Abbreviated A/N:
This is a story/scene mostly about Hartley Rathaway. I mean, he has only appeared in one episode when I wrote this, so yes, I myself might end up hating the character later, but as of now, basing on this one episode, I find him intriguing, so this is my take.

Warning 1:
This piece contains utter silliness and ridiculousness, conversation-wise. You have been warned. The TV series is relatively young, so it is a bit hard to say what exactly is OOC and what is acceptable; if there are any OOC moments, I did try to acknowledge them within the piece. This is fanfic, if I seriously offended anyone with it, I'm kind of sorry, but I'm kind of not, please don't expect me to give some full hearted apologies if/when someone decided to leave unfriendly and nonconstructive comments.

Warning 2:
There is a great portion of the latter half of the piece touching on the topic referencing another fandom; I did not come up with the reference, it was slightly mentioned in the show, and it was confirmed in multiple interviews. As I happened to be a big fan of the said reference, I elaborated, maybe a slightly bit too much, but I had fun. If it annoys you or bores you, that, I am sorry.

Warning 3:
I'm not gonna lie, at the very end of the piece, I shameless threw in bashing about a certain song, I personally find overrated. I couldn't help it. Yup, it's a popular song so I'm possibly offending tons of people, but owells... Please don't get too work up and hurt yourself. I did warn you.

It was late in the evenings and it had been a long day; seeing Caitlin once again preparing fresh bandages (and some medical equipment... just in case, Barry deducted), along with the minimum nutrition one needed to consume, watching her getting ready to revisit the Pipeline to check on the self-proclaimed Pied Piper, Barry couldn't help blurting out, "Can I ask you a question? Another one of those... you absolutely don't have to answer if you don't want to?"

Caitlin didn't stop her preparation, didn't even bother looking up, but replied with the tone that one could easily imagine her saying it with her eyes rolling. "You really need to come up with a better way of phrasing it, especially when you already know I hate those kind of questions. Now, shoot."

"Okay... So what's the deal with Hartley?" Barry felt stupid, maybe she was right, he should have just asked this instead of asking the redundant 'can I ask you a question' question. Perhaps he was trying to create the illusion that she could choose not to answer, knowing pretty well that once he asked, she was most likely going to reply.

This time Caitlin did stop what she was doing.

"I'm afraid you have to be more specific."

"Right. So... I can tell Cisco actually, like genuinely, really does not have any good feelings about Hartley;"

"That's putting it mildly, yes." Now that Caitlin was facing him, Barry saw the eye-rolling this time.

"Okay, fine. Cisco really thinks Hartley's a dick. But what about you?" At first, Barry thought Caitlin had the same bitterness as Cisco, as if Caitlin's description of the disowned Rathaway was in fact toned-down... But since when did Caitlin sugarcoat anything? Not ever.

"What about me?" Putting emphasis in the sentence, Caitlin was starting to show signs of impatience, and this made Barry impatient, because, well, why wasn't she giving a straight (no pun intended) answer? Was his question really that hard to grasp? Caitlin was a master of holding a poker face, and right now, Barry was really having problems with telling whether she was actually getting annoyed or simply playing dumb.

"Like, why are you doing this?" Barry stretched out both of his arms to point out the tray Caitlin was setting up for Hartley.

"Because I am a doctor?" Okay, this time Barry could tell Caitlin was indeed offended.

"Yes, I know you are! I mean! That's not the point..." Barry ruffled his hair frustratedly, he felt so inadequate of voicing his questions sometimes.

"Pray tell, what exactly is the point? Because this conversation is delaying a visit, one I would like to get over with as soon as possible!"

"Exactly! If you don't like to go down there, why bother at all?"

"And what? Let Hartley die down there because of multiple possible wound infections? Do you think I'm that unprofessional to let personal feelings get in the way?" Okay, Barry had eyes and a brain and he could definitely tell Caitlin was fuming at the moment.

"No...! I mean, why not let Dr. Wells or Cisco, or even, well, like, me do the job?"

"Honestly...! You said so yourself, it's not hard to see that Cisco and Hartley don't get along, and I've seen it so many times how Hartley taunted him; if I can spare my friend this unhappy experience, why not? And it's not like medical is Cisco's forte to begin with! As for Dr. Wells, which part of the whole revenge thing did you not get? They might have been close before, but not anymore."

