Author's Note: After starting three different Snowbarry stories and one Frostar multi chaptered AU, this idea refused to be abandoned like the rest. So here it is, an AU without superhuman powers that draws on the friendship of Barry and Caitlin and Barry, Caitlin and Cisco. The title was inspired by the song of the same name by James Arthur. I heard it and the lyrics immediately screamed out Barry and Caitlin to me. Maybe this idea will turn out to be a story worth continuing with; let me know what you think.

Say You Won't Let Go

Chapter One

Caitlin wrung her nimble fingers together as she paced Barry's bedroom. She glanced at her watch and with an irritated sigh went back to his bed. She fluffed up his pillows and smoothed out non-existent wrinkles on his sheets to keep herself busy. She didn't understand what was taking Joe and Cisco so long, since Central City Hospital was only a few minutes away from Barry's apartment and Cisco had called her over half an hour ago to tell her that they were on their way. Had something happened to Barry? Had he had a relapse and fallen back into a coma?

"No." Caitlin shook her head as she rid herself of her negative thoughts.

She had been there yesterday when he had awoken from his coma, as she had been every single day since Barry had met in an accident after his reckless, street racing stunt. Barry had woken up, he had been fine. For heavens sake, she had been the doctor who had checked his vitals while holding back her tears of relief. Then Caitlin had fled the hospital, without saying a word to Barry, unable to contain her tumultuous emotions any longer. Tired of waiting Caitlin impatiently made her way to the bedroom door just as Barry stepped in with Joe and Cisco on either side of him, aiding him on his unsteady feet.

"Caitlin." Barry gave her an uncertain grin but his eyes were still dull and empty, as if he were simply going through the motions. Had he really come out of that coma alive or was he just pretending for their sake?

"Sorry, Cait, we stopped over to get some Big Belly burgers. Apparently that's the first thing you start craving for after waking up from a coma." Cisco apologised jokingly from the doorway.

Caitlin felt her relief morph into a cloud of anger over the fact that she had been worrying over Barry's safety for almost an hour now while he had been stuffing his face with Big Belly burgers. How dare he scare her again? How could he put his life in danger like that? Hadn't he once thought about how she would feel if he went out there and got himself killed? She knew what it felt like to lose a parent, she understood that he had now lost both of his, but there were still people in this world who loved him and he didn't have the right to value his life so little.

Caitlin walked up to Barry, brown eyes bright with anger and she slapped him hard across his face. Joe held on to Barry tighter but pursed his lips to keep from saying anything and Cisco shifted awkwardly on his feet. All three men knew better than to argue with her when she was furious.

Barry turned his head back around to look at Caitlin, too stunned to react, disbelief and hurt flashed in his eyes. She felt no regret though; her hit had brought back the first spark of life she had seen in him for months now, since Henry Allen had died.

"You're a selfish, inconsiderate, thoughtless … coward, Barry Allen." Caitlin fumed, turning away from him in her rage, pacing his bedroom floor like a caged tigress as she tried to release the emotions she had been bottling up within her since Barry's accident.

The sleepless nights filled with worry, fear, relief and anger finally culminated into a ball of fury that exploded from within her. Caitlin swiped her hand furiously across one of Barry's wooden wall shelves, breaking the silly superhero lamps he had painstakingly collected since he had been a child. His neatly displayed frames that proudly presented his comic books were thrown violently on the floor so that the glass shattered around her heels. Even all the little gadgets and figurines that he and Cisco designed in their spare time was not spared Caitlin's wrath.

Then she reached his bedside table that held the large, ceramic dinosaur she had given him as a graduation gift. Inside it housed the story book titled The Runaway Dinosaur that Barry's mother had read to him as a child. Barry had once shared his regret with Caitlin over losing his childhood copy and so Caitlin had wanted him to have one again.

"If she were here, she would have been proud of you, Barry and your dad agrees that she would have wanted you to have this." The words she had spoken to him years ago flittered through the chaos in her mind.

