"Wow, Iris! Slow down!" Barry had to yell into his phone since apparently, his better half wouldn't stop talking. "Just... go back and tell me everything again, ok? Did I get it right? Did you actually break into Mercury Labs?! Iris, do you have any idea how dangerous that was?!"
"Lovers' spat?" Cisco asked Caitlin, walking inside with bags filled with food for which the woman eagerly reached out.
She really wanted to sink her teeth into her absolute favorite bagel, but she also didn't want to keep her friend hanging, so she quickly relayed what had happened after her left – minus her discovering how Iris changed into her "ghost stage" during sex with Barry, of course – and finally started eating happily, smiling at her food.
Or maybe it wasn't just food. Maybe all the recent developments made her more hopeful. Maybe she could actually see a light in the tunnel, Harry being just out of her reach, but already close enough for her to actually believe they could get him back soon.
By the time Barry, very pale and very angry, hung up, Caitlin managed to devour an entire bagel and was taking a sip of her coffee before reaching for another pastry. She was just so freaking hungry after everything that already happened and it was barely the beginning of their day! She wondered what still awaited them in hours to come.
Well, wasn't kept waiting to find out.
"You won't believe it, but…" Barry started when turning to them and scratching his head.
"Iris broke into Mercury Labs?" Cisco asked, having heard enough from their conversation. "You don't say! Why would your criminal girlfriend even do something like that? Has she started abusing her powers already?"
"Dude!" Barry exclaimed.
"What? I was just kidding! Or maybe not?" Cisco then risked it. "Come on, tell us everything."
"She was scheduled to interview dr. McGee of Mercury Labs and once that was over, she left, but actually came right back when using her powers. It wasn't for the article or anything, though. It was for us. For you, actually." Barry turned to Caitlin and she shot him a surprised look.
"Your girlfriend broke the law for me?"
"Yeah. She heard Mercury Labs was developing some kind of a device that in theory should made it possible to operate in between dimensions and, if there are any, open up a way there."
"That's actually genius! I could kiss her! If we can take a look, we can totally free Harry!" Cisco got excited, but Caitlin could tell by the look on Barry's face that he still wasn't sure what to think of this whole situation. "Dude!" the guy then added, "all we need now is to locate and lure Ronnie into a trap so we could trade him for Harry! And with your powers, we can totally make it work!"
"Iris only got the pictures of the blueprints. I'm not sure the device is even built yet, let alone tested," Barry provided the info when scratching his head nervously.
"So? We can totally work with blueprints! I actually bet that Mercury Labs won't make it work. Thinking relative physics, to power a device so it could potentially open up a way into another dimension… that technology doesn't exist yet. Even the S.T.A.R. Labs was never able to find it and we did build the particle accelerator. That could've actually been the first step, but without it… But we got you, dude!" Cisco patted Barry's shoulder. "You got the blueprints? I need to take a look right away!"
"Yeah. Iris needed to head to work and write that interview down, but she sent me an e-mail. Let me check…" Barry grabbed his phone.
"Ok, let me transfer this to our server… You two, off to work on those powers of yours, Barry, because they're definitely gonna be the key!"
The news might've made them all think it would all go easy from now on, but they were wrong. In fact, difficulties just began as Barry had been spending nearly his every wake hour in the lab, trying to get a hold on his powers while Cisco kept on studying the blueprints, building various constructions till he put them all together to make them into Mercury Labs' device. Iris popped in and out occasionally, this time not giving Barry any hard time for neglecting her as it was actually her idea in the first place. She wanted nothing more than for Caitlin to get the man she loved back, herself feeling a little guilty for being happy whereas another woman was suffering. That was also the reason to why she pushed Barry to work harder on his powers and to spend more of his time in the Labs rather than with her, though she did came in handy in his workplace as well when he was practicing. He couldn't possibly hurt her while she was using her powers, making herself either invisible or transparent enough for objects to just fly through her body. It'd actually taken Barry two days to manage to electrify anything at all and he started to think maybe this one time with Caitlin was just been a fluke, but it wasn't. It wasn't because it was Iris who got to him to finally use his powers and was working with him during the little free time she had.
