Lovely Arrangements

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Prelude: First Impressions

"Cisco what the hell were you thinking?" he barked at his colleague.

His friend let out a loud laugh, "Hey man, I did tell you she was fun. Wasn't she? Boy it took me way too long to convince her. More than I expected."

"Fun is definitely not the word I would use for her," just thinking about her was giving him a migraine.

"Just chill. Your dad will love her, you guys will get along —"

"Highly doubt it," he said under his breath.

"And after three years, she gets what she wants and you get your hospitals, and there everyone happy."

Barry scoffed and continued his brisk walk, "I just don't understand why my old man wants me to get married. Have I not shown I'm more than capable of taking care of the hospitals? I have an MD and an MBA. The hospital I run is the most profitable from the chain. What more can he want?"

Cisco, quickly catching up, added, "Maybe for you to have a heart?" he said as he popped a lollipop in his mouth.

The doctor sent the engineer a glare.

"Don't shoot the messenger, it's true. For all your smarts you lack a heart man."

He turned his eyes away and stopped right before his office.

"I mean, that grandma...you could've let her stay and get the surgery…"

"Resources at hospitals are limited," he said as he placed his glasses on. He opened the office door and muttered, "she was going to die anyway."

The engineer sighed.

{-}

"You're going to get married!" the little girl squealed.

"That's right Jade, your bestie is getting married," Caitlin said with a smile.

"Do you have your dress? Where will it be? Am I invited? Is your husband pretty?" she asked cheekily.

"No, I don't have a dress yet. Not sure. I'll see. And, he's...he's okay," do men like to be called pretty? Was her future husband pretty?

"Well I don't like'im," Marcos said with a pout as he played with his toys.

"You don't even know him," Jade pointed out.

"I don't have to know'im to not like'im,"

Caitlin bent down with an action figure and began playing with the little boy, "You know...you're still my number one guy."

Marcos continued to play for a little while, but slowly his pout was fading away. "Promise?" he asked with hopeful eyes.

"Promise," the woman said as she gave him a small peck on the forehead.

"Can we meet him?" Jade pitched in. Who was Caity marrying? She never even told them she had a boyfriend.

That got Caitlin thinking, would Barry be open to meeting them? He was a doctor after all. Shouldn't be too hard to get him to come over, right? "I think so, I'll ask."

Marcos hated the guy whoever he was. There would never be anyone as nice for Caity. If only he was a bit older...

Jade was intrigued. Caity never even mentioned liking someone that wasn't some TV personality. She never even mentioned a boyfriend, but she was excited to see Caity as a princess, a bride.

Caitlin, as she had been doing for the last few days, did not want to dwell too much on the implications of her impending marriage. She already signed the document.

She may not have money, but she was a woman of her word.

{-}

Barry looked at his watch for the fifth time.

"Calm down, she'll be here."

He glanced at the entrance yet again and saw no sign of the girl. Where was she?

"Barry, it's still fifteen minutes early, take a deep breath," the older man chuckled. It was rare to see his son this impatient.

"If you're not early —"

"You're late. I know, I taught you that."

And five minutes till the hour the woman in question arrived.

"So sorry about that! The person from the next shift was almost an hour and half late and I just couldn't leave the team to fend for themselves. Rush hour, you know." She gave them an apologetic grin.

Barry was annoyed.

Henry was amused.

"I take it you work at Jitters?" Henry asked politely.

"How did you —?"

"Name tag," Barry muttered. Did she have to make it that obvious?

She smiled to herself, 'duh', "Of course. Sorry again."

"No worries, you were just in time," Henry smiled.

As she was going to take a seat, she jumped back up and outstretched her hand, "My goodness, where are my manners, my name is Caitlin."

Henry stood up as well, "Henry Allen, at your service."

"Dr. Allen, you are so kind," they both took a seat. "Makes me wonder where your son got his manners," she muttered to herself, but it was loud enough for both men to hear.

Henry chuckled. Barry kicked her lightly under the table. How dare she?

"I like her," Henry told his son.

When they brought the menu and served the drinks, Dr. Allen excused himself to take a call.

"You couldn't change?" he eyed her with disapproval, it was obvious she came directly from work. "I did tell you we were meeting my father."

She took a sip of her water, "I thought about it, but I rather not be late instead," her hand made its way to the bread. "By the way, Bartholomew, is Mrs. Allen not joining us today?"

His grip on his cup tightened, "No," after a pause he added, "she's dead."

Caitlin stopped drinking. She wasn't expecting that. Somehow she was glad she didn't ask this when the elder Allen was around. Yet, she felt saddened about the fact her future husband lost his mother. She could relate.

"I'm sor—"

Before she finished, Barry supplied, "Don't. Don't call me Bartholomew. No one calls me that. Call me Barry." Since they barely even spoke, such a trivial matter hadn't come up in their conversations.

"Barry it is."

After an awkward silence, save for the server setting the plates. Caitlin added, "For what it's worth, my mom also died."

Barry calmly took a sip of his wine, "I know."

Her eyebrow twitched. He could be a bit more sympathetic.

Henry came back, and lunch ran smoothly after that.

{-}

"Your dad is so kind. I wonder why you're so sour," she said without malice.

"You're welcome," he said, suppressing his annoyance as he parked the car in front of her apartment complex.

"Oh, thanks. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude, what I meant is that you look like your father, yet act nothing like him."

Barry smirked, "Now that's a real compliment," Caitlin frowned in confusion, "are you getting off or not?"

