So what is this? Chapter 5? I think that's right. Anyway, welcome to the newest chapter of 'I Hate You, I Guess That's Love'. Brought to you by Ben23ten, co-authored by Brightburn1985 and thomasmarieamell. Check those two out as well. If you want to see some more of my work, I co-authored Brightburn1985's 'Another Life on Consolidated Planets'. But that did not turn out how I originally planned. If you want to know what I intended, message me and I'll hit you back if you want.
Disclaimer: I have no rights to anything Arrowverse related.
Ronnie was back.
Caitlin couldn't believe it, he was actually back. After learning of a dangerous heat signature that was coming from the fire meta, they were forced to confront them. After some testing, it was determined that the FIRESTORM matrix was unstable and would go nuclear if they wouldn't be able to separate the two.
They had a choice. Either kill the two now and save millions of lives from the explosion, or try to find something that would be able to split the two before the explosion.
Obviously they went with the second option. No matter how small of a chance, they would always try to save their friends.
They were almost out of time, and they almost didn't think it worked since an explosion still occurred, but it proved relatively harmless as it was just the two separating.
Caitlin was overjoyed to have Ronnie back, but it wasn't like how she pictured it. She had everything she wanted, but so much had happened in the past year that things weren't the same.
When Ronnie offered that they move away from Central City, Caitlin immediately declined. There was so much going on now that she wouldn't be able to get herself to leave. She would regret it for the rest of her life if she did.
Well she didn't immediately decline. She was in the middle of a text war with Barry when the conversation started.
"So Caitlin I was thinking…" Ronnie started.
"Mhmm hmmm," Caitlin mumbled, staring at her phone. Barry had yet to respond to her text about how she was enjoying a cup of coffee with Ronnie while he was stuck in the friend zone with Iris.
"After everything that's happened recently, I was thinking that we could get away from here," Ronnie said.
"Oh, Ronnie, I…" her phone signalled a response. She picked it up to read what he said.
'Guess you're wasting no time in catching up. Hope the neighbours don't complain. ;)'
"That jerk!" Caitlin exclaimed.
"What happened?" Ronnie asked.
"Barry just texted that we were catching up and not to disturb the neighbours," Caitlin told him.
"Why would we be…?" Ronnie said before slowly realizing. "Oh…"
"Yeah," Caitlin says, before typing rapidly on her phone.
"What are you doing?" Ronnie asked her.
"I'm texting him back. What do you think of, 'It's like we never parted, just as I remember,'?" Caitlin asked for his opinion.
"Uh, I don't-" Ronnie was extremely confused.
"Oh, I'll just send it anyway," Caitlin typed out her response and hit send. "So, you were saying?"
"Well, I was suggesting that-" Ronnie was trying to say before he was interrupted by the phone again.
When Caitlin read the reply she yelled, "Oh!" before getting her own response ready to send back. "So, Barry just said…"
"You know what?" Ronnie asked, interrupting her. "I'm going to get myself a refill," standing up to get another cup of coffee.
"Okay, hurry back," Caitlin said. Her phone chimed again and she rushed to send another response, not sparing another glance at her fiance.
As Ronnie was ordering another coffee the barista started talking to him. "Tough first date huh?" she asked.
"First date?" Ronnie asked.
"Yeah, you guys just have that vibe," she said. Macy was written on her name tag.
"No, we're actually engaged, but it has been about a year since I've seen her," Ronnie commented.
"What made you go away for so long?" Macy asked.
"A work situation. I'm not really allowed to talk about it," he replied.
"Oh, you work for the government or something?" she asked.
"Something like that," Ronnie said.
"Well, I'm not one to usually judge someone's relationship, but I get the feeling that your girl has moved on from you," Macy said.
"What makes you think that?" Ronnie asked, but he was beginning to see it himself.
"That girl is here at least three days a week. Whenever she is here, she's with this one guy that she constantly argues with, and when they're not together, they're texting each other." Macy informed him. "A lot of us here are making bets on how long it takes until the two of them get together, but if you two are engaged then I guess all bets are off."
