In Every Life

Chapter 9

Somebody to Die For: A rescue mission goes terribly wrong.

Another depressing one I know, I'm just in that kind of mood I guess. If there are any prompts or ideas you'd like to have as a one shot, feel free to leave them in the reviews!

She was just the bait.

She knew that from the moment they dragged her into that van outside of Star Labs, they'd practically shouted it out on the way to the warehouse she was currently in. Wrists and ankles tied to a chair, a gag tied around her mouth, bruised and scraped but otherwise okay, she was forced to listen to them laugh about their plan to lure 'The City's Greatest Hero' using his 'doctor friend' as bait.

The bigger of the two men leered at her, his yellow teeth gleaming in a twisted smile as he dragged the tip of the knife he was holding across her face "Don't worry gorgeous, your friend will be here soon and then we can have some real fun"

She shouts against the gag, the dirty material leaving a disgusting taste in her mouth. The man smirks before pulling the gag down to her chin "You…you've got the wrong person… I'm just a scientist" she pants, pulling against the rope restricting her limbs.

"You must think I'm stupid" he sneers, pushing the knife in just deep enough to pierce the skin, a drop on blood running down her temple "I've seen you with him Doctor Snow, I know you work together. So why don't you drop the act and tell me his name and then I'll let you go"

She spits at him, giving him her fiercest glare "Go to hell"

He smiles, wiping her spit on where it hit him on his cheek before promptly backhanding her, snapping her head backwards "Wrong answer doc. Now you know, I can do this all night, but I'd rather not mess up your pretty face anymore than I have to, so why don't you give me the name and this will all be over"

She straightens herself up, steeling herself to look him in the eyes "You...You can do what you want to me, but I'll never give you his name"

He studies her face for a moment before a smirk breaks across his face "You love him"

Her breath halts, her eyes falling to the floor. That's all the confirmation he needs, a cackle breaking from his mouth "Oh this is perfect" he cackles "He'll definitely come now"

"You've got it wrong" she stammers, her voice shaky from whatever he injected her with to drag her into the vehicle without a fight "He probably hasn't even noticed I'm gone"

"Well I guess we'll just have to find something to do while we wait" he sneers, leaving a moment of tension filled silence before he slams his fist down on one of her tied hands. There's a snap as one of her long fingers breaks under the force and a strangled scream tears from her throat, her body bowing forward from the pain.

He doesn't give her a moment to recover, sending a blow to her stomach. Blow after blow land on her side, her face, the side of her head, minutes blending into each other as she struggles to keep herself afloat amongst the fogginess in her mind.

There's a shout from one of the men behind him "Sir, we have incoming"

He stops his fists, smiling at her at he quickly cuts her wrists and ankles loose, nicking them with the knife as he harshly cuts the ropes "Good, I was starting to think he wasn't going to come" he says as he pulls her up off the chair, her back against his chest.

There's a whoosh! The brief feeling of wind on her face and then he's standing in front of them, donned in his red suit, only metres away

"Flash, how nice of you to finally join us"

"Let her go" he snarls, his eyes quickly taking in the damage the man had done

"I don't think you're in any place to be making demands" he sneers, moving the knife up to press against her throat "Now do as I say, or I'll cut you pretty doctor's throat"

"Okay, okay… just don't hurt her" Barry says, moving his hands up defensively

"Take off your mask"

"No! Don't do it!" she shouts, struggling until she feels the edge of the knife just pierce her skin "You can't reveal your identity, it's not worth it"

"I'm not going to let him kill you Cait" Barry protests, raising his hand to the bottom of his mask "It's going to be okay, I promise"

She shakes, her bottom lip trembling as he pulls the mask off, revealing his face. She can tell by the way his brow is knitted together and the way his jaw is clenched that he's scared and angry.

"Okay, mask's off. Whatever you want, it's between you and me, she's not part of this" Barry says slowly, keeping his voice even and calm "Just let her go"

He grins "Fine, have your doctor friend" he says, shoving her towards him.

She falls towards him, the events of the last few hours completely sapping her of energy. He reaches forward, catching her in his arms, his arms carefully around her waist as he holds her up "It's okay, it's okay. I've got you"

"Barry" she breathes out against his neck, winding her arms around it "Your mask.. y-you shouldn't have done that… it's a trap Barry, they took me to get you here"

"It's going to be okay" he reiterates his promise from earlier "You need to get out of here"

"No" she shakes her head against him "They're going to hurt you"

"I'll be fine" he says "But you're already injured, it's not safe in here for you"

"Sorry to break up the lovefest but we have some business to attend to" The man sneers, dragging their attention back

"Caitlin, go" he says again, moving her behind him

She grabs on to his hand with her unbroken one "No, I'm not leaving you"

"Aw well isn't that sweet? The two of you desperately trying to protect the other. I had that once, and then you took it all away"

"Why are you doing this?" Barry asks,

"because I used to be like you. I had a partner, the love of my life. He was everything to me and then one day he went out to the bank and never came back. And where were you flash? Nowhere to be found, you just let him die" The man spits out "And now I can get my revenge"

He whips the gun out of nowhere, firing it the second it's pointed in their direction. Caitlin doesn't think, pushing herself in front of Barry just as the bullet hits home. There's no pain at first, just the overwhelming pressure in her chest as the bullet sinks in like a knife into butter. Barry yells as she falls backwards, a hand to her chest to try and keep the scarlet blood in.

