Fanfiction Collection + EPub Links

Plot: When Kara first meets Barry, she fall for him head over heels, but there is a problem, the man she wants is on track to be married. Can she get over him? Or maybe some other surprise lingers around the corner

Pairing: Barry x Kara

NOTE: Same author as 'Bound By Love'. Should read that novel up to at least chapter 46 to continue to this novel. But for those who don't want to it is basically an older version of Barry who had lost everything and everyone in his timeline that he goes back in time and finds a new home in Earth-38.

Flying with Kara through the sky, Barry realized that this Earth would be his home from now on, leaving behind the one that he created in the hopes that he will once again meet the woman he loves, but he had literally nothing. His face kind of drooped a bit, his look being picked up by her

"What's wrong? You seem a bit sad. A bit of a contrasting look from when we met" she asked him

"I just realized that I don't have anything in this universe. No job, no money, no place to stay, no clothes and, the worst of all, no food. I should have at least asked those two for something that I can trade for some currency, but I was way too out of it and happy to come here to actually think" He answered surprising her completely.

"It's fine. I can have Winn hack you some CSI credentials to work at the NCPD, you can stay at my place, with your super healing even if the couch is not that good, at least it's not the underside of National City Bridge, as for clothes and food … I can help you with that. I have more than enough money" Kara explained to the speedster.

"Well then, color me corrected. I guess I do have everything I need then" Barry smiled back at Kara with one of his goofy grins. She could see the Barry before her was different, he was still the same old speedster, even if a bit older, but the eyes, those were not the same.

"Did you seriously forget I'm here? So all you need is money, a place to stay and food" she pouted and gave him a puppy dog eyes look.

"Oh, but I didn't. I did say I don't have anything. You are not a thing. Of course that's what I need, Kara. That's what all of us need, at least from a physical stand point. From a mental one … well that's something entirely different" Barry smiled making her realize that he was referring to material things, not persons. They flew back to her apartment and Barry sat on the sofa.

"Stay here. I'm going to get you some clothes and something to chow on" she smiled as she prepared to speed away Barry stopped her.

"Hey, how about you just give me some money and point me in the right direction to get clothes and I'll run to your favorite donut shop and grab us some donuts as well. You have been flying back here with me and even with how strong I know you are, I'm pretty sure you`re famished" He smiled back knowing that it would only take him a minute at the most to be back

"All right. I know you`re fast. You can go then. The clothes shop and food is that away" she handed him her wallet and pointed him into the direction of the city's commercial district. In less than a minute he was back. She had changed from her Supergirl outfit to a normal pair of blue faded jeans and a white turtleneck, dawning her usual glasses. He got for himself a Supergirl T shirt and a pair of shorts for the house and black denim jeans, a white shirt and a blazer for outside.

"Aw man, no Flash T-Shirts on this earth? That kind of sucks. Although to be fair I don't mind wearing the coat of arms which belongs to house of El" He quipped putting 8 boxes of donuts on the counter in her apartment and took a seat on the couch

"You said you were another Barry. So … how do you know about the house of El? I don't remember mentioning anything of the sort to the other one. While he did know who my mother was, my house remained obscured to him in his flashes" she asked.

"You told me. In my own timeline. It happened there too. I jumped by accident to this earth, but I was alone. Caitlin did not receive any sort of powers. I helped you put away Silver Banshee and Livewire and while my tachyon device recharged … we spend a few days together, in which we exchanged some stories, I told you how I became the flash, the particle accelerator explosion and the likes and you told me the complete story about how you came to earth, who your mother was, who your father was and so on" He explained

"This is a bit confusing even for a naturally intelligent Kryptonian. I need to get used to this multiple timeline, what happened and what didn't, thing. I suspect as you continue to tell me what has happened this confusion will appear quite often if I don't clear it up now" Kara answered sitting next to him on the couch and putting 2 boxes of donuts in front of them.

"Before … what happened, my timeline was a bit different from the one that is now. Caitlin didn't have powers, as I have stated earlier. I was the only one that the lightning struck and that had been in a coma for 9 months. Following that time, I became The Flash" he continued

"Oh, so you were alone. The accidental breach happened here too, but it was him and Caitlin this time. They both had speed powers and she had ice powers as well. Those were really cool" she smiled stuffing a donut in her mouth.

"That was … because of me" He sighed "I came back in time after everything that happened, almost six months before, manipulated some events to get Caitlin in the lab the night the lightning struck and then pushed her into it along with Barry. That way, I knew she could get powers and maybe this version of Caitlin would have had a better life than mine" he said sighing yet again.

