Prompt: Fairytale Gone Wrong

Pairing: Caitlin/Ronnie

Authors Note: In watching Season 2, I was very surprised that Caitlin was not using Ronnie's last name. I'm not sure if the reasoning is ever touched on, but this is my interpretation on her reasoning.

Caitlin turned her Mercury Labs employee badge over and over in her hands. Dr. Caitlin Snow and her picture adorned the front. It wasn't the haunted, sad eyes in the picture that bothered her, she'd lost her husband after all, her nights were sleepless and it showed. What bothered her was the fact that she'd filled her paperwork out as Dr. Caitlin Snow...yes, she and Ronnie had only been married a short time before he'd been killed, and yes, she'd been widowed now longer than she'd been married, but why had she been so quick to erase the last remaining tie she had to him?

She picked up the framed picture on her desk, tracing a finger over Ronnie's image.

"I should have left when you asked me to," she said softly, "We could be on a beach right now, soaking up the sun."

Just like that, it hit her. She hadn't given them his last name because she didn't deserve to. It was her fault Ronnie was dead. He'd asked her to go away with him and she'd refused. She selfishly hadn't wanted to leave her job, her friends...She'd tried to tell herself that everyone they cared about was there, but really it was her, just her. With the exception of Cisco, Ronnie had barely known any of them.

"I'm so sorry," she sighed, talking to the picture as if it were him.

The tears came then, washing over her, the sobs wracking her body. That was how Cisco found her, having come by to drop off a vase of flowers for her new office. He sat them down and knelt beside her chair, pulling her into a hug.

"I killed him, Cisco. It's all my fault."

"Shh...shh. No more of that, it's not your fault Caitlin, and Ronnie wouldn't want you to blame yourself."

"But if I'd left..."

"We could all say "but" something, all find something we could have done different and blame ourselves. The only person to blame is Wells."

"I'd just gotten him back. I'd just gotten him back, and I lost him..."

Cisco kissed her forehead, "I'm so sorry, Cait."