Boo! I'm back! A new fic for a new day of Snowells week with a new prompt! And it's long again... wow... I surprised myself with this one considering I just started writing it like a day or two ago? *gasp* anyway, I haven't done this kind of topic before so hopefully I haven't got it wrong! :p
"Are you sure this is a good idea Snow?" Harrison Wells sat in the corner booth table of what Caitlin had described as an 'offbeat, out of the way tavern' far enough from Central City that no one would recognize him, which certainly seemed to be the case.
"Of course it is." Caitlin said with a hint of a smile, trying not to think too much about the fact that everyone had bailed on their plan to take Harry outside of S.T.A.R. Labs for a change of scenery, leaving her alone with him.
The idea had been thought out as a group venture, Barry, Cisco, Iris, Jesse, Joe, Wally and Caitlin, to take Harry some place where they could just kick back and relax for a few hours. This was the designated choice, 'The Hanged Man' tavern located quite a distance away from the city that it seemed to be isolated from even the nearest inhabited town. And then, unexpectedly, what they had thought was a night off… everything had suddenly changed. Barry and Joe had been called to a crime scene that did not seem meta related, Cisco's brother Dante had shown up claiming that they were both going to try and work out their differences with their parents, Iris had been called into work at CCPN, while Jesse and Wally… had a movie night planned beforehand, much to Harrison's surprise… who eventually relented. Since it left only him and Caitlin, she still took it up to be the one to make sure the outing stuck. He had been cooped up for too long and if he was being honest with himself, even a place like this was peaceful.
"It does feel good to be somewhere else." He admitted out loud, taking a sip of his drink, still glancing around every few seconds just in case; it never hurt to be cautious.
"That's good. I'm glad." This was new territory for Caitlin; she hadn't really had the chance to spend time with him on a one-on-one basis with all the madness taking up their time every single day.
"Thank you, Snow. For bringing me here. I appreciate it." Harrison knew it was a little unusual for Caitlin to be spending time with him in some… tavern that resembled a barn or a warehouse… alone; he admired her for being so caring. He wasn't used to compassion, but with her it felt almost normal.
"You're very welcome Harry." Caitlin said, finally thinking that it was okay to relax, they were just two colleagues enjoying a night out together. And yet, for some reason she couldn't shake the nervousness or the butterflies in her stomach every time she noticed him glancing her way.
Truth be told, she had expected this to be awkward and uncomfortable; Harrison hadn't really been talking much and even though Caitlin could think of at least half a dozen things to say to him and another half a dozen things she wanted to ask, somehow, sitting there across from him and simply listening to the band playing made everything feel… right. Over the last several weeks, Caitlin had finally started to slowly heal as she took each day step by step, moving on from the nightmare of Hunter Zolomon who was long gone now. Her nightmares had lessened… to an extent… she no longer woke up screaming and drenched in sweat, but they still lingered. And she couldn't ignore the fact that Harry's presence had helped. In spite of initially going back to Earth-2 in order to help Jay Garrick back to Earth-3, both Harry and Jesse had eventually returned here, for reasons no one had quite fully gotten the answer to. Whatever had led them to Earth-1 again didn't matter, Caitlin was truly happy to see both of them.
"Snow, when you said that no one here would recognize me, you were certain of that right?" Harrison's voice suddenly broke through Caitlin's reverie as she looked up to meet his concerned gaze.
"Yes of course. No one knows about this place, I'm sure of it." Caitlin could detect a note of worry in his voice and wondered if there was something she hadn't counted on, someone unexpected who did know him… or his face?
"Then how do you explain that guy over there who keeps looking our way?" He said to her pointedly.
"Where?" She braced herself for the worst, trying to think of anything that would help them get out of this place in case things took a turn.
"By the bar." Without making it look obvious, Harrison indicated to the lone figure who sat on the opposite end, at a distance from them.
Caitlin turned around as inconspicuously as she could and the second she did, it took every ounce of self control she had to not groan and bury her head and wish she could vanish. Sitting on the other side of the tavern was someone who hadn't been staring at Harry, but rather at her.