"Things must have been really bad to force you to come back and make a judgement call, weren't they? I mean you didn't know what would happen, they might have both died, right?" she asked him seeing the shadow in his eyes

"I think calling the things that happened to me really bad is … well a gross understatement. As I know time travel is not an exact science. She could have never chosen to go to Barry before the lightning. He could have chosen to go to her which means they both would have never gotten powers and maybe their life would have been completely normal or maybe instead the Reverse Flash would have killed them both, because he could have not returned home without the Flash's help. Possibilities are endless. When I came back, I hoped that I would disappear. Just like any other remnant of a timeline that had been erased from existence. After a while of being alone, the hope turned to dėsɨrė, I wanted to disappear. Cait was dead and the only other person I loved sent me back to try to fix everything that had happened, knowing full well that she will never see me again if I succeed" he said that with a tear in his eye. His eyes were again cloudy and dark, something akin to a storm was brewing in them, like something was about to come out at any time.

"All I can say right now is that I am very thankful to Rao that you didn't disappear, you`re here. With me" she smiled.

"Back then I did wish I had disappeared. Not anymore. I'm actually thankful for being here right now, to whoever is up there watching and to those two that thought it would be a good idea to send me to your world" he gave her a grin and she could see hope in his eyes. Hope that had appeared taking place of the storm that was there before and it happened after she smiled at him "It's going to be really interesting when Alex comes home. She has met the other me and knows he has a girlfriend, well now he has a wife, but you get the point. Seeing me here might become… really awkward"

"Oh. Damn. I forgot about that. I'm pretty sure that she would not be happy about the whole thing, since probably the first thought that would be in her head is that you somehow ran away from your wife to be with me. That is going to be … bad. How fast can you run?" she cracked one of her beautiful smiles

"Mach 102, give or take, if I don't push myself. Fastest I've run was that time when I managed to circle the globe in 5 minutes and change. That would make it about Mach 500 or somewhere around that. I think I'll be safe. There hasn't been any human on any earth that has managed to even see me clearly when I push myself to go to that speed" Kara's face dropped instantly at the answer he gave her.

"Excuse me, how much? The Barry I knew could run pretty fast, but nowhere nearly as fast as you" she said with her eyes still wide

"Of course he didn't. He's still young. I had pain, hatred, love and conviction to help me run faster. With the speed I have and by using it in various creative ways, I have learned a lot of new tricks over the years. Like this for example" he vibrated his hand and with a few swift motions all the donuts were cut in quarters "You know it's not befitting of a beautiful young lady to stuff her face with donuts, right?" he grinned

"Shut up!" she feigned indignation, but her voice showed him it was anything but. Her face also showed him that she enjoyed being called a beautiful lady "That was amazing. How did you do it?"

"I had a lot of time to study. Here's a fun fact that only a few people know besides myself. My mind moves faster than my legs or my body. Back when my back was broken, for two months all I did was read. When you can read Harry Potter in 10 seconds flat and be able to remember every page with photographic accuracy, you can imagine the sheer volume of information I needed to read to keep myself busy. Thank god most books are digital today, I don't think STAR Labs would have enough storage space to keep the library that I read during the time I was paralyzed from the waist down" he replied taking another piece of donut and eating it. Kara was genuinely impressed.

"So, what did you study?" she asked

"First, hacking since I couldn't move but I was surrounded by computers. It took me a while, but I made my enemy's life quite hard. I can probably overtake Winn now in hacking skills, simply because I can think and react faster. At normal speeds I still think he is better, but without being able to compare I cannot be sure that statement is correct" the Flash responded.

"I don't believe you. Winn is the best hacker this side of the planet. I would have to see it to believe it" Kara was simply baffled.

"Want to take a trip with me to the Supergirl Cave so I can show you?" he then realized what he said "That somehow sounded completely wrong and nowhere near what I wanted to say" Kara looked at his face and started to laugh.

"Why Flash, some other woman might think that you were trying to get into her pants with that line" She looked at him and smirked bȧrėly holding back a laugh "As long as you never call it that again, sure, I'll go with you. Who actually named it that and didn't have the foresight to realize how it sounds?" she asked between laughs.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure you will be surprised about the actual person since we're talking about Winn. He named it that. Don't completely blame him for it though, apparently none of us said anything about how weird it sounded, including that future version of you" Barry said with a grin.

