Author's Note: I've honestly always seen the x07's of every season to be the "Snowbarry Episode". I mean, we had the power loss in 1x07, Grodd kidnapping Caitlin in 2x07, KILLER FROST OMG in 3x07 and...

literally nothing in 4x07. Here's to hoping that episode 7 of season 5 is better.

The meeting with Clifford DeVoe had been one of the oddest experiences of Barry's life. Clifford (or his wife, Marlize) hadn't seemed evil in the slightest. They had seemed defensive, maybe, especially Marlize, a little bit confused by the seemingly pointless interrogation, but otherwise like a normal couple.

Then Barry saw the samurai on the wall.

He had had his doubts, stepping into DeVoe's house and noticing the well-worn furniture and pictures on the walls. But not only did he trust his friends, but the samurai coincidence was just too much.

His team, on the other hand, was pretty convinced that DeVoe was not who they were looking for.

"I don't know, Baer," Joe sighed once they all regrouped in STAR Labs. "This shy college professor who likes mac'n'cheese doesn't exactly seem like a criminal mastermind to me."

"C'mon," Barry shook his head. "I mean, it's not like this is the first time someone has acted nice and turned out to be our bad guy. The Council of Wells gave us his name for a reason."

Iris looked dubious. "They gave us one name out of-"

"1,100," Barry finished.

"1,122 to be precise," Harry corrected.

"I'm just saying, there's something weird about this guy," Barry said. "He likes samurai!"

Harry and Cisco both gave him incredulous looks. "Who doesn't?" Cisco asked. "Have you seen Zatuichi, the-"

"Blind swordsmen," Harry finished. They exchanged glances and immediately began to mutter praise for the franchise.

"Okay," Barry interrupted before things could get too off-track. "But think about this. If the Council's right, that means that DeVoe arranged for me to to come out of the Speed Force exactly where he wanted." He looked to Cisco. "Even you couldn't do that."

"Good point," Cisco agreed.

Caitlin nodded. "Okay, let's cover all our bases."

"Agreed," Joe murmured.

"Okay, Cisco, Harry, let's see what kind of digital footprint you can get on this guy," Iris instructed. "Caitlin, you've got friends at CCU. See what kind of guy DeVoe is."

Caitlin smiled. "Will do."

"Dad, CCPD? Background check?"

"You got it."

Caitlin stopped Barry in the hall. "Hey..." she said, giving him a look. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Barry smiled at her. "Thank you for asking, though."

His eyes dropped a little as his mind wandered back to DeVoe, his profile picture that had popped up with his information burned into Barry's brain.

Caitlin placed her hand on his cheek, smiling and giving him a bit of a knowing look. "I'm going to head over to CCU," she said softly. "And I'm going to talk to a friend of mine that works in the science department there. She was my roommate in college and we've kept in touch. She should be able to tell me if there's anything weird up with DeVoe, alright?"

"Alright," Barry leaned down and kissed her. "I'll see you soon."

Flash!

Barry snuck into one of DeVoe's lectures, after which he continued to question him and stole his coffee cup. DeVoe was putting on a good act- he seemed naturally uncomfortable by Barry's interrogation, but more in a "why are you doing this to me" way than a "oh no you're going to figure out my secret" way. But the DNA on this coffee cup would prove Barry's theory. He was a metahuman- Barry just knew it.

Unfortunately... he was wrong.

"This is a sample of meta DNA," Caitlin explained, showing him a diagram on her tablet. "This is the DNA you brought me from DeVoe. It's... completely normal. Do you see all the differences? Clifford DeVoe is not a meta."

Barry stood behind her, rubbing the bottom half of his face. How could that be possible?

"Did you two find anything?" Iris asked, trying to break the long silence that had fallen.

Cisco and Harry exchanged looks and then stood together for their presentation on their findings. "Well... he's never been arrested, he pays all his taxes and his mortgage, he has a reasonable 41K plan..." Cisco started, not looking at Barry.

"Donates to the Sierra Club," Harry continued. "Volunteers at an orphanage... is a big brother..."

"Dad didn't find anything, either," Iris put in. "He says he an outstanding member of the community."

"Yeah, and I talked to a couple people at CCU... they said DeVoe is a little absentminded, but everybody likes him."

Even with all of that, Barry still shook his head. "Guys, I'm telling you. Clifford DeVoe... he's not what he seems."

"Could just be the wheelchair," Cisco pointed out. "I mean, we do kinda have a bad history..." he jabbed a finger in Harry's direction.