Right now, though, she decided to take care of another member of the team while still feeling guilty about suspecting she had an affair with Barry. Everyone in the Labs had something to do now. Everyone was working hard. Everyone except Caitlin. She'd kept on scanning the city, looking for Ronnie and trying to come up with a way to lure him into a trap, but it was nothing in comparison to what Cisco was focusing on – now proudly informing he was able to improve the device and made it so much smaller than Mercury Labs intended for it to be – and Barry who was working on controlling his powers and using them whenever he needed. Caitlin was somehow left out and with computers and satellites doing most of the work for her, Iris could only imagine that she was slowly going out of her mind, just feeling stuck as she waited for her man to be rescued.
"How are you holding up, Cait?" Iris asked when they were already seated in Jitters over cups of their favorites. She really wanted to make the effort and get to know the woman closer as she liked her practically from the moment they'd interacted for the first time.
"I do what I can," Snow said in a feeble and tired voice as she nursed the cup of her coffee, not breaking a smile. "It's just… hard, I guess… You know, with the waiting. I've actually been trying to study my blood closer, but I can't seem to focus enough. Not without…" She bit on her lip and looked aside. "I don't even want to think about how long it's been, Iris. I miss him so much. I also don't want to think what happens if we don't…" She stopped right there, apparently not able to finish that sentence.
"Hey, we will get him back, I can feel it. This is it. We got everything we need. We just need to wait a little bit longer for Barry and Cisco to figure out a way to power the device, but with Barry's powers…"
"The test results did come back very promising," Caitlin finally admitted, sending Iris's way a small smile. "But we still have to get Ronnie."
"You know, I might actually be able to help with that. Did I mention my dad's a cop?" When Caitlin shook her head, Iris continued, "I was thinking of asking him to track Ronnie down for me, pretending that I have a friend who's scared of him. He might be an abusive ex-boyfriend and someone might need to be sure he would stay clear of them."
"Do you think it could work?"
"Probably. There's nothing my dad won't do for me, especially when it comes to any woman's safety. I'll try to find something out and then, once we know where he is, we'll set a trap. Of course we don't need to involve my dad in that."
"Then maybe it's not such a good idea to ask him at all," Cait voiced her opinion when thinking it all through, "because what if he later on checks up on Ronnie and finds him gone? If we throw him into the speedforce… he won't come back."
"But that won't be murder," Iris argued. "He abused his powers in the worst way possible and they want him there to pay for it. Dr. Wells is the innocent party here. He did the most selfless thing when taking Ronnie's place."
A shadow passed through Caitlin's face at the memory of one of the worst days of her life. "He wasn't always like that," she then decided to inform Iris. "He was actually quite the jerk, always nice only towards me, Cisco or Barry. My falling for him wasn't rational at all because when I think of it, I consider myself a person who pays attention to those kinds of things, to people being nice to other people and Harry… Well, he was always just Harry. I couldn't put a label on him. He could be cold, closed-off and even cruel to those who seemed to deserve it, but there was also this whole other side to him. I guess I could always sense there was a soft, loving and sensitive man hiding beyond all that layers. I must have since I can't imagine falling for him otherwise."
Iris, to Caitlin's astonishment, nodded in understanding. Snow thought that none of what she said made sense, so a surprise, indeed, awaited her.
"I get it. It's not like you can choose the man you fall for. And love changes us, Caitlin. I think he always had those feelings for you as well. Though, I can't tell for sure since he was in a coma when I was a ghost roaming the S.T.A.R. Labs' halls," they both chuckled. "You two just make sense and belong to each other. And that is exactly why we need to pull him out. Also, as I think of it some more, he totally always was a good man, just hid it well. Maybe he was afraid of getting hurt. Maybe he did in the past."
Caitlin nodded. "Yeah. That would be accurate."
"Exactly. I used to have mixed feelings about him. Especially after he confessed to knowing of the risk when it came to the particle accelerator, but now I believe his personal expertise. He decided nothing would happen and it wouldn't have if it hadn't been for Ronnie."
