Author's Note: Where did this COME FROM?! I don't understand how I'm STILL coming up with ideas even though the show is over!
HEY... at least we know that Snowbert in season 4 is a distinct possibility! My life can go on :)
Julian was just finishing up on his last due-tomorrow case file, and was about to clean up his dinner dishes and head to bed when there was a knock on his door.
Frowning, Julian peered blearily at the clock. It was close to midnight- way too close for there to be anyone stopping by. Fedex couldn't still run this late at night... could it? Maybe a lost Jehovah Witness?
He was about to ignore the knock and head to bed when it came again. It was weaker this time, more lingering, like someone had run out of the minimum energy it took to knock.
Then, "Julian... please open up..."
Julian froze; one hand on the counter, on fisted by his side. He knew that voice. He knew that voice.
He knew that voice.
Julian tossed his plate haphazardly back on the table and raced toward the door. Caitlin all but fell inside, and Julian jolted backward, grasping her shoulders.
"Caitlin!" He cried. "What- what are you-?"
Then he saw the blood. It coated her hands in a sheen of red, splattered onto her sleeves and the top of her shirt. Her entire stomach was soaked, blood creeping down to the band of her black jeans and up her chest like a rapidly blooming flower of death. Her eyes were glassy, fogged over, and Julian was surprised that she was even still upright.
"Caitlin!" He said again, and she let out a groan, stumbling foreword.
Julian caught her around the waist and hauled her upright, snagging a chair with his free hand and helping her to sit. She slumped to the side, eyelids fluttering.
"What do I do?" He asked frantically, trying to find her wound in the sea of blood so he could put pressure on it and stem the bleeding. It was the only think he could think to do. "Caitlin, please, stay awake!"
"Get- my purse-" Caitlin gasped, and Julian dove toward the bag he hadn't even seen her bring in. Inside was a neatly packed, red first aid kit, complete with everything from a blood sampler to a needle.
He grabbed that, some numbing jell, and then his entire roll of paper towels, and got to work. Caitlin pulled up her shirt with cold hands, revealing a deep, jagged gash in her stomach. It was alarmingly closer to the area where she had gotten stabbed not so long ago; the area that had killed her and birthed Killer Frost.
His hands were trembling so much that they slipped on the bloody-slick skin and the small needle and string, but eventually there was an uneven line of stitches crossing her midsection.
Julian slumped, adrenaline gone and replaced by relief, and gently began to clean the area. Caitlin moaned when he sprayed cleaning solvent on the area, but she didn't try and stop him.
It was nearly one o'clock by the time Julian was done, and he sat back on his heels, exhausted. Taking only a few seconds to collect himself, he carefully scooped Caitlin into his arms and carried her to his bed.
She sprawled over his covers, half conscious and covered in blood. Julian pulled off her ruined shirt and replaced it with his smallest thick, warm sweatshirt. Blood loss would make her cold and she needed to keep her body heat up- especially unconscious.
He returned to his bed with a couple more blankets and piled them on top of her in a cocoon-like nest.
Unsure of what to do now, Julian hovered uncomfortably around his bed, watching her pale face twist with pain and her small shifting of positions. He hadn't seen any sign of her in almost 3 months, and just the sight of her beautiful face was making him feel waves of uncertain nostalgia and...
Love.
Love, and the beauty and guilt and pain and sadness that came with it. Love, and the memories. Love, and the wishing that it all could just go away.
It hadn't though. It hadn't gone away, know matter how hard Julian tried to forget about soulful brown eyes and a soft smile that made him whole again.
Caitlin stirred again on the bed, and her beautiful eyes flickered open. He knelt by her side, trying to figure out if he should hold her hand or leave her alone. He settled for licking his lips and swallowing and asking, "How do you feel?"
It was a stupid, generic question, and he wanted to say so much more, but his brain couldn't seem to make up the words.
"I..." Caitlin stopped for a moment. "Better."
"That's good."
There was silence for a moment, overpowering and unwanted. Caitlin looked away. "I'm sorry I- I'm sorry if I scared you. I wasn't sure where else to go."
"Caitlin... what happened?" Julian stood up, and moved to take a seat on the bed, hoping he wasn't pushing the limits of his invitation too much.
She bit her lip, and Julian forced his gaze away, his self-control starting to crack. It was bad enough with her at his house- in his room-, but lying in his bed...
"I was... fighting crime. You know: stopping thugs and drug dealers and making a name for myself as a superhero. A quiet name." She corrected herself. "A name that wouldn't spread to the media or... or you guys. Um, anyway, I was fighting this guy, and he- he wasn't normal. I'm thinking a metahuman, or a normal human with some sort of tech. He had this sword, and it was more powerful then any other weapon I've ever seen. It could... it could shake the Earth. And he- he stabbed me- and I panicked. I just... I ran, and I was bleeding so much, and wasn't sure where to go. Cisco would freak out and Barry- Barry's gone, so I- I just came here."
She was looking at him with large eyes, pleading with him to understand. Even after all this time, she still considered him someone she trusted; someone she could run to when she didn't know what else to do.
Julian only nodded. Caitlin didn't need to explain herself to him- she never needed to explain herself to him- even after 3 months.
"You should get some rest." He whispered, letting her know that he was okay with her being here as he reached up and stroked messy curls away from her forehead.
"You- You'll be here? When I wake up?" Caitlin asked hesitantly, her fingers warm and present as they touched his wrist.
"Of course." Julian told her, voice suddenly thick.
Before he could stop himself, his suit jacket and tie were coming off and he was slipping on to his bed. Caitlin pressed herself close to his chest, closing her eyes, and it didn't take long for her breathing to even out to deep and steady.
For Julian, it took a lot longer to fall asleep. He looked at the blood still on his hand until he couldn't stand the sight anymore and turned off the lamp, choosing instead to bury his nose in Caitlin's sweet-smelling hair and tug her closer. It was a feeling like nothing he had ever experienced before; better then waking up in the morning with any of his past flings; better then even kissing Caitlin was. She surrounded him on every side- her soft skin and her hair and her scent, until there was nothing in his head but her.
Eventually, her steady breathing and his exhaustion lulled him into a heavy slumber, broken only by flits of nightmarish pooling blood and glassy brown eyes and fear.
He woke up before Caitlin, who was still sleeping off her injury, and laid in bed for a long moment, tracing his fingers along her arm and combing them through her hair. The blood on his hands was dry now, coated underneath his fingernails and over his palms in a layer that probably would take days and a lot of scrubbing to remove.
Julian could do that later, though, and was content to simply hold Caitlin in his arms and pretend like they had something beautiful and normal.
And maybe pretend- for just a little bit- and she might stay when she woke up.
(She did)
Author's Note: I HOPE YOU LIKED IT! I dunno- for whatever reason, I'm really proud of this. Even though it's short and ends kinda weird.
DID ANYONE GET HOW THIS TIES INTO THE TRAILER FOR SEASON 4 THAT I'M SURE WE ALL POPPED A BLOOD VESSLE GEEKING OUT OVER?! THE DUDE? WITH THE SWORDS? Yeah! It was the guy in the trailer!
Now if only this could be why Caitlin comes back to Team Flash...