Before You Met Me

by TCGA

Sometimes destiny needs a little push, or at least that's what most people tell themselves before downloading the Tinder app. However, that's not Doctor Caitlin Snow's style. Despite being at a low point in her life, she feels reluctant to try anything to force herself out of her comfort zone, until her best friend sets her up on a date with a stranger. [Tinder date AU]

"So, what's tonight's excuse?" Cisco asked, from the other side of the couch.

"What do you mean?" Caitlin asked, focused on the laptop laying on her legs.

"Why aren't we going out again?"

She shrugged. "I told you, I got some job interviews and I want to do some research on each one of these places, make a pro-con list, you know?"

"Just so you can end up deciding the cons surpass the pros and bail on all those super important bosses and CEOs?"

"Cisco…"

Cisco muted the tv and turned to her with an unusual serious look on his face.

"Why don't you just, you know, embrace the sabbatical until something you really want pops up?" he suggested.

"I'm not in sabbatical," Caitlin corrected him.

"Yes, you are. Perfect time to have some fun with me and Cynthia…"

"You mean third-wheeling…"

"…do something different..."

"…I don't like different…"

"… like skydiving or…"

"…I'm not depressed enough to commit suicide…"

"… going on a date."

"Let me think about the skydiving."

A big smile spread across Cisco's face, erasing any trace of his intended lecture.

"I see," he said, triumphally. "You're scared of going back out there in every way. Let me tell you, dating could be a first step."

"I am not scared of 'going out there'," Caitlin argued, using her fingers to emulate the quotation marks. "I have a job…"

"At a coffee shop."

"Hey! Your girlfriend is a supervisor there. Show some respect."

"I would, if Cynthia actually liked that job. She has this huge résumé, but Central City is plagued with engineers. You, on the other hand, can leave it whenever you want."

"Why would I? I like it there."

"Yeah, right. You can barely look at your co-workers in the eye…"

"Because Cynthia is my only friend there…"

"You clearly don't see the point."

Caitlin let out a long sigh. "What do you want me to do, Cisco?"

"I want you to step out of those symbolic walls you built around yourself when Ronnie left you and you quit STAR Labs," Cisco answered, his brown eyes unbothered by her questioning ones. "I want my best friend back."

Caitlin couldn't hold back a little, sad smile. She knew Cisco was right but, every time he tried to start a conversation on her behavior, Caitlin chose not to relive those painful moments her friend had just reminded her of.

One morning, six months ago, Caitlin's long-term fiancé left their apartment early, breaking their usual routine of driving to work together. Since Caitlin had been leading a series of experiments lately, she couldn't afford being late. So, once she got there by herself, she proceeded to put on her white coat and go straight to her office without making a big deal out of it. But, when Ronnie ignored her twice in the hallway and only approached her later that day to ask for an old file, she had to ask what was going on. He insisted on talking about it when they were home, making her too nervous to endure the three hours of work they still had left. So, in an atypical reaction Caitlin still hated herself for, she pushed. She pushed and she pushed until the structural engineer exploded. His rant started with how blind Caitlin was not to see things hadn't been the same between them for ages and finished with 'I can't pretend to love you anymore'. All of this in front of all her co-workers and colleagues.

Caitlin couldn't (or tried hard not to) remember quitting her job or collecting her belongings from the apartment she shared with Ronnie. It was like her body had temporarily shielded against the slightest emotional trigger, which only lasted until midnight, when she showed up at Cisco's door and finally opened her mouth to tell him she needed a place to live.

Two minutes. That was all it took to turn her life upside down.

"Look, I anticipated and even rehearsed a little bit of this conversation," Cisco continued, pulling his phone out of his pocket and checking the screen. Caitlin tilted her head in confusion. "I did a thing…"

"Oh, no, I know that look," Caitlin stressed, leaving her laptop on Cisco's coffee table and crawling to his spot with a wary look. "What did you do?"

Cisco frowned, placing his phone screen against his chest. "Why do you immediately assume that it's something bad?"

"What did you do, Francisco?"

Visibly threatened, Cisco leaned back and slowly turned the phone to show her the screen. Caitlin recognized her own face on it. More specifically, her Facebook profile picture. "I created you a Tinder profile…" her friend admitted, immediately taking the phone out of her reach.

"Are you kidding me?" Caitlin screeched furiously, climbing up his body to get the phone.

Cisco put his hand behind his back, ignoring Caitlin's soft punches against his shoulders. "No, I'm not. You got a match yesterday and you're supposed to meet him at 7…"

"No, I am not supposed to do anything because I didn't agree to do anything! Delete that now!"

"Caitlin…"

"You can't just grab my pictures and pose as me on the internet! Give-me-that-phone…"

"Would you please hear me out? You know, before going Super Saiyan 3?"

Exhausted, Caitlin got off her friend and sat back on the couch, panting. "You have thirty seconds…"

"Okay, since enlisting all the reasons why you should try blind dating might take more than thirty seconds, let me start describing this guy," Cisco said, keeping his phone out of sight. "I did some digging. He looks normal and has a steady job. His name starts with a B. He's tall and dreamy and even has James Dean hair. Wasn't James Dean your crush back in the day?"

"Childhood crush," Caitlin remarked, bitterly. "And your digging means nothing. People lie on the internet. How do you know you're not sending me to see a sociopath?"

Cisco rolled his eyes. "I'm not that dumb. I asked him to wait outside the bar next to Jitters. It's a pretty crowded place. If you don't trust him, just don't accept drinks directly from his hand or text me so I can call you saying there's an emergency or something. You can easily scurry away."

"Can I at least see him?"

"Oh, no. I know you: you'll decide whether he's nerdy or bad news just by looking at his clothes. Maybe think that his name sounds funny or doesn't go with his face. Trying to set you up was a nightmare during our freshman year of college…"

Caitlin winced. "Did you try to set me up in freshman year?"

"Oh… my… God," Cisco groaned, shaking his head. "Guys gave up so easily that you didn't even notice they were flirting. See? The less you know, the better. Just for once, please trust me."

Caitlin facepalmed and then peeked through her fingers to see Cisco's begging expression. Even though she considered this strategy a little bit extreme, it was true that trying to get her out of the apartment had proven to be a herculean task. Her friend was so desperate that looking for a stranger to pull her out of her hole was weirdly understandable, but looking for people to date just wasn't her style. Actually, it wasn't her style to look for anything, because the only thing she had known her whole life was that she wanted to help people through science. Any other good or bad thing that had ever happened to her hadn't been planned at all.

"Wouldn't it be better if I go out with you and Cynthia and talk to some guy?" Caitlin rationalized, in her desperation. "After what I've been through, shouldn't I try to meet someone spontaneously?"

"Wow, that's such a Disney princess side of you I don't think I knew," Cisco said, with a half winning smile. Caitlin rolled her eyes. "I just feel that going out might help you to desensitize and find yourself again. You know that I didn't truly know what I wanted until Cynthia came along, but it was knowing what I didn't want that helped me find her. You don't need to start a new relationship immediately. It's just… trying something different might work as an enlightenment for your current situation. One thing might lead to another thing. Sometimes destiny needs a little push."

Considering that her friend Cisco Ramon had always been a goofball, there weren't many people that took him seriously. Caitlin and Cynthia were the only ones who would see through his humor, and it was especially difficult not to pay attention when he turned this serious.

This wasn't just another random Friday night suggestion. No, he had made a seemingly absurd plan and presented it to her as an obvious ultimatum, his last attempt to help her. And she just couldn't say no to the person who had put a roof over her head and keep acting like she was planning to live with him and be stuck in that routine forever. She had to at least show some minimal effort.

Caitlin checked her watch and then looked down at her clothes. She still had an hour to get out of her PJs and take a shower.

"Fine," she said, hardly recognizing her own voice. "I'll do it."

Cisco blinked, and his mouth dropped open. "That was surprisingly easy."

Caitlin closed her laptop and got off the couch with a sigh. Her other two reasons to agree to that madness were simply stop that already torturous conversation and not wanting to ruin that poor Tinder guy's Friday night.

"I hate you," she stated, walking to her bedroom.

"You'll thank me one day," Caitlin heard Cisco yell from the living room.

"EN MEDIO DEDO!"

Cisco scoffed loudly. "It's 'dedo de en medio'. Stop using Google Translator, for crying out loud! Or woman up and raise the finger!"

A cushion came through the door and landed a mere foot away from Caitlin, who was already going through her closet. She threw it back to the living room. "Rude!"

Cisco, who had now shown up at her door, caught the cushion right in time. "Believe me, you'll thank me one day," he promised, audaciously. "You'll walk up to me, put a five-dollar bill in my hand and say 'thank you'."

"Why a five-dollar bill specifically?" Caitlin asked, tiredly, pulling a pair of jeans and a leather jacket out of her closet and putting them on her bed.

"Just because I hate paying for the subway. My perfect day currently includes two free rides and getting my best friend back out there."

Caitlin bit her lip to repress a smile. "You're so full of it."

"You better not have that attitude when you meet your date. I played a very lovely version on the chat," Cisco teased her, batting his eyelashes.

"And you had to ruin it. I need to change. Bye, bye," Caitlin exclaimed, shutting her bedroom door in his face.

---

Caitlin arrived at the bar from the other side of the street, trying to stay as far as possible from Jitter's door, and begging that none of her co-workers stepped outside while she was there. She stood on the sidewalk, right in front of the bar, anxiously looking around and barely believing what she had just put herself through.

"Tall, James Dean hair," she repeated to herself, carefully checking the hairstyles of the people going into the bar, but no one fitted Cisco's poor description.

Five minutes later, when Caitlin started considering leaving, knowing that she probably wasn't the first person to be stood up by a Tinder date, she saw a very tall guy standing in the corner, right in front of her workplace doors. His breathing was rapid and he seemed a little wired up, like he had run all the way there. And his very, very James Dean hair had survived the rush.

Just like Cisco had predicted, Caitlin found herself trying to guess what that guy did for a living. Not because she was classist, but because the idea of spending the next hour with someone she had nothing in common with made her incredibly anxious. The task was harder than it looked like at first, because his outfit was semi-formal. He was wearing a trench coat and looked too neat for a career that didn't demand that much effort on personal hygiene, but the white hoodie underneath and the sneakers debunked the business man possibility. His shoulder bag seemed to contain papers, so he wasn't a retail seller or something like that. He had also been frowning since Caitlin had laid eyes on him. Not the type of frown she tended to see on the people riding the subway every day, but a prominent one.

She prayed to every god she knew not to be in front of some sort of tortured soul that would bore her to death with a depressive speech.

Damn, she was narrow-minded.

Caitlin let an entire minute pass but, once she saw him checking his watch and the initials "B.A." printed on his bag, she decided she couldn't keep pretending there weren't enough signs. Taking a deep breath, she approached him and poked him in the arm.

"Hi," she said as the man turned around in surprise. "I'm Caitlin."

"Oh, hey," he clumsily said.

"Shall we?" Caitlin prompted, glancing at the bar over her shoulder.

"Excuse me?"

"The bar? The Happy Hour only lasts an hour, we should get our drinks now…"

"Right. I…" He fixed the strap of the bag on his shoulder. "I… I…"

Caitlin tilted her head when he stopped talking, a little confused by his nervousness and wondering if she had come in too strong. His bright, green eyes were now shamelessly fixed on her face, his mouth slightly open, like he was desperately trying to find something to say. Since this silent exchange allowed Caitlin to get a better look at him, she couldn't help but notice that his good looks were more inclined towards the cute side of the spectrum, ergo, his shyness wasn't that out of place. Dating a confident jock during college had made easy for her to tell between people who had been always attractive and those who had an awkward past.

She categorized herself as the latter.

"Is everything okay?" Caitlin finally asked.

Considering that her initial theories about him also included brooding, the broad smile he offered in response was totally unexpected.

Caitlin's first instinct was to smile in return. She didn't want to think about the dating potential, even if that was sort of given considering they had matched through a dating app. But, for now, she was somehow dazzled by the way his face had changed.

"I'm sorry," he chuckled out, sheepishly. "Hi, I'm Barry Allen," he introduced himself.

"Hi," Caitlin said back, laughing. Her eyes momentarily met the ground as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

Did you just blush? Come on, Caitlin, what are you? Twelve?

"I… I'd rather to have some coffee," Barry told her, delivering his longest sentence so far. "If that's okay with you."

"I… sure," Caitlin agreed, unable to admit her previous fear of being seen on a Tinder date by her co-workers.

"Thank you."

Just when Caitlin started thinking that maybe she was wrong about his shyness (and the clumsiness that sometimes comes with it), he turned to the coffee shop door and took a long, clumsy step forward, in an awkward attempt to reach it first and open it for her. Feeling secondhand embarrassment, she shyly thanked him and stepped in with her head down, followed by him.

"Hey, Caitlin!" Josh said from behind the bar.

Caitlin merely nodded at the barista, wishing he hadn't brought attention upon her. From the corner of her eye, she saw Barry raising an eyebrow.

"You come here often?" he asked her.

"I work here," she answered, after waving at Josh.

"For real?"

Caitlin had tried not to look at the register but, in a moment of weakness, she glanced at the cashier for that shift and saw that it was Cynthia, Cisco's girlfriend. Since there was no line to take care of, she was already giving her a puzzled look.

Caitlin quickly turned to Barry. "Hey, why don't you go upstairs and find a table?" she suggested. "I'll order for you."

"What? No, I have to pay…" he protested, pointing at the menus on the wall behind the bar.

"It's okay, I have a discount."

Caitlin felt a strong rush of gratitude when he shrugged and started climbing the stairs. She only approached the register once he was totally out of sight.

"Please don't ask me," Caitlin told Cynthia.

"What are you doing with Barry?" she asked anyway, more surprised than cheeky.

"You know him?!"

"Don't you? He's a regular."

"He's my…Tinder date."

"Oh…"

Caitlin rolled her eyes at Cynthia's failed attempt to look clueless. "You don't look surprised," she noticed, accusingly.

"Yeah, I was with Cisco when he created your account," her friend admitted, wrinkling her nose. "But damn, that's a coincidence."

"Please… if someone asks, just tell them he got me a job interview or something," Caitlin begged, barely believing her bad luck. "I don't think we will go out again anyway, so… I'd like to avoid rumors and questions, especially if he comes here often."

"Yeah, that's kind of impossible around here," Cynthia said, humorously. "Linda has been hounding him for months, there's no way she doesn't find out. She's off today, though."

Caitlin rubbed her temples. "Did anything happen?"

"Nah. She wrote her phone number on his paper cup like a week ago, but it didn't work."

"Why?"

Cynthia shook her head, amusedly. "Barry asked her if it was the new wi-fi password. Linda thinks he politely rejected her, but I think he's just an adorable nerd."

Caitlin thought that her brief interaction with Barry was enough to agree with Cynthia. However, learning that her date hadn't been flirting with their mostly female staff gave her an unexpected sense of relief.

She looked behind her to make sure there was still no line and requested a little more help from Cynthia. "Do you happen to know what he does?" she queried.

"Why? You just said you won't see him again," Cynthia quickly pointed out.

"Yes, but I can't just bail on him, that would be rude. I need something to talk about until both agree that dating apps are stupid and pair up the wrong people most of the time…"

"Must be your lucky day: He's a scientist. He works at the CCPD. Who knows? Maybe he's just as uptight as you."

"I'm not upt…CCPD? You mean as a forensic scientist?" Cynthia nodded, making Caitlin blink in surprise. She would have never guessed. "That's… pretty cool."

Cynthia snickered. "Oh, my God. I had totally forgotten about your CSI kink."

"It's not a kink, alright?" Caitlin corrected her, offended. "I just think they deserve more recognition. They bring bad people into justice every day while most of us are stuck in a lab praying that one experiment works…"

"Hey!" Cynthia exclaimed, raising a wary finger. "What you did in that lab mattered, okay? It wasn't all for nothing. No matter where you are now, you can't keep denying your accomplishments. This is exactly why you need to go out with this guy and maybe other people. Spending half your time here and the other half binging cop shows with Cisco won't help you with this existential crisis." She took her pen from behind her ear, as a client approached the register. "Hi, what can I get you?"

Caitlin tried her best not to look so hurt. Not only because she still had to face Barry upstairs, but also because she just needed to stop feeling hurt by people who wanted nothing but the best for her. Especially when her frustration tended to appear in the simplest sentences.

Once Cynthia finished the transaction, she turned to Caitlin with no sign of the previous scolding on her face. "Okay, back to Barry: you could ask him about his cases," she suggested, shrugging. "If you let him do the talking, you'll feel less exposed. He recently solved something that got him a medal. His boss was bragging about it before inviting him a coffee the other day. He's like the CCPD's golden boy or something."

"Are you sure you're not trying to sell me this guy?" Caitlin wondered.

"Oh, I am totally trying to sell you this guy. Come on, he's cute and… lonely."

"How can you possibly know that?"

"Well, he's on Tinder, for starters. And he comes here almost every day after work and stays until we close."

Caitlin looked up at the stairs, afraid to find her date peeking. She had been down there for too long.

"I should get going. He's waiting for me…" she said, opening her purse to get her wallet. "Ugh, I didn't ask him what he wanted…"

"Iced Vanilla Latte for Barry," Cynthia yelled at the barista. "And Caitlin's usual hot chocolate."

"That's it? No extra shot or…?"