Caitlin couldn't help it as her eyes shone with fresh tears. All that Iris just told her both made her feel better and touched her deeply.
"Now, let me try another approach," Iris suggested when reaching over the table to squeeze her friend's hand briefly. "I won't be asking my dad for help personally, but I will snoop around the precinct."
"I couldn't possibly ask you that. You already did that with Mercury Labs and Barry wasn't all too happy about it."
West just rolled her eyes in response. "Barry is too good of a boy. I bet he never broke any rule." She then winked at Cait. "What's the point of having such amazing powers if I can't use them to help my friends? I'm not robbing a bank, Cait. I'm helping you all to get a good man back." After that, Iris finished her coffee and said her goodbyes whereas Cait headed back to the Labs.
"Yatzee!" Cisco called out the next day and when Caitlin looked his way, she spotted him jumping up and down with his fist in the air.
"Is it done?" she asked in excitement that was hard to hide. Those days she always told herself to be careful and not to get ahead of herself in order to spare herself the heartache that would soon follow, but this time… She couldn't help it. Cisco looked like he finally cracked it.
"Take that, M Labs!" he yelled. "My device is so much better! And it's actually gonna work!"
"Are you sure?" Caitlin queried when making her way to him and in the same moment Barry reminded, "Technically, Mercury Labs did invent it first, Cisco. You just… let's say… improved their version."
"Well, dah! But I don't think they're gonna make it work! So take that!"
"And you were only able to do that because of the parts you took from the accelerator and the powers Barry developed, weren't you?" Caitlin backed his oldest friend up and Cisco just shot them a look.
"How about you're a genius, Cisco? What would we do without you, Cisco? You saved our asses, Cisco – or wait! – rather theass of someone you really want to get back!"
"Ok, ok, stop," Barry raised his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "We truly appreciate all of your input, Cisco."
"Better! But still not good enough!"
"Can we maybe get Harry back first? Because if this doesn't work, then we're getting ahead of ourselves," Cait said, though it was superhard for her to do. She didn't want to even acknowledge the possibility, but she had to prepare herself for it just the same, because if she let her herself fully believe this would work, she might end up being disappointed and hurt more than ever before. It was truly their last hope as it seemed. The only other plausible solution would be giving Ronnie his speed back while turning the accelerator on and therefore provoking the speedforce to open up and swallow him. Still, they had no way of knowing whether it would 'spit' Harry out in the process and it would be putting everyone in the city in danger.
"Hey, it's gonna be ok, Cait," Cisco addressed her, his voice conveying a softer note. Caitlin was actually surprised that it was him who said it first and not Barry, but it was time to give him more credit since they had grown so much closer during Harry's absence. That being the only positive she could find in all of this and she knew Harry would like that. "This is gonna work. I know it."
"Of course it will!" They heard Iris making her way into the cortex. "I was trying to track Ronnie when using my dad's precinct when no one was around his office, but I think I've got a better idea! This!" She showed them the newest paper. "Mercury Labs is presenting the dimension splicer tonight. I'm pretty sure it's not gonna work," she winked Cisco's way, "but I also think Ronnie might show up. He's desperate for power and this is the only way he may have now as he won't risk sneaking into the Labs again."
"Gah!" Cisco exclaimed, suddenly appalled and they all looked at him, taken aback. "Dimension splicer? For real?! This name is terrible!"
"Oh, who cares!" Caitlin called out. "It seems like we'll only get this one chance. Let's make the best of it!"
Surprisingly, Iris proved herself to be excellent in the field and that was even without using her powers.
They decided Ronnie would most definitely recognize every one of them, but he wouldn't Iris. At least they hoped so, so the woman dolled herself up, making sure she didn't wear clothes or hair matching her usual style just in case he might connect her to Barry and therefore to the Labs as she entered the Mercury Labs presentation when using her journalist pass.
She almost thought Ronnie wouldn't come, but she finally spotted him and when gently grazing herself against him, injected him with a basically harmless toxin Caitlin had cooked in her lab earlier. The needle was hidden in Iris's new watch – courtesy of Cisco, which made them all feel like they were actually in some spy movie rather than doing whatever they had to in order to get Harrison back.
