So sorry you had to wait so long for an update. The next chapter will be here sooner. Especially when lives depend on it. ;) Anyway, I hope you guys like it.

He unbuttoned his pants and sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "That was the best meal I've had in a long time. Are you sure you don't need help clearing the dishes?" Iris smiled back at him and picked up the plate in front of him.
"No, don't worry about it. You just got home from travelling to another world and saving Harry's daughter, the least we can do is give you a proper home cooked meal. Right, dad?" Joe beamed at the two of them and nodded. "Hell yes. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that you were on another Earth though. You still haven't given us any specifics though."
"Well, it's not like we've had a lot of time to talk ever since I came back. Things are pretty tense at the moment at S.T.A.R. labs."
Joe and Iris glanced at each other but neither one commented and continued to clear the table. When they were done they returned with three steaming cups of coffee and settled on the couch.
"How's everyone handling what happened with Jay?" Iris tentatively asked.
"Dunno," Barry replied. "Caitlin..she's strong but it's not just losing Jay, it's finding out that he was Zoom. He played us and we didn't see it coming. Again. It's like the Reverse-Flash all over again. We let someone into our lives and all he wanted was my speed. He hurt all of us but her the most. Not just on this Earth." Frustration echoed through his voice but his remarks raised Iris and Joe's eyebrows.
"What do you mean, not just this Earth?"
"Killer Frost," Barry retorted. "He terrorized her. Kept Ronnie prisoner and threatened to kill him if she didn't do his bidding. She teamed up with Earth two's Ronnie just to convince Zoom that she didn't care about him, hoping that he would let him go. It didn't work and Zoom killed Deathstorm right in front of her. The guy was a douche but still. Seeing it happening right in front of me brought back so many memories of the night Ronnie died. Or at least we thought he did."
"And now he's back" Iris said softly before taking another sip of her coffee.
"Yep, now he's back." Barry paused, the crease in his forehead deepening the way it always did when something bothered him.
"You don't seem happy about it." He glanced at Iris and gave her a half smile.
"I just don't get the attraction. I feel for the guy, really..I do. I've seen Zoom's lair so I know it must have been hard being locked up and fearing for your life but come on! When he first got there he made no attempt to find a way home? He had a wife here, people who cared about him. We had a memorial for the guy and he just started a new life with Killer Frost without even thinking about what his death would do to Cait. Zoom only got to her because she was in mourning. Besides, I don't see that working out anyway. With Killer Frost I mean. She is so..and he's Ronnie."
Iris held back a smile when she nudged him. "Barry Allen, are you jealous?"
"Whoa?" Barry replied insulted, "of course not! I'm just saying that it's a complicated situation and someone is going to get hurt."
"Right," Iris smirked and then put her mug down on the table. "So did you meet our doppelgangers while you were there?"

He'd been dreading this conversation ever since he came home. Harry's warning still lingered in the back of his mind. Would telling them about their lives on Earth two impact their lives here. But looking at two sets of expecting eyes he knew that he had to tell them something.
"Well, for starters you and I are married there. Or the versions of us are. And you're a detective. And Joe, you're a lounge singer. You're not half bad either." He grinned sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck.
"We were married? Like the newspaper article.." Iris stumbled.
"Yeah, Barry and Iris there were very much in love." Looking at Iris he could see the wheels spinning but he didn't have the heart to tell her the truth. That conversation had to wait for another day.
Luckily Joe had plenty of questions about his singing career and he spent the better part of the night filling them in on every small detail of the rescue. Except the part about Killer Frost and him kissing. Somehow he couldn't bring himself to tell them that.

After a night of tossing and turning he got up early and decided to go to S.T.A.R. labs first before heading into work at the CCPD. As soon as he stepped of the elevator he was greeted with yelling and icicles flying through the cortex. He quickly ducked behind a console where Cisco was hiding too.
"What the hell is going on here? Why is Killer Frost mad?"
"Because she's crazy?" Cisco shot back at him and then peeked around the desk to see what was happening in the medical bay.
"One moment she's fine, or as fine as that woman can be considering she shoots ice from her hands. Oh I'm so having Frozen flahsbacks again. I swear is she starts singing Letting go.."
"Cisco!" Barry snapped at his friend, "what happened?"
"I don't know. Everything was fine earlier. We even had a civil conversation and then she went to check on Ronnie and that's when the snow hit the fan. Maybe Caitlin said something to set her off."
"Caitlin is with Ronnie?" There was an edge to his voice when he asked the question but Cisco didn't seem to pick up on it. Instead his friend nodded."
"Yeah. She's been with him all night watching his vitals."
Barry groaned and rose to his feet. "Okay, I got this."
He moved closer to the door separating the medical bay from the cortex and carefully looked through the glass. Ronnie was still in bed and both women were on either side looking at each other as if they wanted to kill each other. The problem was that one was actually capable of doing so and he couldn't let that happen. With both hands raised he entered the room that already felt considerably cooler than anyone would consider comfortable.
"Ladies.." he started carefully as he moved closer to the edge of the bed. Ronnie exhaled in relief but he was more concerned for the two women. The tension between them was palpable and it looked that neither one was backing down. "Why don't we step out and let Ronnie rest for a while?" The words hadn't passed his lips or both Caits started to object.
"She can go. I have tests to run and she's only getting in the way. And you said it yourself, Ronnie needs his rest. He's been through hell on Earth 2 and he's probable suffering from Stockholm syndrome. That's the only explanation I can think of that would explain him and..her" Caitlin pointed at Killer Frost and rolled her eyes. Killer Frost responded by giving her an icy glare before planting her hands in her side and flip her hair. "Or maybe he chose to stay because he found a real woman to satisfy his every need"
"Ice cold bitch more likely" Caitlin shot back.
"I might be cold but at least I'm not frigid.." Killer Frost retorted with a smirk.
Barry quickly moved between them and held Caitlin back from a clawing Killer Frost. "Okay, let's all calm down." His eyes bore into Caitlin's. "Cait, I know you've been through a lot but it's a difficult situation for everyone involved." Just when he saw her face soften, Killer Frost added more fuel to the fire by leaning over Ronnie and stroking his face, her lips mere inches away from his.

