all, but it’s just too late,” Joe spoke up. “Go home, son.”

“Well, I’m in, B.A,” H.R. said, clumsily finger-spelling as he twirled his hat in the other hand.

“I’m in too,” Hartley signed. Cisco stared at him, too stunned to notice Barry waiting for translation.

“You’re being a bad translator,” Hartley signed to him, his eyes bright with amusement.

“Are you sure?” Cisco signed, shaking himself out of his stupor. Hartley nodded, so Cisco said, “Hartley’s in.”

“Great!” Barry clapped. “You still have your gauntlets, Hartley?”

“In a safe at home,” Hartley signed, and Barry flashed off to get them. Cisco stared at the spot he left for a moment. What was Hartley thinking? Was he really willing to throw his life away for the man who’d already taken so much? Cisco turned to leave, but Hartley stopped him with a hand on his arm.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m not sticking around to watch you get yourself killed,” Cisco signed fiercely.

“I can’t do this without you.”

“Then don’t.” Cisco turned, but Hartley grabbed onto his elbow again.

“I think you need this as much as they do. You pushed everyone away after you got hurt, and you’ve been miserable ever since. You used to talk about the other timeline, when we were in Team Flash together. I was Pied Piper while you were on comms. You can get that back, right now.”

“You think I want you putting yourself in danger to make me happy?” Cisco signed. “How am I supposed to help you on comms? You’re going to be out there with only Barry to help you if something goes wrong.”

Hartley gave Cisco his patented why-are-you-so-dumb look. “My boyfriend, Cisco Ramon, is the smartest person alive. You’re telling me he can’t come up with a way to communicate with me in the field?”

This unlocked the part of Cisco’s mind he hadn’t used since his prosthetics were complete. Of course there was a way to communicate with Hartley in the field. Cisco could rebuild the goggles he’d made for Pied Piper in the other timeline and put a stop light system inside to warn Hartley of danger. He could have long-form messages scroll across the bottom so as not to hinder Hartley’s sight. He could put caution icons for duck, run, behind you, etc. All of this whirred in Cisco’s head as Hartley watched him with a knowing smile. But there was a more pressing matter at hand.

“I’m not your boyfriend,” Cisco signed.

An exasperated look crossed Hartley’s face. “Yes, you are.”

Warmth seeped into Cisco’s chest like the ice that formed there long ago was cracking. H.R. stood in Cisco’s peripheral with a satisfied smirk on his face. The bastard understood every word.

Cisco signed, “Okay, I’m in. For you. Not Barry. I think I can make something, but you have to promise me you’ll get out of there if it’s too much.”

“I promise.”

“Joe, you in?” Cisco called to the quiet man in the corner.

“What the hell,” Joe said, pulling a sheet off the console in a plume of dust.

Soon Team Flash was gathered again in the brightly lit cortex. The computers were on and ready to pull up camera feeds, Hartley’s gauntlets were charged, Barry was suited up, and Cisco had a rough prototype of the goggles he’d envisioned.

“Okay, so I only had time to implement a stop light system to start. Green for go, yellow for danger, and red for get the hell out of there.”

Hartley nodded, pulling the glowing green goggles onto his face. “How do I look?”

“Like a bug-eyed superhero.”

Hartley smiled.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Cisco signed. “I really don’t want you doing this if it’s just to try and make me happy.”

Hartley made a face. “It’s not just for you. This city is my home. Everyone I love lives here. It’s where Jerrie wants to come back and start a family. I will protect it.”

Cisco wrapped his arms around Hartley. He signed, “please be careful,” against Hartley’s back before pulling away.

Hartley stepped back and gave Barry a meaningful nod. In a whoosh that sent dust flying everywhere, they were gone.

Cisco wasted no time. He set his robotic fingers to work connecting to Hartley’s goggles and Barry’s suit. He pulled their locations and surrounding camera feeds, feeling a sense of deja vu as H.R. fluttered around, chatty but unhelpful. Barry located Scudder and Dylan not far from where he’d fought them earlier that day. Cisco watched anxiously as Mirror Master disappeared through a window and popped out behind Hartley. Cisco flashed Hartley’s goggles yellow twice in quick succession, hoping he would get the message. Hartley ducked just in time to miss the punch Mirror Master aimed at him, throwing off the meta’s balance. Mirror Master flailed in midair for a moment, giving Hartley an opening to blast him in the chest with his gauntlets.

Scudder fell and slid across the floor, crashing through a pile of crates in a heap. Cisco and H.R. cheered as Barry scooped up the limp form and whisked him to Iron Heights. Cisco scanned the camera feed hurriedly, searching for Top with eagle eyes, painfully aware of how easily she could get the jump on Hartley. Barry returned to Hartley’s side in seconds.

“Cisco, you see anything?” Barry asked through the comms.

“No, she’s nowhere in camera range,” Cisco said, frantically scrolling through feeds. His heart jolted as Top’s glowing eyes appeared on screen. She emerged from a well-concealed sliding door near Hartley and Barry.

“To your left!” Cisco exclaimed, flashing Hartley’s goggles yellow again. It was too late. Hartley was doubled over, grasping a nearby beam for support. The Flash wasn’t fairing much better, waving his arms as though the floor was falling out from under him.

“She’s got them under her spell,” H.R. said.

Joe chimed in. “She can manipulate two people at once now?”

“Looks like it,” Cisco said, pushing his hair back roughly. “I think we can use one of the micro power-dampeners to lessen the effects, but I don’t know how we’d get it to them in time.”

Joe gave a sigh, wiping his brow. Cisco could hear the unspoken, “I’m getting too old for this.”

“I’ll take it to them,” said a voice from behind. Everyone whirled around.

The Barry before them had long, unkempt hair. His clothes were baggy, and he was pale like he hadn’t seen the sun in many seasons.

“Bar,” Joe whispered.

“Joe,” Barry said, his voice hoarse from disuse. “Cisco. H.R. You got a dampener ready?”

Cisco nodded dumbly, standing and fumbling with the stash at the side of the room. There was one with half a charge left. It would have to do. By the time Cisco turned around, 2024 Barry had changed into his suit, a slightly unfinished model Cisco had been working on before he left the team. Cisco shoved away the sudden pang of guilt as he held out the dampener. The rush of speedster wind freed more of Cisco’s hair from its ponytail.

Top had no chance against two speedsters and Pied Piper once her powers were dampened. Now she was securely in Iron Heights, and 2017 Barry, 2024 Barry, and Hartley were back in the cortex, an air of melancholic accomplishment about them.

H.R. laughed. “Team Flash Deluxe! The evils of this city are crawling back in their hideouts as we speak!” He was the first to approach the three heroes, clapping each of them on the shoulders and hugging them. Joe was next, shaking Hartley’s hand, hugging 2017 Barry fatherly, and hugging 2024 Barry like his life depended on it. When he pulled away, everyone in the room was kind enough to ignore the tears in his and 2024 Barry’s eyes.

Cisco hung back, unsure how to approach any of them. He desperately wanted to slip away and go home to wallow in his couch some more, but the look Hartley fixed him with said don’t run, so Cisco didn’t move.

2017 Barry was the first to speak to him. “Thank you, man. We couldn’t have done this without you. And look, I’m sorry about earlier—about everything really. I didn’t mean to do any of this.”

Tears pricked Cisco’s eyes. “I guess it wasn’t fair for me to put everything on you,” Cisco admitted. “Just…thanks for trying to take care of things. Have a safe trip back.” Barry nodded solemnly, stepping away from Cisco.

A moment passed, Cisco finally lifted his gaze from the floor to see Hartley giving 2024 Barry a death stare. The speedster stumbled forward, the ends of his rouge hair brushing the neck of his suit as he walked. “Hey, man,” he said to Cisco. Cisco bit the inside of his cheek, having nothing kind to say to the Barry in front of him. “Look, I…I know how bad I let things get, and I don’t expect you to forgive me. But I want to work on things, and hopefully soon I’ll have all of the apologies and explanations that you deserve, if you want to hear them.” Cisco nodded stiffly, and Barry stumbled back toward Joe. Cisco and Barry were like repelling magnets, physically unable to be near each other for too long.

Hartley approached next, a soft smile on his face. “I have no idea what just happened,” he signed, and a laugh poured out of Cisco despite himself.

“Oh, you know, just catching up with multiple versions of my time traveling friend.”

“So Barry is your friend again?”

“Getting there, I suppose.”

Hartley nodded thoughtfully. “And what about a boyfriend?”

Cisco felt a rush in his chest. “If you’ll have me.”

“Any way I can get you,” Hartley signed before his gauntlet-clad hands were on Cisco’s face, his lips on Cisco’s like they’d found home after a long journey. Neither cared they had an audience even as H.R. began to whoop and clap. Hartley couldn’t hear it anyway, and Cisco was too busy wrapping his arms around Hartley, pulling him closer, desperate to feel his warmth.

When they finally pulled away, Cisco looked around, heat filling his cheeks as he took in 2017 Barry’s amusement, 2024 Barry’s confusion, H.R.’s elation, and Joe’s pride.

“I guess my work here is done,” 2017 Barry said with a grin. He exchanged one last hug with Joe before whisking away.

“Dinner with me and Jerrie?” Hartley asked again.

Cisco nodded. “I think I need to fix my hair first.”

“Most definitely.”

“Rude.”

Hartley grinned, turning to H.R. “Want to join us for dinner? I’m sure Jer would love to talk about your book.”

“I would love to. I’ll change into my velvet suit and head on over,” H.R. said in near-perfect ASL. Hartley didn’t look a bit surprised.

“You knew he could understand us?” Cisco demanded.

Hartley gave Cisco a look like he had no idea what Cisco was talking about before wrapping an arm around him. “Let’s go fix your hair.”

Cisco grumbled, mostly for show as H.R. grinned at their backs, and let Hartley lead him out of the building. He still had a long way to go, but he felt the fog beginning to lift. He was excited to spend time with Hartley and their friends for the first time in a long time. As Hartley’s driver pulled up, Cisco felt a pull somewhere deep inside, where his powers laid dormant. 2017 Barry was gone.

Chapter Text

Cisco’s neck protested as he jolted from his hunched position. It wasn’t the first time he’d fallen asleep in his lab that week. Since Barry had run to the future in a hair-brained scheme to learn Savitar’s identity, he’d unlocked a whole new timeline of torment to plague Cisco’s vibe-dreams. As a result, Cisco was exhausted and more terrified for the future than ever. He often caught himself staring at his hands, imagining metal-wrapped gears and circuitry in place of his own fingers.

Catching himself in one of these trances, Cisco pushed his hair back and grabbed a marker. He wrote out the timeline for the future Barry saw as best he could.