"No. Even his Tinder choices are cold and sweet."

"Ha… ha… ha…"

Cynthia took the drinks from the barista and put them on the counter. "There you go. It's on me," she said, stopping Caitlin from opening her wallet. "Have fun."

"Thanks, Cynthia," Caitlin said heartily, taking the cups and stepping away from the bar. "I'll see you later."

Before Caitlin could take the stairs, Cynthia called out her name one more time. "Caitlin."

She turned around. "Uhm?"

"Give him a shot," Cynthia told her, winking. "He is a sweetheart. I have seen him leaving tips twice the same day and help the guys to carry heavy stuff inside. He has been coming for over a year and you're the first girl I have ever seen him with. I'm telling you, there's something about him."

"Okay."

She made a skeptical face as she climbed the stairs to meet Barry in the second floor.

---

"Hey," Caitlin said, putting Barry's drink on the table he was sitting at. "Iced Vanilla Latte."

"Thank you. Are you…?" Barry started, taking a short look at the cup. "Are you stalking me or something?" he asked, jokingly.

"Wha-what? No!" The question caused Caitlin to land on her chair with a bounce. She managed not to make a face, but Barry took a long sip from his cup to hide a smile. "Everyone downstairs seems to know your drink…"

"Ah, yeah, referring to the clients by name is a thing around here. Even the new kids know mine, it kinda freaks me out."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I didn't."

"No one told you about me when you started working here?"

"If they did, I don't remember. It was six months ago and I'm not good at this job…"

Caitlin purposely stayed quiet after that, looking at an empty table to her right, expecting Barry to start a more interesting conversation.

"So…" Barry trailed off, like he had just heard her thoughts. "Why did you send me up here? I didn't pay for the coffee…"

"No, it's okay, really," Caitlin insisted, when she saw him reaching out for his wallet. "I just didn't expect us to come here and didn't want my co-workers to see me with a guy..."

"Oh. Why is that?"

"Because we're not that close and they gossip a lot."

"Don't you just work on weekends? I had never seen you…"

"I'm not doing anything else these days, so I work morning shifts."

"That must suck, waking up to gossip. Even worse if it's about you…"

"Exactly. I never go out, so they'll be curious about this… date."

Barry raised his eyebrows at the last word, making Caitlin's stomach tighten with embarrassment, but he didn't correct her.

"Okay," Barry continued, nodding. "What happened? If you don't mind me asking."

"What do you mean?"

"What made you decide to go out? Did you get bad news? Got dumped? A guy you liked got engaged?"

Caitlin leaned against the arm of her chair and gave him a questioning look, but Barry didn't backtrack. In fact, she felt a strangely warm and comforting vibe coming from his eyes, which amplified when he added a crooked smile.

If Cynthia hadn't told her he was a CSI, she would have thought he was a shrink.

"No offense, but I just met you ten minutes ago," Caitlin said, coldly.

"I met you ten minutes ago too," Barry reminded her, kindly. "But you initiated this topic and now I'm curious. Plus, I'll tell you my own sad story. I promise you'll feel better about yours once I do."

Caitlin sighed. She had already agreed to try something new and go on this date and, despite not seeing a potential second date in the future, she didn't want it to be a complete waste of time. It wasn't like Barry was friends with the people at the coffee shop or talked to them that much for her story to come up. Also, one of the new things she needed to start doing was talk about what happened without losing her mind.

Maybe talking to a stranger would be easier.

However, a sudden knot in her throat and a thin layer of sweat on the back of her neck stopped her. Caitlin could imagine some color leaving her face, as her skin began to feel cold in that area. She had escaped Barry's gaze by focusing on the table, but she had stayed quiet way too long for him not to notice her uneasiness.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Barry's confident expression suddenly switching to the panicky one he had when she first approached him. "Oh, no," he grumbled, waving his hands. "I'm sorry, I'm so stupid. I-I-I wanted to look edgy and I only made you uncomfortable. You don't have to tell me anything…"

"It's fine. I can do it, it's not a big deal…" Caitlin softly said.

"My palms are sweating, that always happens when I know I've said something I shouldn't have. Even though I pretend not to be nervous, dates make me triple nervous." He swallowed as he loosened the first button of his coat and rubbed his palms against the material of his jeans. "I'm always carrying a spray deodorant, though… not because I smell bad, but just in case…damn, I'm definitely gonna start sweating from everywhere now…"

Barry kept babbling, making Caitlin's head spin.

"My ex fiancée and I used to be co-workers," Caitlin started, with a shaky voice, deliberately interrupting him. "Six months ago, he… he told me he didn't love me anymore and broke off our engagement at my old workplace. So, I… I got dumped with an audience watching."

"Wha-what? Oh my God," Barry gasped. "What a dic. I assume that you got away from hi…"

Barry's green eyes widened once he refrained from finishing his sentence. He had probably done the math in his head.

"And tha-that's how you lost your… job," he stuttered out, putting the straw of his coffee back in his mouth. He sipped nervously until he emptied the cup. "I'm very sorry. Let's talk about something else…"

But it was too late. Caitlin felt the knot in her throat grow as images of that day flashed across her mind.

"Ronnie, it's okay. If you're bored, we could take some time off to plan the wedding…"

"Don't you see it? It's not the job, it's YOU! This relationship, my whole life with you bores me! I can't even recall the last time we had a good time together! You're always in a different frequency or something. If it was up to you, we would get married in this lab, because nothing else matters to you..."

"I have to go," she said, getting off her chair quickly. "This was a mistake…"

Caitlin heard the other chair slam against the floor, probably Barry getting up as fast as possible, but she ignored it. She ran downstairs and crossed the lobby in four long steps, trying not to look at the coffee bar.

Once she was outside, she rushed to the alley behind Jitters and leaned against the wall. She could feel the rampant pounding of her heart in her ears and it seemed like her lungs weren't receiving enough oxygen. She knew exactly what was wrong with her and she didn't like it.

Caitlin had only told this story once before, when she had moved in with Cisco. After that, some sort of dissociative defense mechanism had protected her from an enormous frustration she hadn't yet taken the time to understand. A mix of failure, shame and sometimes depersonalization. Now, she was face to face with that pain.

She tried to hold onto the wall, but her hand slipped off and she lost balance.

Right when she saw the floor an inch closer, a strong pair of hands held her from behind.

"Hey," the voice of her savior whispered, turning her around. "I got you."

"Please, leave me alone," she requested, trying not to meet Barry's eyes.

"I can't just let you pass out on the street. Here." He handed her the cup of hot chocolate she hadn't touched. "You need some sugar."

"I ca-can't…"

"Why not?"

"I can't just take a drink from a stranger."

"It's been literally thirty seconds since you left it at the table…"

"More than enough."

Barry rolled his eyes. Without letting go of her, he turned to the entrance of the alley. "Hey, everyone!" he started yelling. "I'm about to hand this woman a cup of chocolate, but she thinks I put something in it! We're on a… a blind date! And I don't really know her! But if you see her fainting or something, you're more than welcome to kick my ass! My name is Barry Allen, I work at the police station and my badge ID is…!"

Despite her blurry vision, Caitlin managed to cover his mouth with her hand before anyone approached them.

"I'll take it, please shut up," she breathed out, taking the cup from his hand with her other one.

"Good," he mumbled, against her palm.

Caitlin took a sip, feeling her energy rushing back as the heat extended to all her extremities. Barry, firmly grabbing her shoulder with one hand, used the other to pull out that day's newspaper from his bag and placed it on top of a wooden box next to them.

"Sit down," he commanded, giving her a delicate push to help her sit on the box.

"Thank you," Caitlin said, managing to take deeper breaths.

Barry, realizing there wasn't a second box, kneeled in front of her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think I would trigger something back there," he apologized, once again.

"How could've you possibly imagined that a stranger would have breakdown in front of you?" she said, finding herself inadvertently smiling at him again.

"I should have."

"What do you mean?"

Barry sighed. He looked so genuinely concerned that Caitlin irrationally wondered if they knew each other from somewhere else.

"Look, I know this is gonna sound weird…" he said, looking up at her. "But I had a feeling about you… and now I kind of confirmed it."

"I don't understand."

"You're me."

"Still not following."

"You're me… a few months ago."

"Right, your story…"

"Right, my story." He cleared his throat. "God, now I'm thinking about all the other things I could've opened the conversation with, but we would've ended up landing this topic anyway…"

"Barry…"

"I just thought that exchanging experiences was fair, but I don't wanna force you to hear me whine or hang out with me, really. I can just walk you to the subway station or your car…"

"Barry…"

"When I said that 'dates' make me nervous I was exaggerating. Not with the 'nervous' part, but the plural usage, because the truth is that I don't do this often…"

"Barry!"

Once she got him to stop talking, Caitlin slid to the side of the box, to make some room for him.

"You already brought this up, now I'm curious," she stated, palming the spot next to her.

As Caitlin had hoped, Barry displayed his big smile again, resembling a recently rewarded puppy from her position. Considering his apparent social skills, the Tinder profile made a lot of sense now. Just in general, of course, because this type of personality was normal to her, someone who had been surrounded by smart people her whole life and didn't possess that much of a social life herself. Perhaps, if she was actually interested in getting people to like her, she would be just as awkward.

She had been worrying about not having anything to talk about with Barry but, now she did, she wanted to know more. Despite being a little anxious and low key wanting to go home, she genuinely didn't want to bail on him now. Not after he had been such a gentleman.

Barry sat next to her, wrapping his arm around her back. Caitlin shivered at the contact and almost called him out, until she realized that he was just trying not to push her off the box.

"Well," he initiated, leaning against the wall. "I was dumped… in private…"

"You said it was worse!" Caitlin accused him.

"… by my wife."

"Oh, shit."

Caitlin covered her mouth with her hand, earning a chuckle from Barry.

"That's right, I'm divorced," Barry grinned, proudly lifting his left arm to show her his empty hand. "I'm a divorced, 27-year-old loser. Your turn," he added, maybe expecting Caitlin to give him more details about her current situation.

"My turn?" Caitlin echoed, with a jump of her eyebrows. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Talk about how someone you vowed to love your whole life broke your heart…"

"… and stepped on it…"

"… so lightly? You said it's only been a few months and this was a sad story."

"It's been two years. I think I actually got over it a few months ago."

Although Caitlin was a scientist and appreciated how reassuring solid data was, she wasn't sure she could possibly name the exact day she had started to move on. In fact, she wasn't sure if she had. She knew that the only part of Ronnie that still lived within her were traumatic memories of betrayal and humiliation, but there was not that much insight to make to realize that she didn't care about him anymore.

Why was she still stuck?

"Caitlin," Barry susurrated, to get her attention back. It was the first time he used her name. "What are you thinking?"

"I… I guess…" she babbled, feeling strangely compelled to share more with him. "I guess I don't want this to still be my life in two years."

Barry nodded attentively. "That's awesome!"

Caitlin gave him a shocked look.

"You want to move on!" he explained, in an overly excited tone. "I wasn't even close six months after my divorce."

"And, let me guess, you'll show me how?" Caitlin mocked him.

"I don't know…" he said, once again displaying that genuine, natural smile that seemed to appear once he was feeling more comfortable talking. "What I do know is that back then I needed someone to really see what I was going through, because I never let myself fall apart in front of people or talk about what happened. And that kinda slowed down the healing process. I guess I didn't want to feel everything all over again or hear all the…"

"Generic advice?"

He looked down at her in surprise. "Yeah…"

Caitlin stared at the ground, experiencing that familiar, sad feeling that talking wouldn't exactly made her problems go away, despite feeling oddly relieved.

"Oh, oh," Barry let out, tilting his head to the side to search for Caitlin's eyes. "No, we are not gonna do that. We are not gonna brood, it's still early."

"Are you going to tell me that you want to party after you chose coffee over drinks?" Caitlin asked, wrinkling her forehead. "I'm sorry," she sighed, picking up on her own rudeness.

Barry snorted. "It's okay, I get that all the time," he admitted, shrugging it off. "As I said, I'm gonna do something I'd like someone else did for me." He made a long pause, maybe trying to create some suspense. "Tell me: What's that special place you always have to go to alone?"

"The bathroom?"

"Look at that, you made a joke." Caitlin couldn't hold back a chuckle and Barry looked briefly smug for making her laugh. "Let me rephrase that: what's that place you'd like to have someone to visit with?"

Against her strong will, Caitlin felt her face turn red.

"I won't laugh," Barry promised, after fifteen seconds of awkward silence.

"The Science Museum," she mumbled.

"The what now?"

"The Science Museum."

Barry seemed conflicted, probably asking himself how to make sure she was serious without hurting her feelings.

"You mean… Central City's Museum?" he inquired. "The one with American history and astronomy halls…?"

"No…" Caitlin replied, wanting to kick herself for not making up a quick, white lie instead. "The Science Museum… the kids' museum."

"Okay, let's just..."

Caitlin shook her head. "No, you know what? Forget I even suggested that. It's stupid."

"It doesn't sound like it's stupid to you. I mean, not that it sounds stupid to me…"

"Just forget it. We can find something else to do."

As nice as Barry seemed, she had already told him too much about herself. Telling someone she had met just a few minutes ago that she was single with a part time job was one thing, but talking about her late father was oversharing. The Science Museum was the first place that had popped up on her mind because that was her dad's first workplace, and he took her there the first time she didn't win the science fair in elementary school, as a way to teach her that he could still be proud of her and reward her hard work, even if the results weren't always what she expected. That outing with him had become a once in a year tradition that she secretly kept alive even after his death, except for that year. It was almost December and she hadn't visited.

Maybe because she was just starting to realize how alone she had truly felt all those years.

"Caitlin," Barry whispered, in a raspy, deep voice, different from his regular tone. "I've seen grown tourists in line for The Science Museum…"

"Forget it," Caitlin insisted, trying not to make it sound like he was the one she was mad at.

"No, I won't. Your answer was unexpected, but I wasn't judging you."

"I know you weren't."

"I mean, I had to ask. Imagine how moronic I would've looked if you were actually talking about Central City's Museum and I had taken you to see Doctor Molecule's show…"

Caitlin rushed her hands to her mouth, but she had already spat a little bit of chocolate from the sudden laughter.

"There's no such thing as Doctor Molecule's show," she said, cautiously wiping her chin.

"There is in my disaster date scenario," he chuckled out, notoriously relieved. "See? Now I know for sure that's the place."

Caitlin shook her head, still amused by the unintended joke. "Smart," she acknowledged, beginning to get over herself.

"Do you still want to go?"

Her smile grew wider when Barry put his palms together and pouted, begging in silence. "Yes."

"Great! Do you have a car?"

"No."

"Do you mind if we go on my jeep?" Barry paused to watch Caitlin's reaction, probably anticipating she wouldn't just jump into a stranger's car without hesitating. "It's a relic that can barely reach the city's speed limit. Even a snail would beat me in a race. You can trust me," he warranted.

Caitlin allowed his earnest green eyes to lock with hers, unable to remember any of the apprehensions she had when Cisco informed her of that date. She wasn't a gut feeling kind of person, but she trusted Barry. For some reason, she just did.

"Sure," Caitlin said, convinced.

"Cool," Barry answered, happily.

They both got off the box and Barry held out his arm in front of her, leading the way.

---

Barry's jeep was parked in front of the police station, one block away from the coffee shop. Caitlin didn't know that much of cars, but she calculated that this red Wrangler was from the early 90s, despite the impeccable state.

"Sorry, let me get this out of the way," he said, opening the front passenger's door to take a police siren from the seat.

"I didn't know CSI's had police sirens," Caitlin commented, hopping onto the seat.

"We don't." Barry closed her door and went to put the siren in the trunk. Or where the backseats once were. "It was my partner's," he continued, appearing at the driver's door. He got on his seat and started the car at the third try. "Cops normally drive cars in muted colors, so we used mine during some watches. Ironically, it goes unnoticed."

"Used?"

Barry remained silent as he reversed the car to get out of the parking space, turning the wheel gruffly. "Yeah, past tense. I don't go in the field that much anymore," he explained, once they were on the road. "The poor siren is out of business."

Caitlin's tone turned teasing. "Yeah, you definitely don't use it to skip traffic sometimes… I mean, it was on the seat."

Barry stopped at their first red light and turned to her, cheeky. "Busted. This dude might be slow, but it also looks like a mini fire truck from a long distance, so people get out of the way even faster when I put the siren on top."

"Your secret is safe with me."

He nodded a quick 'thank you', eyes busy on the road. "Do you want to try it?"

"No, no, no!" Caitlin voiced, stopping Barry from sticking his arm between their seats to reach the siren. He laughed out loud. "I'm very respectful of traffic laws... and paranoid."

"So, you do drive."

"Yeah, but I sold my car after my break up."

Since Ronnie hadn't even bothered calling her to know where she had spent the night after she left their apartment or how she was doing in general, Caitlin didn't feel like asking for his permission to sell the car they had bought together. The coffee shop was just three stations away from Cisco's apartment building anyway, so it hadn't been a hard decision to make. Cisco had refused to accept Caitlin's money when she offered to split the first month of rent, but she eventually convinced him that she could both pay her expenses and start saving for a place of her own. Something that had proven to be incredibly hard working as a barista.

Caitlin couldn't deny that remembering how worried she had been about the money during that time still made her feel ashamed. Nevertheless, she had gotten out of that relationship with her chin up. She wasn't going to spend that entire evening torturing herself.