She could still remember the way Barry's beautiful green eyes had filled with tears that day, but his beaming smile had made Caitlin feel as if she had given him the key to the city instead of an ornament and children's story book. She knew how much he treasured her gift and the thought only served to further incense her. Didn't he realise how much he meant to her? So instead of stopping, Caitlin made to reach for the turquoise dinosaur.

In her fit of rage Caitlin had not noticed Barry making his way towards her until he grabbed a hold of her wrists and pulled her away from his dinosaur and towards him instead. At the feel of his long fingers on her skin, Caitlin cursed at him, beating his chest with her fists until he held her against him. He did not cry, not a single tear was shed, but Caitlin bawled her eyes out. She did not say a word, but she knew he understood what her anger and pain was telling him.

She needed him.

Joe needed him. There were people in the world who still loved him and he couldn't give up on them just yet. He relaxed against her, but held her tighter still, and his heavy sigh and slumped shoulders told her that he was truly sorry for scaring her.

"It's okay. It's okay, I got you." He whispered against the shell of her ear, his nose in her hair as Caitlin clung to him, reassuring herself that he was really there and alive.

It was silly to think that he was comforting her when it should have been the other way around, but in that moment she had made Barry finally realise that he was needed.

DOCTOR Caitlin Snow stared at her computer screen, biting her bottom lip as she pondered an incorrect equation before her. It wasn't a highly complex formula, and she was certain she had found the fault in the properties, but she just couldn't decide what element would be better suited as a substitute instead.

She refused to take it to Dr Harrison Wells, because while she was certain he would have an immediate solution to the problem, Caitlin did not like to admit defeat and she definitely did not want to go to her boss with something so trivial.

Caitlin reached to her right for the comfort of her morning coffee but found her desk empty. Looking at her watch the brunette realised that it was still early for her best friend to bring her the usual strong brew she could not function without. So Caitlin sat forward instead, staring intently at her computer screen and frustrating herself with the knowledge that she knew the glaringly obvious solution but simply could not put her finger on it.

Caitlin heard the soft thud next to her and when she looked to her side she noticed a steaming, Styrofoam cup of strong smelling coffee sitting on her desk. With a beaming smile she looked up only to be faced with a bouquet of stunning, white irises.

Caitlin's heart jumped in her chest as the irises were lowered and green eyes sparkled down at her. "Barry." She said breathlessly.

"Is it too much?" He asked nervously and Caitlin swallowed as her mind tried to catch up with her current situation while her heart thundered in her chest. "I know it's only our first date and I should take it slow, but I've been waiting for this day for so long, Cait, and well … do you think it's cheesy, buying her irises?"

The rest of Barry's babbling was drowned out by the sinking sensation of Caitlin's heart into the pit of her stomach. She mentally slapped herself on the forehead for thinking those flowers were for her. Strangely enough, amongst all the intimate gestures Barry had given Caitlin in the name of their friendship (like holding her hair back while she vomited or changing her into her pyjamas and tucking her into bed after a drunken night out) buying her flowers had never been one of them. So of course they were for Iris West, Barry's childhood friend. His next door neighbour, the woman he had secretly pined for all his life: Barry's first love.

"Barry." Caitlin said sternly and he instantly closed his mouth shut. Running a hand behind his head in a telling sign of discomfort he gave her a sheepish grin.

"Sorry." He apologised and Caitlin couldn't help but smile at her sweet, naïve Barry, one of her best friends and closest confidants.

"It's okay." Caitlin told him honestly. "Sit." She took a calming sip of her coffee while Barry seated himself across from her and then passed the drink over to her friend. It was clear that Barry needed the shot of caffeine just as much as she did. He took it with a grateful smile and let out an appreciative sigh afterwards before handing the cup back to Caitlin.

"Thanks." He sounded somewhat calmer now and Caitlin nodded with a thoughtful smile in reply.

