A/N: I am so so so sorry for the long wait... I have no excuses except maybe lack of motivation because of the world's current situation... But let's not delve on that right now, here is the new chapter and I truly hope you enjoy it !

I don't own anything :)

Chapter 8 – The Cons We Keep

The sound of music was beating through the mansion's walls. People were laughing, dancing and drinking. Art was being shown off. Everybody seemed carefree and worry-free.

Everybody except a small group of con artists scattered around the house. Their focus was solely on the security guards and a certain Fabergé Egg.

Barry grabbed a glass of champagne, as a waiter walked by with a tray full of them, while scanning over the room. He had to do something with his hands or they would betray his nervousness. Which was something he wasn't used to. He never got that nervous during a job. But he also had never done a job involving that many participants. And his life had never depended on a job that much before either.

So yes. Barry was nervous. But things had gone perfectly according to plan so far. Iris, Caitlin, Eddie and Barry had all gotten into the party without raising suspicions. Felicity and Cisco were monitoring everything from the van outside the house. Everything was under control.

He took a gulp of his drink as he walked into the next room. Various famous paintings were adorning the walls and if Barry had taken the time to inspect them closely, he would've noticed that some of them were the actual and original masterpieces – as in those paintings belonged in famous museums and not in a rich man's mansion.

But Barry's attention was otherwise occupied. He had just entered the main room where Caitlin was about to introduce herself to Hunter Zolomon. She was wearing a magnificent red dress that hugged her in all the right places. Her hair was pulled up in a graceful bun. A couple of strands were encasing her soft face and a shy yet calculated smile was lifting her lips.

Hunter's attention had also been caught by the beautiful woman next to him. In seconds, his whole body was facing her and the people he had been talking to a mere moment before were now being completely ignored. Caitlin was clearly very good at attracting attention.

Barry continued to walk around aimlessly, or at least appearing to be. He didn't want anyone to notice his presence and he was succeeding. After finishing his glass of champagne, he put it away on a nearby table and moved towards the adjoining room. But a clear and joyful laugh caught his attention. He instantly recognised it as being Caitlin's laugh and something twisted in his gut.

He hated not being able to be next to her to enjoy a laugh with her. He hated it even more that Zolomon was probably the reason she was laughing. He shook his head. He had to get his focus back. A smug smile curled up on his lips as he realised she was probably faking her reaction anyway.

Just as his mood was lifting up again, Barry glanced to his right where he saw Eddie in a security guard outfit appear in a doorway. The blonde man gave him an almost imperceptible nod and Barry knew that was his cue to go. Without hesitating, Barry turned around and left the room, resisting the urge to check up on Caitlin one last time. He had made a promise and he would try his best to keep it.

As planned, a small messenger bag was laying in the corner of one precise room, where Iris had left it. And as planned, Barry grabbed it and made a beeline towards the mansion's exit. Smoothly, he walked through the different rooms without attracting anyone's attention, avoiding the curious eyes and smiling to the innocent looks. He was a master at this. No one would ever suspect him to have a stolen egg in his bag.

This was going great.

He had almost made his way to the entrance hall where the huge front door meant freedom for him and his friends. And he would've made it without a problem. If it weren't for Caitlin and Hunter secretly walking up the stairs to the 1st floor.

Barry stopped dead in his tracks and watched as their mark put a hand on the small of Caitlin's back, softly pushing her forward into another room upstairs. For a second, Barry wondered if he had missed a step in their plan. Was Caitlin supposed to lure Hunter in another room during their heist? Or was that part of her secret plan she wouldn't tell him anything about? Or was it something else entirely and Caitlin was actually in danger?

"Caitlin?" He groaned quietly in hopes that he would get a reply through his earpiece. He knew she couldn't actually reply without being discovered by Hunter, but she would find a way to tell him if she were safe. If being the decisive word.

But he was only met with silence.

Something dropped at the bottom of his stomach. He couldn't leave now, not knowing if Caitlin was safe or not. She hadn't really seemed under duress, but she had looked a bit tense. What was he supposed to do with this information?

Swiftly, Barry took a few steps back and retired into the closest bathroom he could find. After checking he was completely alone, he spoke up, knowing his friends in the van would be able to communicate with him through his earpiece.

"Felicity, Cisco, do you guys have eyes on Caitlin?"

"Where the hell are you Barry? You were supposed to come out that front door 47 seconds ago!" Cisco protested.

Barry rolled his eyes even though nobody could actually see him. "Don't worry about that. I'm in the northeast corner bathroom. But I lost Caitlin. Do you have eyes on her?"

