•Rose's Pov•

My father had his gun right on the man in front of us.

Why does his name and face seem familiar?

"...Please, just let me explain. I mean you no harm."

"How do you know our names?" Barry asks as he steps in front of me. "I know all your names. Caitlyn Snow, Cisco Ramon, Detective Joe West..."

"Enough. That part about explaining needs to happen right about now." Dad warns.

"This world is in danger. And Rose you especially."

I feel my legs almost give out from under me so I hold onto Barry for support.

"What other worlds are there?" Cisco asks. "When you created the singularity above central city, you also created a breach between my world and yours."

"I'm sorry, a breach?" My sister asks.

"Yes, a portal connecting our two earths." He explains.

"And what precisely is your concern?" Professor Stein retorts.

"A few days ago, you found a dead man named Al Rothstein at the nuclear plant. But then a different Al Rothstein tried to kill you two."

"Atom Smasher."' I mutter as Barry holds me close. "That man was from my world. If he got through the breach, I suspect they'll be more to follow." He looks at me when he says that and it makes me uneasy.

"OK, so, Jay, how exactly do you know all of this?"

"Where I came from, I was a speedster like you and Rose. They called me The Flash..."

Something in my head clicks and I let go of Barry and thumb through the comic book.

I then place the face and name.

"He's telling the truth..." I was about to speak but Jay interrupts telling how he had got here. How he and Zoom--man that name gives me the chills--had fought and he had almost died.

But the singularity had prevented that from happening but also brought him to our earth.

"Who is Zoom? Besides my childhood boogieman. On second thought why didn't he kill me as a kid?"

"One, Zoom is a speedster. Like you, me and Barry. He's fast. Maybe the fastest of all. But evil. And that I don't know. Only he would."

"Yeah, I'm not in a rush to ask....he...he had this face..right? He had this scary face that made him look like a demon and death all in one?"

Jay nods and I swallow hard.

Jay then tells us how as soon as he got here, he lost his speed.

"How?" Barry asks. "I'm not entirely sure."

My dad gives Barry a look and I walk over to Jay looking him right in the eye.

"I...believe you." I go to give him a handshake but feel someone tug me back.

"Until we know if you're telling the truth or not. I'm going to have Caitlyn run some tests on you. Cause if you're not, this Zoom, he's not gonna be your only enemy."

As Caitlyn was doing tests my sister along with the rest of the Brady science bunch were all trying to figure out if what Jay was saying was true.

I take Barry to the side to make sure we have a moment alone.

"I believe him."

"Rose n-"

"Before you say no, just look." I open the comic and point to Jay's picture. "See?"

Barry barely takes a glance and looks back over at Jay as he gets tested.

"Rose, some black and white comic strip isn't enough evidence to prove a point."

"I'm telling you, he's telling the truth."

"Rose, I don't have time for this."

"Stop, just think. Jay is taking his time telling us about the boog-Zoom. He's warning us about danger and yet you don't believe him?"

"It's not that I don't believe him. I don't trust him."

"Why?"

"Because, Rose now let-" I move back. "Why don't you trust him."

"Rose.."

"Barry."

"Because, I don't want to make the same mistake and history repeats it's self. I don't want you to die."

"I'm not dying. He's not Dr. Wells. If you can't trust him. Then trust me." I can see Barry trying to reason with me but he kisses my cheek.

"This is for your safety, Rose. I don't want to risk anything." He walks away from me and I stand there shaking my head....

We've definitely all come the agreement that we do need to find where the breach or breaches maybe just so no more bad guys keep coming for Barry and I.

Caitlyn came over to Barry and I with Jay's test results.

"What's up?"

"Well Jay's heart rate is abnormally fast. And he does have regenerative capabilities. Other than that I'm not seeing any evidence of the Speed Force in his system."

"We don't even have proof that he's a speedster, much less from another earth?"

"We do, the book-" Barry raises his hand at me and I raise a brow.

"I will break that hand Barry."

"Well, I can't say I didn't reach for the truth. Jay, doesn't know this, but while I was testing his heart rate, blood pressure, and motor responses, I measured his autonomic reaction while we were talking."

"You gave him a lie detector test?" Barry looks at me and I smirk. "Yeah I know big words too. So Caitlyn?"

"He passed it." I just smile wider and Barry shakes his head. "What if he's not a good guy, and he just wants to find our weaknesses? Keep running tests. See what else you can find out."

Oh god he is going to kick himself in the butt when he finds out I'm right, but I'll let him run around with his insecurities.

For now...

After Barry had locked Jay in his cell I waited until he was gone so I could go talk to him.

"Hello, Jay...I'm really sorry about all of this."

"It's okay. He doesn't trust me, but hopefully in time he will."