"I'll make sure he doesn't get the chance to do so. If I hear that name I'm going to veto it to Rao and back, because you are right, it does sound pretty wrong from where I'm standing. Shall we go then?" Kara stood up ready to change.

"I can carry you if you want. At the rate of speed I run we'll be there in less than a second. Unless the location has changed. Still 23rd floor?" she nodded, but stopped him

"You know what happened last time you ran me anywhere. My clothes went up in smoke. I would not really want to buy another few sets of clothes because someone runs fast enough to burn mine off" she remembered that and thanked her lucky stars that she had her Supergirl costume on underneath.

"That won't happen anymore, or to be more accurate it hasn't happened to me in a very long time. I have learned to control the Speed Force in my system. I can make the bubble around me larger to protect anyone I am carrying or holding so they don't have … mishaps anymore, besides don't you have the suit underneath anymore? It's not like you would turn out nȧkėd if the clothes burn" He cleared up the misunderstanding.

"No. I don't. Barry and Caitlin made me a new suit that goes into the pendant I have around my neck. So if my clothes burn then I would probably more than likely turn up nȧkėd. Which is why I asked. Ok, let's go then" Barry took her in his arms and flashed to the CatCo building, where her out of the DEO control center was. Kara even with her superior vision could not keep up with how fast Barry was moving. She blinked to clear her eyes and they were already there.

"Wow, you really are fast, my enhanced vision could not even keep up with the rate of speed that you were putting out. The world seemed like a blur around me, for all of one second as I managed to process that we were actually moving" Kara commented as Barry sat down at one of the computers. She looked over at his hands, they were moving very fast but he had to slow down because the computer was reacting way slower than he was moving. The keyboard buffers and the processing power was something that put a complete dent in his speed and put a bit of an annoyed look on his face.

"Ok, this place really needs an upgrade. I'll do that later, sorry but at least at STAR I had computers that could keep up with me, these ones can't. I actually need to slow down so they process what I'm doing" he smiled sheepishly

"So, now you`re a tech wiz too?" Kara asked dumbfounded

"In order to learn hacking I needed computers that were at least fast enough to keep up with my commands when I used them. So … I had to become a techie by default, or else I would be stuck waiting for the terminals to catch up with me which would more than likely render my speed practically useless. I can tell you this, it was not easy, I knew how to use computers and maybe code a bit before everything happened, but never actually cared enough to supe up my workstations for any reason" Barry told the blonde while continuing to write on the keyboard in front of him at a lower rate of speed "There we go"

"What? Are you done already?" she asked.

"Yep, I hacked into Coast City PD and inserted my name on a few cases as main CSI, then created myself credentials. All I need to do is put in the order for my transfer to the NCPD, which can be done almost instantly" he pointed to the screen.

"Whoa" Kara was impressed. She had seen Winn hack multiple times into all sorts of databases, human or alien and even he didn't move this fast "Awesome. If I could afford to pay you, I'd have you help me with the superhero business. The DEO doesn't really care much about the common person here, only about aliens. Which is why I needed this control center in the first place. While I like keeping the aliens off the streets, it's annoying that the DEO doesn't care about the average citizen" Kara blurted out.

"Pay me? I'm living in your apartment, sleeping on your couch, you pay for my clothes and food. Are you kidding me, Kara? I will more than likely have a computer at work and I will write my own software to keep an eye on stuff in the city. It's not hard to send you a ping every time I find something. Of course I'll do that for you, tech wise and out there as well" Barry explained "Besides" the speedster moved closer to her, whispering in her ear "I did say I was going to help, did I not? Or maybe you thought that I was just going to watch you do things while I get the tech job? No chance, Girl of Steel, not a snowball's chance in hell" his breath on her ear was triggering some very interesting reactions from her which she didn't want to reveal so she stepped back

"Yes, you did say you would help and no I wouldn't even dream of getting you stuck as my tech person, it would be wonderful to not go out there alone. Thank you, Barry. Can we go back now ? Or ... I don't know, maybe not at home, but somewhere else ?" Kara smiled "I spend way too much time here during the week to want to be here on my days off"

"Up for some basking in the sun then, food isn't the only thing you need to recharge" he grinned at her knowing that she needed some solar energy as well

"That would be nice" the blonde quipped "So where are we going?"