"Barry, there's no need to be nervous. You've known Iris since you were eleven." Caitlin said patiently, having already prepared herself for this particular conversation. Barry had been anxious about his date from the moment Iris had agreed to it.

"Yeah." Barry agreed. "But I haven't seen her in years. We've spent so much time apart. It feels like we hardly know one another any more. She's changed so much, Cait."

Sensing a nervous rant coming on again Caitlin reached calmly across her desk for his hand. Barry instinctively turned his fingers around so that he could hold on to her, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles like he always did.

"That's okay then, Barry; it gives you a chance to get to know one another better." Caitlin reassured him.

"She's just never seen me in a romantic light before, Cait. I'm scared she never will." Caitlin tilted her head to the side as she felt the familiar pang of empathy go through her chest every single time Barry spoke about Iris.

Caitlin knew exactly what that felt like, loving your best friend who only ever thought of you in a platonic light. In fact, Barry did not find her in the least bit attractive because Caitlin knew that he could change her without even sneaking a peak at her goods.

Caitlin studied her best friend of over a decade. Tufts of his dark brown hair stuck up in odd ends, his murky green eyes open and honest and his wide smile easy and beautiful. She had never described a man as beautiful before, but Barry Allen was definitely the exception.

"Barry, you two have been spending a lot of time together recently and she wouldn't have agreed to this date tonight if she wasn't interested in being more than friends with you. All you have to do is be yourself and she'll love you no matter what." Caitlin comforted him.

The brunette watched as he lowered his lids before looking up at her again, his gaze measured. It was a look Barry gave her when he did not want her to tell what he was thinking. Only Caitlin knew him well enough to see his hidden insecurities shadow his eyes. "You really think so?"

Caitlin couldn't help the small smile that curved her full lips. Of course sweet, dorky Barry was completely unaware of his unique charm. His endearing sense of humour, thoughtfulness and chivalry made girls believe in white knights, happy ever afters and all the other rubbish that fairy tales spurned.

"I know so, Barry. Trust me." Caitlin nodded her head and Barry squeezed her hand in thanks. That was when Caitlin looked down to see their fingers still innocently intertwined on her desk. Her pulse raced and she quickly pulled her hand away before her palms got sweaty and Barry commented on it.

"Anyway, isn't it too early to be buying flowers for a date that's only tonight?" Caitlin asked him, reaching for her coffee again, taking in a much needed gulp.

At this Barry grinned sheepishly. "Saw it on the side of the street while I was walking here and I just couldn't help myself." He shrugged his broad shoulders.

She shook her brown head at him in equal parts amusement and exasperation. "Well, you better get them preserved if you want them to make it to this afternoon." Caitlin advised logically.

"As always, you're right." Barry told her with a soft laugh and seeing him relaxed again made Caitlin feel better.

All she had ever wanted for Barry was for him to be happy. And if Iris West made him so, then Caitlin was all for this impending relationship. No one deserved happiness more than Barry did.

Barry stood up, tall and lithe and Caitlin sat back, rolling her chair away from her desk slightly. Barry made his way to stand beside her. With the crinkling sound of plastic she watched as he gently plucked out a single iris from the bouquet he was holding and offered it to her wordlessly. Caitlin questioningly raised shapely, brown eyebrows up at him.

"I know it's not a rose, but at least it's white and you deserve it, Cait. For everything, for always." Barry said softly and she was more surprised now that he knew exactly what her favourite flower was rather than the fact that he had finally given her one instead.

His green eyes were undeniably sincere and Caitlin had to hold back the emotion clogging her throat. So she turned to sarcasm as she always did when faced with a situation that made her walls shake and threaten to crumble. "Don't let Cisco hear you say that."

Barry's endearing chuckle was enough to make her smile through her inner turmoil and she held on to the iris, bringing it to her button nose as Barry rushed off. Caitlin told herself that it was silly for a single flower to make her heart expand in her chest, but her cool intellect and logic had never prevailed when it came to one Barry Allen. So she did what she always did to distract herself and buried her head in her work.

