"Has anyone seen Caitlin today?" Barry asked his friends and they shook their heads.
"I haven't seen or heard from her since she went home last night," Cisco said and Barry frowned.
"Yeah, me neither," he muttered as he pulled out his phone and hit her speed dial again. Straight to voicemail. For the fifth time.
"Something isn't right, it's not like her to not tell us if she's going to be late. I'm going to go to her apartment and make sure everything is okay," Barry said.
"Take me with you," Cisco replied and he nodded his head. He flashed them out of the cortex and stopped right outside of Caitlin's apartment. He waited for Cisco to get his bearings, bouncing on the balls of his feet impatiently. Finally, Cisco seemed collected enough to go look for her. They walked up the three flights of stairs to her floor, (something Barry had committed to memory when he took her home all those nights ago). Once they made it to her floor, Barry headed down the hallway, ready to knock on her door but stopped dead on his feet instead.
Her door was swung wildly off it's hinges, with ice encasing the knob. Walking carefully and quietly, Barry and Cisco made their way into her apartment and looked around. Barry felt his jaw drop. Clearly, some form of a fight had occurred if the blood splatters on the wall were anything to go by. It worried Barry that he didn't know whose blood it was. Gulping, he glanced at Cisco, who was staring nervously at the blood.
"Barry, where the hell is Caitlin?" Cisco muttered and Barry was just about to tell him he didn't know when a voice spoke up.
"Caitlin's exactly where I need her," a cold voice called and Barry felt his blood run cold. He knew that voice, knew it like the back of his hand. Yet it was different, colder somehow. Glancing up he spotted a woman who so closely resembled his friend that for a moment he was convinced it was Caitlin, playing a trick on them. Then, the woman walked into the light and Barry could truly see she was every bit Caitlin's enemy, this woman named Killer Frost.
"Where is she?" Barry asked lowly but Killer Frost merely chuckled and waved a finger back and forth.
"Ah, ah, ah, not so fast," she smirked and Barry clenched his fists.
"Where. Is. She." Barry demanded but it did nothing to propel the answer forward any faster. Killer Frost merely smirked more.
"She's in safe confinement," she replied.
"What the hell does that mean?" Barry growled, momentarily forgetting Cisco was in the room with them.
"I swear, if you touched a single hair on her head, I'll-"Barry started but was cut off.
"But I did," Killer Frost smiled and Barry saw red.
"I want to know exactly what you plan on doing about it," Killer Frost whispered and Barry was just about to launch himself at her when Cisco threw out his arm.
"Wait," he said sharply and Barry exhaled slowly through his nose.
"What?" Barry hissed.
Cisco looked directly at Killer Frost. "I'm going to need proof that my best friend is alive."
Killer Frost shrugged a shoulder. "Suit yourself."
She walked over to where there was a camera on the table, something that neither guys had spotted and walked back to them. She pulled up some images of Caitlin sitting in a cell, bound and gagged, looking absolutely terrified. Then the next photo showed two men guarding the cell. The final showed her either asleep or unconscious, Barry wasn't sure which.
"Happy?" Killer Frost snapped and Cisco and Barry shared a look before Cisco nodded.
"Do your worst, Barry," he muttered and Barry prepared to do just that. However, a tiny detail stopped him. If he looked hard enough at this monster, he saw Caitlin. His Cait. A woman who would never turn into this person, could never be this cold and calculating. He hesitated long enough for Killer Frost to backhand him.
"Is that all you've got, Flash?" Killer Frost taunted and Cisco ran over to Barry to help steady him.
"Dude, what the hell?" Cisco muttered.
"She-she looks like Cait, Cisco," Barry said and Cisco sighed.
"But she's not and you need to remember that." Cisco emphasized before pulling Barry to his feet and pushing him forward. Once again, just as Barry was about to land his own punch, he saw Caitlin smiling at him and stopped, long enough to be decked in the face. He heard Cisco grumble as he fell to the ground for a second time.
"This is fun," Killer Frost cried joyously. Barry sat up and glared at her, wondering if he could hurt her with his look alone.
"I need to speak to Caitlin," Barry demanded, as a thought began to form.
Killer Frost looked at him intensely for a moment before nodding her head.
"Alright," she complied and pulled out a phone. Barry watched as she pulled up some camera on it and then called out to the two guys guarding her cell.
"Antony, Adam, bring our girl forward."
Barry watched as one of the guys walked over to the cell Caitlin was in and roughly shook her awake. He bit back a snarl. His eyes checked her over as she was thrusted forward and winced when he saw she was limping. The man, Anthony or whoever, stopped right in front of the camera the other guy held up and waited for instructions.
