Second Chances: Flash - Rough Draft

Chapter 5

The next day found Barry back at CCPD and he was very surprised at who he found waiting for him.

"Hey rookie." Ralph Dibny said with a grin and Barry was surprised to see that he still had his detective shield, but thankfully, he was able to use his speed to skim through his memories of the old earth and found that in this reality, Ralph had never been a crooked cop and he was actually Joe's partner now in this reality, since Eddie had never moved to Central City, which was actually a relief, since it meant that he'd likely never get caught in Thawne's crossfire again.

"Hey Ralph, it's good to see you again." Barry said.

"Yeah I bet. So why wasn't I called when you woke up yesterday?" Ralph asked, surprising Barry.

"I'm sorry what?" Barry asked, confused before he felt a finger tap his shoulder and he turned to see an elongated arm behind him.

"Wait Ralph?" Barry asked as Ralph returned his arm to normal.

"Yep. Apparently before that J'onn guy left Central City, he decided to give me the download too. I guess the fact that I was brought in during Crisis was enough to convince him that I needed my memories back. Though I have to admit, I do like the person I am in this reality more." Ralph said and Barry rolled his eyes.

"Of course you do, since you're still a cop." Barry said.

"Well yeah, but it also means that I'm a better person than I was before. At least before I joined Team Flash." Ralph said.

"Very true. The fact that Joe trusts you to be his partner is proof of that." Barry said as they hugged.

"It's good to have you back Allen." Ralph said.

"Thanks. Why don't we head up to my lab and I'll bring you up to speed on what you've missed so far." Barry said and Ralph nodded as they headed up towards his lab.

"I'm surprised you haven't told Barry that you're a mom in this reality." Cisco said to Caitlin as they worked at Star Labs.

"That's because I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea that in addition to having my fiance back, I'm also a mother to a teenager. Even if she is one we knew before." Caitlin said.

"Sounds like Barry's not the only one who lucked out in terms of family, both you and Allegra did too, considering you adopted her when she was 12 and helped her avoid falling into a life of crime like the rest of her family." Cisco said and Caitlin nodded.

"I'm glad that I can give her some normalcy, especially since her powers haven't emerged yet." Caitlin said.

"Do you think we should restore her memories?" Cisco asked and Caitlin shook her head.

"Just like how I'm not going let Ronnie's memories be restored. They're both better off not remembering the old world." Caitlin said.

"So you don't feel guilty about keeping them in the dark?" Cisco asked.

"Considering that's a reality where Ronnie died and Allegra grew up in prison, not really." Caitlin said.

"Fair enough. And hey, I guess in a way, I kind of lucked out in terms of family too, since I got my brother back, though we're still estranged." Cisco said.

"You could always fix that." Caitlin said.

"I know and I plan on it. But not until after we remove the risk of Thawne pulling him into his crosshairs." Cisco said and Caitlin nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, but I'm not going to keep Ronnie in the dark about Team Flash and honestly, if Allegra's powers surface, I'll bring her in too, but not before that. I want to give her a normal life." Caitlin said.

"I think that's a good call. But I'm just curious, is she planning on becoming a scientist like her mother?" Cisco asked.

"No, she's already got her heart set on journalism and I'm already planning on talking to Iris about getting her an internship at the citizen, since she's only 17 right now, so she's not old enough to get a full time job there yet." Caitlin said.

"And being a mother comes naturally to you." Cisco said with a grin.

"I guess it does." Caitlin agreed as Cisco took a step back from his work.

"So, what do you think?" Cisco asked, since he'd just finished making Barry's Flash suit.

"I think you just broke your record for fastest super suit creation and this has got to be your best work yet, since not only did you already manage to crack the ring's tech, but those new boots are a definite improvement." Caitlin said, since Cisco had replaced Barry's old red boots with gold ones.

"I thought it would be cooler this way and I was right. And I upgraded the suit with nanotech so that Barry doesn't need to be running to put it on. I figured that would be more convenient for me and for Crystal too so that we can keep our suits on us for easy access." Cisco said and Caitlin nodded.