Iris dies—Hartley on the bridge—Killer Frost pushes Hartley—Vibe vs. Killer Frost—Cisco leaves the Team—Savitar trapped in the Speed Force—Killer Frost captured

The future ebbed and flowed with each little change they made. Iris’s fate seemed set, Savitar’s talon piercing her back in every one of Cisco’s vibes, but Hartley’s fluctuated. In other versions of the future, Hartley died when Caitlin pushed him. In others, Caitlin never showed up, but Hartley jumped. Cisco knew he should stop torturing himself checking in on the future so often. The only significant change since this whole thing began was that Hartley ended up on the bridge after Iris was killed rather than sometime before, but this had no bearing on the outcome. Cisco couldn’t reconcile what he’d seen.

Caitlin kills Hartley.

The thought thrummed in Cisco’s head day in and day out as his shoulder wounds itched. Did she hate Cisco that much? Enough to kill Hartley and maim Cisco—her supposed best friend? Maybe there wasn’t anything of Caitlin inside Killer Frost. Maybe that’s why his future self refused to say her name.

Barry trudged into his lab and fell onto a stool. He’d just gone with H.R. to recruit the scientist who trapped Savitar in the future.

“Judging by the look on your face, I’m guessing things didn’t go well,” Cisco said, capping the marker.

“Well, when we got there, Tracy was burning her work in a garbage can, and we’d barely managed to say two words to her before Caitlin showed up.”

“What happened? You saw her? Where is she?”

“She was there to kill Tracy. H.R. got her out while I managed to hold Caitlin back. She got away,” Barry groaned, “We couldn’t stop Tracy from going to the police. They have a sketch of Caitlin now.”

“You let her go?”

“She’d just been through a lot. I didn’t think that was the best time for a recruitment speech.”

“I mean Caitlin,” Cisco said impatiently.

“Oh, yeah, I did,” Barry said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Why didn’t you stop her? You should have brought her back here!”

“I—I couldn’t…”

“What do you mean? You’re the Flash!”

“Hey! It’s not easy fighting your friends, okay? I can’t—I can’t hurt Caitlin, and you remember how hard it was to see her in the pipeline the first time? I don’t know, man.” Barry shook his head.

“She’s working for Savitar. That’s why she’s after Tracy. You know that!”

“Yeah, I know.”

Cisco slumped, bringing his knees up and propping his elbows on them. “We have to stop her before she hurts someone. Before she lives up to her new name.”

“I know.”

“She’s gonna hurt Hartley.”

“I know.”

Barry and Cisco sat in silence. Everything felt so hopeless. They were watching the future unfold exactly as written. What cruel force allowed them to see their loved ones’ fates but would not allow them to change those fates?

A voice growing closer pulled them out of their thoughts, and they looked up to see H.R. enter with a blond woman Cisco barely recognized from her future ID photo.

“Gentlemen,” H.R. began, “meet the lovely Miss Tracy Brand who has just graciously accepted my cordial invitation to join Team Flash. Tracy, this is Barry Allen. He runs the show. And this is Cisco Ramon. He’s a genius to whom I owe a life-debt.”

“Nice to meet you,” Cisco said, shaking the woman’s hand. Barry grilled them on how much H.R. told her and got her up to speed. Cisco watched her eyes light up when Barry projected her future merits on a screen. She won many awards in the coming years, including a Nobel. Cisco only hoped that meant she could figure out the Speed Force Trap a little sooner this time around. Perhaps changing Savitar’s fate would change everything else.

“So, you sure you wanna do this?” Barry asked finally.

“I’m sure,” she said, wringing her hands.

~

The lights blinked on in Cisco’s miniature Hogsmeade village for the first time in months. With nothing to do but sit around and worry about the future, Cisco started pulling the rest of his things out of the closet and redecorating his apartment. Opening each box was like a little bit of Christmas magic, things he’d forgotten about sparking joy. It turned out to be quite a therapeutic endeavor as Cisco stood back and admired his handiwork. His shelves were full again, bulging with memorabilia of all his favorite fandoms and conventions he’d attended. There was a stuffed donation box by the door of things that no longer interested him. He also set aside a Ravenclaw stuffed eagle that a friend from college had given him, assuming Cisco was a Ravenclaw based on his smarts. But Cisco was a Hufflepuff at heart, and he thought Hartley might appreciate the plush.

Cisco was breaking down the last box when his phone rang. His heart leapt as the name Hartley Rathaway appeared on the screen.

“Hartley?” he answered.

“Hello, Cisco.”

The voice wasn’t Hartley’s. Instead, it was a cold drawl that was all too familiar. Cisco felt a twist in his gut, his mind racing with horrible scenarios.

“Why do you have Hartley’s phone? Caitlin, what did you do?”

“Caitlin is dead, and Hartley Rathaway will be too if you don’t do exactly as I say.”

“Tell me you haven’t hurt him!” Cisco pleaded, struggling to open his laptop with one hand. Caitlin was too smart to stay on the phone long enough for him to tag her location, but he had to try.

“I haven’t hurt him yet—or that whiny sister of his.”

“Leave Jerrie out of this!”

“I didn’t take the kid. Just Hartley. And as long as Team Flash does everything exactly as I say, the Rathaway siblings will live another day.” A muffled sound followed this statement.

“Is that Hartley? Let me speak to him!”

“He’s a little tied up at the moment, and besides, you haven’t heard my terms yet. Or if you’re not interested, I can go ahead and start freezing pieces off your beloved.”

“Just leave him alone and tell me what you want,” Cisco gritted. Tracking her location was impossible. The signal bounced around the city, never landing in one place too long.

“In one hour, you will receive a location. After that, you’ll have thirty minutes to deliver Tracy Brand. Take longer, and Hartley pays the price. Then his little sister,” she said. More muffled protests sounded in the background. “Once Tracy is dead, Hartley will be free. Understand?”

“Let me talk to him,” Cisco said fiercely. There was silence for a moment.

“He can hear you. You’ve got five seconds.”

“It’s going to be okay, Hartley. I won’t let anything happen to you or Jerrie. I promise,” he said hurriedly.

“That’s enough,” Caitlin said. “You’re only making more promises you can’t keep.”

That stung. Cisco shut his eyes, pain and regret washing over him. “I’m sorry, Caitlin. Just…please, don’t hurt him.” Tears burned behind his eyes.

“One hour.”

The line went dead. The signal failed to land. Cisco slammed the laptop closed.

~

Tracy Brand was an incredibly brave person, and Cisco would admire her for the rest of his life. She agreed to go with them with Barry and Cisco’s promises they wouldn’t let Savitar or Killer Frost take her. Cisco only hoped they could talk some sense into Caitlin or at least get Hartley and Tracy out of there. Cisco was already suited up when the text came through with an address to an abandoned warehouse.

“Ready?” Barry asked as Wally, Cisco, and Tracy stood around him. The three of them nodded before Wally grabbed Cisco and Barry grabbed Tracy. They were outside the warehouse in seconds.

“Okay, man, remember her cold powers affect our speed, so it might come down to you,” Barry told Cisco. “I know it isn’t easy to fight a friend, but you gotta remember she’s not Caitlin right now.”

“She took Hartley and threatened a little girl. I’m not having any trouble seeing her as Killer Frost right now,” Cisco assured. Barry nodded solemnly and led the charge into the warehouse. Tracy followed close behind, Wally hovering near her in case Killer Frost tried to get the jump on them.

The warehouse lights were on, but it was still almost too dark to see. They rounded a corner before Hartley came into view. He was tied to a chair—his ankles bound to the legs, arms behind his back, and a gag in his mouth. He was placed directly under one of the harsh lights like a spotlight on an unwilling circus animal.

“Hartley!” Cisco breathed, racing toward him. An icy arrow stopped him in his tracks. His hair fluttered as it missed his face by a mere inch.

“Not so fast,” Killer Frost said, stepping out of the shadows between Cisco and Hartley. “I see you did as told. You know, you’re so easy to manipulate, Cisco. All Snart had to do was threaten your brother and you told him the Flash’s identity. All I had to do was threaten Hartley, and here you are willing to sacrifice another life for his. And you think you’re so much better than Barry.”

“We’re not sacrificing anyone,” Barry spoke up. “We came to talk.”

“Talk time is over. Now give her to me!” Caitlin said, stepping toward them with an icy fist.

Barry ran at her, but she stopped him with a freezing blast. When Wally moved to do the same, she turned the floor underneath him to ice, watching him spin out of control before bashing into a wall.

“And then there were two,” she drawled, circling Cisco.

“You know, you were never this dramatic as Caitlin,” Cisco groused, raising his hands against her.

“Caitlin was boring,” she said. She moved quickly, sending a rush of destructive cold Cisco’s way. He stopped it with his powers, sending vibrations toward her with all of his strength. Their forces met, colliding in a way Cisco could feel behind his navel. It was exhilarating and terrifying as his hands grew numb with the fierce vibrations. His feet slid across the watery floor, his shoes screeching. He was gaining on her, but slowly. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold the vibration as the healing wounds in his shoulder broke open.

He thought of why this was happening. He thought of Barry going back in time. The life they had before Flash Point. His friendship with Caitlin. All the times they were there for each other and all the times they let each other down. He thought of Hartley and the way their relationship morphed with time and space. How much time had Cisco wasted sitting around and being angry with how things were turning out? How much time had he lost doing nothing but worrying about the future or pining for the past? No more. It was time to fight.

From a reserve of strength deep within, Cisco sent a wave at Caitlin, a scream tearing out of him as it surged. He nearly fell forward as it broke and sent Caitlin careening into a stack of barrels. When she didn’t move, Barry pulled himself up and ran to her, clapping meta-dampening cuffs around her wrists before telling Tracy to get out of there and checking on Wally. Cisco rushed to Hartley’s side, pulling the gag free and setting to work on the knots around his ankles.

“Cisco, you’re amazing,” Hartley gushed, his voice rough from the strain of the gag.

“It’s Vibe when I’m in the suit,” Cisco teased.

Hartley rolled his eyes. “I’m not calling you that.”

“You know, I could just leave these on.”

“Under different circumstances, I might be okay with that.”

Cisco’s mouth fell open, his fingers slipping off the knots at the implications. Hartley smirked at him.

“Is that the old Hartley I hear?” Cisco asked.

“The old Hartley would be asking what the hell took you so long.”

“Hey, we came as soon as we could.”

“You know, if you’d untie my hands, I could help you.”

Cisco huffed, moving behind Hartley to undo the ropes around his wrists. He winced when he saw how tight they were. He knew it was painful for Hartley as Cisco tugged at them, but he never made a sound. After a minute, the ropes were loose enough for Hartley to pull free, and he began frantically working at the ropes around his ankles.

“Easy,” Cisco said. “We’re gonna get you out of here.”

“I have to get home,” Hartley said.

“I think getting kidnapped by a meta is a pretty good excuse. Your father will understand,” Cisco said, working on the other ankle.

“It’s not that. I was with Jerrie when Caitlin showed up. She didn’t hurt her, but Jer was terrified. She doesn’t understand. I never told her about my life at Star Labs, and our parents have kept her as in the dark as possible when it comes to metahumans. I have to get home and make sure she’s okay.”

“Okay, I’ll breach you there,” Cisco said. Hartley paused for a moment, just looking at Cisco.

Cisco paused and looked back. “What?”

