Okay, so I know that technically this fic could work as an alternate fandom type of a story like my Day 1 fic because the idea for this was inspired by House & Cameron's kiss scene in 3.15 'Half-Wit' but since I changed things around, I figured that it could work for the prompt quote that Harrison uses canonically, twice(?) to Caitlin! And I went back to Eo-Wells for this one because I really wanted to try my hand at ReverseSnow (pre-series) once again, I hope it's good! Enjoy! ^_^
S.T.A.R. Labs was very rarely empty at night, no matter how late it got, there were always usually a handful of people who worked long hours and stayed up until sunrise if the work called for it; Dr. Harrison Wells had provided all of his employees with on-site sleeping arrangements from day one itself. Their work on the Particle Accelerator was the most important project that many people were assigned to, but he was a considerate boss and took care of everyone's individual needs, no matter how big or small. It was that quality which Caitlin Snow admired about him, one of many good qualities if she were being honest with herself. And yet, for the first time in the years that she had been working for him, she was now starting to wonder if maybe she didn't know her boss as well as she thought she did. Over this past week she had noticed that Harrison seemed to suddenly withdraw into his office more and more, for hours on end, and when he did show up on the Cortex floor, he was agitated and restless. For the life of her, Caitlin hadn't been able to figure out why… they were still on schedule for the launch which was more than a year away, everyone had been working non-stop without any complaints and he had even helped one of her co-workers with a family issue… but something had changed. None of the this made sense to her. Until earlier that evening.
She had caught three of her friends whispering together in secret about something they clearly did not want her to know about; Cisco Ramon, Hartley Rathaway and Ronnie Raymond had all done their best attempts to brush her off when she finally confronted them about it, unsuccessfully. And when Caitlin found out what they knew… it left her feeling… unsettled. They had explained to her what they each had learned about Dr. Wells's change in behavior and how they had approached him to… talk about it… to say that Harrison had reacted badly was an understatement. Still, that did nothing to dissuade Caitlin from trying to get through to him in her own way; she had spent the last few hours working and trying to think of a plan that would actually help. At last she thought of something - unexpected, daring and maybe even dangerous - but in her heart, Caitlin had a feeling it would work. Before she knew it, the hours had passed by, everyone had left for the night, either to their respective homes or to the wing created for sleeping here; in case of an emergency, they would be minutes away. Caitlin didn't know if that was where her three friends were, but for all intents and purposes, she was alone. With Harrison. He was still locked up in his office and that was where she headed.
"You can do this Caitlin. Just breathe." She whispered softly, clutching a paper in her hand.
The door was surprisingly unlocked, but even so, Caitlin knocked on the door before pushing it open and walking through without waiting for a reply. She had been inside Harrison's office multiple times over the months and after a while it didn't feel as intimidating as it had initially. Without wasting another minute, Caitlin simply walked across the room to the desk where he sat; his black jacket hung over the chair and she could see the muscles in his arms and chest flexing through the white shirt as he worked. The second he sensed her presence close by though, he stopped everything and looked up to see her standing a few feet away.
"Caitlin. I thought you had left for the night." Harrison sounded like his old self which should have been a comfort to her, only she knew he was being polite.
"I was waiting for the results from the Mass Spec to come through." She replied, the lie forming easily on her lips; Caitlin had learned that the best lies always had a little truth in them.
"Ah. Well I'm sure they could have waited until morning." He said to her quite casually, as if it was nothing important.
"There is something else." Whatever nervousness she may have had disappeared the moment she heard him sound so… nonchalant.
"Oh?" There was something in her tone that Harrison picked up on for he removed his glasses and decided to hear her out.
"I'm applying for a job at Mercury Labs," Caitlin said to him and handed the paper over, "and this is my letter of recommendation."
"May I ask why the sudden change of heart?" Harrison did nothing to hide the surprise in his voice as he scanned the letter, before glancing up to meet her gaze.
"There's no point in staying if you're not going to be around." Caitlin knew she was being blunt; hopefully this would give her some answers.
"Ah. So you know." Putting his glasses back on Harrison glanced up at her, his face revealing nothing.
