Hey guys! Super excited about this insert. I want to say thank you to my beta T.V. along with the people who followed and favorited this story. Mostly I want to thank the three reviewers. You guys are the absolute best and thank you for letting me know you liked it. Shout out to all of you. Without further Adieu, let's get started!
Caitlin was snuggled next to Ralph under the blanket. She was warm, comfy and safe in his eyes. The events from earlier were still playing in her head. The way everyone looked at her like she was… but then Ralph stood up for her. He told her that he would always be there for her. It made her feel so … She couldn't explain it right. It was so complex but she knew that somewhere that there was a word for it. She thought back to the first kiss she'd shared with him. It was sweet and sensitive. It carried over every emotion that they felt. How much they felt it. It was perfect. Every kiss since then had been a message. Thank you, I'm really happy to see you, I care about you, I'm so proud of you. Every one of them perfect for what they conveyed. Her eyelids felt heavy. In truth, she didn't want him over to watch a movie. She just wanted him here with her. If he happened to still be here in the morning, well, that's what happened. She closed her eyes and let sleep take over. But before she was fully consumed by sleep, she felt a small but caring kiss on the top of her head and Ralph's voice softly saying, "Good night, Caitlin."
The next morning she found herself almost completely on top of Ralph. His hand on her head which was on his chest. She had hand closed in a fist close to her face and the other was holding his hand. His other hand was on her side. Their legs intertwined. She looked at his face. His hair was a little messy and he was definitely asleep. In his sleep though, he was smiling. She wondered what he was dreaming about. She looked outside. It was still early. She decided that it was probably best that she go back to sleep. Might as well not wake Ralph up. Then he'd have to go home at a horrible hour and try to get back to sleep and might not be able to. Then that would put a dent in the team and they didn't need that. She snuggled into him a little bit more and closed her eyes. "Good night Ralph."
When she woke up the second time Ralph was gone. At first, she got really nervous. Then her nerves calmed when she smelled the sweet smell of donuts, bacon and, what was that strawberries? Weird combination but to be honest she didn't keep much in her fridge. She'd spent so many nights at Star Labs all the food would go bad by the time she actually came home. She stood up and walked over to the kitchen. Ralph was cooking bacon over the stove. He looked bright eyed and bushy tailed. His hair had been fixed and she couldn't remember if that was the same shirt he'd been wearing last night or not but it looked clean. She was sure she looked like a mess.
Ralph had gotten up that morning rather early. Conflicted on whether to stay right where he was, comfortably with the woman he loved wrapped in his arms, or get up and make breakfast for the woman he loved. He decided on the second one only because he knew if he didn't get up she'd wake to his stomach rumbling instead of the smell of good food. He moved ever so carefully out of bed and tucked her back in, giving her a kiss on her forehead. He'd found that her food supply was really lacking. So he'd gone and gotten some donuts from Bethel and a shirt from home. He'd also remembered to comb his hair before he left. It was all totally worth it to see Caitlin's face that morning. Her hair was messy and a little disheveled along with her clothes. The look in her tiered beautiful brown eyes were filled with happiness and what he hoped she thought was love. "Hey," he said as she came up next to him.
"Morning," she said. He bent down and kissed her lovingly.
"You look beautiful this morning," he told her.
"Please, I'm a mess," she said. A hint of blush still making its way onto her cheeks.
"I never kid around about how pretty a girl is," he told her.
She blushed more now. He knew exactly what to say to make her feel like she was the most cherished thing on the whole earth. "How long until breakfast is ready?"
"Should be ready in about fifteen minutes," he told her.
"Okay," she said. "I'll be back soon." She left and went upstairs and went to change and fix her hair. She did still have to go to work that day. She had to figure out what had gone wrong with her calculations on Cisco's serum. Probably everyone was going to be there today and that was going to be fun to see all the disappointment in their eyes. She dreaded that. Anytime she did something wrong there was always this disappointed stare in their eyes. She'd made it her mission not to get that anymore. She sighed and looked in the mirror. She missed the way things used to be like. Before Iris knew that Barry was the Flash, before Cisco developed powers, before Zoom and Savitar. She sometimes wished it could go back to the way it was when they first started out. She was so much more to them back then. She had so much to offer them and they didn't look at her like they did now. Like she was less than what she used to be. But honestly even she felt like that. She felt like she'd somehow failed them and now she sat mostly on the sidelines. Sometimes she wondered if she didn't show up to work one day if they would even notice that she wasn't there.
She shook her head. Then a notification came up on her phone for one of the few games she had. She looked at the picture of her and Ralph on the screen. His arms were wrapped around her and hers around him. The smiles were so bright and real. She smiled at the picture. That would be the thing she'd regret the most if she'd never met Ralph Dibney. The man that showed her every day that he cared about her. That made her feel rarer than the rarest diamond on earth. The man that would never turn his back on her.