"I don't know yet. I'm not sure the National City in my own timeline was the same so give me a few minutes, I need to get the lay of the land first. I'll be right back" She saw a flash of lightning leave the building and then come back a few minutes later "I got the perfect place. Hang on" He took her in his arms and ran straight down the side of the building to the outskirts of National City, on a hill that was overlooking it. There was already a checkered blanket on the ground under a solitary tree, which was where he stopped "This should do wonderfully" Kara looked around not recognizing the place, but it was indeed beautiful.

"How much of National City did you see in these 3 minutes?" she smiled

"None of it, I wanted to take out of the city so I went about 20 miles in every direction around it to find a nice spot. I can always learn the layout of the town while I help you and my reading speed and memory will help me with that just fine" the speedster replied

"So tell me, who broke your back?" The blonde woman stood up looking at him

"Straight to the questioning, huh? Nothing really changes, does it" Barry looked at her and sighed heavily. She could see that the dark shadow that he had returned.

"Just curious. I didn't think there was someone fast enough to actually catch you to break your back, unless it was another speedster. It wasn't another speedster, right?" She reasoned letting him understand that she knew the extent of his powers.

"No, it wasn't. The person that broke my back was Caitlin Snow" he sighed like he had a 100 ton weight on his ċhėst. Kara did not expect that at all, the moment he said her name, her face fell "Or better said … her alter ego, Killer Frost. You see, her powers always had a mind of their own. But if left unchecked they would take her over. Caitlin has always had the problem of keeping her feelings in, being strong for the sake of being strong and sometimes keeping things to herself just so that others don't suffer. Those feelings kept fueling her alter ego until it came to the surface ... permanently. In my timeline, Killer Frost put a sharp ice core through my spine in one of our battles, enough to leave me immobile. I always wondered why she didn't kill me, I was at her mercy, but she just left me there not being able to move and bleeding, kind of like she wanted me to die slowly and suffer at the same time" Barry told her with a sad face. Kara knew she was pushing too much. He had just got here and she was so happy about that, but her inquisitive nature almost pushed her to ask questions that were visibly uncomfortable for the speedster. She decided to let it go, they would need to spend more time together for him to be able to open up about his haunting past.

"That's fine, we can talk about that some other time. What else did you study, old man?" she smiled and hit his arm, she was so happy that she forgot to control her strength but when she hit him, nothing happened. When she raised her arm she saw that his was vibrating so fast it was almost hard for her to see. "Oh, Rao. I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine. I didn't know if you would hit me with all your strength or just in play, but you are super strong, so I vibrated my hand to increase my muscle and bone density. Yet another one of the many tricks I have in store for you, Kara Zor – El" he grinned and pinched her nose "Never call me old man again, super toddler" he laughed.

"Well, Barry Allen, you`re a regular Interdimensional Man of Mystery aren't you?" she chuckled

"Wait, are you calling me James Bond behind my back?" he replied with a face that feigned seriousness, but he couldn't control himself and a grin appeared.

"No, I'm calling you that to your face, only … older" she teased him only to be hit in the face with a snowball. She bȧrėly noticed him leaving and coming back, the only telltale sign that was the case was the gust of wind that hit her before the snowball "Where did you get snow from this time of year?"

"The north pole? It's not really far away you know, at least not for me" he replied nonchalantly with a grin on his face.

"You are full of surprises, Barry Allen. I can't wait to see what else you have in store for me" Her phone rang and she answered as the two looked over the city. Winn was at the other end of the line.

"Kara, there has been an explosion in a high rise downtown. Turn to channel 31" he said with a sense of urgency

"I am not at home, Winn, just tell me where I need to go" Supergirl responded

"Corner of 34th and Western. Hurry" and he closed the line

"After you" Barry grinned at Kara already dressed in his Flash suit

"How gentlemanly of you, Flash" she grinned back

Kara took off with Barry right under her, following her toward where the explosion had occurred. The building was bȧrėly standing, it was a 40 story tall skyscraper full of people and the explosion damaged the first 3 floors. Fire was breaking out everywhere and the support structure of the building, while damaged was still holding, for now.

"I'm going to start getting people out of there" he spoke only for her to hear

"While you do that, I'm going to try to put out the flames and keep the building from collapsing in on itself" she replied and he started to move and people kept appearing a few hundred meters away every few seconds. Kara immediately thought to cool off the fire with her breath, however, something she didn't count on was the fact that steel was not really built to withstand the immense temperature differential that she had inflicted on it. The beams started to buckle and small fissures appeared in the support structure.