Felicity huffed in annoyance. "That is none of your concern right now, she has her own escape plan that doesn't involve you. And she's not supposed to get out of the party before at least 1 hour."

"I know what we planned, guys. Now would you just tell me where she is, for heaven's sake?" Barry groaned in frustration. He knew he wasn't supposed to wait for Caitlin, but he had a bad feeling about all of this. She wasn't supposed to leave the party. She wasn't supposed to follow Hunter upstairs. She wasn't supposed to be pushed upstairs by Hunter.

It took a couple of seconds for Felicity to scan every camera feed to try to locate their friend. "Hum… actually…" She finally said hesitantly.

"What is it?" Barry asked worriedly.

"We lost contact with Caitlin." Cisco intervened, a similar worry noticeable in his voice. "Her comms are off and we can't find her on any camera."

Well Barry had gathered that much already. But he had hoped they had had an explanation for her sudden disappearance. "That's because she went upstairs where there aren't any security cameras." He explained. "With Zolomon…"

There was a pause during which Barry was sure Felicity and Cisco were exchanging curious looks. And then Felicity spoke up. "What is she doing there?"

"I was hoping you guys had an answer to that." Barry said quickly, his patience running thin. And when he got no replies from his friends, he continued. "Do you understand now why I can't leave yet?"

"Barry, you should stick to the plan." Felicity sighed. "She made it very clear that the most important thing was to get out of there with the egg."

Barry huffed. "I know but I just can't. I have to go check on Caitlin. She might be in danger."

"What about the egg?"

Barry paused at Cisco's question. He couldn't risk his friends' freedom just because he had a hunch about something. Especially considering that his judgement wasn't at its best when Caitlin was involved. No he had to make sure everyone could get out of here safely.

"Where's Iris?" He asked.

It took only a second for Cisco to locate her. "Still in the main room mingling with people."

Barry nodded. "Ok, tell her to come here. I'm leaving the bag behind the wooden cabinet. She can take the egg out of here. I'm going after Caitlin."

"But Barry…" Felicity started.

But Barry interrupted her before she could attempt to change his mind. "Please Felicity."

Both computer geniuses seemed to consider his words before conceding. "Ok. Be careful."

"Always am."

Barry swiftly hid the messenger bag where he had said he would and then left the room as if he had only freshened up for a couple of minutes. Avoiding the security guards as best as he could, he sneaked past the front door towards the stairway leading up to the 1st floor. He thanked his lucky star for getting upstairs undetected.

Soon enough, he reached the door behind which he had seen Caitlin and Hunter disappear. Barry tried to lean against the door to try and decipher what was happening behind it. But he was only rewarded by dead silence. The dread at the pit of his stomach only got heavier as seconds passed by. He had to get inside to see what was happening. And he somehow knew Caitlin was in danger. But he couldn't just barge into the room like that.

Or could he?

Without debating further on the question, Barry took a deep breath, closed his right hand into a firm fist and aggressively pushed the door open with his left one. Without even waiting to see what was in the room, Barry shouted in his most threatening voice while brandishing his fist. "Stay away from her!"

What he found in the room wasn't really what he had expected. Caitlin and Hunter were both standing next to his desk, closer to each other than two strangers should, his hand firmly on her arm.

Was it firmly or seductively?

Before Barry could analyse the scene further, Hunter let go of Caitlin's arm and faced the intruder with mixture of surprise and rage written all over his face.

"What in the hell?" He grunted.

Barry fumed. With grit teeth and clenched fists, he groaned, "I said. Stay. Away. From-"

"Hey relax, I'm fine." Caitlin interjected taking a step forward, physically putting herself between Barry and Hunter.

The calm in her voice had the effect of a glass of water being thrown over the fire in his stomach. And suddenly Barry was lost. Why was she so calm?

Hunter seemed as lost, but his anger didn't seem to disappear. "Who the hell is this guy?"

With a kind smile, Caitlin turned to Hunter. "I'm sorry about this… That's my brother. He has lightning psychosis."

"Bro-… I have what now?" Barry squealed. It felt like she had just pulled the rug from under his feet and he was at a loss for words.

"Lightning psychosis, remember?" Caitlin glared at him to shut up and turned back to Hunter. With a honey-like voice, she explained herself. "He got struck by lightning a few months back and lightning psychosis is a common side effect. It entails mood swings, sudden bursts of anger or affection and other lapses in judgement…" She added that last point while pointedly looking back at a dumbfounded Barry, before speaking to Hunter again, taking a seductive step towards him. "I'm sorry for that, I should've made sure he took all his meds before coming here."