"Let me get back to you on that," Ronnie said as another barista handed him his coffee. "Thanks," he went back to his table. It was time for a serious conversation.
Caitlin was still in the middle of a text argument with Barry when Ronnie sat in front of her but she didn't acknowledge him and just continued to text Barry, making Ronnie slightly irritated. He just came back from the dead and yet his fiance is not even jumping in joy that he's alive but also texting another guy while they are on a date.
"Caitlin we need to talk," Ronnie announced.
"Yeah sure, just let me send this text to Barry real quick," Caitlin said, eyes still focused on her phone as she typed out a message as fast as she could.
"Are you in love with Barry?" Ronnie quickly asked before he could lose his nerve.
"What?" Caitlin asked in shock. Never would she think he would say that. "In love? With Barry?! No! How could you ever think that, you're my fiance,"
"Well things have changed Caitlin. We've changed, we're not the same people we were when we last saw each other. So I'm wondering if you still feel the same way with us because the moment we sat down here, you've been talking with Barry. Everything I've learned about you for the past year always somehow concerns Barry," Ronnie ranted at her.
"Well, Barry has become a big part of my life now. When I first got to know him, I hated him because he represented everything I would have missed out on in a life with you, but now you're back so everything's fine," Caitlin tried to reassure him.
"You can't expect the both of us to be the same after everything that's happened this past year. Which is why I want us to move away from Central City when we get married." Ronnie told her.
"Ronnie, no. My life is here. I've been making something of my life helping to clean the city up with all these meta-humans that the accelerator created. Other than having to work with Barry so closely, I love my life here." Cailtin shot down his idea. "I love you Ronnie, but I'm not moving away from everything, from the Flash,"
"From Barry," Ronnie said.
"Ronnie…" Caitlin says exasperated. She then notices something on the fire meta. A small red dot. Knowing what it was immediately, she jumped from the table and grabbed him. "Get down!" she shouted to everyone before the windows exploded with soldiers coming in shooting up the place.
Why can't they get one conversation without being interrupted?
Prof. Stein had been kidnapped and it seemed that the connection between Stein and Ronnie was still present, growing stronger even.
This psychic link between the two allowed them to locate Stein in an army base where they managed to get him out quickly thanks to Barry. They weren't sure what would happen if one were to die, but chances were, the other would die with them, so it was lucky Barry managed to grab him before the bullet did.
Once General Eiling was dealt with, they retreated to the safety of STAR Labs. Stein and Ronnie had decided that to keep the people they love safe, they had to leave and learn how to control their powers in a safe environment with people that could help them without having to split their attention between two meta-humans.
Before leaving, they both said goodbye to their significant other, but Ronnie was slightly pulling back since he didn't really know where the two stood anymore. He hoped that they were still lovers, but in all honesty, he didn't know.
It seemed that Caitlin didn't know either considering the fact that she didn't know how she felt about Ronnie leaving. She was saddened he was leaving, but at the same time, there was an empty feeling watching him go, as if there wasn't really anything to let go of.
"Are you okay?" Barry asked after Ronnie and Stein took off into the skies.
"What do you mean? I'm fine." Caitlin answered as she still looked deep in thought.
"You're biting your lower lip, you do that when something is bothering you. What is it?" Barry pointed out as Caitlin found herself biting her lower lip.
"It's nothing, it's just what Ronnie said when we were on a date." Caitlin replied, not denying anymore.
"What did he say?"
"It was stupid. It was crazy," Caitlin waves him off. When he wouldn't stop giving her that look, she relented. "He thought that I was in love with someone else," she said vaguely.
"Are you?" Barry questioned her.
"No!" Caitlin denied. "Things aren't the same with Ronnie, but it has been a year. I can't expect things to be the same. Just because I don't feel the same for my fiance, whom I haven't seen for a year and thought was dead, does not mean I am in love with someone else,"
"Well, you're the one who brought it up," Barry pointed out.
"No, I said Ronnie thought I was in love with someone else, I never said I actually was," Caitlin argued.
"Okay, I'm sorry," Barry raised his hands in surrender. "What made him think you were? You didn't tell him we…?"
