Stepping into STAR Labs the following morning, Caitlin was still worried about HR and what had transpired yesterday. She couldn't understand why he had acted that way - it just didn't make any sense. Arriving in the cortex she could see Cisco was already there trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. Noticing her presence he gave a whispered good morning. Before she could give him a reply, HR came rushing in with a smile and a cup of coffee.
"Good morning you guys." He greeted in a booming voice. All the tension from yesterday was gone from the novelist's face as he beamed his signature smile. Cisco groaned with how loud the other man was being. Sensing that now wasn't the best time to ask about the incident, Caitlin stood up and headed for her lab.
"I'm just gonna go get some work done." She could hear the strain in her own voice. She'd been trying to find a way to stop Killer Frost from making an appearance but she felt like it was going to be a big failure. Setting her purse on the back of her chair she set off to do some work. Caitlin couldn't shake the feeling that something was very seriously wrong as she willed herself to look away from HR and focus on meta genes. It was a losing battle as her eyes lifted again to the man waving his drumsticks talking to Wally about something she couldn't hear. How could he not remember helping with the meta?
Julian walked in pulling her from the same thought she had for the last two hours. "Good morning." He greeted her. She gave him a nod. The silence stretched on but Caitlin didn't mind as she tried to focus on the metahuman genes again. Sadly though, Julian brought up the very person she'd been trying to not think of.
"I heard HR was actually helpful yesterday." He sounded like he was having a hard time believing his own words.
"Yep, he really surprised us." She really didn't know what else to say to the man but apparently, their conversation wasn't over.
"Let me guess you and your lovely team have decided to completely overlook the whole thing?" Caitlin could just hear the judgemental tone coming from the man.
Looking up from her research she turned and glared at the man, "Listen, Julian, if HR was a threat, we as a team would deal with it. But to answer your question, yes we have decided for the moment to drop it." She could feel her teeth grinding together.
The blond took a step forward and reached out for her but she pulled away from him. Caitlin saw the pained expression on his face but chose to ignore it. Julian ran his fingers through his hair. "Listen I'm sorry but I don't think you should be so trusting of the man. What if he's dangerous? I really don't think you should be alone with him."
"What?" Surely she misheard him, there was no way Julian thought he was going to tell her what to do. The look on her face must have conveyed her point because he opened his mouth and tried to apologize but he only started stuttering.
Deciding that she didn't want to hear his apology she stormed out of the med bay and stepped into the cortex where Barry and Iris were discussing their upcoming wedding. Caitlin could feel her insides turn at the discussion of weddings and love. She felt she was cursed in that department. With everything that happened with Ronnie, she didn't see herself getting married again. Pushing those thoughts to the side, Caitlin decided to leave the love birds and go see what Cisco was doing.
Finding him in his lab she could see that he was working on some device. "Hey, can we talk about HR?" She needed reassurance that they were doing the right thing by ignoring what happened. Cisco pulled himself away from his project and gave her a knowing look.
"I'm glad someone else wants to talk about this." He sounded like he'd been wanting to discuss this since it happened. Putting down the tool he had been using, Cisco rose from his stool to face her. "It was weird."
Caitlin rolled her eyes as Cisco brought up the obvious. "Yes it was, but now Julian is saying we shouldn't trust him." She could hear the doubt in her voice. The way her friend was staring at her told her not to worry about it.
"Hey, if HR is dangerous like Thawne, then we'll stop him." Cisco reassured her, reaching out to grip her shoulder. Feeling slightly better Caitlin smiled at Cisco who returned her smile. "So any theories about what happened?" Cisco asked sitting down again.
She raked her brain like she'd been doing since yesterday but always came to a bunch of different conclusions. "Well, I have a few different ones but nothing concrete." The man sitting in front of her seemed to be thinking about what she said as he brought his cup to his mouth.
"Maybe we should call Harry?" I mean he did have his doubts about his doppelganger to begin with."
Caitlin couldn't argue with that logic. Maybe Harry can help. She nodded her agreement.
Cisco stood and started heading for the speed lab.
"You know, I'm going to tell Barry what we're doing, okay?" The last thing they needed was a panicked speedster on their hands. Cisco nodded and continued walking. Making her way to the cortex Caitlin couldn't help but think of the last time she had seen Harry and how happy she would be to see the man again.