"That you're dying? Yes. I know." She had no idea where this anger was coming from but she could feel it building up inside of her as they kept talking; how could he have hidden something like this from her, why would he not confide in anyone, what brought this on… all of it.
"And who was it that told you? Ronnie? Or maybe Cisco. I don't think Hartley would have divulged it willingly." Harrison said calmly, avoiding the topic almost completely.
"All three of them were keeping it a secret from me. I made them talk." Caitlin replied, her tone sounding clipped now.
"What does Mr. Raymond think of your decision?"
"He doesn't know. We're not together anymore, this is my decision and mine alone."
"Well… then I guess there's not much else left to say is there Caitlin?"
"No. I don't suppose there is."
Things were not going the way Caitlin had hoped. Harrison had already signed the letter and handed it back to her, without saying anything to her about his condition. He simply brushed it aside without so much as acknowledging the fact. Maybe it was the strange carelessness that Harrison seemed to display that did it, or maybe it was that Caitlin felt powerless to do something to help him or maybe it was something completely else entirely that she didn't know or fully understand yet, but Caitlin did not back down easily. Not without fighting. If he didn't care about his life then someone else had to. And this last comment of his finally broke the dam of feelings, not just the anger, which had bubbled up to the breaking point.
"Damn it, Harrison! You can't just throw your life away like this! Locking yourself up in the office for hours on end, not eating or sleeping or talking to anyone else. What about your work? The particle accelerator? This has been your dream for years and you're just going to let it go? You're Harrison Wells… you… you can't… just…" Caitlin stopped, breathing heavily as she started to cool down from her momentary outburst.
"I can't what, Caitlin?" Harrison was on his feet now, walking around his desk to where she stood.
"You can't just… die. Not now. Not when there are people out there who need you." She said to him, having resigned herself to not give up.
"And what about you Caitlin? What do you need?" His voice, a low whisper, sent a shiver down her spine.
The space between them had grown so close that Caitlin could see, up close, exactly just how blue his eyes were. She had never let herself linger at his eyes before, not when she knew they looked captivating, like… someone could drown in them if they stared too long. And his lips were so close… she could feel his breath on her face and even though she had been yelling at him a second ago, right now there was only one thing she needed. In answer to his question, Caitlin put both of her hands on his cheeks, slowly moving upwards to capture his lips in hers; standing on her toes, she didn't think about anything but kissing him. Harrison was caught off guard by her sudden impulse, but after the initial surprise passed, he closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her deeply. All of a sudden, he was aware of Caitlin's left hand moving slowly away from him and when he peeked an eye open, Harrison immediately reached out to grab her wrist while pulling away from the kiss. In her hand was a syringe.
"I didn't think you had it in you." He sounded impressed, not surprised and there definitely was a hint of a smirk.
"What?" Caitlin was still reeling from the kiss, taking a moment for her to gather her thoughts.
"To kiss and stab someone. Especially your boss." Harrison stated the facts simply, but his tone was far from accusatory.
"You kissed back." Was all she could say to that.
"I'm not one to down a kiss from someone so bold and daring." Harrison said to her as he took the syringe from her hand.
"I just… I need a few drops of your blood. I can test it and we can find out what's really wrong with you and then there'll be a cure for that and you'll be okay." Caitlin focused her attention on the plan once more; the kiss was meant to be a distraction for him, not her.
"Why are you so determined to save me?" There he went again, his voice soft and still stern in its own way.
"Why are you so stubborn about doing nothing?" She retaliated, not knowing what it was he wanted to hear from her.
"Because…" He paused for a second and sighed, pinching his nose before continuing, "Because I'm not dying Caitlin."
Caitlin faltered just a little, taken aback by the sudden unexpected confession; it was only when the words had processed that she understood the reality of everything… this was who Harrison Wells really was… who he had always been. He hadn't changed at all - the charisma and charm and enigmatic persona remained, but underneath that, the secrecy, half-truths and need-to-know information part of his personality was something she seemed to have temporarily forgotten.