"... And myself?" Barry asked, weakly.

Dr. Caitlin Snow really had it in her to make Barry feel dimwitted.

"... How is the Flash going to make this easier, hmmm? In case you've forgotten, he did try to kill you." And with that, Caitlin went back to preparation.

"... I just don't understand why you're so calm about it."

"Seriously, it's not a big deal. I don't understand why you are getting so worked up about it."

"Oh, I don't know, because I don't understand how you are tolerating this? Because from what I gathered, you and Hartley aren't even friends? I don't get why you let it go so easily when he effortlessly hurt you like that."

Caitlin looked confused.

"He mocked you with the comment about Ronnie." With that, Caitlin's expression hardened, with a little disbelief, and then looked away.

"Ronnie is a weakness of mine; in a way, I think he always will be... but it wasn't the first time someone try to use it against me." Caitlin said quietly, but firmly.

"... wha...?" Seeing Caitlin's lack of eye contact, the realization hit Barry full on.

'Caitlin, I'm not Ronnie, you gotta stop treating me like I am.'

Barry held his head low... That sentence was one of those things that... if Barry could time travel, he would gladly go wipe away its existence. He didn't like how this memory was brought up though... Didn't they talk it over... WAIT, did they talk it over!? Barry tried very hard, his brain searching with super speed of a certain memory that could not be found... because it didn't exist. All he found in his racing mind, was him apologizing to Oliver on occasions more than once, but never for his actions toward Caitlin. Caitlin had called him to flash over to Starling City to aid team Arrow after the incident in Central City, and... it was like everything was fine, like nothing had ever occurred to break their team relationship, except that something had, but was just carefully ignored.

"... Look, Caitlin, I'm..." But Barry was cut off when he was finally trying to appropriately apologize.

"But this is about Hartley." Caitlin put the tray aside, sat down, regaining eye contact, and indicated Barry to sit down as well, so he complied. "No, Hartley and I aren't friends; to be honest, I'm not even sure if he has any friends. Just a side-note, it'll actually hurt more when the awful things came from someone the recipient cares about."

Great, if Barry felt bad a few seconds ago, he felt completely horrible at the moment.

"But, that doesn't mean Hartley's words were totally affectless. It still hurt, I assure you, but it didn't break me, alright?"

Barry was still not getting it.

"Look, Hartley is just Hartley, he is unpleasantly blunt, but he is not evil."

Dr. Caitlin Snow would have to do a better job convincing Barry the statement.

"He's not. Really. He's not." Caitlin said it with the eye-roll again, and Barry hated it so much for a millisecond.

"Hartley is... Just different from you." Caitlin's expression was like explaining something simple to a first grader, with patience and frustrations.

Well, duh! Obviously they were different! While Barry tried to become a superhero, Hartley turned out to be some supervillain! And Barry was not gay, no offense. The two could not be more different, it didn't take a genius to figure that out!

Luckily, seeing the grumpy expression on his face, in order to prevent Barry from thinking too hard and popping a vein, Caitlin continued, "Okay, for example, when we first had an actual conversation; you said you noticed I don't smile a lot, but that was putting it very politely." She went on and ignored Barry when he looked like he was about to protest, "If it were Hartley, he'd probably say something like 'I was just wondering why this old hag always has this look as if her breakfast tasted like crap, and like, everyday.' Well, actually, no; knowing Hartley, he is most likely to come up with something more elegant, but a hundred-times more insulting. But you get the idea."

No, Barry really didn't get the idea.

"Oh, come on. What I'm trying to say is, while both of you might have had the same thoughts, Hartley just says it out loud without filtering."

Woah, now wait a minute! 'Old hag'? Caitlin might have been a few years older than him, but Barry certainly did not see her like that! Okay... the comment on her facial expression... the breakfast/crap analogy was pretty amusing... but... and ... and ... well, she smiled a lot more now!

"Relax. It really isn't a big deal. Do you at least kind of understand now? In a way, Hartley is helplessly honest, that's a fact. He sees something he disapproves, he will not be shy of voicing it, that's how he rubs the wrong way with Cisco. If you were in that particular situation, I think it's a safe bet to say that you are just too kind to be rude. Even if you might have also had the same initial question on whether or not you could or should take Cisco seriously, because let's be honest, he really can be annoying with the puns and quotes sometimes; even if you did have doubts, you would have kept it all to yourself and not say anything about it." Caitlin said with a knowing quirk of a smile.

