There was a lot of blood. Caitlin's hand fell away from her chest, revealing the stab wound in her chest. And she was bleeding out, fast.

"Cisco-"

Barry barely had time to open his mouth before Cisco opened up a breach, seemingly reading his mind. Barry put an arm under Caitlin's legs and wrapped the other around her back, lifting her into his arms. He sped into the breach, followed shortly by Cisco.

Barry stepped out of it in the cortex and continued with Caitlin into the small hospital room, putting her down gently on the bed.

Moments later, Cisco, Iris, Nora and Ralph followed him into the room. Barry was keeping pressure on the wound, but that was all he knew to do.

"I don't know what to do," he said desperately, looking to the people around him for answers.

They all wore stunned expressions, clearly just as clueless as he was. There was a tear on Iris' cheek, and Nora took her hand comfortingly, her eyebrows pulled low in a sad frown.

"X-ray," a weak voice mumbled.

Barry turned his head way too fast, looking down at Caitlin. Her eyes were open and filled with pain.

"What?" He breathed.

"You need to... see the extent of the damage..." Her eyes widened slightly. "What did you say?"

"Nora, get the power-dampening cuffs," Barry said urgently, and his daughter disappeared in a flash of fiery yellow and electric purple. Meanwhile, Cisco lunged for the portable x-ray machine and held it over Caitlin's chest.

"I- I don't know what I'm seeing here," he stammered. At that moment, Nora returned with the power-dampening cuffs which she quickly fastened around Caitlin's wrists. Caitlin seemed to relax slightly, although she was still in obvious pain.

"Show me," Caitlin mumbled, nodding at the x-ray machine.

Cisco froze the screen and showed it to Caitlin. Her frown deepened.

"Is it bad?" Barry asked.

"Punctured lung," she replied, taking a shaky breath, "could've guessed that one." She made a painful grimace as she took another breath. "Dizzy. Acute blood loss," she stated.

"We need to get you to a hospital," Iris said.

Caitlin started shaking her head, frowning.

"Iris is right, Cait," Barry insisted, "we don't have what we need to save you here."

"You know they'll-" Her breath caught, "they'll ID me as a meta," she continued. "They'll take her... take her away."

Nobody had to ask to know that she was talking about Killer Frost.

"That's it," Cisco suddenly said, eyes wide. "Killer Frost. She can regenerate!"

Barry squeezed Caitlin's arm triumphantly. "That's it! Cait, you need to bring her out."

Caitlin closed her eyes briefly, as if searching inside herself, but when she opened her eyes, she seemed confused. "I can't find her," she admitted. "I mean, I know she's there, but- but she's unconscious. Weak." Her breaths were shallow, wheezing slightly. It sounded painful and Barry winced in sympathy.

"Sedate her," Cisco suddenly suggested grimly. "Remember what Killer Frost said? She's awake whenever Caitlin's asleep." He turned to look down at Caitlin. "So maybe if you're sleeping, we can get her to wake up. She won't need the strength to break through your consciousness."

"That's a... good idea," Caitlin said breathlessly, closing her eyes in obvious pain.

Barry nodded and used his super speed to search the room for a sedative. He held the syringe above her arm, but hesitated. "I... I don't know how to do this."

Her eyes met his and, behind the pain, she was steady, calm. "Insert the needle into... into one of the veins," she instructed, and her breathing sounded sharp and uneven, "at about a 45 degree angle." Seeing that Barry was still hesitating, she gave him a small smile. "Don't worry, you... can't do that... much damage."

Barry nodded gravelly, found a vein, aimed the needle, and kept his eyes on hers as he injected her. Caitlin's eyelids almost immediately began to droop. They waited in suspense while Caitlin fell asleep, yet seconds and minutes ticked by and nothing happened.

Cisco hesitantly put a hand on Caitlin's shoulder. "Anyone in there? K-Killer Frost?"

Nothing happened, no sort of response or sign that Caitlin or Killer Frost heard him. A sort of beeping noise suddenly made itself heard and Iris moves toward the monitor. "Her vitals are dropping," she said urgently. "She isn't getting enough oxygen and she's losing too much blood."

