Harrison's broken glasses was all that was left when Zoom took him…
Caitlin couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. In fact, she could do nothing but sit by her desk and stare at the pair of broken glasses set before her.
She was paralyzed, unable to move, unable to breathe, unable to exist even. Her friends were truly worried about her, afraid she'd eventually go catatonic. Yet, they knew there were no words of comfort that could help her or numbers of hugs that could take her anguish away. There was only one way to put Caitlin together again and it was by finding and bringing back what she'd lost – or maybe rather whom.
No one was more surprised than the members of team Flash when they found out Cait and Harrison Wells of Earth Two had fallen in love and that the man was staying on Earth One for her, his daughter now rescued, but the threat of Zoom still hanging above them. Yet, despite all of their precautions, nothing could prepare them for another blow, for another shock that was the fact that it was Jay Garrick or maybe rather Hunter Zolomon hiding underneath the monstrous mask.
It just so happened that Zolomon had a soft spot for Caitlin and once finding out she'd preferred his enemy that was Wells over him, he faked his own death. Jay died in front of their eyes whereas they all just stood there with eyes widely opened, powerless to help him, Harrison hugging both Caitlin and Jesse to his chest.
And now Harry was gone, taken by Zoom in revenge because Caitlin couldn't love the monster even before she'd even known he was one. Because she'd actually fallen in love with a man that none of the team members or Zolomon himself would ever guess.
But it did happen. And now she was slowly losing it, if she hadn't already. And her friends were powerless to help her.
While Cisco was watching his best friend, a woman that was truly like a sister to him, just sitting there and staring at those broken glasses, his heart clenched painfully and he ran a hand through his hair helplessly, not knowing how to make her feel better. They kept on trying to locate Zoom, to find Harry, but quite frankly, they had no way of knowing whether the older man was even still alive.
Cisco remembered how he heard Caitlin's scream that sounded as though life was being drained out of her and when he ran towards the source, he found her on the floor, staring at the glasses that must've fallen from Harrison's face and shattered against the ground when Zoom had grabbed him; their only consolation the lack of blood in their wake. Which meant that maybe, just maybe he was still alive. But it also meant he might be tortured. Truly, they didn't know which was worse.
They also had no idea for how long they could look for the man before giving up, for how long Caitlin would be still like this, lifeless.
Cisco knew that if anyone on the team deserved a happy ending, a happy lie full of joy and love, it was her. They'd all lost something, but life seemed to treat her with a different kind of cruelty when taking her father away from her too soon, when taking Ronnie twice and now, when she finally opened up to love again, when she finally believed she could be happy, it happened, yet, once again. This wasn't fair. In fact, it was the worst irony of fate that could ever happen to someone and Cisco was determined to find Harrison so Barry could bring him back home to her, not to mention to his daughter who, for a change, kept on locking herself in her room, refusing to speak to anyone.
It must've been a miracle, Cisco decided when two days later actually coming across a lead and a strong one to that. He'd been praying for it hard, but it was one thing to do that and another to actually see it come to fruition. They might have found Harry's location, but yet, he decided against saying that aloud in fear he might do the worst thing possible to Cait when giving her hope and then being forced to take it away.
Instead Cisco pulled Barry aside and away from the cortex, relaying what he knew and wishing him luck before adding to be careful as the speedster disappeared.
All that was left to do was wait and Cisco was very glad he didn't tell Cait anything about it because if this part was so hard and stressful for him, he couldn't even imagine what it would be like for her as she actually loved the missing man.
"Snow," when she heard his voice call her name she truly thought she'd already gone crazy. Because this just wasn't possible. He was as good as gone.
Yet, he repeated her name and she realized his voice was more hoarse than usual and it also seemed exhausted.
She finally dared look in the direction of the entrance to the cortex and spotted him there, leaning against the frame, all bruised and battered but alive, Barry on his other side, holding him up.
Her eyes opened widely and her heart hammered in her chest when sudden dizziness hit her. Yet, she got to her feet and stumbled towards him, desperate to get to him as fast as she could, desperate to hold him in her arms already.
As she made a dash for him, she spotted the terrible dark circles under his eyes, the dry skin that screamed dehydration, the dried blood in the corner of his lips and his dirty clothes, but she didn't care about any of it right now, just holding him up, embracing him tightly and burying her face in his neck as she started to cry while laughing in the same time, happy she got him back and repeating to him over and over again that she loved him and that she couldn't believe he was there and that she would never let him go again while dropping kisses all over his face.
Her ministrations seemed to have given him strength since he was able to stand on his two legs now without the need to lean on anyone and his arms tightened around her as he breathed her in, finally convinced he was, indeed, home.
"Dad?! DAD!" Jesse ran to them just then, also putting her arms around them and they all stood like that, embraced.
Suddenly, the strangest feeling of certainty overcame Caitlin and she just knew in that moment that her anguish was over once and for all, that from now on they would just be a happy family, that she, Harry and Jesse would be all right and safe and they would soon defeat Zoom.