. . .

"Who's this from?" Cisco Ramone touched the single iris, now in a washed Styrofoam coffee cup, sitting on her desk. Caitlin looked up from her lunch. Carefully chewing her food she composed her voice before replying.

"Barry." The brunette said nonchalantly.

As expected though, Cisco's eyebrows shot up. Then he slid across her desk, where he was perched on, and came to sit directly in front of Caitlin's chair, eyeing her speculatively. "Barry bought you a flower? A single white flower?"

Caitlin did not like the suspicious note in Cisco's voice. "He didn't buy it for me. He bought a bouquet for his date with Iris tonight, but you know Barry, he needed a little pep talk before he could go through with it."

"Then how did you end up with a flower?" Cisco pointed a thumb over his shoulder at the innocent iris sitting on her desk.

Caitlin shrugged. "He gave me one to thank me for listening to his incessant rambling."

"I see." Cisco said, picking up a lollipop and unwrapping it noisily. He sucked on it with vigour and Caitlin knew he was watching her closely. "How do you feel about his date tonight?" Her best friend queried innocently. Only Caitlin knew that Cisco was really checking to see if she wasn't upset over Barry dating again. Unlike Barry, Cisco was not completely oblivious to her romantic feelings.

"I'm happy for him." The truth to her statement made Caitlin's voice steady.

Cisco pulled out his sucker with a loud pop, knowing the sound annoyed her to no end. However, Caitlin had long ago learned to deal with Cisco and Barry's idiosyncrasies, because not only were they her best friends, but because they had done the same for her. Besides, one made sure to have lunch with her on almost a daily basis and the other always brought Caitlin her morning cup of coffee from Jitters, just the way she liked it. Caitlin had never really done well with making friends before and when Cisco and Barry had stumbled into her life, she had truly realised how alone she had always been and how much happier they made her existence.

"Will this make him happy though?" Cisco asked perceptively.

Caitlin raised big, brown eyes up at her long time friend. "Of course, you saw for yourself how ecstatic he was when Iris agreed to have dinner with him tonight. He really cares about her, Cisco."

"That's the problem. He's been so strung up over Iris for all these years that I'm worried he's blinded to what's right in front of him." Cisco said seriously, eyeing Caitlin pointedly.

Caitlin had stopped denying her feelings for Barry to Cisco for a long time now. Somewhere along the line of helping Barry overcome his grief when his father had died and coming so close to losing Barry after his accident had made her realise that she had loved him for longer than she had known.

At first it had been a friendship, a unique sort of relationship where she and Barry had turned to each other when Cisco couldn't quite understand their shared pain of losing a loved one. But then Caitlin had realised that ever since Barry had become such an integral part of her life, she had not been able to form romantic relationships with other men. She had struggled to understand why her affairs had always left her feeling as if something was missing until Cisco had pointed out that her heart was somewhere else, with someone else.

Cisco, who had found her crying one night over Barry's bedside, heartbroken over their friend's condition had pointed out her feelings for her. He had strangely asked her if she would cry that way over him if the situation had been reversed. When Caitlin had replied with a resounding "of course", he had looked at her funnily. It was the first time she had seen Cisco so pensive about anything, even his superhero video games.

Maybe it had been something in her eyes, or the tremble of her lips or the shaking of her hands as she sat at Barry's bedside for days, waiting for him to come back from the coma he had put himself into, but Cisco had known. He had known for a while and hearing her confession to Barry had only been confirmation for him. Cisco had heard how she had begged Barry to come back to her, telling the sleeping man that she loved him, that she needed him and didn't want to imagine a life without him. And later, when Caitlin thought about exactly what she had said to Barry in the heat of the moment that night, how she had said it, she knew that Cisco had been right. She had become prey to one of the oldest clichés in history and fallen in love with her best friend.

