A/N: So, a little background for the season four kiss. For the purposes of this story, Barry and Iris never dated. She still joined Team Flash, and they're still very close, but she never cared for him that way, and he learned to accept it. I made up this kiss myself, reworking one of the episodes (one of my favorites from this last season, actually, because of the Caitlin/Frost scenes). Jay and Jesse didn't come to help Barry. That should be everything you need to know. Enjoy!
He touched Frost's arm and watched her re-animate as she was brought into Flashtime. "I need your help," he said before she could speak. He expected some scathing comment, but she seemed to realize something was seriously wrong.
"Why is everyone frozen?"
"We're in Flashtime. You're moving as fast as I am. The bomb started to go off, and I don't know how to stop it."
"And if you stop moving -."
"It explodes," he finished, nodding. "I need you to try to freeze it."
They walked up to the truck. He could see her doing calculations in her head as she saw the explosion. "You want me to stop it, with it already going off."
"Please try," he begged as he felt another bead of sweat run down his neck. He was running low on energy.
She nodded and they stepped into the truck. "Here goes," she said in an undertone, holding her hands out. The cold wave barely reached the bomb before dissipating. "Let me try again," she said, repeating the gesture. This time the frozen mist vanished only an inch from her hands, abruptly, and she bent over with a sharp intake of breath.
The explosion burst outwards, the color changing. "It's not working," he said.
"My powers aren't the only thing not working," she said weakly. Her breath was short.
He looked at her and saw a flush in her cheeks, and immediately became concerned. He'd never seen her like that. Not Frost. "I know what heat feels like," she said, trying to smile. It disappeared when she stumbled. "My body doesn't know what to do about it."
He touched her cheek. It was feverishly warm. "You're burning up," he said, his eyebrows pressing closer together. "You shouldn't be this warm this fast."
She put a hand to her chest, and he had to fully support her. "Barry," she said, her voice full of fear. It cleared his head, and he helped her back to where she'd been standing before. He could feel her heart beating dangerously fast. He knew her body would be tired from being in Flashtime, like Cisco, but Cisco hadn't been in pain. She'd said she hadn't known what heat felt like before⦠he realized her system was shutting down. Moving too quickly and being exposed to a powerful wave of heat energy was making her heart pump way too fast and keeping blood from circulating properly.
"Don't let Caity die," Frost said, clutching at him.
"I won't." He let her go and watched her freeze. He needed a second to figure out what to do. He had to slow her heart down, and he had to do it now, before disarming the bomb made him forget. She was in danger the second he stepped out of Flashtime.
The heart was controlled by electrical impulses. A controlled shock might fix the irregular heartbeat.
He could run around and generate lightning, but that might be too much energy, and might take too long. He still had to figure out how to stop the bomb. There was one way to control the electricity and do it quickly. He hesitated for a fraction of a second before cupping one hand at the base of her neck and kissing her.
The electricity that was always running through his veins arched higher when their lips came into contact, racing through him at super speed. He hadn't expected the rush that would come with this, or the verging on euphoric feeling it would give him. He tried to stop himself from getting lost in the feeling. This was Caitlin, after all. That thought seemed to make the electricity jump through his body instead of running, crackling with abandon. It made it extremely difficult to remember how serious this situation was.
He focused on that energy, trying to tame the monster it had become into something that would stabilize Caitlin without hurting her. It wanted to keep roaring and jumping and running, but if he tried to send her that much energy, he might stop her heart, not stabilize it. She only needed a small burst, a controlled amount to get her body working enough to dissipate the heat it didn't know how to handle. The sooner he did it, the more likely she would be fine before he even left Flashtime. The thought helped calm the monster, enough to direct a small current of electricity from his lips to hers. He felt it when it shocked her, and willed it to continue for a few heartbeats of his own, to remind hers the pace it should be. He opened his eyes but didn't dare separate from her until he knew it had worked.
He hadn't realized that touching her would mean bringing her back into Flashtime. When he opened his eyes, she was alert and looking at him. And touching his cheek. He drew back.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Even as she responded he could see the color draining from her cheeks. "It doesn't hurt anymore." Her breath was still a little short, but that might have been because of the kiss. He touched her wrist, feeling for the vein and measuring the pulse there. It was a little fast, but nothing like the erratic rush it had been before.
"You're gonna be fine," he said. "I have to let you go now."
She was staring at him with trusting blue eyes, and dipped her head. He took his hands from her back and wrist and sat back. She was frozen, her hand still held out. But she was fine.
Another bead of sweat dripped down his neck, and Barry forced himself to stand. None of this would matter if he couldn't stop that bomb.
A/N: Don't worry, we're not done yet. We still have the aftermath of the kiss! It's my favorite one. Did you like it?