She brushed her hair back into a ponytail, put on a white shirt, brown jacket, a purple scarf, skinny jeans and brown ankle high boots. She gave herself a once over and liked what she saw. Today she wasn't going to worry about what the others thought. She had a challenge and she was going to solve it. She was also going to get Ralph some cookies after work. Maybe do something different tonight. Bowling? Concert? She'd decide on something. She went back downstairs to go enjoy the breakfast he'd made them.
Ralph took Caitlin in his car that day. Her house was on the way to his. She went to where her calculations were put up on the glass wall. "Alright, I'm gonna need to figure out what went wrong in the calculations in order to fix the over vibing. I still can't figure out why it vibed on things Cisco didn't want. Usually, it's that he can't vibe on things he wants."
Ralph studied her work. He was confused on a lot of it. That's why he focused on any simple thing like regular addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. He looked at something that didn't quite feel right. "Hey Caitlin, Is this right over here?"
She walked over to where he was standing. She looked intently at it. "No, it's not. She looked at the previous parts. "That's where the problems begin. It's why the concentration is so high. It affects the entirety of the equation. Ralph, you're brilliant," she kissed him. It was a short kiss but it conveyed exactly what she wanted it to. She started to work on fixing the formula. It kept making more and more sense as she went along. She couldn't believe how she'd missed such a key factor. No wonder it overloaded Cisco. She wiped her brow with her sleeve. It was out of pure exhaustion. The entire thing had taken her a couple hours. Ralph had done whatever she needed him to do. Quite honestly, she knew that he didn't understand a lot of this but he made himself useful with whatever she needed. "It's done," she told him.
He stared at the wall. It was like a waterfall of numbers that looked like they'd come crashing into him. Then he looked over at Caitlin. She knew what every line, dot and letter meant. The knowledge that she held constantly astounded him. He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "It looks like a masterpiece."
She smiled and looked up at him. Words couldn't describe the way that he constantly made her feel. She only knew that she never wanted that feeling to go away.
Later that night Ralph found Caitlin sound asleep in her chair. The yellow and purple light illuminating from the sunset outside gave her a heavenly impression. He looked lovingly at her. She was always beautiful but this was a peaceful beauty. She always made his heart melt when he found her asleep. He gently cupped her cheek and kissed her forehead.
Her eyes fluttered slowly open as she looked up to find Ralph looking sweetly at her. "Hey," she greeted softly.
"Hey," he said. His fingers tracing her cheek. "It's really late. We need to get you home soon."
She smiled but didn't look like she was getting up. "You know, I think I'm just gonna crash here tonight. There's a nice cot in the back. I still have some extra clothes and pajamas in the storage closet. That way I don't have to waste time and can get this serum finished tomorrow morning."
He laughed lightly at this, "You don't plan on getting out of that chair do you?"
She smiled and shook her head. He knew her so well. She always wondered when he'd changed from that womanizing playboy into this wonderfully caring man that stood in front of her. She looked at him a little dazed and very sweetly. She didn't know what would happen next but she wasn't worried. She'd begun trusting him a long time ago. Each time he never let her down.
"Well," he said as he picked her up. She gasped and then laughed. "If you're not going to move. I'm afraid I'm going to have to at least make sure you actually get to that cot." He carried her to the back where the cot was and next to it was the storage locker.
She was so tired but she managed to get changed and brushed her teeth. She practically tottered towards to the cot. Ralph noticed this and picked her up again, laying her down gently on the cot and pulled the covers over her, tucking her in gently. She looked into his eyes. She saw that look in his eyes. She knew he didn't want to leave her here in this dark dank room that would soon be a pitch black room. Where he couldn't keep her safe or that she had a better chance of being safe. She could see the regret in his eyes. With what little strength she had left, she reached up and took his hand and pulled it close to her face. Telling him that she would be safe and that she knew he cared.
He smiled and reluctantly let her hand go and turned out the lights behind him. Caitlin already fast asleep.
A couple of days later Caitlin had remembered that she'd forgotten about wanting to plan something with Ralph. She was waiting that morning for Ralph like she did every morning. She loved the fact that he got up earlier just to be with her alone for an hour or two. She heard his footsteps coming down the hallway and turned to greet him.
"Hey," he said as he came over.
"Morning," she said. Before she could make out another word however, Ralph had already begun to kiss her. It was a long and passionate kiss. That meant he was in a great mood. "What's got you so excited?"
"I just have that feeling it's gonna be a good day," he told her. "Hey, are we doing anything tonight?"
"That's what I was wanting to talk to you about," she said cheerfully. "I was wondering if you've ever been bowling?"
"Yes, I love that," he said. "What time do we leave?"
She giggled at that. "How about 6. There is this place down on Main Street that does a two for one deal. I do have to warn you, I have never bowled before."
