Author's Note: Wow! We are already on 1x06! I hope everyone is enjoying this as much as I am!

Caitlin couldn't stop thinking about Barry. She also couldn't stop thinking about how her lips had felt on his cheek, how soft and smooth and warm it was. And she could stop wondering how soft and smooth and warm his lips would be, pressed up against hers, her hands in his hair, running through those short soft locks... and then he would deepen the kiss, and she would moan and...

"Caitlin? Caitlin?! Paging Caitlin Snow? This is ground control to Caitlin Snow? CAITLIN?!" Cisco yelled in her face.

She jumped a few inches and shrieked. "Jeezum, Cisco! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"I don't think that it is considered sneaking up on someone when the see you coming. Dude, I seriously thought that there was a new meta that could take peoples minds and transport them to other planets." Cisco gripped, and took a large chomp out of his red licorice stick.

Caitlin glared at him, but she was blushing. "I was just, you know, thinking about stuff. I have a lot on my mind."

"Yeah. You must." Cisco shook his head and smirked. "Want to get a coffee and talk about it?"

If only he knew... Caitlin thought. But she smiled in consent. "How about we invite Dr. Wells and go the three of us? Just like old times."

"I won't tell Barry if you don't!" Cisco cried as he raced out of the room. Caitlin rolled her eyes, but she followed, pushing the thought of kissing Barry into the far corner of her mind. For now.


When they arrived back at S.T.A.R. Labs, one of Caitlin's worst fears were awaiting her. Barry was lying unconscious on the ground, blood staining the corner of his mouth. "Barry?" Cisco asked in alarm.

Caitlin ran to his side. "Barry? Are you ok?" She placed her hand on his knee and he groaned. She gasped in surprise. "Oh my gosh." Her heart was pounding wildly in her throat, and black spots were starting to spring before her eyes.

Cisco grasped her shoulder. "Caitlin! Breathe! We are not going to be able to help Barry if you have a- a panic attack or something!"

Caitlin took a deep, shuddering breath and schooled her emotions. With the help of Cisco, she moved Barry to a med bed, trying not to jar him too badly. He groaned at every step anyway, and she felt her stomach clench. Whoever had done this to him...

Her checkup proceeded on autopilot. Caitlin took his blood pressure and hooked him up to a heart monitor. Then she took an x-ray. "Oh my.." Caitlin trailed off. "What happened to him?"

Cisco stared at the screen. "I'm not even a doctor and that looks bad."

Caitlin settled down to work. She set his bones one after another, trying not to hear Barry's pained whimpers. Eventually he passed out fully, and that made it a little easier. She couldn't give him any drugs; his metabolism would burn right through them.

Once she was done, Caitlin collapsed into a chair. A couple minutes later Barry was moaning into consciousness.

"Hey, man. Welcome to the land of the living." Cisco grinned.

Barry blinked. "What?" He glanced at Caitlin. "Did I break something?"

"Ha." Caitlin muttered dryly. "Yeah, just a little. 13 fractures, that's a new record, and that's just in your hand." Caitlin told him, tightening the hand brace. "You also have a concussion, 3 cracked ribs, and a bruised spleen. Even with your powers... you'll need a few hours to heal." Just a few hours. He would be fine.

Barry nodded. "What exactly did you hit?" Harrison asked the question they were all wondering.

"A man." Barry said croakily. "A big, bad man. His skin changed when I hit him. Like, it turned to metal."

Wells crossed his arms. "Interesting. A man of steal..."

"So you went after a meta human. Alone. Dude, why didn't you call us?" Cisco exclaimed.

"I didn't know what he was." Barry grumbled, wincing as he sat up. Caitlin frowned at him. "Besides, I was off duty."

"Hm!" Caitlin raised an eyebrow, and Barry turned around to meet her gaze. She crossed her arms. Off duty indeed. Off duty with whom was the question. She knew all about his pact with Joe about not telling Iris. She didn't agree with it, but it wasn't her place to argue. But she also had seen the news articles about "The Steak", written by none other them Iris West herself. Now why would she be doing that, unless a certain someone had come to see her...?

Cisco didn't catch the non-verbal exchange. "You're lucky he didn't knock out your teeth. Those puppies don't grow back."

"The strange thing is... I feel like I knew him." Barry murmured.

Caitlin tilted her head to one side. "What do you mean?"

Barry glanced over his shoulder at her again and shook his head. "Well, he said something that was... familiar." He shook himself out of his thoughts. "But he's going to hurt someone if we don't stop him, so how to I fight a man of steel?"

"We will find a way." Dr. Wells assured him. "But tonight, you heal."

"Yeah." Breathed Barry as he swung his legs back over the side of the bed.


"I call him Girder." Cisco said proudly as he and Barry looked at the metal, man shaped machine that was in the treadmill room.

"For the record," Caitlin was quick to put in. "Not my idea."

"Alright, let's do this, baby!" Cisco yelled, using his remote to jar the machine into action.

Barry looked over his shoulder at Caitlin pleadingly, but she just smiled. "I have ice and bandages standing by."

With a sigh, Barry turned back to "Girder", and flashed into motion. He rapidly punched the metal side of Cisco's creation, but he didn't even make a dent. Girder lit out one metal hand and hit him in the arm. Barry fell to the ground with a yell of pain.

Caitlin sighed. "Again? Really? I told you this was a stupid idea."