"No! No, god no," Caitlin assured him.
"Oh, good," Barry nodded.
"Ronnie got it into his head that since we were texting each other so much, we liked each other," Caitlin told him.
Barry stared at her in confusion. "He does know that 90% of our conversations are fights and arguments, right?"
"I know, I told him that," Caitlin said.
"Because we don't like each other," Barry said.
"Exactly,"
"We barely function when we're in a room together,"
"Not at all,"
"How could he think that we could ever be involved with each other?" Barry asked and laughed it off as a ridiculous question.
"I know, right?" Caitlin laughed as well. "I mean, if you think about it, this is all your fault Fleet Feet."
Flabberghast, Barry stared at her. "Ho-how… how is this my fault?"
"Well, if you hadn't been constantly texting me just to antagonize me, we wouldn't be in this situation, and Ronnie wouldn't think that I was in love with you," Caitlin said.
"Hey, my points still stand, but this is not all on me, okay? You responded to my texts, it takes two to tango Ms. Frosty," Barry said.
"You know what I think?" Caitlin asked as if she didn't hear what he said. "I think you're jealous of me,"
"Jealous? Of what," Barry asked her.
"That I actually have a chance at happiness. You knew I was trying to catch up with Ronnie, but you decided to ruin all of that by constantly sending me messages containing sexual innuendos about us," Caitlin said.
"You know, I was actually happy for you when we got Ronnie back. I was thinking, 'Wow, now that he's back maybe Cait won't be such a cold-hearted bitch,'" Barry told her.
"Okay, maybe I'm not right to accuse you of trying anything," Caitlin acknowledged.
"Thank you," Barry said.
"So explain why you were texting me non-stop when you knew what I was doing. I hoped you respected me enough to give me the decency of catching up with my fiance after a year, but no. You just interrupted us all the time. I could barely get in a sentence with my phone blowing up," Caitlin asked.
"Okay, maybe I was trying to distract you and ruin your date with Ronnie. I was going to text you the entire night if you didn't reply," Barry admitted.
"Why would you do that?" Caitlin asked.
"I don't know," Barry said.
"You don't know? You're going to have to do better than 'I don't know,'" Caitlin said.
"I just don't know, okay? When you said you were going to get coffee with Ronnie I just, I didn't like it and the next thing I knew the phone was in my hand and I was texting you non-stop," Barry shouted.
"Well just because you're stuck in a slump with your own love life does not give you the right to sabotage mine," Caitlin shouted. "I love Ronnie, and I am going to marry him."
"Can we just talk this out like the civilised, mature, adults that we are?" Barry asked.
"Okay, yes we can do that. Barry I don't-" Caitlin was cut off as she felt something collide with her that gave her spasms, and not the good types. The hit left her sprawling on the ground.
Seeing the slight sparks that came off of Barry, she went to one conclusion. "Did you just throw a lightning bolt at me?"
"Just a small one," Barry gave an innocent smile.
"Since when can you do that?" Caitlin asked.
"Well, I was-" Barry was cut off as well as Caitlin fired a stream of ice at his chest, sending him to follow her to the ground.
Barry was left shivering and ice was covering his chest. Caitlin still had little sparks on her body, causing her little jolts. The lightning wasn't as bad as it could have been, but still. Caitlin was pissed.
Slowly, the two got back to their feet.
They stared at each other for a second before Barry interrupted the silence. "It's on Ms. Frosty,"
"Bring it Fleet Feet," Caitlin replied, before the two got in a mock battle against each other in that front lawn. Neither of them were aware that others were witnessing the whole thing.
"So, they're not in love with each other?" Prof. Stein's wife, Clarissa, asked Cisco and Dr. Wells.
"No," both Cisco and Wells said at the same time.
"But-"
"We know," they said.
"And-"
"We know," they both had a tired expression on their faces.
"Yet she's still with-" Clarissa gestured to the sky in the direction her husband and his new partner flew off in.
"Yes," they said once again as all three of them watched the two metas duke it out on the woman's front lawn.
"They're idiots," Clarissa said.
