Chapter 20

Barry Allen got just over two hours of sleep before his phone started blaring loudly, forcing him out of his deep sleep. It took him a minute or two to get his barrings and figure out that he wasn't in the small spare room of Cisco's apartment, but he was in fact in his and Caitlin's bedroom at their apartment. The whole time his mind was shaking the sleep from it and he was getting his barring by trying to recall why he was where he was in the first place Caitlin was grumbling in her sleep beside him "Stupid telephone, turn it off", or less polite words to that affect. Barry reached over and picked the phone off of his bedside table and answered it, when he did so before he could even get his name out he was greeted by Joe's voice and he was speaking quickly and with a great deal of urgency in his voice.

"Barry, Albert is waking up form that hit you gave him last night and detective Paterson is on his way to the hospital to get his statement right now, if you don't want Albert to tell him it was Caitlin who kidnapped him, then you had better get over there right now and find some way to convince him not to do it." Joe explained and he didn't have to say anything else, Barry was wide awake and full of energy, he wasn't going to let Caitlin go to jail, where he was sure Killer Frost would take her over again.

"Right, I am on my way now." Barry stated and without waiting for a response he hung up the phone and quickly flashed into a fresh set of clothes and was out the door leaving a sleeping Caitlin none the wiser.

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By the time Barry reached the hospital he just caught Paterson down the hall from Julian Albert's room and after feeding the detective some cock and bull story about Julian being his friend and wanting to be sure he was alright, he got permission to talk to him before the detective did and so he steeled himself for the hardest conversation he could imagine having at that moment, trying to convince Julian not to turn in a Meta-Human who had kidnapped and hurt him.

When Barry entered the hospital room he saw that Julian was sitting up in his bed and besides the bandage wrapped around his head and the one wrapped abound his wrist, he looked like his old self, and that included a not too kind look he was shooting Barry. To Barry surprise Julian was the first to speak up and he was terse and to the point.

"Alright Allen let's skip the pretense that you like me, and that you came here to check on my well being and get down to the real business at hand." Julian stated as he slowly got out of the hospital bed.

"Look, Julian." Barry tried his best to explain. "I really did come to make sure you were alright."

"Maybe you did." Julian conceded and then added a little more harshly. "But I think we both know that is not the main reason you are here. You came here because You wife is a Meta and not one of the friendly ones, and she is a danger to the public and if The Flash hadn't showed up she would have killed me, and you want me to lie to the detectives so that she will not have to go to jail."

"Julian I know you think having powers is this zero sum game where you are either good or evil, but it isn't that simple and Caitlin has it under control now and it will not happen again." Barry tried to explain quietly, just in case someone in the hall was listening in.

"Maybe, but then how do you explain her attacking me last night, and what happens the next time she decides to attack someone?" Julian demanded as he looked right at Barry.

"That will not happen." Barry insisted and then seeing that Julian didn't seem to believe him he decided he had no option but to come out with the truth and the whole truth. "Look her powers first showed up six months ago and they came with a split personality of some kind, that isn't her and we have found a way to control it, but if she goes to prison you and I both know she will not get the help she needs and the other "her" will take over. All she has ever done with her life is help people, she is a victim here, please don't make her pay for one night of lost control." Barry finished on a plea and to his shock Julian seemed to soften just a bit and this gave Barry some hope.

"Look Allen, I know this has to be hard for you." He explained unexpectedly kindly. "But we have to look at this practically, what if she can't control this other her and she kills someone next time, then that will be both of our fault."

Barry steeled himself before he spoke his next painful words. "If she starts to get out of control again, I am ready to deal with it and I will be the one who turns her in." Barry stated firmly, and then ended on another plea. "Look I will do anything you want, just please don't turn her in." Barry then had to wait what felt like a life time for Julian to reply.

"You know I was clocked on the head pretty hard, the truth is I don't have a clue who it was who grabbed me, it's all just a blur." Julian stated, repeating the lie he was going to tell Paterson and the department.

"Thanks, Julian." Was all Barry could bring himself to say as he turned to leave the hospital room and that is when Julian spoke up and his voice was firm and left no room for argument.

"There is one thing you can do for me in return." and this caused Barry to turn around and face him once more.

"Sure, just name it." Barry replied and he was far too grateful that Caitlin wasn't going to jail to see the next words coming, so when they did, they cut him to the core.

"Resign from the CCPD." Julian said and then all the colour left Barry's face and Julian continued quietly but firmly. "Look I can over look all the other rule breaking, but there is a reason why there are laws that keep people like us from working cases that involve friends and family, it's because they compromise us, and make no mistake you are compromised Mr. Allen. You can't see clearly where your wife is concerned and no one would expect you to, I wouldn't be able to think clearly if I were in your shoes so I understand where you are coming from, but I a flatly refuse to work with someone who is compromised and is willing to put the public and other officers at risk, to protect his wife. As long as your wife has these powers you have no business in law enforcement. So resign today, or I will introduce the detective to your wife. Do we have a bargain, Mr. Allen?" Julian asked.