Hunter seemed to relax and believe every word coming out of her mouth. It was like he was enchanted. "Oh no problems. No harm done." He smiled smugly. "So, about that deal?"

"Thank you. But I should make sure he gets home safely." She answered softly while pointing at Barry with her thumb over her shoulder. "Could we take a rain-check on that deal? We still have some things to talk about."

Hunter threw a disgusted look towards a sheepish looking Barry, before turning his attention back to her. "Of course. You have my number, let me know."

A small giggle escaped Caitlin's lips and Barry felt the fire at the pit of his stomach start anew, but for a different reason now. He didn't like the tension he was feeling between those two. But it wasn't the time to act on it. Caitlin was saving his ass, so he was smart enough to know when to shut up and follow her lead.

Without another word, Caitlin turned around and made her way to exit the room, grabbing Barry by the arm and pulling him behind her. Her hold on him was anything but soft and it took all of his willpower to keep himself from wincing.

Still dragging him behind her, they made their way down the stairs and left the mansion through the front door. When the security guards sent them a curious look, she simply replied with a "Men are jerks" and the guards were smart enough to know not to interrupt what looked like a lovers quarrel.

Once out of eyeshot, Caitlin furiously let go of Barry and kept walking towards where the van was parked on the parallel street.

Seeing as she didn't seem about to speak first nor wait for him, Barry hurried his steps to keep up with her rhythm and asked, "Lightning psychosis, really?" His voice was still on the squeaky side.

Without sparing him a glance, she answered with a stern voice. "We'll talk when we're back at S.T.A.R. labs. I can't do this right now. You got the egg?"

"Yeah." He answered, hoping Iris had managed to get it out of Zolomon's house without being caught. If not, he'd be screwed.

"Good."

And Barry knew better than try to continue this conversation. The sweet and honey-like behaviour he had seen in Hunter's study was long gone and the Caitlin walking next to him was colder than he had ever seen her. She was furious with him, furious he had walked into that room and caught her doing… what had she even been doing? He still had no idea what in the hell had been going on.

But he had to be patient if he wanted answers.

First, they had to get back to the van where Felicity, Cisco, and hopefully Iris, were waiting for them with the egg and their ticket to freedom. That was if Caitlin didn't kill him first.

As it turned out, everything had gone smoothly during Caitlin's and Barry's absence. Iris had made her way back to the van with their prize, while Eddie was at the end of his shift and would make him way back to S.T.A.R. labs on his own later in the hour. So as soon as Barry and Caitlin joined the van, they all drove off.

The tension between the two con artists was so palpable that none of their teammates dared to ask any questions about what had happened. Caitlin's eyes were shooting daggers and Barry didn't dare looking at anything else but his hands. So it was in silence that they drove off.

And once at S.T.A.R. labs, before Cisco even had time to turn off the ignition, Caitlin stormed off in a fury, leaving a frigid atmosphere behind her. Cisco, Iris and Felicity, all still sitting in the van, all turned as one to glare at Barry. It was clear who was responsible for Caitlin's wrath.

He had the decency to look ashamed of himself, lowering his head between his shoulders. "I'll go talk to her." He sighed before leaving the van and following Caitlin into S.T.A.R. labs while dragging his feet.

It didn't take him long to locate her. After all, Barry knew her enough to guess that she would go hide in her office. It was pretty secluded and nobody went to that side of S.T.A.R. labs unless they wanted to talk to Caitlin. She had told him once that she had chosen this isolated room as her office to be sure to be left alone when she wanted to think. And the others knew better than to bother her when she hid there.

Well at least if she decided to kill him, nobody would hear his cries. Barry chuckled bitterly at the thought and shook his head. Of course she wouldn't kill him. Beat him up a bit maybe, but surely not kill him. Right?

As he reached the office, Barry paused for a couple of second in front of the door. What was the protocol here? Should he knock? Should he just barge in like he had done with Zolomon's office? Should he go in quietly or just storm in while shouting?

He shook his head again. Damn he was an idiot sometimes.

After taking a deep breath, he rose his hand a softly knocked twice on the door. Not hearing anything from the other side, Barry leaned closer just in case he had missed a "come in" or something of the sort. But there was no sound.

Just as he was about to knock again, the door was pulled open and Barry almost stumbled forward under the surprise.

"What do you want?" Caitlin asked with a glare, one hand still on the door handle, the other firmly sitting on her hip. What a power pose, Barry thought and for a second he was both terribly attracted to her and completely terrified of her at the same time.

"Can we talk?" He asked quietly, not completely meeting her eyes.

