Caitlin was excited. She was about to pull up to her first official conference as a scientist for STAR Labs. Wells had personally invited her to accompany him to this conference on 'Genetics and Bio-Engineering' and she was eager to accept. The event was being held in Coast City and they were just arriving at the expensive hotel which it was being hosted in. Wells had spent the taxi journey inquiring as to how she was fitting into life at STAR Labs and if she had any thoughts for future projects. She had been flattered that he considered her opinions important and she found the journey very pleasant.
They pulled up outside the hotel and Wells sighed as he glanced out the window. Caitlin followed his gaze and saw a large group of protesters. Some had signs and banners protesting scientific meddling in genetics while others had just made signs which condemned all the attending scientists to hell. "Shall we?" Wells said, grimacing slightly as he realised that they would have to make their way through the crowd to reach the entrance.
Caitlin nodded and left the car. As soon as the crowd noticed her STAR Labs badge they started to boo and hiss insults at her. She felt Wells standing behind her so she straightened her back and tried to make her way through while avoiding eye contact with the people around her.
She was almost inside when she heard a voice hiss viciously into her ear, calling her a whore of Satan or something equally rude. She was so taken aback by it that she made the mistake of pausing slightly. An explosion of pain burst across Caitlin's face and she gasped and made a small pained noise. It took her a second to realise that the insult-hissing protester had struck her. Her hand flew to her cheek and she felt tears well up in her eyes.
Standing just behind Caitlin and dealing wit a few nasty protesters of his own, Wells had turned just in time to see Caitlin being attacked. He was absolutely furious. It was one thing for the protesters to stand and scream ignorant slogan but by touching one of his staff especially one as gifted and kind as Caitlin, they had gone too far. He was forced to immediately duck however as the same protester had decided to take a swing for him too. Dodging that punch, he retaliated brutally with one of his own and it made contact with the mans' chest and sent him sprawling to the ground.
Stunned, Caitlin watched as Wells decked the man who had assaulted her. Her surprise turned to worry though as she watched another man help the fallen protester up and both made their way towards Wells again. Shifting himself slightly so he was positioned in front of Caitlin, Wells tensed up in preparation of a fight. Caitlin felt relief flood through her as a handful of security guards suddenly appeared beside them and intercepted the two aggressive men. Three guard seized the men while the fourth led Caitlin and a still agitated Wells inside the building.
When they returned to STAR Labs the following day, it took her just under an hour to convince the skeptical Ronnie and Cisco that Dr Wells had actually punched out a man in her defense.