“Nothing.”

The last knot was too tight. Cisco couldn’t undo it, and eventually Hartley batted his hands away with a huff.

“Barry can faze you out,” Cisco offered.

“I don’t think I want to know what that feels like,” Hartley said. Cisco laughed, the sound cut off by a whoosh around the building.

Savitar stood before them, looking around at Hartley, Cisco, Barry, a barely roused Wally, and an unconscious Killer Frost.

“What in the supervillain hell?” Hartley breathed, laying eyes on Savitar for the first time.

“This isn’t over, Flash,” was all Savitar said before whisking Caitlin away.

“No!” Cisco yelled after them, lacing his fingers behind his head in frustration. “We had her!”

“It was never going to make a difference,” Barry said meaningfully. Cisco’s gut twisted. Was it all so hopeless that Barry, the ever-flowing fountain of hope, was losing faith?

Cisco felt a hand on his arm and turned to see Hartley, free of his bonds. Hartley squeezed his arm, and Cisco felt tears burn his eyes. Then Hartley’s hand was on his face, a thumb stroking a rogue tear away.

“I don’t fully know what’s going on, but it’s going to be okay, Cisco,” Hartley said. “Caitlin will be okay. You’re both strong, and you’ve been through too much to lose it all now.”

Cisco leaned into Hartley’s touch. He couldn’t wrap his head around this strong, beautiful man ending up on Main Street Bridge, ready to end it all. It was only two weeks away. He seemed so much better with the drugs out of his system. Why hadn’t his future changed?

“I’ll get you home to your sister,” Cisco said, pulling away after a moment. Hartley stepped back, and Cisco opened a breach, concentrating hard on the bland walls of Rathaway Mansion. Hartley looked back and forth between Cisco and the breach uneasily, and Cisco gave him a nod.

“Thank you, Cisco. If you ever need anything,” Hartley offered, before stepping cautiously through the breach. Cisco felt him land safely on the other side and let the breach close.

“Does anything we do matter at all?” he asked heavily.

“I don’t know,” Barry answered.

Chapter Text

“I know who Savitar is.”

That statement woke the team up. Everyone was gathered in the cortex, blearily sipping H.R.’s provided coffee. Barry had called a team meeting at six a.m, and even straight-laced Joe West was having trouble pulling himself together.

“So you know how Savitar always seems to know exactly what’s going to happen as, or even before, it happens,” Barry started in his rambling excited fashion. He went to recount something his future self said about creating time remnants and how one of those remnants became Savitar.

“So…you’re Savitar?” Joe asked skeptically.

“No, well…kinda,” Barry stammered.

“Savitar’s all the worst parts of you,” Cisco said, the answers winding together. “You created those remnants with all of your grief and anger, so one manifested into Savitar.”

“And Savitar went back in time and became the God of Speed,” Barry finished.

“Making it so he could exist even before you created him,” Cisco breathed. “It’s a closed loop. No beginning. No end.”

“So he knows everything you know? Meaning we can never get ahead of him,” Wally piped in.

H.R. gave a drumstick twirl at this. “So long as Barry knows what’s up, Savitar will too.”

This struck Cisco, and a terrible idea began to form.

~

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Hartley, you said not two days ago that if I ever needed anything…”

“Anything not including altering your friend’s brain.”

Cisco had called Hartley and given him the Reader’s Digest version of Savitar. He thought it was a good idea to alter Barry’s brain to be unable to store new memories. Hartley did not agree.

“We’re out of ideas, and this could work.”

“Or it could turn the Flash into a drooling zombie.”

Cisco tossed a rubber band ball into the air, leaning in his chair as he spoke. “That’s why I need your help.”

“I’m not a neurologist.”

“Maybe not technically, but you helped Caitlin when her boyfriend turned out to be dying from a speed drug that was altering his DNA.”

“I think you’re getting your timelines mixed up again.”

“Oh, right.”

A deep sigh came over the phone. “Okay, theoretically,” Hartley started. Cisco fist pumped the air before jotting down everything Hartley said.

“And that’ll work?” Cisco asked, scanning the page when Hartley finished speaking.

“I have no idea.”

“Hartley!”

“I said theoretically, and need I remind you, I’m. Not. A. Neurologist. Just start with a low intensity, and if he doesn’t have a bad reaction, work your way up. And if you test it on an animal first, I’m never helping you again.”

“We don’t do animal testing at Star Labs.”

“Grodd?”

“We learned our lesson.”

“Fine. I’m heading into a meeting. Let me know how it goes.”

“Thanks, Hartley.”

A huff came over the line before it cut off. Cisco grinned at the phone before getting to work.

~

The experiment went badly. Very badly. So bad that Barry was now bumbling around the city with no memories of himself, his life, or his powers. Joe was taking every opportunity to give Cisco a meaningful glare as he scrambled for a fix. Wally had lost his powers somehow, and H.R. continued to be woefully unhelpful. At least Iris seemed happy with this clueless version of her fiancée, which was something.

Cisco had been scrambling around the medical lab for hours, taking apart the inhibitor and putting it back together several times, researching neural pathways and memory storage, and mostly trying not to have a heart attack with the dawning realization that he might have just ruined his friends’ and possibly the entire city’s lives.

“What’s going on here?”

Cisco whirled around to see Hartley standing in the doorway. He was in a tailored suit with his hair perfectly gelled—not Cisco’s favorite look on him, but it still sent his pulse racing.

“Cisco?” he said, snapping Cisco out of his thought-spiral.

“Right, yeah, the inhibitor didn’t work. Or maybe it did, but just…too well.”

“Cisco,” Hartley said impatiently.

“Barry doesn’t remember anything at all.”

Hartley’s head dropped, a deep, steadying breath escaping him. “Okay, what can I do?”

“You’re not going to lecture me on the scientific process or ask if I started on the lowest setting like you told me to?” Cisco asked.

Hartley gave him a look. “What’s done is done. Let’s just try to fix it before the city needs the Flash again.”

Cisco nodded, shaking off his surprise. “I’ve taken this thing apart a few times, but as far as I can tell, there’s nothing wrong with it. All the research says that it should have worked, but…I’m completely out of my depth here.”

“You’re bleeding,” Hartley said, which was not what Cisco expected. He looked down at himself before remembering that, of course, it was his shoulder.

“Damn, again?” he groused, taking off his top shirt and pulling his sleeve up to reveal a blood-soaked bandage.

“I’ll get a new bandage,” Hartley said, turning toward the medical bay.

“We don’t have time for this,” Cisco said, pulling his sleeve down roughly.

“It’ll take two minutes,” Hartley said calmly. He came back with a fresh roll of gauze and helped Cisco pull off the old wrappings.

Hartley made a face at the sight of his shoulder. “Why isn’t this healing?”

“It was, but the whole Vibe versus Killer Frost fiasco made it break open again.”

Hartley nodded, dabbing ointment on the wound before redressing it. “Good as new,” he said. He’d been unable to find medical tape this time, so he finished the wrap in a neat bow that looked like Cisco’s arm was wearing a little bow tie.

“Thanks,” Cisco said, chuckling at the tie.

Cisco must have been quiet for a beat too long because Hartley said, “We’re going to fix this, Cisco.”

Cisco nodded before a movement near the door caught his eye. Killer Frost stood in the open doorway of the medical lab. Cisco stood, putting himself between her and Hartley. “Don’t come any closer,” he said, holding his hands up.

“Relax. I’m only here to see what you’ve done to the Flash,” she drawled.

“How do you know-”

“Because whatever you did affected Savitar as well.”

“If Barry’s lost his memories, then Savitar has too,” Cisco realized. “Caitlin, we need your help to fix this.”

She looked as though he’d asked her to suck on a lemon, but she moved further into the room all the same. Cisco pivoted with her movements, keeping himself in front of Hartley in case she tried anything.

“I take it you used this thing to alter the Flash’s brain?” she said, surveying the inhibitor.

“We wanted to keep him from making new memories, but instead, he has amnesia.”

Caitlin made a full lap around the device before facing Cisco. “We better get to work.”

The awkwardness of their little trio was stifling. Neither Cisco nor Hartley knew how to act around Killer Frost who’d just kidnapped Hartley and threatened his sister. Hartley was being overly helpful in that clipped, professional manner of his like he’d had so many years ago when Cisco first came to work at Star Labs. Caitlin was working silently except for toneless requests for tools. Cisco walked a tightrope between them, a mix of protecting Hartley and trying to coax Caitlin back. He started reciting stories from their early days at Star Labs, and slowly, the ice began to thaw.

“Remember my first day when I accidentally locked myself in the cryo-vault?”

“Well,” Hartley spoke up. “Technically, you didn’t lock yourself in the cryo-vault.”

Cisco gaped at him. “I was trapped in there for two hours!”

A smirk tugged at Hartley’s lips even as he concentrated on the piece he was working on. “I’m not apologizing for that one. It was funny.”

Cisco tossed a light scrap at him, but the smirk only grew wider. Cisco risked a glance at Caitlin only to see her stony expression firmly in place as she worked. Hartley’s ringtone broke the silence.

“I have to take this,” he said, striding from the room.

Cisco and Caitlin were alone. “You know, once upon a time, Hartley was your friend,” he said. Caitlin said nothing, so Cisco continued. “I mean, Hartley got on everybody’s nerves in the early days, except yours. At first I thought you were poking fun at him, but no, you always saw behind his bluster. You know, you were the one to convince Hartley to join the team in the other timeline. You invited him to the West Family Christmas Party, and I was so mad about it,” Cisco chuckled, shaking his head. “I never thanked you for that. Giving him a chance, so I could see past the bluster too.”

A beat of silence passed. “Let’s get this done,” Killer Frost said.

Hartley came back into the room with a sour expression on his face. “Everything alright?” Cisco asked.

“Fine,” Hartley said, picking up his project without looking at Cisco. They finished Caitlin’s adjustments in silence, each of Cisco’s attempts at further conversation ignored. Hartley had become far less helpful since taking the phone call, checking his phone every few minutes and typing messages so furiously his screen might’ve cracked. Though he wasn’t lashing out like he might’ve in the old days, Cisco could see Hartley was angry. He’d even broken a piece he was working on, causing Caitlin to rip it from his hands in frustration. Hartley glared at her, but didn’t say a word. Cisco watched, holding his breath every time Killer Frost came too close to Hartley. When they were finished, Hartley pulled on his jacket.

“You’re not sticking around?” Cisco asked, failing to mask his disappointment.

“I need to go,” Hartley said, fiddling with his coat buttons. He hadn’t looked Cisco in the eye since he’d taken that phone call. “Just let me know how it goes.”

Despite Killer Frost’s eyes boring into him, Cisco watched Hartley leave until he disappeared around the corner. “What?” he asked finally, meeting her sharp gaze.

“Call the Flash so we can get this over with,” she said. Cisco rolled his eyes, shooting a text off to Iris to get Barry back in the lab.