Right when Caitlin thought that she had been quiet for too long, Barry briefly side eyed her. "By the way, driving is stressful and overrated," he commented, nonchalantly. "I'm just trying to ask you about stuff you're already talking about. You know, so I don't screw up again. Also, you can ask me things too. I can't promise not to dork out if you let me talk too much, though."

"Noted," Caitlin chortled, feeling inevitably lighter after his intervention. "So… tell me about your job," she proposed, picking a non-sensitive topic she was actually interested in.

Barry smiled smugly at the rearview mirror in response. "Almost as cool as on tv if that's what you're wondering."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah!"

He made a summary of what a CSI did in a normal day and then started telling her some crazy stories and twists from cases he had worked in. The case that had earned him a medal ended up being a cold case from 1985 she had a read about in a BuzzFeed article long time ago.

---

Even though Barry didn't lose an ounce of enthusiasm on the drive to the museum, Caitlin still felt uncomfortable with the place choice. Since she knew that it was pointless to try to get him to admit she was about to put him through a boring, teenage date, she decided to relieve some of her anxiety by paying for their tickets. So, as soon as they got there, she got off the car and rushed inside to purchase both, ignoring Barry's complaints.

"If you keep doing that, I'm going on strike," Barry warned her, reluctantly receiving the ticket she was handing him.

"Strike? Strike on what?" she asked.

"On the date." He, once again, rushed to the hallway door to open it for her, and lifted a defiant eyebrow when she glanced at him. "That's right. Next time you don't let me pay for something, I won't go with you until you let me pay you back."

Caitlin teasingly crossed her arms. "If you don't want to go in, you're free to leave. No hard feelings."

"What?!"

He accidentally let go of the swing door once she passed through, causing it to hit him in the shoulder on its way back.

Barry groaned in pain and Caitlin, quickly covering her mouth with her hands, tried to drown a mischievous grin.

"I was just messing with you!" he whined, grabbing his aching shoulder.

"So was I…" Caitlin said, in a squeaky voice from the laughter. "Are you okay?"

He nodded, rotating his shoulder. "Yeah… at least you're laughing. At my expense, but you are. So, If I'm contributing to your amusement, I guess we are even… for now."

Barry flashed her a smile as he started walking with her towards the exhibit, and her own smile expanded. He was right. Not because she hadn't laughed at all during those six months but because, despite her initial resistance, she was starting to have a good time.

They walked around the exhibit, examining the educational games in order. Barry followed her to each one of them, and they shared some laughs as they managed to use some of the tiny tools and explained a group of little kids how some games worked. It seemed to be slow for a Friday night, since Caitlin hadn't seen people with staff uniforms in the floor, and she thought how sad it would be if places like that started closing because kids were now learning everything from apps. Although the memory of her dad teaching her the cycle of water using straws and cotton would never leave her, it would still be a shame not to have the only place where she still felt close to him.

When Barry excused himself to take a call from work, she approached her favorite game in the exhibit: a circulatory system simulator, where you had to fight an infection by tapping in the right places.

"So," Barry said, suddenly coming from behind. "MD?"

"Excuse me?" Caitlin exclaimed, a little startled by his sudden appearance.

"I'm sorry, I just noticed that you seemed particularly excited about this," he clarified, pointing at the screen, flashing with Caitlin's high score. "You also accidentally tapped the screen an inch below the animated heart a few times, exactly where the human heart really is. And you didn't make any weird faces when I explained my lab work in the car, so … are you a doctor?"

Caitlin managed to keep her eyes fixed on the screen, despite being very impressed by his observation. No wonder why he was the CCPD's golden boy.

Just tell him, she thought, once she saw Barry awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, probably wondering if he had upset her again.

"I used to be," Caitlin answered, lowly. "I went to medical school, worked in the ER for a while… and then I took my master's degree on cryogenics and superconductivity."

And then came STAR Labs.

"For real? That's very interesting," Barry commented, briskly.

"Do you know what superconductivity is?" Caitlin asked, leaning against the machine and crossing her arms.

Barry scoffed. "Of course. I'm kind of obsessed, actually," he assured, with a proud shrug. "The people in the labs cool down materials to the lowest temperatures to get the electrons to pair up and flow without resistance."

Caitlin tapped her temples, suddenly remembering that she was with a fellow scientist. "You obviously know. I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize. I know what is like having to explain stuff to people all the time." He pulled out a magnifying glass from his pocket, held it in front of his face and winked through it. Caitlin snorted. "I read a paper about it last week. Just because I like being caught up on science I don't really perform."

"I assume you also know what scientists seek to accomplish with superconductivity."

"Make our electronics more efficient, of course."

A smirk formed on Caitlin's lips. Not because he had answered correctly, but because this was clearly an effortless language for the two of them. However, she hoped she had already said enough about her career because, despite feeling considerably better since her breakdown at the coffeeshop, she didn't want to risk another one. This was the first chance she had taken to distract herself from all her heartache and broken dreams, but she had already thought about them more that day than in the past six months.

"Look, there's a new spinning machine downstairs!" Barry said suddenly, leaning over the railing to look down. "We have to try it, come on."

Caitlin felt Barry's hand close around hers as he swept past her. She let him pull her forward without offering resistance, trying to keep up with his long legs. She somehow wanted to be bothered by the fact he was, again, touching her like they were longtime friends, but his nerdy enthusiasm was something more surprising to focus on.

Once they were downstairs, Barry dragged her to the machine, which was one of those open gyroscopes to simulate space trips, with a chair in the center.

"I always wanted to go to space camp," he exclaimed, walking over the control panel. "You wanna go first?" he offered, turning to Caitlin.

"Uh, oh. I don't think so," she said, biting her lip and taking one step back.

"Come on. I can monitor the speed from here," Barry insisted, palming the control panel. "I'll be gentle."

"Why don't you hop on while I go find someone who actually knows how to operate this thing?"

"Because it only has two buttons."

"Fine, I'll operate it. Hop on."

"You first, unless you have a heart condition or something… Which I doubt, since it seems that you work out…" He abruptly interrupted himself when Caitlin tilted her head and grimaced. "I mean, not that I noticed your body because I was looking or something. I mean, you look good, but I wasn't looking…"

Caitlin puffed in frustration. "First of all, I… thank you," she finished, feeling a subtle blush burning her cheeks. She didn't even remember the last time she had jogged. "Secondly, you were the one excited about this thing. Why do you want me to go for a spin?"

"Be-be-because it will boost your adrenaline," he replied, still a little flustered from the previous exchange. "It will help you loosen up a little bit…"

"And why would I want that?"

Barry sighed at the ceiling. "Because I make you nervous, and I am not the type of guy who makes girls nervous," he said, leaning his face down to get closer to her.

Caitlin swallowed, unable to look away from his face. "I'm not nervous."

He raised his eyebrow and got his face an inch closer, cocking his head to the side to give her a short smile.

Caitlin's breath shortened. His eyes crinkled as his smirk grew, once again making his entire face glow. She knew he was attempting to annoy her into breaking eye contact to prove his point, like a kid would taunt his lab partner, but it was coming out as something completely different, almost seductive.

He was handsome, he was very handsome.

And, unlike most handsome guys, he had no clue.

"Alright, maybe a little," she admitted.

"I get it," Barry let out. Caitlin wanted him to step away (for her blood pressure's sake), but he kept talking to her from the same distance. "It took me a while to warm up to people after my divorce."

"Actually, I have always been that way."

"You always act nervous around new people?"

"No, just guarded. I was a little nervous... right now."

"Why? I'm not exactly overwhelming."

"You think too little of yourself."

"I don't. I'm just saying there's no reason for you to..."

"Again," Caitlin remarked, managing to keep her eyes fixed on his, even when they seemed to be piercing through her soul. "You think too little of yourself."

"Why do you insist on that?"

"Because you're generalizing my behavior just basing on how 'you're not the kind of guy that makes girls nervous'... and you're wrong."

This time, it was Barry who couldn't hold her gaze. His eyes were brightened with a sudden sadness as they wandered around the room. Apparently, Caitlin had managed to turn things around and break through one of his defenses. Until that moment, she had only seen him oscillating between quirkiness and easiness, but there was something endearing about the vulnerability she had just witnessed. It was true that she tended to be wary around new people but, since she had already spent more than an hour with Barry, it was fair to assume the effect he was having on her wasn't the usual.

Since she didn't feel like backtracking on her comment nor make it more explicit, she looked up at him determined. "Fine. I'll go for a spin," she accepted.

"Really?" Barry asked, strangely enthusiastic. "Just like that?"

"Anything to end this conversation."

Caitlin took a deep breath, walked up to the machine and climbed onto the platform. She sat on the chair and buckled herself up, then gave Barry the thumbs up.

The ride wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. Caitlin had never suffered from a sensitive stomach nor vertigo, but being upside down inside a shaky sphere had proven not to be her favorite activity. She suddenly felt mad respect for astronauts.

It didn't last long, though. Because, as soon as the machine started moving slightly faster than before, she saw Barry hitting one of the buttons in the panel a little too hard, causing the it to turn back to its original position and stop.

"Are you okay?" he hollered, his slightly stressed tone confirming that he had stopped the ride out of worry.

Caitlin, pointlessly trying to dissimulate her dizziness, grabbed the intertwined pieces of iron around the chair to keep her balance. "Yes," she answered.

Barry approached the machine and stood in front of the platform with his hand extended.

"I feel sick, I might puke all over you," Caitlin warned him, looking down.

"Let me help you, this was a bad idea," Barry said, moody. Caitlin raised her eyebrows at his apparent irritation. "Come on, get down here."

Caitlin tried to grab the hand he was offering but slipped and ended up landing right in his arms.

"I made it," she exclaimed happily, lifting her face from his chest. His clothes smelled fresh, mixed with a sweet scent coming from his neck area.

"Yes, you did," Barry assured her, his arms still firm around her waist.

Caitlin's giddiness immediately turned off when she saw him puckering his lips. "Are you mad?"

Barry sighed, broody. "It was a dumb thing to suggest, you were scared."

"What are you talking about? My heart is racing!" She breathed in, still smiling. "I love that sense of relief after doing something really scary, I…"

"It's called being alive," Barry interrupted her, back to his upbeat self. "But I still felt guilty."

"I know my track record of being caught by you says the opposite, but I'm not a delicate flower," Caitlin said, determinedly. "Maybe a klutz, but not delicate."

"I know you're not. I am."

Noticing that their eyes were still locked after delivering that deep statement, Barry gave her a short smile. Caitlin, suddenly realizing they were still holding each other, got her hands off his shoulders and stepped back.

"So…" she coughed, still a little uncomfortable. "Your place?"

"My place?" Barry echoed, confused.

"Yeah, let's go to your place now."

Barry's jaw dropped, and his surprised eyes almost popped out his face. "I-I-I'm not sure…" he stuttered.

"Why not?" Caitlin asked. "I mean, how bad can it be?"

"I mean, I doubt it's gonna be bad, but…"

"What's the problem?"

Barry held his hands in front of himself. "Oh, no, there's absolutely no problem… but I don't know if that's something I would do on the first date..."

Caitlin covered her eyes in extreme embarrassment. "Barry: your place. The place where you can't take anyone!" she clarified, agitated. "Not your… house."

Barry grabbed the back of his neck, closing his eyes in mortification. "God…I'm so sorry."

Caitlin watched him frown and direct his eyes to the ceiling, maybe mentally torturing himself.

"I just want you to have fun too, you know?" she commented, trying to dissipate the awkward vibe.

"Oh, I did," he said, sincerely. "I did, really."

Noticing that he still seemed a little off, Caitlin made an effort to keep him talking. "You're too kind, but I know that coming here is a little weird," she continued, looking at the games in that floor. "I mean it's ridiculous, I used to play with bigger toys at STAR Labs…"

Before realizing she had just mentioned her old workplace like nothing, Barry raised his eyebrows in apparent recognition. "STAR Labs?"

"STAR Labs, that was…"

"Your old workplace," Barry finished, snapping his fingers. "Wow, this is… this is crazy…" he exclaimed, now in apparent shock. "You're Caitlin Snow."

Caitlin's eyes opened wide and her heart started beating faster than before. "What? How do you know me?" she asked, a note of hysteria in her voice.

Barry sputtered out a nervous laugh. "I mean, I obviously didn't until now…But the CCPD has been working with STAR Labs for a while and sometimes I go up there to deliver some samples from crime scenes, because they're developing new technology to improve crime scene investigation. I've heard your name a few times…"

"A few times?"

"Yeah. I went up there last week and Doctor Wells gave me the paper I told you about, so I could understand more about the development of new thermal suits for crime scene investigators and cold zones rescuers… written by Doctor Caitlin Snow," he added, a smirk breaking out.

Caitlin felt a loud buzzing in her ears. So, her Tinder date didn't only frequent her former workplace, but had also heard her name before… because her former boss and mentor was still recommending her work as theoretical reference. That last fact was harder to process than two funny coincidences.

She had spent the last six months thinking that Doctor Wells had lost every ounce of respect for her, after letting a man getting in the way of her work. Could this mean the opposite?

Unlike the first time, Barry seemed to be giving her time to zone out now.

"Uhm," he let out, subtly bringing her back to reality. "Not gonna lie, I didn't think you would be so..."

"Young?" Caitlin concluded, with the substantive she was more used to hear.

Barry hummed indecisively before bobbing his head. "Y-yeah… that's the first thing I thought…"

She noticed, judging by the way he was still staring, that Barry was refraining from saying something else.

"What?" Caitlin asked, impatiently.

"Nothing," he grinned. "It's just… there was this part of the paper that was so oriented to developing new stuff for cheaper healthcare technology and you sounded very… passionate."

Caitlin let out a prolonged sigh. Barry's evident admiration was making her experience mixed feelings. Once upon a time, learning about someone new reading her paper would have been exciting, but now it was also a burden. A constant reminder of a that dream she decided to stop pursuing and expectations she could no longer live up to.

She cleared her throat, trying to leave the topic behind. "So, where are we going?" she asked, enthusiastically.

"Right, my special place…" Barry remembered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Uhm, I actually have to pick up some stuff from there…"

Caitlin waved her hands to prompt him to be more specific. Opposite to his previous awkward episodes, he remained silent, tapping his fingers together.

"Ooooh," she let out, in sudden realization. "Okay, what is it?

"The stuff I have to pick up?" Barry inquired, in doubt. "Just… stuff."

"Movies? Action figures? Comic books?"

His mouth dropped open. "How did you…?"

"I live with a geek," Caitlin revealed, smiling fondly as some memories of Cisco rushed to her mind. "He's my best friend, so I know that expression very well. We were also roommates in college and, before bringing a girl over, he would always text me asking me to hide his comic books in my room… so I read plenty of them," she added, feeling capable enough to keep up with a conversation on the matter.

Barry opened his mouth an inch wider, comically emphasizing his surprise.

"What?" Caitlin asked, humorously.

"Nothing," he said once again, standing next to her to offer her his arm. "Let's go, before you turn into a pumpkin or something."

Caitlin grabbed his arm and they both giggled away as they approached the exit of the museum.

---

"So, what's your favorite superhero?" Caitlin asked, tiptoeing to see over Barry's shoulder.

"Mmmh?" he let out, lifting the comic book he was holding to let her read the title.

"Your favorite superhero."

Barry side eyed her, worriedly. "Sorry, let me pay for the stuff I pre-ordered and we'll be out in a minute…"

Caitlin scoffed, lifting her chin from his shoulder. "I'm not bored, I was seriously asking you…"

"It's okay, I'm done here anyway…"

"Barry."

"What?"

"Your favorite superhero."

Barry looked to both his sides and then pointed at a Superman poster on the opposite wall of the store.

"Superman?" Caitlin enunciated, just in case. Superman had played a big part on her childhood, but some die-hard comic book fans like Cisco seemed to think he was lame.

"I know, it's kind of… generic," Barry chuckled out. "But I grew up watching the old movies. Then I got into comic books and really liked the whole outsider thing, becau…"

Caitlin tilted her head when his pause prolonged. At first she thought that maybe Barry didn't want to geek out in front of her, but then she wondered if she had hit something personal.

"You don't have to tell me," Caitlin said, as damage control.

"It's alright, I want to," Barry reassured her, leaning against a shelf. "When I was 11, my parents died in a car accident…"

Caitlin rushed a hand to her mouth. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry…"

Barry shook his head to calm her. "My uncle, my dad's brother, took me in… he was this important business man, so he was never around. The household staff was so good to me, but I always felt this… void." He tapped his chest with his fingers. "Like I didn't know who I was. I kept wondering what my life would have been if my parents hadn't died, and I was so into superheroes that I liked making up scenarios in my head where I would randomly appear to stop their car from crashing with super strength or super speed..." He rolled his eyes, earning a smile from Caitlin. "And that somehow turned into this wish to help people. I mean, I obviously can't fly or put on a mask and run around saving everyone… but I knew science was my passion and I love using it to put bad guys away. I rediscovered myself when I started working at the precinct. That's who I am."

Caitlin remained silent for a little while, trying to show respect for the revelation of his parents' violent passing and admiration at the same time. She rarely encountered people willing to talk so openly about how their jobs reflected their own hopes and dreams. Sometimes, scientists lost themselves pursuing discoveries to boost their careers, and she had always felt cheesy and less ambitious for simply wanting to save one life at a time.