"That wasn't me," Harry muttered.

"No, come on. He's- he's just too perfect," Barry said. "Okay? I just... I have a strong feeling that he's hiding something."

Caitlin brushed her hair out of her face, trying to hide her skeptical expression. Saying that someone being "too perfect" made them an evil mastermind was a bit of a stretch. While she trusted Barry's instinct, he also seemed like he was really pushing this with nothing to back him. It just wasn't very scientific.

Barry caught all the looks in the room. "You don't believe me," he said flatly.

"No, it's not that we don't believe you, Barry," Iris protested. "It's just that... right now, DeVoe seems like a good guy."

"Guys, it's him," Barry insisted.

Caitlin gave him a look. "I... I thought we were done just assuming people are villains?" she said softly.

"Right, you know what?" Barry turned around and grabbed the mug from Caitlin's scanner, thrusting it at Cisco. "Vibe him."

Cisco took the mug, looking at it dubiously, before laying it on a table and resting his finger on it.

A couple seconds later he blinked, looking shell-shocked. "You're right..." he muttered. Caitlin's eyes went wide. What had Cisco seen?

But instead of revealing that DeVoe was, in fact, evil, he just licked his lips. "That mac'n'cheese looks unbelievable."

Barry's face, which had lifted with hope, crashed again. Caitlin smiled at him. "See? That doesn't sound very villainous, does it?"

Barry still looked an upsetting mix between frustrated, annoyed and dejected, and Caitlin sighed. "Hey, honey, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Yeah, sure," Barry shrugged, getting up and following her out of the room.

"Okay, so what's really going on with you right now?" Caitlin asked, raising her eyebrow at him.

"I dunno, Cait." Barry sighed in frustration. "My Spidey-Senses are just really tingling right now."

She raised her eyebrow higher. "Since when do you have Spidey-Senses?"

He gave her a look, trying to seem unamused, but there was a smirk playing around his lips. "No, but seriously. Abra Kedabra said that "DeVoe would be our greatest foe yet". I just... what is he going to do that's going to make him so great? I don't want to find out, and I want to figure out how to stop him before we do."

"I understand that, Barry, I really do," Caitlin said, and she did.

"I feel a 'but' coming on."

"But," Caitlin continued, shaking her head at him. "Clifford DeVoe doesn't seem like a bad person. Nothing we have found points to him being evil in any way. Even your conversations with him- and yes, I know you feel that something's off, but looking at it from a logical standpoint, it just doesn't make sense."

"I know," Barry sighed. "You're just going to have to trust me on this one."

"I do trust you; you know that, Barry. I just feel like you want DeVoe to be our guy so much that you are starting to see what you want to." Caitlin reached out and cupped his cheeks. "I need to head back and nail down another DJ for our wedding, because the one that you got was fired for drinking too much on the job and dancing with the bride's father. Now, we know that won't be a problem with this specific bride-"

"Cait-"

"Not the point, Barry," she interrupted, not needing this to turn into a sad pity session. "The point is that we are getting married in just a few weeks. Maybe it's not the worst idea to try and get this all out of your head, at least until things settle down a little bit in our lives?"

He nodded, though he didn't say anything in response. Sighing, Caitlin took her hand away from his face and turned to walk down the hallway.

She honestly wasn't sure if she had gotten through to him. She didn't think she had.

Flash!

Caitlin knocked on the wall right outside Barry's lab. "Anyone home?" she asked teasingly, even as she saw Barry burst into speedster mode and run to his desk. The breeze caused papers to fly everywhere and he scrambled to grasp them, clearing his throat awkwardly.

"Hey," he said stiffly.

"Hi..." Caitlin held up a bag of Big Belly Burger, eyeing him suspiciously. "Joe said you were having a bad day?"

"No, I'm fine! I'm great, actually. How are you doing?"

Caitlin raised her eyebrows, gaze flicking to the bulletin board that was to the side of his lab. It had been used to document all of his findings on his mother's murder, but now that that was all over...

She reached over and pulled the tab, revealing the board underneath. It was covered in things about DeVoe. Articles, pictures, notes in Barry's handwriting.

"Barry..." Caitlin murmured. "What is this?"

"His wife, Cait," Barry told her, getting to his feet and hurrying around his desk. "She's helping him. No- no, seriously. She's not "Suzy Homemaker" with her perfect mac 'n' cheese- She's got two doctorates, one in robotic engineering and the other in advanced robotics."

"I've got three doctorates!" Caitlin protested. "Does that make me evil?"