"Oh, well then, get ready for the best bowling lesson of your entire life," he teased giving her a quick twirl.
"I'm looking forward to it," she laughed. He gave her a quick kiss on her cheek and let her go back to doing what she'd been doing before he'd come in. Caitlin's smile was bright and beautiful. Her cheeks were going to start hurting with how much she'd been smiling and she no longer needed to put on blush in the morning.
When the workday was over, Ralph and Caitlin were the last to leave and headed to the bowling alley. It was busy but not overly packed. Everyone was either on the floor bowling or eating food. Caitlin had decided to wear a blue and purple dress that night with her brown jacket. It was a date after all, why not? Ralph got their shoes and they were ready to start her lessons.
"Okay the key is, it's all in the wrist and release," he said as he moved her arms. He guided her and she released the ball. It rolled and took down eight pins leaving the two most outer ones standing. "There we go. That's great."
She giggled lightly.
"Oh yeah that's terrific," a man said coming up from behind. He was grungy looking and smelled of beer. "She got eight pins because she got help from her man. I bet she couldn't get five pins per round without him."
"Hey pal, I don't know what," Ralph started.
"You wanna test that out?" Caitlin asked challenging.
"Yeah," he said.
"One round. Winner pays for everything," she said.
"Done," he said and shook hands with her. "You're a fool was to challenge the three-time champion of this place."
He laughed as he walked away. Caitlin just looked at him menacingly. "What was that?" Ralph asked. "You've never even played before."
"He was asking for it. Besides the most you can really spend here is twenty bucks," she said.
"Whenever you're ready princess," the guy called.
"Let's do this," she said. They headed over. The guy's name turned out to be Pete and his friend's name was Mark. They went first and both got nines. Ralph went first and got an eight. Then Caitlin was up. She stepped up to the starting area. She was completely still for a minute. Ralph wondering what she was doing, cheered her on and hoped that they might have a fighting chance.
She took three perfect steps and sent the ball rolling down the alley. It was a strike.
He cheered, ran up to her and twirled her in the air. Congratulating her as she laughed in the air. It was the sixth round and she'd just made her sixth strike. She ran back to where they were sitting. Ralph took in his arms. "How are you doing that?"
"It's just math. Not that hard," she told him.
"Wait," he stopped her. "You've been doing math this entire time?"
"Yeah," she told him. "You just find the force and speed, distance to the pins, the angle to hit the pins and then you add in the spinning component and mmph."
He gave a long sweet kiss. When the kiss broke he looked into her eyes, smiled and said, "For a moment I forgot that I wasn't dealing with a regular genius."
She blushed and smiled brightly at him. He'd torn down every single one of her walls and stormed her castle. He made her the happiest she'd been in a long time. She kissed him again, holding onto every single moment of it.
At the end of the night, Caitlin's picture was put up on the wall as the newest record holder for the most points ever. They'd won the bet and were now heading home. The whole trip they talked about what happened and how awesome it was. He dropped her off at home but as always gave her a goodnight kiss and promised to see her tomorrow. Caitlin changed and got ready for bed. Ready for her dream. Which mostly now consisted of her and Ralph on some adventure. Tonight she was extra ready for it.
Days later, Ralph came in early like he always did and found Caitlin sitting at a desk. She was doing something on the council and didn't notice him come in. He made his way behind her and laid a small silver wrapped box on the surface in front of her. She looked up and turned to look at him. "It's not my birthday," she said puzzled.
"Nope," he agreed.
"It's definitely not your's," she said.
"Nope," he shook his head.
She looked back at the gift, "I don't know. You gotta tell me."
"It's the anniversary of the day we met," he told her still smiling.
She looked back at him. Her face showed just how surprised yet touched she is. No one's ever remembered that in any of her past relationships aside from Ronnie.
"Open it," he said excitedly.
She laughed and took the long box and opened it. It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. It was a small charm bracelet. There was a piece of birthday cake, a bakery, a banner, a tree, three bowling pins, a test tube, a star with a whoosh line in it, a film reel and in the center were a couple dancing close together.
Tears were in her eyes. Every once and a while one fell down her face.
"I made sure the guy got the dancers just right. Did you know that there are 40 different ways to have these things positioned," he told her as he moved in front of her and helped her put it on. "I wanted to show you just how special you are to me Caitlin. Happy anniversary."
She practically lunged forward to hug him. That moment. That singular moment, That was the moment she knew, undeniably, that she loved him. That feeling she couldn't describe for the longest of times. That feeling he made her feel every single day. She'd known what it was all along. She was fully and forever would be, in love with Ralph Dibney.
Thank you all for reading. Don't forget to write your reviews and tell me what you thought. Let me know what your favorite scenes were so I can incorporate more of what you guys like. See you next time!