No comment. Barry was not going to comment on whatever was just said.

"So yeah... Hartley is... just Hartley, and trust me because I knew him longer than Cisco knew him; I knew him before Ronnie and were even an item. Hartley's not evil, he's just brutally blunt. So does that answer your question?"

Barry decided to be satisfied. For now. There was something about how Caitlin used 'knew' instead of the present tense 'know' that sort of brought more questions, but he would save it for later.

"I'll tag along, just in case?" He was answered with a stare.

"Just for precaution, you know!" He added weakly.

"You worry too much." Caitlin shook her head and said it with some fondness, took the tray and headed out, "If you have nothing else to do, you can look at the live surveillance footage."

"Fine. I'll do just that." Barry muttered.

She first injected the nutrition (Cisco and herself calculated) into Hartley, then went on checking his bandaged hands. It wasn't like they were purposely mistreating him; it was that, knowing Hartley, even if they did manage to provide food served in some five-star hotels, he would probably still find faults with it; as Cisco described, Hartley could really be a dick sometimes, so they decided to save themselves the trouble. Caitlin then examined the wounds in his ears, covering them with some salve in case they started itching. The whole process was done in silence, and Caitlin was fine with that, but she was aware that just as she was examining the wounds, the Piper was examining her, and it was starting to unnerve her.

"What?" She asked quietly. Because she was nice like that.

Hartley tilted his head a little, and gave the grin of his that sometimes just seemed 'off', and said, "Can I also ask you a question? One of those... you absolutely don't have to answer if you don't want to?"

"Ha, Ha, very funny." This time she didn't bother lowering her voice for the sake of his eardrums.

"Tell me, do you still dislike emotions?"

The question seemed genuine, and it took Caitlin by surprise, so she let herself ponder a bit.

"I can hear everything in this building, and somethings outside this place, too; so obviously, I heard your little talk with Harrison's pet-project. I find it amusing that you would jump into my defense."

"And what? Do you finally feel some gratitude for once? For the record, I was not defending you; the Flash asked me a question, I was just answering."

"But still, there was a time you would have just kept the answer short. For the record, if you are expecting a 'thank you' from me, you need to get your brain checked. Disturbed was more like what I am feeling." Hartley had this irksome way of using the same sentence structure but with contents that somehow effectively pissed people off.

"And your point is?" Caitlin did not hide how bored of the conversation she sounded.

"You know, there was a time when I actually thought you were kind of cool; you were this clever bioengineer with a brilliant mind, yet you were so detached with people, like some sort of Ice Queen; you were just like me."

Caitlin tried very hard to not roll her eyes while replaying the sentence in her head that had the content of 'Ice Queen' and 'like himself' in it. She had no idea if there was any subtext in it or if she should take it seriously.

"Enlighten me then, because I certainly wasn't aware that Your Royal Highness was able to see someone in positive light other than himself, and perhaps Dr. Wells, once upon a time." Caitlin wasn't trying to be deliberately mean, she just found Hartley's statement preposterous.

"I did think you were cool, but you changed. Disappointment is an understatement." His stare turned cold.

Caitlin arced one of her eyebrows and was still in a bored expression.

"Ronnie Raymond." Hartley gritted out the name with distaste.

Barry was watching the whole exchange from the lab; some parts of the conversation were in French, but fortunate for him, some parts weren't, so he was able to mostly piece them together, and there was also the fact that Ronnie's name was in English. Thinking that the Pied Piper had once again brought up the taboo subject, Barry had the mind to rush over and set him straight (again, no pun intended) just as he saw the biggest eye-roll of the century.

"Really, Caitlin? Falling for a guy who joked about being a high-priced plumber? Spewing out cliches like fire and ice? It was so pathetic..."

"Puh-leeze, Hartley, you can cut the crap now. You know why? Because you weren't being exactly subtle when you eye-ravaged (right, Caitlin couldn't believe she was still being very ladylike in this circumstance) him all the time back in the days! Admit it, you thought Ronnie was cute, no wait, I bet you thought he was super hot." Caitlin folded her arms with a satisfactory smile. Even she thought it was utterly stupid to feel victory over this silly conversation, but then again.