~

Caitlin’s fix worked, and Barry’s memory was restored. The team celebrated, each taking turns to hug Barry or clap him on the back. Cisco waited until last, feeling guilty for being the cause of such chaos, until a flicker of blue caught his eye. Caitlin disappeared around the corner. She was leaving.

Without a word, Cisco raced to catch up to her, stopping her just outside the elevator. “Wait! Caitlin!” he called.

She turned slowly, a cold expression firmly in place. “You want to fight now, Vibe?”

“No, I don’t,” Cisco said, keeping his arms firmly at his sides. “I just want to thank you for your help.”

“No thanks necessary,” she said, turning back to the elevator.

“Come back, Caitlin!” Cisco said desperately. “Come back and let us help you. It doesn’t need to be like this.”

“You don’t want to help me!” Caitlin yelled, whirling around. “You want to fix me!” Her steel eyes flashed silver. The temperature in the room dipped low enough Cisco could see his breath. Team Flash filed in behind him, Barry stepping forward with his arms raised.

“Caitlin,” he said, “please, come home.”

“This isn’t my home,” she said. Cisco thought he saw tears in her eyes, but he couldn’t be sure. Caitlin ditched the elevator and bolted down the stairs. They let her go.

~

Barry told everyone to get some rest, but Cisco was too antsy to go home. He promised Barry he would leave soon, and that brain alterations were officially off the table, before heading into his lab to call Hartley. There was no answer, so Cisco texted him.

Cisco:  Barry’s memory is restored. Thank you for your help!

Cisco:  You okay?

A bad feeling began to take hold as minutes ticked by, his messages unanswered. His powers buzzed in the back of his mind, giving him a headache as he pressed them back. He hadn’t realized how tired he’d become until he lost the fight and slipped into a vibe.

Hartley’s father was red in the face.

“You have disappointed this family for the last time, Hartley! You will stop these little disappearances at once. You think I don’t know what you get up to? You think I’m ignorant to your perverse lifestyle?”

“I told you I was helping a colleague from my old job. That’s it!” Hartley said. Osgood shoved Hartley against the wall, pinning him in place with a hand on his chest.

“Osgood! The staff hasn’t gone home yet,” Rachel Rathaway chided. Ted Strand stood off to the side, smirking at the father/son display in front of him.

“You will do this, Hartley. You will do right by your family. You will become a respectable member of our society and the face of Rathaway Industries. You will stop this sneaking around because if you do anything to tarnish the family name now, you won’t live to regret it.”

“Osgood!” Rachel said again, peaking around the door as if to make sure no one was listening.

“What are you going to do, Father?” Hartley bit, fire in his eyes. “Pump me full of drugs until I become your puppet?”

Osgood slapped Hartley.

“I’m sending the staff home early,” Rachel said, striding from the room.

Hartley didn’t lift his head until his father shook him. “You think Strand is bad?” he gritted. “You think you’re oppressed now? You keep this up, Hartley, and the next person I hire for you won’t be a counselor. It’ll be a handler. You won’t so much as take a piss without an escort.”

Osgood released Hartley with a final shove. Hartley stayed in place, huddled against the wall like a wounded animal. “The story drops tonight,” Osgood said matter-of-factly, as though he were merely adding a comment at the end of a business meeting. “You’ll have a lot of questions to answer tomorrow, photo ops, the like. Pull yourself together.”

Osgood left Hartley’s bedroom, followed by Ted Strand. As soon as the door clicked shut, Hartley slid down the wall and began to sob into his knees.

Cisco jolted out of the vibe. Anger burned through his veins. How could anyone treat their son that way? Why wouldn’t Hartley just leave? Cisco understood he wanted to be near Jerrie, protect her, but Osgood sounded ready to kill Hartley.

Cisco began searching through Rathaway social media accounts, trying to find the story Osgood had been referring to. There was nothing new, and it would be unlike the company’s social media team to post something this late. Cisco then broadened his search and found a blog post published twenty minutes prior. The title read, “Rathaway and Titan Sitting in a Tree.”

Rathaway and Titan sitting in a tree

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

First comes love

Then comes marriage

[a gif of Kermit the Frog sipping tea]

Get ready for this week’s hot gos from the Central City rumor mill! Remember when Hartley Rathaway came back on the scene last year? Back from his “youthful adventures,” Hartley Rathaway has quickly become a fixture amongst the Central City elite social scene. The Rathaway family has been thrilled to have him back in the fold, and he has attended many events, including the Central City’s Annual Museum of Fine Arts Gala where he caught the eye of many a single lady in this city. But, alas, the dating pool will have two less fish in this sea as Hartley Rathaway is now rumored to be engaged to none other than Meredith Titan, daughter of Richard Titan, CEO of Titan Co.

The article went on about Meredith’s family, but Cisco couldn’t read more. He had to remind himself to breathe as dark spots filled his vision. Hartley’s future hit him like a bullet to the chest. Had trying to change Hartley’s future only hastened it? Was Osgood setting Hartley up with Meredith because of Cisco? Was this what drove Hartley to the brink? If Hartley survived, he’d be married to Meredith and stuck in his family obligations forever. If he didn’t, Cisco would never forgive himself.

~

Cisco spent the weekend oscillating between his laptop and phone, sometimes sitting at the kitchen counter, sometimes pacing. Central City had over eight-hundred active gossip blogs. Nearly half of them were about the Flash, many including a lively debate of whether the Flash was even real. There were a handful of niche, miscellaneous blogs, many being restaurant blogs which had reminded Cisco to eat throughout the weekend. The rest each had some variation of the story of Hartley’s engagement.

The posts on the high society gossip blogs ranged from excited for the “happy couple” to scathing rambles on why they weren’t right for each other and speculating why Hartley and Meredith had kept their relationship a secret. Cisco read each of these pieces as well as the comments. At first it was an attempt to grapple with what was going on, but the endeavor had rapidly succumbed to an addictive frenzy. Cisco read post after post, unable to stop.

On Saturday evening, forty-eight hours after the initial blog post, Rathaway social media accounts lit up with confirmation of the rumors. There was an official engagement announcement with a photograph of Hartley and Meredith, Hartley with the tightest smile Cisco had ever seen on him. The date was set for the second of July, and the event would be closed to the public, close friends and family permitted only.

Cisco had slammed his laptop shut and thrown it on the coffee table in disgust. He drowned his sorrows in beer and pizza that night and went to bed early. The following morning, he resisted reopening his laptop for almost two hours, but the need was too great. He had to see what was going on, and he hadn’t dared try to vibe Hartley for fear of his powers spontaneously throwing open a breach. He wasn’t sure if he would land next to Hartley to take him away from everything or next to Osgood to punch him in the face.

Cisco opened the Rathaway Industries Instagram first. The photo of Hartley and Meredith was still top billing, but the comments had been turned off. Cisco scrolled through to see the comments turned off every post. He felt a sinking sensation as he opened Facebook and found the comments there turned off as well. Whatever people were saying about the engagement must not have been good.

Cisco took to the blogs and found the society bloggers were elated to have the news confirmed. The comments were a different story.

lazygiraffe24:  hartley rathaway marrying a woman??? I don’t think so.

girlslikegirls:  Everyone knows Mere’s a lesbo. Nice try!

averagepeterpan:  You’ve got to be kidding me…

purpleteacup11:  FUCKING SELLOUTS!

aintgotnotimeforthat:  Traitors. Smh.

carnationcarly:  Running back in the closet. Pathetic.

Some of the commenters posted links to other blogs which sent Cisco down another rabbit hole. There were many LGBTQ themed blogs that were posting about Hartley and Meredith, most in an unflattering light. One particularly snide blogger, whose page was titled Central City Clocks with the L slashed out of Clocks, wrote that he’d slept with Hartley a couple years back, and “he wasn’t even a good lay. Maybe he’s better off in faux-hetero obscurity.”

Not all the comments from the queer community were hateful. Some merely expressed their disappointment that two of Central City’s young public figures would choose to hide who they are. Some said they hoped Hartley and Meredith were doing okay mentally and urged people to ease up.

“You can’t put the entire gay rights movement on the shoulders of two twenty-something socialites,” one commenter wrote.

The posts and comments piled on throughout the day. Cisco was starting to feel panicked anxiety as he refreshed several pages at once, wearing a hole in the hem of his thermal shirt sleeve. Was Hartley reading these? Cisco was ready to crawl out of his skin, so how was Hartley feeling? Cisco had tried to vibe Hartley at one point, but he was too rattled to focus and only sent himself tailspinning into a vibe about Flashpoint. Should he ditch his contacts? Those glasses didn’t look half bad. No, Cisco, focus.

The comments got angrier as day turned to night. Meredith’s social pages had been completely taken down, while Rathaway Industries continued to block comments. Though Cisco didn’t want to be one to silence queer voices, he had taken to hacking in and removing some of the nastier comments. It pained him to see the community Hartley had fought so hard for turn against him.

Cisco had deleted thirty comments and Central City Clocks’s entire post before one stopped him in his tracks.

Big2do:  Hartley Rathaway should kill himself.

Cisco slammed the laptop closed again, standing and pacing the room. He pulled at his hair and growled at the couch as he slammed into it with his knee. This was what pushed Hartley over the edge. It all made sense now. It wasn’t the drugs. It was this. Hartley’s death date was little more than a week away, and this hateful vortex was enough to shove anyone over the edge.

Cisco pulled his Vibe goggles out of his satchel by the door. He put them on, feeling his powers activate somewhere deep within. He concentrated, steadying his breathing, thinking of Hartley.

“You two are going to lay low for a while, and after the heat dies down, we’ve got a strategy to get you guys back in the public’s favor. We got some charity events lined up, some good photo ops. Trust me. We get you guys on the cover of a few good Samaritan stories, and the public will forget all about this mess.”

They were sitting at a large table in a bland conference room, printouts of the online comments scattering the surface. The man speaking wore a slick suit. Around him were Osgood Rathaway, Ted Strand, Hartley, and two others Cisco assumed to be Meredith and her father. Hartley and Meredith were several feet apart. She sat slouched with her arms crossed, and Hartley sat up stoically, the same way he smiled in Rathaway photos.

“As long as there are no more incidents, these disgusting rumors will die down,” Ted spoke with his drawling accent.

“Indeed,” said the first man.

“There won’t be any more incidents,” Osgood said. “My son is about to become the American Dream. The picture-perfect family man. There will be no reason to stray off course.” Osgood’s voice was firm as he stared daggers into his son.

“I suppose I should go out and buy an apron and a string of pearls then,” Meredith said.

“Meredith!” boomed the man next to her. She rolled her eyes, sliding down farther in her seat. She looked like a petulant teenager instead of the twenty-something-year-old woman she was.

“Well,” said the first man awkwardly, tidying his stack of printouts. “You two have your assignments. Don’t go anywhere for the next week or so. Don’t let anyone get any photos of you. Together or apart. And believe me, by the end of the month, this will all be forgotten.”

“They won’t be going anywhere,” Osgood said, standing to shake the man’s hand.  “Thank you, Mr. Feanan.”

“My pleasure.”

