Iris West had been a little skeptical of Cisco and Caitlin when they first started looking after Barry, and the feeling remained with her for a while; even after she discovered the Flash's identity. It wasn't easy to believe that anyone could keep working at S.T.A.R. Labs after the Accelerator fiasco, let alone stay with and trust the man behind it. Her mistrust was proven right when Harrison Wells turned out to be Reverse Flash; the inability of two said geniuses to distinguish between their real boss and an imposter who just so happened to disappear every time Barry faced the villain, and not being able to connect the bold dots still put Iris at unease whenever Flash had to face a new, dangerous meta.

They had done the exact same thing this time; trusted in a person who secretly was the man behind all their troubles, even fall in love with him in Caitlin's case! Although Cisco had grown on her, Caitlin still had a way to go, she was an entirely different case. She hadn't been able to recognise Everyman cloaking as Barry, couldn't get Barry to overcome his fear of not being fast enough, and got a homicidal sociopath to obsess over her, leading to the kidnapping.

One thing was sure though; Caitlin had been Barry's caretaker, and if there was someone who knew how to get her only patient back from oblivion, it was Doctor Snow. Iris knew, at least hoped, the only thing remaining between her and Barry was getting Caitlin back. And now, in the room full of wondering eyes, she needed to devise a plan to do so.

"I thought you said only Barry can save her," Cisco said skeptically, his eyes narrowing with curiosity. "What gives?"

Iris nodded, "I did. But I might be wrong. Caitlin brought Barr back from the edge of the cliff many times before, and if anyone brings him back again, it might be her."

Cisco raised a brow, not quite sure whether or not he was supposed to believe her apologetic tone. She might not have meant what she said, but it was their only chance now. He glanced at Joe, who was standing behind Iris, and got a reassuring nod in exchange.

After a moment's silence, Jesse spoke up. "Alright, what's the plan?"

Her enthusiasm wasn't received well by her father, who reached an arm in front of her protectively. "Hold on, we need to hear what Miss West is thinking of first."

Iris nodded, understanding of Harry's hesitation to let her daughter get involved. He had lost her to Zoom once already, knowingly putting their daughter in harm's way a second time was enough to break any man. "Cisco has to vibe," she said, making all eyes in the room dart towards an unexpecting Cisco.


Kori rushed to support Caitlin as her knees let her down momentarily, and lead her to the nearest chair to sink in. Caitlin placed her head in her hands, eyes fixed on a spot on the floor but her mind too busy to comprehend what it was. It was preoccupied with trying to deal with shock, fear and doubt and bereaved from her recent loss. Her heart was beating its way out of her chest, adrenaline rushing through her veins. Her brain was trying to draw blood in an attempt to trigger her flight response, causing her entire body to tremble. Waves of pain pulsed in her head, blocking out all sound. They had all hit at once, and she was a single drop away from her breaking point.

And the world around her shattered to pieces when that last drop hit, as a familiar voice, one which she once found charming, understanding and homely called out, at the same time as another, less deep and brotherly one which cane from inside her head, and rang in her ears, "Caitlin."

She succumbed to the darkness.


When Zoom ran, it felt as though time slowed down around him. But right now, as his lover fell, it seemed to have stopped. The momentary discontinuation reminded him why he had brought her there in the first place; not as a trophy, and not just to show her what his powers were capable of but to protect her; to prevent anyone from harming her, just as Killer Frost had attempted.

But now, the one he cared about, the only now he truly loved was falling, he was feeling fear for the first time in a very long time. It almost made it seem as though he wasn't fast enough to catch her. Almost.

Starfire rushed in as well, and despite having been standing much closer to Caitlin than Hunter, he had already grabbed her by the time Kori had reached out. "She is okay, I sense her life force. It is weakened - it must be malnutrition but she will be find, and so will the —"

"— baby."

By the time Kori completed her sentence, Hunter had zoomed out with Caitlin in his arms, leaving the princess behind to sigh in discomfort.

Hunter laid Caitlin on her bed, inside the untouched flat. She was breathing fine, wasn't sweating and didn't have fever — everything seemed visually fine. She must've passed out from dehydration, or exhaustion, he thought. And rightfully too. She had refused any food and drink offered, and even though she barely sat on the bed in his lair, he had tied her to a table by the wrist and forced her to sit on the cold, hard floor.

Hunter realised how poorly he had treated Caitlin – despite having been trying to do exactly the opposite. At no point had he tried to break her, but rather to wean her out of hating him, to get her to love him as she once had.

He knew that if she was awake, she wouldn't even let him get into such close proximity to her but now, as she was unconscious, he was crouching by the bedside. Careful not to touch her, he ran his hand over her cheek. Hunter wanted to caress her face, hold her hand, let her rest against his chest as she used to, but respected her wish of not wanting to come in contact with him too much to do so.

As he sat by the bedside, he found a moment to look at the surroundings of the familiar room. The light pink wallpaper, beige carpet and wooden furniture complemented each other beautifully. Caitlin had told him that Ronnie had picked out the colours, despite her protests against such hues. She didn't talk much of him but on the rare occasion of the topic coming up, and she got lost in her own, isolated world as she spoke of Ronnie, Hunter found trying to conceal his jealousy and desire to take her away to a deserted island and openly claim her for himself to be one of the hardest things he had ever faced.