"That's it, get away from him!" Caitlin growled and pushed Killer Frost. She temporarily lost her balance but responded with an icy spice aimed directly at Caitlin's chest. Barry quickly reacted and intercepted it before it could do any damage. Temperature in the room dropped so rapidly that they could see their own breaths, a clear sign that Killer Frost was at a tipping point.
"She needs to fix him so we can get the hell out of here. " she hissed while pointing at Caitlin. The responds came from the person she least expected. Ronnie Raymond.

"I'm not going back" His words surprised all three of them but Ronnie kept his eyes fixed on Killer Frost. "What do you mean? Are you saying you want to stay on this earth?" Her voice seemed calm but he could hear the tension in every syllable. Ronnie's eyes shifted away to Barry and Caitlin.
"Could you guys give us a minute?"
"Sure.." Barry's hand snaked around Caitlin's waist as he ushered her towards the cortex.
"We'll be right outside if you need anything."

As soon as the sliding doors closed behind them Caitlin turned to Barry.
"What are you doing? She could kill him in there. Didn't you see what she tried to do to me?"
"Come on, Cait. You know she's not going to hurt Ronnie. She cares about him." The look on her face made him regret his choice of words. "I'm sorry, okay? I know this isn't fair to you and I'm not even going to pretend that I know how you're feeling right now with everything that happened but Ronnie is the one that has to decide for himself what he wants to do next." He hoped that the dislike for the guy wasn't sounding through his words. When he looked into her eyes he saw the fear and it made him pull her into a hug.
"I don't want to lose him for the third time" she whimpered. He held on tighter and decided not to say what he was really thinking. That she deserved better. At that moment the door opened and Killer Frost stormed past them in a gust of cold air and snow, like a blizzard blowing through the cortex. He wanted to follow but Caitlin was still holding him and now she pulled him back. "Let her go, Barry."
"I agree with Dr. Snow," Harry added, brushing the snow from the desk. "Besides, there is work to do. I have a theory on the Zoom situation.." Barry glanced at the door again but then turned his focus back to Harrison Wells. "Zoom's gone. What else is there to say?" From the corner of his eye he saw Caitlin rushing back to Ronnie's side and the way they were smiling at each other made his stomach churn. Harry moved over to one of the computers and started punching in a few keys until a map of the city appeared on the screen.
"Well, now that we know that Jay Garrick and Zoom are one and the same there is something that keeps bothering me. How did he manage to cross the breach without us noticing it? We know he was on Earth 2 when we were there but he was here when we got back. And we closed all the other breaches. So how did he do it?"
Cisco stared at the map on his computer. "What if he didn't use an existing breach. What if he can create one? Think about it. There are no Tachyon concentrations showing on the map so there are no breaches left in Central City. Jay probably had more powers than we thought he had. Like how could he even go through the breach without any speedforce in his system?" Cisco raised some valid questions, things pocket and glanced at it. 2 Missed calls from Joe and one message asking him where the hell he was.
In all the consternation he totally forgot about work. "I'll check in with you guys later but I have to go or Joe is going to kill me." He bolted out of S.T.A.R. labs in a flash of red only to stop in an alley behind the crime scene. At the crime scene he flashed his badge to the officers keeping the public at bay and walked towards the covered body on the sidewalk. Joe gave him a stern look when he saw his stepson but kept his comments to himself. Unlike the captain that turned to Barry and scowled, "how nice of you to join us, Mr. Allen. We've only been waiting here for half an hour." Barry muttered an apology and knelt next to the body, lifting the sheet with his gloved hand. The memory of Jay flooded his brain when looked down at the corpse of a man with a hole in his chest where his heart supposed to be and he couldn't shake the feeling that this victim was somehow connected to his arch enemy.