She narrowed her eyes before walking back into the room, leaving the path free for him to come inside and close the door behind him. Which he did diligently.

He swept his eyes across the room to buy himself a few seconds. He had never actually entered her office in the last few days. It was a spacious room with an old-fashioned desk in the middle and a pull out couch on the right. Shelves filled with various books were running along the back wall and a poster of one of Van Gogh's paintings was hanging above the couch. And it looked like Caitlin had spent the last few nights sleeping here as said couch was open in its bed configuration, blanket and pillows lying scattered on it.

When Barry turned back to look at her, she was leaning back against her desk, arms crossed over her chest, silently waiting for him to start. He knew he had to choose his next words carefully if he didn't want her to blow up with anger.

Barry cleared his throat. "Listen I'm sorry. I know I acted like an idiot."

"Idiot is a weak word." She bit back. "You could've gotten both of us killed with your little stunt."

Barry's shoulders dropped down, realising that there wouldn't be much he could say that would soothe her anger.

Before he could think of his next words, she spoke up again, with a slight snarky air. "Remind me, Barry, what did we talk about?"

"I- wh… what? When?" He stuttered.

"Don't play stupid with me. What did we talk about?" Caitlin huffed.

"You mean before the job?" He asked with a concentrated frown on his face. But she didn't reply. She patiently waited for him to continue. Which made him think they were talking about the same thing. "Listen, I know I promised I wouldn't check up on you and…"

"Yes, you did." She stated gravely.

"But you perfectly knew I couldn't keep that promise."

"Oh please, spare me." She said bitterly while rolling her eyes and it sparked something inside Barry. He hadn't come here to pick a fight, but apparently that's what she was looking for. So who was he to deny her that.

He took an angry step forward, his face hardening and his voice more controlled than ever. "No but you did know that! You knew you were up to something else, you knew you would stray away from the plan, but you made me promise that anyway."

Caitlin scowled. "Tsk, of course I did! Because I knew you'd act stupidly if I didn't make you promise that! My mistake was to think you were smart enough to keep that promise!"

Barry made a face. "Nice, thanks for that." He paced around the room, frustrated with this whole situation. He ran his hand through his hair, as if it would help him sort through his thoughts. She was unnerving. She kept secrets and then she blamed him? He suddenly stopped and turned back to her, pointing an accusatory finger at her. "You know what, this whole thing wouldn't have happened if you'd just told me what the hell you were up to!"

She gasped at his accusation. "Oh so now it's my fault?"

"I- you know what? Yes it's your fault! If you'd been following our plan, I wouldn't have followed you!" Barry's voice was harder than she'd ever heard it. And if he had been paying closer attention to her features, he would've seen her flinch slightly.

"Oh that's rich…" Caitlin rolled her eyes and straightened her back, making her stance more imposing. "I don't care what the hell made you barge into that room, you just can't act like that, Barry! You almost blew the whole operation!"

"I did it for you! I was worried!" Barry shouted back, throwing his right arm to the side as if showing her something that wasn't there. "You were the one doing who knows what with Zolomon behind our back!"

"I told you I could take care of myself!" She snapped back. "There was no need for you to barge in like this! I had everything under control!" If he had wanted her to get angry, he couldn't have done a better job. Her eyes were narrow, her jaw was clenched and her nostrils were flaring.

"Well how could I know? You turned your damn comms off!"

"Because I needed the silence! You guys are real chatterboxes!"

Barry gaped at her, not believing her words. What a poor excuse, he thought, they hadn't been chatting that much over the comms. "So what? Was I supposed to just wait and see?"

"Yes," Caitlin exclaimed while nodding furiously, "that's exactly what you were supposed to do!"

He paused, not having expected her to reply positively and then shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest to give himself some composure. "Well too bad… you know very well why I couldn't do that…"

"Well actually no, I don't!" Caitlin pushed herself from her desk, moving from her still position for the first time since they had started this argument. She took a step forward and poked him repeatedly in the chest with her menacing index finger. "I thought you trusted me!" Poke. "So why, huh?" Poke. "Why couldn't you just let me do my job?" Poke. "Why couldn't you just wait a few more minutes?"

Each poke of her finger was pushing him more towards the edge of the metaphoric cliff. And suddenly it was all too much and Barry exploded. "Because I care about you, damn it!" He shouted, throwing his hands in the air and making her step back in shock. "And just the thought of something bad happening to you makes me sick!"

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, tension popped in the room. His shoulders slumped down; his left hand came to rest on his hip while his right one went to ruffle his hair. Caitlin was looking at him mouth agape and eyes wide.