Cisco’s ringtone pulled him from the vibe. He tried to get a last glimpse of Hartley, but his concentration was shot by the trilling tone.

“What, H.R?” he answered tiredly.

“San Francisco, the Speed Force Bazooka is complete.”

Chapter Text

12 Hours Until Iris West Dies

14 Hours Until Hartley Rathaway Dies

Team Flash perfected their plan over the last week. If all went well, Iris and Hartley would survive and Savitar would be trapped in the Speed Force once more. No one had forgotten Caitlin’s fate, but, for now, the goal was to keep her away from Hartley. Hopefully, they could get through to her after Savitar’s demise.

“Okay,” Barry said, clapping his hands at the head of the cortex. All of Team Flash was assembled, ready for their assignments. “Joe, Wally, you guys take Iris somewhere. I can’t know where or else Savitar will know too. Tracy, you’re coming with me to set up the Speed Trap. Cisco’s going to get Hartley, and we’ll meet back here later and go to Infantino Street together.” H.R. was the first to agree despite not receiving an assignment.

Joe and Wally took off with Iris. Cisco clapped Barry on the shoulder. “You hanging in there, man?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Barry said, lacing his fingers behind his head. “You?”

“I will be once Hartley’s here.”

“Don’t let him out of your sight,” Barry said.

“That’s the plan.”

Once Barry left with Tracy, Cisco opened a breach. He bypassed the mansion’s entryway and landed at the top of the stairs on the second floor. He barely caught himself on the banister as he misjudged the distance a bit. Training had taken a backseat to everything else.

There was some commotion down the hall. Cisco followed the sound, rushing as he realized it was coming from Hartley’s wing. As Cisco grew near, the cacophony became louder, morphing into an onslaught of voices.

“Jerrie Rathaway, get back in your room!” Rachel Rathaway yelled, dragging her daughter roughly by the elbow. Cisco didn’t bother to hide as they rounded the corner.

“Cisco!” Jerrie cried, yanking away from her mother and running toward him. She had tears streaming down her face. “You have to help Hartley! Mr. Strand’s hurting him!”

“You!” Rachel Rathaway screamed. “Get out of my house at once!” She charged toward Cisco, arms flailing.

“It’s going to be okay, Jerrie,” Cisco assured her before racing around her mother to get to Hartley, ignoring the woman’s screams and threats to call the police. The noise behind Hartley’s door began to drown her out as he grew near.

Cisco threw open the door, and there was nothing left to muffle Hartley’s screams. It took Cisco a moment to take in what was happening. Hartley was writhing on the floor as he fought against the elbow against his neck. Ted Strand had Hartley pinned to the floor, using their considerable size difference to his advantage as Hartley struggled underneath him. Time slowed down. For a second, Cisco misinterpreted what he was seeing, his stomach twisting as Hartley screamed and begged the man to stop, but then he realized what was happening.

Ted was pulling out Hartley’s aids.

“Stop! Get away from him!” Cisco yelled, adrenalin taking over. He shoved Ted Strand, knocking him off balance and sending him toppling sideways. The man tried to grab at Cisco, but Cisco sent him across the room with a vibrational blast. Hartley was still sobbing on the floor, his right aid hanging out in a bloody mess.

“Hart, I know. It’s gonna be okay. I know. Let me fix it,” Cisco said, dodging Hartley’s hands as he swung out, no doubt confused and in too much pain to realize he was trying to help. “It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s over now. It’s okay.” Cisco knew Hartley couldn’t hear him and they had to get the aid back in, but pinning Hartley down much like Ted had was a terrible prospect. Cisco managed to get a somewhat gentle hold on Hartley’s flailing limbs, holding them against his chest he shoved the aid back into Hartley’s ear with a wince. They could clean it and put it back in properly at Star Labs, but there was no time for proper procedure here.

Hartley calmed down considerably once the aid was back in. Cisco released his arms, and Hartley curled up, no longer fighting as sobs continued to stutter out of him. His eyes were pinched closed. Cisco stroked his hair, whispering assurances as Hartley came back to himself. “It’s okay. It’s over. I’m not gonna let that happen again.” Cisco spared a glance in Ted’s direction. He was slowly pulling himself up from the corner where he seemed to bump his head after Cisco blasted him. Hopefully he wouldn’t remember the blast and out Cisco as Vibe, but Cisco couldn’t worry about that now as Ted pulled himself into a standing position while Cisco and Hartley were still on the floor.

“Don’t come any closer,” Cisco said, hoping he sounded more menacing than he felt against the bear of a man.

“You,” the man growled. “You’re the little pervert this one’s been sneaking off to see.” He was rubbing the back of his head and swaying a bit. Cisco had probably given him a concussion. Good.

Hartley moved under Cisco’s hands, lifting up on an elbow and staring at Ted in fear. Cisco stood and offered Hartley a hand up. Hartley looked up at him, his eyes clouded with confusion before taking his hand. Cisco steadied Hartley on his feet, keeping an eye on Ted as he did. Thankfully, Ted hadn’t come closer, but he was staring in their direction with a hateful sneer.

“Is this worth giving up your life and your family for?” Ted asked, looking at Hartley as he gestured to Cisco. “You’re still sick, Rathaway. If you think this perversion is acceptable, then there’s still much more work to do. You still need to be punished for what you’ve done.”

“Is that what that was?” Cisco demanded. “Pulling Hartley’s aids out. Was that punishment? For what? Existing?”

“I’m putting him back on the path he belongs. And you are a hurtle on that path. Aversion therapy is a tried and true technique that will free him from your devilish temptations.”

“Aversion therapy? You mean torture. Is that what happened to his hands? Was that punishment too?”

“Cisco,” Hartley said, his voice hoarse from the screaming. Cisco turned to him, expecting Hartley to tell him to stop, but the look on his face was more complicated. He looked exhausted. Like he couldn’t take another second of this. It chilled Cisco, knowing how far gone Hartley was and seeing it in real time. He had to get Hartley out of here. He had to keep Hartley in his sights for the rest of the day and however long it took until he was out of the woods.

“I’m getting you out of here,” Cisco said firmly. Hartley didn’t argue.

“Mr. Strand, Rachel called and said—” Osgood Rathaway walked into the room, freezing at the sight before him. “What is the meaning of this?” he growled, eyes blazing on Cisco.

“This one has just informed us that he’s taking young Mr. Rathaway away,” Ted Strand said with a self-satisfied smirk.

“Is that so?” Osgood said. “Hartley, you were forbidden from seeing this man again. Now, you have betrayed this family for the last time. This man will be arrested. Restraining orders will be filed. And you are finished with this nonsense!”

Silence fell over the room. Hartley trembled at Cisco’s side, tears still streaming down his face. Cisco couldn’t take it anymore. “What is wrong with you?!” Cisco demanded.

“Do not speak to me! You…you disgusting—” Osgood seethed. “Get away from my son!”

“Your son has blood running down his neck from that goon trying to yank out his implants! What kind of father lets this happen to their child?”

Ted Strand spoke then. “Mr. Rathaway has given me the green light to perform any action of therapy required to adjust Hartley’s thinking. It wasn’t until your appearance, young man, that I realized how deeply the damage was set. I realized after the incident in the auditorium that more extreme measures needed to be taken. Mr. Rathaway was in full agreement.”

Cisco wanted to punch Ted in the face, but Osgood Rathaway was the heart of the monster. “Hartley is coming with me. I won’t let you do this to him anymore.”

“And you think that’s what Hartley wants?” Osgood asked in the patronizing tone of a man who was confident he’d manipulated his target enough to win the day.

“Yes! That’s what he wants!” came a shrill voice from the hallway.

“Jerrie Rachel Rathaway! You come back here right now!” Rachel Rathaway’s voice cut in. Jerrie darted into the room. A sharp inhale came from Hartley as though he’d woken from a terrible nightmare.

“Jer,” Hartley whispered as Osgood grabbed her before she could reach him. Their father yanked her back, trying to shove her into his wife’s waiting grasp, but her struggles were too great. He barely kept a hold on her as she yelled.

“Just go, Hartley! Please go with Cisco!”

Hartley stared at her for a long moment, his teary eyes full of sorrow. Finally, he turned to Cisco and nodded. The heartbreak on his face was a knife to Cisco’s chest. Jerrie managed to free herself from her parents’ grasps and ran to Hartley. She wrapped her arms and legs around her brother in a fierce, sobbing hug.

“Jerrie, get back here!” Rachel yelled. “Get away from him!”

Jerrie paid her no mind, tears streaming down her own face. “I love you, big brother. Please don’t let them hurt you anymore.”

Hartley wrapped his arms around his sister. “I love you too,” he managed.

Rachel charged forward and pried Jerrie away. Hartley let go only when it was clear Rachel would hurt her to separate them.

“Take her to her room!” Mrs. Rathaway snapped at a woman who’d appeared wearing an apron, clearly a hired hand. The woman nodded and scurried away with Jerrie. Jerrie held eye contact with Hartley for as long as she could.

Cisco put an arm around Hartley, uncaring that his family was glaring daggers at them. Hartley was trembling and jerking with sobs.

“If you go,” Osgood Rathaway spoke, “you don’t come back. Ever.” Rachel was silent at her husband’s side, her mouth pressed into a thin line. “If you stay, this nonsense ceases at once. You will continue your treatment. You will not corrupt your sister any further. And this man!” He pointed wildly at Cisco. “Is never to step foot on this property or any Rathaway-held estate again. You are forbidden from seeing or speaking with him!”

Hartley’s sobs stopped. He’d gone completely still and silent at his father’s words. He raised his head slowly, his red-rimmed eyes and tear-stained face battle-worn. He stepped toward his parents, Cisco’s hands falling away as he stayed back. When Hartley spoke, his voice was steady.

“Be good to Jerrie. She is your last chance to have a child who doesn’t grow to hate you. I was wrong for coming back and letting you try to change me. I’m truly sorry for the trauma I’ve caused her. She’ll have more than enough from the two of you.” Rachel opened her mouth to speak, but Hartley cut her off. “And make no mistake, I’m leaving for her. It’s more than either of you ever did for me.”

Hartley turned to Ted Strand. “And you, I hope the hell you speak of is real so you can crawl back there when your time comes.” Ted said nothing, having the gall to look amused.

Hartley turned to Cisco. “Please get us out of here.”

Cisco didn’t need to be told twice. He tried to steer them around the angry couple, but Osgood’s hand shot out and grabbed hold of Hartley.

“Be very sure, son,” he said darkly.

Hartley shoved his hand away. “I’m not your son.”

They walked from the room, Hartley holding back his tears until they were out of sight and camera range. Cisco opened a breach straight into Star Labs’s medbay.

As soon as their feet touched tile, Hartley was a sobbing heap, stumbling out of control.

“H.R, come help me!” Cisco called. He crouched in front of Hartley as he slid down the far wall, his breathing coming out in heaving pants. He was having a panic attack.

H.R. rushed in, and Cisco said, “Get a sedative out of that cabinet. A mild one.” H.R. brought over a vial and syringe, and Cisco took them in shaky hands.