She noticed her mistake, but Flash was still getting people out so she flew to where the support struts were cracking and started to push up, holding up the building as best as she could. It was heavy even for her and holding it without moving so that it wouldn't crumble it was more of a challenge. She saw the support columns crack and more and more weight came crashing down on her but she managed to keep it up another 3 minutes until all the people were out. The Flash was right next to her.

"Everyone is out. What can I do to help?" he asked

"I'm going to try to fix the beams with my heat vision. Give me a moment" She tried to melt the beams while holding up the building, but her strength was waning. There was something around that was weakening her. A piece of her outfit turned into a display on her arm and started to flash red. The same piece of fabric on his suit did the exact same thing, prompting Kara to throw him a weird look "Flash, I'm almost out of power, there has to be Kryptonite somewhere around here" He left and in a few seconds he saw a piece of green rock fly away, but it was too late "Thank you for finding it so fast, but I can't hold the building for long in this weakened state and I don't have the power to use my heat vision to melt the support struts" she told him

"I see, that's what the bar over here means. So… power is all you need?" he asked "I can help with that" she saw him starting to move fast in front of the building as he vibrated. In a few seconds he stopped and his hands were vibrating so fast that they were crackling lightning. Before she could realize what was going on he threw the two lightning bolts at her. She didn't dodge, she trusted Barry with her life. She was right to do so, when the two bolts hit her, she felt supercharged. The display on her arm immediately turned to green and disappeared. She stood straight, raising the building above her that had started to buckle. Blue beams came out of her eyes hitting the support struts, sealing the cracks and stabilizing the building. She then flew down to him while the crowd cheered.

"How did you do that?" she asked with a concerned look on her face "I was sure that those lightning bolts would help I just didn't know how"

"I can explain, just … not in the middle of all these people, some things are better left private. Shall we take our leave and return to our tree?" the speedster smiled at the blonde in front of him

"Yea, you`re right. We should go back" She took off for the sky while Barry ran like a bat out of hell toward the checkered blanket they left behind which had her clothes on it and her phone. They changed and sat down. "So? How did you do that?" she asked.

"I have had a lot of time to practice honing my lightning into different forms of energy. If you can find the best frequency, the power you can receive from a lightning bolt can be … anything from a nuclear radiation blast to" he let her finish

"Solar energy. You converted the lightning's electrical energy into power that was compatible with my cells. But ... how? You would have to know my exact genetic structure and cell frequency to be able to pull something like that" she looked in awe at the speedster that sat beside her.

"Things I already know and have known for quite a while" he smiled "This is not the first time I have tried this trick on a certain super powered Kryptonian with blonde hair" as he said that, her face dropped.

"But how, you already said you knew me in your timeline, but this is pretty advanced knowledge for you to have" Supergirl told him trying to recover from her surprised state.

"Because you told them to me. Since nothing has changed on this earth, it still vibrates at the same frequency, you are the same you only a few years younger … which means that was going to work since I have tried it multiple times before" the speedster chuckled.

"We were close, weren't we" she asked bluntly

"You could say that, yes. You came and helped us quite a few times in my timeline" He replied, but keeping the fact that she was the one he loved after Caitlin and that she sent him back.

"You aren't telling me everything, are you?" Kara looked at him

"You could always tell that" Barry sighed "No. I'm not telling you everything. Let it be a story for another time, this is not something I want to end this beautiful day with" his voice was normal but his eyes were almost begging her to let it go.

"Another time then. Thank you for being there to help" she gave him one of her beautiful smiles.

"Anytime, Girl of Steel. Anytime" he replied with a large smile.

The day was coming to a close, the sunset in the background only completed Kara's beauty, Barry looked at her and remembered from his own time how much she loved spending days outside with her when they weren't fighting super villains. In a few moments they were back in the apartment. The story that was on TV was about them, which was not that surprising. How the Blur had helped Supergirl by hitting her with lightning.

"Oh boy. This is going to be on page 1 of all the papers tomorrow" Kara said smacking her forehead.

"You are ashamed to be seen with me? Aww, I thought I stopped looking so nerdy all the time" Barry smirked "Oh wait, they can't really see me because I move so fast"

"No. Why would I …" she realized that he's messing with her and threw a pillow directly at him "Definitely not, but I bet my glasses that when I go to work Monday, Ms. Grant will want an interview with the Blur. We never got around to that, but it wasn't a problem since the other Barry didn't come here that often. But now you`re here to stay so …" she trailed off.

"You`re afraid that she will want to meet the Blur. Didn't she peg Barry Allen as being the Flash in this timeline back when he was here?" he asked.