THAT shut Hartley up.

He had this angry bulldog face, that if vocalizing the facial expression, one could hear a reluctant 'fine' that sounded like coming from a whiny kid.

Barry had his hands covering his mouth and tried very hard to not laugh out loud (though he wasn't exactly sure why he was restraining himself, he was alone in the room after all.) Then he remembered the Piper had some crazy super hearing; it was probably best to not embarrassed the fella furthermore.

The Flash finally figured out what the weird dynamic he was seeing when he saw Caitlin patching up Hartley; he would wager that it looked almost precisely like that when Dr. Not-So-Happy-Snow was fixing himself up: a big sister fussing over her younger brother, and the younger brother sitting terribly still, not so eager to get more scolding. What was more ridiculous, was that the younger brother got jealous and just threw a tantrum because the sister got to be with the guy he sort of had his eyes on. Talking about cliche, if this were a chick flick... Okay, Barry was no longer sure if he was analyzing the situation correctly, because it all just sounded really laughable in his head. Lucky for him, Caitlin continued to talk so he stopped thinking and just listened.

"And you know what? You want to talk about changing? What the heck were you doing when you decided to dress like a deranged emo-and-evil-looking Harry Potter? There was a time you were flamboyant as shit (excuse her, Caitlin didn't like herself swearing as well), wearing eye-glasses that were slightly green shades, having strawberry-blond hair long enough to tie a tiny ponytail... You were always a bit egocentric, but at least you had some warmth; now you suddenly decided to go all melodramatic monotone oh-you-wronged-me-I-shall-take-my-revenge? That, Hartley, is a big change. I'm not even sure why we are having this conversation." Caitlin decided that what-the-hell, her semi-outburst was a bit uncharacteristic, but this whole conversation was basically surreal, so she figured she would just let a piece of her mind be heard.

Hartley had the decency to blush slightly.

"First of all, I'm glad someone in this group picked up the reference." He recovered considerably quickly.

"Believe me, you were being fairly obvious, Hartley." Caitlin could not resist giving yet another eye-roll.

"Believe it or not, I did that partly to humor Cisco, since he was so sour with 'the Chosen One' comment; honestly, it was a one-time thing, and even that time I meant it as a sarcastic joke! How was I to know that he was so touchy?"

Caitlin just raised her eyebrows. She felt that Hartley might have actually believed in what he was saying, but she doubted that to humor Cisco was mainly the reason he made it sound like. To be honest, Caitlin wasn't sure Hartley knew what humor was until hearing this particular confession.

"And let me remind you, dear Caitlin, I went monotone quite long ago, before I even met Cisco. It wasn't a sudden change at all."

This was also true.

They sat in silence and stared at each other for approximately three minutes.

"Oh, bother (see, Caitlin really wasn't comfortable at swearing)," She felt... She didn't know what she felt, but that this was a question asked three years too late, "What happened?" Caitlin didn't like to feel like a cold-hearted bitch, honestly who would want to feel like one? But this was a question that made her feel exactly that way, and she knew Hartley knew as well.

"What did you think happened?" Hartley asked the rhetorical question so sweetly.

"I always say what I feel, how I feel. This was the only thing I bottled up for so long, and it was something I shouldn't even be ashamed of admitting." Hartley looked at Caitlin harshly, daring her to say otherwise, but he knew he wouldn't be told off... She had never held his sexual orientation against him. In fact, she was possibly one of the only few people who remained unfazed and cool when the whole scandalous disownment happened. Her expression said it all: she felt the Rathaways were outdated with their view and responded too dramatically with poor taste, but what did her opinion matter? It wasn't her family. It wasn't really her say.

"After the whole thing, I tried being... something that would creep them out less? As you can see, it didn't really help."

"Now that we've established that it did not work well (or at all), you mind sharing why you choose to keep this look?" Great, Caitlin seriously did not want to participate in this conversation... It made her feel bad for not feeling too bad to do something about it a few years ago. But then again, seeing Hartley obviously still feeling distress about it, she decided she would humor him and be a good listener (one that talked back occasionally).