“Hartley, I’m going to give you a mild sedative, okay? I’ll fix your aid. You’ll feel better when you wake up.”

Cisco didn’t want to do anything without Hartley’s consent, but he wasn’t sure Hartley could even hear him over his own struggling breaths. “C…Ca…” Hartley struggled. Cisco rubbed his arm.

“It’s okay, Hartley. Take your time. Breathe,” Cisco soothed.

“Cait…Caitlin?” Hartley managed.

“Caitlin isn’t here. It’s just me and H.R. I’m sorry…” Cisco said, but Hartley cut him off nodding vigorously. His eyes were clenched shut again. Cisco took that as a green light and carefully prepared the syringe. Hartley managed to stay still as Cisco injected him. Cisco kept a steady hand on Hartley’s arm as the drug kicked in.

Once Hartley was down, Cisco took a deep breath. “H.R, help me get him on a bed?”

Once Hartley was situated, Cisco went to work on the aid. He washed and gloved his hands before pulling it out. H.R. gagged beside him.

“If you’re going to throw up, do it over there!” Cisco ordered. H.R. stepped away and got himself under control before coming back. Cisco sterilized the aid and made sure it was still in working order. The aids needed an upgrade, but now was hardly the time. H.R. didn’t look this time as Cisco slipped the aid back in. Hartley’s face and neck were cleaned of blood, and he looked much better for it.

“Now what?” H.R. asked.

“Now we let him sleep,” Cisco said, falling into a chair beside Hartley’s bed. He scrubbed his hands over his face.

“Do you think he’ll sleep until we’re done with Savitar?”

Cisco looked at his watch. The future was merely hours away. Cisco couldn’t imagine how it would come true with Hartley in this state, but he couldn’t let his guard down now. “He should be coming to just after…” Cisco couldn’t finish the thought, hoping they’d done enough to change Iris’s fate.

~

2 Hours Until Iris West Dies

4 Hours Until Hartley Rathaway Dies

Cisco stayed by Hartley’s bedside, watching the clock over the door, grateful for every uneventful minute. H.R. was growing antsy across the room. He’d sterilized everything like Caitlin had taught him, and now he was juggling his drumsticks in Cisco’s periphery. Cisco’s heart leapt every time Hartley moved. He was restless even in sedative sleep, and Cisco was on a cliff’s edge as his fate drew nearer.

There was a gush of wind signaling Barry’s return.

“Oh, finally! B.A, we’re dying for some news,” H.R. said. Cisco winced at H.R.’s poor choice of words. He stood slowly, stretching his aching limbs. As often as the medbay was used, they really ought to get some more comfortable chairs.

“The Speed Force Bazooka is charged and in position.”

Cisco and H.R. shared a triumphant smile.

“Where’s Iris?”

“Stashed on Earth-2 with the handsome Harry Wells!” H.R. chirped.

Cisco’s heart fell into his stomach as Barry turned, realizing H.R’s fatal mistake a second before Savitar’s white eye met his. He was gone before Cisco’s heart started beating again.

“No!” Cisco ran for the cortex, opening the comm channel to Barry’s suit. “Savitar knows where Iris is! He’s going to Earth-2 to get her now!” Barry said nothing, but a second later, his location wasn’t on the radar anymore. Cisco took a last glance into the medbay to see Hartley still asleep before racing into his lab to change into his Vibe gear.

H.R. trudged into the room as Cisco was zipping his jacket. “Hartley still asleep?” Cisco asked. H.R. nodded, silent maybe for the first time since arriving on Earth-1. “Hey, listen to me, that could have happened to anyone. It’s not your fault, H.R.”

“Yes, it is. If Iris dies now, it’s on me.”

“Hey! No, it’s not. Savitar tricked you, and that could have happened to any one of us. Hell, it already did! I opened the box and let Savitar loose when he pretended to be Dante. It’s not your fault.”

H.R. said nothing.

“Look, we’re going to Infantino Street. We’re going to stop Savitar with the Speed Force Bazooka that you helped create, and Iris is going to be fine.”

“You believe that?”

“I have to believe that. What I need is someone who will watch over Hartley while we’re gone. Can you do that for me?”

H.R. nodded. “Of course, hanging around here, handing out coffee. That’s what I’m good at.”

“No, you show up. You’re there when we need you. You’re dependable, and that counts for a lot.”

H.R. gave a depleted smile. “Thanks, San Francisco.”

An alarm buzzed on Cisco’s watch. “It’s time.”

“Go. I’ll watch over Hartley.”

Cisco clapped him on the shoulder in thanks, making his way to the door.

“Hey,” H.R. called. Cisco turned. “Until next communion.”

~

Cisco had been vibing the scene for months, but it did nothing to desensitize him. Iris seemed to fall for an eternity before Barry caught her. The Speed Force Bazooka failed. Iris West was dying.

Cisco ran to Barry’s side, a terrible gurgling sound greeting him as Iris spasmed. Tears filled Cisco’s eyes as he took in the scene. Iris was always kind to Cisco. They used to play cards at Barry’s bedside, and she would tease him for being a terrible bluff. She didn’t know he was letting her win because she needed a win after watching her best friend in a coma every day.

“Iris,” Cisco gasped, a tear leaking down his face.

“San Francisco,” Iris gasped.

Then, suddenly, she was H.R.

Barry spared a confused look with Cisco, but realization was already dawning for both of them. The transmogrifier. H.R. had somehow switched places with Iris.

H.R. rasped, “I left Hartley. I’m sorry.”

“No, no, it’s okay. I’ll find him. H.R, I’m sorry. You didn’t have to do this,” Cisco cried.

“Oh, San Francisco. I’ll always be here…when you need me,” his voice was getting softer. Barry was still holding him, and tears were streaming down his face as well. “Go save Hartley. Go.”

Cisco shared a devastated look with Barry who nodded at him. Cisco stood on shaky legs, unsure if he could open a breach in this state, but he had to get to Hartley.

He’d no sooner lifted his arm than the world fell out from under him.

Chapter Text

2 Hours Until Hartley Rathaway Dies

Cisco landed hard on the concrete, his scarring shoulder protesting as he pushed himself up on an elbow. Savitar and Killer Frost stood before him. Savitar wasn’t in his suit. At certain angles, it would be difficult to distinguish this monster from Barry, but there was no doubt now with his cold eyes boring down on Cisco.

“Why did you bring me here?” Cisco asked, pushing up off the floor with a groan.

“Fix this,” Savitar ordered, dropping the Speed Force Bazooka onto a table.

Cisco stared at him. When Eddie Thawne shot himself in the chest, Eobard Thawne was affected almost immediately. Since Savitar didn’t manage to kill Iris, he should be erased from the timeline as well, so why wasn’t he disappearing? The answer knit together as Cisco stared. Savitar’s superior speed would save him for at least a few hours, giving him plenty of time to wreak havoc.

“You know I didn’t build that. Neither of us have time for me to figure out how it works.”

Savitar turned an amused look on him. Killer Frost stood off the side, a cool expression firmly in place. “If this is about Hartley,” Savitar hissed. “You’re too late. Because you know what I remember? Barry and the team just got back to Star Labs, and Hartley is gone. He’s probably halfway to Main Street Bridge by now.”

“Then let me go!”

“Not a chance, San Francisco,” Savitar mocked, sending an H.R.-shaped knife into Cisco’s gut. And if you don’t do exactly as I say, I’ll send my pal, Killer Frost, to go give Hartley a little shove.” Killer Frost gave a little wave over Savitar’s shoulder.

Cisco’s blood turned cold as he realized how those future scenarios came to pass. He gritted his teeth, wishing for all the world he could punch the man in-front of him and actually cause some damage. “What do you want me to do?”

“Alter this thing into a splicer.”

“A splicer?”

Savitar filled Cisco in on some ridiculous plan to splice himself throughout time. It was ludicrous but wouldn’t be difficult to fake—at least long enough for the time paradox to catch up. Cisco’s mind buzzed with ideas, his engineer’s imagination having the thing apart already. “I’ll need tools,” he said. In a half-second whirlwind, there was a box of tools on the table. “And space.”

Savitar gave Cisco a menacing look before backing off. Cisco got to work, taking the weapon apart while keeping an eye on Killer Frost in the corner. If Caitlin stayed with him, then at least she wouldn’t be able to hurt Hartley. This gave Cisco some comfort, but he still had to hope he could get to Hartley in time or Hartley would change his mind. Only time would tell.

Cisco struggled to make the splicer believable but ultimately useless. He took it apart and started over twice. Killer Frost began hovering suspiciously, but Cisco knew Caitlin didn’t have the expertise to know what he was doing.

“Are you almost finished?” she asked.

“Why? You got some more threats up your sleeve if I don’t work faster?”

“No, I think Savitar’s was pretty effective,” she purred. Cisco shivered despite himself.

“You know, I told you that you and Hartley were friends in the other timeline,” Cisco said, working as he spoke. “In fact, I think you knew Hartley and I had feelings for each other before we did. And when Zoom kidnapped you, Hartley was the one to save you. He broke into CCPD, despite all the Earth-2 metas, and with nothing but his gauntlets for protection, just to get you back.”

Caitlin said nothing, but Cisco could have sworn there was a flicker. It was gone the moment it came. “Finish this,” she seethed, skulking back to her corner.

Cisco stalled as long as he could, but Savitar was still corporeal by the time he finished. Savitar was in front of him before the toolbox clicked closed. “Finished?” he asked. Cisco gestured to the splicer, not trusting his voice. He was all too aware he may be seen as a liability now. Caitlin had stayed and watched him work the entire time, her electric eyes still boring into him from her corner.

After a long stretch of silence, Cisco said, “I did what you wanted. Now let me find Hartley.”

Savitar lifted his gaze from the device slowly. The smirk on his face told Cisco everything he dreaded to know. There was a lurching feeling and they were standing at the edge of a forest. Cisco steadied himself, hands on his knees. Somehow Savitar’s ride-alongs were more disorienting than Barry’s—maybe because he was faster or maybe because he was an asshole. Once Cisco stood up straight, Savitar thrust the splicer into his hands.

“What are you doing?” Cisco asked.

“It’s only fitting that Barry’s best friend be the one to seal his fate. When I tell you to, you’re going to shoot me with this, and if anything goes wrong, you know who pays the price.”

Cisco took the weapon, stepping back as Savitar got into position. Cisco didn’t know if there was enough time now to save Hartley. He tried not to picture Hartley’s broken body underneath the bridge. A moment later, Team Flash arrived. Barry, Wally, Joe, Iris, and Harry, of all people.

“Just in time,” Savitar taunted. He turned and opened a portal with an easy motion. Cisco felt it deep in his powers, the Speed Force opening up like a gaping wound in the universe. Savitar was a violation. “Shoot me Cisco!”