Barry shook his head. "No, of course not! But don't you see? That's how they work! He comes up with the plans, but she executes them. She's some kind of mechanical genius!"

"So you think DeVoe and his wife are super villains?" Caitlin confirmed.

"Yes."

"Listen to yourself!" Caitlin cried, frustrated beyond belief. "DeVoe has already filed a complaint against you."

"I know..."

"Look." She stepped forward, forcing her voice to be a little more gentle. "Cisco, Harry, Joe... they are the best. And they have found nothing on DeVoe. I'm sorry Barry, but we are getting married in a week. Please..." She reached up and cupped his face. "For the of your job and my sanity... please. Just let it go?"

Barry opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

He didn't even nod.

Flash!

"Guys!" Barry announced as he strode into STAR Labs. "I found a camera in the Samuroid head."

"Where did it lead back to?" Caitlin asked, shocked.

"Where do you think?" Barry replied, passing the tiny camera to Cisco.

"DeVoe!" Harry guessed. "So, you pinged the cameras to his computer's IP address. Good..."

"Well, no," Barry said awkwardly. "I didn't... ping it."

Caitlin frowned. "Well, then how did you figure out it was him?"

Cisco held up the device, glaring at Barry. "This camera isn't even active," he said flatly.

"I heard it; it was making a noise!"

"Noise?"

"Yeah," Barry said, pointing to the Samurai. "Inside the Samuroid head. It was buzzing and then I found that thing. He's been watching us for weeks! And I could have proved it, but his wife came back too soon."

There was a long silence in the Cortex. "Too soon?" Caitlin asked, fearing the answer. "From where?"

"Barry," Iris said, striding around the desk and giving Barry a look. "Tell me you didn't break into their house."

"Well-"

"Woooow..." Cisco muttered, putting his head in his hand. Iris rubbed her eyes. Harry's head dropped and Caitlin gave Barry a horrified look.

"Guys, no, that sounds bad but- listen to me! This guy wants us to think we're unassuming, but he's- he's not. He is powerful and smart. And he's been ahead of us every step of the way. He's ahead of us right now!"

"Okay, Allen, calm down," Harry said, getting to his feet.

"I'm fine!"

"Okay."

"We just don't want you to do anything else you regret," Cisco told him calmly.

Barry squinted at them, confused. "What? What do you mean? What have I done?"

"For starters," Caitlin said slowly. "Breaking and entering."

"Oh my God!" Barry yelled, pressing his hands into his forehead. "I don't understand why you guys don't see what's going on! He probably has cameras everywhere. At the lab, at the CCPD... he could be always watching us!"

Barry was honestly starting to scare Caitlin. She hadn't seen him acting so... crazy since he came out of the Speed Force. He was obsessed. And it was driving him insane.

Suddenly, Barry's phone buzzed. He grabbed at it. "Joe! What's going on?"

The next thing Caitlin knew, he was running out of the lab.

Flash!

Caitlin went to his house that night to check on him. She was honestly worried that he was going to hurt himself, with the way he was acting.

Instead, she found him sitting in front of the window, elbows on knees, staring at the floor. There was a piece of blue paper on his dinning table and she picked it up. "What's this?"

"Restraining order," Barry said softly. "I have to stay 500 feet away from Clifford DeVoe."

Caitlin's eyebrows went up and she sat down on the low windowsill, facing Barry. "Are you going to?"

Barry just looked down.

"Barry," Caitlin whispered. "This is not you. You've gotta stop."

"I can't," Barry murmured, shrugging a little.

"You can't? Or you won't?"

"I don't know anymore." Barry glanced at her, and then looked away again. "I've faced a lot of bad guys. People who had threatened to hurt the ones that I love and destroy everything good in the world and think nothing of it. But this guy... he feels more dangerous than all the others combined. And we still barely know a thing about him. It scares the heck out of me, Caitlin."

"Barry," Caitlin said softly, putting her hand on his knee. "We have been up against so much evil-"

"This is different."

"How?"

Barry moved off of his chair, resting on the windowsill so that he was sitting beside her. "Ever since I came out of the Speed Force, I have been constantly and genuinely happy. My friends are safe... Joe's gonna be a dad again... and next week I get to marry the most amazing woman in the entire universe. I have more to lose than ever before."

Caitlin smiled gently at him. She thought she might finally understand what was going on in his head, and it relieved her more than she could say.