Barry could only nod his head in reply and then he slowly made his way out of the hospital room, sticking around the corner just long enough to make sure Julian lived up to his side of the agreement, and then with a heavy heart he flashed off to the CCPD to inform Captain Sighn that he was resigning and to pack up his lab, taking one last sad look around as he left the room that had been a part of his life for so long for one last time. All the years he had spent studying to get into this lab, it had been his life's dream, but maybe Julian was right and he now had no business here. His main reason for taken the job, freeing his dad from prison was gone, and at any rate Caitlin was far more important to him then any job. Maybe this was all for the best and it was time for him to move on from this place that had been his life for so long, he had a new life just waiting for him after all.
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It was only as Barry piled the last of the boxes of his lab stuff in his and Caitlin's living room that he noticed he had over twenty missed calls from Caitlin on his cell phone, and he was about to call out to her, when she came running into the living room from the direction of their bedroom.

"Where have you been?" Caitlin demanded and there was a hint of panic in her voice. "I was woken up by you flashing out of the room and then I couldn't get a hold of you, what happened?" She then noticed all the boxes as she got with in a few feet of him. "Isn't that all of your stuff from the CCPD, what is it doing here?" She asked.

"Julian woke up, and I had to find some way to talk him out of reporting you." Barry explained and there was a note of depression in his voice.

"So because of what I did, he forced you to resign." Caitlin said in shame as understanding washed over her.

"Yeah, but maybe he was right, he said I was compromised and when it comes to you I am." Barry stated and this only caused Caitlin to turn away from him.

"No, you are the best CSI out there, and you care more about justice then anything." Caitlin insisted firmly and then added numbly. "So, because of me you have lost everything, that job was your life."

No." Barry stated loudly and he grabbed Caitlin and forced her to look at him so she could see that in his eyes there was no regret over what happened. "You are my life, and if I had to do the same thing all over again, I would. This isn't in any way your fault and I don't blame you." Then to press his point home Barry kissed her and when he pulled away he added. "There isn't anyone else in the world I would rather be compromised for, You understand now?"

"Yeah, I think I do." Caitlin said quietly. "I am lucky to have you in my life."

"Hey, I know you would have done the same for me." Barry stated and he tried to shrug it off like it was no big deal.

"You're right, I would." Caitlin said in reply and then the more practical section of her brain kicked in. "You know this means we will have to find a way to make S.T.A.R Labs turn a profit again, so we can add you to the payroll there."

"I hadn't thought about that, but you are right." Barry stated. To him money had always been an after thought, he had always lived simply, focused on freeing his dad from prison, and then when he had become The Flash he didn't have much time to spend money, so he had never really thought of it before. Still now looking down at Caitlin's face and thinking about how they were going to be a married couple soon, and the fact that they had to pay the rent and bills on this place, and the fact that he didn't want to force her to have to wait any longer then she had already waited for them to start a family, the reality of the expenses of living began closing in on him. That is when a thought hit him. "Maybe I will call Oliver and Felicity and see if they have any ideas, after all they both used to run huge corporations, they may be able to give me some pointers in how to get a business as big as S.T.A.R Labs back on it's feet." Barry explained with a hopeful tone in his voice.

"Yeah, but can we do it later?" Caitlin asked with a yawn. "I don't know about you but I could use some more sleep." She said as she turned and made her way into their bedroom and Barry followed.

"You read my mind." Barry said as he crawled into the bedside Caitlin.

"I love you, Barry Allen." Were the last words he heard before he drifted off to sleep.

Okay, NOW we are finally done with the Killer Frost episode. Sorry this chapter was so sort but I made a huge mistake, I forget about the scene with Julian when I wrote the last chapter so I had to write this chapter to finish things off, sorry about that. I know most of you are most likely tired of this plotline and from the response it seems most think I handled it poorly, well don't worry this section of the story is now over and we are moving on to new things now.

Thanks for hanging in there.

As always you guys are the best.

P.S if you are not getting alerts when I update this story, that may be because I am getting error messages every time I post a new chapter now. I have emailed support about it, but so far no response. I am sorry about this but I have checked things on my end and it doesn't seem to be a problem with my computer or internet connection, but it does mean that when I post a new chapter for the first time it because a garbled mess or doesn't post at all, and then I have to delete it and then add it to the story again, so that may be the reason for the lack of the alerts. I will be adding new chapters every two days now, so the best advice I can give you for keeping up with this story is to check back with The Flash section every two days and filter for romance stories with Barry and Caitlin in them and see if the new chapter is up yet.

Sorry about this I know it is a pain, but it is the best I can come up with at the moment.

Thank you for your understanding, and I would love to hear if anyone else is having this same problem.

Thank you for your time.