So here is the much awaited next installment to the story. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Flash nor it's characters.
Caitlin's POV
She gleamed up at him as he tried to make his way back down to her. How could she ever repay him? Struggling to find the words to express just how grateful she was, Caitlin opened her mouth to speak when Zoom's hand tore through the breach straight through Jay's heart.
"NOOOOO!"
Then everything around was drowned out by darkness.
Barry's POV
"CAIT!" Barry's voice cried out as he sped towards her catching her before she fell to the ground.
"Caitlin…" he whispered cradling her in his arms as he soothed a hand over her cheek pleading her to wake up.
Stirring in his arms, Barry closed his eyes as he let out a sigh of relief. She was okay.
"Barry is she okay?" Joe pressed hovering over them.
"I think she just fainted." Barry said, staring down at his wife seriously concerned.
"I think you should check her out. We had a bit of trouble while you were gone and she got knocked down pretty bad. But she said it was just a small bump on the head." Iris explained.
"Here let us take her." Cisco said reaching out for her.
Barry looked up at Cisco.
"I got her." He promised.
Nodding Barry reluctantly shifted Caitlin into Cisco and Iris' arms. Both of them carried Caitlin carefully to the med bay with Jesse closely following.
"Open it up…" Barry stammered as he ran his hands through his hair staring at the empty void where the breach used to be.
"Allen…" Harry spoke.
"I need to go back!" Barry shouted his emotions running high.
"I can't do that."
"OPEN IT BACK UP!" he spat at Harry.
"Allen!... the breaches are closed… All the breaches are closed." He replied sympathetically.
"Why can't we just open one back up?" Joe asked from behind Barry.
"The quark matter energy that we used to seal the breaches… it prevents them from being opened." He mumbled shaking his head softly from side to side.
"Ever. Again. It prevents us going back to our Earth."
"We're trapped her for good?"
Barry spun around to see Jesse looking pointedly at her father.
"Yes." He said softly.
"We can't let Zoom get away with this… He just murdered Jay right in front of us!"
"There's got to be something we can do."
"There's not… not this time. It's over." Harry said with flatly.
"I can't…"
"Barry… If you want to do something, go to your wife's side. Caitlin needs you. Go be with her."
Barry shook his head in denial as he stared at Harry. Brushing past his adoptive father, Barry stormed out of the basement, making a beeline to the med bay.
*Med bay*
"How is she doing?" Barry whispered as he approached Cisco, standing guard by the door.
"She just fainted… Iris said she's been working non-stop since we left and with Geomancer…" Cisco began before Barry interrupted.
"Who's Geomancer?" Barry asked, tearing his eyes away from Caitlin to look at Cisco bewildered.
"Some meta they were chasing… he causes tremors… anyways Caitlin got knocked down lightly." Cisco shrugged before continuing.
"Is she okay though?" He asked concerned.
"Yeah she's fine. She was awake before so I sat with her until she fell asleep. We're running tests anyway to be sure."
"Thanks Cisco." Barry smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Any time man." Cisco nodded.
"Man she's been through a lot, first with Ronnie twice and her father when she was young and now Jay… I'm just afraid what this double dose of grief is going to do to her. I mean she was pretty shell shocked."
"She'll be fine."
Barry turned around to see Harry approach them.
"Snow's strong. She'll get past this. We all will." He stated before leaving.
Turning back to his wife, Barry looked over her with a heavy heart.
"In the meantime…" Harry's voice rang to them low as if not to wake Caitlin.
"… I would not say anything to her about her counterpart from my earth. That goes for Joe and Iris too." He warned them.
"Why?" Barry questioned.
"Because you don't want to influence their reality in ways it should not be influenced."
"Like in the same way that Barry time travels?"
"Exactly and also what's the point? None of those people are your people… their lives are not your lives. Never were and never will be. Bury it. Move on. Yes?"
"Yeah. That I can do." Cisco sighed.
"Allen?" Harry questioned.
Barry nods.
"You guys should get some rest. Barry take your wife home." He advised Barry before leaving the room.
"Yeah." He whispered under his breath.
Shrugging his shoulder off the side door frame, Barry cautiously made his way over to her. A smile crept over his lips as he watched her sleep. He was home. Gently soothing his hand over her head, Barry leaned down kissing her softly on her temple. Barry felt Caitlin stir under his lips, her eyes fluttering slowly awake.
"Hey…" she smiled groggily at him.
"Hi… how you feeling?" he looked at her concerned, their faces still just inches away from each other.
"Better now that you're home. I've missed you." She said her smiled fading and the truth burning in her eyes.
"I've missed you too." He mumbled kissing her on the lips again.
You don't know how much.
"You alright to go?" he whispered against her lips.
"Go where?"
"Home." She smiled.