Barry started to run forward, but Cisco gave him a meaningful look. He powered on the weapon and shot it at Savitar. The vibration was more intense than Cisco’s powers. Pain ricocheted up Cisco’s injured shoulder, the wounds having barely knit together from the last time. For a moment, there was an infinite string of Savitars, one blending into another. No beginning. No end. But the spell broke as soon as the chain reached the portal.

The Speed Force exploded outward, knocking Savitar forward and sending him rolling in a loud mess of clanging metal. Cisco dropped the weapon, barely managing to get out of the hurdling speedster’s path. Savitar’s armor crushed the bazooka in his wake. As Savitar’s momentum declined, Wally moved in. They crashed together, making the trees shudder around them. Wally was soon a bloody heap on the ground, alive but unmoving.

Barry was next—except, in a blink, Cisco’s view was nothing but glowing blue and silver. His jacket pressed into his wounds as his feet left the ground in an awkward scramble. It took Cisco a moment to take in the monster that held him, the front of his suit clutched in a metallic fist.

“You will pay for what you’ve done, Cisco Ramon. I may not have time to kill Hartley, but you, my friend, will die the way you were meant to.”

Savitar’s free hand began to vibrate inches over Cisco’s heart. The sound it made sent Cisco back in time and across dimensions. Gone was Savitar. In his place, Harrison Wells. Cisco’s mentor. Shredding his heart. The pain of his lungs spasming as his body gave out. Forgive me, but to me you’ve been dead for centuries.

A high-pitched whine broke the air. Damp grass filled Cisco’s flesh and bone hands as he hit the ground. An icy blast shot out over him, encapsulating Savitar and pinning him to the ground. Cisco blinked through black spots. His chest was screaming as his throat seemed to block the air from his lungs.

“Breathe,” said a figure crouching in Cisco’s blurred gaze. For a moment, he looked like Barry, and Cisco feared Savitar wasn’t finished with him. But a few more blinks revealed warm blue eyes and an unmarred, perfect face.

“You’re alive,” Cisco breathed, the pain in his chest replaced with wild relief. “You’re okay.”

“We both are,” Hartley said, “Thanks to a mutual friend.”

Cisco followed Hartley’s gaze to Caitlin whose hands were still misting with her powers. He realized she and Hartley must have worked together to get Savitar away from him, catching sight of Hartley’s gauntlets glowing green on his hands. Savitar. Cisco’s mind was brought back to the present. He jumped up, wobbling on his feet. Hartley stood too, steadying him.

“We gotta move,” Cisco said, dragging Hartley back. All they could do was watch as Barry and Savitar fought. Harry, Joe, and Iris watched on the other side of the battle, as though this was a fight they’d all paid to see. Cisco wondered if life would be easier if he’d never gotten caught up in all this, but then he thought of Hartley, pale and wide-eyed next to him. Maybe a world of supervillains and heroes wasn’t any better or worse than a life without. Perhaps everyone fought their own monsters—their’s just happen to be more literal than most.

In the end, Iris shot Savitar, and the Speed God disintegrated before their eyes. Even knowing what he was, a part of Cisco ached to see his friend wither away. But then Barry pulled him into a hug, and Cisco realized the future was changed. They still lost someone, but he was so grateful for everyone who survived.

Once Barry moved on, Cisco turned to see Caitlin and Hartley whispering near the trees. Cisco made his way over. “Thank you both,” he said. Both of them looked wide-eyed in their own ways, and something clicked as Caitlin’s brown eyes met his. “You saved Hartley,” he breathed. “You were always trying to save Hartley.”

She looked down, her lips pursed as though admitting such a thing would be distasteful. Hartley spoke up for her. “She used her powers to break my fall. I…” Hartley’s voice cracked. “I regretted it as soon as I stepped off, and then this mist slowed my descent and I landed in snow. Frost told me everything. How you’ve known for months and have been trying to save me.”

“Frost?” Cisco asked.

“I’m not a killer,” Caitlin spoke up. “But I’m also not Caitlin anymore.”

“Okay,” Cisco nodded, stepping closer to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you for saving Hartley, Frost.” She gave him a sad smile and wrapped him in a hug. Cisco held her tightly, tears threatening to fall.

“Everything okay over here?” Barry asked. Cisco released Frost and turned to most of Team Flash standing around them.

“I think so,” Cisco said. Hartley nodded sheepishly, and Frost bit her lip.

“I’m really sorry for everything,” she said. “I want to come back, but…” She looked to Hartley who nodded for her to go on. “I need the space to figure out who I am and what I want to be.”

Team Flash exchanged a series of looks. “We can give you that,” Barry said finally. Frost smiled widely for the first time since her transformation and wrapped an arm around Hartley who returned the gesture with a tired smile of his own.

“Where’d Harry go?” Cisco asked, noting the doppelganger’s absence from the group.

“He decided to make himself scarce. He remembers the other timeline,” Barry said, nodding toward Hartley. “He’s at Star Labs.”

Cisco had some explaining to do before it was a good idea to subject Hartley to Harry, but that could wait. The team slowly dispersed, and finally, Cisco and Hartley were alone.

“My place?” Cisco offered. Hartley nodded.

~

Cisco had to remind himself Hartley had never seen his place as Hartley scanned the bookshelves in fascination.

“Tea?” Cisco offered, itching for something to do.

“Please,” Hartley said, still looking over Cisco’s books.

Cisco removed his Vibe jacket, careful to avoid his injured shoulder. He hoped he would have a chance to heal before their next big bad came out of the woodwork. He set to work with the kettle, making a chamomile exactly as Hartley liked it. When he finished, he brought two mugs into the living room. Hartley must have finished his inspection as he was now sitting on the couch. Cisco handed Hartley one of the mugs.

“Thank you,” Hartley said, taking the mug without looking at Cisco. They sat in stilted silence, neither moving much since the tea was too hot to drink.

“I’m sorry,” Hartley said.

Cisco stared at him. “For what?”

“Everything,” Hartley said, “Everything I put you through the last few months. I couldn’t have known…I didn’t know what you saw, but I know I didn’t make it easy for you to help me.”

“Hartley, you have no reason to be sorry.”

“I was cruel to you—when I accused you of only wanting to help me so you could be with me. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Like you said, you didn’t know. And, I’m not sure I handled it in the best way. I’m sorry for everything I did to make it worse,” Cisco said, putting a hand on Hartley’s arm as Hartley shook his head. “What matters is you’re here—you’re alive, and now we just need to worry about what happens next.”

“I’m not going to try again. You don’t need to worry about that. I don’t…I don’t know what I was thinking. I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted the pain to stop, but I meant it when I said I regretted it immediately.”

Hartley was beginning to hyperventilate, so Cisco squeezed his arm. “It’s okay. I believe you.”

Silence fell over them again.

“I’m not going back,” Hartley said. “To my parents. I meant everything I said back there.”

Cisco nodded. “I have a guest room. I made it up for you a few weeks ago, after we found out about the drugs. It’s yours, as long as you want it.”

“You didn’t have…I can’t—”

Cisco cut him off. “Please, I want to, Hartley. Just…let me help you get back on your feet. There’s no strings attached. You don’t have to come work at Star Labs or be Pied Piper or be with me. You don’t even have to talk to me if you don’t want to. I just want you to be okay.”

“So, what you’re saying is, you’re the opposite of Harrison Wells?”

“I’ll take that as the highest compliment.”

Hartley huffed a laugh.

“Speaking of Harrison Wells,” Cisco started. “There’s something you should know.” There was kind of a lot Hartley deserved to know about Dr. Wells, but Cisco stuck with the Earth-2 explanation for the time being. He feared Hartley wasn’t ready to hear the whole Eobard Thawne saga this close to a mental health crisis.

“So the multiverse theory is real? And Harrison’s Earth-2 doppelganger is a friend to Team Flash?”

Cisco could see Hartley’s mind spinning with all the information Cisco threw at him. “Yup,” he said, “and you and him were friends in the other timeline.”

“A timeline he remembers because he wasn’t on this earth when Barry changed the timeline.”

“Exactly.”

“How do you keep up with all this?” Hartley asked.

“I don’t. I just walk around confused.”

Hartley chuckled, and Cisco beamed at the sound. “I can’t imagine ever trusting another Harrison Wells enough to be friends.”

“It took a while,” Cisco laughed. “He bore the brunt of your snarkier side for months, and one time we needed to make a weapon against a bunch of Earth-2 metas, and you took great pleasure in testing it out on him.”

Hartley chuckled before falling silent again. “I’m glad I can’t see into that timeline. It hurts to hear about it because it sounds like we were happier then. How do you live with that?”

Cisco absorbed the question for a moment, staring into his tea. “I was angry at Barry for a long time. Part of me still is. My brother, Dante—he died, but he was alive in the other timeline. And then I saw our relationship in vibes, and I saw what was happening to you now. I thought I could never forgive Barry, but…he’s only human. He made a mistake, and now he has to live with all of this too. And maybe this timeline isn’t so bad. You got to know your sister. That’s something you really wanted in that other time. Maybe no timeline is perfect. All we have is the here and now.”

“I wish I could have taken Jerrie with me.”

“We’ll find a way for you to be in her life. I promise. But in the meantime, maybe you should focus on you,” Cisco said gently.

Hartley nodded. “You’re probably right.”

“Wow! Did those words hurt coming out?”

“Oh, stop. I never let you be right when we were dating?”

“Wait, now that you mention it, I’m getting something,” Cisco said, clutching his head and squinting his eyes. “You regularly told me I was a genius.”

“Please.”

“And that I have superior science skills.”

“Hardly.”

“And that my hair is glorious.”

“Fine, you can have that one,” Hartley laughed. Cisco grinned at him. “How’s that shoulder?”

“Better now that our villain-of-the-month is no longer a threat. Speaking of which, are you and Cai—Frost besties now?”

“We actually have quite a bit in common.”

“Cold hearted? Graphic sense of humor? Flair for the dramatic?”

“Both trying to find our place in the world,” Hartley finished.

“Ah.”

They finished their tea in comfortable silence.

“How about I show you that room?” Cisco offered. He led Hartley down the hall to the second door on the left. The room wasn’t large, but there was a full size bed in the middle adorned with dark green bedding. There was a Ravenclaw plush beside the pillow and a nightstand with a shaker alarm clock and a framed photo of Hartley and Jerrie he’d found on her Instagram. There was a desk with a new laptop Cisco had built himself and a bookshelf laden with books.

“There’s some clothes in the drawers. Just some basics and comfy things to sleep in. I figured we could breach into your old room to get your stuff sometime—when no one’s around—if you want. Or we can go shopping. Or you and Frost can go shopping. Maybe she can show you where she’s getting those new scary outfits of hers.” Cisco knew he was babbling as Hartley took in the room. Finally, Hartley turned to him.

“Cisco, this is…thank you,” he said. Cisco let out a relieved breath.

“You’re welcome.”

