an: so we're at the finale of season one, and the end of this fic. not sure if this is going to continue, but we'll see ~ let me know if you think it should

guide: Plain text is Iris. Italics are Flash

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Part Eight

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Today (8:13a)
No goodbye?

(8:15)
I wanted to be there when Wells woke up. Pretty sure he's faking being asleep at this point.
(8:16)
Sorry, should I have stayed?

(8:17)
It's fine. Really. You being there last night was enough

(8:19)
I can come back? Seriously Wells is just laying there

(8:21)
I wouldn't say no to a cup of coffee
(8:22)
But I also wouldn't want to get between you and your big moment

(8:24)
I can drop one off for you. Open the door for me in ten?

(8:26)
Can do

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(8:38)
If being the Flash ever gets boring, you should do this for a living. Cup's so fresh that I smudged my name on the side of it.

(8:40)
Only for you, Iris

(8:41)
"What other girls"

(8:41)
Don't mock me when I do nice things

(8:42)
Don't be mockable and I won't

(8:42)
Mockable? Now who's creating words?

(8:44)
I'm too lazy to screenshot the definition, but that one is real. Something that can be mocked; has a picture of you under examples. Probably from your days with braces

(8:45)
Is that before or after a picture of you from gym class?

(8:46)
Before. Best examples always go higher up

(8:48)
Hardy har. Someone's in a good mood
(8:49)
Shit, does mentioning it ruin the mood?
(8:49)
It probably does, I'm sorry
(8:50)
If it makes you feel any better, Cisco slept in the accelerator last night. Just curled up in his rolling chair with candy hanging out his mouth
(8:51)
Do you want a picture? I can send one

(8:52)
It's fine, Bar. I'm fine.

(8:53)
…sure you don't want a picture?

(8:54)
I'm sure. I should go get ready for the day. But thank you, for everything

(8:55)
Any time.

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(9:30a)
What are you doing right now?

(9:31)
Sitting in my car, debating if I really want to go inside CCPN right now

(9:32)
Can I rant for a second? Or a lot of seconds?

(9:32)
Bring it on

(9:34)
I talked to Wells, right. I knew he was a dick, but he's such a fucking dick, Iris. He plays on everything he knows and everything I've ever confided in him to just fuck with my head. Plus, you know the first thing he said to me was about wanting Big Belly Burger? He doesn't get that. No, that's a gift. A treat for people who've done a few bad things but don't deserve to fucking starve in this cell. Not for people who've been ruining lives that have apparently existed from before their time!
(9:36)
and GOD, I've spent the last twenty minutes talking to everyone else. To Ronnie and Stein and Joe and Cisco and Caitlin, but…. Iris, he wanted all of this. Wanted to make me the Flash, wanted to make me faster, wanted me to take him home. And he still thinks I will because he's offering the one thing I've always wanted
(9:37)
To save my mom
(9:37)
To free my dad
(9:38)
To be normal and happy and never have to deal with all of this

(9:40)
That's… a lot, Bar

(9:41)
It's more than a lot, Iris. It's everything.

(9:43)
So time travel? Didn't you just say a few days ago that you can't risk it?

(9:45)
He thinks that I will, that he can show me how to go further than a day and that I'll just give up everything I have for some possibility of something else

(9:46)
Would you?

(9:48)
I don't know.
Would it be so bad if I did? If I got to wake up to my mom and talk to my dad face to face and, I mean, I'd still have Joe teach me to drive if possible

(9:50)
I'm sure he'd be happy to hear that

(9:51)
He actually really seems on board with it

(9:51)
Seriously? Joe West? We're talking about the same guy?

(9:53)
Yeah :) we are. He says I saved a lot of people, and it's time to save myself

(9:54)
Wow

(9:56)
Yeah…. Can you imagine what it could be like? We wouldn't grow up in the same house, but we still went to the same school, still got to know each other

(9:58)
But we didn't get really close until you moved in

(9:59)
Then we find another reason to get close

(10:00)
And if we don't?

(10:01)
I can't imagine a world where you're not in it. I promise there's no version of me who wouldn't do everything in his power to know you

(10:02)
But what if I don't know you? What do you do then?