Caitlin's POV
Dropping her jacket on the kitchen counter, Caitlin rounded to the sink, reaching for a glass she filled it up with water. Taking a sip, she let the cold chill of the liquid soothe her. Caitlin felt as Barry wrapped himself around her, embracing her from behind. Caitlin drew a deep breath as his hands rounded over her stomach. Spinning around in his arms, Caitlin let herself be reeled into his arms. Every time he touched her, she felt a twisting in her stomach and a rush of desire through every part of her. Barry kissed her a spark of electricity ignited her blood. She kissed him back harder than before. He wrapped his hands around her, hoisting her onto the kitchen counter. Opening her mouth so that his tongue could explore hers more deeply, Caitlin moaned, distracted by the bulge in his jeans and the feel of it against her as he pressed closer between her legs. Caitlin ran her hands down his back, letting them trail to his side and up under his shirt. Feeling the coil of his muscles, Caitlin didn't wait another second before tearing his top over him. Only then did their lips part. Pulling her back to him, Caitlin locked her legs around his waist as Barry pulled her off the counter and began making his way to the bedroom.
Connected in every way, Barry lowered Caitlin gently on to the sheets of the bed. They moved tighter, closer, neither one of them knowing who was pulling them together. After everything that happened, life was too short. She wanted to feel him… to feel every inch of him. Everything vanished around them, her worries vanished as his lips were on hers. Biting on his bottom lip, caused Barry to open his mouth, Caitlin slid her tongue into his mouth and a hot heaviness too over her body. In the next heated second, Barry had torn off her clothes so nothing was left between them. Looking down at her, his eyes connected with hers. Barry stared at her with a longing she couldn't quite explain. In the moment where all their emotions were torn and their world around them crumbled down to their feet once again, all the space between them over the past 48 hours melted away and all that she wanted was him. All that she needed was him. In that moment as he looked into her eyes she saw a hidden desperation grow. Leaning back down, his lips found hers once again.
As the next couple of days went by Caitlin notice that none of them ever talked about. She caught glances… moments of silence between them as if they had a secret understanding they couldn't speak of. As Caitlin noticed the subtle changes in her husband… in her best friend… and Harry, bringing up the topic brought about awkward silence as they all tried to pretend to forget all about what happened to them over at Earth two. Between the three of them, they tried to get on with their lives as if there was nothing they could do to stop Zoom. And as the days went on, instead of talking about it, Jay's death began to take a toll on all of them. It had left scars on everyone, some more than others. As Caitlin watched over Barry, she noticed his determination to keep on running. She didn't know what happened to them over there, and the lack of communication… Caitlin grew tired and frustrated. Barry spent his nights trying to distract himself from the surreal other life he had experienced, and spent most of his time running. Searching and waiting for some other metahuman threat to rear its ugly head and distract them all from the frustration they were feeling. And as fate would have it they wouldn't have to wait long.
*S.T.A.R Labs*
With Barry spending some time over at the West's, Caitlin buried herself in her work. The only other distraction she had to keep her mind of how she failed another person.
With so many thoughts plaguing her mind, Caitlin smoothed her hand to rest over her stomach. Guilt ridden, she closed her eyes at the thought of having another person she could fail… and thought made her sick.
"Hey so I have been thinking… you've been working round the clock. Maybe get some rest… go home? Maybe getting a nice sleep isn't the worst thing in the world." Cisco mumbled cautiously as he approached her.
Straightening herself back upright, Caitlin looked up at Cisco tired and a little moody.
"I'm fine." She replied bluntly.
Caitlin threw herself back into her work, dodging the startled reaction Cisco had plastered over his face.
"Okay I get it… you're having a hard time with everything that's happened. It's a lot to take in... and after everything you've been thr-"
Caitlin drew a deep breath. She hated being as she was so fragile and was about to break. Yes she was hurting. Yes she was sad. Hell she was angry but so was everyone else.
"I said I'm fine!" she cut him of flatly before pushing herself from the desk and storming out, needing to find a space to breath.
Barry's POV
After finding Caitlin wasn't home, Barry sped over to S.T.A.R Labs. Getting off the elevator, Barry walked through the lab towards the cortex.
Peeking around the corner, he saw Cisco leaning against the desk, his mouth open in awe.
"Hey is Cait here?" Barry asked, his brows creasing together in curiosity as he followed his gaze to find nobody in his line of sight.
"Did you hear that?" He exclaimed shocked as he pointed in the general direction to the right.
"No what?" Barry shrugged looking back at his friend.
"Caitlin just bit my head off! She's been all business, no emotion lately it's like she's… cold." Cisco cried.
"Cold? Come on Cisco!"
"This could be the beginning of her becoming evil. You're not worried about that? She's your wife!"
"I'm not worried about that. Caitlin is not going to become Killer Frost…. You haven't mentioned anything about Earth 2 have you?" Barry pressed.
"No! Because I know how to keep a secret thank you." Cisco replied offended.
"I know. It's just going to take some time for her to process everything. We all do trust me. We just need to keep busy." Barry muttered.
"That shouldn't be a problem." A gruff voice teased.
"Woah." Cisco smiled in surprised.
Barry turned around to see his friends appear out of the shadows of the hallway as they walked towards them.
"Oh hey Dig… Lyla. What you doing here?" Barry asked, hugging both Diggle and Lyla.
"We came here to give you the heads up Barry." Diggle nodded.