Dr. Caitlin Snow wasn't a psychiatrist, but she could picture perfectly that were Cisco to be here in her place, it would absolutely not help the situation, same for Dr. Wells and the Flash (because they couldn't risk Barry's secret identity, right? Though she feared with Hartley's ears being so sensitive... he might have already figured it out... owells.)... As weird as it might sound... Caitlin was almost positive that out of the four candidates, she was the one Hartley had the least reason to be furious with, and she still stood by her statement, he wasn't evil, he was just currently unhappy. Okay, scratch that. He had just been pissed off for quite some time without a proper outlet. Considering the other option being letting him talk to himself like some crazy person, Caitlin really didn't see the harm of hearing him out, so listen she shall.

"Glad we are moving on and dropping the depressing family affair. FYI, this is my natural hair color. Didn't feel like being a blond anymore."

"And green happens to not be your favorite color anymore as well? Before you act all defensive, yes, I did notice your gadgets have glows of green, but from what I know of you, you were always very loud and clear with your statements... Tiptoeing with subtleties was... unsettling... for me, at least. If anything, I would have imagined you with a green cape or something equally outlandish... Your wardrobe choice... Were you going for 'Harry Potter merging with a Horcrux and was sent into a Sci-Fi world'? Because it was confusing." Caitlin was channeling her inner 'Hartley-bluntness'; it was one of those attitudes she realized just easier when interacting with certain people... Act like them, and you won't be bothered by how they act... She hadn't treated people like this since, well, Hartley left; to be honest, it was kind of refreshing to be... well, super-duper blunt. She didn't really care that she was letting her geeky-ness in a certain modern literature show... What the team encountered so far all happened to be what Cisco could take to the next level of dorkiness, Hartley gave her the perfect opportunity to, well, let the world (basically just him, and possibly Barry listening from the lab) know that Dr. Caitlin Snow was not a boring woman. Okay, she was definitely tired, even her inner thoughts sounded dense to herself. Great.

"No, Caitlin, green is still my favorite color. While some may associate the color with envious... It is the color of will. But... I guess I just don't want to let my actions being wrongfully deducted as associating with someone else."

"... Feel free to elaborate."

"... You do realize Starling City has a vigilante wearing a green hood?"

"... Unless you decided next time you get out, which is not happening anytime soon, switching your weapons and started attacking us with green arrows; I'm pretty sure no one is going to confuse you with the said vigilante."

They stared at each other for approximately two minutes.

"Fine, it was surprisingly a considerable move, but I'm not totally buying it; you want to be distinguishing, that I get, but the rest? It was so random. You don't want to been as the Arrow or his copycat, so you settled for mimicking Potter? It doesn't make sense." Caitlin decided she would stop caring how idiotic this conversation sounded.

"Really, Caitlin, you didn't think that I was also trying to mock you guys with this look? You're a smart girl, figure it out. Action speaks louder than words: the entire fight was like a chess game. Here's another one, for the greater good, rings a bell?" And Hartley actually looked like he was enjoying the talk.

Of course she understood what he was trying very hard to not shout out loud, but she could't help protesting a little, "If you did read the books, Hartley, you will find myself more of a Ravenclaw, and Cisco..."

"Yes, yes, Cisco has the loyalty equivalent of an adorable Hufflepuff; but you can't deny the scarlet knight is exactly like the boy wonder, red and gold, excuse me, yellow, and all; blindly following someone with a pair of sparkling blue eyes behind his half-moon spectacles, oh, wait, my bad, I meant glasses;" Right, Barry's outfit just so happened to be sharing the similar color with a certain House of a certain novel, what a great coincidence. Caitlin didn't bother mentioning that the Flash didn't pick the color palette, Cisco did, and it was meant for firefighters! Sometimes little things could really be read in a totally different way.

"You are all fools, especially the Flash, trusting someone who could cut him loose in a heartbeat... Look how easily he did it to me, Caitlin; next thing you know, you, Cisco, the Flash... You're all going to end up just like me, pieces to be sacrificed for the bigger picture."

"Look, I get that you are angry with Dr. Wells for not listening to you, for shunning you; Hartley, we all get it."

"Yet, you are willing to forgive him. Guess your love for Ronnie wasn't that deep after all..." He winced, because he was just grabbed tightly by his injured hands.

"Now, Hartley, you listen to me carefully... Do not dare entertaining the idea that what you just said was possible, ever, again. I may have been chill with a lot of things, but do not insult my feelings for my fiancé. Just so you know, I am not sure that I have forgave Dr. Wells just yet. In a way, I really have to thank you for coming forward to show us his flaw we were not seeing, or unwilling to see."