"Cisco, bag her," Barry asked Cisco who nodded and immediately covered Caitlin's mouth with the bag and started squeezing it. "Is anybody in here the same blood typ as Caitlin?" he continued.

The expressions around him turned blank. They were out of their league.

Frustration grew inside of Barry and he turned desperately to grab Caitlin's shoulders, shaking them slightly. "Killer Frost, you once asked me to not let Caity die," Barry growled. "Now it's my turn to ask this of you. Do not let her die!"

"Look!" Nora called out, pointing at Caitlin's fingers. They were twitching slightly.

"She's starting to wake up," Cisco realized, his eyes wide with what has to be relief.

"Wake up, Killer Frost," Barry urged her. "Come on."

Her eyelids twitched.

"It's working, Bar, keep going," Iris breathed, her eyes wide.

Barry nodded. "Listen to my voice, okay, you can do it. Wake. Up."

She opened her eyes and— Barry cursed himself for feeling disappointed when he looked into Caitlin's warm brown eyes. But she blinked, and her eyes froze over, turning a cold shade of icy blue.

"Do I have to do all of the saving today?" Killer Frost said weakly. It was no longer Caitlin's sweet voice coming out of her mouth, but a hollow, echoing version.

Barry couldn't help but laugh shakily. He looked down at the wound in Caitlin's chest, and felt weak with relief as he saw that it was healing. The monitors on the screen showed that her vitals were stabilizing.

"About time, Killer Frost," Cisco said, closing his eyes briefly in apparent relief. "We were staring to think you wouldn't show."

"Hey, a girl needs her beauty sleep," Killer Frost croaked, and grimaced as she gave a painful cough. "What's wrong with us?"

"Punctured lung," Barry said grimly. "Caitlin was pretty out if it. It was touch and go for a minute there."

"Don't worry though," Cisco quickly added, "you're starting to regenerate. It'll probably take a while though."

Killer Frost nodded, and yawned. "Why do I... feel so sleepy..."

"We has to sedate Caitlin to get you to appear," Iris explained, placing a hand on Caitlin/Killer Frost's arm. "The sedative is probably still in your system, so you're feeling the effects too."

"Mind if I... give in and sleep for a bit?" Killer Frost mumbled, her eyes already half closed.

"I think it's fine," Barry said, giving her a small smile. "You've stabilized. Thank you," he added, "for saving Cait."

Killer Frost looked up at him from under heavy eyelids and smiled back weakly. "I think we're even now."

xXx

The outer door to the holding cells slid open and revealed Dreamlock standing cross-armed in her cell. She glared at Barry and Cisco as they approached the glass door.

"Come to uphold your end of the deal?" she asked sourly.

"We already have," Barry said calmly. "We agreed not to turn you into the police in exchange for you removing your hold on us. You won't go to Iron Heights."

"Oh, but you'll keep me in here?" She asked, rolling her eyes. "You got me good."

"We weren't trying to trick you," Barry said. "But we couldn't let you keep hurting people."

"Like you hurt a friend of ours," Cisco added sharply. "She almost died because of the things you made her see."

"Oh, your frosty friend? Let me guess, she can't stop trying to off herself?" Dreamlock said with mock pity. "She shouldn't have gotten in my way."

"Actually, we figured out how to cut off your influence," Cisco retorted, "but it's kind of uncomfortable to spend your life in power-dampening cuffs."

Barry crosses his arms. "We need you to take your... spell or whatever, off of her."

"And why would I do that?" she snorted.

"If you don't, we'll turn you over to the police and you can spend the better part of your life in a cell at Iron Heights," Cisco said in a low voice, "with all the other criminals."

Dreamlock laughed. "Go ahead. It's no worse than being locked in here," she said venomously, "plus, the cell's probably bigger there."

Barry anxiously scrubbed a hand down his neck. How much were they prepared to offer to get her to take this off of Caitlin?

"Fine," Barry said, "then what is it that you want?"

Dreamlock unfolded her arms and stepped toward the glass. "You know what I want!" she shouted. "I want my freedom!"