"About what?" he asked.
"About a meta human that escaped from A.R.G.U.S custody. Goes by the name King Shark." Lyla informed them.
"King Shark? You mean the half man, half shark that tried to kill you months ago?! I thought that he was dead!?" Cisco exclaimed wide eyed as he looked to Barry for an explanation.
Barry shrugged, confused himself. Unsure of how to answer, he looked to Lyla and Dig.
"That's what A.R.G.U.S wanted to make you believe but they snatched him up. But believe me this half shark is very much alive. And his biological imperative is to do one thing… That's kill you Barry." Diggle warned.
"Pfft." Barry huffed out shaking his head. What's new… he thought.
"We're going to need a bigger Flash." Cisco remarked.
Barry looked at his friend narrowing his eyes in a glaring stare.
*Moments later*
With the new information about King Shark, Barry thought it'd be better to regroup the team. As everyone once again came together, Barry stood behind the desk as both Lyla and Diggle took to the middle of the room.
"So how do you know about King Shark?" Caitlin asked as she eased into one of the computer chairs behind the desk.
"Well as the new director of A.R.G.U.S, Lyla's job is to clean up Amanda Waller's messes. King Shark was one of the bigger and weirder ones." Diggle explained.
"And it appears under her directives A.R.G.U.S had been monitoring metahuman activity over the past two years." Lyla added.
"Why?"
"Obviously thinking those powers could be exploited." Lyla answered.
"Weaponized." Harry stated.
"How do you know he's coming after me?" Barry pointed out his arms crossing across his chest.
"While in our custody he kept on saying the same thing… Zoom wants the Flash dead. And although he removed the tracker we had in him, the readings that we had received showed that he was heading here to Central City." Lyla recited as she pointed to the data streaming across the various screens in the room.
"Let him come!" Barry said flatly.
"Barry?!" Caitlin exclaimed turning to him with a shocked look on her face.
Unwilling to meet her eyes, he kept his attention to Lyla and Dig.
Sensing the uneasy growing tension, as Caitlin's eyes bore into the back of Barry's head, Dig cleared his throat before speaking.
"Barry this thing is a killing machine. We just came here to warn you man. Let A.R.G.U.S handle it." He mumbled trying to defuse the tension.
"Nah I can't do that Dig. I'm sorry but all year we've been sitting ducks for Zoom and all his Earth 2 henchmen. This is the last one. I'm not just going to wait for him to attack I'm going after him first. I owe that to Jay. Well's he's from your earth what do you about him?" Barry replied firmly, turning to Harry with his question.
"I do know this, Dr Shay Lamden… and get this he was a marine biologist before my particle accelerator changed him into king shark and zoom put him under his control."
"So how did you track him when he attacked Barry?" Lyla quizzed.
"Zoom sent him to this earth to kill Barry. I just followed." He shrugged.
"Yeah but you did track Grodd down can you find King Shark too?" Barry pointed out.
"I can try." He nodded, taking another sip from his mug before taking leave to being his work.
"Alright." He whispered under his breath.
"Okay well all these locations are next to a body of water." Barry stated, driving closer to one of the screens, his eyes scanning the information before him.
"It must be only a few hours before he has to go back into water to re-oxygenate his blood." Caitlin muttered, her voice level and curt.
Ignoring her gaze, Barry knew it was driving her insane. But he also knew she was mad at him. But after everything that happened over on Earth 2… barely getting back home, Jay dying… he wasn't going to let anyone else he cared about get hurt. And King Shark was the last threat Zoom sent over and Barry wasn't just going to wait for them to attack. He was going after them before they took anyone or anything her cared about. He already knew the feeling of losing the people he loved most to him and he wasn't about to go and relieve that feeling. Not if he had the power to do something about it.
"I can take the waterfront if your team can handle the rest?" he delegated as he spoke outwardly to Lyla.
"I'll put them on it." She agreed as she pulled out her phone simultaneously to regroup her team.
"Alright what about Dr Lamden's doppelgänger maybe he could help us somehow?" Barry said softly as he approached Caitlin and Cisco, his eyes still avoiding her gaze.
"Or not. Looks like he died when the particle accelerator exploded." Cisco mumbled as he read an article on his death.
"What about next of kin?" Caitlin pointed out, her eyes never leaving Barry.
"He's got a widow Dr Tanya Lamden she's a research scientist at Nautilus Labs and she studies wait for it… sharks."
"Well maybe the two of you can go and see if she's discovered anything in her research that could help us?"
"Sure." Caitlin grunted before pushing herself out of her chair without a seconds glance back.
"Great." Barry gulped knowing just how mad she was at him.
Caitlin's POV
*Nautilus Laboratory*
Caitlin followed the doctor silently through her lab, before pausing she turned to face Cisco and herself with a stern but curious look on her face.
"It's been two years since you particle accelerator exploded. It seems a little late to be asking questions about my husband doesn't it?"
"Your husband past away from cancer is that correct?" Caitlin said directly.
"Suppose you can say that. It only took three days for every cell in his body to grow uncontrollably. Whatever cancer he had it turned him into something… not human."
