Time and Time Again

Prologue

"You're gonna want to get to S.T.A.R. Labs."

When Harrison Wells spoke into the phone before hanging up, watching me dead on, I felt a shiver run down my spine and my blood went cold, even though, while he did look mildly aggressive, he was more like an aggressive badger than, say, an aggressive bear.

Unless it was an aggressive teddy bear, in which case, I'd have to redact that statement.

"I swear, I didn't break in, I just…" I held my hands higher in defence, taking a step backwards to assert my, well, utter lack of dominance.

He eyed me up further before raising his eyebrows. "Really? Because as far as I'm aware, you've been popping in and out of S.T.A.R. Labs regularly for the last week, all somehow without being detected on security footage or, quite miraculously, tripping any of the alarms. And that's not breaking and entering, how, exactly?"

I bit my lip with a grin I supressed as soon as it came. "Okay, so, you have a point, but-" I was cut off when I found myself – quite suddenly, might I say – face to face with the myth, the legend, The Flash.

"Who are you?"

I opened my mouth for a moment before closing it again, repeating the action a number of times before I stepped forward with a hand outstretched. I quickly retracted the gesture when he stepped back. "Sorry." I gave a sheepish smile. "I just kind of feel like I already know you, Barry Allen." The tension in the room was obvious as I said his name, and I shrugged and stepped back. "Please, don't wear the suit on my account." I frowned, giving him a once-over. "I can't imagine how that is comfortable." I muttered.

Neither man said anything until the speedster stepped forward. "Who are you?" His tone was more threatening now, and I held up my hands again.

"Sorry, sorry. Riley James, a currently unemployed professional personal assistant." I glanced away and frowned again, muttering to myself once more. "That's a mouthful."

I shrugged and shifted my gaze back and forth between the two. "I used to be the personal assistant of an employee here at S.T.A.R. Labs, until, of course, that fateful night took the life of my, uh, employer? Although I guess technically that was you," I threw a lazy hand gesture toward Wells, pausing. "Not that you'd remember me – I was only on the job for a few months."

"No, I remember you. Riley James. You were Ronnie Raymond's assistant." There was a brief glance shared between the two, and I sighed.

"Yeah." I glanced at my feet temporarily. "But I'm not here because of that – believe it or not, I actually don't have a crazy vendetta against you for anything that happened that night. I'm not angry about any of it, really. Except, just maybe, just a little…" I unhooked my watch and threw it in the air, holding my hand up and stopping its descent to the ground all at once. "This."