"You say those pretty words, but you are still in this merry little band on a quest of unknown, a fool's errand."

"There is no ulterior motive for what we are doing, at least not for me. I'm not doing this for Dr. Wells, I'm on this team because... Oh, why don't you get it? We are just trying to make the best out of it! The particle accelerator exploded and it literally ruined my life for a while; I'm not going to lie, I'm still upset, but unlike you, I don't dwell on it! Because unless you figure out a way to time travel, say, you actually whip up a Time-Turner; in case you fail to get the memo, what happened a year ago cannot be undone simply because you are hating the entire world! It's just not healthy, Hartley; I know this is going to sound totally weird, but you should really consider letting some of that anguish go."

"Caitlin, if I start hearing 'Let It Go' in this building, I swear I will find a way of making myself going complete deaf. You have no idea how much I have to endure since the accelerator's mockup. That song is being played literally everywhere, you would think after a year the trend would die down a bit." Okay, it is now officially proven, miracles do exist. Hartley Rathaway turned out to have a sense of humor. Caitlin was tired, and what had just been said ways just too funny, she giggled.

"It is not funny."

"Nuh-uh, it so is. You know what? As stimulating our chat is, I'm really worn out, I'm going to take my leave now." And Caitlin was being honest, their talk did give her some new insight, therefore, stimulating.

Hartley studied her closely, and concluded, "I told you, you changed." Caitlin did not bother to reply, she just waved her hand for him to go on.

"There was a time, that there was no way you would sit here and have this not-so-short talk with anyone, probably not even with Ronnie. Why are you doing this?"

"I guess the scientist in me just want to figure you out."

"What is there to figure out?" Caitlin waved again, but this time the gesture had more of a 'you tell me' feel to it.

After a brief pause, feeling really drained, Caitlin answered it herself.

"Why now? The fiasco happened over a year ago. Your changes, the pain it caused you, happened over a year ago, yet you didn't show yourself until now. You are practically a genius, I don't believe it took you this long to build your weapons. If it was about your recent discovery of the Flash, I can only ask again, why? Taking it out on him helps your revenge on Dr. Wells, how? Are you insinuating Cisco and I aren't important enough to crush your former mentor? What gave you the idea? I may not have been your biggest fan, but I've always seen you as a logical person... Right now, what your action could ultimately accomplish, I still haven't figure out. Killing the Flash, upsetting Dr. Wells, and then what? Would you be satisfied?"

"Did it not occur to you you were overthinking? How about I did it, because I can?"

"Is that how it was?" This time it was Hartley's turn to shrug. Caitlin gathered the stuff she brought in, stood up and prepared to leave.

"Have you figured it out?"

"No, not yet. I'm too exhausted right now."

"Guess only time will tell then."

"Guess so."

Before she was out of the makeshift cell, Hartley hummed, "It was a pleasure talking to you, Caitlin."

"It was a pleasure finally actually getting to know you, if only a little bit, Hartley." And she meant it. She wasn't so self-centered to think that Hartley ended up like this because she didn't spare time listening to him back then. No, they weren't friends, and she had enough to worry about with her life back in the day. But now... She realized, in her life, the people she interacted with were reduced to less than twenty, it really didn't hurt to care a little bit more.

"That went well." Barry spoke with amusement as Caitlin returned to the lab to put stuff back in order.

"Oh, you're still here? And, yes, I did tell you Hartley wasn't evil."

"That you did; I just had to see so myself." He flashed all the equipments back to where they belonged. "You want me to drop you back to your place? No offense, you really look like you can use some rest."

Caitlin just nodded, and in a flash, she was in her flat. Barry snuck a quick kiss on her forehead, "Night, Caitlin, rest well, 'kay?"

"Mhmmm. Sweet dreams, Barry." Her flat wasn't exactly next to S.T.A.R. Labs, only till now that she felt was perhaps safer to say his name, she gave his hand a little squeeze, and head off to bed.

On his way flashing back home to Joe's, although the journey only took a few seconds, he replayed what he saw in his brain; he decided he would give Hartley a try, and not label him as a psycho lunatic. Maybe Barry would get to see more of this weird dysfunctional family dynamic. Only time would tell.

FIN?