"Well that's why we're here actually." Cisco interjected before Caitlin could speak, his quick glance in her direction obvious he didn't like her approach to the situation.
Rolling her eyes, Caitlin could afford to be nice. Barry was putting himself out there once again with the lack of awareness to how much it affected everyone around him. Without the curtesy of thinking how much she needed him now more than ever to come home safe. And even if didn't know it yet, she wouldn't be the only one depending on him to come home. Now she had more than one person in this world to worry about and it killed her that she didn't know the first thing of how to protect them.
"There's a meta human here in Central City whose body seems to have been mutating in the same way as that of your late husband. But he didn't die, he became a dangerous monster." Caitlin explained bluntly.
"My husband was no monster."
"That's not what she was implying." He apologized sincerely, peering over at Caitlin with a sharp glare.
"What does this have to do with me?" she shrugged, eyeing both of them suspiciously.
"We read about the research you were doing here about sharks." Caitlin began.
"Yes I have had some encouraging results. Although still preliminary"
"We need to see it." She said flatly.
"I beg your pardon?"
"Your research all of it!"
"What my colleague means to say is that if you could please let us take look at your findings it could help us stop this metahuman from hurting anytime."
"You're with S.T.A.R Labs… I'm just supposed to trust you?" she whispered unsure.
"Please Mrs Lamden… this could help save lives." Cisco pleaded.
"I'll email you what I have." She replied softly, turning her back leaving.
"Thank you." Cisco called after her.
A grim line set across her face, Caitlin stepped forward to leave, before Cisco side stepped to block her, his expression worried and concerned.
"A little harsh?"
"I was being direct." Caitlin sighed frustrated.
Why was he suddenly questioning her? They needed to get answers and they needed it fast right? Annoyed, she blew out a hot breath before shoving herself past him.
"Yeah well that's one way to describe it." She heard Cisco grumble under his breath.
Pausing, she turned back to face him annoyed.
"You've been acting differently toward me ever since you got back from Earth 2. What's your problem Cisco?" she said with a slight raise in her voice.
"Nothing… let's just go." He muttered.
Rolling her eyes once again in frustration, she began following him out, neither of them speaking.
*Back at S.T.A.R Labs*
As Caitlin scrolled through the meaningless pages of Dr Lamden's research, she blew out a deep breath. Her emotions running high she felt the strain of frustration rise in her chest. How was any of this going to help them capture King Shark?
"This is a complete waste of time. We're not going to find anything in Dr Lamden's research to tell us how to find king shark." She yelled as she slammed her fist down on the desk, leaning back into her desk chair covering her face with her hands.
"Maybe I should take a look." Cisco suggested as he walked towards where she sat.
Popping her head out of her hands, Caitlin looked up at Cisco with a nasty glare.
"Oh yeah cause you're the doctor with a speciality in biochem." She spat rhetorically.
"I'm just saying maybe you could use another set of eyes considering…"
"Considering what?" She asked curtly, the anger just simmering.
"Considering the way you have been acting lately." He pointed out defensively.
"What does that mean?" She voiced, her voice rising slightly at his accusation.
"You are not yourself Caitlin. It's freaking me out because you have this icy look in your eye just like you did over there!" he blurted out before he could stop himself.
Caitlin stared at Cisco. Over there? Pushing herself out of her chair slowly, her eyes never breaking contact she moved slowly around the desk towards him.
"Over there? You mean earth 2?" she interrogated.
"No... um... wh—what I meant to say is was that um…" Cisco stammered, stepping back as he shrugged his shoulders.
"You met my doppelgänger on earth 2 didn't you?"
"Wh—what?" he choked out a staged laugh.
"No!" He spoke trying to sound confident in his answer.
But Caitlin knew him too well. He was lying.
"Cisco?"
"Look I'm not supposed to say anything."
"Why not?" she whispered.
"Because I'm not supposed to say anything!" he repeated.
"Francisco Ramon if you don't start talking..." She shouted edging closer to him, almost towering over him as he struggled with his resolve.
"Okay. Fine! Yes I met you doppelgänger. She's a cold hearted ice queen named Killer Frost, a metahuman who enjoyed killing… a lot! There... Great! Now Harry's going to kill me and throw myself across the room." Cisco finished shakily, holding himself up on the desk trying to find it in himself to breath.
In a moments beat, Caitlin was frozen. She certainly wasn't expecting that answer. Was this why he… why Barry seemed a little distant lately? Then her mood couldn't have helped things. Taking a deep breath, Caitlin looked to her friend, her expression softening, after seeing the fright in his eyes.
"Cisco… I'm not a metahuman." She reminded him softly.
"Okay I here you but your acting just like she did over there. You're being shut off, your being detached… your being cold."
"Because I have to be right now." She sighed.