"Well, we did have a bit of mishap where Barry was everyone's cousin and Cat was a bit suspicious, she did mention about the Blurs a couple of times and she knew it was about two people, but I don't know if that was enough" Kara replied. "Why?"

"In my timeline she definitely knew something was going on, as soon as I appeared that Kara started getting hints and weird questions about her new boyfriend and partner, I would rather this doesn't happen here. It might be easier to throw her off the track immediately than anything else. Also, that time I was alone, if the two got here together, that might be our saving grace" the speedster thought out loud

"I didn't get much of a vibe off her, but by the way she talked about the two speedsters that appeared, I think she might have thought about it, but as much as I know the woman, I don't know what's going on in her head. What do you think about it?" Kara's voice trailed off

"Then let's nip this in the bud. I can be in two places at once. That should get her off my back in case she suspects anything. To be honest, if I do indeed come over to your workplace, Supergirl getting a partner and you getting a "visitor" shall we say, could be indeed suspicious. Let's be frank here, Cat is anything but stupid" Barry chuckled, remembering the way Zoom used to make time remnants which was a skill he had learn to use in order to battle him.

"That is indeed correct. She is a very smart woman. All right, tell me about that whole be in two places at once then. How can you do that? Or is it something that you speedsters can normally do?" she asked with a surprised look on her face.

"It's one of the many tricks I have yet to show you, Girl of Steel" Barry gave her one of his goofy smiles which gave her buŧŧerflies in her stomach "What's been happening here though. We talked all day about me and my future which doesn't exist anymore, but nothing about you"

"Didn't you say you come from the future? You should already know what has happened here" Kara smiled at the speedster

"Things might not have happened exactly like I know them. Besides, I wanted to know more about your own adventures" He replied

"After Barry and Caitlin came here the first time by accident and helped me put away Livewire and Banshee, Cisco managed to make me a breach generator so I could cross between worlds. After that, they showed up out of nowhere after my uncle Non tried to kill every human on the planet. Because of them my suicide mission turned into a win. I went and helped them with a problem they had. Arrow had a villain by the name of Damien Darhk, so while planning for their problem, which was another speedster by the name of Zoom, we managed to help Ollie with his issue as well. Aunt Astra decided she would be better off here on earth. She deserted and is now working for the DEO, in another city which houses the so called Alien Naturalization Center" She summarized the events as best she could, without leaving out more important details.

"Hmm. I didn't know that my meddling in time might have repercussions here. In my timeline, Alex had to kill Astra because she was even worse than Non. Zoom huh? That guy appears everywhere, I thought that he wouldn't have a chance to turn up in the modified timeline, but I guess you just can't get rid of scum" the speedster face palmed.

"Ok, that's ... different. I don't think I could have imagined Astra being worse than Non. Yes, Zoom. That was his name. But how would time ripples affect another universe?" she asked. She knew the theories, but since there was no practical application that she could use for an example she was pretty stunned at what Barry was telling her.

"No idea, might be something related to increased entropy? Or some causality paradox that I created in the future that would have changed the past, or anything else from a multitude of choices, which reminds me … how are things between you and James these days?" Barry asked quite bluntly. It was clear what would be going on between them if she was still with him

"Why do you ask?" she tried to back out of responding to the that question, something that Barry picked up on quite fast

"Because I remember from my timeline that I actually encouraged you to take the leap with him. Fact that I regretted from the bottom of my heart later on" the speedster told her bluntly

"We tried to be together, it didn't work. He still had feelings for Lucy, which only made me angrier. In the end it probably wouldn't have worked out anyway. I see my Supergirl business and my private life separate. Almost like two different lives. He knew them both and thought that sometimes because he did we were actually way closer than we actually were. That spiraled into something that neither of us wanted" Kara went to the fridge only to realize she was out of food. "Darn" she admonished herself not only for not having her favorite food, but her stash of regular food was gone as well. She had forgotten that Barry was eating as well and didn't restock.

"You`re hungry, aren't you?" Barry smiled as she nodded. "Give me a couple of minutes" He told her as he sped out the window and disappearing into the distance, while at the edge of the city, Kara heard a sonic boom from the distance almost like thunder.

"This is so weird. I know he's Barry, but he's not. I guess back when Caitlin told me to get my own, she wasn't kidding. Now I have one and I'm totally at a loss about what to do. Keep it together, Kara. Now he knows you`re single and that you don't have anyone. Just don't screw up and everything should be just fine" Kara thought to herself. Her train of thought was broken when a flash of lightning skidded to a stop in the middle of her living room. She knew that smell anywhere.