"You know we can't set you free," Barry explained impatiently, "you'll destroy people's lives wherever you go."

"You destroyed mine!" she roared. "Every night I go to sleep, I have to chain myself to the bed is that I don't hurt anyone!" She pressed her hands against the glass, allowing them to see the angry marks around her wrists. "As if that wasn't painful enough, I relive my family's death every time I fall asleep," she growled.

Barry felt the familiar spark of guilt inside of him. "I'm sorry you had to go through that," he said earnestly. "It was never our intention to hurt anyone."

"Doesn't matter," she hissed, taking a step back from the glass. "It remains your fault."

Barry nodded, meeting her eyes unflinchingly. "I know. I know we hurt a lot of people. But we did it to save millions of lives." Dreamlock snorted at his words.

"I know that might be hard to believe, but it's the truth," he said simply. She didn't reply, just crossed her arms and continued to glare at them.

"What do we do?" Cisco said, quietly enough that only Barry would hear him. The latter sighed, drumming his fingers against his arm. "It's not freedom you crave more than anything, is it?" He turned to ask Dreamlock.

She raised her eyebrows. "You tell me, hero." The word sounded poisonous coming out of her mouth. "You seem to know best."

Barry ignored the obvious taunt. "I think you want revenge more than you want your freedom."

Dreamlock's expression was set in stone. She didn't so much as blink.

"I think," he continued, "that you'd rather have one of us than stay free, but in hell."

Her flinch was so small that Barry almost missed it. She immediately grinned as though to hide her vulnerability. "It seems I already do have one of you," she smirked. "Is Frosty gonna die?" She pouted her lower lip.

"She's going to be fine," Cisco growled. He'd clearly let her words get to him.

Barry placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a look as to say, 'calm down.'

Cisco took a deep breath and gave him a short nod. Barry turned back toward Dreamlock.

"But I think you want me more than you want her," he said finally, tilting his head. "Don't you? The great Flash," he whispered, egging her on, "the hero who failed to save your family. Who actually in a way caused their deaths."

"Barry, what are you-" Cisco began, scowling, but Barry held up a hand to stop him.

"You can have me," he offered Dreamlock. "If you let Caitlin go and promise not to come after anyone else," he emphasized the last pair of words, "I'll go willingly."

"Barry, don't," Cisco scolded. "You know it's not what Caitlin would want."

"I know," Barry said, and there was pain in his eyes. "She'd rather suffer for the rest of her life. But I can't let that happen, not to her."

Understanding filled Cisco's eyes. He bit his lip and looked away.

Barry looked at Dreamlock again. She seemed to be thinking about it. "You're right," she finally said, giving him a cold smile. "I do want revenge. Bring me to Caitlin and I'll remove my power from her."

Barry nodded at Cisco, who pressed his lips together but opened the door.

Dreamlock stepped outside, taking a dramatic, deep breath, and turned to Barry. "But first, you need to give me your word that you'll uphold your end."

"What the hell does his word mean to you?" Cisco muttered.

"He's a superhero," Dreamlocked smirked. "You can't be that and not have a sense of honor."

xXx

When Caitlin next opened her eyes, the people around her witnessed the icy blue irises of Killer Frost's eyes flicker and be replaced by the familiar brown eyes of Dr. Caitlin Snow.

From her perspective, she opened her eyes to find Iris, Nora and Ralph standing around her bed.

"How are you feeling?" Iris asked her with a smile.

Caitlin carefully shifted on the bed, relieved to find there wasn't much pain. She could also breathe a lot easier than last she had been awake.

"I feel a lot better," she said honestly. "How long was I out?"

"Not long," Iris replied. "About half an hour."

Caitlin looked at Ralph. "Did you get Killer Frost to come out?"

He nodded. "Took some convincing from Barry and Cisco, but they managed to shake her awake."

Caitlin smiled and looked around the room. "Speaking of," she said, "where are Barry and Cisco?"

"Right here," said a voice to her left. She turned to look at Barry and Cisco, standing in the open doorway, both wearing expressions of relief. They were closely shadowed by none other than Dreamlock. Caitlin frowned. "What is she doing here?"

