(())
Nobody knows how such a notion began, nor how to explain it. There was no consistent scientific data to summarize the phenomenon nor any solid evidence to disapprove the principles of it all. It was a scientific, marvellous mystery.
However, despite the lack of knowledge and, unfortunately, evidence there was still five factors universally acknowledged and accepted as fact and true-
1) Until one meets his/her life-partner or soulmate, their vision will remain black and white.
2) When one meets his/her life partner, their vision will reveal the colour 'yellow' and only yellow.
3) When one meets his/her soulmate, they shall see all the colours of the Universe.
4) You are destined to meet your soulmate at one point, be it young or old.
5) There was absolutely and utterly no explanation as to why or how this happened.
It just did.
And it happened to a certain fast meta-human and an adamant scientist.
(())
Caitlin Snow did not have any intention of finding a soul mate. None whatsoever.
In fact she was convinced that that the whole concept was ludicrous to say the least. There was no say on your part who it was to be which alone was enough to put her off the whole charade. For someone who had always been in charge of her life, an independent female scientist with a promising career in biochemistry, the idea of not being in control of her own heart was horrendous.
However, she herself had first hand seen the statistics on the subject – there had been no cases at all where someone never found their other half. Therefore she could only conclude that the likelihood of avoiding hers until she passed on was low. Non-existent even.
She just hoped that when she did happen to find her significant other that it would be at the right time in her life (and more importantly; her career), and that it would be simple. A simple relationship of complete and utter understanding.
Unfortunately for her, neither request would be fulfilled because her soulmate would turn up at the worst possible time, in the worst possible state and it was most-definitely not simple.
(())
25 hours beforehand she had lost Ronnie. Her fiancé. Her life-partner.
Someone who had wormed his way into every fibre of her being and despite being dead, still occupied every inch of her very existence. He had grabbed her heart and refused to let it go since the beginning and even beyond the end. He was just Ronnie. Her Ronnie.
And he had just died because of an invention she helped to create.
He had just died because of a party she forced him to attend.
He had just died because of her.
He had just died.
Yet her grief was something she could not acknowledge let alone embrace – for the particle accelerator that had killed Ronnie had also left many casualties in its wake. Patients that needed a Doctor, just as her boss Harrison Wells had described.
"I know you are hurting Caitlin. I have also lost someone of significance first-hand and I can assure you that I understand your current emotions completely" Wells sighed heavily, the deep enveloping frown more evident on his face than ever, "But that grief that's presently consuming you? Use it now and transfer it into your work as a Doctor. The particle accelerator has left hundreds wounded, all patients that need a Doctor. Right now you are not and can't be grief-stricken Caitlin. No, you are Doctor Snow, the woman who's going to save the lives of many tonight."
She knew he was right – she just didn't want him to be. The grief still was fresh, like an open wound and his words were the salt applied; and it stung. Yet despite the overwhelming tidal wave of emotions that hit her and attempted to carry her away, she stood defiantly at her feet. She had to be a doctor right now, someone who saved others from being swept away by the same wave.
So with that said and done, she turned to her Boss of countless years and nodded, her cheeks still tear-stained. There would be no time to grieve.
"My first patient?" She asked, her voice wavering slightly between words.
"You start with a Mr Barry Allen who's being transferred from the local Hospital as we speak."
(())
She should have known that he would be no ordinary patient when he first arrived. The signs, they were all there, looming in the corners of her mind. That little ray of happiness as she walked towards her latest patient after just losing her fiancé should have raised the alarm bells. She should have seen it coming.
But she didn't.
"Patient 0925?" She asked robotically as she approached Cisco and the coma-induced body.
"Also known as Barry Allen" Cisco replied, "After the particle accelerator exploded it caused a giant thundercloud to form and this guy got struck by lightning as a result. Current state is comatose."
"Struck by lightning at that frequency and concentration?" Caitlin said incredulously.