"What is it?" Harrison picked up on the sudden change in Caitlin's stance as she stiffened, consciously?
"I know him. Or at least I used to." Caitlin's voice was soft now, but definitely sounded sure about whom she had seen.
"An old acquaintance?" He asked casually.
"More like an old annoyance. My ex from high school. I haven't seen him in years and I didn't think he would be in this tavern of all places." She sighed deeply and decided then and there that if she ever wanted powers, invisibility was much better than becoming an ice queen.
"Hey, it's okay Snow, I'm right here." Harrison didn't know the whole story for Caitlin to be this anxious, but just the fact that he could tell she was suddenly uncomfortable was reason enough.
"He's coming over." Caitlin had been trying her best not to stare, but when she saw him standing up, everything changed. "Crap. This is not good. We should probably leave." She turned to Harrison.
"We won't make it five feet without him noticing us." He knew that was probably not entirely true, but he figured that Caitlin would want to avoid making a scene if they bumped into this guy, who might guess that they were running from him.
"Kiss me." The words left Caitlin's mouth faster than the thought had even entered her mind.
"What?" Harrison turned to look at her, knowing all too well what she was asking of him; a kiss was a good distraction and he did know that public displays of affection made other people uncomfortable, especially if it was an ex.
"Kiss me, please. I don't want to deal with him." Caitlin would have blushed if there was time to spare, but she could see the guy waving his way through the crowd having spotted her at last.
"That bad huh?"
"Harrison…"
"The key to a good kiss is timing, as is with everything else."
If Caitlin hadn't been so worried about the sight of her approaching ex-boyfriend, she might have reacted a little differently than just giving Harry an incredulous look. Before she had time to ask him what he meant by that, the waitress showed up with their dessert in hand, buying them a few more seconds.
"To us." Caitlin suddenly found Harry sitting next to her, having moved sides in the blink of an eye.
He held a spoon of apple pie in his hand for her and as soon as she took one bite, he smiled before leaning in to kiss her. It was a more like a gentle peck at first, but once Caitlin felt his lips on hers, she touched his cheek with one hand and deepened the kiss, long enough to be considered polite and chaste in public. And for a heartbeat of a second, Caitlin forgot everything; where she was, whom she was running away from, what she had just asked of Harry, the only thing on her mind was that he kissed her and she had kissed him in return.
"Thank you." She whispered softly when they broke apart, her eyes were locked on to his and Caitlin wondered if she could hear his heart beating as fast as hers.
Harrison didn't say anything to her, but rather reached out a hand to gently brush away a lock of her hair, tucking it behind her ear. There was a small smile playing on his lips and if Caitlin stared at them any longer, she knew she would plant another kiss on him; so she chose to take another bite of dessert instead.
"Caitlin? Caitlin Snow?" Unfortunately for her, the all too familiar voice interrupted the moment. "It is you! Caity! Hey, remember me?" The guy from the bar was standing at the edge of their booth, trying and failing miserably at his attempt to not stare.
"Hello Tyler." Her voice was clipped but polite.
"Wassup girl? I haven't seen you in forever. How you been?" Without invitation, Tyler, sat down in the same spot where Harrison had been moments ago.
"Fine. How are you?" She asked him, very much aware of the fact that Harrison had one arm stretched across her shoulders, which was comforting.
"Oh I'm great, yeah… things are going great." He was dressed in a leather jacket and torn jeans, but nothing about his appearance screamed 'biker gang' to either Caitlin or Harrison.
"That's good to know." Caitlin had left the apple pie aside and was fidgeting with the plastic fork now.
"Hey man, wassup?" Tyler turned to Harrison, the question in his eyes going unspoken.
"Oh. Sorry, I forgot to introduce you two, this is Tyler, from high school." Caitlin said to Harrison.
"We were a thing back then." Tyler added with a little bit of enthusiasm.
"And this is my…" She paused for a second, wondering why she hadn't simply said Harrison's name first.
"Harry, I'm Caitlin's boyfriend." Harrison finished her sentence and held out a hand to Tyler.
"Nice to meet you man." The other man shook it, not knowing that they both could tell that he probably wanted to say something about the fact that there was an age difference between them.