"He will. Trust me I've s--" I bite my tongue. "So, you're from earth two? What's it like? Wait I have to ask this, is the strawberry milk there just as great as it is here?" He chuckles and nods.

"You remind me of a young woman from my earth. We've never spoken but you and her would be twins in a sense."

"Really? Man that would make my dad so paranoid. Two Rose Wests?" I laugh at that then look at Jay.

"Can I ask you a favor, Jay?"

"Anything. You name it."

"Give Barry time, he will be a great ally to you...one day."

He narrows his eyes at me. "Why do I get the feeling that you know a lot more than you're letting on?"

"Let's just say, I've seen the future and if I can right my wrongs now, it's going to be a bright one."

Cisco calls Barry and I on the alarm telling us that there's a fire happening at an abandoned warehouse.

"Talk to you later, the suit calls."

"Be careful.." He says. I wave bye to Jay and take off to the main room and get my suit on.

Barry and I whiz on by the firefighters and as Barry uses his wind fists, I contain my half of the flames by absorbing it.

With that being taken care of, I punch Barry in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Congratulating you." I go to kiss his lips but our radios beep in.

"You guys all done?"

"Yeah, we're coming back now." Barry says over his radio. I jump up to catch air but a blast of sand hits me right in the chest making my hit a wall.

Barry was then hit as well and I cough holding my head.

"I thought it would be harder than this..." I look up in time to see a man about to hit me with more sand and I dodge it, scooping Barry on his feet.

"Barry? Rose? Hello? Are you there?" I turn around about to send sandman flying but Barry beats me to it and chargers into him.

The only thing was, the sandman just...turned into sand and disappeared.

"What the he...that's it, I'm never going to the beach again. Sweet Jesus..." I look at Barry and he was confused as I was.

"Guys?"

"Yeah, Cisco, we just met another Meta..."

••

The next day, I played tag along with Barry to the crime scene.

"You know I can do this myself."

"Yeah, sitting in your lab looking at those books make me want to dose off to sleepy la-hey do you think Cisco will let me name this new meta the sandman?"

"I don't know, but-"

"Anything?" Dad walks over to us and Barry shakes his head. "Well, definitely a meta-human. Had a pretty solid look at him between punches. And he was, like, made of sand."

"Sand?"

"Definitely, dad. Maybe next time I can turn him to gl--" Dad gives me a look and I zip my lip.

"Joe, come check this out." Barry points out to my dad that there were gasoline burns everywhere.

I look around the place and then look over at my dad and Barry to see a short blonde.

Now I would have minded my business if the blonde wasn't making Barry blush.

I walk on over and give Barry a side eye. He notices this and the blonde turns around smiling at me.

"Hello, I'm Patty. Patty Spivot."

"Hey, Rose. His kid." I thumb point to my dad and she nods. "I can see the resemblance. I was just telling Barry here how I've read all of his books and feel very honored to meet him."

Okay Patty don't be a kiss ass.

"Oh, that's our Barry. Always inspiring people and such."

"Well, I believe I found something, it's just a theory, but I would like to show you."

If she gives Barry one more cheery smile.

Patty brings us to another section of the warehouse and points to a wire.

"So, this right here is the point of origin of the fire. And look. I don't know a sandblaster on the market that can make a cut that precise, so I think a meta-human may have done this. Here..." Patty hands Barry a vile.

"...Took a sample for you. Uh, there's also some fingerprints on the back of the pipe."

"You should have gone into CSI work."

"I love the science, but out here's where all the action is. Isn't that right Detective West?" My dad whispers something to her and walks away.

"What was that about?" Barry asks. "I'm trying to join the anti-meta-human task force. But you heard him. So, Rose, any tips on how I can make Joe lean in my favor?"

"You're asking his youngest daughter, who begged him every single Christmas to get me an easy-bake oven."

"And did he?"

I pat her shoulder. "My prayers are with you." She smiles at both of us and walks away.

"Ehem." I clear my throat as I saw Barry glance back at Patty.

"What?"

I shake my head at him and walk away. "Rose wait."

When we get to the lab, Barry hands Cisco the sandman sample.

"That's gotta be from the meta-human that attacked us."

"Huh...What is this stuff? Sand?" Cisco asks after he's done looking at the sample.

"It's not sand. It's human cells whose myosin II protein have migrated to the cells periphery."

"Jays a fellow science nerd."

"The Rose to smarty-pants ratio is getting a little out of hand here."

"Sorry, Rose. But those cells have the ability to rearrange and harden, giving them the appearance of sand."

"And how do you know this?"

"They belong to a meta-human I've fought before called sand-demon."

Awe man I was gonna name him.

Cisco gets up then. "I know you're new here, so I'm just going to break it down for you. The whole naming the bad guys thing, that's my jam. But you know what? I'm gonna let you have that one because actually kind a like it. I'm not mad at that one. Is that Barry's sweatshirt."