Caught up in her own thoughts Caitlin almost missed the doppelganger of the man she was currently thinking of. He seemed to be in a hurry for some reason. "Hey HR!" She said getting his attention. The man looked up at her and gave her a bright smile that soon faltered. "Is everything okay?" She couldn't help but feel like something was off with him.
HR seemed nervous about something as he retrieved the drumstick from his pocket and started twirling it around his long fingers. "Yeah, of course, Caity cat, I'm always okay." He tried to reassure her but the way he looked at her made Caitlin think he was regretting something. With one final twirl of his drumstick and a half-hearted smile, he continued on his way.
Well, that was weird - why would he call me that and why would he stare at me like that? Deciding that now was not the best time to think about it she continued on her way. She found Barry and Iris in the Cortex still discussing their marriage plans. "Hey guys, sorry to interrupt , but Cisco and me discussed it and decided to bring Harry over to see what he thinks of the whole HR situation."
Barry was the first to recover, "Wait, you and Cisco decided to breach Harry over?" Not wanting to repeat herself, Caitlin just nodded.
"Oh well, then let's go see him." Iris sounded like she wanted to be anywhere but in that room. Before they could get to the speed lab, the man of the hour stepped into the cortex. Caitlin couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face - she really did miss him. The scientist turned to her returning her smile and came closer reaching out Caitlin. Realizing what he was doing, she returned the gesture and they engulfed each other in a tight embrace.
After a few seconds, they pulled apart, she could smell his aftershave clinging to her. "Snow." Was all he had said to her.
"Harry." She really didn't know what else to say. Clearing his throat Harry walked past her and extended his hand to Barry with a short greeting, "Allen and Ms. West. So Ramon tells me something is going on with HR?" Harry looked around the room.
Barry opened his mouth to speak but closed it real quick. HR was at the entrance and about to make his appearance. Walking past everyone without saying a word he went to the med bay. Ok, that was weird. Almost like he read her thoughts Harry spoke up, "Okay I've been here for a total of two minutes and he just walked past me without saying anything? Yeah, that's weird."
The small group watched as HR seemed to be tearing through files and stuff looking for something. Caitlin stood up and marched into the med bay. Harry was on her heels. "HR, what are you doing?" Her voice gave away her emotions as she looked around at the mess he had caused.
The man in question looked at her apologetically, "I'm sorry Caity cat but do you know what I did with my brain scans?" He asked her as he continued on with his search.
Not sure how to answer him Caitlin walked over to where Harry was standing by the door. "What should I do?' She whispered to Harry as he watched his doppelganger with heightened interest.
Looking back at Caitlin, he said, "Keep him talking, maybe he'll tell us something."
She didn't really know how to do that but she decided she would start with the most obvious question. Walking back over to the frantically searching HR, she knelt down in front of him and asked, "Why do you need your brain scans?"
Stopping his search the novelist stared at her but his gaze seemed to go right through her. "I messed up." His voice broke.
Caitlin felt her heart go to the man. Tearing his gaze from her he stood in a panic. She stood as well but wasn't sure what was happening as he gripped his hair in his fist, with his eyes shut he took his other hand and clutched his forehead, screaming.
Harry rushed over and grabbed the man by the shoulders to steady him and lead him over to the bed. The remaining members of Team Flash decided to enter the room and stood watching the scene. As the feeling of shock starts to wear off from HR's sudden outburst, Caitlin hurried to his bedside, checking him over. Then he stopped screaming and shot up out of the bed looking around at his teammates in confusion.
"HR are you okay?" Caitlin spoke softly not wanting to spook the man, who in her opinion was having some serious issues.
Shaking his head he blinked a few times, looking around again. His gaze stopped on Harry who looked concerned and like a light switch, HR smiled again. "Yeah, I'm fine. When did you get here Harrison?" Harry opened his mouth to answer his counterpart but was interrupted by HR, "Wow, what happened in here?" He seemed shocked to see the mess.
Cisco cleared his throat catching HR's attention but she interrupted him, "It was probably Julian looking for something." She remembers how he had snapped at her for suggesting he forgot something he did. Looking around at the mess once more, HR walked back through the door and out the cortex.
Okay, this is the end of chapter two tell me what you think?