Before Raymond knew what was happening, he was collapsing, losing his consciousness and Iris immediately screamed, grabbing her phone and informing she was calling 911.
Only she didn't, obviously.
Instead, it was Barry and Cisco who eventually got in, dressed like medics and made a show before taking Ronnie out on a stretcher. The presentation started just when it got quiet again, people forgetting about the man who fainted and turning their attention to Dr. McGee on the scene.
In the meantime, Barry and Cisco with Iris's help got Ronnie to S.T.A.R. Labs' van parked on the back and after they all jumped in, Caitlin immediately drove away.
"Oh, my God! I can't believe it worked so smoothly!" She exhaled a breath a relief, yet knowing the hardest part was still ahead.
"My girl!" Barry paid Iris a compliment. "With this set of skills and in this knock-out dress, you could be the next Bond's girl!"
"Honestly, Barry, whereas I do appreciate the compliment, I'd rather be all yours, because I would never let anyone objectify me the way Bond always does women."
"Now I'm even more in love with you, honey!"
Just then Cisco made a disgusting sound, telling them to get a room once this was all over and stop for now.
They drove to the abandoned airstrip he'd found just outside the city as fast as they could, yet while making sure they didn't break any speed limits. It wouldn't do them any good if they were caught transporting an unconscious man against his will.
"What if he wakes up too soon?" Iris asked when glancing at her watch and then back at Ronnie's sleeping form.
"He won't. I took into account his speedster metabolism since we also need to remember that despite his powers being gone, his DNA remains changed. Frankly, I'd be more worried that he might not wake up."
Iris shrugged. "Would serve him well," she just said, shooting the immobile man a look full of disgust. "For what he did and tried to do to us all."
Barry searched for her hand and took it, squeezing gently as he remembered about Iris being dead in the potential life Ronnie could create.
"Ok, we're here. Now it's all up to you, guys!" Caitlin informed, stopping the car and killing the engine. "Get down to work!" She was actually glad she didn't have a more important role to play here than to just drive, because she could already feel her body starting to shake in nervous, almost sickening anticipation. It could be Harry waiting for her at the end of this road, but… what if…? She swallowed hard, closing her eyes, taking a deep breath and steadying herself. She had to be strong for both him and herself. She had to believe it would be him. That she would get him back and they would never have to part ever again.
Iris gently took the device Cisco had built out of the car while the men transported Ronnie from the van onto the ground. It wasn't like he deserved a pillow.
Caitlin finally exited the vehicle when Cisco was preparing his creation. He looked her way, a silent question in his eyes and she just nodded, giving him the ok, her hand squeezing over a small syringe. She wanted Ronnie to be aware of the fact that the speedforce was taking him in, so she planned to wake him up when injecting him with the cure just before throwing him in there.
"Barry, it's your turn," Cisco said when turning the device on. It immediately flashed with blue light that seemed rather beautiful, if not a little eerie in the setting sun.
Barry took a deep breath as he rolled up his sleeves, making his way to the device whereas everyone else moved back.
"I present you with…" Cisco started, savoring the anticipation, "the breacher!"
"That's your name for it?" Iris raised her eyebrows.
"Don't pretend you don't like it! In comparison to dimension splicer, it's brilliant!"
Caitlin and Iris exchanged amused looks and it made the first feel a little bit better. Well, maybe she didn't feel like throwing up anymore, instead being just jittery, but it was a plus nevertheless.
Barry braced himself and finally used his powers, an electric current flowing from his hands straight onto the device's special battery designed by Cisco and… They all held their breaths, waiting and waiting and eventually…
Caitlin's heart sunk since she was almost sure they failed and were never…
Only just then they saw something resembling an explosion of light hung in the air, looking like a portal slowly opening, widening. I could also be called a breach, Cait thought in that minute when hope swelled in her heart and her eyes opened widely…
Then, before anyone could stop her, she ran forward, standing right next to Barry who was still powering the device and she injected Ronnie with the counter poison.
