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Twelve hours hadn’t even passed after Barry told Caitlin and Cisco that Dr. Wells was the Reverse Flash when Barry and Caitlin found themselves wandering into S.T.A.R. Labs. At 5 o’clock in the morning, Cisco had texted them to meet him in an hour. Apparently, it was urgent. Caitlin was finishing up her travel mug filled with coffee and Barry was rubbing his eyes when they walked into the cortex. Cisco was sitting at his desk, chin on his linked fingers. He was obviously deep in thought. Barry decided he should make their presence known.
“Yo, Cisco,” he said, his voice more gravelly than usual. “Everything alright?”
Cisco turned around in his chair to face Barry and Caitlin. He met their eyes.
“I... I had another dream...last night,” Cisco answered. “Barry... you were telling us that someone told Iris that Dr. Wells knows what happened to Simon Stagg. Apparently no one’s seen him since you took down Black?”
“Wait... I did tell you that... Didn’t I?” Barry asked, confused.
“I don’t remember hearing anything about it,” Caitlin responded.
Barry’s eyes widened. He suddenly remembered when he said that...and that that day had essentially been erased from existence. Barry put his hand over his face and walked around to the other side of the desk. When he got there, his hand moved to the back of his neck, the place it always went when something was troubling him.
“Barry?” Caitlin asked, noticing his worry.
“I haven’t really been completely...honest with you guys,” Barry said, trying to avoid eye contact with either one of them.
“What are you talking about, Barry?” Cisco asked.
“Cisco... you know how you and Joe found out that I was there the night of my mother’s murder? That I’m somehow gonna travel back in time to that night?” Barry asked.
“You what?” Caitlin asked, clearly very surprised.
Cisco turned his face toward Caitlin.
“Sorry. I meant to tell you about that,” he said, obviously ashamed that he hadn’t shared that bit of information with Caitlin.
“Time travel?” Caitlin asked, always the realist. “Now that is impossible.”
“What if I told you guys I already did it?” Barry asked.
“You went back to that night?” Cisco asked, leaning forward in his chair.
“No, not to that night,” Barry said. “But I have already traveled back in time...”
Barry slowly lifted his head, waiting for a response.
“You can’t be serious,” Caitlin said. “Are you sure you weren’t just experiencing déjà vu?”
“No, Caitlin, I have lived a day that you guys haven’t... That no one has,” Barry said.
“Which day?” Cisco asked.
“Remember the night Mardon killed the pathologist at the morgue?” Barry asked.
Cisco nodded.
“That’s the night I traveled back to,” Barry said. “And when I found Mardon and locked him up in the pipeline...I changed...everything.”
“How so?” Caitlin asked.
“Well, instead of Cold kidnapping you and your brother, Cisco,” Barry said, “Mardon was attacking the city. He put Captain Singh in the hospital...took Joe hostage... He created a tidal wave that was about to destroy the city and when I was running along the coastline...faster than I’ve ever ran, trying to stop it...I somehow landed up a day in the past.”
Caitlin and Cisco didn’t know how to process what they just heard. They couldn’t believe Barry had kept that from them.
“That’s how you knew where Mardon was...and that I’d name him Weather Wizard?” Cisco asked.
Barry immediately nodded his head.
“Does anyone else know about this?” Caitlin asked.
“Yeah,” Barry said, unprepared to say what he was going to say next, “Wells does. He...told me not to tell anyone.”
Barry could see in his friends’ eyes how hurt they were. He tried to explain.
“But that was before I ever suspected him of anything!” Barry said. “I’m really sorry...”
Barry looked into Cisco’s eyes.
“...about everything.”
“Hey,” Cisco said, giving Barry a small smile. “That’s all in the past, man.”
Barry smiled back. He was glad that Cisco had forgiven him.
“But what was that you were saying about you already telling us about Wells and Stagg?” Cisco asked.
“Right, yeah,” Barry said, gathering his thoughts. “That...extra day that I lived...that’s when I told you guys about that.”
“So...if what I dreamed actually happened...” Cisco said, “then what about the other things that I’ve been seeing? I mean, Wells killing me? Barry, what was I doing that day?”
“I don’t know,” Barry said, “I was dealing with Iris, Joe, and Mardon. You were here...maybe?”
Barry then remembered something.
“But Caitlin, you were about to tell me something about Wells and I cut you off,” Barry said. “I mean, the tidal wave was my top priority at the moment.”
“Well, that’s helpful, ‘cause I don’t remember,” Caitlin said sarcastically.
“Barry, who told Iris about Wells?” Cisco asked.
“Mason Bridge,” Barry answered.
“Mason Bridge?” Caitlin asked. “As in the reporter from Picture News? Last I heard, he disappeared.”
Barry shut his eyes. He wanted to forget about that.
“‘Mason Bridge, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for Central City Picture News, was last seen at his desk in the newspaper’s office at 8pm on March 24th, 2015,’” Cisco read from an article he pulled up online. “It says that his computer hard drive was fried and there are no known suspects.”
Cisco looked up at Barry.
“You don’t think...?” Cisco began to ask.
“Actually, we do,” Barry answered.
“You guys are insane,” Caitlin said, walking up to Cisco’s computer. “There is zero proof here.”
“Just like there was 'zero proof' that anyone but my dad killed my mom?” Barry asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Yeah,” Caitlin said, staring at Barry, “but that’s completely different.”
“Because I was there?” Barry asked. “Because I saw him do it?”
“Caitlin,” Cisco said, closing the article, “if what I’ve been seeing actually happened...then Barry and Joe are right. Dr. Wells is the Reverse Flash.”