Cisco grabbed Dreamlock's arm and moved toward Caitlin. "She's here to take her influence over you off. So we can remove these." He bent down and unlocked the power-dampening cuffs around Caitlin's wrists. For a brief second, Caitlin narrowed her eyes at Cisco as though he'd said something mean. The truth was, Caitlin had heard him say something that hurt her more than any physical wound, but she didn't want him to know that. She knew it wasn't real anyway. Then Dreamlock touched her forehead, there was a brief flash of lilac and Caitlin could relax again.

"Better?" Barry asked her, approaching the foot of her bed.

Caitlin nodded, taking a deep breath. "A lot."

Barry tilted his head concernedly. "You okay, Cait?"

"I'm fine." She smiled reassuringly at him, then turned to look at Dreamlock, and the smile fell from her face. She looked back at Barry, eyes narrowed in confusion. "Why did she help me?"

Barry kept his expression neutral. "We made a deal."

Caitlin sat up straighter in the bed, ignoring the tweak of pain in her chest, and frowned. "What deal?"

"Barry, what did you do?" Iris said sternly.

"Can we have a moment alone?" Barry asked. Cisco stayed with them while the rest of the group filed out of the room, pulling Dreamlock with them. Iris stopped to touch Barry's arm as she passed him.

"We'll talk about this, okay?" She said softly. Barry just nodded, and she too left the room.

"Barry?" Caitlin said, growing worried. When she looked at Cisco, he was staring down at his hands, frowning.

Barry sighed. "I agreed to go with Dreamlock."

"What?" Caitlin had sat up too fast and was struck by a sudden wave of dizziness, causing her to squeeze her eyes shut.

"Whoa." Barry was by her side in the blink of an eye, touching her shoulder to urge her to lie back down. "Calm down, Cait."

She resisted, scowling up at him. "Why would you do that, Barry?" she asked. "She'll kill you!"

"She'll try," he corrected her. His features softened while he looked at her. "I had to. It was the only way to stop... that... from happening to you."

Her eyes widened with fear. "No. No, tell me you did not do this for me."

Barry tilted his head. "Cait, it's okay. I couldn't let you suffer like that just to save myself."

Caitlin look desperately at Cisco, but he just shrugged, surrendered. "I tried to stop him," he said quietly.

She turned back to Barry. "Don't do this, Bar," she whispered. "Just don't go with her."

"Cait, you know I can't break my promise," Barry said gently.

She stared at him for a moment, but when he didn't say anything else, she swung her legs out of the bed.

"Caitlin, you should stay in bed," Cisco told her scoldingly.

Caitlin just shook her head and moved to get up. She was immediately struck by another wave of dizziness and would've had an embarrassing face-first fall if not for Barry's super-fast reflexes. He caught her and held her until she was steady on her feet.

"Cait?" His voice broke. "What are you doing?"

"I didn't make that promise," she said gravely. "If you're going, I'm going with you."

"You nearly died like an hour ago," Barry scolded her, "you can't."

"I'm regenerating fast," she insisted. "I won't let you die for me."

"It's already done, Caitlin," he said sharply, and for the first time, he sounded angry. "This is how it's going to be."

"Barry, this city needs you," Caitlin begged, taken aback by his sudden rage. "Iris needs you."

Barry shook his head. "She, and it, did fine without me when I was in the speed force."

"What about me?" Caitlin said, and her voice shook slightly. "How am I supposed to live with this?" She gestured toward Cisco. "Or what about us? We need you, Barry."

Barry's anger seemed to fade at her words, and he opened his mouth to reply, but Cisco interrupted him. "She's right, dude," he said earnestly. "Central City needs the Flash. And we all need Barry Allen."

Barry seemed speechless. He just looked between them for several silent moments. Then he sighed, surrendering. "So what do we do?" he asked. "I have to keep my word."

Cisco grinned. "I'm glad you asked, my friend. I think I might have a plan."

A/N: Wow! I was so overwhelmed with all the positive responses to this story! Thank you all for leaving reviews and following/favoriting. It means a lot! Hope you liked Chapter 2! Please keep telling me what you thought and I promise there'll be more Chapters!