"Yeah, but what about after Cecile has her baby?" she asked him quietly, taking his hand. "After we get married? Or... even after we have our first child? As time goes on, there's going to be even more for us to lose. People are always going to be coming after us, but we can't let it consume us. We have to live in the moment and face it as it comes."

Barry smiled back at her, eyes searching hers. "How are you not scared?"

"Because I've got you," Caitlin whispered, kissing him.

Flash!

They had all been brought into STAR Labs, and Caitlin was worried. The night before, it seemed like Barry was finally starting to understand how crazy he was acting. But now...

"I have something I need to tell you all," Barry started. "This morning, I confronted DeVoe."

"Oh my God, Barry, he could get you arrested!" Joe cried, looking horrified.

"No, he wouldn't." Barry shook his head. "He wanted me to come."

Caitlin took a deep breath. He had seen her side of things last night. Maybe now it was time to hear his. "How do you know?"

"Well for starters, he knows I'm the Flash."

Caitlin's stomach dropped. "So you were right all along..."

"We didn't believe you," Cisco muttered. "I'm sorry."

Barry shook his head. "Don't be. DeVoe's been playing all of us."

Harry was standing stoically behind Caitlin's desk, arms crossed. Now he looked up. "How?"

"It's his powers," Barry answered. "He has an intelligence beyond anything we could have imagined. He's orchestrated everything that we've encountered, and moved us like chess pieces in a game we didn't even know we were playing."

Iris shook her head. "How do we stop someone who has super intelligence?"

Cisco shrugged. "We're pretty smart," he commented, before walking across the room to the board and writing THE THINKER in all caps across the top. "The Thinker!" Cisco proclaimed, grinning.

Caitlin nodded, approving of the name. "That's good," Harry agreed. "Nailed it in one."

Cisco shrugged, smiling modestly.

"Guys, it's gonna take all of us to stop him," Iris murmured.

"Sounds like you all could use a hand," said a voice from behind them.

All of them turned to see Wally West standing in the doorframe into the Cortex. Joe and Iris' faces lit up and rushed up to him with hugs.

"How's Blue Valley?" Barry asked once the youngest West had been passed to him for a hug.

"Self-reflection and a battle with a blue starfish from outer space gives you perspective," Wally replied, smirking a little.

"So you found what you were looking for?"

"I don't know, to be honest," he shrugged. Joe laughed and grabbed him in another hug, and Barry's arm slid over Caitlin's shoulders. She snuggled into his side. While she shouldn't be relieved that they now had a massively evil genius to be dealing with, she was relieved that Barry hadn't been going crazy. She just hoped that next time, she would believe him when his "Spidey Sense" started tingling.

Flash!

When Barry got home, there was a surprise visitor lounging on his couch.

"Um... Frost," he greeted awkwardly. "Hello."

"Hey, Flash," Frost said, winking at him. "I wanted to have a chat."

Barry moved cautiously into his living room, perching on the edge of the chair across from Frost. "About..?"

"This DeVoe guy." Frost crossed her ankles and propped her legs up on the coffee table. "Deep down, Caitlin believed you. She's just too smart for her own good, you know. That logical side of her brain is one that we don't share."

"Right."

Frost shrugged. "Just thought you might want to know."

There was a long silence, before Frost spoke again. "So you guys are getting married next week?"

Barry nodded slowly. This was weirder than he could have thought possible, but he didn't want to offend Frost by acting as though it was. "Umm, yeah. Quick... question. Does that include you, too? Like, am I marrying you?"

"I have no clue, handsome," Frost shrugged. "I don't make the rules. I'm pretty sure that this is the first time someone has had a metahuman personality living peacefully inside of their brain with their knowing consent, so I guess you and Caity get to decide how things work."

"Right," Barry said again.

There was another long silence. Then Frost stood up. "Well, I've got places to go.. people to freeze..."

Barry winced. "I really can't let you hurt anyone-"

"Kidding, Flash, relax," Frost laughed. "The most someone is going to lose is a toe if they're being especially rude."

She swept out the door, leaving Barry to sit a mule over their conversation. It was an interesting thought, marrying Frost. He had only met her a couple of weeks ago.

But if it happened, it happened. In reality, he was just marrying Caitlin, the love of his life.

"One more week, Barry," he thought, smiling, and went to find himself some dinner.

Author's Note: DEAR LORD THANK GOD THAT CHAPTER IS OVER!

Oh my gosh- seriously my least favorite episode in all of season 4. It sucked majorly.

But! the next episode is the crossover! Word of warning- it's gonna be looooonggggg...