"Barry, you remembered!" she smiled brightly at him

"Yeah, you'd never let me forget pot stickers. Not in ANY timeline" He laughed and put the boxes on the table seeing Kara attacking them.

"Here's something interesting, these don't really taste like anything I've had from National City before. They are amazing! Where did you get them, I need the name of that locale, mister" Kara was talking between taking bites.

"The only place I ever went to get Kara pot stickers, after I could run as fast as I can. Since I always want to train, but I never wanted to lose another moment with her, I trained while running to get her food. I went to Wuxi" He smiled watching her eat with a face that exhibited pure bliss.

"Where's that? Doesn't seem like a place I've heard about in National City" Kara continued to stuff dumplings in her mouth. She had seen Barry eat and she knew that if she binge ate with him around he wouldn't give her any sort of problems.

"It's not in National City, Kara. It's not even in this country, or on this continent actually. Wuxi is a city … in China" he answered her question. Her face dropped looking at his grin.

"Wait, you went to China and back in the span of 5 minutes? Just to get me pot stickers?" she looked at him with a flirty smile

"Yes. I did. That's why I asked for a few minutes, not the usual 10 seconds it takes me to get down the building and buy 30 pizzas" He smiled.

"Well color me impressed then. Oh, I kind of ate everything" Kara looked at the empty containers in front of her.

"It's fine. I had 10 pizzas on the way here. Running on water is not as easy as you`d think" he replied smirking "Besides, in any universe or timeline, nothing can stand between Kara Danvers and her pot stickers. I learned that a long time ago, the hard way, even though it was still funny" he started to rub his arm. She x rayed it and saw a particularly large break that had healed pretty well.

"I'm guessing I gave you that break?" she smiled. She felt comfortable about the life that she didn't know. The one that Barry Allen had lived in the future, even though asking about herself in a timeline that was gone was pointless, she still enjoyed the foresight of things that might have been, which she hoped somewhere in the back of her mind that might still come to pass in this time.

"Yes. Well not you, but you get it. The first time I did that after I managed to improve my speed, when I came back I brought 20 boxes and I tried to have one. You hit me, it was an innocent gesture, but with all your power and… that happened" he rubbed his arm again.

"Wow, ok. I'm glad I asked. I guess you already know everyone around here, don't you ?" Kara asked.

"I guess. You don't need to introduce them to me. If I find someone that I don't know, I'll just ask you in private. Most of the people should be the same I think" he replied

"Why did you ask me about James?" she asked.

"The Kara Danvers I knew used to be engaged to James Olsen for a time. But it turned out sour, which is why I said I regretted the fact that I was the one to take that risk" Barry answered absentmindedly

"Turned sour? You mean we split up?" Kara was surprised

"Yeah. That James thought Lucy would be a good girl on the side. He didn't get enough of Supergirl or Kara, because he couldn't come with you while you were saving the city and you were doing that quite a lot. So … yeah that didn't really end up well, for either of you" the answer came

"I didn't kill anyone, right?" Kara asked with a shocked face. She knew herself pretty well and she couldn't take that sort of treatment from anyone

"Oh, no. no. How could sweet Kara Danvers kill her friends? You just slapped James hard enough for him to spend the next 4 months eating through a straw. As you put it, "I wasn't too bothered to control my strength when I slapped him", or something like that" Barry chuckled.

"I had no idea that James could be such an ȧss" she replied

"This is the thing about timelines and alternate futures and alternate universes, Kara. Everything that can happen, already happened. In some universe James can be your husband and you can have two kids with him. In another you left him for someone else, while in some other one, you two don't even meet. Every universe is different. Trust me, better not think too much about it. Your head will hurt, badly. I know I keep drawing parallels to my own timeline, but keep in mind, it is gone" the speedster answered and started to yawn. Kara looked at the clock and was surprised. It was nearly midnight, the time they spent with one another passed by way too fast.

"Let's get some rest, Barry. Tomorrow is Sunday and we can spend some more time together before we have to go to work on Monday" Kara smiled getting up and going toward her bedroom.

"Good night, Kara. Thank you for the humbling couch" he got some blankets and put them on and drifted to sleep. Kara on the other hand was trying to not think about all the different universes and failing badly, only the person she was thinking about wasn't James, it was him. She fell asleep a while later, when she realized that "what ifs" were not something you should be considering at 2 AM in the morning.