There was so much she didn't know about this man that would eventually become her husband. She was curious, "Don't you want to come over?" this was a good opportunity to get to know him better.

He gave her a funny look. She clearly didn't understand that her words could be misinterpreted.

"I have all sorts of teas and make a mean coffee. The perks of working at Jitters I guess," she shrugged.

Some silence ensued, and then he said, "Caramel Frappuccino?"

A winning smile came over her, "You got it."

Once they made her way to her apartment. Caitlin asked Barry to make himself comfortable and she headed straight to the kitchen to make her famous Frappuccino. Meanwhile the doctor looked around the small apartment, trying to get an idea of who this woman was. Sure she was annoying half the time, but there was something else there. He could tell she was clean and simplistic. The place was not overly stuffed, everything was put away in the right place. There was a portrait of a cherry blossom tree in her living room, which stood out amongst the bare walls. On it, there was a pale pink post-it that read: One day…

"One caramel Frappuccino for Barry Allen," she said in a sing-song voice. "Beautiful isn't it?" she said with a wistful smile.

Barry took the beverage and sat down.

"It's on my bucket list," she said, as she sat opposite of him, "I want to go to Japan one day. Cherry blossom trees are my favorite, subtle, elegant, and joyful."

"You want to go to Japan to see some trees? There are cherry blossoms at Central City's Grand Park," he said matter of fact.

"Oh yes, those are pretty. But I want the real deal. Besides, I don't want to go to Japan just because of trees, it's the culture, the food, another part of the world, aren't you curious?"

Barry shrugged, "I don't have time for those things, running a hospital takes most of my time."

"And you want to run fifteen? If you don't have time now to do anything, imagine when you manage the whole group."

"It's a feasible endeavor. Otherwise, I wouldn't be pursuing it."

She set her tea cup down, "Don't you want to live a little?"

"You call this living?" he said as he eyed her apartment.

She also looked around, "What's wrong with this? The apartment may be quaint, but it's home, and it's something I gave myself, that in itself makes it worth it."

"Spending my time working three jobs and going to school at odd hours after being in college for seven years without a bachelors. I could hardly call that living."

She'd been refraining from calling him out, but this was enough, "Some of us aren't born with a silver spoon to be able to afford education and the pleasures of life."

This amused him, she'd been far too calm all the time it unnerved him, "I did pay for my own education."

She scoffed, "You're rich. It'd be weird if you didn't. I bet your dad even donated millions to the school or was an alum. Isn't that what you rich people do? Breed the next generations."

"Breed...What sophisticated vocabulary you have. In any case, you aren't in a position to tell me how to live my life, when you've lived less than I have."

"Fair enough," she really wanted to fight him and argue, but that would be a waste. Might as well ask what she really wanted to ask, "so, tell me about yourself."

He had a snarky retort at the tip of his tongue, but it died at her response, "What is this, an interview?"

"We are getting married, don't you think we should know about each other?"

He finished his caramel frap, which admittedly was better than he expected, not that he would tell her that, "What's there to know. You're twenty-seven, orphan, still in school, working three part time jobs, trying to pay for school for the last seven years, perhaps graduating before your thirty. Favorite color blue, favorite fruit strawberries…"

She rolled her eyes, "Wow, you sure know a whole lot about me. But let me correct you there. I'm not an orphan, my father died ten years ago, and my mom, well, she's dead too...Okay, I am an orphan now, but I had parents and lived with them. My favorite color isn't blue, it's red, and yes I love strawberries, but they have to be frozen."

Darn Cisco, giving him wrong information.

"But that's only a part of me, there's still so much you don't know. Not that I'm any better," now that she thought about it, she knew next to nothing about him. "All I know is that you're Bartholomew Henry Allen," before he could even correct her, "Barry, yes, I know. You're used to having things your way, you're stubborn, rude, and think way too highly of yourself."

His eyebrow twitched, "You don't say."

"Come to think of it, I know a lot more than I thought."

"I guess that settles it then," before he got up he heard her chuckle.

"I'm kidding! Tell me about yourself. What do you like? What you don't like? Favorite dish? You know things like that."

"Why do you need to know those things?" she could add that he was also a private person to her list.

"Hello! We're getting married. Shouldn't I know these things?"

He sighed and settled back down, "Don't fool yourself, this is a marriage of convenience. A contract and nothing else."

"I know. I don't expect for us to develop romantic feelings or anything, but we don't have to hate each other either, don't you think?"

She had a point there. "Fine. I'm thirty-one, CEO of Allen Memorial Hospital, I hate nosy people," he sent her a pointed look, "pickles, and the number four for some reason."

"Me too! I read that in Japan four sounds very close to 'death' and that's why they don't like it. I guess we were Japanese in another life," she laughed lightly.

"That's silly," yet he fought valiantly the corner of his mouth that wanted to turn up, "I like meat, dogs —"

"But not dog meat, right?"

"No. Definitely, not dog meat," he saw her sigh relieved, "and I like kiwi."

"Oh! Kiwi is great, not too sweet, not too sour, good taste," she snapped her fingers, "next summer you have to try the kiwi-strawberry smoothie we sell at Jitters, it's ah-may-zing,"

"Perhaps," not that he went to Jitters often, that's what his PA was for.

"Well partner, I think we are finally making some progress," she stood up and Barry thought she wanted to pick up the cup from him, but instead she said, "let's make the next three years worthwhile."

Barry looked at her inquisitively but got up nonetheless, and shook the hand she was offering.

"Let's do that Caitlin Snow."

{x}