"Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that this guy, who y'all just found the body of, And he's not a zombie?" I asked as Joe and Barry nodded slowly as I frowned.

"Lame." I said as Cisco sighed, nodding in agreement as he spoke up.

"Get this, the night the particle accelerator went off, Rothstein was on his honeymoon. In Hawaii."

"Twin brother?" Cisco questioned as Barry shook his head.

"Only child." He answered as I scoffed quietly.

"So how is he standing on two big foot feet?" I asked as everyone shrugged. "I came back to see Barry be handed the key to the city, not see him have to fight the male version of Susan Murphy from Monsters Vs. Aliens." I said as Cisco chuckled quietly, everyone but me glaring at him before he shut his mouth.

"Cora, can I have a word with you for a minute?" Joe asked as I looked at Barry warily before nodding, following into the training room.

"Barry needs our help with this." Joe quickly said as I stopped in my tracks.

"Joe, Barry said if I couldn't do this with him than he'll work alone. And I can't just up and leave my mom." I said as Joe nodded slowly.

"Look. He's not going to want our help if you aren't here with us. Whatever and whoever this new meta is. . . Barry can't fight him alone." Joe said as he pointed to the glass at Barry, who was talking to Cisco.

I looked over at Barry, sighing. I love Barry, but my mom has always come first since my dads death. I don't know if I could just throw her in a nursing home. That seems so wrong.

Crossing my arms, I sighed quietly. "I-I can't Joe. You'll just. . . Have to do this without me. I'm sorry." I said as Joe sighed through his nose, nodding.

"Look, maybe you three with Caitlin will work well without my help." I assured as Joe shook his head.

"You know damn well that ain't true, Cora. Hell, some of the shit you say probably wouldn't have entered any of our minds." Joe said as I couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"Barry will do just fine with you guys. My mom needs me to take care of her now." I said as Joe nodded, allowing me to leave.

I walked out and next to Barry, his hand finding mine almost immediately, but I had to stop my frown.

"I'll be back guys, I need to talk to Caitlin." Cisco said as we waved him goodbye as I sat down in my old chair, a nostalgic feeling hitting my heart.

"I missed this chair more than I missed you guys if I'll be honest." I joked, letting out a laugh as Joe and Barry did.

"Hey how about we all go back to Joe's? Catch up on what we've missed?" Barry suggested as I looked over at Joe, both of us shrugging.

"I'm okay with that. I do miss that house." I said with a chuckle as Barry smiled, and off we went.

☀︎︎

So, as we said back at S.T.A.R Labs, Joe, Barry and I were practically laughing at everything we said as we sipped on our beer and wine. God I hate beer.

As our laughter died down, someone knocked on the door. All of us looked at one another before Barry walked over and answered.

"Hello?" He said as a man gave him a fake smile.

"Mr. Allen? Barry Allen?" The man said as I walked up, standing a little off as Barry nodded. "I'm Greg Turk. I'm an attorney at Weathersby and Stone. I don't usually make house calls, but I've been trying to get in touch with you for several months."

"Yeah. Yeah sorry about that. . . I've been busy with work." Barry said as the man shrugged.

"We need to talk about S.T.A.R. Labs. As you know, Harrison Wells left the property to you as part of his living trust." Greg said as Barry grimaced.

"Yeah, which I did not ask him to do, but I've been keeping the place up." Barry said as I pursed my lips together, sipping on my glass of wine like I would my tea.

"Well, It's going to take more than cleaning the floors to retain it, I'm afraid. The facility and the real estate are scheduled to go into receivership at the end of this week unless... you watch this." Greg said as he handed Barry a flash drive. He turned to me, his brows stitched together in confusion as I shrugged.

"What is this?" Barry asked as I now walked up, putting myself in the view of Greg.

"Video message drafted by Dr. Wells." Greg answered as several things flew through my mind.

What could this possibly be about?  About dr Wells giving him the damn deed to STAR labs? Or. . . No that's ridiculous. Harrison would never do that.

"What's on it? Have you seen it?" Barry asked as Greg shook his head.

"He was very specific that only you watch it." Greg said. "The device will send me a notification after you've viewed it. And at that point, I'll have everything ready to execute."

"I'm not going to watch that." Barry said as my eyes widened. Is he fucking stupid? What if something serious is on there?

"That's up to you, Mr. Allen. I'm only here to represent Harrison Wells' final request. Good day." And with that, Greg left as I slapped Barry hard in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?!" He said as I scoffed, glaring at him as I gestures to the flash drive.

"Are you serious, Barry? Something serious could be on that drive!" I said as Joe stayed silent, sipping on his beer as he watched the scene unfold.

"I'm not watching this, Cora!" Barry said as I frowned at him.

"Fine. If you won't, I will. Then I'll tell you what's on it!" I said, quickly snatching the drive from Barry's hands and sprinting out the door.

"HEY!" In seconds, Barry was in front of me, snatching me up off the ground. "Drop it!"

"The hell am I, a dog?!" I said as I gripped the flash drive. "You refuse to watch something that Harrison Wells gave you, something that may end up being good!" I said as Barry frowned at me.