She woke up to the smell of coffee and food. She panicked for a moment till she realized that she was not alone in the house. She had invited Barry Allen to live there with her, ever since he showed up. She slowly got up from the bed and went toward the kitchen only to stop in the doorway at the sight of a shirtless speedster cooking breakfast. He was singing something she couldn't make up at the time, but his voice sounded wonderful. She spent a few minutes taking in the view before she decided to actually enter.

"Good morning, scarlet speedster or should I say, shirtless speedster?" She greeted prompting Barry to turn around and see his jaw fall. She had no idea why he would be so surprised at how she looked. Her hair was not tied and was pretty messy, she had sleepy eyes and then she realized what she was wearing. Shorts and a half cut tank top. It was showing more skin than she would have ever been comfortable showing to … anyone. She surprised herself by realizing that she didn't care what she was wearing with him. She did blush profusely, but didn't speed off to change. She just sat at the counter in front of him and started sipping her coffee. Barry managed to get out of his daze smelling something burning.

"Good morning to you. I thought since my host was so gracious to not let me sleep under the National City Bridge, I might as well cook breakfast. Eggs, Pancakes and Bacon. Lots and lots of bacon. You`re a bacon girl, right?" he asked turning to her seeing her with 2 strips in her mouth already. "Yeah. You`re definitely a bacon girl" he smiled.

"I was really hungry, this hit the spot. You seem to be used to cooking in the morning aren't you?" she inquired sheepishly

"Yes, I am … it's been more of a ritual in my mornings. You know, when I wasn't being beat to death by an evil speedster or when I could actually reach the stove and not be stuck in a chair, paralyzed from the waist down" He sighed.

"Barry you do realize there is enough food here for both of us and we eat a lot" Kara conveyed with her words that he didn't need to cook more.

"Yea, I know it's enough" he stopped realizing something then continued "but leftovers are always good for people that need to eat as much as us" he continued, but Kara saw that he stopped himself from saying something.

"I might throw you back under the bridge if you don't speak your mind" she said bluntly "I can see you trying to keep something in, I don't know what, but I would hope that we don't have to do this dance every time we talk. You know you can trust me with anything right ?"

"I know but … if I tell you everything you might be weirded out and I really don't want you to get that feeling, or somehow think I might be a creep or even worse" Barry tried to excuse himself

"Barry, I can't be your friend if you don't trust me. Tell me everything and if I get weirded out then so be it. Remember, I did ask for it. It's not like I'm going to stop being friends with you for something that petty, come on" Kara said with a crooked look ȧssuring the speedster that he could speak him mind with her always.

"I trust you with my life" the instant answer was something she did not expect and the look on his face was dead serious "I just don't want you to be weirded out about things that happened in a parallel universe, in a parallel timeline, in a future that no longer exists"

"I know what you're saying, but that is a future you lived in. As much as I know about the other Barry, even if you are him, you have lived more. I do want to know more about you and your experiences in the future that made you who you are today. It makes perfect sense that I want to know everything so I can better know the person that is in front of me" Kara frowned at the resistance that the man in front of her was putting up when asked about what he lived through. She also didn't have glasses on and was making puppy dog eyes at the speedster who finally gave in cracking a smile.

"God damn those puppy dog eyes. You have always used those as a weapon against me and I have always failed to defend myself against them" He started to laugh. "All right. I'll tell you. Just a word of warning. When I said you brought me out from the darkness, I was not kidding. My future was not all romance and roses. I have done bad things in my time. Things you might not approve of or might down right scare you" he was being very serious and Kara took him at his word.

"It doesn't matter. I want to know more about the man that …" She stopped herself from committing a Freudian slip and continued "I'm currently sharing my apartment with. You seem to know a whole lot about me. Things that people here don't know. I want to be able to say the same thing about you. That seems fair … right?" she explained

"Yes. It does. All right then. Fire away" Barry sat on the chair looking at her, Kara's gaze kind of being stuck on his abs

"So about that. You know things that I have never told anyone about me. Not ever Alex or the DEO. Those things I would only tell …" she got cut off

"Your boyfriend" Barry finished her sentence and her jaw fell. "You did ask what you were to me in my timeline. I think that just answered your question quite nicely"

It was something the girl of steel was not expecting. She had thought multiple times about a relationship with the speedster. Even dreamed about it a few times, not that she would admit it to anyone, but he was in a relationship with someone else. So she tried to chase those dreams away. Start over with someone new. Except that someone new never came and she always was left in the back of her mind with the question of "What if".

Chapter End