His eyes opened widely as he gasped, touching the spot on his neck where she not so gentle stubbed him. His eyes only enlarged more when he noticed her, too surprised to even think of attacking and then…
He screamed when some invisible force pulled him forward and straight into the freshly opened breach. He tried to fight it, his nails actually screeching the concrete ground as he turned to his belly, but to no avail. Soon, he was gone, sucked inside and…
It all happened way too fast.
The light suddenly disappeared along with the breach. Cisco's device blew up, sending sparks all over and they all covered their eyes, Barry actually throwing himself at Caitlin to protect her with his body as they both tumbled to the ground.
Yet, they weren't the only one.
"Holy shit!" they heard Cisco cursing loudly. Then again, Cait thought, he didn't sound disappointed. Quite the contrary.
She never in her life got up so fast, unceremoniously pushing Barry aside so she could free herself and she was right there, few feet away from the spot she landed in with her friend, getting to a very naked man lying on the ground and shaking with cold.
"Oh, my God!" both she, Barry and Iris seemed to exclaim in the same time. "Harry!" that was Caitlin alone, not at all bothered by his nakedness since she'd already seen it all. She put her hands on his shoulders and gently turned him on his back so she could look at his face and make sure it was, indeed, her Harry.
There was fresh stubble on his cheeks, indicating the time passing by and maybe his own lack of clothes meant the same. Maybe whatever power hid in the speedforce, it was too strong and eventually burnt all of his clothes off. Then again, Caitlin couldn't care less in the moment, just happy she got him back, that it was Harry in her arms now. Her eyes filled up with tears as he finally locked them with the familiar depths of his blues.
"Snow?" he asked and that was truly all she needed to burst out crying and cling to his body, holding on too him like there was no tomorrow. In fact, she vowed never to let him go ever again, the entire world be damned. "Snow. I... God, I can't believe it."
"You're here. You're home, Harry."
"But how?"
"Can we just skip that for now and get straight to the point in which this man is lying on the ground completely naked? Can we maybe give him some clothes, please?" Cisco asked and when Caitlin forced herself to let go of Harry's arms and look behind herself, she saw the three of their friends standing there rather awkwardly, trying to look everywhere but not at their older friend's flesh.
"Wait… let me…" Cait grabbed the scarf she was wearing around her neck and undid the tie.
"Um… Snow, I think you're gonna need a bigger scarf," Harry pointed out and just then Cisco covered his eyes with his hands, groaning loudly, "Oh, God, please, no! I don't want to hear or see any more!"
They all, minus Ramon, started laughing and Caitlin couldn't be happier. She just now got her final proof that it was Harry back safe and sound.
She quickly cupped his face and kissed him hard and straight on the lips, her tears wetting his skin as she couldn't stop crying. Though, this time it was all from joy.
"It makes me think we should've undressed Ronnie before we threw him in there. Then we would've had clothes to…" Iris started.
"So you could see, yet, another man naked that is not your boyfriend?" Barry actually seemed appalled. "Not on my watch, miss West!"
Iris laughed and then she just shook her head before heading to the van. "You did dress like medics and you did have a stretcher with… Eureka!" she called out when coming back with a blanket in her hands and then she threw it Harry and Caitlin's way. "Works better than the scarf." She winked at Cait when she helped Harry up as he already covered himself. He was still shaky and maybe it was also from exhaustion or lack of nourishment. Caitlin didn't even try to think right now about what had happened to him in the speedforce, whether he was hungry or whether he slept or maybe none of that was important in there. For now, taking him back to the Labs was all that mattered. That and the fact that she was never letting him out of her sight and probably the general vicinity of her hands ever again.
"That's definitely big enough, thank you, Iris, for your quick wit!" Cisco turned to the woman, so she smiled at him.
"You're welcome, Cisco."
"Too late, though. I swear, it's like his junk is burnt into my brain," he immediately complained.
"You're welcome, Ramon," Harry provided teasingly and then he chuckled on hearing his friend groan in response.
"We should've just left you in there!"
"We both know you wouldn't stop till you got me back. What was that about Raymond anyways? How did you, guys, pull it off?"
Cisco had to admit Harry right, but he didn't exactly have to say it, did he now?