"My dad died right before I left for college," she decided to share, also shaking her head to spare him from giving his condolences. "My mom left us when I was a kid, so he was my rock... he loved those old Superman movies and would always talk my ear off about how seeing him flying would never cease to amaze him. He was easy to impress, so I always fought to… astonish him, you know?"

"You're… pretty astonishing, I'd say," Barry said, eyeing her warmly. "I'm sure he knew it too."

"Thanks," she said, strangely touched by the fact he had paid attention to her last sentence, instead of geeking out about how ahead of its time the movie was.

Barry nodded, licking his lips vacillatingly. "Does your dad have anything to do with our visit to The Science Museum?"

Caitlin bit her lip hesitantly, but considered fair telling him the truth after he had opened up. "Yes, investigator."

"Just forensic scientist these days," he corrected her, lightly. "Since I'm not going in the field and all that…"

"Well, you seem very good at it. And saving the world."

"Thank you, doc. Now, what's with you and that museum?"

"My dad worked there before marrying my mom. And he liked taking me whenever I was feeling… academically incompetent."

"B+ instead of A+ incompetent?"

Caitlin frowned. "Don't make fun of me."

Barry playfully lifted his hands in front of his face. "I'm not, I promise. I just can't picture you having bad grades."

"Nice save."

They both laughed. As sad as these topics were, Caitlin didn't feel the chest pain that always followed any conversation about her dad, the main reason why she didn't have many. Considering that Barry had seemed unsure about whether to share his own experience or not, she hoped he was experiencing the same lightness in that moment.

"You know? I didn't become a scientist just because my dad was one," Caitlin continued, knowing now that she wouldn't get an unwanted reaction to what she was sharing. "I just wish I knew what he'd say if he could see me now. You know, after I dropped my dream job just because my ex fiancé, who doesn't even work there anymore, broke up with me…and I will never know."

Barry's eyes roamed over her face. "And I can't give you the answer but… your dad sounds like a great guy," he declared, sweetly. "I think he was mostly focused on making you a good person, no matter the job… which is why I liked your paper so much. Underneath all that perfectly organized and supported scientific facts, I could tell that you care about people's lives and safety…deeply."

Caitlin's eyes narrowed with skepticism. "You only say that now you know I wrote it."

"Nah, I loved it. But I noticed that you didn't feel like talking about it, so I played it cool and tamed the fanboy within me."

Caitlin briefly covered her face with her hands, allowing Barry to notice he was embarrassing her. "Thanks. It means a lot," she let him know, because it did.

His crooked smile expanded. "You'll get back on your feet… once you understand what happened."

"What do you mean?"

"That I don't think you quit your dream job just because of that douche you almost married. Sometimes, it takes one trigger for us to… realize we need to take care of ourselves."

Caitlin blinked, impressed. She had never thought about it that way. So far, the main reason she had given not to get her job back was that her pride was too big to show up at Doctor Wells' office after the scene Ronnie had made and the temper tantrum she had thrown later.

Barry casually put his hand on her back, to guide her to the register. He fished out a receipt from his pocket and gave it to the cashier, a teenager with colored hair tips, who already had his comic books in a bag.

"Are you hungry?" he asked Caitlin softly.

"In fact, I am," she answered, checking her watch. "Wow, it's 10 already…"

"Can I buy you a hotdog? There's a pretty good food truck outside…"

Caitlin opened her mouth to accept, but Barry seemed to misread her expression, because he quickly shook his hand to dismiss his last sentence.

"What's wrong with me?" he expressed, seemingly embarrassed. "Forget I said that, I can take you to a restaurant."

"What? Food truck is perfect," she assured him. Since their date had started in an untraditional way, a restaurant would feel anticlimactic. "The park is around the corner, we can take a walk afterwards…"

Barry's eyebrows shot up and his smirk returned to his face. "You're not tired?"

"Not at all, let's go."

Caitlin was telling the truth, and Barry's evident contentment could only mean that was reflecting on her face.

Right when they were about to exit the store, Caitlin saw the teenage cashier watching them.

"You guys are cute together," she sighed, teasingly.

"Oh, thank you," the doctor replied, as a reflex.

To Caitlin's surprise, Barry let out an irritated sigh and stepped back inside the store. "Caitlin, this is Frankie Kane," he said, pointing at the girl with his arm. "Frankie, this is Doctor Caitlin Snow."

"Whoa, hello, Doctor. Nice to meet you," Frankie said happily, leaning across the desk to offer Caitlin her hand. She shook it in confusion. "I would've said hi before, but this dork told me to zip it."

"Why is that?" Caitlin inquired, curiously eyeing Barry.

"He thinks I'll embarrass him."

"How do you guys know each other?"

"Step siblings," they both said at unison.

Caitlin jiggled her head, not really knowing how to react to the news.

"Not legally," Barry clarified, tilting his head to both sides dubiously. "It's just easier to explain it that way."

Frankie nodded. "I grew up in his uncle's house. Not that I was listening to your conversation or anything but hey, Barry, it wouldn't kill you to mention me," she pointed out, jokingly. Barry stuck out his tongue in response. "My dad was their butler, so Barry babysat me and tutored me. He still tutors me, actually. Also, he makes the best mac and cheese ever. He's a keeper."

Frankie finished her speech winking exaggeratedly at Caitlin. Given the coincidences surrounding their date, it wasn't too crazy for her to think that everyone was plotting to push them together.

Barry seemed fed up. "Frankie, Caitlin and I are not…" he tried.

"Oh, not yet. Yeah, I noticed, that's why I'm putting it out there," Frankie giggled, causing Caitlin to blush.

"And this is why I don't mention her," Barry told Caitlin, searching for some help.

"Oh, by the way, Barry also helped me get this job."

Caitlin turned to him and raised her eyebrows, playfully joining Frankie's praises.

"It was nothing," he mumbled, shrugging modestly. "I just got her into the comic book basics…"

"Hey, bro, a little help here?" Frankie protested, hitting the desk with her palm. "Caitlin looks way nicer than that witch you married. Oops, there, I said it," she stated, shamelessly, when Barry warningly snapped his head in her direction. "What? She wouldn't let you do anything. I barely saw you when you were with her." Frankie then turned to Caitlin, looking for an accomplice. "Can you believe she would ask Barry to come here with him only to wait in the car? Then his phone would start ringing before I could even say hi…God, she was insane…"

Barry approached the desk and looked down at Frankie affectionally, hands in his pockets. "I'd really appreciate if you stopped telling this horror story to everyone. It's personal and it's in the past, kiddo. Also, I'm here now."

"Ew, don't give me the puppy eyes," the girl complained, pushing him away from the desk with her hand as he giggled. "Caitlin, don't look directly into the puppy eyes. You just can't stay mad at him."

"I'll be careful," Caitlin grinned, grabbing Barry by the arm. "Can we get you anything, Frankie?"

The kid shook her head, giving her a grateful smile. "It's okay. I'll close in five minutes and then go to my school's carnival. You guys should stop by, it's free."

"We'll think about it," Barry promised, exchanging a glance with Caitlin, who nodded in agreement. "Hey, is Garfield Logan going?

"I'm going with him. Why?"

"I just didn't like how your friend referred to him the other day. You know, when she said he was a… " Barry grimaced at whatever displeasing image crossed his mind in that moment. "A beast."

Frankie cracked up. "Barry, stop being such a dad. She was referring to his music."

Barry's features immediately relaxed. "Did you give him my message? You know, that I would kick his ass if he hurts you."

"Oh… yeah."

"And?"

Frankie's lips teetered on the brink of a smile. "He thinks you're hilarious. I mean, he has seen you picking me up."

Barry gave her a stern look and Caitlin found herself smiling at the situation. Not because Barry's challenged authority was particularly amusing, but because she hadn't expected to learn something this personal so soon. She had sometimes wondered how things would have been with an older brother around, mostly as a weird game of finding a way to 'split' the pain she felt after her father's passing. Now, watching Barry and Frankie interact, she felt that something else was missing.

Although Caitlin had always been proud of her independence and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, she somehow missed that feeling of being taken care of. Something she wish she could have with Cisco, but the roles were so well defined between them that, no matter what issue they were trying to solve, she would always end up delivering the mature remarks. Not to mention that he had a serious girlfriend now and didn't owe her that kind of attention anymore.

"Caitlin, let's get out of here before another teenager disrespects me," Barry demanded, waking her up from her trance.

"Sure," she answered, looking back at the front desk before following him outside. "Nice to meet you, Frankie."

The girl gave her two thumbs up as she exited. "See you later, guys! Go make beautiful and dorky babies!"

Caitlin stopped an annoyed Barry from going back inside the store and pulled him by the hand until they reached the main doors of the shopping mall.

---

Caitlin followed Barry to the corner of the street. Once they approached the huge food truck, Caitlin realized that there were many types of hotdog she had never heard of. Barry asked her if she liked mustard and picked for her the same thing he ordered: a super loaded hotdog. Then they sat at one of the three little tables next to the vehicle, surrounded by a small fence that kept pedestrians out.

"I want to apologize for Frankie," Barry expressed as soon as he landed on his chair. "She's …"

"Oh no, it's okay, she was lovely," Caitlin told him, a little tempted to laugh at the memory of Frankie's wing woman skills. "She's just looking after you. You're her hero."

Barry huffed. "I'm not sure if she actually respects me that much. I think she just doesn't want me to be alone when she leaves for college..."

"Believe me, it's more than that."

Barry nodded at her gratefully as he picked up his hot dog and gave it a careful bite. Caitlin imitated him, but her hands got immediately smeared with sauce.

"This is so good," Caitlin commented, with food in her mouth. "Sorry," she excused herself, putting the hotdog down to swallow and grab a napkin.

"You got a little…" Barry said, amused, pointing at his own mouth.

"What?"

He reached out and wiped away a bit of mustard from her upper lip with his finger. "There you go."

Caitlin's cheeks flamed, especially when Barry's hand accidentally grazed her jaw on its way back. He was so warm. So warm that she immediately felt a tightness in her chest as his touch left her.

She once again dreaded her own needy thoughts. What was happening? She had never needed people to be all over her, but now suddenly found herself missing skin-to-skin contact. And in that moment, it hurt to remember that the person who had reintroduced her to it after her dad died was now a stranger.

Or was she now realizing that Ronnie had always felt like a stranger?

"Barry?" she let out, doubtfully.

Barry swallowed a big piece of food and sat upright. "Yes?"

"Can I ask you something? I mean, if you feel like answering it."

"Sure, what is it?"

"How was… she? Your ex-wife?"

Caitlin regretted that move the minute the words came out of her mouth, but the way Frankie had referred to the woman had stuck in her head. Barry, who seemed to sense her embarrassment, cleared his throat as way to anticipate that he was going to answer.

"Her name was Iris. She was… she is very driven," he began, somberly. "Once something got in her head, it was hard to talk her out of it, so we weren't very compatible. I like simple, but she had this knack for making things complicated, and I was tired of always giving in. We were good friends in high school and I was so blindly in love with her that I never wondered if we would even work out. Back then, she had this boyfriend, Eddie. Their relationship survived the college years, Eddie became a cop and started working with me at the CCPD. Almost three years ago, we got to a crime scene real fast… and the perp was still around and…" Barry dropped his gaze, but quickly looked up at Caitlin, like he had just remembered who he was talking to. "He shot Eddie. He died before the ambulance arrived."

"Oh, my God, Barry," Caitlin interrupted, unable to help herself. "That was your partner? I'm so, so sorry."

"Yeah, him," he confirmed, swallowing. "I was with Iris during most of her grieving process and … things started working out for me." He let out a sad chuckle. "I asked her to marry me, even though I knew it was doomed. I knew I would somehow pay for taking advantage of my friend's death... and I was right: the fights started not so long after the honeymoon and we could barely be in the same room together at home… so I asked for a divorce. We lasted three months."

Caitlin put her hands on her face, barely believing the story she had just heard. Especially after the revelation about his parents. "I feel so bad for asking…"

"Please, don't," Barry reassured her, delivering his trademark broad smile. "I think I might have overshared… but it's okay. It's been a while and I'm good now…hey," he prodded, poking Caitlin's nose with his finger to make her look up. "Why don't you tell me about your ex fiancé? The Dick?"

Caitlin gave him one more unsure look, but his smile remained stoically in place.

"Ronnie was okay, most of the time…" she started, with certain difficulty, because she had never truly taken the time to analyze their relationship. "I mean, he had the emotional range of a needle." Barry snorted, momentarily interrupting her. "And that was fine by me, we barely fought or had any ups and downs… We met during my sophomore year in college and he asked me out on a date, and we dated ever since… so marriage sort of made sense. I was never a dreamer, you know? I just figured that I should stay with someone who loved me enough to put up with the fact I was mostly focused on my work, because I'm not exactly fun," she pointed out, trying not to pay that much attention to Barry's frown. "He would go out and make tons of friends while I was at home, reading… and he never seemed to mind, until he realized that he was stuck with me or something and… wow, suddenly he was accusing me of not paying attention to his feelings… but it's also true I never felt the need to connect with other people that much… so they think I'm cold and that I don't care, but I just try not to share so much, out of fear they might think I'm weird. And it sucks, because I thought I knew how I was going to spend the rest of my life and now I'm stuck, hiding behind a coffee machine and living in my best friend's apartment, while things keep moving around me. I just can't open up to him anymore and I don't want to be in his way. I think the only thing that's stopping him from inviting his girlfriend to move in with him is me and I hate myself for it."

"Excuse me, what was that about Ronnie's emotions again?" Barry inquired, momentarily overlooking the rest of the story.

"Emotional range of a needle?" Caitlin repeated.

Barry giggled. "And you say you're not fun…"

Caitlin blinked. "I wasn't making a joke, I was being mean…"

"Sometimes it's the same thing… and if you think that remembering your douche ex-fiancé as careless is mean, I doubt you're capable of being mean at all."

Caitlin silently stared at Barry, once again overwhelmed by the honesty in his words. She didn't know if she was as good as he had just described her, but she somehow knew he meant every single word.

"How do you do that?" she suddenly asked.

"How do I do what?" Barry asked back, rising an eyebrow.

Caitlin smiled at his confused, adorable face. "Being so nice. That's why the people at the coffee shop remember you," she said, surprised by the way their interaction had improved. "You… you've been through a lot, lost many people and spent most of your life alone and you're just… listening to me ramble on. How…?"

Barry sighed. "I give people the benefit of the doubt, but I wait until I see something that makes me want them to see me. Then I let them."

Caitlin swallowed to drown a question she didn't consider appropriate.

"I hadn't talked this much to someone in a while," he declared, unknowingly answering Caitlin's question.

"And what did you see in… me?" Caitlin doubtfully inquired.

"Besides our similarities and the fact this is the most comfortable I've been I ages I… I don't know. I guess I could tell you were keeping a lot to yourself and I thought that was unfair. Like you just said, you don't like to be in other people's way."

"I know I can't expect people to understand that if I don't explain it, but I feel like Ronnie, of all people, should've understood it."

"From what you've told me, it seems like he didn't even try understand it. You deserve better than someone who doesn't make you feel included. You shouldn't…" He breathed out, frustrated. "Caitlin," he continued, lowly, seemingly rephrasing was he was going to say first. "I'm glad that I'm worth your time because you're definitely worth mine."

Caitlin bashfully fixed her hair behind her ears, trying not to break eye contact with him, in case that made her look less flustered. Yes, it was true that there was some weird and strong familiarity between them but, besides that, she could barely understand what was going on with her. She had never lacked attention after going through her awkward phase and her obvious pickiness had never stopped guys from asking her out. It wasn't like she had never received a nice comment in her life.

How could a few sincere sentences have her heart beating so rampantly?

Barry broke the silence with a short laugh. "You know? I don't want to give you a false impression," he said. "I'm not this wise most of the time. If I had to describe myself to you, I'd say that the nervous mess you met at Jitters is me… most of the time."

"I disagree," Caitlin said, boldly. "You just said that you're letting me see you now… so this is you. Witty, charming…"

"Charming? Come on…"

"Look, I'm not as good as you with words, but…"

"Good with words? I can barely put a sentence together when I first meet someone…"

"…it really sucks that you don't realize how interesting and handsome you are."

Barry choked on a sip of soda and started coughing uncontrollably. Since they were sitting at a small table, Caitlin thought about reaching out to pat him in the back, but she didn't want to make things worse.

"Sorry, I'm not good at this…" she excused herself, once his cough calmed.

"Good at what?" Barry groaned, wiping some tears from his eyes.

"Giving compliments or… flirting."

He cleared his throat loudly. "Which one is currently happening?"

Caitlin blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Are you complimenting me or flirting with me, Doctor Snow?"

"I… I don't know."

Caitlin put her hands on her face to hide a furious blush, wishing she could phase through the cement and disappear.

"It's okay, it's okay!" Barry calmly grinned, switching to the chair next to her. "You don't need to be embarrassed. I really appreciate what you said."

"I don't know what I'm doing here," Caitlin confessed, allowing Barry to pull her hands off her face, even though his warm touch was pumping more blood to her cheeks. "I don't know what I'm doing. I'm so out of my element. I never know how much I should say…"

Barry inadvertently stroked the back of her hands with his thumbs. "Me neither," he admitted. "But we've done pretty well so far. Let's not…"

"Overthink," Caitlin finished.

"Correct."