"I just watched Jay got killed right in front of my eyes and just when I found out I was pregnant. It just made me question if I could really live this life… when something good happens it feels like its always short live. When Jay died, it made me think of how I lost my father. I really thought I could save Jay's life like I couldn't do for my father. I thought I could do all this and have a baby but I don't know if I can Cisco. This life… today when Barry stood up willing King Shark to come after him, I realized that that's his life. His purpose. Yes, I'm angry. Yes, I'm frustrated. It's because I know I can never take that… this life away from him. But beyond all that anger and frustration, I'm just scared Cisco. I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if ill have to do this alone…"
"Why would you need to do it alone? You haven't told him yet have you?"
Caitlin shakes her head. Her eyes dropping to the floor.
"In the life that we live, I don't know if I can put our child in danger. And I can't make he chose. I won't."
Pausing, Caitlin took a deep breath and looked back up at her friend.
"All I know is that if I think about this too much… if I let in all that emotion, I don't think I'll be able to stop crying and not just because of the hormones. So please… I need to keep working. I need to make sure Barry's safe. There's nothing else I can do. So please stop worrying about me. I may be cold… I may be distant but I just need to be. So can we please get back to this research so we can find King Shark?"
"Okay." He whispered, nodding.
Caitlin drew a small and weak smile.
"Thank you." She mouthed as she began to return to her desk.
"Hey Cait…" Cisco called.
Turning a glance over her shoulder, Caitlin stopped.
"What?"
"For what it's worth… congratulations."
Barry's POV
After luring King Shark away from his family, Barry sped back into his clothes and sped his way down stairs.
"Hey… hey you guys… you all okay?" he asked out of breath.
"Yeah, yeah we're fine." Joe muttered looking around at the chaos around him.
"Where did you go? Go hide under your bed?" Wally spat harshly.
Barry opened and shut his mouth unable to find the words.
"Wally! Come on!" Iris shouted.
"You know Joe and Iris told me a lot about you… made it out like you could walk on water or something but never mention anything about you being a coward." He seethed disgusted at the sight of Barry.
His head hanging, Barry took in Wally's words. There was nothing that Wally said that Barry wasn't already thinking in one form or another.
"Okay ENOUGH!" Joe bellowed angry.
Wally looked to his father. After a moment he shook his head to the side in frustration. Scrapping up his coat from the floor he pulled open the door. Barry watched after him as he stopped short in front of someone. Sighing a heated breath, Wally brushed by Caitlin on his way out.
"See you guys later." He mumbled under his breath.
"Dad you need to talk to him." Iris retorted as she resumed cleaning.
"Hey…" Barry whispered, getting up and walking over to Caitlin.
Caitlin ushered herself inside the house closing the door behind her.
"Hey you guys okay?" she asked worried as she took in the destroyed living room.
"We're fine. Thanks for asking." Joe smiled.
"And sorry about Wally." He shrugged apologetically.
"No, don't apologize Joe." Barry said firmly.
"I get it. Look I know you guys love me but please stop talking to Wally about all this great stuff about me. At least tell him the truth I'm not perfect. I make mistakes even the Flash can't fix." Barry huffed out emotionally exhausted as he sat himself on the bottom of the stairs, burying his head into his hands.
"Okay what happened with you? On earth 2? The truth." Joe ordered bluntly.
"I shouldn't tell you guys this but um… I met your doppelgangers…" he began looking around at the faces in the room.
"You were a cop in the family. A good one too." He smiled towards Iris.
"Ahhh I told you I would have made a good cop." She teased mockingly at her father.
"Don't go getting any ideas. What about me then?" Joe smirked excitedly.
As Barry spoke Caitlin, came to sit herself beside him, taking his hand in hers.
"You were a lounge singer. Yeah you had this amazing voice actually… um but you didn't like me… at all. You actually blamed me for Iris becoming a cop saying that she only became one to help her selfish husband's career." Barry's voice trailed off, scared to meet Caitlin in the eye mentioning that in that world they weren't together.
"Wait? We were married?" Iris stammered her mouth hanging open in disbelief.
"Hmmm…" he nodded.
"We went to go see Joe perform and that's when everything went wrong. Um some meta's…" Barry paused for a heartbeat, making a quick glance to where Caitlin stood.
"…They worked for Zoom and showed up there. They were looking for me and they knew I wasn't supposed to be there and they attacked and… you…" he emphasised looking to Joe.
"…Got caught in the crossfire and… you died." He finished stifling a cry as he brushed a stranded tear from his cheek.
There was dead silence in the room. Barry took the opportunity to clear his throat and steady his voice before continuing.
"I knew it wasn't you and that none of that was this life but… but watching it happen in front of me… living that… it didn't feel any different because it was all still real. And Jay warned me not to get emotionally sucked in when I went there and that's exactly what happened. Now, Joe West on earth 2 is dead because I showed up."
"Bar that's not your fault."
"Yeah it's my fault! It's all my fault. King shark… Jay's death it's all because of me. And then I just left an entire world at Zooms mercy."
Unable to take the sympathetic looks of his family, Barry gathered himself up, slipping his hand out of Caitlin's he quickly kissed her on the top of her head before rushing himself out of the house.