Barry nervously shuffled his feet and paced back and forth for a few seconds, waiting for her to say something. But she seemed frozen, the hand that had been poking at him a moment before was hanging in the air. He stopped in front of her and huffed. "Look, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that, I wasn't thinking straight. I have no right to say that and you don't owe me anything. I should've-"

Just as he was about to lose himself into yet another long ramble with no end, Caitlin threw herself at him, hands encasing his face, lips crashing against his. His mind went blank, his words lost in his throat at the feel of her soft lips against his. It took him a few seconds to realise what was actually happening to him and before he could do anything, she pulled away, taking a step back, fingers hovering over her lips as if she could barely believed what she had just done.

Their eyes met, and the tension was back up. The moment had been so fleeting that he almost didn't believe it had actually happened. If it weren't for the leftovers of her lips' taste on his, Barry would've bet it was his mind messing with him. But it wasn't.

Without thinking a second more, Barry took a step forward, his right hand cupped her jaw while his left one grabbed her waist to bring her closer to him and he captured her lips in a heated kiss.

Under the momentum, she grabbed his shoulders to keep herself upright and they stumbled back until her legs hit her desk. A whimper escaped her throat because of the impact and she felt him about to pull back to probably apologise. But she decided otherwise. Her right hand migrated from his shoulder to the back of is neck, forcing him closer to her and he complied without resistance.

And she kissed him back with everything she had.

It wasn't soft or delicate. It was hard and bruising and oh so very hot. They had both known there was mutual attraction between them ever since their first meeting. After all, their whole relationship was based on flirting and teasing. But they had somehow never acted on it and this was the result of pent-up tension and want.

Barry's heart soared in his chest as Caitlin's fingers weaved themselves through his hair, and he deepened the kiss. In response, she moaned and gave him total access of her mouth. He couldn't quite believe this was actually happening. Caitlin had always been this sort of femme fatale for him. Desirable but so out of reach. And maybe it was a persona she liked to wear around him just to keep him at arm's length.

Because, if the way she was kissing him back was anything to go by, she clearly desired him as much as he desired her. Who had known that their huge fight would've lead to this precise activity?

And then the fight came rushing back in Barry's mind. They still had a problem in their hands that they hadn't solved. She was still keeping things from him. They were still mad at each other and kissing wouldn't make all of this disappear.

"Cait, wait…" With unknown willpower, Barry suddenly pulled back, breathing heavily. Caitlin's eyes fluttered open in surprise, a soft frown pulling at her eyebrows and cute pout drawing at her lips. Her fingers in his hair stilled but stayed there. She looked so beautiful that he seemed to loose his train of thoughts. And for a moment he didn't really remember why he had pulled away.

She took that moment to study his face and then something similar to hurt seemed to cross over her eyes. Was he that transparent that she could read his thoughts just by reading his face? Or did she know him that well?

Her soft confused frown transformed itself into a resigned one. "Maybe we shouldn't…" Caitlin breathed out, speaking up for him, knowing that he couldn't really think straight right now but that he had his reasons for stopping them. She clearly wanted this, she was stopping just for his sake, because he had been the one to pull back.

He swallowed hard, nodding slowly. But he couldn't tear his eyes away from her. She already knew him so well that it made her a thousand times more attractive. Sure they had their issues, but neither could deny this pull between them. They understood each other.

"Yeah maybe this isn't…" Barry tried again, but lost the track of his sentence as his attention was brought to her lower lip currently being trapped between her teeth and a low groan reverberated through his throat. In response, her fingers started playing with his hair again. His eyes swivelled back to hers. He had never seen them so dark with need and want.

To hell with issues, he wanted this.

With smoothness he wasn't even aware he could manage, Barry lowered himself a bit so his hands could grab her behind her thighs and he swiftly pulled her up to sit her on the desk. She squealed in surprise, her hands leaving his hair to grab his shoulders in order to stay upright.

Without hesitating, Caitlin parted her legs to welcome him closer, her fingers running along his jaw as he leaned forward. Barry paused a breath away from her and Caitlin's lips curled up into a dazzling smile. That's all he needed to close the gap and catch her lips into a searing kiss. And she welcomed him, closing her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist while his hands ran up and down her back.

There would be time to talk later. Right now, all he wanted was her. And he would be damned if he didn't show her right now how much. A couple of hours earlier, he had been afraid for her life and now she was in his arms demonstrating how alive she actually was. They'd sort through their issues later.

Yes, they would talk later.

A/N: I would love to hear your thoughts! So don't hesitate to leave a little review, it would make my day! :D Thanks for reading !

Until next time, stay safe out there ! :)