Uh-oh! This was not the story I had planned to post and certainly not today but the new Flash promo "Too Much Running" sort of inspired this? Lol. Does it still count as a ficlet if it's more than 1k words? Anyway, I wanted to see if I could write a SnowWells version of that scene with Barry & Caitlin so here's what I got! Enjoy! ^_^


Caitlin Snow was drunk; she was standing in the middle of her room, struggling with the zipper of her dress and failing at it miserably. It was her idea to go out with Barry and Cisco for a night out and have fun, but what had first started off as a quiet evening with a little karaoke at "Hex" the new lounge which had just opened, eventually turned into a wild night with too much drinking and lots of dancing.

"Ugh, you evil dress! Come off already!" Caitlin groaned as she spun around in circles, trying to catch the zipper which was stuck halfway, pulling the dress down so that it might be easier.

By the end of this fun night, Barry was the only person standing on two feet without swaying or laughing uncontrollably and had gladly offered to help both his friends by speeding them home safely; although now Caitlin was beginning to wonder if it was a good idea to have sent Barry away before he could have helped her get to bed like he had suggested. How long had it been since then? Seconds? Minutes? She could have called him back if she remembered that it was an option and if she knew where she cell was but in this current state, her mind was not exactly thinking clearly.

"I give up." She finally sighed and dropped down to the carpeted floor of her apartment, hair hanging over her eyes and tried to remember what it was she'd had to drink which caused her to get completely sloshed. Surely it hadn't been more than a few shots of vodka, maybe a tequila or two?

This was the first time in a long time that Caitlin was properly drunk; her head was pounding, the lights in the room were making her squint and her stomach felt queasy but she was certain enough she wasn't nauseous. Yet. Maybe going out wasn't the best idea that she could come up with. Sighing again, she resolved to try the zip one more time and tugged on it.

"Huh?" Caitlin would have been surprised to feel the zip moving down as it slid down all the way, letting the dress fall from her shoulders if she wasn't completely out of it; relief was one emotion she did feel though and a sense of renewed alertness as she jumped back up and yanked the ridiculous black dress down, leaving her free at last. "Yes!" She felt light headed so perhaps getting too excited wasn't needed, she still had to go and get her night clothes, change into them and tuck herself in bed.

However, just as she moved to brush away the curls from her eyes with both hands, she heard a noise which sounded like the door creaking and before she knew what was going on, there was a strong breeze that gushed right through the room, causing Caitlin to cover her face.

"Barry! What are you doing?" She practically had to yell as she fidgeted with the hair which was tangled up in her face covering her eyes completely. Of course it had to be Barry, who else was fast enough to come speeding into her house like that and muddle things up while she was getting ready to sleep.

"A little help please? Your speed blinded me." Caitlin huffed. She was standing in her lingerie and drunk, two combinations she never really expected herself to be in. How was she still talking and not sleeping was a mystery.

That was not the only mystery Caitlin would never discover the truth behind; in her drunken state, she hadn't realized that the figure standing in front of her was not Barry but rather someone else who was actually faster; Harrison Wells was the speedster there and seeing her like this was a little amusing to him as he stepped forward to help. This had to be the most dangerous risk he was ever going to take but Harrison was concerned about her. When Barry left his friends to their respective homes, he had spoken to Harrison about their 'wild' and 'slightly out of control' night, which in turn had prompted him to come and check in on Caitlin. Perhaps running over there with his speed was foolish but lately he had been observing the young woman at work, seeing her starting to close off from everything and knew it was a risk he had to take to be sure she was okay. Now here he was, barely a few feet away from her standing tall, while she was still blissfully unaware of his presence.

"Barry? I need sleep!" Deciding that her friend was not going to help, Caitlin finally summed up enough energy to fix her hair so that she could get on with yelling at him for suddenly showing up and not doing anything.

Just as soon as she opened her eyes to see clearly, Harrison quickly sped across the room and turned off all the lights. What he was doing here was dangerous; he couldn't afford Caitlin to know about him just yet and in spite of that, he wasn't leaving her alone either.

"Now you are modest. Being all gentlemanly." Caitlin smiled when she saw the outline of Harrison standing a little far off; the curtains were closed so she couldn't see him but she knew that he wanted to help while still not looking at her. "You look tall." She added, squinting in the darkness, the room was really pitch black but his silhouette seemed slightly taller than usual or maybe he was that tall.

Harrison didn't say a word, that was something he wouldn't make the mistake of doing. Changing his vocal chords to sound like Barry did when disguising his voice would probably be suspicious to Caitlin, even in her current condition. All he had to do was make sure she went to bed soon and then he would take off.

"Barry? You okay? Cat got your tongue?" She spoke up again and teased him, wondering how she was going to find her clothes now.

Instead of shaking his head, Harrison simply chose not to waste anymore precious seconds that could reveal himself to her: he was already having a hard time trying to stop thinking about seeing Caitlin half-dressed which was anything but gentlemanly of himself. Using his speed, Harrison ran to her closet and grabbed the first set of pyjama's that he saw and going a little more faster so as to not let his touch linger on her skin, he dressed her up and then without letting Caitlin say anything else, picked her up in his arms and carried her over to the bed.

"Wow. You're fast!" Caitlin giggled as she settled into a comfortable position and closed her eyes again. "Really fast." She sighed; the second her head had touched the pillow, sleep overcame her almost immediately.

Hearing her words, Harrison couldn't help but smile as he gently lifted her legs and placed them under the blanket which he tucked her in with. Whatever sudden urge had come over him to rush to her side was something he couldn't explain but somehow he had managed to stay in the shadows and still help Caitlin without being discovered. Once he saw that she was already asleep, he turned to leave but was surprised when her hand shot out to grab his wrist.

"G'night Barry." She said, a smile on her face, "And thanks." Letting go of Harrison's hand without sensing anything different about it, Caitlin snuggled up in her covers and turned to the other side.

"Goodnight Caitlin." Harrison finally whispered softly, knowing it was safe enough to speak now.

In a flash of red lightning, he was gone almost as soon as he'd come, leaving Caitlin to her dreams. As he sped back to his own home, thinking about what he had just done on an impulse, his reasons for doing so being a mystery to himself even now, there was the realization that if there was anything he had learned tonight, this risk of being so close to Caitlin had been worth it.


So... anything?