Ralph knew the instant he saw her kick metahuman ass that he was going to fall in love with her. He just didn't expect it to escalate so quickly. Or give him so much hope for the future. He knew that her icy-cold personality, platinum-blonde locks, and bright blue eyes that she was going to be someone of importance to him. Together, they were going to be an amazing team; maybe even better than Barry and Iris. Okay, don't get ahead of yourself, Ralph thought. It was only a crush. And an unrealistic one at that.
The only obstacle truly standing in their way was her.
Every great person has someone equally mediocre holding them back. This, however, was one of the only cases Ralph had come across where the person holding them back was literally inside of them. She called herself Caitlin, but Ralphie knew that on the inside, she was a frosty killer. The best of her kind.
He never quite understood why everyone seemed to prefer the worst part of her to the best. They should learn that redheads aren't always the best kind of people. Obviously, though, he preferred blondes. And fiesty ones at that. It wasn't necessarily that hated Caitlin, he was would much rather see Killer Frost any day.
He almost summed up the courage to ask her out, after their second of third team-up; around the time that she saved the S.T.A.R Labs women at the Bachelorette Party for Iris. But then at the last minute, he choked. He suddenly had an overwhelming feeling of nervousness that he wasn't good enough for her, and that even if she had said yes, he would've felt guilty about it afterwards, no matter how attractive she was.
Now she's gone. And there isn't anything Ralph regrets more than letting her go. When The Thinker suppressed her of her powers, and he watched her hair fade to rust, all of his feelings for her exploded, and he had never felt more grieve or regret in his entire life. All he dreamt about was her in his arms, but he never thought that she would be dying in them.
Ever since she had passed, he promised himself he wouldn't rest until she was brought back. That was why he didn't want to focus on Cicada, or whoever came in Team Flash's way. There was a reason they were called Team Flash and not Team Ralph; Ralph had his own problems to work with. No villain was going to stop him until he got his villain back.
(Switching to Caitlin's perspective)
Caitlin had noticed a different side of Ralph that she hadn't seen before. She had began to realize that he was focusing most of his attention on her, and wanted to help as much as he could to get her back what she had lost.
As dorky as he was, - and he was quite dorky - he was also really sweet. Dedicated. Determined. And she had begun to suddenly see a future where her and Ralph were together, and she was in his arms. He wasn't bothered by her angry alter-ego. In fact, he sort of embraced it. He wanted to get her back just as made as Caitlin did, and he didn't mind what measures had to be taken to do it.
He was definitely no Ronnie. And definitely not a Julian. But he was different than those guys. True, she would love Ronnie for the majority of her life, and Julian, well, he was fun to be around, but Ralph was there. He was there for her. He wanted to make sure that she was alright.
And while he wasn't Ronnie, or Julian. He was Ralph.
And that was just perfect.