He looked down at their joint hands. Since Caitlin thought he would awkwardly let go and apologize for touching her slightly more intimately this time, her heart skipped a beat when he wrapped his long fingers around hers.

"Your hands are cold," he commented, lowly.

"Yeah, it comes with the personality," Caitlin joked, stroking the skin of his hands that her thumbs could reach.

Barry knitted his eyebrows without losing his smile. "Nonsense."

She beamed at him, just noticing his proximity. Suddenly, he was the only thing in her field of vision, all handsome with his pretty green eyes + pretty smile combo. Her breath hitched as these eyes diverted to her lips and he leaned his face an inch closer, pushing her back to reality.

"Wow, I'm kinda craving something sweet now," she commented, dropping his hands to touch her stomach. "Can I buy you a milkshake?"

"Uh?" Barry confusingly said. Maybe she had read too much into his body language, because he didn't look disappointed that she broke their moment. In fact, his lips turned upwards. "Sure, where do you want to get them from?"

"There is this place close to Jitters, I sometimes have lunch there. If you don't mind driving…"

"Nope, let's go."

She left her seat and looked down at Barry tensely. "I stress eat. I mean, not that I'm stressed now…"

Barry stood up and leaned against the table, licking his lips amusedly. "I didn't ask for an explanation."

Caitlin noticed him leaning forward again, causing her to step back and bump into someone who was sitting at the table next to them. "I'm sorry!" she excused herself, receiving an annoyed look from the woman. "Let's go!"

She started walking up to Barry's car, ignoring the impish grin he tried to hide when she turned around to see if he was following her.

---

Caitlin tried to sit tight during the few minutes it took them to get to the diner, hoping that Barry didn't notice her growing embarrassment. She had almost forgotten about her awkward reaction before getting in the car but, when her eyes diverted to Barry's seat and he turned his head to smile warmly at her, her stomach felt weird. She wouldn't call it butterflies, no. This was like a freaking army of ants walking in and around her insides.

She wasn't familiar with this feeling. She only knew that, just like in a lab experiment, anything that got that expansive in such a short time needed to be controlled. Fortunately, Barry was being kind of helpful. Caitlin didn't want to believe he had somehow sensed she needed space, but he looked so comfortable humming along with the song playing in the radio and tapping his fingers on the wheel that it seemed so.

"Oh, we are here," she told him, pointing at the diner across the street.

Barry, who had already slowed down a bit, parked next to the sidewalk. Caitlin unbuckled her seat belt and was already opening the door when she noticed her date's gloomy expression. His hands were still on the wheel and he hadn't removed the keys from the ignition.

"Are you okay?" she asked him,

"Oh, yeah!" Barry exclaimed, finally turning off the engine. "I just didn't know you meant Zolomon's diner."

"Oh, I didn't know it was a popular spot."

"Most of the CCPD eats here, since one of our detective's father is the owner…we'll probably run into him and some cops."

Caitlin detected a note of tedium in his voice and lifted a curious eyebrow. "So?"

"Just… don't worry about it."

Barry got out the car and started striding towards the diner, like he didn't want her to see his face. Caitlin had to jog to keep up with him, something she was only able to do when he stopped to keep the bar door opened for her. A bell rang once they were both inside.

Like Barry had supposed, a small group of cops had gathered at the center. The four of them had their badges on.

Barry laid a hand on Caitlin's shoulder. "Hey, why don't you get the milkshakes?" he asked her, pointing at the register in the opposite side. "Since you cheated at the coffee shop, I challenge you to guess what kind of milkshake I like," he added, smirking.

Caitlin noticed his masked uneasiness and almost asked why he was acting so strange, but then noticed his eyes fixed on the group of cops and remembered how she had displayed the same behavior at the coffeeshop earlier. Whatever was happening, she decided not to get in the way.

"Sure," Caitlin said, playing along.

"Thank you," he answered, giving her a little shove.

"Hey, Allen!" Caitlin heard a voice say as she approached the register to order.

She looked over her shoulder while waiting for the person in front of her to pay, and saw a blonde, square-jawed man waving at Barry. The latter reluctantly approached the table.

"What are you doing here so late on a Friday night, man?" the man asked, in a welcoming tone that didn't sound very sincere.

"It's not even 11, Hunter…" Barry replied, scowling.

"Sooo… tonight is the night you'll finally have a drink with us?"

"That depends: is tonight's tab yours or your father's?"

A long 'uuuuh" resounded from the table, encouraging the tension. Caitlin wondered why Barry was being so defensive and flinched at the thought of any of those gorillas standing up to hurt him, but Hunter remained unbothered.

"Wow, someone is grumpy," Hunter said, tongue on cheek. "Is it because it's past your bedtime already?"

"No, because whenever I expect you to come up with better jokes, you use the same ones," Barry clapped back.

Hunter raised his eyebrows. "My bad…so, you hit puberty already and this is that time of the month?"

Caitlin clenched her fists as she heard the other three cops celebrating the joke. Apparently, this Hunter guy was a douche, and this was a daily dynamic.

Barry shook his head, unimpressed. "You're such a jackass…" he said.

"Why exactly?" Hunter inquired, sassily. "I only asked you to sit with us, dude. You're so antisocial…"

"Antisocial is how you call some people you arrest, Hunter. I'm just not interested on being friends with you..."

"Come on, is this about high school?"

"Of course it is. You're bully, a body shamer and only want me as your CSI pet. Just like in high school, you just can't do your own homework."

Hunter theatrically covered his face with one hand. "He's lost, folks," he told the other cops who, for some reason, were still watching him with admiration. "I tell him to hit the gym, I'm a body shamer. I ask for his help with some of my unsolved cases…"

"'A few' and 'unsolved' being the key words…" Barry pointed out.

"…and I'm taking advantage of him. Our captain is a woman, our sergeant is a woman, and now our guy in the crime lab turned into a woman."

"I wish I was a woman. Maybe I could understand why some of them date you…"

Hunter abruptly stood up and leaned across the table, waving a furious finger in front of Barry's face. To Caitlin's surprise (and worry), he was taller. "Careful, Allen. You don't want me to open that door…"

"Especially in front of his lady friend," one of the cops said, noticing Caitlin staring.

Caitlin awkwardly turned to the counter when someone from the kitchen appeared to give her the drinks, unable to decide if it was the right time to return with Barry. She glanced over her shoulder, only to find Hunter stretching his neck in her direction, like he had been waiting for her to turn.

"Yeah, right," Hunter snickered, seemingly satisfied, patting his colleague on the back. "Good joke, Johnson."

"She entered with him," Johnson claimed, shrugging.

"There's no way Allen is here with here with that girl. Take another good look at her, Johnson."

That's enough, Caitlin thought, noticing Barry readying himself to say something stupid.

She crossed the diner striding and, once she reached Barry's side, she cleared her throat loudly. "There you are!" she said, in her best bimbo voice, handing him the Oreo milkshake she had picked for him and snaking her free arm around his waist.

"Hey," Barry said back, giving her a perplexed look.

"Shall we?"

Hunter, eyes wide open, returned to his chair. "Are you here with this dude?" he asked Caitlin, his finger pointing at Barry and her alternately.

"Of course. Nice to meet you all, I am Caitlin," she said, lowering her hand to Barry's stomach. "Wow, honey, I can feel your abs through your clothes…"

"What are you do….? Auch," he whined, when she gave him a little kick in the shin. "Did you just pinch my butt?" he groaned, as obvious revenge for the kick.

Caitlin almost gave him a harsh look but decided to sacrifice herself for the cover. "Oops, sorry, I can't help myself. He is a snack," she told their shocked audience. "I was about to have my way with him in his car, but he decided to stop for milkshakes."

Barry nodded tensely. "My-my bad," he agreed, grimacing.

The doctor smiled and gave Barry's abdominal area a few more firm strokes, just to torture Hunter's squad a little longer. "Babe, say goodbye to your friends."

Barry, face as red as a tomato, waved awkwardly before Caitlin started pulling him out the diner, with both arms around his waist.

She only let go of him once it was time to get in the car, briefly fearing he would call her out on what she had done. Nevertheless, once they were inside, he seemed to be trying so hard not to laugh.

"Oh, my God," he chuckled out, taking a sip from his drink, eyes lost on the windshield. "That's the weirdest thing someone has ever done for me."

"I hope that by 'weird' you mean 'good', because now your whole precinct is gonna think I'm a slut," Caitlin said, briefly picturing herself visiting him there some time in the future.

"Not a slut, just… kinky." He snorted a laugh. "You're crazy."

Caitlin just shrugged in relief and waited until he stopped laughing to talk. "Why didn't you just tell me about those bullies?" she questioned, displaying some friendly frustration. "We could've gone somewhere else."

"Because the only one who should be embarrassed is Hunter. It's pretty obvious that he hasn't let his quarterback days behind or has some serious micro-penis issue," Barry answered, causing Caitlin to snort. "Sadly, he went to high school with me and Eddie, that's why they transferred him here as replacement. And I won't ever stop doing something because of him again, even if it's just grabbing food or walking through a hallway."

"You stopped going in the field, though," Caitlin replied, enticing an immediate head turn from Barry.

She had spoken without thinking and, once again, feared that he would get angry at her, but he just smiled tiredly.

"It's not because of him," Barry whispered, solemnly.

He turned his body to the back of the jeep, laying eyes on the police siren they had bantered over earlier.

Caitlin sighed, feeling horrible. "I'm such a jerk," she let out. "I just wanted to do that weird mind reading thingy you do with me…"

Barry laughed. "I haven't read your mind, I am just used to looking at things from different angles," he appeased her. "And while you're right about me avoiding field work, it's not weird that you didn't consider my own loss as a reason… especially when he was the one thing between Iris and I, even after his death."

It was right there that Caitlin knew she would have to look at things from the right angle before properly reacting. Surprisingly, that didn't take that long. Despite the evident sass in the sentence, his tone didn't feel accusing. He was just indirectly asking her something that had been probably bothering him since they talked about his ex.

"Well, Barry," she started, unsurely. "As you just admitted, you can't read my mind. And you apparently chose to look at this from an angle where you're the bad guy. Which, sorry to disappoint you, is not mine. And I don't think I have displayed any form of evidence that proves I think like that. I just pulled your leg over something before realizing it could be sensitive. So, again, I'm sorry."

"Uhm… w-wow…" he simply stammered, lost for words. "I think you just did your own mind reading thingy."

Caitlin sighed in relief. "Good."

Barry chuckled and rotated his body, sitting sideways, so he could face her entirely. "I'm so sorry for shoving you to the side at the diner," he apologized, and Caitlin had the impression he couldn't take an apology without finding something else to blame himself for. "I just didn't want them to say anything disgusting to you… also I was embarrassed. We're getting along and being bullied at 27 is kind of a turn off."

Caitlin smiled. She couldn't relate to Barry because she was too quiet in high school and being a target for bullying would have required that people actually noticed her. However, she remembered all the times she had consoled Cisco in college, when people in his class laughed at his long hair, especially after most of the soccer team started wearing man buns not so long after. She knew exactly how to handle this.

"Not a turn off, it's honestly the opposite," she dared, wiggling her eyebrows. "He was the one who wanted you at his table, after all. Maybe he can't stand how cool you are."

"What are you talking about?" Barry scoffed, confused. "He just wants me to worship him."

"Because he needs to diminish you to look cooler. Think about it," Caitlin insisted, gesturing with her hands. Barry leaned closer to her, to show her he was listening. "No one but him seems interested in making jokes at your expense. I don't know that much about you, but I feel like cops respect you and your work. No matter what Hunter offers, he won't ever have that."

Barry puckered his lips, reflexively. "I guess that could be true…"

"It is true. You're smart, hardworking and don't go with the flow. You're a bully's worst nightmare."

Barry opened his mouth to add something, but then shook his head, letting a big smile form instead. "You're always right, aren't you?"

Following a sudden occurrence, Caitlin put her palm to her chest theatrically. "Oh, no. Please, don't get a false impression," she imitated him, using his raspy, broody voice. "Please run away from me, I'm hopeless and awkward and no one likes me."

Barry cracked up, immediately realizing what she was trying to do. "That's a surprisingly accurate impression. Also, point taken."

"Point taken as in 'I will now allow you to have a date with me without making up reasons why you shouldn't'?"

"That is… very wordy and specific, but yeah."

"Great." Caitlin nodded, satisfied. "I'm also sorry if I made you feel like you couldn't defend yourself."

"Are you kidding me? 15-year-old Barry needed that win, so thank you," Barry expressed, heartfeltly. "By the way, you too are a snack," he added, poking her in the side.

Caitlin playfully punched him in the arm once he started laughing.

"Now seriously," he continued, fastening his seatbelt. "In a more appropriate way... you're amazing. You're so smart. And I'm not talking about your PhD. You just… understand things." Caitlin wrinkled her forehead, feeling like she wasn't understanding this particular thing. "All night I have felt that you just get me. I don't feel frustrated explaining myself to you … and the fact you're this pretty only makes it harder for me to finish my sentences, but I wanted it to point it out as well."

He paused with the car keys in his hand, staring at her with an intensity in his eyes…and there was, again, the imaginary army of ants walking on the walls of Caitlin's stomach.

"That's… very sweet," she stated, without really knowing how to thank him.

"I know, right?" Barry exclaimed, raising his cup of milkshake. "I don't know if I would've said this if I wasn't so high on sugar…"

Caitlin laughed into her hand, enticing a cocky look from Barry, who was obviously very proud of his pun usage. She could only name a few things that had ever felt as easy as these interactions with him.

"Thank you," she told him once she was able to talk seriously again.

"For what?" he asked.

"For tonight."

Barry frowned playfully. "Do you want me to take you home already?"

"No way. You still owe me a walk. How about we stop by Frankie's school carnival?"

Oh, how the tables had turned. A few hours ago, her best friend had confessed creating a fake Tinder profile to get her out of the apartment, and she had not only considered leaving before meeting Barry, but also finding a way to end the date early. Now, that was the last thing she wanted. It wasn't like they couldn't go out again, but Caitlin didn't feel ready to say goodbye yet. The carnival was a lame, yet effective excuse to prolong the date.

"Sounds good," Barry said, looking pumped. Caitlin didn't know if that was an effect of the sugar too, but she admired how easily he seemed to cheer up. "I'll get to keep an eye on Frankie's new boyfriend…"

"Why? Is he prettier than me?" Caitlin blurted out.

Barry shot his head in her direction in surprise, but quickly picked up on the joke. "I don't know yet. I haven't met him," he grinned. "Jealous, Dr. Snow?" he teased her.

"We should cut the banter here, he's probably a minor."

He nodded in agreement. "Well, you'll get your walk. I have so much energy that I could walk to Star City. And by the way, you picked my second favorite flavor of milkshake… my favorite flavor is vanilla, but I wasn't gonna pick that one after the iced vanilla latte I had."

"So… nailed it?"

"You did… also, strawberry chocolate?" he inquired, pointing at her cup.

"Yes, but it's not my favorite. You'll have to guess next time."

Barry's eyes softened as he started the car. "Next time?"

Caitlin nodded and gave him her biggest smile yet. She knew that she had just met him and shouldn't have that many expectations, but he seemed so genuinely excited to spend time with her that she was dangerously melting.

"What?" Barry asked, noticing her lingering.

"Nothing," Caitlin replied, cautiously grazing the hand he had over the gear stick with her fingers.

---

Barry and Caitlin walked around the carnival, stopping by the games that were still open. Caitlin was very aware that it was 1 AM and so was Barry, since she had noticed him checking his watch, but neither of them verbalized it. Instead, they were engrossed in more trivial conversations, mostly about events from their younger years. All tragedies aside, his experience wasn't that different from hers, except that Barry didn't have very close friends. The only person who shared interests with him was some guy he had met at the coffee shop and the only thing they did together was play online games.

Although Caitlin was already thinking how fun would it be to invite him to hang out with Cisco and Cynthia, she knew she had to refrain until they had three or four dates.

Since they had spent six hours together and had just started at a new location, could these moments count as part of a second date?

"You did what?" Barry asked out loud, in reaction to the story Caitlin was telling him.

They had stopped by a tent where people had to throw paint balls at a pyramid of red solo cups. It wasn't exactly the most entertaining one, but both wanted to collaborate with the carnival somehow.

Caitlin took the last paint ball from the bucket and threw at the pyramid of cups, barely moving it. "I quarantined myself," she repeated, shrugging. "I activated the bio-hazard alarm and stayed behind as everyone exited, since I was the first one to cut through the piece of bone they gave us."

Barry, who was sitting on a chair next to the tent, burst out laughing. "Why didn't you wait for the teacher's instructions?" he asked.

"Because she would always suggest us to cut things in weird angles, so I could only see annoying sharp edges when I was looking at them through the microscope," Caitlin explained, remembering how rebelling against that teacher's methods sometimes costed her a few points from her grade. "So, yeah, I made a deep cut and our dead guy happened to have died from a strange bone infection…"

"How didn't you get in trouble?"

"Any of us could've triggered the alarm, I just did it first… I'm pretty sure they would've kicked me out medical school if it wasn't for that. That would've sucked after spending twenty-four hours in containment."

"Did that motivated you to help crime scene investigators?"