"Likewise." It was quite easy for Harrison to simply slide his hand in Caitlin's once she left the fork, making it seem natural.
"So Caity, what brings you by?" Tyler turned his attention back to Caitlin once again.
"We were just… out for a date. Someplace quiet and away from the city." She hadn't had the time to think about what she and Harrison were doing, but pretending to date seemed like the plan so it was just a matter of making things up as they went.
"Oh yeah? You still live in Central City? He saw her nod and then went on talking, "Cool cool. I tried living the city life, wasn't for me. I left before graduation actually."
"I remember."
"Yeah, so I moved to Ivy Town and hooked up with my cousins and started working there too."
"That sounds nice."
"It is. Are you still living in that apartment building over by Grove St. was it?"
The question sounded common enough from someone she had once known, but Caitlin couldn't help herself but choose to keep the details of her life private from Tyler; there was a split second of a moment where she exchanged a look with Harrison who simply squeezed her hand in response.
"No. No, I umm… I moved out of there a while back… I'm living with Harry now." She said, the lie forming easily enough with a hint of truth to her words.
"It's been a few weeks." Harrison added, knowing that Tyler would get the message.
"That's really great! So Harry my man, tell me how exactly did you manage to woo Caity here?"
"It wasn't easy, I'll tell you that."
"Really? Sounds like you've got a story to tell. I'm all ears."
"Cait, do you want to do the honors?"
"Oh no. You're much better at remembering all the tiny details."
Harrison was close enough to Caitlin that they could pass off as a couple, but far enough also for him to see the look in her eyes; she trusted him enough to give Tyler enough details about their 'relationship' or rather, she knew that he would be less likely to slip up and make a mistake.
"We met at work actually, last year, and at first we couldn't stand each other; barely worked together in the same room unless there were other people around." Harrison started to say, knowing that Tyler was paying close attention.
"For real? Why?" Tyler glanced at Harrison first and then at Caitlin, letting his eyes linger for a few extra seconds, making it seem that he hadn't been expecting to hear that.
"I was a prick mostly. A bit of a jerk too." This was the part about himself that Harrison revealed to Tyler truthfully; he had an idea of where he wanted to take things with this story… by telling a lot of truths mixed in with a few harmless lies.
"That was the old you." Caitlin suddenly spoke up, wondering why Harrison was telling Tyler things like this, but not thinking twice about defending him.
"Yeah it was. And I changed because of this amazing woman next to me. She saved my life twice; the second time was a bit of an accident… I got shot and Cait saved me." This time, Harrison met Caitlin's gaze with a smile.
"Whoa. You took a bullet for her? That's something else man. Love makes you do crazy things doesn't it?" Tyler was definitely surprised by this turn of events, and he was watching them stare at each other.
For a minute, neither Caitlin nor Harrison said anything to Tyler's comment, both of them not sure how to react to his words; his hand was still on hers, but thankfully, they were saved from keeping their pretenses going further when the band started to play a familiar tune - one that Harrison recognized almost instantly and knew that this was their answer.
"Isn't this your song Cait?" Harrison was solely focused on Caitlin now; the sooner they got rid of Tyler the better.
"Yes… it is." If Caitlin was taken aback by the fact that Harrison could recognize her favorite song, she was careful enough not to let it show.
"Would you care for a dance?" He asked her, standing up from the table and held out a hand.
"I would love that." She almost jumped up at the offer, she didn't need to think twice before standing up and giving her hand to him.
"Tyler, it was nice meeting you." Harrison said with a forced smile.
"Yeah, same man. I'll see ya around Caity." Taking the hint that he was being dismissed, Tyler waved as he started to leave.
"Not bloody likely." Caitlin muttered under her breath, sighing with relief that the encounter was finally over.
Luckily for Tyler, he was out of earshot when Caitlin spoke but Harrison heard her clearly and couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle. When he noticed the simmering angry look in her eyes though, he took her hand and led her to the dance floor without another word. Harrison was a man who kept his word and he had promised Caitlin a dance. The song was a slow romantic one which meant a lot of couples were slow dancing in each other's arms and for a second, there may have been a slight hesitation on their part, but then wordlessly, Caitlin made the first move when she wrapped her arms around Harrison's neck and started swaying to the music.