Surprisingly, Cisco had not minded the romantic feelings Caitlin had developed for Barry and had encouraged her to tell him exactly how she had felt. Caitlin had let herself be talked into it. Only Iris had come back to Central City soon after Barry had woken up. This time Iris had not come back to visit for the day but had returned home and it was like Barry had been given a new purpose in life.

Iris had started spending more time with Barry, making all his old feelings for his childhood friend surface again and Barry had told Caitlin and Cisco that he had never stopped loving Iris. So how could Caitlin be so selfish as to admit her feelings for Barry when he had looked more alive than he had in days because of Iris?

Now, months later, it had come out that Iris had broken up with her long term boyfriend when he had refused to relocate to Central City with her, where she had been offered a job at Central City Picture News. So Caitlin had kept her mouth shut and let Barry renew his relationship with Iris until he had finally found the courage to ask her out. And of course, Iris had said yes.

"He's dated other girls before." Caitlin reminded Cisco about Linda Park and Patty Spivot.

Cisco pulled a disinterested face at this, pushing back dark strands of his long hair behind his ear. "Only because those girls basically threw themselves at him. If they hadn't, Barry wouldn't even have thought twice about it."

Caitlin thought that that was an unfair statement to make. Maybe Linda Park had been a little aggressive in her pursuit of Barry when they were younger, and that was probably why the relationship had fizzled out so quickly, but Patty had been good for Barry. It was just unfortunate that Barry had become so closed off after his father had gotten sick and had pushed Patty away, so far away that the poor girl had had to leave the city to mend her broken heart.

"Cisco, Barry has been in love with Iris since he was eleven years old. Let him have this opportunity to finally make his dream a reality."

"But that's exactly it, Cait. He's not eleven anymore." Cisco argued.

"But he still feels the same way about her, so that should be enough for you to be supportive." Caitlin chided gently.

"Oh, I am. I told him not to wear that ugly bow tie he insisted on buying for the occasion." Cisco said with disgust and Caitlin couldn't help but smile at this.

"Oh, thank God. I did too." They both grinned at each other before Cisco's face grew sombre once more.

"Seriously though, Cait, it's sad that Barry doesn't realise what he has right in front of him. This isn't the same as Linda or Patty. With Iris it's like nothing else exists. It's all he could talk about this week." Caitlin looked up at Cisco sadly.

"Are you worried that Barry will forget about us now that he has Iris?" She asked astutely. "That the dynamics of our trio will change?"

Cisco's mouth became a flat line. "Well we won't exactly be a trio with the addition of her, now will we? She doesn't even understand science. Sure she's beautiful and funny and she has history with Barry, but she's selfish, Cait."

"Cisco!" Caitlin gasped. Then the brunette frowned. Cisco was not normally the sort of person to be so disapproving of someone he barely knew. He also rarely badmouthed anyone, especially not someone of the female species and certainly not with such open dislike. Did he know something that she did not? "Cisco, you've only met her a handful of times, how can you possibly tell she's selfish?"

"Okay, this can never leave this room." Cisco whispered conspiratorially and Caitlin rolled her eyes. "I'm being serious, Cait, Barry confided in me man to man."

Caitlin couldn't help the grin that formed on her full lips. Cisco loved sharing secrets with Barry, their bromance meant a lot to him so Caitlin had always allowed Cisco to believe that there were some things about Barry that only he knew.

"When Barry learned that Iris had been offered that reporting job out of Central City and was about to leave, he had finally admitted his feelings for her. But she had turned him down, telling him that she didn't feel the same way about him and that she was in love with her older boyfriend who she planned on moving in with once she left the city." Cisco blurted.

Caitlin's eyes widened. Clearly there were things that Cisco knew about Barry that she didn't. She wondered why Barry had never told her that before but decided that it wasn't important right now. "Poor Barry."

"Yeah, and we know that Iris broke up with her boyfriend because he was just promoted to detective in his department and refused to move cities with her." Cisco stated as if Iris really was the worst person alive.

Caitlin frowned at this. "It doesn't make her selfish, Cisco, it just makes her ambitious."