"Well, maybe… you guys are the first ones to be in contact with all kinds of weird and, sometimes, unknown things," she acknowledged, causing Barry to nod appreciatively. "I took that master's degree knowing that having an impact on healthcare would take years, but I could still develop short term projects in STAR Labs. I was also interested in cold zone rescuers because I watched a very traumatizing Everest documentary as a kid…Climbers leave people behind because helping them means risking their own lives… and those bodies work as mile markers for other climbers. It feels wrong."

Caitlin stopped talking as she noticed Barry's position, leaning against the front table of the tent. His head was resting on his elbow and he was watching her with half-lidded eyes, a dopey smile forming.

"What?" she inquired, laughing.

"Nothing," Barry said, absentmindedly. "I like the way you wave your hands when you talk."

Caitlin tucked her hair behind her ear, feeling a tingly sensation on the tip of her fingers and a fire burning her guts. She knew her mind had been working up to this realization all night, but that random comment had finally triggered it. She knew it now, just basing on the fact her restless hands were an annoying distraction for the average human being.

Barry liked her.

Fortunately, right before she had any time to show signs of her intern meltdown, the person in a dinosaur suit that was in charge of the game approached them from behind the table, gesturing to ask if they wanted to try again.

"Oh, no, thanks," Barry said, getting off his chair. "Hey, friend," he called, before the dinosaur could turn around. "What do you think? Should Caitlin try and get her job back?"

The person inside the suit, who was probably silent under contract, bobbed the dinosaur's head.

All the overwhelming emotions Caitlin had been feeling mitigated after that interaction. The casual and light tone he had used to request that stranger (potentially a teenager) an opinion, like her situation was the easiest thing in the world, had annoyed her. Getting her job back? After the unprofessional behavior she had displayed on her last day? After six months of silence and ignoring texts from co-workers offering to write her recommendation letters? After abandoning her mentor mid-project?

She gave Barry a disapproving look and started walking away from the tent.

"Wha-what?" Barry asked, running behind her. "What did I do?"

"Just don't," Caitlin mumbled, already bummed to remember that all the projects she had talked about were in the past now. "I can't go back."

"Why not?" he prodded, raising his voice over the music coming from the dance zone they were approaching. Apparently, there was an after party starting. "You quit. No one wanted you to leave."

Caitlin placed her palm over her forehead, trying to separate her already upset eyebrows. "I barely looked Doctor Wells in the eye. I didn't even let him speak. That day was a nightmare and I'm sure he doesn't want to hear from me again. Not to mention everyone else involved must hate me."

"If Wells hates you so much, then why is he spreading your work? He's a proud ass old man, it honestly surprises me he isn't quoting himself."

"I don't know, Barry…"

Barry speeded in front of her and placed his hands on her shoulders, gently squeezing them. "Caitlin, it's not fair…" he said firmly, looking straight into her eyes. "You should see your face when you talk about your work. You didn't just have a job you wanted, you had a purpose and now you miss it. And trust me, no matter how much knowledge you left on paper, I don't think Wells even believes in this project anymore… because you're not in it."

Caitlin hid her face behind her hands, as a weird way to protect herself from his observations. There was nothing she hated more than people assuming they knew how she felt, what she needed or what she wanted. However, her main source of anger in that moment wasn't that. She was just finding herself in another situation she wasn't familiar with. Everyone she had spoken to about this had just suggested her to move on and make a career somewhere else, start over, but Barry… Barry was suggesting her to get what was hers back and she didn't dare to hope. It just hurt too much.

"Barry, I don't want to talk about this anymore," she requested, shyly peeking through her fingers. "Please."

Barry opened his mouth to object, but the only thing that came out was a frustrated sigh. "Fine," he agreed, taking his hands off her. "I'm sorry."

Caitlin, desperate to find something else to focus on, looked at the platform in the corner of the dance zone, recognizing a purplish-red colored hair. "Is that Frankie in the DJ platform?" she asked Barry.

Barry swirled around. Frankie, who had already saw them, waved at them and gestured them to join the dance floor.

"Of course, she's dating the DJ," Barry commented, shaking his head. The girl then poked her busy boyfriend in the arm to make him wave at them. The dark-haired boy seemed equally happy to see them. "I'm surprised she's not running for prom queen, everyone loves her."

"Maybe she was just busy with school," Caitlin supposed, smiling at the sight of Frankie's weird dance moves. "What is she gonna study?"

Barry's lips turned upwards as he scratched the back of his head, trying to contain his excitement.

"So, forensic science," Caitlin guessed, cheerfully.

"She got a scholarship," Barry confirmed, proudly. "Something tells me she won't return to Central City once she finishes college, so I taught her as much as I could."

Caitlin, noticing the nostalgia in Barry's voice, bumped his shoulder with hers reassuringly. "She's gonna do great then."

"I hope so."

Even though Barry and Caitlin had tried to stay at the edge of the dance floor, the people dancing started spreading out, inevitably pushing them to the center. Caitlin didn't think there was that much to do there anymore but, when she was about to ask Barry if he wanted to leave, she saw Frankie pointing at them as she whispered something to Garfield's ear. He nodded, put on his headphones and pushed a few buttons on his panel. Immediately, a slow song started playing and everyone grabbed their partner to start dancing in slow movements.

Caitlin didn't take the cue until Frankie started gesturing between Barry and her.

Barry turned to Caitlin, smiling impishly. "Mandatory rom-com scene. Come on," he giggled, offering her his hand.

"I don't dance…" Caitlin warned him, keeping her hands hidden behind her back.

Barry pouted. "Come on. I didn't attend my prom. It would make my night."

Caitlin rolled her eyes and snaked her arms around his neck. He let out a winning grin and put his hands on her waist. "You had to play the prom card, didn't you?" she sighed, pretending not to be happy to have an excuse to stare at his face from up close.

"I'm not lying, though. I had no one to go with…Plus, I don't dance either."

"Then why are we doing this?"

He stared at her knowingly. "Because I don't mind embarrassing myself in front of you."

Caitlin's heart fluttered as she fought the urge to swallow. Although she didn't want to think that much of herself, she couldn't remember how many hours had passed since the last time she had heard Barry tripping on words or displaying any sign of explicit insecurity. He had said it at the food truck: he felt comfortable with her, but it was in this moment that she truly felt he wasn't hiding anymore. And she liked what he was showing.

She liked him, too.

If you had your time over again

Would you do it all the same?

Down through all the twists and bends

Are there moments you'd erase?

"This is nice," Caitlin whispered, as they kept swaying from side to side.

"Yeah?" Barry queried, in a relaxed whisper.

"Mandatory rom-com line."

They both giggled, barely aware that they had been gotten closer and now they were almost hugging.

"I didn't attend my prom either," Caitlin shared, playing with the ends of his hair. "It was around the time my dad got sick. And I only met my best friends in college."

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that alone," Barry expressed, his face so close to her that she could feel his breath hitting her nose.

And if your course could be reset

Would you steer your ship my way?

Or would you sail the wildest stretch

Just to feel the force of the waves?

Caitlin kept dancing, but stilled her head when Barry put his palm on her back and pressed her body flush against his. Their noses were the only barrier between them, all Barry needed to do was tilt his head and kiss her, and the possibility made each body part in contact with him tickle in anticipation.

"Both our lives have been full of new things to get used to," she said, breathily.

Barry nodded, suddenly leaning his head back to create a small, but obvious gap between them. Since she was the one who had spoken for no reason and Barry had a poker face now, Caitlin wasn't sure of which one of them had panicked.

"Let's just hope we don't get hit by another wave of crap," he stated, inexpressively. "Seems like we are good at that."

"We're quite the pair," Caitlin concluded.

Barry's tone turned somber. "Are we, though?"

Caitlin finally noticed something switch in his expression. His eyes turned darker as they examined her face, the same shade of sorrow she had identified at the Science Museum. His lower lip quivered.

"Barry… "Caitlin let out, worried. "What is it?

"I…" he tried, closing his eyes as he swallowed. "I…"

Feeling his angst, Caitlin pulled the back of his head to join their foreheads, quietly comforting him. She closed her eyes too, pretending she couldn't see whatever struggle he was going through.

"Let me see you," she murmured.

Caitlin opened one eye and saw him smiling at her usage of his motto.

"Do you see that bridge?" he asked, looking to the side.

Caitlin turned her head and narrowed her eyes to distinguish the big footbridge hidden between the trees that surrounded the park, projecting a big shadow over the river.

"That's the bridge where Iris and I had our last fight," Barry proceeded. "I have done my best not to use it since it happened... which is stupid, because crossing it would save me a lot of time during my lunch breaks…"

Caitlin played with the strands of hair behind his neck, smiling softly as he laid his forehead on hers once again, watching her under his eyelashes. She didn't know where he was going with that, but she was just content thinking that talking was providing him at least a little comfort.

"I'm over her. I think I was already over her that day," Barry rasped out. "But…if I'm completely honest, I'm still angry. I'm angry at myself for even pursuing something that would end up destroying us both. Personally, I feel like a parody of the guy I once was and I still have to face some things…I just wish I could let the loss and pain take over for a moment… and then let it go. But I'm scared."

He glanced at the bridge one more time, seemingly ashamed of this sudden cry for help.

Caitlin waited until he turned to her to give him a determined look. "What if I went with you?" she suggested, without an actual plan in mind. "Right now."

Barry's expression switched from melancholy to amazement. "Do you think it would make any difference?"

Caitlin lowered her hand to his chest and rubbed it supportively. "I don't know. It just seems like there are still some things left for you to feel."

Barry, displaying a mix of surprise and briskness, stopped dancing and pulled out his phone from his coat. "Let me just text Frankie really quick," he decided, typing something on the screen.

Frankie, who already had her phone in her hand, looked at them from the platform, typed something back and waved at them one last time.

"Her dad is picking her up soon," Barry informed, looking at the screen. He put the phone back in his pocket and grabbed Caitlin's hand, taking a deep breath. "Let's go."

---

Barry and Caitlin arrived to the highest part of the arched footbridge that connected the park with downtown. Caitlin had been there a few times, but the lack of lampposts made the place look awfully lugubrious at night. Also, the humid air lowered the temperature considerably.

"Right here," Barry announced, palming the railing on the north side. "I was standing here when I tossed my wedding ring in the river…"

His left hand joined the other on the railing, and Caitlin watched his back tensing.

"What happened before that?" she prompted, in a careful attempt to help.

Barry let out a sardonic laugh. "I asked for a divorce, but I always say she was the one who dumped me… because that's how it felt like," he said, eyes fixed on the distance. "She stood right there where you are now and said that I had 'tricked her' into marrying me and I was showing my true colors now. By that, she meant having a routine that didn't involve her 24/7." He briefly turned to look at Caitlin worriedly, probably expecting judgment. "When Eddie died, I postponed lots of work to spend time with her… I didn't sleep at night getting all that done. I figured it wouldn't be necessary to do that anymore. I thought we were happy. But turns out I was still picking up pieces without even noticing, and I had to stop doing a lot of things not to lose her… until we both realized that our disagreements weren't really about our commitment to each other. I just… wasn't Eddie."

Caitlin didn't need that many details to connect certain dots. Some small things she had noticed on his behavior, like the fact he was embarrassed to take her to the comic book store and eat from a food truck, made a lot of sense now.

He clearly wasn't used to be treated with the same tolerance he treated others.

"She asked to meet me here after work to tell me all that," Barry remembered in a strangled voice. "Instead of waiting that I got home…"

Caitlin watched him turn his head in her direction, the tears in his eyes glowing in the dim light of the bridge. She franticly tried to come up with something to say, but he immediately returned to his position, leaning over the railing.

"Maybe she wanted me to jump or something…" he mumbled, looking down at the water flowing under them.

"Barry, don't say that," Caitlin pleaded, immediately wondering if she had made a big mistake escorting him there.

Barry bobbed his head adamantly, hands grabbing the railing furiously. "You don't know what happened," he growled, keeping his tone down for her, despite the switch in his mood. "The perp who shot Eddie… he was gonna shoot me." His chin fell to his chest as his voice broke in the last syllable. "He was gonna shoot me because I had found the evidence… but then he saw Eddie pulling out his gun and shot him first, right through the aorta… everything happened so fast…"

"Barry…"

"I just reacted in self-defense, grabbed Eddie's gun and shot the guy in the leg… once he was down, I left Eddie for a few seconds to disarm him and… "

Caitlin took one step forward to place a hand on his shoulder, but he subtly brushed it off with his own.

"If I had killed the perp and tried to stop Eddie's bleeding, he might still be alive…" he sobbed, looking up at the stars. "I'm so, sorry, man…"

"But you're better than that," Caitlin dared, determinedly. "Killing wasn't your first instinct, and it wouldn't have made any difference."

"I read the forensic report: Eddie drowned in his own blood and the first thirty seconds were crucial…"

Caitlin shook her head obstinately. "Barry, that's what I thought many times in the ER," she said, voice heavy with sentiment. "Sometimes, people's bodies just give in and there's no way to know if there's really something we could've done. And there's definitely nothing you could've done if that bastard had killed you too. It was an impossible decision and it wasn't your fault…"

Barry stubbornly pressed his eyelids together, trying in vain to stop the stream of tears. "It doesn't matter. I should be dead, not him. That's what she was trying to tell me," he squeaked, punching the metal. "She blamed me for it. Damn, she moved into the city for Eddie… and then he-he died. He left her and a whole family grieving him... and yet I'm the one who's still alive. The one that nobody would remember…"

"That's not true..."

"There would be a new guy at my desk in the precinct the next day…Who would care?"

"Barry…"

"My parents died, then Eddie, then my marriage…nothing stays alive around me." He bent over himself, forehead on the railing, the pain already taking over physically. "And I don't know how much of me is still left, because a part of me died each time. At this point, I honestly hope that Frankie stays as far away from me as she can…"

"Barry, let's get out of here," Caitlin tried one last time, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind. She desperately attempted to pull him away from the edge of the bridge, but she couldn't move him. "Please…"

"I'm going to die alone…"

He kept repeating the same sequence, weeping loudly and then mumbling the last sentence in a lower voice, like he was in some sort of trance. Caitlin let go of him and opened her purse to look for some benzodiazepines she had, for some reason, hidden in an inside pocket. Ironically, once she found them, she had an epiphany. Remembering her conversation with Barry about multiple angles, she was reached by a sudden occurrence that didn't include meds. For the first time, she felt she could do something for someone just recurring to her life experience.

"Barry!" Caitlin grumbled, closing her purse and fighting to keep her voice firm. He didn't look at her but, since he had suddenly stopped sobbing, she assumed he was listening. "I get it. I understand what it's like to feel completely alone and let the pain cloud your judgment. When my dad died, I lost my safe place. And then spent most of this decade building an artificial one. I welcomed Ronnie into my life, and I got the job I wanted… and then it took one fight for everything to fall apart. You said you didn't know who you were before you started working at the precinct, well… that's how I felt when Ronnie broke up with me. And I pushed a reset button because I didn't want to be one quarter of the empty shell I was with him. An empty shell afraid of feeling things. But it didn't take long before I started hiding again, getting a part time job because I don't want to move on from the old one, because I know I made mistake for the sake of punishing myself, like you are doing right now. And that's not fair… I mean, haven't we had enough already?" she voiced, standing by his side. He still seemed a little absent, but she didn't give up. "Why are we letting our exes define us? Look, tonight I realized… you helped me realize that all my problems revolve around the fact I am not allowing myself to care about things, even though that's who I am." She wiped away some tears that abruptly escaped from her eyes. "So, I'm gonna let you see me now, Barry, okay? It doesn't matter if we just met or if we never see each other again after this…right now, I care. And tonight, you're not alone. Tonight, you have me. Okay?"

Barry's breathing had progressively calmed during her speech. At some point, he had fully turned to her, watching her stunned.

Caitlin turned to the side of the bridge they had come from and stood on the first step of stairs. "Please, step away from the railing. You're making me nervous," she begged, extending an open hand to him.

He quickly obeyed, raising his hands from the metallic surface like it had burned him. "I-I wasn't gonna…" he stuttered out.

"I know," she interrupted him, softly. "Just come to me, okay?"

Barry nodded and walked up to her, rubbing his chest, like he was trying to calm his own heartbeats. He then took the hand she was holding out for him and let her guide him down the stairs.

Once they were near the car, Caitlin turned to him with her arms open. His eyes seemed to pick up her cue faster than his arms, which unsurely wrapped around her back as he let his face fall to her shoulder.

"It's okay, I got you," she whispered, near his ear. "I got you."

Caitlin felt him break into sobs as soon as he heard her. She stayed still, allowing him to let it all out.

"Thank you," he said in a drowned voice, hugging her tightly. "I hate that you had to see me like that…"

"I volunteered," she told him sweetly, rubbing his back with her palms.

He lifted his face from her shoulder to look at her, keeping his hands on her waist. He was smiling, but his eyes were red and swollen. "That was one hell of a speech."

"I know. Please don't get used to it, I don't know if I could do it again… " Caitlin touched his forehead with hers. "Which doesn't mean I wouldn't listen to you again…"

"You don't need to explain…"

"Just to be clear."

He rested his head on her shoulder one more time and they stayed like that for a few more minutes, soaking in each other's presence. Caitlin didn't want to underestimate Barry's strength, but she was now afraid of letting go of him. Not in a dangerous sense, he was a survivor who had kept himself together for too long… but mourning her father alone had nearly killed her. She couldn't even imagine what Barry had gone through and she didn't want him to experience that loneliness ever again.