"Has he left?" She asked him.
"Yeah, I can see him leaving out the door." Harrison replied, wondering what was going on in her mind.
A second later, he felt her head resting on his shoulder as her arms loosened up, effectively letting her melt into his hold. Harrison realized in that moment that Caitlin must have been keeping up a strong front while dealing with her ex. And the second realization which followed immediately was that she had no problem letting her guard down in front of him. Before he could fully process what all of this meant, Caitlin pulled back just enough for her to look up at him, face to face.
"Thank you, Harry. What you did was…" Caitlin didn't know what there was to say to him; there were a lot of conflicting thoughts in her mind, there had been ever since Harrison had kissed her to sell their fake dating story.
"Was nothing anyone else wouldn't have done." Harrison said to her.
"I'm not sure about that." She had met a lot of men in her life, but no one had really ever done something like this for her.
"Are you alright?" His voice was softer now, more concerned about her.
"Yeah. Yeah I think I am; it's just… it was so long ago that I was involved with Tyler, it doesn't even feel like one lifetime. More like three maybe. And seeing him here tonight after everything…" Caitlin drifted off, realizing just how much her life had changed over the years.
"It brought back memories?" Harrison ventured a guess.
"Hmm… something like that." She said, "I realized exactly why it never would have worked out between us and I'm happy I made the choice sooner rather than later." Breaking up with Tyler was undoubtedly one of the best decisions of her life.
"Well, you're a smart woman, I wouldn't put it past you to know the difference between the right guy and the wrong one." It wasn't until after Harrison had said that did he realize the mistake he had made with that statement.
He could feel Caitlin freeze up almost instantly as she still held onto him, but Harrison knew that he wasn't going to let her relive those memories of Zoom.
"I'm not that smart. I still made the mistake of falling in love with the wrong guy again." Caitlin said to him softly.
"Let me ask you something, between Tyler the ex and Hunter the…" Harrison frowned for a second, knowing all too well that Caitlin was watching him.
"Crazy mass-murdering speedster?" She offered.
"I was going to say second ex, but sure." He replied a moment later and noticed her lips turning upwards ever so slightly at his words.
"If you're trying to ask me to choose the lesser of two evils, my answer is neither of them." Caitlin answered the question before it was even asked.
"That wasn't my plan." Shaking his head, Harrison did his best to hide his grin, knowing that he had Caitlin intrigued now.
"Oh really? Then what was the plan?" She asked him.
"To see you smile again." He said honestly and so plainly that Caitlin knew he wasn't joking anymore.
And once more, she found herself at a loss for words; the song had long since finished, with perhaps another one or two more as well, but now it was time for them to head back to Central City. Once they had paid the bill and grabbed their jackets, the two of them were soon on the road driving home. It wasn't until after crossing into the city limits, amongst familiar sights, did Caitlin finally break the calm and peaceful silence.
"Why did you tell Tyler that I saved your life twice?" It was a thought that had been playing on her mind ever since she had heard his comment.
"Ah. I was wondering if you noticed that." Harrison had his eyes firmly fixed on the road but he was listening to her.
"I don't understand why you would say that; you mentioned getting shot at… by Patty… wasn't that all there was?" Caitlin was frowning now, trying to think of what Harrison meant.
"Not exactly." His lips were pursed in that moment, as if he was trying to think of what to say to her. Or how much.
"Harrison…" She used his whole name to let him know that she wasn't going to let this go until she got a proper answer.
"If you must know, the first time was when you stopped me from making a mistake." He said finally. "At the bar, you were the one who told me that I should stay, that leaving to go after Jesse alone was a bad idea…"
"That we could work together as a team to save her. I remember." Caitlin finished the sentence for him, the memory of that as vivid as ever.
"You convinced me not to go back all by myself… you said I'd probably get captured and killed by Zoom; you saved my life that day even if you didn't know it." The car had stopped at a signal close to her apartment which gave him a chance to look across at where she sat.