When Cisco points that out I look and wow, Jay looks pretty built.

"It was all we could find, so..."

"That looks a lot smaller on you."

"Rose." I snap out of it and look at Barry. "What? This is pay back for the Patty thing. Hush."

Cisco walks off to run tests on the sand or whatever it is.

"So, who is this sand demon?" My sister asks.

"I don't know his name, but I know how to stop him."

"You know what? I think we'll be fine on our own."

"Look, Barry, I don't know what else I can do to prove to you I'm on your side. I've been poked, prodded. I even subjected myself to a full body scan."

"Was that a nude scan?" Everyone looks at me. "What? I'm asking for the sake of science."

"Sand Demon's from my world. Let me teach you and Rose how to stop him."

"Yeah, We don't need you to teach us anything, Jay."

"Zoom sent Rothstein here to kill you both. He must have sent Sand Demon here to do the same thing. Don't you get it? Anyone close to you two, all of you are in a lot of danger."

"All right. If you're so good, you would have caught him already...Lets get Jay back to his cell."

"Barr-"

"I mean it." Barry walks out of the room and I glare at him and apologize to Jay.

•••

The next afternoon  I was drinking a strawberry milk while watching the news at the lab.

It said so thing about the Starling vigilante calling himself the green arrow.

"About time, Oliver."

"I hate it when they use a color in their names." Cisco comments.

Barry came back from the station and I hop off of the counter. "So?"

"It wasn't our guy.."

"So Jay was right?"

"I'm not saying that."

"He's right, I'll go get him."

"No. So Cisco what was that stuff?"

"Well for sure its not sand. Definitely human cells. I hate to say it, but I think this earth-2 theory is starting to make sense." I look at Barry and he sighs.

"I'm telling you, Jay isn't lying about Sand Demon."

"I'm still not going to trust some guy who just walks up in here and tells us that he's a good guy."

"Oh but you can trust a guy in a wheelchair? Yeah you're being stubborn and so am I. He was right about Zoom."

"Zoom is a figment of your imagination." I glare at Barry and take a calm breath before I do something I will regret.

"Look-"

"The science, Rose. I need the facts, the numbers that add it all up. I need clarification. The testing, the proving, the reports. That's all it there. But now? Nobody here wants to do any of that except me."

"Everyone, can everyone clear the room for a minute?" I tell them. Barry sighs as they leave.

"What is wrong? Talk to me. Because I feel like this whole not trusting Jay goes way beyond me dying and Wells."

"I just...don't want to fail. When I trusted Wells, I failed. When I finally told you I loved you, I failed at keeping you. I failed and I don't want that." I place my hand on his shoulders.

"You fail, you succeed, you fail, you succeed. Barry, heroes, humans...us. We aren't perfect. We have days where we can save the whole world and still fail because we didn't get to that one person on time. I promise you, with everything in my body. You won't fail trusting Jay. Not everyone is Harrison Wells." I go to kiss him but my phone beeps and I sigh.

"Every time. Hey da--dad what's wrong?" I look at Barry and then tell him that we need to speak to Jay.

"Finally come to your senses?" Jay says at the cell door.

"Sand Demon kidnapped a police officer. A woman that I know."

"And you need my help?"

"We need you to help us save her. Before something happens." I tell him.

"I guess your boyfriend there is  going to have to trust me now, huh?" I look at Barry and move past him, opening Jay's cell.

We were in the main room listening to his instructions.

"We are looking for any structures that promote humidity. Greenhouses, and roll rooms, anything of the sort. His body will literally start to fall apart if he becomes dehydrated."

"Like dry sand." Caitlyn comments. "Exactly. San demon always a tax on two fronts. You created I version, then strikes when you were distracted."

"OK, then what do we do?" Barry asks.

"First Rose you will distract him and when the time is right, Barry we use your speed to get to him before he catches what's going on."

"But how does Barry and I stop somebody who can slip through our fingers?"

"The way I was never able to. With lightning."

"Wait like Zeus? Oh let's go I gotta see this."

"Wait, Rose. Jay, what are you taking about?" Iris says stopping me. "Barry's going to hurl lightning from the energy creates when he runs."

"Because lighting plus sand equals--"

"Glass." Barry finishes. "Time to learn something new, kids." Cisco gives Barry a fist bump and I walk over to Jay.

"Um, Jay I have another favor. A small one really."

"Shoot."

"When this is all over...can you sign my comic book?"

•••
Barry and I have been training and yet, Barry just keeps rushing it.

Dammit Barry get your shit together!

I mentally about as he misses the target.

"Again." Jay orders.

"We've been doing this for the past hour this is pointless." Barry says as he takes off his mask.

Hey speak for yourself.

"Rose, is doing perfect. But it's you Barry, you're trying to rush it. This is the one time you need to slow down. Let the energy pass over you, then simply direct it to where you want it to go."