"We know," Cisco and Harrison said once again.
Returning back to the West House, Barry was grumbling the entire time.
Iris was also home, having been looking for a new job as she felt it was time to move on from Jitters. "Hey, what's got you so down? Work or STAR?" she asked.
"STAR," Barry told her.
"Oh, so how's Caitlin," Iris put emphasis on her name.
"Well first of all she…" Barry trailed off as he repeated what Iris said in his head. "When did I say this was about Caitlin?"
"Isn't it always?" Iris questioned.
Ignoring her remark, Barry continued. "And why are you saying her name like that?"
"Like what?" Iris feigned ignorance.
"Like how you used to say Becky Cooper," Barry said.
"Okay, Becky Cooper was a nightmare of a girlfriend and you should have never gone out with her," Iris defended herself.
"I'm not going out with Caitlin," Barry said to her.
"You're not?" Iris asked, shocked. Barry shook his head no. "Well damn. I just lost twenty bucks,"
"Wait, you betted over my love life?! O-or lack thereof?! With who?!" Barry asked, bothered and surprised that his best friend would do such a thing.
"With my friends that I worked with at Jitters. There was a betting pool on how long it would take you two to get together," Iris told him. "I said you guys had been dating for the past few months,"
"Well that is just not true," Barry said. "We don't like each other at all. If we were the only living things left on Earth, I would choose the best rock as my girlfriend."
"You're so weird Barry," Iris said.
"And you said her name like that. Why would you think she was my girlfriend if you don't like her?" Barry asked.
"Just because I don't think she's the right girl for you doesn't mean I didn't think you had a thing for her," Iris told him. "I mean, dad and I both felt this heavy, sexual tension between the two of you,"
"There is no-dad? Joe?! Joe thought I was into her?!" Barry shouted. "How could he think I would ever be attracted to her? He has a front seat pass to every one of our arguments,"
"Notice how you said arguments instead of fights?" Iris asked cheekily. "Enemies have fights. Couples have arguments."
"Friends have arguments, and we are just barely in that zone," Barry said.
"Then why did you go out with her? Eddie got called in because of a shootout in the middle of our date, I asked your friend, Cisco, where you are and he said that you are in a bar with Caitlin. I went there and saw the two of you singing on the stage." Iris smirked, knowing she got him cornered.
"I don't even remember most of that night," Barry said. "I was singing?"
"Yeah, you were pretty good yourself," Iris told him. "Caitlin not so much,"
"You know what? I'm leaving, I don't have to take this with you," Barry was heading towards the door.
"You're in denial, just admit your feelings for Caitlin," Iris called out.
"My feelings for her consist of hate, rage, and utter frustration," Barry said before leaving the house.
Iris looked at the door for a moment longer before coming to a conclusion. "He's totally in love with her,"
Caitlin was worried. It may be nothing and there was nothing to be stressed about, but still, Caitlin was facing a situation that she was not at all familiar with.
She was late.
If it was just by a few days, or even a week, she might understand, but once that mark passed and nothing had changed, that was when she was starting to get freaked out.
Her monthly cycle was never this out of schedule. It may be due to all the stress with Ronnie being alive, working with the Flash, developing powers, and trying to protect the city from a threat they had created, but it was still worrying that she wasn't ovulating.
The only other explanation she could think of was…
No. No, she would not think about it. It wasn't possible.
But still, what if it was?
That led to her sitting in her bathroom, patiently waiting for her results to come up. It was embarrassing enough for her to go to the drugstore to get one, but the wait was agonizing. She realized that these things weren't a hundred percent efficient and she would have to get checked by another doctor, but she just had to know.
The alarm rang from her phone, indicating that her unknowing pacing around the bathroom and waiting is over. She went over to the stick and it showed…
There was a faint extra line.
That indicated that she was pregnant. All at once, her body went numb. She was pregnant. She was with child. At least, that's what the test said. She'd have to check with a doctor to make sure, but for now, she was pregnant.
And the father was Barry. She was so screwed.
Before she went to the doctor, she decided she needed to find Barry and tell him about it. He had a right to know as the supposed father.
