A/N: [***SPOILER SUMMARY: Iris convinces Barry to go back in time (w/ her) to before they even met Devoe to keep their past selves from falling into his trap and so avoiding Barry being set up for 'killing' Devoe when they return to the future.***]

This fic is a birthday present for my lovely friend, Ruthie. I'll try not to slack off and update this at least semi-regularly. Enjoy! :D

*Many thanks to my epic beta, sendtherain, for being wonderful and looking this over.

*I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.

...

Chapter 1 -

Tears leaked from her eyes even as Barry wiped them away, but Iris forced herself to be strong one last time.

"The trial is not over, Barry."

His expression didn't waver.

"Yeah, it is. All the evidence points towards me. You can't tell them, okay?"

She bowed her head and hid from the lightning around them, Barry's tender grip on her face powerless to stop the crumbling taking place inside her. But she knew it was pointless to argue. He was right. Devoe had beat them this time. He had won the battle, even if he wouldn't win the war. They would win that just as they had won all the others. She had to respect Barry's wishes and find another way around this, even if it meant Barry sitting in prison for a while. The unsettling feeling in her stomach at that thought sent a wave of lightheadedness over her.

"Iris?" he asked softly, concern swamping his patience as he waited for her to answer.

"I'm-I'm fine," she assured him. "I mean, I'm not, but…" She sighed shakily.

"Iris?" he asked again, but this time she knew he was asking about the safety of his secret.

Devoe was always one step ahead. He was always- They never saw it coming. There was no way they could. It wasn't as if-

Her eyes flashed wide open and zeroed in on Barry's.

"What is it?" he asked, just as worried as before.

Iris licked her lips.

"There's another way."

"Iris…"

"There's another way out of this trial."

"There's not," he said, tenderly stroking her cheek. "All the evidence points towards me."

"But what if it didn't?" A hint of excitement seeped into her voice. She knew the instant it happened, because Barry's expression switched from reassuring and resigned to wary. "What if there was no evidence to point to you?"

His brows furrowed. Her hands gripped his arms tighter.

"Devoe is always one step ahead of us, right?" Barry couldn't bring himself to answer. "So let's go back. With the knowledge we have now, we can stop ourselves from walking right into his trap."

Her intent was so clear, but he asked for clarification anyway.

"What are you suggesting, Iris?"

"Go back in time, Barry. To before this happened. Before you even met Clifford Devoe. Before they had any reason to suspect you of anything. To before we got married, so no knife, before you even met him, so no restraining order, to when you first suspected him, and all of us – all of us – would believe you instead of doubt you, so you would never break and enter into their home." She took a breath, even as the rejection was on the tip of his tongue. "Let's beat them at their own game by hitting restart. That's something even they can't do."

He shook his head.

"Time travel is a bad idea, Iris. It has never ended well for me. Changing the past always comes back to haunt us. I know that lesson better than anyone."

"We're not going back fifteen years, Barry. We're going back two months at the most. I don't know how else we'll beat him." Her bottom lip quivered.

"We'll find a way," he insisted. "This isn't it."

"Can't we at least try? Who knows? We may even get an uninterrupted wedding ceremony out of the deal."

He laughed despite himself.

"Iris…"

"And take me with you."

His eyes widened. "Iris, no. I couldn't. I don't think I…can. I have to run fast, faster than I can while carrying you. And you're not a speedster. Who knows if you'll get hurt the process, if you'll even survive."

She forced a smile. "I'm surviving now, aren't I? You never thought you could do this. Who knows what else you can do?"

He sighed, seeking for a way to dissuade her.

"We don't even know what we'll be walking back into," he said. "We could go back and just be ourselves with the knowledge we have now, or we could end up walking right into our past selves. Who knows what kind of fall out there could be from that kind of interaction? When it happened to the Legends, they had to kill their future selves and it ended up altering time itself for a while."

"You can speed us back as soon as things have been set right, don't you think? Then we won't have to die. And even if we did, we wouldn't really be dying, we'd still be, Barry." He was shaking his head, not wanting to hear another word of this.

"We can't make this kind of a decision now. Not without anybody else being consulted…" He hated that he was actually considering her plea, but it was sounding more tempting by the minute.

"We make decisions as a unit, you and me. If this doesn't work, we'll do it your way, I promise. But can't we at least…try?" Her voice broke.

No, he wanted to say. It's too dangerous. There will be fall out we can't take back. It'll only make things worse. We'll regret it. We'll resent each other because of it. Too many things could go wrong.

But instead he said, "Hold on tight."

Iris swallowed and nodded. She wrapped her arms around his neck as tightly as she could and buried her face in his chest. He lifted her and hiked up her skirt high enough that she could wind her legs around his waist and cling to him like her life depended on it.

Then he took a breath, muttered, "I hope this works," and ran.

Out of the courtroom. Down the block. Around the corner. Out of the city. He ran faster and faster until finally the swirling vortex appeared in front of him.

"Hold on," he said, and leaped into it.

Iris said nothing throughout, only held on as hard as she possibly could. She knew Barry couldn't focus on if she was alright or he'd slow down, and then who knows what would happen? He had to trust that she wouldn't let go, that she would be strong enough. And this was her idea after all, so she better be.

For his part, Barry ran as fast as he could, praying it would be fast enough, that the weight in his arms wouldn't prove too much for the speed force to deny him this risky venture. He moved his arms in rhythm with his legs – faster, faster, faster. Iris never loosened her grip, so he pushed himself further than he'd ever gone before. He closed his eyes and focused on a memory far enough back but not too far that they wouldn't have a chance in succeeding at this fool's errand. He would only time-travel once more to bring them back to this day and time and hope it had worked.

"Barry," she whispered against his neck.

'For once we actually have a chance here to get ahead of our enemy.'

Confident, proud, happy, smug, hopeful expressions on all their faces.

'Let's go get Devoe.'

He skidded to a stop, almost tripping over his own feet, but steadiest himself enough to grab a hold of Iris as she carefully unwound herself from his body and straightened out her skirt. They both looked up and saw they were right in front of STAR Labs midday.

"Where are we?" she asked. "Or, rather…when are we?"

He took a breath and turned to her searching gaze.

"Barely on time." He looked back at the building looming over them. "Let's stop ourselves before it's too late."

He took her hand in his, squeezing reassuringly, then ran.