Barry stood outside, his breath creating small pale clouds of hot smog as he exhaled. Staring out into the stars above, he took a deep breath closing he eyes he tried to forget about the pain, longing and hopelessness he felt when he was there. For a few moments by himself Barry tried to enjoy the quiet. The creaking of the front door opening and closing behind him he knew he was no longer alone.
Caitlin's POV
Caitlin didn't speak. Closing the door as quietly as she could behind her, she took a few steps making her way over to him. Barry stood with his back turned to her, unwavering as he stared out into the night. Caitlin stopped to stand next to him, her own eyes glued out into the abyss. She didn't know what to say. Barry was carrying this pain around with him. A pain she did know well. And she knew nothing other than time could heal. Shivering at the cold, Caitlin wrapped her arms around herself. Her thoughts racing. So much was happening around her… Jay… King Shark… Killer Frost… Barry's grief… the baby. With her life in chaos she felt so overwhelmed she didn't know what to do. One thing was for sure… she needed to tell Barry.
What felt like thousands of minutes of her lost in her thoughts were in reality mere seconds. She didn't even realize that Barry had wrapped his arms around her holding her close to his chest until she felt the warmth of his body ease into her.
Leaning into his chest, she knew there is where she belonged. How could she tell him they were pregnant? It was good news right? Or at least that's how she felt. But how would he feel?
Closing her eyes to muster up the courage to say it Caitlin opened her mouth about to confess when both of their phones suddenly buzzed, pulling them away from their quiet moment.
Barry's POV
"Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the suburbs… KING SHARK shows up at your house." Cisco bellowed raising his hands just to let them fall back to his sides in a thud.
"Man I don't even know how he found me. It's not like I was the Flash when I was at home." Barry explained.
"There must be a reason." Harry stated, taking another gulp of his coffee.
"Have you figured out a way to track down King Shark yet?"
"I don't have enough information to create an accurate algorithm." Harry replied shaking his head apologetically.
"What about Dr Lamden's research? Find anything that could help us?"
"I didn't think so at first but then I found something that I think could help us."
"Sharks are predators and in order to track their prey use what's known as passive electro-location."
"Passive electro-location?"
"Yes that's how the sense the bio electro potential around the fishes body."
"King shark sense the electricity in Barry's system." Harry said with a proud smirk.
"Okay that explains how King Shark can track Barry and how does that help us track him?" Lyla pointed out.
"We flip it. Instead of King Shark being the predator we make him the prey and we tracking him using active elector location." Caitlin proposed.
"We can reprogram our satellites to generate a specific electro field then measure any electrical distortions according to a one ton walking shark." Cisco added enthusiastically.
"That will help us get him." Harry concurred with a cheer of his mug towards Caitlin.
"You gonna help me out?" he mumbled to his daughter with a smile.
"Sure." She beamed excitedly following her father out of the cortex.
"Great. Let us know when you locate him and we'll take it from there."
"Yeah okay."
"Let's get the team ready."
Caitlin's POV
Barry shivered against the cold, as the light down pour of rain, created a curtain of fine mist by the waterfront. Stumbling down the uneven planks of rotten wood, Caitlin felt as Barry's hands caught her by the waist helping her back up. A smile crossed her lips as she mouthed a thank you. Barry didn't her go, instead he smoothed his hand up to her hands, curling his fingers around hers as the made their way down to the end of the dock.
"What exactly is that?" Diggle muttered, his eyes squinting to the distance where the team had set up a life size replica of Barry as the Flash tied to one of the bowies.
"That my friend is bait." Cisco's voice echoed into their ears.
"You made a flash lure?" Dig questioned.
"It's the best I could come up with given the time frame. It's meant to mimic and enhance the electric field Barry's body generates. King shark takes one wif of that cue the jaws soundtrack. We've stocked it with enough tranqs to knock him out for a month." Cisco's voice rambled through each of their ear pieces.
"Should make him a lot easier to reel in." Barry described.
"And that container… is it strong enough to hold him once he's sedated?" Dig motioned over his shoulder.
"It's made of promethium metal. It's impenetrable." Harry's voice interjected.
"Meanwhile we can keep of King Shark with this and the cameras that are on the lure. Whatever he does we'll have eyes on him." Caitlin noted, her eyes drifting to the tablet in her hand.
"Alright then… let's go fishing." Barry whispered under his breath finally coming to a halt on the dock.
'Caitlin… I can't understand why I can't be the one playing quint in this scenario. I should be the one out there not you."
Caitlin took a moment to respond. Looking up, Barry's eyes remained peeled out into the distance, his eyes scanning the dark unknown she knew that Cisco had closed their line so only she could hear.
"I need to do this." She whispered, squeezing tighter onto Barry's hand as he eyes softly dropped down to her stomach.
"Water is this monsters natural habitat he's going to be stronger here. You sure about this?" Diggle reaffirmed.
"This ends tonight." Barry replied, squeezing onto her hand as he spoke.
Barry's POV
*Hours later*
"Maybe he's not going to fall for this."
"He's a shark… he'll come."
"Anything Cisco?" he asked impatiently,
"Ugh nope nothing that looks like it could be him." Barry heard him shrug on the other end of the line.