"No! No, no. Cait look at me, I've got you, stay with me c'mon"" She can only gasp in response, watching the panicked loom on his face as he pressed his hand harder against the wound

"It's okay, you're going to be fine just keep those eyes on me. I'm going to get you out of here just hold on, please"

There's the sound of more guns firing as Wally and Cisco enter, weapons in hand but Caitlin can't seem to focus, the edges of her vision darkening as the world swirls above her.

"No, no don't go to sleep on me. Open your eyes Caitlin." he says, picking her up in his arms. There was a flash and they were at the hospital, Barry's mask back in place "Help her, please" he begs, quickly drawing the attention of a few doctors and nurses "S-she's been shot… please, help her"

They pull her lifeless body from his arms, quickly placing her on a stretcher and wheeling her out of sight. He knows he can't stay, they'd probably already called the police. He tells the nearest nurse her name before flashing back to the lab, falling to the ground the second he got inside

…..

It takes her three days to wake up, the blood loss and surgery taking a toll on her body. Barry spends almost every minute by her side, only taking small breaks to shower and go to the bathroom.

She stirs late one afternoon, the middle of her chest feeling incredibly heavy as she slowly pulls her eyes open. Barry is sitting by her side, quietly reading a book, oblivious to her awakening.

"Barry.." she chokes out, her voice unusually rough and foreign to her ears.

He looks up so fast she would've laughed if it weren't for the hole in her chest, quickly snapping the book shut "Cait… you're awake" he breathes out, sounding as if he were about to cry. He embraces her carefully, the faint smell of his shampoo drifting into her nose

"how long was I out?" she whispers as he pulls away, gratefully taking a sip of the water he offered her

"three days" he says hesitantly "Your lung was punctured, they had to perform surgery to patch you up"

She winces as she shifts in the bed, her chest feeling incredibly tight as the small movement tugged on her stitches "The men?"

"In the pipeline, they weren't metas but after what they did to you they're lucky I didn't kill them, believe me I wanted to" he snaps, moving to sit on the side of her hospital bed "What the hell were you thinking, jumping in front of that bullet for me?"

"They were going to kill you" she mumbles, seeing the fury in his eyes

"I have healing powers Cait, you don't" he says, taking her small uninjured hand in his

"You can't heal from everything Barry, if it came down to it, your life is more important, we both know that"

He snaps, taking her face in both of his hands "I never want to hear you say something stupid like that ever again Caitlin Snow, do you hear me? I almost lost you"

She reaches up, touching one of his hands with hers "I'm okay Barry"

"You almost weren't. There was so much blood Cait, the doctor said an inch to the left and you'd have died. Please just promise me you're never going to do something like this again. My heart can't take any more stress"

She hushes him, moving his hand so that it was intertwined with hers on the bed "That man, before you came, he said something to me" she says tiredly

"We don't have to talk about this now, you need to rest" he says, noting the clear exhaustion on her face "I should probably go get a doctor anyway"

She squeezes her hand around his, keeping him there with her "No, please don't. I want to… I need to say this" she says quietly, her gaze drifting to their joined hands "He said I was in love with you"

He almost frowns, that was not what he was expecting her to say and this definitely wasn't how he imagined her saying those words, half conscious on a hospital bed after almost bleeding out in his arms. She speaks again before he has the chance to respond "I think he might have been correct…"

He remains silent, allowing her to continue "I've been feeling it for a while, and I tried not to, I did. But when he pointed that gun at you, I didn't think, I just… I couldn't let you get hurt, I had to do whatever I could to keep you safe"

He smiles, some of the worry and exhaustion relieved from his face "You sure know how to go overboard when it comes to declaring your love Cait. I would've been happy if you had just asked me out instead of taking a bullet for me, how am I ever going to top that? You're going to have to rest up and get better quick so I can take you out on the best date you've ever been on"

She grins tiredly, her mind beginning to become foggy with sleep once again "That sounds nice… I'd settle for just a kiss for the moment" she yawns

His smiles widen as he leans forward, lightly pressing his lips to hers. She leans into the kiss for a moment before breaking it off to release another yawn. He chuckles, kissing her forehead "Sleep now, I'll be here when you wake up"

She drifts off to the smell of his shampoo and hospital detergent, Barry's hand never moving from hers.