"I'm pretty sure I just dislocated my shoulder." Wheezed Barry pitifully.

Caitlin and Cisco helped him up and led him to the check up table. Caitlin carefully grasped his wrist and moved his arm. He groaned. "Ok, not going to lie: this is going to be quick, but extremely painful."

Barry nodded with a wheeze. Then his phone rang. "Speaking of pain. Eddie, hey!"

Caitlin checked her watch and sent Barry a significant glance. He quickly wrapped up the phone call with a "Great, I'll see you in a sec.", then moved to lay down. "Ok, let's do this."

Placing on hand on his shoulder, Caitlin grasped Barry's wrist again. She ignored how tingly her hand was feeling at the touch, and instead focused on something that would make her frustrated enough to be able to set Barry's shoulder. "So.. Barry." Caitlin comment casually. "When you say you were off duty last night, you weren't... visiting Iris again," Barry eye's snapped open. "You know, in disguise? Because that would be reckless, and a little creepy."

"No.." Barry croaked. My gosh, he was a bad lier.

"Good!" Caitlin chirped, and popped his arm into place. And if she took a little pleasure from the scream that followed, nobody had to know.


Barry flashed into an abandoned warehouse, dust and paper blowing in his wake. Then he flashed off again, looking for any sign of Girder. There wasn't.

When he arrived back where he had started, he saw steal leaking out of a large container. So this was how Girder had been made. He bent down closer to examine it, and noticed footprints in the puddle of hardened metal on the ground, leading away to somewhere.

Barry followed the footprints, noticing a few bottles of beer on a table, and a few rolls of cash. He pressed a finger to his com. "This is definitely the place."

Then he turned, and was met with a metal fist to the face. Barry flew across the room, pain blinding him for a moment. He crashed into a filing cabinet and fell to the ground. "There's nowhere left to run." Girder growled, and upturned the cabinet.

Barry's last thought was, What will Caitlin say when she finds out I'm dead? Then he blacked out.


"Barry?" Caitlin yelled.

"Barry, where are you?" Cisco caught a glimpse of some red. "Caitlin, over here."

They ran toward a collapsed filling cabinet. "Barry?!" Caitlin cried. She gasped when she saw his bloodied face peeking out from underneath the wreckage. "Please say something so we know your ok." Her stomach was in knots, and she felt like she was going to vomit, but she held it together.

Cisco grasped Barry's arm and began to gently pull. "Ow..." Barry moaned.

"Get him out of there!" Caitlin yelled at Cisco. Her legs felt like jelly from relief, though she still thought she might be sick.

With Caitlin's help, Cisco managed to remove Barry from the debris and bring him back to the van. Caitlin was near hysterics the whole time, until Barry took her hands and met her eyes. "Caitlin... I'm going to be ok."

She calmed down some after that, which was probably good, because Dr. Wells was far from calm when they brought him back to S.T.A.R. Labs.


"Why did he stop?" Caitlin whispered, staring at the screen as if it would hurt to look away.

"He's miles away." Cisco agreed. Then his eyes widened and he turned to look at Caitlin. "5.3 miles away."

No. No no no no no no no. It was all she could think. Caitlin leaned toward the mic, yelling, "Barry, wait."

"No way, he's gonna do it!" They were both out of their chairs now, watching the little blip that was Barry's tracker racing back to where Tony was keeping Iris. "GO MAN GO!"

The tracker sped along the streets of Central City, and burst into the high school. Caitlin and Cisco could hear the sound of the punch even through the com. Cisco shot into the air and hollered. "SUPER SONIC PUNCH BABY! WHOOOOO!"

Caitlin stared at the screen in shock, trying to register what had just happened. He had done it. Barry had stopped Girder.


Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Barry was doing his little victory dance outside of Tony's new cell. "Dude..." Cisco grinned. "That had to feel great."

"You have no idea." Barry agreed.

Caitlin fell into step with him. "Almost as good as proving me wrong about the super sonic punch?" She teased.

"No, that actually hurt. Like, a lot." Barry admitted, smiling down at her. He turned to face them. "But I couldn't have done it without you guys."

Never to stay serious for long, Cisco asked, "All I wanna know is which childhood bully are we gonna take down next: Mine or Caitlin's?"

"Ok, yeah." Barry laughed, turning around to leave.

"I vote mine." Cisco continued. "Dude, don't walk away! I'm serious!"

"Caitlin's." Barry called back.

Caitlin grinned at her friends. "Ha."

"That's favoritism right there that is!" Cisco protested. Both of his friends ignored him and kept walking. "Hey! Don't you walk away from me!"

Falling into step beside Barry, Caitlin inconspicuously squeezed his hand. "Nice work, Streak."

Barry laughed. "That name has got to change."

"You better tell Iris that on your next roof talk meeting." Caitlin smiled innocently up at him. "You can't hide anything from me, Mr. Allen."

"Apparently not." Barry sighed. "Wouldn't want to anyway." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "See you tomorrow, Caitlin."

"Bye, Barry." Then he flashed away, leaving her with only the slight breeze, and a tingly feeling running up and down her back. "See you tomorrow."

Author's Note: I hope you all enjoyed this. Tell me what you think in the comments! Also, let me know which episode your most excited for, and if you have any ideas for future episodes. Who knows? You opinion might just sway the storyline! (maybe. There is a slight possibility. Don't get too excited)