"That doesn't make sense. I saw the patient file, with your name on it. Hartley snuck it out of your office." She still had to ask, the curiosity over such an elaborate fake-out wasn't going to just go away.
"I know he did and that's exactly why I faked the whole thing." Harrison started to say, giving her answers but without revealing anything at all.
"I… I don't… I don't understand. Why would you do something like that?" Caitlin took a step back, her emotions were conflicting between the kiss and the lies and the way he was looking at her and the heartbeats which still felt erratic.
"Tina McGee." He finally relented.
"The director of Mercury Labs?" Even though she was confused, Caitlin grabbed a hold of that thread and tugged on it, hoping that he would open up to her.
"Yes, it's complicated. Tina came to me about a week ago and said she needed my help with something. I know how that sounds - we hate each other, we're rivals, the press likes to pit us against each other all the time…" Harrison sighed as he pinched his nose, "the truth is that I respect her a lot. And when she came to me asking for help, I knew that it had to be something serious."
"I still don't understand why you had to pretend that you were dying." Caitlin asked him.
"I was simply pretending to be the real patient. The records are real Caitlin, they're just not mine." If there was a reason why he suddenly decided to give her real answers, Harrison wasn't letting up on that.
"So there is someone who is dying? Someone Dr. McGee knows and she asked you for help?" Everything was slowly starting to make sense now, even if there were still a lot of questions left.
"To be a decoy. Yes."
"Why?"
"I can't tell you that." Harrison looked at her and for a second, Caitlin swore that she saw something in those eyes before it vanished. "Not yet anyway." He added as an afterthought.
"You don't have to tell me anything, doctor-patient confidentiality. I get it." She was satisfied; this was all she needed to know and it was only now that she started to realize exactly what she had done to get his attention.
"Cait…" Harrison called out to her, recognizing that look on her face.
"It's alright, I'm sorry… I shouldn't have just… I wasn't thinking." Caitlin started to back away, hoping that Harrison couldn't she her blushing as it finally hit her that she had kissed him barely a few minutes ago.
"You don't have anything to apologize for Caitlin; you're the only one who managed to get an answer out of me, the others weren't as clever as you." Since he was being truthful about practically everything, Harrison didn't see why he couldn't extend the same courtesy towards Caitlin's… unique methods.
"Right. Well… umm… if that's all then, I… I should probably head home now. I'll see you in the morning Dr. Wells." She was getting closer to the door, and soon she'd be at a safe distance to let the embarrassment wash over her.
"Caitlin?" Harrison called out to her just before she disappeared, the tone of his voice effectively stopping her in her tracks.
"Y-yes?" Caitlin turned around a little, waiting for what he had to say to her, not knowing what was left to say between them.
"Next time you want to steal a kiss, come back without the needle." Harrison was barely five feet away from her when he spoke.
Caitlin had reached halfway out the door when she heard his words; it took her a minute to process the words he'd just uttered and another minute for her to realize the meaning behind them. She paused, hand on the door, her heart hammering against her chest… this was a dangerous game that Harrison was playing… the comment being nothing more than a tease on the surface, but she knew it was his way of telling her what he really thought. He was revealing another side of himself that she hadn't seen or known about… until now. So whether it was because of him and that sensual smirk or because she felt that her streak of boldness returning, Caitlin made her decision and shut the door, locking it behind her.
"Are you sure about this?" His breath was warm and soft against her cheek as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Yes. I want this. I want you." She looked up at him and smiled.
Everything else was forgotten now; the only thing that Caitlin could think of was Harrison, holding her close in his arms and looking at her as if he could never stop staring even if the world was ending all around them. All of her questions had disappeared, her doubts faded, her mind calmed and her emotions controlled. This was where she belonged; it had just taken a while for her to find the way which had led her to him. Now that she had, Caitlin knew that she didn't have to ask for anything else.
"You never cease to impress me, Caitlin." Harrison smiled back and kissed her forehead; this was just the beginning of things changing and even though falling for Caitlin was an unexpected variable in his plans, he had a feeling he could make it work in his favor.
So... reviews?