"All right, Jay... I don't know if I'm going to get this in time."

"You'll get it. I believe in you and so does Rose."

"He's right."

"I know where they are!" Cisco says as he runs over towards us. "The abandoned Woodrue grow house. That's where Slick's keeping Patty."

"Dude, great job." Barry says. "And I was thinking, if I were Sand Demon and I were attacking speedsters on two fronts, I would probably want to slow you both down, like, by using a concussive bomb or something like that."

Wait, how did he?

"That's a good thought. He's actually used one on me before. His body absorbs the blast so it doesn't affect him. Well, kids, going to have to think of something."

"How about we do a double diversion? He knows you, right? You said you went up against him."

"Yeah, but, Rose, I don't have my speed."

"He doesn't know that. You got your suit?"

"Sure. Well, except my helmet."

"Silver kettle helmet? Gold wings?" Cisco asks. "Don't tell me you guys found it."

We all look at each other smiling...

Caitlyn had handed Jay his helmet and with that his suit was complete.

"Well you sure you want to do this, Flash?"

"Yeah. Let's go see what you're made of...Flash." They both shake hands and inside I'm having a fan girl moment.

We arrived at the place and I watch as Barry brings Jay to face Sand Demon.

"Is that you, Flash? Or how about the Avenging Angel...Found your way here." Slick turns around and there he saw his old enemy. Jay.

"I came quite a distance."

"I thought you were dead."

"You were wrong. Like usual. Now, let the girl go."

"And that it. But you touch her, she goes boom. And I think even you aren't fast enough to save her."

He takes a swing at Jay and I take my chance to swoop down.

I raise my lips to Patty and she nods as move her using my telekinesis.

"Quite a bit slower on this earth, aren't you, Flash?" Jay gives him one good left hook and I can hear his sand lock jaw crunch.

He then starts giving Jay multiple punches. "You don't have your speed do you?"

The bomb goes off and we all go flying except for Slick.

"Must be my lucky day. Zoom sent me here to kill you two. Now I get to kill the Flash from two worlds before I go home."

He raises his hand and it starts to choke Jay smothering him in sand.

Barry starts to run around in circles and I make the flames from my hands rise more, careful not to hit Jay with any of them.

Slick let's Jay go as he's trying not to get burned.

Just then I duck down and Barry slowly down long enough to gather lighting and he throws it at Sand Demon.

He turns into a glass version of himself and shattered into a million little pieces.

"You okay?" Barry asks. I get up and nod then ask Jay.

He gets up as well and smiles at both of us.

"I knew both of you could do it. Nice shot kid."

"Flash?" I hear Patty say behind us.

"Coming." Both Jay and Barry say in unison as they run over to Patty.

As Jay gets bandaged up, Barry and I look at our suits and I lean my head on his shoulder.

"This, was good. And did we fail?"

"Nope, I say this was a successful day." I feel Barry's hand reach for mine and I take it. "You know, as a hero like myself. I think I deserve a reward."

I do a mock gasp. "Barry Allen, are you asking for a reward? Where is your honor?" I chuckle as I look up into those pretty green eyes.

"My honor is standing right beside me." Barry touches my face and brings me close so he can kiss me.

"Do I have your permission for this reward?"

"Hmm? I don't know." Barry goes to talk but just so he doesn't say something that ruins the moment I kiss him and feel him smile against my lips.

"We should definitely go on a date when our hero capes are hanging up."

"We should..." Barry leans down and kisses me again.

"Ehm." Jay clears his throat and we both look over at him.

"Sorry to interrupt."

"No, you're okay. I'm sure you two need to talk." I squeeze Barry's hand before letting go and leave them alone while I go to the other room to read more of the comic.

I walk in and see the book was already open to a page.

I look over and see that it's on a page of nothing but black.

I turn the next page and see an illustration of Zoom holding Barry like a rag doll and I just...

I can't move...

•Joe West•

After hearing Patty's story and finally letting her on the task force, I decide to get back to work.

I get another call from her and decline the call.

I walk up the steps but stop as I hear someone call my name.

"Joseph."

I turn and her.

"Hi. Been a long time." I walk back down the steps. "Yeah, it has. Why are you here?" I ask.

"Because you didn't return my calls. And I wanted to see you. And our Daughter."

"Rose doesn't want to see you. She's been happy without you."

"Has she? Joe ple-"

"No, she's been through enough. I don't want to open up memories she doesn't know about. Now leave. And never come back."

As I walk away from Rose's real mother, I start to think about the day she left that little girl at my door step.

With a letter saying she that she was grateful for my help. But she just couldn't get being a mother.

No, Rose can never know about this. She already lost one mother.

And I know my baby girl won't be able to handle knowing that her real one just gave her up...