~

Retrieving Hartley’s things turned out to be kind of fun. Hartley hadn’t wanted to step foot back in Rathaway Mansion, even with his family away, so Cisco went in his place. He quickly learned he could throw things through his breaches which lead to an hour of him throwing Hartley’s stuff through a breach into Hartley’s room in Cisco’s apartment. After a while, Hartley realized he could throw things back. Among the rejected items were a scratchy sweater, a book that upon closer inspection must’ve been Jerrie’s, and a framed photo of Hartley and his parents when he was a child. Cisco hadn’t been sure he should send that, so when it came sailing back through the breach, he merely placed it back on the mahogany dresser.

When Cisco stepped back through the breach, he landed face down in a mound of clothes. He groaned, rolling away from a hanger that had jabbed his side. When he opened his eyes, Hartley stood over him looking unimpressed.

“You could’ve at least aimed for the bed,” Hartley griped.

“You’re welcome,” Cisco grumbled, pushing himself up.

“Don’t step on that! It’s silk!”

Cisco stumbled away from the clothing pile, rolling his eyes as he went. He flopped down on the bed, watching Hartley carefully pick up each piece and place it in the closet. Fondness tugged at his chest as Hartley picked up a cashmere sweater and grimaced at its mangled state. In the other timeline, Hartley had lost everything, and by the time he and Cisco got together, he no longer seemed to care. Cisco could spend the rest of this timeline spotting the differences and marveling at what made Hartley Hartley.

After a moment’s rest, Cisco began putting Hartley’s books in the bookcase near the window.

“I sort those by genre and then alphabetically by author,” Hartley called over his shoulder. Cisco hummed, having half a mind to sort them in reverse order just to hear Hartley huff at him. When Hartley was finished with his clothes, he came over to help Cisco. It wasn’t long before he paused in his sorting, eyes unfocused.

“You okay?” Cisco asked.

“Thank you,” Hartley said quietly. “For getting my things.”

“You’re welcome,” Cisco repeated, softer this time. It’d been three days since the fated bridge incident, and Cisco hadn’t pushed Hartley to talk. Hartley’s mood rode an unpredictable wave—his sarcastic self one moment and a reserved shell the next. “Did you find something to wear to the funeral?”

“Yes,” Hartley said, nodding to a black suit laid out on the bed.

“You know, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to. I would have gotten your stuff even if you hadn’t needed something to wear to this thing. It might be too much too soon?”

“Frost mentioned he helped you find me,” Hartley said, focusing his gaze on the books. “And if he was there for you during these last few months…he deserves my gratitude.”

~

They arrived at the gravesite to find the rest of Team Flash already assembled. Harry approached them cautiously. Cisco watched Hartley’s face. He’d told Hartley more about Harry since their original conversation, but it did little to resolve Hartley’s trepidation for the man.

“Ramon,” Harry greeted, exchanging a short hug with Cisco. “Rathaway,” he said, nodding. He made no move to hug Hartley or shake his hand.

“Dr. Wells,” Hartley said icily. Cisco caught the briefest flash of amusement before Harry nodded in resolved understanding.

To Cisco’s surprise, Frost was in attendance, and when she spotted Hartley, she raced over and gave him a hug. Hartley returned it fiercely as Cisco blinked at them. When they pulled apart, Frost looked at Cisco.

“Cisco,” she said.

“Frost,” he greeted. Something shifted in her gaze and then Cisco was locked in a fierce hug as well. Her skin was cool to the touch, and Cisco felt tears sting his eyes as he wrapped his arms around his best friend.

Team Flash were the only people who knew H.R, so their gathering was small and the service short. Cisco hadn’t realized he was crying until Hartley pushed a handkerchief into his hand. When it was Cisco’s turn to approach the stone, he placed H.R.’s beloved drumsticks.

“I’m sorry I never realized you needed saving too,” Cisco said, hot tears sliding down his face. To Cisco’s surprise, Hartley stepped up to the stone next, and Cisco heard him say a quiet thank you to the Wells he didn’t get to know.

That evening, Hartley was the one to make tea while Cisco put on his ultimate comfort movie, The Princess Bride. Hartley curled up in the armchair, wrapped in a green fleece blanket and using his eagle plush as a pillow while Cisco sprawled on the couch. The washer whirred in the background, cleaning a load Hartley had thrown in, mixing his and Cisco’s things without a word. There was so much left to discuss, so much still to figure out, but, for this moment, they could pretend everything was good.

Chapter Text

Six Years Later

“Jer, they’re here!” Hartley’s voice rang through the house.

Cisco waited at the bottom of the stairs, camera ready on his phone. Hartley moved next to him, fluttering between the door and the bottom of the stairs.

Hartley had been jittery all day, and Cisco had borne the brunt of his anxiety in the form of cleaning. They’d dusted the whole house—twice. “Would you please relax? Jerrie is supposed to be the nervous one?” Cisco had said, biting back a smile. Hartley merely made a stressed noise and batted Cisco out of the way with the duster.

The stairs creaked above them, and Cisco and Hartley quickly took positions to get photos from multiple angles. Hartley let out an annoyed huff, and Cisco realized it was Frost making her way down the stairs.

“What? I am not worthy of a photo op?” she asked, striking a pose on the landing. Cisco laughed and snapped a couple photos.

“How’s Jer?” Hartley fretted.

“She’s fine. Her prom dress fits perfectly. I helped her with her hair, and she’s putting some finishing touches on her makeup now,” Frost said, pulling her jacket on.

“Are you not staying for the big reveal?” Cisco asked.

“I promised Caity I’d meet her for dinner. Take lots of photos,” she said, kissing Hartley and then Cisco on the cheek. She and Caitlin had separated bodies the previous year after a spell of headaches, and while odd at first, it was wonderful to have them both.

Frost opened the door to reveal a fidgeting teenager. “Oh! Hi, Frost,” they said, smiling.

“Hey, Pen! Have fun tonight!” Frost said, giving the teen a short squeeze. Hartley ushered them in with a smile.

“Jerrie’s almost ready, Pen. Would you like something to drink?” Hartley offered.

“No thanks,” they said, adjusting the flower in their lapel.

“Cool suit, my friend,” Cisco said, clapping them on the shoulder. “You look great!”

“Thanks Cisco!” Pen beamed. They wore an electric blue suit to match their hair. Pen and Jerrie had been seeing each other since their sophomore year. It was in secret at first, neither of their parents very accepting. Hartley had urged Jerrie over email not to tell their parents. He didn’t trust them not to hurt Jerrie or out her friend to their own parents.

Jerrie had appeared on Hartley and Cisco’s doorstep the second she turned eighteen—exactly one minute after midnight. Cisco had blearily opened the door, ready to throw a vibe blast at whoever was knocking in the middle of the night. He’d stuttered a startled “Jerrie” at the sight of her with all her bags, and that was enough to bring Hartley hurtling down the stairs. Jerrie’s exclamation of “Big Brother!” followed by a sibling bear-hug marked the beginning of their little trio. She’d been with them two months now, and Cisco loved how happy she made Hartley.

The stairs creaked again, and Cisco jumped, fumbling with his phone as a silver shoe came into view. Jerrie looked like a princess as she descended the stairs, an iron grip on the banister as unfamiliar heels snagged the carpet. Pride radiated from Hartley as she reached the bottom and greeted Pen with a deep blush.

“Okay, stand together now!” Hartley said excitedly, snapping photo after photo. “Lisa wants a flip book!”

A few years ago, Lisa had visited Central City to show her fiancée around her hometown. She’d reached out to Hartley, and they reconnected, both happy to see the other doing so well. Her and Hartley’s relationship consisted mostly of weekly video chats. Lisa still flirted shamelessly with Cisco each time he chimed in, leaving Cisco a bashful puddle and Hartley pretending to be affronted. Lisa worked for a security company as a professional bodyguard. She was renowned for her service among the New York City music scene. She even carried her gold gun while on the job. Her husband was an art curator, a title she assured them was not code for something more nefarious. They almost believed her.

Cisco and Hartley took tons of photos of Pen and Jerry in various cutesy poses, the last of which Jerrie made faces in because Hartley was holding them up. She then pushed a camera into Pen’s hands before running over to get some photos with Cisco and Hartley. Cisco tried to step away to let them have their sibling moment, but both Hartley and Jerrie hauled him back into the huddle.

“Have fun tonight, and call if you need anything. And don’t drink. And if you do drink, it’s okay, just call so we can drive you and your friends home. But really, don’t drink,” Hartley said, waving off a laughing Cisco.

“Okay,” Jerrie said, giggling at their antics. She wrapped her arms around Hartley. “Thanks for everything, big brother. You and Cisco are the best stand-in parents a girl could ask for.” She then hugged Cisco and kissed him on the cheek. They watched as her and Pen left hand in hand.

Cisco wrapped his arms around Hartley from behind, resting his chin on Hartley’s shoulder. “She called us her stand-in parents,” Hartley said. Cisco hummed. After Hartley left his parents, Cisco had been so careful, afraid of pushing Hartley or making him feel obligated to be with him. The first few months were rough as Hartley began attending therapy to recover from everything his parents and their “counselors” had put him through. He’d had trouble sleeping even after Cisco updated his aids to max out the deafeners. Hartley had been prone to lashing out in terrible fits of rage only to crumble moments later in sobbing torrents of apologies. Cisco had never felt so helpless as he assured Hartley it was fine and he wasn’t going to make Hartley leave.

The six month mark seemed to be a turning point as Hartley’s mood evened out, his depressive episodes growing farther between until they became a rarity. Hartley instead had grown antsy, tired of languishing around Cisco’s apartment, but he hadn’t been sure what his next move should be. His answer came after Cisco got hurt during a Vibe mission, Barry trapped in the Speed Force at the time, so Hartley debuted as the new and improved Pied Piper to seek vengeance. Cisco had tried to be angry at him since he’d done it without telling anyone, but he was too relieved to see Hartley beaming with happiness at the accomplishment.

Vibe and Pied Piper had become the city’s go-to superheros for the remainder of Barry’s stay in the Speed Force, and Cisco watched the life pour back into Hartley with each mission. Once Barry had returned and taken over his role as Central City’s main superhero, Hartley had decided to apply for a physicist position at Mercury Labs. He and Cisco fell into a routine after that, each returning to the apartment after work, sometimes going out to dinner, other times staying in for a movie night. Cisco hadn’t even realized they were dating until he’d caught Hartley looking at him with all the fondness in the world as he ranted about some crappy movie. Hartley had kissed Cisco in the middle of the word ‘apocalypse’ and the rest was history.

Hartley had never gotten his own place. It had been a discussion once, a thing they felt would maybe be healthy for a newish couple. In the end, neither of them liked the idea, so they stayed together in Cisco’s apartment and moved into a house after they got married. Hartley stayed in communication with Jerrie over email. Their parents monitored her phone, so she emailed Hartley at school. They remained close, and Hartley put together a room for her the moment he and Cisco moved into their house, even if it would be a couple years before she occupied it.

Hartley was now Mercury Labs’ top physicist, and Cisco was incredibly proud of him. Cisco was still at Star Labs doing his beloved engineering and making the occasional appearance as Vibe when needed. Hartley joined them as Pied Piper only on occasion. They had their own lives, and they had each other.