Author's Note: Time for some Cisco/Caitlin action! We haven't seen much of that in this story yet, though at least there's plenty of it in the show :)
November was Caitlin's favorite month. She loved the brisk, cool air and watching as the leaves slowly turned different fiery colors. She loved curling up under comforters and fleece blankets, and turning on her fake fireplace at night while she nursed a glass of wine on the couch and read classic books like To Kill a Mockingbird.
As she walked down the street, wrapped in a scarf and a hat with her hands tucked in her pockets for warmth, she took a long, deep breath of the nice-smelling air. The few trees scattered around downtown Central City had started to drop their leaves, and they crunched as Caitlin walked through them.
She hadn't been walking very long, lost in her thoughts, when a voice called after her, "Caitlin, wait up!"
Caitlin stopped reluctantly and turned around. "Hey, Cisco," she greeted with a slight smile. "Fancy seeing you here."
He grinned, falling into step beside her and mirroring her position of hands stuffed in pockets and feet scuffing the crunchy brown leaves scattered on the sidewalk. "Hey, I caught a vibe of you being sad," he told her with a shrug. "Our minds and auras are totally connected, us being being besties and all."
Caitlin laughed, tilting her head up to watch a couple of clouds floating across the brilliantly blue sky. Fall was beautiful.
"So, what's up?" Cisco continued, nudging her shoulder with his own. "Why has Frosty started to melt?"
Caitlin sighed, the smile fading from her face a little even as Cisco tried to make her laugh with his joke. "You know how..." She paused and tried to collect her thoughts. "Half the time, I feel like everyone is obsessed with the fact that the future can change and that we're going to change it," she said instead. "Like when Barry saw Iris die, or how we're convinced that we're going to be able to prevent the news in the article that's been looming over our heads since nearly day one. And then the other half of the time, we're convinced that the future is stuck and cemented. Iris saw the last name on the bi-line on the news article, and thought that, because she was a West-Allen in the future, that meant she was going to end up with Barry with 100 percent certainty. And then when we found out that she put the speed dampening chip in Nora, she was so sure that that was going to happen, no matter what she did.
'I don't know what's worse," Caitlin continued. "Thinking that the future is set and I, even if I decide I don't want to be with Barry, I have to be because that's what has to happen... or that the future is in flux, and we might go through the whole Nora starting to vanish from the timeline thing all over again if we make a mistake or one of us changes our minds about our feelings."
"Or, you could look at it this way," Cisco suggested. "That there's a sort of comfort in knowing that, eventually, you will end up with an amazing guy and an awesome daughter. Or, if the future is in flux, you have the free will to decide what happens with the two of you."
Caitlin blinked, lips pursing slightly. "I... hadn't actually thought about it that way," she admitted, glancing over at Cisco wonderingly. "That's kind of comforting."
Cisco grinned. "Hey, you know me, I'm a genius with tech and words," he joked, before sobering back up a little. "You should probably talk to Barry about all of this, though. Last I saw him he was sitting in a swivel chair not swiveling and staring at a spot on the floor."
Caitlin squinted at him. "Did you really vibe me?" she asked suspiciously. "Or.."
"Okay, it may have been half-vibe-half-intuition-half-Barry," he admitted.
"That's too many halfs, Cisco."
"Well, technically there's two of you so I could have four halfs," Cisco countered. "...That made more sense before I said it."
Caitlin laughed a little. "Yes, I'll talk to him," she promised, answering his earlier question. "I feel so bad for suddenly having all these doubts about this. It's not that I don't like him anymore..."
"Caitlin," Cisco stopped her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I know you. I know Barry. I've known you guys for over four years. And if I know anything at all... this is more than a 'like', or a 'crush'."
Her eyes dropped. "Then I should know what to do!" she exclaimed. "If I... if I loved him Cisco, I would want to be with him one-hundred and ten percent."
Cisco smiled faintly and put his arm around her shoulders as they continued walking. "That's too many percents."
Author's Note: So I wasn't gonna end it that soon but it just felt like the PERFECT spot :D
Oh and there has been a question about how Nora looks now... I'm thinking kind of a young Danielle Panabaker with more of Barry's features and browner hair with white streaks?