"All I'm saying is that if she was willing to leave Eddie after years of dating … well, you know Barry isn't the most emotionally stable person when it comes to relationships and if she did that to him … " Cisco trailed off dramatically and while Caitlin rolled her brown eyes at her friend, she knew there was some truth to what he was saying as well.

"Cisco, that's horrible. You should give them both more credit than that. Besides, we don't really know what happened between Iris and Eddie." Caitlin reasoned. "Look, I know you're scared that things will change between the three of us, and you're right, it's quite possible that things will never be the same again, but we don't know that for sure. This is only Barry's first date. We don't know where it'll lead to but we're his friends, we should support him no matter what happens. Our group was bound to change if any one of us found someone we were crazy about, so let's give Barry the benefit of the doubt here, okay?"

Caitlin stared at Cisco and after a while he nodded his head. "I still think you should have told him how you feel about him." When Caitlin sighed and stared at Cisco in exasperation, her best friend held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, don't shoot me. I'm just saying you can't be selfless all the time."

. . .

Caitlin looked up from her keys and took a startled step back, hand to her heart. "Barry?" She asked as her best friend stood up from the carpeted floor outside her apartment door.

"I'm sorry. I should have called and let you know I was coming over." He said ruefully, rubbing a hand behind his head.

Caitlin took one look at his forlorn expression, dejected shoulders and that dorky bowtie Cisco and she had warned him not to wear, hanging open around the collar of his finest cotton shirt, and instantly knew that something was wrong.

"Since when do you ever call first?" She teased and was pleased to see a small smile ruefully appear at the corner of his mouth. "Come on in." She offered slowly as he stepped aside for her to open up. He followed Caitlin inside before shutting the door slowly behind him.

From years of dealing with an upset Barry she knew when she needed to probe him and when to let him speak first. This was one of those times when she would need to wait for him. It turned out that Caitlin did not need to wait very long after all.

"What would you do if I took you out to a fancy restaurant for dinner, sat awkwardly across from you with nothing to say and then had to leave half way through our meal because the CCPD needed me?" Caitlin hid a wince, carefully masking her expression as she realised that his date with Iris had clearly not gone very well. The brunette set her bag and keys down, shrugged off her coat and hung it up neatly before turning to face Barry again.

"Why had the CCPD called you in?" Caitlin bought herself some time as she thought about what to say to Barry that didn't scream out I would be thrilled to go out on a real date with you regardless of the details.

She knew he loved his job as a forensic investigator at the Central City Police Department but hadn't believed that anything could have pulled him away from his date with Iris, even if it had been an awkward one at that.

"Julian is away on personal leave." Caitlin knew that Barry was frowning slightly, something he always did when he spoke about his work nemesis. This time though, Julian was spared the criticism about being a hypocrite as clearly Barry had more pressing issues at hand. "So?" Barry prodded. "What would you have done?"

"Firstly, you would never take me to a fancy restaurant." Caitlin turned around and gave Barry a cheeky smile.

"Oh?" He raised his eyebrows playfully at her before plopping down on her comfortable couch.

Caitlin went to the kitchen and brought him a bottle of his favourite beer before taking her place next to him. "Yes, you would insist that I needed to loosen up a little so you would take me to a noisy ballgame or childish gaming arcade and make me wear a pair of jeans I don't own."

Barry grinned at her, his expression so unknowingly charming in that moment that Caitlin wanted to say whatever she could to ease away his tension. "Really? Didn't we do that already? The ballgame I mean." Barry asked, taking a swig of his beer and then passing the bottle over to her.

He knew she preferred wine to beer, but sharing drinks with each other had become an unknowing habit between them since their drunken college nights together. As they had grown older the back and forth passing of beverages had extended to whatever the other was having.

"Yes, and you got punched in the face for it as well." Caitlin smiled as she reminded him about the embarrassing incident.

"Hey, I was defending your honour." Barry protested, sitting up and looking at Caitlin in mock offence.

