Caitlin woke the next morning slowly, not wanting to face the world. Elseworlds had taken a lot out of her, shifting back and forth between herself and Killer Frost so many times. Even her cold psyche seemed worn out from the reality bending that they had been forced to endure. A bath seemed the only thing that would wake them up, and luckily Cisco had come up with a device that could boil large amounts of water, making the water superheated in order for Caitlin to even feel warm. Gratefully she sank into a full tub of scalding hot water, her natural cold body temperature cooling the water slightly.
"Deegan definitely gave us a run for our money." Killer Frost muttered in the back of Caitlin's mind, voice sluggish.
"I know. It seems like every year things just get more and more ridiculous. It's like we're living in a bad comic book or something." Caitlin replied with a smile, enjoying how the water eased away the aches and pains left over in her body.
Killer Frost snorted before fading back, the personality going back into hibernation for the time. Caitlin, while in the past hated and feared what she had become, was now glad to have the other woman in her mind. She was a friend that she hadn't been looking for, but was glad she had. With everything that had been changing on the team, it was good to have someone you could trust no matter what. Yes, she had Cisco, but having a brother-slash-best friend wasn't the same as having Killer Frost in her mind. Even Barry, the only other person she could count on no matter what, was distant. Then again, he was married now and his daughter from the future was rooming at his father in law's house. Talk about messed up.
Later that morning Caitlin arrived at S.T.A.R., which compared to everyone else, was early. She enjoyed having the facility to herself, listening to the quiet hum of the machines in her lab. It was the only time during the day when things felt normal, like they had before the particle accelerator blew. In actuality, the accelerator had been sabotaged by Thawn, forcing Barry to become the Flash and setting into motion a million other timelines that never should have existed. It was something that they had figured out after watching Thawne's recorded message and sifting through the records of Gideon.
Walking into her lab Caitlin's heart stuttered. Someone had spent the night in her lab, and from the look of the jacket thrown over the back of one of the chairs, she would guess it had been Barry. Why he had slept at the lab, she wasn't sure. She would have thought that he would have wanted to be home with Iris. Setting down her attache case and purse, Caitlin went in search of the speedster.
Caitlin found him down in the pipeline, her nose following the scent of ozone that followed in his wake. That, and it always seemed like when he had some serious thinking to do, he did it down there in that dark hole.
"Well, this is depressing." Killer Frost muttered as Caitlin walked slowly up the ramp to the entrance of the pipeline, not wanting to disturb Barry. "Why Barry likes it down here, I will never figure out."
"It's the center of our world. This made Barry who he is now, who we all are now."
"Not you and me. We're different than everyone else around us."
"That's true, but even before that, this facility was my world." Caitlin replied, stepping off the edge of the ramp and onto the platform just inside the doorway to the pipeline. Dark brown eyes searched, looking for the dark haired man, wondering why he was in the pipeline when he should be home resting.
Caitlin found him sitting on the floor of the cell that they had placed him into when they pulled him from the Speed Force, back when his mind was still entangled. The markings on the walls and floor had faded a bit over the year since they had been written, but they were still discernible. She knelt next to him, hands sliding down the back of her thighs, keeping her skirt from flaring. Gently she settled a hand on his shoulder.
"Barry?" She called softly, not wanting to startle him.
"It's all here Cait, everything." Barry didn't look her way, waving his hand at the symbols in front of them. "I just couldn't read it at the time."
"What are you talking about?" Caitlin stood to look at the marking on the walls, refraining from touching them and smudging them. She felt Barry stand up and join her, his right hand settling into the small of her back. Both Caitlin and Killer Frost came to attention at that. Ever since marrying Iris he had gone out of his way to avoid touching her in any way.
"These markings are called Time Glyphs. They are the language of the Speed Force and exist outside of time." Barry's voice was distant, slow, as if he was still coming to grips with what was in front of them.
"Time Glyphs?" Caitlin asked surprised, looking up at Barry. His green eyes were scanning the wall slow, far too slow for him to be speed reading. It was like everything about him had slowed down and it was unnerving.
"Yeah. I want to wait until the others get here to explain everything, but basically everything that has happened in the last two years is recorded here. There are also things from the future written here, and what I see concerns me."
Barry reached out with his left hand to touch a glyph. It was a circle with six lines drawn through it, making a star shape. Caitlin scanned the walls and realized that mark was everywhere. There seemed to be some sort of significance to it, but she had no idea why. Suddenly Caitlin noticed something else; Barry wasn't wearing his wedding ring. That shocked her so bad that she must have let go of her control, because the next thing she knew Killer Frost was in control and Caitlin was just a passenger.
"So Flash, is there trouble in paradise? I see you aren't sporting your usual jewelry." Killer Frost purred, intrigued.