Cisco gave her a similar look as if he couldn't quite believe it himself. "He was also blasted back into already charged chemicals – I know, he should be dead."
"But that's – that's impossible," Caitlin stammered slightly as she gazed at the man in front of her. Despite the sleeping mystery that lay in front of her, she couldn't help but notice how attractive the guy was – she didn't need to see colour to be able to tell that. Shaking her head slightly, she turned reluctantly from Mr Allen to face Cisco once more, her inner doctor taking control.
"I want to put him on the ventilator immediately- we don't know the extent of his injuries yet and the report the Hospital staff have given me is absolutely useless. It looks as if he's been through multiple cardiac arrests since discovered but the readings are looking a little odd to me. So check –"
"-the heart monitor ratings and do a first-hand sample." Finished Cisco, reading her mind, "I'm on it Caitlin."
She watched him leave on her orders with a hesitant look on her face. Why? He had called her Caitlin.
Well of course he had, that was her name after all. And yet, it wasn't. Not really. Caitlin was someone who had everything planned in life, from her work to her love life. To Ronnie. Caitlin was someone who was whole. Who was at home in this very lab with her life-partner by her side.
This girl right now was not Caitlin Snow. Right now, she was Doctor Snow and she had a patient.
"Alright then Patient 0925, let's check your vitals." She sighed, grabbing the blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope. Reaching for him, she carefully lowered her hand and pressed her fingers onto his arm to help turn it around to the correct position. And it was at that moment everything changed.
Because at that very moment, her vision filled with the colour.
Caitlin staggered back, almost tripping over her own feet as the whole room brightened around her. No longer was everything black, white and yellow but beautiful shades of red and green and blue and so many more colours of the spectrum. She had to cover her eyes for a moment, one fleeting moment so that she would not go blind by the glorious light around her. It was almost as if she were discovering the secret, the very key to the heart of the Universe for this single touch was so defining, so exhilarating that she could hardly contain herself. And then reality struck her like the lightning bolt that almost killed Barry Allen.
Her coma induced patient, Barry Allen, was her soulmate.
The one thing she had hoped to avoid the majority of her life, perhaps altogether. The one thing that both Ronnie and she had agreed above all was ridiculous; having your life planned out for you without any say on your part. One of the many reasons why they had decided to get married in the first place, to rebel against fate, against this. And look where that got her; a dead fiancé and a soulmate.
Ronnie had barely been dead a day. She was not ready to face the grief that came with his loss, let alone the repercussions of discovering her injured soulmate. She was just not ready to do any of those things.
And so she wouldn't. Not for a while.
Not until Barry Allen woke up that is.
(())
Cisco walked back into the lab with the statistics that Caitlin had asked for and some shocking results that would definitely spark her interest accompanying it. He had expected her to be immersed with her work as a Doctor, just as Wells had instructed her to do so. He knew this was her way of grieving, just as it was his. After all, it was he who shut the door that ultimately led to Ronnie's death.
What Cisco hasn't been expecting however, was Caitlin to be lying on the floor with her eyes widened.
"Woah Caitlin!" Cried Cisco, dropping the data in his hands immediately and running towards his friend, "Are you okay?"
Cisco watched his friend struggle to keep her chest moving rapidly from her erratic breathing and inconsistent heartbeat. Her eyes travelled everywhere, looking at every inch of the room as if she'd never seen the place before.
"Caitlin?" He asked slowly, failing to hide the worry in his voice.
Slowly but surely, Dr Snow managed to remove her eyes from the various colours that were consuming her and turn to her friend. The worry stretched on his face was more evident than ever and she knew she had to calm down and return to a normal state.
"I'm fine Cisco…" She breathed heavily.
"What happened? Why are you on the floor?"
Caitlin stared at the unconscious Barry Allen with shaking hands as she answered Cisco "Absolutely nothing happened, I just tripped that's all."
She would live to regret that lie.