And then he dropped me. He dropped me.

I landed on my feet quickly, bouncing up as I glared up at him. "If you weren't my boyfriend you'd be catching these hands, Allen!" I said as I waved my fist in his face.

Maybe I should have used the fist that didn't hold the flash drive, seeing as he used his speed to snatch it from my hand. "Hey!"

"It's mine. I'm not watching it. We're going to STAR Labs." He said as I stood my ground like a child, crossing my arms.

"No we are-" but it was too late. I was already standing in the cortex. "Not." I finished with a huff, turning to see Caitlin, Joe, Stein and Cisco staring at me and Barry.

"Someone tell me I'm right about Barry being an idiot." I said as Barry rolled his eyes.

"Anyways, I think our meta's been sucking up all the radiation around him and using it to power himself." Cisco said as I raised a brow.

"You mean Atom Smasher?"  I said as Cisco slowly turned to me.

"Because he can absorb atomic power and well he. . . Smashes things." I said as Cisco walked up to me before bringing me into a hug.

"I have missed you so much." He said as I chuckled, hugging him back.

"Anyways, if we want to find him, we gotta look for places without radiation." Caitlin said as I heard Barry very silently scoff.

"Look guys, I really don't want any of you here right now." He said as I frowned.

"Then why did you bring me here?" I asked as he frowned.

"Because I wanted your help." Barry said as Cisco pouted.

"Tough luck, Barry Allen. You need your partners.
You need your friends. And everyone in this room cares about you and this city. And that means fighting meta-humans and rekindling Team Flash." I said as Barry just frowned again.

"Got him. There's a three block dead zone near a hazardous waste reclamation plant." Cisco said as Barry looked at me and shrugged, causing me to give him the mother's look and point at him.

"Barry Allen don't you dare go-" but he was already gone, his comm set behind.

"Once again, someone please tell me he is being an idiot." I said as Stein sighed.

"While I do believe Mr. Allen is quite the intelligent young man, he can be careless at times. This. . . Is one of those times." He said as I pointed to Stein and looked at everyone.

"See? He gets it!" I said as I walked over behind the monitors, plopping down in my chair as I snagged one of Cisco's red vines.

Before Cisco could search for the security system, I was already halfway through, a smirk on my face when I saw Barry in his flash suit talking to Albert Rothstein.

I heard heels clicking, turning around to see Iris. "W-what are you doing here?" I asked as she stopped, looking at me as she tilted her head, frowning.

"Hm. Didn't realize you were suddenly back on the team." She said as I dropped my mouth.

"You know EXACTLY why I left, Iris West. I didn't see you in here when I got back." I snapped as she glared at me. So, we can just say that we aren't on the. . . Best, of terms.

"Anyway. Dad, I think I can get there in time." Iris said as I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

"And do what? You aren't a meta. And the Boot didn't help last time." I said as Joe put a hand on my shoulder, quite obviously telling me to calm down.

"Alarm!" Professor Stein said as we all turned to him.

I zoned out once again as I set up the alarms, and within a few minutes, Barry was back, almost immediately getting lectured by Joe.

"I can't deal with this right now. I-I need to talk to Cora." Barry said as I nodded slowly. I turned to face Iris, glaring at her for a moment, but her face had a different expression.

Was that... jealousy?

I had no time to think about that as I walked out with Barry, immediately getting swooped up by him and was now sitting on his bed as he stood in front of me, holding the drive.

"I-I don't want to watch this alone." He said quietly as I nodded slowly.

"Oh. Yeah of course." I said as I stood up, grabbing the small chair that was in his room as he walked over to his computer, setting up the flash drive.

"What do you think is on it?" I asked as Barry shrugged.

"Honestly I don't know. . ." He answered as we saw the video pop up, Dr. Wells in full view. I couldn't help but grimace. I can't believe I continued to trust him even after I saw his foot move a year ago.

"Hello, Barry. If you're watching this, that means something has gone horribly wrong. I'm dead and the last 15 years have been for nothing. Bummer. 15 years. You know, when I realize that in all those years helping raise you, we were never truly enemies, Barry. I'm not the thing you hate." Wells said as I scoffed quietly.

"And so, I want to give you the thing that you want most. It won't matter. You'll never be truly happy, Barry Allen, trust me." He continued as I held Barry's hand, a smile on my face, knowing what was about to come, but Barry was still clueless.

"Now... Erase everything I said up to this point.Give the following message to the police. My name is Harrison Wells. Being of sound mind and body, I freely confess to the murder of Nora Allen." He said as Barry froze, his face contorted into shock as I smiled widely.

"In her home, on the night of March 18th, in the year 2000. I attacked Nora Allen in her dining room." Dr. Wells continued as I scoffed out a cheerful laugh.

"Oh my god. . ." Barry said quietly as he turned to me, a smile on his face.

"He did it, Barry. He-He confessed." Barry and I shot up, wrapping around each other as I heard Barry hold back a cry.

"This is it." Barry said as he looked down at me. "This is what I need to free my dad."

"He's coming home, Barry." I said as tears fell from both of our eyes.

"My dad is coming home."