"That's all we needed, put her back," Killer Frost stated but Barry intervened.
"Wait! I said I needed to speak to her," he exclaimed and Killer Frost studied him before rolling her eyes.
"Fine, Flash, speak," she replied in a clipped tone and Barry looked at the guy who was holding her tightly by the arm.
"Take off the gag," he ordered and the man yanked it down.
"Caitlin, are you alright?" Barry asked gently.
"Yes," she rasped out, sounding like she hadn't had any water in a while. Barry sighed but smiled proudly at how brave she was being.
"Hang in there, Cait, we're coming for you," Cisco piped up and Barry nodded his head.
"We are," he affirmed softly.
"That's enough," Killer Frost snapped. The man holding Caitlin nodded his head and kicked her forward. The sound of pain that left her mouth was going to haunt Barry for years to come, he was sure of it. However, it also propelled him into action. He glared at Killer Frost who was smiling at him.
"Now what, Fla-"Barry didn't give her a chance to finish before he threw his first punch, catching her off guard. From there, it was a flurry of punches and kicks, both of them trying to get the upper hand. Barry finally did and he grinned in satisfaction as Killer Frost crumpled to the ground, unconscious. He picked her up and looked at Cisco.
"Stay here and try to locate Caitlin while I lock our friend here in the pipeline," he said and Cisco nodded his head. Barry flashed to star labs and looked down at Killer Frost as he brought down a cell. He still thought it was Caitlin he was locking up, so put her in quickly and didn't hang around a moment longer than he had to.
Once he was back inside Caitlin's apartment, he ran over to Cisco.
"Tell me you found out where she is," he implored and watched as Cisco grinned triumphantly.
"I have. Idiot forgot to take off his tracker on his phone. She's at a warehouse on the edge of town. Find her and I'll call Joe to get his team out there," Cisco stated and Barry didn't need telling twice. He ran through the city, all the way until he was at the edge of it. True to his word, there was a warehouse down the ways a bit. Flashing to edge of it, Barry peeked around the corner and saw Caitlin sitting in the cell, bound and gagged once again, however, she was conscious this time. Barry flashed in and quickly took care of the two idiots who were meant to be guarding her and then ran towards the cell.
"Caitlin, Cait, it's me," he murmured and watched as she turned her eyes, round with fear on him. She tried to speak through her gag but Barry shook his head quickly.
"Don't talk yet, I need to get you out of there and that off you," he murmured and she fell silent. He vibrated the door off the cell and placed it down before hurrying in and dropping to his knees. He pulled the gag off her mouth gently and vibrated the handcuffs off her wrist.
"Caitlin, are you okay?" Barry asked gently.
"Yes," she rasped out, sounding tired and defeated.
"No, you're not," Barry muttered with a frown and bent down to pick her up. She cringed at the pain it caused in her leg.
"Sorry, sorry," Barry soothed as he secured her more safely in his arms. She nodded her head tiredly.
"Get me out of here, please," she mumbled and Barry did just that. Running out of that warehouse and not stopping until he reached the hospital.
He spent three days by her bedside, not even leaving to check in with the precinct. It wasn't until Cisco sat down next to him on the third day with an uncharacteristically somber expression did he budge.
"What?" Barry asked softly and Cisco didn't beat around the bush.
"Do you like her?" Cisco asked bluntly and Barry blinked, cause, what?
"What? No. No. Not-Not like that," he muttered, trying to keep any hints of red off his face.
"Really? Because it sure seemed like it when you were fighting Killer Frost. You couldn't fight her to begin with, Barry," Cisco stated and Barry squirmed around uncomfortably, trying to get a way around this conversation. Seeing none, he sighed.
"Fine, I-I might care for her in more than a platonic way but…"he trailed off as Cisco frowned.
"No buts, Allen, you need to tell her how you feel. Before you don't get a chance to do so. Three days ago should've proven that to you," Cisco said and Barry sighed as he rubbed a weary hand over his face.
"You're right," he muttered and Cisco nodded.
"I know. You know. Now do something about it," he replied before jerking his head at Caitlin, who had started stirring slowly. Barry watched him leave the room before looking at Caitlin, smiling softly. Yes, it was time to do something about it.
"Barry?" Caitlin asked softly.
"Hey," he murmured, not knowing where they were going to go from here but knew it'd be better than what they were leaving behind.
Author's note: A prompt for anon, hope you liked it! Also, do you any of you guys like One Tree Hill? Or, Naley, is what I'm really after. I am tossing around some ideas of writing Caitlin and Barry as Naley for oneshots asnd wondered what you guys thought. If that seems interesting, let me know!