"So you are telling me, a man who can move very fast, broke me out of my prison and let a psychic gorilla mind control me and force me to commit a terrorist attack?" Bette asks as she gets filled in on why and how she got here.
Everyone in the room nods their head.
"Why should I believe you?" Bette asks.
"Cisco," Barry signals Cisco. Cisco pulls up the footage of that night in the city center.
Bette sees herself on the screen, throwing explosives at innocent citizens as they try to run for their lives.
Bette can't believe what she is looking at. She joined the armed forces to protect the people of this country, not hurt them.
As the video continued, she saw a flash of lightning and saw herself getting knocked out, and a man in a red full-body suit suddenly appeared before her.
"Is that him?" Bette asks.
"No, that's me," Barry says.
"You? Didn't you just say the one who used me is someone who can move very fast? What if it's you? And all of this is just some sick mind game from you people to use me again?" Bette asks, getting defensive again.
Barry sighs. "Look, we have no reason or cause for us to force you to do anything, and like you said, you saw a right lightning storm," Barry says, and white lightning sparks out of his hand.
"The man who broke you out of the military facility calls himself the Reverse-Flash. He used you as a distraction to keep me busy while he tried to steal something very dangerous," Barry explains.
Hearing Barry's Bettle calms down a little, but Barry can see that she is still suspicious about them.
"What now?" She asks.
"Now, we are going to help you, Miss Souci. It was my particle accelerator that exploded and turned you into a Meta Human. The least we can do is help you understand your powers better and learn how to control them," Dr. Wells speaks up.
Bette looks at Wells and then looks at her hand. Everything she has touched has turned into a bomb. If she can control her powers, then maybe she won't feel so isolated and alone anymore.
She turns to look at Barry.
"Trust us, our team here understands Meta Humans better than anyone. If anyone can help you, it's them," Barry says.
Betty nods her head.
"Great! Dr. Snow, Cisco, let's run some tests on Miss Souci, right away," Dr. Wells says, and the team gets to work.
"I will take my leave, I have something... planned," Barry says and looks at Caitlin, as she is the only one who knows about his date.
Caitlin smiles and gives him a thumbs-up.
Barry smiles awkwardly and leaves. It still feels weird seeing a woman he is having sex with be okay with him going on a date with another woman.
Caitlin is clearly not stable right now; she needs her own time to come to terms with her new self.
Barry runs back to his apartment to get ready for his date.
Putting on his best not-so-formal clothes, he gets ready within minutes and runs out again, arriving at the agreed-upon location right on time.
A few minutes later, Linda walks out wearing a red top, black jeans, and a black jacket. Though she is not dressed like it's a date night, Barry doesn't mind as she still looks stunning.
Seeing Barry, Linda smiles and skips towards her. "Hi," she says, smiling with glee. "Hi," Barry says back and hands her a bouquet of flowers. "I didn't know which kind you liked, so I got them all," Barry says as the bouquet if a mixed bag of colorful flowers.
Linda smiles and takes the bouquet of his hands and gives it a smell. "Thank you~"
"Shall we?" Barry asks, giving her his hand. Linda smiles, wraps her hand around Barry, and they begin their date.
___________________
The date is going great, Barry tells her about what he does and how he is a nerd and a geek at the same time, which Linda found hard to believe at first because Barry doesn't look like either one.
He is tall, lean, handsome, and has an aura of mystery around him, which intrigues Linda, and then there is his touch; each of them feels electric, making her body light up.
If not for weird scientific facts and knowledge of movies, Linda could never see someone like Barry as a nerd or a geek, let alone both, but now that she knows who he is, she likes him even more.
As the date is about to come to an end, Barry walks Linda home. They smile and laugh.
"So, tell me, how is a guy like you still single?" Linda asks.
"What do you mean?" Barry asks.
"Come on, you are smart, funny, charming, and goofy in the best way possible. How have girls not scooped you up yet?" Linda asks.
"Ah... that... It's complicated..." Barry says.
"Isn't everything complicated? Go on, I can handle complicated," Linda says, giving Barry a confident and assured smile.
Barry sighs and begins talking. "Growing up, I liked this girl, but you know how it is when the girl you like is also your best friend," Barry says, laughing awkwardly. "Ouch, ya, I get it," Linda says, patting Barry's arm with a smile.
"Ya, so I liked her, but could never bring up the courage to ask her out. I dated a few girls, but none of them was her, then I moved on. Some love stories are not meant to be. She has found someone she loves, and I am happy for her," Barry says.
"That was not that complicated," Linda says. "Well, I haven't gotten to the complicated part yet," Barry says, grinning, embarrassed. Linda gets curious.
"Then I started this second hobby outside forensic work. I met a girl there, I liked her, and she liked me back," Barry says. "Then what was the problem?" Linda asks curiously, as if she is listening to some juicy gossip.
Barry could see why Linda became a journalist.
"She was not emotionally available. But we did get into a different kind of relationship, if you know what I mean, and that has been going on for months.
Then I got too busy with work, and my hobby, I have no time for myself. So ya, that's it," Barry says.
Linda doesn't say anything for a few seconds, processing what she just heard. "Sounds like a lot of work. Don't you feel exhausted?" Linda asks.
Barry looks at her and smiles before shaking his head. "No, this hobby of mine, I couldn't ask for anything better even if I wanted to. It fulfills me like no other," Barry says, sounding very genuine, which Linda catches.
"What's this hobby that's so special?" Linda asks, now more curious about the hobby that Barry's complicated love life.
"Well... maybe I will tell you someday," Barry says, smiling mysteriously.
"There you go again, being mysterious," Linda says, earning a chuckle from Barry.
"This girl, the one you are in a... You know what... is it still going on?" Linda asks.
Barry sighs. "I have to be honest with you, I hope you don't find it weird," Barry says.
"I don't know, I have been in a few weird situations as well," Linda says.
"Well... today when you texted me, we were together... and she saw your message," Barry says.
"No way!" Linda exclaims. "And then what happened? Did you two break it off?" She sounded more curious than offended.
"Nothing like that... It was actually she who told me to go on this date," Barry says.
Linda is, for the first time, stunned.