"Barry," she murmured, stroking the back of his neck. "What are you thinking?"

He chuckled calmly, recognizing his question from earlier. "The multiverse," he replied, immediately.

Caitlin scrunched up her face. "Multiverse? Multiple realities?"

Barry raised his head and nodded. "Do you think there are other Barry Allens making better decisions?"

"If that's the case, they probably had a choice. You didn't."

"Maybe, but…" He swallowed, his eyes sincere and warm in the night. "I hope that at least one of them has a Caitlin Snow."

Caitlin smiled, hopelessly smitten by him and his ability to pull out cute lines from the simplest sentences. Also, she kind of believed in that multiverse theory. Simple psychology wasn't enough to explain their overwhelming connection.

"Do you want me to drive you home?" Caitlin offered. "You're exhausted. I can just leave you there and take a cab home…"

Barry shook his head adamantly. "I have somewhere else to take you," he said, tucking her hair behind her ears.

Caitlin frowned at that unexpected answer. "We can go out again tomorrow… I mean today…"

"No, it has to be now. I…" He snapped his fingers and insistently pointed at the jeep, like he had just forgotten what he was about to say. "I-I just need to take a quick nap. I have a mat in the back of the jeep…"

"Barry…" she tried.

He approached the vehicle, ignoring her arguments. Resigned, Caitlin followed him and watched as he opened the back door. She had noticed that the backseat was missing, but not the mat laying on the floor, surrounded by a few cushions.

"I'm not homeless, by the way," Barry immediately clarified. "I just took a trip to Coast City recently and I can't drive three hours straight without nodding off..."

Caitlin giggled lightly, relieved to detect some of his dorkiness returning.

Barry climbed into the car and then turned around to help Caitlin up. He sat on the mat and grabbed a folded a blanket from the side. Caitlin, knowing that she wouldn't talk him out of whatever he was planning, closed the door and sat in front of him.

"Barry," Caitlin repeated, still curious about his shenanigans. "It's 2 o'clock in the morning. Why can't this wait until tomorrow… later today?" she corrected herself.

"Uhm…" he hummed, distractedly. "Because… no one can know we're going," he answered, taking off his coat.

A very displeasing feeling of distrust suddenly invaded her. "Please, tell me we are not robbing someone."

"Wh-what? No, no!"

Barry got on his knees, crawled up to her and grabbed one of her hands, gently pressing it against his chest. "You need to see it for yourself," he explained, trying to transmit as much calm as he could with his tired eyes. "It's not illegal, not exactly a surprise… but a perfect way of finishing this date. Okay?"

"Okay," Caitlin sighed, slightly worried by how easily he had convinced her. How could she trust him this much?

Don't look directly into the puppy eyes, Frankie had said and now she knew why.

Barry crawled backwards and laid down on the mat. "You're welcome to… uhm…" he trailed off, pulling the covers over himself. "I mean there's plenty of room…" He slid to the side until his back touched the back of the front seat and then pointed at the spot next to him. "If it's not too weird."

Caitlin blushed. As a matter of fact, the weird part wasn't the prospect of sharing a bed with a man she had met the same night, but the part where it didn't feel weird. Not with that man.

Oh, what the hell.

She crawled to the spot and laid herself next to him, slowly sliding under the covers.

"I'll set up my alarm," Barry announced, holding his phone in front of his face. "I just need an hour and a half."

He locked the phone and left it above their heads, and they awkwardly laid looking at the ceiling for a while. Despite her three layers of clothing and the blanket they were sharing, Caitlin was cold. She decided to remain quiet about it, until she involuntarily started shaking.

"Are you cold?" Barry asked with half-lidded eyes, grabbing his coat from the side and placing it over her. "I'm sorry, I need to get the stupid heat fixed…"

"I'm okay," she lied, cursing herself for the inconvenience.

Barry reached for her hand under the covers and then gave her a knowing look. "Cold as ice," he said, disapprovingly.

"I'm fine, Barry. Take your nap."

"How I'm supposed to take my nap with you shivering next to me?"

Caitlin huffed in annoyance and rolled to her side, facing him. "Raise your arm," she demanded.

Barry's eyebrows arched upwards as he did what she said. Caitlin grabbed him by the wrist, placed his arm under her head and snuggled against his shoulder.

She could feel Barry's eyes on the top of her head. "Cuddling helps to release oxytocin. I will steal some heat from you while helping you sleep. It's a win-win," she justified herself.

"You really, really don't need to explain," Barry grinned, putting his hand over the one she had over his stomach, insistently trying to warm it up.

Barry's warmth, combined with his steady, slow breathing against the top of her head quickly put her in a relaxed state as she comfortably molded against him.

"Caitlin?" he murmured in the dark.

"Yes?"

"Having you up there with me did make a difference. Thank you."

She felt his hand caressing her hair and meant to tell him to rest, but then fell asleep somewhere in the middle.

---

Caitlin opened her eyes slowly. Her heart momentarily skipped a bit at the sighting of an unknown environment, until she noticed Barry's face next to her. Ironically, the thing that felt most familiar.

"Hi," he said, stroking the arm she had facing up.

"Hi," she said back, pressing her face against his chest, sleepily. "What time is it?"

He sighed contently in response to her gesture. "3:15. You're right on time."

Caitlin raised herself up on her elbow to examine him. "How are you feeling?"

"Very good," he said, reaching out to stroke her face with his palm. She instinctively leaned into his touch, happy to see him rested and smiley. "You're not a terrible thing to wake up to."

The car resounded with their laughter. Caitlin, still a little groggy, suddenly found herself leaning over him, letting the weight of her torso fall on his. He looked up at her in awe, helplessly laying on his back. She placed both hands on his chest and slowly lowered herself, eyes locked with his. One of his hands grabbed the back of her neck while the other rested on her waist, making her whole body tingle. He lifted his head from the cushion to meet her, and both closed their eyes when their lips were a mere millimeter away…

A loud knock on the window startled them both, interrupting the interaction. Caitlin hurriedly got off Barry's body and saw a police officer outside the car, holding a flashlight.

"Kids, I'm gonna ask you to move your car," he ordered, gesturing through the window. "You can't park here."

"I must have missed the sign, I'm sorry," Barry said, palming his belt and pulling out his CCPD badge.

"Nice try, squint. You still need to move."

Barry rolled his eyes once the officer was gone. "In my defense, it has worked before," he said, putting the badge back on his belt.

"You were fine," Caitlin let out distractedly, still a little shaken up by what had almost happened between them. "Do they call you guys 'squints' because of that tv show?" she asked, to prevent that subject from coming up.

"What tv show?"

"There's this cop show where the FBI Agent calls the forensics 'squints' because they look through microscopes all day…"

Barry blinked in amusement. "Wow, that's… so stupid."

"You didn't know that was why, did you?"

"Nope."

Caitlin shook her head fondly as she abandoned their improvised bed, remembering she had yet to see what Barry was being so mysterious about. "So, should we get going?"

Barry stretched out his arms, smiling lazily. "I need you to help me up."

Caitlin sighed jokingly and went to his rescue. After a few seconds of tangling limbs, bumping their heads against the ceiling and laughing uncontrollably, they managed to climb onto the front seats.

---

It didn't take Caitlin that long to figure out where Barry was taking her, though. There were many ways of getting to STAR Labs by car and Caitlin knew each one of them, considering she used to clock in at rush hour.

"I honestly didn't think if coming back here would affect you," Barry admitted, once the building was visible on the side of the road. "If it does, I will just…"

"What are we doing here?" Caitlin gently interrupted him. Despite not being exactly affected by the memories that were rushing back to her, the curiosity was killing her.

"It's weird to explain. I'd rather not to say anything until I see the scene again…"

"The scene?"

"Yeah."

Caitlin winced as he parked on a grass zone in front of the building. She remained patient, until they got out of the car and he guided her to the backdoors.

"Do you want to break in?" she stressed, before he could say anything. "Have you lost your mind?"

Barry snorted a laugh. "Of course not," he said, leaning against the door frame with an arm. "We're gonna get in…"

"At 4 o'clock in the morning? Like criminals?"

"We're not forcing any locks, you just need to…"

"Oh, my God, I cannot believe this…"

Caitlin hated herself for thinking that Barry might have been tricking her into doing something inappropriate, especially after his ex-wife had called him manipulative, but anyone put in this situation after meeting someone who seemed too good to be true would have had trust issues.

"What did you think we were gonna do here, anyway?" Barry inquired, testing the waters.

"I don't know!" Caitlin growled, throwing her arms in the air. "Maybe you would make me stare at the building while delivering some heartfelt speech?! I don't know! I just know that getting arrested wasn't one of the things why I agreed to come with you!"

Barry meant to say something in his defense but burst out of laughing instead.

"Are you seriously laughing?" Caitlin questioned, in disbelief.

"Cait…" he tried.

"What did you just call me?"

"Cait? As in Caitlin…"

"Don't shorten my name while I yell at you! Are you spying on these people's work or…?"

"What? No! Why do you…?"

"…you want me to lead you to the vault? What do you want?"

"God, no!" Barry covered his ears and impatiently started raising his voice over her accusations. "Alright, that's… that's enough!"

Caitlin shut up as Barry held his hands in front of her, trying to appease her.

"We're not breaking into the building," Barry maintained. "I'm not a spy nor a thief and I'm only doing this for you. We're getting in because what I need to show you is inside. And you're gonna open the door with your palm scan."

"Palm scans stop working three days after an employee finishes their contract," Caitlin angrily said, trying not to soften by his words, but the 'I'm doing this for you' part made her feel weak in the knees.

"Try it."

"Barry…"

Barry huffed and reached out to the control access keyboard to type a four-digit code. To Caitlin's surprise, the heavy door opened immediately.

"I'm a frequent visitor and I know this place, I don't need you to break in nor to lead me anywhere," Barry stated, more patiently. Surprisingly, he then grabbed the door handle and closed it again. "I'm just trying to prove a point here, so please… try your palm scan."

Caitlin sighed, the perseverance in his voice spurring her back to her trusting side. "Alright," she accepted, stepping closer to the door.

Caitlin placed her hand against the reader. One second later, the door opened with a less loud click than before, and the 'Welcome, Doctor Snow" sign she never thought she would ever see again appeared on the screen above the reader.

Barry beamed at her. "Awesome," he sighed, in obvious relief.

"Now what?" Caitlin asked, stepping inside with him. The only light in the lobby was coming from the stationary elevator. "Someone is gonna see us in the security footage…"

"We're not activating any alarms, they won't check it. This place's security is terrible. Let's go."

Barry grabbed her hand and guided her to the elevator. The seconds it took it to arrive caused Caitlin's heart to ache with fear. Miraculously, the bell that usually alerted that the doors were about to open didn't sound, so they smoothly stepped inside and went up to the main level.

Once they were out, Barry waltzed past the cortex, illuminated by some computer and wall screens that were still on. Caitlin heart started beating rampantly when she, once again, recognized the path he was guiding her through. He finally stopped, indeed, in front of a glass door she knew very well.

Barry turned on his phone's flashlight and pointed the beam at the window to look inside the office.

"You know? There's something about this office," Barry began, tapping the glass with his fingers. "I never see anyone in here and it's always locked."

"It's my office," Caitlin let out, longingly.

Barry, once again, reacted with an odd excitement to her revelation. "Do you see that blue mug on the desk?" He grabbed her by the shoulders and placed her in front of his body, holding the flashlight above her head. "It has also been there since the first time I came here, it even has some lipstick on it."

"That's… my mug, actually." She blinked in surprise, trying to adjust her eyes to the light. "Even my equipment is still in there, and whoever took my place should be using it."

Barry pointed his phone down to illuminate the door knob. "The knob has some dust on it," he noticed, touching it with his finger and showing her the stain. "I would say that no one has opened this door in a long time."

Caitlin, finally understanding Barry's intentions, looked up at him to get the verbal version. "Why are you showing me this?"

Barry turned off the flashlight and put his phone back in his pocket to free his hands and grab hers. Caitlin could almost see the wheels working inside his head as he took his time to calm his anxious breathing.

"When I said I've heard your name a few times here… I meant one specific time," he confessed, still nervous. "I didn't share the details because it was none of my business at the time but… Doctor Wells was arguing with someone, a few months ago. And considering the douche pose and the fact he was telling him 'I should fire you and get Caitlin Snow back', I assume that was Ronnie."

Caitlin tried to step back in her surprise. "Barry…"

Barry nodded insistently in response to her incredulity, showing off his straight teeth. "I know it sounds crazy, but I'm not making this up. And all the evidence, from your functioning palm scan to this locked office suggests that Harrison Wells actually has a heart and couldn't replace you. And I'm sure, I'm sure that whatever cosmic force put me in your path wanted me to tell you that."

Caitlin was speechless. This situation was just too overwhelming to process. Barry had gone through all this trouble to prove she was still respected and appreciated, and the blindfold had been finally removed from her eyes. It was like she didn't know what to cry about first. She choked up and swirled around to look inside the office again. Almost immediately, she felt felt Barry's warm arms wrapping around her from behind, trying to comfort her.

"You love it here, Cait," Barry continued, resting his chin on the top of her head. "No one who truly cares about you would tell you that you shouldn't love your job this much. Talk to Doctor Wells, apologize if you need to…he will take you back in a heartbeat."

Caitlin turned around and hid her face on his chest.

"As much as I would love to stop by Jitters every morning to see you for like ten seconds… the world needs you," he whispered to her ear. "Actually, I'll get to see you here. I don't know why I tried to be dramatic."

Caitlin snorted a laugh, looking up as she managed to hold back the tears. "Thank you."

"Thank you for trusting me." He winked at her. "Whatever happens over the weekend, don't let it kill your vibe."

Caitlin froze in her place, looking around. For some reason, her mind diverted to the unused workshop one level below and the heavy cooling equipment they kept there. "Kill my vibe…"

"What?"

"Kill my vibe!" she repeated, palming Barry's shoulders in her excitement. "That's what we need! If we hire some mechanical engineers, they can work simultaneously with us on finding ways to neutralize vibrations. The cooling equipment might not be always necessary! Barry, you're a genius!"

Barry winced. "Am I?"

"Yeah!"

I can get Cynthia a job, she hoped in her head, not wanting to jinx the opportunity by saying it out loud.

"Does that mean you'll talk to doctor Wells on Monday?" Barry carefully asked.

"Looks like I have no choice now," Caitlin replied with her hands over her head, trying to wrap her mind around the recent events.

Barry smiled at the ceiling and threw his fist in the air, triumphally. "That wasn't so hard. Now let's get out of here before we get caught."

"Yes, please." Caitlin looked down at her watch. "Oh shit, I work at 8."

"Right, you work on weekends. God, that sucks," Barry exclaimed as they headed for the exit. "At least there's no traffic. You'll get at least three hours of sleep."

Caitlin nodded unconcernedly and took a good look at the floor before they swept past the cortex and stepped inside the elevator, holding onto the memories of that place to prevent herself from getting cold feet on Monday.

---

Once they were a few blocks away from Cisco's apartment building, Barry realized that his tank was almost empty, so he stopped at a gas station ahead. Since Caitlin knew she wouldn't be able to sleep at all after the recent events, she considered better to have her morning coffee as soon as possible, which inevitably lead them to get inside the store and sit at a table, sharing some more information and anecdotes about each other. The lack of sleep was obvious on both their faces, but they never stopped laughing.

They finally arrived at Cisco's apartment building around 6 AM, when the first rays of sunshine started appearing in Central City's skyline. Barry got off the jeep and, this time, Caitlin waited for him to open her door.

They walked towards the front doors of the apartment building and stood under the only lamppost that was still on. Caitlin couldn't help to parallel their first hello with this first goodbye, except that she was Barry in this situation, eyeing him fretfully before finding something to say.

"Well…" Caitlin trailed off, an odd sadness tensing her face muscles. "That was… a crazy night."

"Yeah," Barry agreed, lowly, transferring his weight from one foot to the other.

"I… I'll see you around, I guess."

"Eh... yeah."

Caitlin felt the need to kick herself. Why wasn't she asking him to exchange phone numbers? Why this sudden feeling that the spell was broken?

Barry had made clear all night that he understood her way of operating, that she wouldn't always be the one to speak her mind, why wasn't he saying something? Did he even want to see her again?

"Cait," he let out, suddenly looking away from the floor. Oh, thank God, she thought. "I know you need to get ready for work, but… I need a minute."

"Okay," she agreed, nodding, her interrupted breathing giving away the nervousness brewing in her chest.

He took one step closer, looking down at her from minimal distance. "Look, I… I feel like if I don't say this now, I'm going to… explode. Or I might be too late."

Barry made another torturing pause; his face had petrified in a terrified expression and his skin was turning slightly green.

"Barry…" Caitlin voiced, to remind him he was supposed to talk, but she was interrupted.

"I like you," he finally admitted, breaking into a laugh. The guilty laugh from someone who had just put themselves out there. "I mean, you're brilliant, kind, open minded and… tonight, you were there for me. Not because you were the one to be there, but because you wanted to. For some bizarre reason, you're interested in my point of view and the way I feel about things… I might be a good CSI and a good co-worker or whatever…but right now I can't remember another time when I had felt that I, Barry Allen, was enough." He swallowed. "I'm thankful for that and, in case it wasn't clear, I like you as a woman. In a romantic way. And I want you in my life, so… since for a minute there it looked like you had a good time with me, I'm sure you might at least like me as a person… but if that's all this is and you just want us to be friends, I'm totally down for that. I won't try to get you nor flirt with you… not that I know how to do that last one properly, by the way," he emphasized, rolling his eyes. "You can also say 'no' to both things… which would suck, but I can take it."