(10:03)
I don't know

(10:05)
What if you save your mom and someone else dies? What if you lose your dad?

(10:06)
I don't know. Why would that happen? Why are you being like this?

(10:09)
Because I want you to know that if you make this decision, Barry, there's no telling what might happen. But whatever does, the one who has to live with it is you, and honestly that's what needs to matter. Dad's right, you spend so much time worrying about everyone else and saving people, and it might be time to do what's in your heart rather than what you think might be right or logical.
(10:11)
Something awful might happen, but it could also be great. I hear there's some future out there where things aren't so complicated. I seem pretty cool in it. I hyphenate

(10:13)
That might not happen

(10:15)
Hey, don't take back your sweeping declarations on my account. Every version of you + every version of me. If we've got that /and/ you've got your family, you might just be unstoppable Barry Allen

(10:16)
Shouldn't you be in work?

(10:16)
I called in while you typed up your rant

(10:17)
You really are something, Iris
(10:17)
But I gotta go

(10:19)
Sure thing
(10:19)
Say hi to your dad for me

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(11:46a)
He says hi back
(11:46)
And not to change time

(11:50)
So?

(11:52)
I still have no idea

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(3:27p)
So it turns out that I could destroy the entire world if I go back in time. Wells left that part out! Ha, there's a chance that if I don't do this perfectly, all of you — he versions of you all that I know — could die in a huge wormhole, and it doesn't seem right that I'm risking all of that for something that I've learned to live without.

(3:35)
What did we say about thinking of you, Barry?

(3:37)
We didn't know you could die then.

(3:40)
And this knowledge changes what? You never would've been back to this exact timeline anyway.

(3:42)
So you want me to kill you?

(3:44)
I want you to do what feels right to you, and I want you to do it in the two minute window you have before you blow up everything

(3:45)
Joe messaged you already?

(3:46)
He might've prepped me for this

(3:48)
Gonna miss the meddling. If I go back.

(3:50)
Pretty sure that would happen in any verse

(3:51)
Promise?

(3:52)
You're being so sappy rn

(3:53)
Holding the fate of the world in your hands can do that to you

(3:54)
hmm

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(5:12p)
So, uh, I ended up going into work, not for much, just to kind of pass the day rather than staring at my phone and wondering what you'd choose. Which is pretty coincidental and perfect because Eddie decided to bring me something to eat. He went to Mama Chow's and told me this whole story about the power of coincidence, and it's like I have the opportunity to have him back, so maybe we all have some opportunities we need to enjoy and test out. Screw the future. Live it up.

(5:14)
Uh, well, in that case, you two want to come to a wedding?

(5:15)
?

(5:15)
Ronnie wants to stay, so we're having a little thing tonight, outside STAR labs, in about an hour

(5:16)
I'll ask

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(5:42p)
It's weird that you're actually changing into your suit the slow way and that maybe you and I won't exist tomorrow, or maybe we will. Know that no matter what, Barry, I'm always going to be here for you. And if you get a chance, say hi to your mom for me.

(5:44)
If we're making little speeches, I just want to say that I'm sorry for not telling you about me being the Flash. But I'm so glad that you reached out to him. It might not have been exactly how we expected, but we found our way back to a good place, and that… that's hard to maybe say goodbye to.

(5:46)
Then don't say it. Just go out there and whenever you get back, hmu

(5:47)
Ha, come thruuu

(5:48)
;D
(5:48)
Later, Barry

(5:49)
Later, Iris

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(9:45p)
Hey, I have no idea if you can get this, or if it'll even go to the right version of you, but I just wanted you to know that I had to make a decision today and I hope it leads to a future that we can all learn to love. I got back here hours too early, and I managed to convince my dad to stay out of the house. Got him a solid alibi for what had to come next, but I couldn't save my mom. I don't know what this means for me or you or that giant wormhole in the sky, but remember this because it will never change,
(9:46)
I love you, Iris West

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(10:00p)
…I want to say wrong number, but you definitely said my name, so maybe it's just wrong Iris?

(10:03)
Or wrong timeline. Sorry, I've got to go.

(10:04)
Who are you?
(10:04)
How do you know my name?
(10:05)
Hello?

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