Within Seconds: Flashpoint Edition

Forget Me Not

Becoming a parent made Barry a better person. He found himself never annoyed or fed-up with whatever Baby Allen's issue of the day was. He was not going to be ungrateful for his daughter, not even if she had a tendency to throw her bottle at Barry, or if she continuously struggled to sleep through the night. 

The bottle throwing was Parker's fault, Cisco had said. The first time Melody threw the bottle Parker busted out laughing and couldn't stop, which settled the action to be something to make Mommy laugh, in Melody's little brain. He told Barry he assumed there would have been a lot of that: Parker laughing instead of scolding. They were all glad Melody wasn't old enough to understand how to curse. 

Sleeping through the night was an issue Melody shouldn't have had; she was old enough to do it successfully. Night after night, he was woken up by her crying. He tried to let her sleep in the bed with him, on the couch, he even slept next to the crib. Nothing was soothing her enough for a full cycle of sleep. 

Barry didn't go as far as to call Cisco for aid, as he would have done in any other situation. Things had been a little tense with him since he came back from Flashpoint, considering his return had caused Dante, Cisco's brother, to be dead in the new timeline. Cisco was unaware of the fact; Barry didn't have the strength to tell him. 

Cisco was trying to return to himself, but returning to how he used to be seemed too far of a reach. He lost his brother, and his best friend. He was very slowly finding himself again. He joked when he could and helped when he was needed. In any other time, he found himself sitting and wondering what life would be like if his deceased family were there again. 

Besides, Barry knew exactly what Cisco's answer would be. It would pertain to Parker, as it always did. Half the reasons Melody was difficult for Barry to take care of was because she spent five months, all day every day, with her mother. She didn't bond to Barry like she had with her mother. He had to go the extra mile to make her happy. 

"Oh!" breathed Barry suddenly. "Oh, wow. Your mom is literally the solution to all my problems, isn't she, love?"

Shifting Melody to one arm, he shuffled to the closet and threw shirt Parker had hanging up on the bed. He ripped shirts off until the closet was empty of Parker's things. He moved the shirts to form a circle, where he placed Melody in and waited, frozen, to see if that would coax her to fall asleep. 

When she passed out, Barry raised his hands in the air with victory. Silently, a thousand times, he chanted, 'I love you' to his wife. She wasn't there, and yet, she was still helping him be a good person. A good father. 

It was questionable, bringing Melody to S.T.A.R. Labs every day, but Barry wouldn't have it any other way. He was protective over her, more so than he had been with Parker, and he truly wouldn't let Melody out of his sight. He didn't trust any babysitters, other than Team Flash. To him, there was nothing safer than keeping Melody in the Cortex during their workday.

On the flip side, there was nothing more rewarding than when Barry would return from a run as the Flash and see his beautiful baby girl start smiling when she caught sight of him. It made every second he was away from her worth it. 

The statement held most true after he collapsed on the Cortex floor when he returned from being thrown around by Savitar. Caitlin and Cisco, having saved him with their powers, sprawled on the floor themselves. 

Melody wiggled until H.R. handed her to Caitlin, first, since she was the closest. She set the baby in between her legs. Melody touched Caitlin's hands and clapped them together until it brought a smile to Caitlin's former frown. 

"Thank you, Mel," smiled Caitlin. She pressed a kiss to the baby's forehead, causing her hands to return to normal. Warm. "You're my favorite person on the team, but don't tell anyone, okay?"

In the end, Caitlin's love for Melody wasn't enough to calm the slowly approaching end of her powers. Saving Barry from Savitar was the last straw; Killer Frost had been channeled and gone rogue. 

After Caitlin had sneaked into the CCPD to interrogate one of Dr. Alchemy's goons, then proceed to kidnap Julian Albert, Barry's forensics partner, the Cortex was more tense than usual. They were desperate to reach Caitlin before. It had only risen since she had the whole CCPD on her tail now, too. 

Gathered in the Cortex, all except Caitlin and Wally, the Team decided to go over everything they knew of the situation and decide the best course of action. 

"So, they don't know why she took Julian?" asked Joe.

"No, but, more importantly, they don't even know it's Caitlin yet so we need to find her before they do," explained Barry intently. 

He paused to pick up the bottle Melody threw from her high chair. Absentmindedly, he placed it on her head, only for it to fall again. He grumbled as he scooped it from the floor and wiped the mouthpiece briefly on his shirt before giving it back to her. 

"Savitar," said H.R. from his seat next to Melody. He had taken a liking to the baby, especially to taking care of her. No one questioned it. He had never mentioned kids, but it was obvious he liked them. "Now, what about this Savitar?"

"Let's find Caitlin first," said Barry.

H.R changed his mind instantly. "Guys, I agree, let's find Caitlin." 

"Okay, you're right. We find Caitlin and then what?" asked Iris, handing Melody's plate of thinly cut slices of apple to H.R.

"I don't know. She's not thinking straight," said Barry, frustrated. "She's..."

Cisco spoke for the first time: "She's becoming Killer Frost, just like in the vibe."

"We don't know that, yet," said Barry optimistically, though he truly doubted his words. 

"Her mother said the more she uses her powers, the faster she's gonna go. Saving you from Savitar must have put her over the edge," deduced Cisco. 

"All right," agreed Barry. "All right, so how do we find her?"

Cisco shrugged. "Don't know. I tried pinging her cell and Julian's. She must have ditched them both."

"Ahem! If I may proffer a notion," suggested H.R., raising his leg, since both hands were busy with feeding Melody. 

"Ah, great. More suggestions from the Genius," grumbled Cisco. 

"You don't call the Genius,  the Genius calls you," corrected H.R. quickly. He continued, "Question: how dd you catch your Captain Cold?"

Confused glances were shared between everyone. 

"See, I've been reading about him in your files. Seems like a willy fellow. Slow talker. But his M.O--strikingly similar to our dear Caitlin's," explained H.R.

"No, we tracked him using the satellites to scan for ultraviolet cold signatures..." Cisco trailed off when H.R appeared pleased. He turned to the computer, seconds later, saying, "Got it, but there's nothing near the precinct."

Barry rounded the desk. Leaning on Parker's old chair, he pointed at the screen at a highlighted point of the search. He waited for Cisco to examine it. 

"Frozen food warehouse?" asked Iris.

Cisco hacked into the security cameras. Sure enough, there was Caitlin and Julian. Cisco was quick to isolate the feed, shunning others from seeing it and buy them more time to save her, before the cops decided to shoot her. 

"Figure out what she's making Julian do," said Barry to Cisco. "I'm going."

By the time he got his suit on, H.R. had Melody over his shoulder and was rubbing her back softly. He pressed a kiss to Melody's head, to which she squeaked, then he left to ensure Melody didn't lose another important woman in her life.