"And then you came to save me from Grodd." She reminded him, knowing that he had saved her life but he had chosen not to mention that part to Tyler.
"And then you saved me after I got shot." Harrison added.
"So that means I'm 2 for 1 then. When it comes to us saving each other." Caitlin hadn't even thought about it that way, but she did remember these events had occurred one after the other in rapid succession.
"Well… yes." It seemed that Harrison hadn't kept count either.
"Right, cause after that I got kidnapped and then you got kidnapped so that's something which…" She started to say.
But Caitlin never got a chance to finish her sentence for as soon as she started to mention the time when Zoom had kidnapped her and taken her back to Earth-2, Harrison had slammed down on the brakes. Bringing the van to a sudden halt, just a block away from their destination.
"Are you okay? What happened?" Caitlin was shocked at the unexpected change in him that she didn't immediately notice his hands gripping the steering wheel hard so that they were turning white.
"I should have saved you. From him. I shouldn't have let him take you." Harrison was referring to Zoom, kidnapping her after stealing Barry's speed.
"He was going to kill Barry. He would have killed you too." She knew what he meant.
"I wanted to stop him." There was an anger there, in his voice and eyes, one that Caitlin had seen before, but she hadn't ever thought that he cared so much for her.
"And we did." She reached over to take his hands in hers. "Hey, look at me." Caitlin waited until he opened his eyes, "I don't blame you or anyone else for what happened with Zoom… I came back. I'm here now."
"Do you know why we came back to Earth-1? Jesse and I?" His voice was soft again, but the sadness in his eyes made Caitlin's heart skip a beat.
"You said it was because you wanted to help Barry, help the Flash save Central City and make a difference." She remembered it like it was yesterday when Cisco had told her that Harry and Jesse had returned. "Jesse said that even though you were at S.T.A.R. Labs over there, it didn't feel the same. You were home and still felt homesick. And so did she, after a while. That's why the two of you came here."
"Hmm… that's not the real reason though." He had come this far already, telling her the whole truth was the only way to go.
"Then what is?" Caitlin asked Harrison, wanting to hear him say it out loud.
"After you saved me from that bullet wound, I realized my mistake. I was getting too emotionally invested… in you. In Barry, in Cisco, everyone. And I was scared that that would be… a weakness and I wouldn't be able to save Jesse." He took a breath before continuing, "When Zoom asked me to betray all of you, to steal Barry's speed and help him, I did it… I tried to warn you all, but I still did it. And every time I saw you… with him… every time I felt a pang in my heart, I told myself that it was just the guilt eating me up and keeping me awake at night, but it wasn't true. Even after I got my daughter back, that ache never went away… and by the time I accepted what it meant, it was too late."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying… that I came back because of you, Cait. I came back for you."
Caitlin heard the words and the meaning behind them as soon as Harrison had spoken them; she didn't know what to think or what to say or how to tell him that his feelings were not one-sided, not anymore. If tonight had taught her anything, it wasn't that he was the best person to pretend to be in a relationship with, it was that he was the one who would do everything he could to make her smile, to kiss her when the time was right, to tell a beautiful story of how two people found each other after everything they had gone through with more truth than lies, to dance with her when a favorite song started to play, to hold her in his arms and make everything okay without needing to say the words out loud. And when she looked at him, watching her and waiting, Caitlin said the first thing that came to mind.
"Snow." She said to him.
"What?" Harrison didn't know what he expected to hear Caitlin say to him, but it certainly wasn't that.
"I like it when you call me Snow." She elaborated. "You're the only one who calls me Snow and I want it to stay that way."
"Okay… Snow." He acquiesced to her request, "And what about me? Everyone calls me Harry already."
"That is true, but I do have a name for you that nobody else does." The thought had come to her earlier, and now she understood that it was the perfect fit.
"Oh really? Do enlighten me then." Harrison was curious now.
"My Harry." Caitlin said, remembering how she had started to introduce him and how he had filled in that momentary pause.
"I like the sound of that." He said with a knowing smile.
"I like it too." She had a feeling that now, after everything that had happened, she was blushing.
And with that, they closed the distance between them with a real, honest kiss.
Thoughts?