Barry blew out a deep breath of frustration. He was sure this was going to work! Angry at himself, Barry had every confidence that their plan would work and that he could finally put an end to this. He could finally stop Zoom from hurting the people he cared about. At least the people of his earth. But as time ticked on, Barry grew more and more frustrated in the fact that he could be wrong once again.
"Hey babe, you okay?" Caitlin whispered, tugging on his hand so he turned to face her.
As Barry looked at her, something about her soft brown eyes, unclouded by judgement or greed made it so easy for him to open himself up to her, even though he tried to protect her from carrying the same pain or burden of knowledge he carried with him all the time, that something about her Barry knew he could no longer keep her at arm's length.
"Ever since Zoom beat me here and on Earth 2… I've been running away" he began to confess… almost apologize for how he'd been acting over the past few days since he got back.
"I've been running away from things instead of towards them… and things have changed... Cait I want to be the hero you see in your eyes but I just don't know how I can get back there... back to Earth 2."
"No matter what has happened Barry, you'll never change in my eyes. And we'll get you back there."
"I know." He whispered under his breath.
"Think of this as your first step… or swim." She teased nudging her shoulder into his arm.
Barry let out a small laugh as he smiled down at his wife. God did she know just what to say. Feeling a little more hopeful, Barry took a deep breath straightening up his body as he turned his attention back out to the deep waters.
"Guys incoming! He's headed for the bait!" Cisco's voice entered his ear.
Barry's eyes flickered down towards Caitlin's tablet, watching as King Shark made his fast approach to the bate.
"He ate the lure!" Caitlin exclaimed.
"Get ready to reel him in alright!" Barry instructed the team behind him.
"WHERE DID HE GO?!" Dig shouted.
Barry's body tensed. Stepping forward he positioned himself in front of Caitlin, his body defensively ready for an attack.
"He's headed for the docks!" Cisco informed them.
Without turning around, Barry pleaded Caitlin to go.
"Cait go. Go. Go. Go!" He pressed intently.
As the clattering of her footsteps died away, Barry's heart ease a little with the knowledge she was out of harm's way.
"Get ready to fire." He warned.
"Those guns won't stop me Flash. First I'll kill you then I'll kill them." King Shark laughed.
"Oh yeah let's do this then… come on!" Barry baited running past King Shark and out onto the water.
Barry sped past out into the vast water, he needed to get seemingly far out so no more innocent lives were in danger. Miles outside of the city's edge with King Shark behind him, Barry slowed for a fraction of a second, catching King Shark in the middle as Barry began running clockwise in a circle as he picked back up his speed.
"What is he doing?" Cisco's voice vibrated through the coms.
"He's electrifying the water." Barry heard Caitlin smile.
Hearing her voice, electrified the cells in his body, pushing him faster until her created enough energy to fire off a shot of electricity, knocking the shark unconscious.
As King Shark's body floated to the surface, Barry dragged him back towards the city's edge, dropping him close as he skidded to an abrupt halt in front of his friends.
"How about you reel him in?" Barry said breathlessly, leaning over his knees trying to catch his breath.
"Hell of a catch Barry." Diggle laughed just as Caitlin came running into his arms, burying her face in his neck.
Barry wrapped his arms around her tightly pulling her closer to him.
"Yeah let's just make sure he doesn't kill the one that got away." Barry replied, dropping Caitlin gently back to the ground.
"We won't let that happen again." Lyla agreed.
"So what are you going to do?" Caitlin asked curiously with Barry's arm still tightly around her waist.
"I don't know yet. But one thing is for sure… A.R.G.U.S' plan to turn King Shark into a weapon died with Amanda Waller. Our time is better served figuring out how he came to be and how to cure him." She smiled.
"You know you should talk to Dr Lamden she's done a lot of research and I think it could be helpful to you." Caitlin suggested.
"I'll do that. Nice to see you again." Barry let go of Caitlin, as she drifted out of his arm, and into Lyla's for a hug.
Barry watched after her, as both of them stepped away, Caitlin informing Lyla of Dr. Lamden's research.
"Well thanks a lot Dig" Barry smiled.
"I got to thank you Barry. I got Lyla her first win… I got to watch you run on water. It was biblical." He teased.
With a short snort of laughter, Barry looked over towards Caitlin. With King Shark gone they were safe now. Right? Thinking that Barry just needed to keep reminding himself that the worst was behind them and that he had to start thinking forward.
Sensing his quietness, Diggle began to speak. "Look when I was in Afghanistan I lost a lot of friends… brothers. So to lose Jay I know how it feels like. Questioning yourself, blaming yourself for his death and that guilt… it can tear you apart. Trust me man you got to get control of it. Or it will rip you up inside. Use this man. Let it guide you so it never happens again."
Listening to his words Barry knew he was right. It was much easier said than done. But he was going to try. No more running away. He had to face whatever was coming for them head on. He had to start looking to the future instead of the past. Like Dig said… he had to lean to let it go.
"Alright …. Thanks man. Say hi to everyone for me."
"I will."