She went to CCPD first and asked around. He was in his lab upstairs. She'd been here before and knew the way so she slowly started making her way to his lab. She was so nervous she might puke from the stress.
The door was right in front of her and she took a deep breath to calm herself before pushing the doors back to walk in. There she saw him hunched over a table, looking through a microscope at something.
"Barry," she called him.
Barry turned around to face her. Surprise evident on his face. "Caitlin, what brings you to my workplace?" he asked.
"You know, you spend all day at my workplace. Why can't I come to yours?" Caitlin questioned him.
"We hate each other, why would you come here?" Barry teasingly asked her, "Now, tell me the truth, why are you here?"
"I have to tell you something and I won't blame you if you freak out or something, but I have to tell you," Caitlin said.
"This must be pretty serious for you to tell me," Barry gestured to himself. "Does anyone else know?"
"Just me, and you now, but promise you won't tell anyone like with my powers, this is too important," Caitlin asked.
"Alright I guess, so what is it?" Barry asked once more.
"Barry, I'm… pregnant." Caitlin nervously told him as his eyes went wide and his mouth opened agape.
"So, you're pregnant?" Barry asked in confirmation. When Caitlin nodded, he took a deep breath. "When are you telling Ronnie?"
"Ronnie?" Caitlin asked in confusion.
"I mean, as the father, shouldn't he know?" Barry asked.
"Barry, I haven't been intimate with him since he left the first time, when I thought he died," Caitlin told him. "And I haven't been with anyone else since you,"
Barry had a look of dawning realization on his face. "So, that means…"
"It's not confirmed, but if I'm pregnant, you're the father,"
"You're telling me that I am possibly a father? I'm gonna be a father?" Barry asked with tears and a smile on his face.
"Don't look too excited, I'm not sure if I want you involved with this child's life, I just thought you should know before I make a decision," Caitlin said.
"What decision? This is my child," Barry said to her. "If you are, we are going to raise it with love and safety,"
"We are not doing anything, this is my decision whether I'm keeping it or not," Caitlin told him.
"Not my decision?! That's my child too, you can't just take him or her away from me. Plus, if I'm with my child, I can protect it." Barry reasoned, looking more agitated by the second.
"I can protect it just fine, we don't need you Barry. I only told you because I felt that you had a right to know, and it's not even confirmed if I am pregnant. Stop treating it like it's already here," Caitlin shouted.
"But what if you're actually pregnant?! You're gonna raise it alone, making it think that he or she wasn't loved by his father?! Can you bear the thought of him or her being miserable because I wasn't there for him or her?" Barry questioned, "I am going to be a part of this child's life whether you want me to or not Caitlin," Barry stood his ground.
"I am going to leave, see a doctor about this," Caitlin gestured to her stomach region. "And then we are going to talk about this,"
Everything went wrong. A new meta was discovered, Mark Mardon. The brother of Clyde Mardon and he had the exact same powers as his brother, only more powerful and precise.
He had paralyzed the police captain by striking him with a lightning bolt, and kidnapped Joe before threatening to destroy the city with a tsunami.
Barry tried to save them all. Creating a barrier of wind on the coastline by running back and forth, but even then he was unsure of whether or not he would be able to save everyone. And through it all he had the feeling that something terrible had happened to one of his friends.
But then, he saw something. A glowing hole that he didn't have time to avoid and he was back on the streets with the night sky above. Taking a look around he thought he saw himself running beside him.
Pausing in his run, he took in everything. It was exactly as he remembered it to be. Yesterday.
What just happened?
A little shorter than I intended, but hey I'm on vacation. Hope all of you are enjoying your March Breaks and staying safe at the same time.
Tell me what you thought, leave your reviews, any concerns should the need arise.
Caitlin's pregnant. Who saw that coming? Seriously though, how obvious was it I was going to add in a pregnancy scare? Leave your thoughts on what you think I'm going to do with the baby. Who knows what I'm going to do with it? Well I know. I'm just letting you all suffer a whole week in anticipation.
Anyway, adios and till we meet again.