Caitlin lowered her head, feeling a current of emotions she wasn't prepared for. Barry had not only taken a leap of faith sharing his feelings, but he was also giving her the possibility of backtracking from the obvious signals she had been sending him all night. After all, he couldn't be so blind.

She knew she was probably being unfair to other people in her life, but she didn't remember anyone putting her first since the day her dad died. Her eyes watered.

Barry's mouth opened in distress. "Oh, God. Are you crying?" he gasped, placing both hands on her face. "Cait, I didn't mean… I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. You've been through a lot and I'm…"

"Barry," Caitlin stopped him, successfully holding herself together. "You're a great guy…"

Barry's lips turned upwards forming a sweet, yet disappointed smile. "Here we go…"

Caitlin slapped his hands away from her face angrily.

"Ouch, why did you do that?" he objected, rubbing the back of his hand.

"Shut up, okay?" she ordered, her chest going up and down. "Just listen."

"Okay…"

Caitlin took as much air as she could. "Barry, you're kind, and loving. You protect the people around you and accept the fact they might not want you around them. Their loss, by the way," she pointed out, emphatically. "I like the way you talk about things, and how easygoing our conversations are…before tonight, I didn't think I could ever like myself again, until you brought out this forgotten side of me. That part of me that cares so much."

"You're just being you."

"Maybe, but… in one night you helped me understand the decisions I've made and feel better about them, and then used the information you had to help me out of my hole. And it would be easier for me just to hold on to that, keep you as a friend and make sure nothing ruins this thing we have…"

"I understand…"

"But…" she noted, emphatically, before he could start talking again. "I would be lying to you. And myself. Because… I like you too." She stopped to admire the visible change in his expression, moved by how hopeful he looked, and she barely believed she had almost married someone who had never looked at her like that. "Maybe even more than you like me. The nervousness you were so worried about it wasn't about meeting someone new, it was… about meeting you. And it might take you a while to believe me, but you're more than just enough. You're too much in the best way. And God you make me laugh." He bashfully looked at the ground, licking his lips. "I feel like whatever I'm starting to feel for you is good, straight out of a movie good… and my levels of dopamine say I want to see you again too."

That was it, she was done. She had known since the first word came out that she was a goner and would hopelessly fall in love with Barry eventually, and somehow that wasn't even remotely scary. She was letting herself feel and she loved it. That was, indeed, how it felt to be alive.

Barry, notoriously excited, put his hands together and looked up to the sky. "Thank you!" he susurrated.

Caitlin giggled as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He quickly placed his on her back, watching her comically mesmerized, like a lovestruck cartoon. "I'm gonna kiss you now," she announced.

"It's long overdue," Barry whispered over her lips, with a flirty head tilt.

Caitlin stood on her tippy toes to close the small distance between their lips. Nevertheless, a loud ringtone started sounding from her purse.

"You got to be kidding me," she whined, dropping her arms from Barry's shoulders.

"You should take that," Barry said, his lips caressing her forehead, sending waves of electricity that momentarily fogged her mind. "You've been out all night. Your roommate could be worried."

Caitlin agreed with a groan and fished her forgotten phone out of her purse. The sound had been just her 6:15 AM alarm, but she did have two missing calls and ten unread messages from Cisco.

Yesterday at 8:15 PM. Hey, how's everything?

Yesterday at 9:47 PM. Wow, no SOS text? Did you guys hit it off?

Yesterday at 11:52 PM. Hey, not trying to sound like grandma Ramon here, but it's kinda late. Where are you?

Today at 00:02 AM. Caitlin, are you okay?

Today at 1:43 AM. Caitlin, pls answer me. I just talked to Brandon. He says you never showed up. I'm worried sick. Where are you?

"Brandon?" Caitlin read out loud, confusedly scrolling through the messages left. She didn't know anyone named Brandon.

Today at 3:41 AM. That's it. I'm calling the police.

Today at 3:50 AM. The idiots won't take me seriously, you haven't been missing for too long.

Today at 5:00 AM. Nvm, Cynthia finally picked up the phone and we kinda put the pieces together. Oh, my God, you're Dork of the Year. At least this other one is with the cops. Still not cool, young lady. Call me as soon as you see this.

Today at 5:01 AM. Btw, I hate that I won't see your face when you realize you picked up the wrong guy.

"OH, MY GOD," Caitlin squealed, dropping her phone at the realization.

"What? What is it?" Barry urged, crouching down to pick it up for her. "Caitlin?"

"Oh, God… Barry…"

"What?"

Caitlin kept pointing at him with two hands, hysterically. "HOW DID YOU…? WHY?"

Barry looked at the phone in his hand, like he was wondering whether to look at what she had seen or not. "Caitlin, you're really scaring me…"

"You must think I'm crazy…"

Caitlin's mind didn't seem to know where to start rationalizing. Although it was true that she had almost forgotten how that date had come to be in the first place, Cisco's message didn't make any sense. How was it possible that she had met the wrong guy? Who was Barry waiting for when she met him, then? Had he also mistaken her for someone else? Or why else had he gone out with her?

"I… I don't even know what to ask first," she concluded, rubbing her temples, completely blocked.

"Take your time," Barry told her, patiently.

"It was an honest mistake, I…"

Before more mid-sentences could rush out of her mouth, Barry took a step closer, cupped her face in his hands and planted a firm kiss there. She parted her lips and whimpered, her hands knotting in his hoodie. Right when she was about to catch up with his movements, he swiped his tongue in her mouth and carefully backed her against the lamppost, kissing her more intensely.

He didn't take it further than that, keeping his hands in the most respectful places, but the heat emanating from his body through three layers of clothing was driving her insane. Despite her healthy track record, Caitlin wondered if it was normal that her heart was threatening with forcing itself out of her ribcage.

"Wait," she whispered breathlessly, nibbling at his lower lip. "Breathe pause."

Barry leaned back a mere centimeter, trying to catch his breath and searching for her eyes. His nose was still grazing hers and his hand was deep in her hair.

"Wow," she let out, absently tugging at his hoodie.

"I know," he agreed, his lips still teasing hers. He clearly wanted to kiss her again, but he refrained. "I… Sorry… I just wanted to slow you down."

A laugh escaped in between her pants. "How was that supposed to slow me down?"

"Like this…"

He kissed her more languidly this time. Caitlin easily gave in, feeling a smirk forming on his lips as they moved to caress the tip of her nose and finally her forehead. The bastard was clearly enjoying the effect he now knew he had. Her pulse was racing and her head didn't feel clearer, but at least she wasn't freaking out anymore.

"Now," Barry let out, keeping his hands on her face as he pulled away. Caitlin opened her eyes to find him watching her amusedly. "What did you want to tell me?"

"Right!" Caitlin remembered, separating from him so she could concentrate. "Barry…"

"Whatever it is, I am sure I just made pretty clear how little I care."

"First things first: What would you say if I told you that I wasn't supposed to meet you tonight?"

Barry raised a single eyebrow. "Oh, so you're actually aware of that," he said, causing Caitlin's jaw to drop. She was even more confused now. "I wasn't supposed to meet you either, you just sort of… showed up when I was waiting for someone who lent me a book ages ago."

"That's what I'm talking about, I wasn't supposed to meet you last night," she specified, tapping his chest with her index finger. "I was supposed to meet a guy named Brandon… my Tinder date."

"Your what now?"

Caitlin sighed. "Let me start from the beginning…"

She told him all about the fake profile Cisco had created, how she had agreed to go on the date, the little bit of information her friend gave her about Brandon and finished with their encounter.

Once she was done telling the whole story, Barry started cackling.

"Oh, man," he said, putting a hand over his wide-open mouth. "Everything makes perfect sense now…"

"Great, because now you can explain it to me. Why the hell did you go with me?" Caitlin asked, the moment of their meeting fresh in her head. "If you weren't supposed to meet up with me, why did you play along?"

"I mean, I was confused, but then I looked down from the second floor and saw you talking to Cynthia," he explained. Caitlin blushed, realizing he had known the whole time that they were talking about him. "Then you came upstairs and said that your co-workers would mess with you. I thought that they had set us up as joke or something."

"But that was once we were inside… why did you go with me in the first place?"

Barry chuckled, his eyes sheepishly meeting the ground before eyeing her fondly. "Because… as my dad once said… when the most beautiful girl you have ever seen invites you a drink you just accept," he declared, biting his lower lip to repress his big, goofy smile. "If she offers you a root beer from a bending machine, you take it."

Caitlin watched him in awe, a small part of her hoping she didn't look like a fool while doing so. She couldn't believe that the lovable dork and this caring, romantic man could inhabit the same body. She couldn't believe that everything had led her to him instead of a forced and probably meaningless interaction with whoever Brandon was. She couldn't believe how different her night could have been if he hadn't been in the right place at the right time.

Sometimes destiny needs a little push.

"By the way, my dad said that in his wedding vows. It was about my mom," Barry quickly explained. "He wasn't a player or anything, and the phrase obviously has certain restrictions… and the fact I'm saying this to you doesn't mean I'm thinking that big about you… yet… I mean…oh, God…" he muttered, scratching the back of his head.

Caitlin grinned to appease him. There he was.

"We both have a lot to thank to our lucky stars," she commented, happily.

"We do… I mean, I should thank every god," he said, joining their foreheads and watching her tenderly. "Because this date started with me trying to pull you out of a dark place… but truth is, Doctor Snow, you ended up saving me. Sorry not sorry, Brandon."

Caitlin smiled and leaned her face up to kiss him softly. He reciprocated gently, but their bodies, once again, instinctively got closer until their torsos were firmly pressed against each other. Barry gasped into the kiss as his hand stopped at her lower back.

"Do you want to come upstairs?" Caitlin breathed out as she broke the kiss. Her hands had sneaked inside his hoodie and damn, he did have abs. "We're kind of…on display," she noticed, looking at some guy waiting for the bus in the corner.

He snorted, coyly biting his lip. "You work in less than two hours," Barry reminded her.

"Right." She drowned a whine against his chest, causing him to giggle fondly.

"Plus, we really, really should save at least one thing for later," he added, teasingly.

Caitlin blushed furiously. "I didn't mean it that way… I mean, I kind of did, but..."

Barry laughed. "I'm not gonna pretend that I would've still said no if we had time… but maybe it's better if we slow down."

"Agreed."

She kept nodding, trying to convince herself, even though she was burning up from the inside. Seeing Barry blowing out a breath and discreetly closing his coat below the waist made her feel a little better.

He then cleared his throat. "Can I see you later today?" he requested.

Caitlin's eyebrows jumped. "What happened to slowing down?" she wondered, despite having 'yes' written all over her face.

"I changed my mind a soon as I realized I have to let you go now," he explained, pulling her against him and kissing the top of her head.

Caitlin laughed. "I got one hour of sleep. You don't want to be around me today."

"And you don't want to ride the subway sleepy, so… how about I drop you off at Jitters and pick you up when your shift is over? I'll bring some food." He looked down at her with eager eyes, like he really thought she needed convincing. "If your roommate doesn't mind, we could get back here, eat watching some TV…and then I'll cuddle you to sleep."

"He won't mind, but I really think that you should get some sleep. I'll get to work on my own… the rest sounds perfect."

"Great!"

Barry hugged her once again, purposely wrapping his arms around hers to prevent her from escaping, and Caitlin just allowed it. She knew she should try to wriggle out of his embrace and get ready for work, but she felt attached to him by a gigantic and invisible piece of Velcro.

"Ow, Cynthia was right, you guys look nauseatingly adorable," a voice said behind them.

Barry and Caitlin faced the building and found Cisco standing at the doors. He was wearing his Pokémon PJs and sleepers, and his usually neat curls were pointing in all directions.

"God, Cisco. How long have you been standing there?" Caitlin asked him, finally taking one step away from Barry.

"Just now. I was taking out the trash, since you kept me up all night anyway," he answered, dryly, pointing at the dark circles under his eyes. He then directed his attention to Barry. "Hey, Barry! Do you happen to have my book with you? Since you, you know, stood me up yesterday."

Caitlin looked at the two of them alternately. She meant to look shocked, but started scoffing sardonically instead. "Of course, you guys know each other too..."

Barry looked at her in disbelief, like he felt insulted by her surprise. "Cisco is your roommate?!" he asked, hysterically pointing at Cisco with his thumb.

"Cisco is the guy you play online with?!"

"Geez, it's like How I Met Your Mother and Crazy, Stupid, Love had hooked up and the result was this situation," Cisco intervened, in his very own Cisco style. "Cynthia and I gossiped about it already. You know, how we all knew you guys, but you didn't know each other…"

Caitlin inadvertently took Barry's hand. There was some point during the night when she had somehow felt that there was a place among them waiting for him. Multiverse or no multiverse, she was almost sure of it now.

"Why didn't Cynthia tell me that you guys hang out?" Caitlin asked, remembering how she had talked about Barry like nothing more than an acquaintance.

"Because we don't, I think. We barely talk in person, only when we run into each other at the coffee shop," Cisco rationalized, and both men shrugged. "Why is that, by the way?" he wondered, walking up to Barry to pat him in the shoulder. "We should definitely hang out."

Barry bobbed his head, accepting the invitation with a shy smile. "Your book is in my car, man," he told Cisco. "I also got you a catalogue from my comic book store, apparently they're getting that Ant-Man saga you said you couldn't find online."

"Whoaaa! Are you serious?"

Cisco started walking to Barry's car in his excitment, but he stayed behind to say goodbye to Caitlin.

"So, I'll pick you up at 1," he told her, holding her face to give her three cute pecks.

"I'm off at 2," Caitlin reminded him, raising herself on the tip of her toes to give him a fourth.

He pouted against her mouth. "I'm gonna miss you."

"Awww, young love. I can't wait for all those kissing sounds and potentially walking in on you a dozen times," Cisco hollered, from the distance. "By the way, you're more than welcome to come over later, Barry. We can play PS4 while she sleeps."

Barry pulled away from Caitlin in surprise. "Does he have a bionic ear or something?"

"I don't know, but prepare yourself," she answered, already thinking about the amount of teasing she would have to endure upstairs.

Without adding more physical contact, Barry started walking backwards towards his car, slowly letting go of her hand. "Why should I get for us three? Chinese?" he asked, briefly looking back not to bump into something.

"Chinese is fine," Caitlin agreed, waving at him. "But please, get some more sleep," she added, concerned.

Barry beamed at her before turning around to walk normally. "I promise you I will."

She watched him walk with Cisco, give him the things he had for him and get in his car to leave. At first, she thought that her life had, once again, changed so much in one night. However, she then saw Cisco walking back to her, with a cheeky smile that indicated he was already preparing a whole routine of elaborated jokes at her expense, and her perspective changed. Things were just falling into place, and those six months had happened for a reason, and that reason was that everyone had their own rhythms. She now had over forty-eight hours to put that lesson to good use and elaborate another hell of a speech for Doctor Wells on Monday, without forgetting to also prepare herself for a potential 'no'. However, nothing felt that bad anymore. Even if things didn't work between her and Barry, he had already served a purpose in her life. A good one.

Caitlin waited until Cisco and her were inside the apartment to take a five-dollar bill out of her jacket and put it in her friend's hand. "Thank you," she said to his ear, before rushing to the bathroom to take a shower, not wanting to give him time to tease her.

She heard Cisco giggle behind her back. "No problem, girl," he said in an unusually affectionate tone, closing the door of the apartment.

---

Hey there! Hope you enjoyed this story. This is the first AU I ever write, and it's honestly the story the has taken me the longest to finish, because I wanted it to be "perfect". I honestly dropped "The Flash" and I'm not planning to watch until some major changes are done, but writing this fic helped me feel less bad about it. I mean, The Flash is written by people like us, right? The only difference is that they have the resources to air it as a tv show, so basically all the stories we write and upload here are just as valid. They're just alternate realities.

Speaking of alternate realities, I wanted to clear out some things:

1. Before anyone asks, the slow song Barry and Caitlin dance to at the carnival is Sail The Wildest Stretch by Powderfinger. It's a beautiful song that actually inspired this story, because it's about those moments when you wonder what would you do if you could go back on time: Would you give up the good things that are happening to you right now in order not to experience the very bad ones that got you there? I think this appplies to Barry and Caitlin in this story and on the show. Their bad experiences made them click in this story, and maybe one day these Flash writers will open their eyes and Barry and Caitlin will find themselves in a healthy and beatiful relationship with each other, worth all the heartbreak they went through. I'll stop talking about this now, because it makes me sad.

2. For those who don't know who Frankie Kane is... remember Magenta from Season 3? Not gonna lie, since Joey King is kind of everywhere these days, she was the first teenager that popped up in my head when I got the "step sibling" idea. Also, I don't know if anyone noticed that Garfield Logan is Beast Boy from Teen Titans.

3. I originally thought about ending the story with a "sneak peek" of what happened later that day, because I was feeling a little paranoid that people could think that Barry didn't show up at the coffeeshop or they never saw each other again, but then I realized it would look unnecessary. Well, they did see each other. If you want me to write it and add it as a bonus, let me now in your review!

THANK YOU for reading! Bye bye!