He plucked up the courage and asked her to dinner, and to his immense relief, she said yes.
His days had been improving slowly since helping out the team, and once Caitlin had stopped closing herself off, his days had become fantastic. Now they had gone on a date, and he worried he looked like a blushing idiot as he said goodnight to her, he was so happy.
He'd been a fool to run back to London when things got tough. He was just thankful he'd had the courage to come back to S.T.A.R. Labs.
"I had a wonderful time tonight," he said to her.
Caitlin looked at him with warm brown eyes. "Me too, Julian."
He wanted to kiss her goodnight, but simply nodded at her and walked over to his car, calling to her that he would see her in the morning. He had to take it slow, make sure not to rush her.
They pulled out of the parking lot at the same time and he drove to the apartment he was renting, across town from her. He got out of his car with a skip in his step as he made his way to his room. He couldn't wait to see her in the morning.
He was waiting for her with a coffee in hand when she got to the lab, a pack over his shoulder.
"Where are the others?" she asked, accepting the offered coffee with an appreciative nod.
"At a crime scene. Well, half of them are. I haven't seen the other half yet."
She sipped her coffee, and he was about to ask how the rest of her night had been when her phone started ringing. She pulled it out and looked at the screen, narrowing her eyes when she saw the caller id. "It's Iris," she said. She accepted the call. "Hello?"
Julian watched her face carefully as she listened to the phone. He was pretty sure Iris and Caitlin weren't horribly close, and gathered that this wasn't something that usually happened.
Caitlin was silent for almost thirty seconds before she showed any sign of unease. Her gaze seemed to stiffen at whatever Iris was saying, all traces of positivity fading away. "Are you sure?" she asked. She listened for a few more seconds and then hung up, walking swiftly over to the cortex.
"What was that about?"
She sat at the computer and started opening files. "There might be a connection between this case and another one."
He slid his bag to the ground. "Another bus meta?"
She took a deep breath of air, and though her voice sounded normal when she spoke, he could sense the stress underneath the front. "Probably, but that's not the connection I'm looking for. Iris thinks it might be more… personal."
"Well tell me about it, and I can help you figure -."
"No!" she said quickly, turning to look at him. For a second he saw a glimpse of blue in her eyes. "I can do it on my own. Barry could probably use your help analyzing this new meta's abilities." She looked down at the console. "There's a chance this isn't what Iris thinks, so let me make sure and not waste your time."
He mumbled an agreement and went to his station to wait for the others, the new meta the farthest thing from his mind. What had Iris said to make Caitlin so upset?
He sat for a few minutes, puzzling it over, before he jumped up and walked out the door. Caitlin was so focused on whatever she was doing that she didn't even notice. He grabbed his phone as the elevator door slid closed. "Allen? Yeah, I'm coming to your scene. Is everything still there?"
Caitlin took a deep breath to try to calm herself, but it wasn't working well. She'd been so stupid, thinking they were safe! Iris had called to tell her there was a piece of metal at the crime scene, deeply embedded in the foundation of a building. A piece of metal that looked just like the kind Amunet carried around with her. And then there was the fact that there was no trace of the meta themselves. Just a crime scene, and a few blood spots on the ground.
Caitlin opened the picture Iris emailed her and ran to the evidence locker to grab the shard from when Amunet had beaten her. Racing back to the computer, Caitlin held the shard up to the image on the screen, comparing them.
She swallowed heavily, closing her eyes for a second as she confirmed what she had known would be true. Amunet was back.
With a slight shake of her head she went back to her desk, planning to fill Julian in, but he wasn't back there. Panicky feeling rising, she looked everywhere he might plausibly be, finally snatching up her phone and calling him. He had to have gone to the crime scene, though she didn't know why. It didn't matter.
She ran out of the lab, pulling up the meta human alert Cisco had put on all their phones and letting it show her where to drive to.
It was a rundown area, the cars parked at odd angles in front of it the only thing drawing attention to it. Caitlin forced herself to walk instead of run as she got out of the car and walked up to the others.
"Caitlin!" Iris said when she got close. "What are you doing here?"
Caitlin looked at everyone there and sighed when she saw Julian's blond head over next to Barry and Cisco, looking at the other end of the alley. "I wanted to see the scene for myself," Caitlin said, trying to cover up the emotions she feared were written plainly on her face.
The boys were looking over at them as they started walking back. "I grabbed the piece," Iris said, holding out the bagged evidence. Caitlin didn't take it, just looked at it. "She's back, isn't she?"
Caitlin nodded. The boys reached them and Barry looked at Iris. "What's that?" he asked.
Caitlin met Iris's eye and nodded slightly. "Proof that Blacksmith is involved in our meta case."
"Blacksmith?" Cisco asked. "As in the underground empire meta?"
"She collects metas she thinks she can make a profit with," Caitlin said.
"But usually there's no trace of them," Barry said. "That's why she hasn't been caught. Why would she leave evidence behind?"
"Maybe she was in a rush," Julian said.
Caitlin shook her head. "Amunet left this on purpose."
"Why?" Julian asked.
Caitlin stared at the bit of metal, feeling her heartrate increase. "To let me know she's still the boss."
A/N: Hey guys! The story is starting to pick up! I had to lay some groundwork the last two chapters, but now we're really getting into it. Next chapter is even more fun. I hope you like it. Leave me a review to tell me what you think!