"Barry, you were as skinny as a toothpick back then, and he was double your size. You could barely manage to defend yourself. You should have ignored him." Caitlin insisted.

"He called you a bitch, I couldn't ignore that." Barry gave her a rare frown and the fact that, even after all these years, the drunken man's slur at Caitlin still angered him, made the brunette's chest swell with emotion for him.

"My hero." Caitlin said genuinely as she reached out and smoothed her fingers through the tufts of his dark hair that always stood up on end, earning her an affectionate smile from Barry. There was a moment of comfortable silence between them, where they were both happy to just be in each others presence, relaxing companionably as they unwound after a long day. "So, I take it things didn't go too well between you and Iris tonight?"

Barry sighed heavily, turning sideways on the couch so he could see her better. Caitlin mirrored his position, their knees brushing innocently as they looked at one other.

"I was nervous. But she handled it really well, calming me down when I started babbling, like you do." Barry lowered his eyelids before focusing his attention back on Caitlin. "But then we sat across from each other and it was like we didn't know what to talk about. We spoke about the good old days and the things we remembered at first, but eventually the topic ran its course and it was like we were strangers then. We have different memories after that and every time I tried to speak to her about something it just didn't make sense to her."

Caitlin raised an eyebrow at this. "Please don't tell me you made a joke about science or videogames?"

Barry looked affronted. "Hey, you laugh at my jokes all the time."

"Out of pity." Caitlin teased before her expression turned serious. "Barry, Iris and you might have different interests now, but that doesn't mean you don't have anything in common."

"That's just the thing, Cait, what if we're just too different right now?" Barry sounded distressed by the possibility.

Caitlin idly wondered if maybe Cisco had been right about Barry's feelings for Iris. Obviously they were genuine, it was just the type of person Barry was, but what if he had built up this idea of Iris in his head that she didn't live up to now? Barry had a knack of taking on all the blame for every situation, bearing the brunt of the world's burden on his shoulders. Caitlin would hate for Barry to think that if things between Iris and him didn't work out that it was entirely his fault; that it was something he needed to fix. However, their relationship needed a chance and so she could only help her best friend deal with his feelings for the time being.

"Nonsense." Caitlin refuted. "You guys grew up in the same neighbourhood together. You were best friends in school. You may not be the same people anymore, Barry, but all that means is that you guys get to make new memories together. Take an interest in each others lives, like normal people do when starting off a relationship."

Barry looked thoughtfully at his bottle. "Yeah, I guess we could rebuild our friendship first. Get to know each other again."

"Exactly." Caitlin agreed. "Give her a call, ask her out on a second date, at least you'll know where you stand then."

"You're right. I'll do that." Barry grinned like a little boy who had just been told he could have an extra cookie after lunch and Caitlin couldn't help but feel happy for him even though her stomach lurched with disappointment in the process. She pushed the conflicting emotions aside.

"If anything, I'm surprised she didn't run away at the sight of this monstrosity." Caitlin reached for the ugly, polka dotted bowtie around his neck and pulled it off, hiding it beneath the cushions of her couch. Barry playfully shoved her.

"Hey, you owe me ninety-nine dollars for that." He laughed before he sank into the sofa, clearly feeling better about his night. Caitlin threw her long hair over the back of the headrest and copied Barry's relaxed position.

"I'll take it back to the store for you." Caitlin said disinterestedly and she knew that Barry was grinning at this.

He scooted closer to her and Caitlin inhaled Barry in. He always smelt like the cool air after a lightning storm, clean and fresh, revitalising. "Thanks." He said softly, nudging her arm with his and Caitlin placed her head on his shoulder in a moment of weakness knowing that such a notion would only ever be viewed with friendly innocence by Barry. He sighed peacefully beside her and Caitlin's eyelids drooped.

She had fallen asleep like this many nights before and Barry always carried her to bed, tucking her in before he left. Tonight would be no different.