Caitlin's POV
Instead of returning back to S.T.A.R Labs, Barry ran them straight home. Flashing inside, Barry dropped Caitlin from his arms gently to the ground.
"Home sweet home." Barry cooed as he dropped a quick kiss on her lips.
Leaning into his lips, Caitlin drew at his hand leading him upstairs. Dropping her things as they made their way up, without turning around, Caitlin reached behind her opening the door into the bathroom. As they stumbled in, Caitlin dropped Barry's hand as she fumbled for the lights. Caitlin moved across the room, unbuttoning the buttons of her jacket, letting it fall to the floor behind her as she made her way to the bath. Bending over, Caitlin reached over, turning the handles, allowing the stream of cold and hot water fill the tub. Reaching around her, she drew the zip of her dress down, shrugging out of her dress; she let the fabric sooth over her skin as it fell to pool at her feet. Stepping out of her dress and dipping her feet into the water, testing it, she felt as Barry's eyes bore into the back of her head. His eyes drinking her in as she slid beneath water. It wasn't long before Barry crossed the room joining her. Caitlin stared up at him, as Barry hovered over her, his hands gripping either side of the tub easing himself down. With their eyes interlocked, Barry leaned down kissing her, the water splashing against their bodies as he drew closer to her.
Breaking away, Caitlin saw the exhaustion in his eyes, mirroring her own. Shifting his body around, Caitlin opened herself up so that she cradled Barry's body against hers. Barry leaned his against her bare chest. Grabbing the sponge beside her, Caitlin began soothing over his exposed chest. She felt as his muscles relaxed under her fingers.
"Talk to me…" she whispered, he lips brushing against his ear.
And after a moment's silence, Barry did and she listened. For what was only a couple of days that felt like eternity, he began opening up about what happened to him on Earth 2.
*The next day at S.T.A.R Labs*
After everything Barry had told her last night and the way she had been acting lately especially towards Cisco, Caitlin set off down the hall to find him. Peering around the door and into his lab, Caitlin observed as Cisco was bent over his desk, tinkering intensely at something in front of him.
"What are you doing with those?" She whispered as she snuck up behind him softly.
"I'm adjusting the wavelength trigger seeing if I can get those to work over here." He muttered out a reply without looking up at her.
Biting down on her lip to stop herself from laughing, Caitlin composed herself reaching out her hand to touch his arm.
"So you can catch some breachers?" she said her voice low.
Caitlin almost lost it as she saw Cisco flinch back uncontrollably at her touch.
"Dear god! Caitlin your hands are freezing." He exclaimed taking in a sharp breath and staggering back.
"Caitlin? I always hated that name." she glared at him, taking slow purposeful steps towards him.
"Oh no. No! No. No! Its starting. You're becoming –" he stammered jolting back into his desk.
"Killer Frost?" she finished.
Caitlin saw as Cisco's eyes widened in fright. His reaction brought her to uncontrollable fits of laughter.
"That ain't right! That ain't right! That's just rude. Who put you up to this? Barry put you up to this didn't he? Oh I should have known you to are…"
"Cold?" she finished raising her eyebrows.
"Yeah!" he nodded offended.
"You deserve it for ever thinking that I could become like her. Cisco you need to stop worrying about me. Jay's death may have brought up some issues about my dad I need to figure out, I may be pregnant and moody but I promise you that Killer frost will never exist on this earth. Plus you've tested me I don't even have the metahuman gene. Please stop worrying about me okay." She smiled, taking his hand into hers.
"Okay. But it's kind of hard when you got a mini human growing inside you now. But I'll try." He pointed out looking down at her stomach.
Caitlin smiled at the thought, her eyes following his as she moved her hand over her belly.
"Okay come on Barry wanted us upstairs." She said shaking her head and bringing herself back to the present.
"Speaking of which, have you told him about…" he motioned with eyes to her belly.
"No, not yet please don't tell him. He should hear it from me." She ushered him to keep quiet.
Her eyes soft and intense as she pleaded with him.
"You're secrets safe with me." he smiled offering his arm.
Caitlin let out a sigh of relief and took his arm with a grateful grin.
"Hail, hail the gangs all here. What's good?" Cisco cheered happily as he led Caitlin by the arm into the cortex.
Caitlin smiled up at Barry as she made her way over to his side. As his arm smoothed over her back resting his hand on her waist, he looked down from her back up to their friends gathered in front of them.
"Uhh… I need to apologize to you all." He paused, glancing down at her for a quick second as if gathering his courage before continuing to speak.
"Um… last year I made a choice to go back in time and save my mother... and that choice had a lot of consequences that will haunt me for the rest of my life... just like I know it haunts all of you too. Zoom… Jay's death it's all because of me but I own those choices. We're the ones who opened the door to Earth 2 … we're the one who brought Zoom here but we are also the ones who are going to stop him."
"How… how are we going to stop Zoom, Allen?" Harry interjected.
"I don't know yet. But those breaches aren't closed forever and we aren't done with earth 2. Jay's death was not in vain. We will meet zoom again and the next time I will beat him. Whoever that monster is…" he trailed off lost in his own thoughts.