The frustration of waiting was growing on him, so he left the flat to do the one thing he'd always done to relieve stress – snap someone's neck.


Caitlin opened her eyes. 'Alright, Caitlin, assess the damage.' She tired to look around, but there was nothing to see, it was pitch black. She tried to use her hands to navigate, noticing just then that she was lying on her back. 'Well, I'm on my butt, and the ground is cold, that's a start.'

'It is terribly dark and I'm getting claustrophobic.' She slowly got up, careful not to tumble over her own feet. 'My fingers are numb, head is pulsing and I can't seem to remember anything, shit.'

A momentary glimpse of light caught her attention and she turned back, "Kori?" The light reappeared, a little bigger this time, she noticed the blue hues. Caitlin hesitated, disturbed by the thought of having been taken somewhere else by Zoom, somewhere she didn't know and couldn't see, but asked anyway. "Jay?"

No reply. 'Well, that's good news,' she thought with a sigh.

The light reappeared, and she identified the shape of an oval, a gradually growing blue; familiar sight of a portal opening. But it disappeared when someone called her name. She didn't turn towards the source this time, her back. She knew too well who this voice belonged to. 'Good job, Caitlin, you really went ahead and did it this time.'

Caitlin closed her eyes and inhaled as a way of building confidence. Then she stated the fact, "Ronnie."

"Caitlin," he replied with a smile. He looked incredibly happy and full of life, despite having died more than a year ago.

Caitlin was frozen in place, but Ronnie closed to the gap between them and pulled her into his arms, holding her as tight as he used to when they were just a normal couple leading one of the greatest projects of the century. He smelled her hair, eyes locked onto her face, as if to take in every detail. "I've missed you."

She'd missed him too, a lot. But she couldn't bring herself to speak the words, let alone look into his eyes. The last time she'd done that, she lost him. Instead, she hesitantly placed a hand on his chest and asked, eyes pointed to the ground, "Am I dead?"

"No," came the immediate answer. "But you came close." A smile of mischief spread across his lips as he placed a kiss on her temple. "I never saw you as one to seek trouble when we first met, you know that?"

Caitlin gave a lazy chuckle, "I guess yours was contagious."

Ronnie laughed, then sighed as he pulled her deeper into the embrace. "Strongly doubt that; you probably just attract it."

"Maybe that's how I attracted you, too?"

"Maybe."

There was a long pause and neither of them said anything. Having Ronnie by her side again, being in his warm embrace, hearing his voice again, it was comforting, it felt real. All too real.

"You aren't really here, are you?"

Ronnie didn't look startled, nor taken aback from the question. "Oh but I am, aren't I?"

"I'm unconscious, must've passed out from dehydration. That makes you a projection of memories my mind is making up."

"Ever the doctor," Ronnie laughed. "That could be the case. It doesn't change the fact that we're together, does it?"

Caitlin sighed and pulled away. She was starting to regain memories; remember where she was. She was in Barry's office with Kori, and was just old that she was pregnant. Caitlin felt a knot in her throat, it felt impossible but so very real. What was she supposed to do with an embryo? She didn't have the time to think about that right now, though. She had then heard her name called out, then Ronnie showed up.

"Thinking about the baby?"

Caitlin nodded. She was basically talking to herself, wasn't she? There was no point in being hesitant. "Barry is gone, Zoom cannot be stopped. I should be out there, helping my friends do whatever they can but I chickened out, I stayed."

"You did it to protect them, Cait." Hearing that nickname was something she'd missed, coming from someone she loved. "And it is working. You are why Joe is alive, why S.T.A.R. Labs's lights are still on, why everyone else still has the chance to fight back."

"Maybe. Still, this isn't the time to take care of another. And the child of that monster? I need to find a way to get rid of it before he finds out it even exists."

Ronnie shook his head knowingly. "You were never one against abortion." Caitlin looked up at him without a single emotion in her eyes. "Do you remember the package my mom sent when I said I proposed?"

Caitlin laughed. "Triple the clothes two babies would need, in case we had two sets of triplets within the month."

"You donated everything to the orphanage," Ronnie smiled.

"You approved," Caitlin said apologetically. "Besides, we weren't ready for a child. We were young, already had so much responsibility and no time."

Ronnie's smile died off, giving room to a grim look. "I always wanted a child."

"I know." She felt punched in the gut. She had known how much he wanted a family, but she always dismissed the idea, saying they still had time, that they still had a lot to experience before settling in. Then life had turned around and hit them in the face like a truck. "You would have been an amazing father."

"And you'd be an amazing mother."

Caitlin opened her mouth to protest, but was cut short when she heard a faint yet clear echo of her name. "Cisco?"

"You should go," Ronnie gestured toward her back. She turned back to see the familiar portal flickering, struggling to maintain a connection.

Ronnie started to walk away, but she called out. "Ronnie! What about the —?"

"I'm sure you'll do the right thing."

Caitlin hesitated for a second, then nodded. She took a deep breath before stepping into the portal.


I'm alive! Still. I'm not even going to apologize for the late update because we all know I'll do it again.

I hope you enjoyed!

Silver