"Caity! You're here!" Jade yelled at the top of her lungs.
"I sure am princess, and I brought you carrot cake as requested," she lifted the bag with the goodies.
"But I don't like carrot cake," Marcos said from under his bed.
Caitlin knelt down to be closer to him, "No worries, my little prince, I got you chocolate cake."
Marcos' eyes shone and he walked towards his friend Jade. "Thank you Caity."
"You're welcome. I'm so happy to see you both."
"Were you able to beat the monsters," Jade asked with a mouthful of her carrot cake.
"Monsters?" Ah, she must mean midterms. Caitlin was complaining about them a while ago.
"Do you need my Superman Caity, so you can beat the monsters?" Marcos offered as he pulled an old Superman figurine from under his pillow.
"That's sweet Marcos, but I can handle this one," she said with a kind smile. "Yes I was able to beat them, but it was hard," she complained.
"Did they hurt you?" Marcos asked.
The woman shook her head, "They tried, but I recovered. I couldn't lose since I was using my most powerful charms."
Marcos and Jade looked at her in awe waiting for the next part of the story.
"And here, I have them with me," she rummaged through her bag and pulled out two stones. One was an off white color, and the other was green.
"Those are the rocks we gave you," Jade said in awe, and Marcos nodded emphatically. "Do they have powers?"
Caitlin nodded, "They sure do! See this one," she said holding up the white one, "gives you courage, so you're never afraid of anything."
The children formed an awed "oh" with their mouths.
"And this one," the woman continued and held up the green one, "gives you the power to remember anything you want."
"Wow," Marcos finished.
"They're so powerful," Jade said, as she extended her hand so Caitlin could share her charms with her. "I feel it!" She said with a bright grin.
"What do you feel?" Caitlin asked softly.
"I feel like I'm the most powerful girl in the world!"
"Let me see Jade," Marcos asked, the chocolate cake half-eaten.
"Wait your turn Marcos."
Jade clasped her hands harder and focused intently.
After a few seconds Caitlin asked, "What are you doing sweetie?"
"I'm trying to remember," the little girl said with her eyes closed.
A tightness took hold of Caitlin's chest, "What are you remembering?"
"When I had my long hair," she finished with a hint of sadness.
While sad, Caitlin still breathed out a sigh of relief.
"It will come back, I promise," she gave the girl a tight hug. "You're still very pretty with your red headband. Isn't that right Marcos?"
"Uhm," he looked at Caity and then at Jade, who seemed sad, "yeah! Pretty!"
"See, you're the prettiest girl out there."
That tugged a smile at the girl. "You're just saying that."
"It's the truth!"
Jade handed the rocks at Marcos who jumped from the bed and ran to his little box of figurines. He had each action figure hold the rocks, hoping they could get super strength or some other power.
Caitlin and Jade looked at each other and giggled. The boy clearly didn't understand the metaphorical power of the rocks.
"Caity, when is Barry coming?"
Immediately, Caitlin grabbed the back of her neck with some nervousness. "About that…"
"I don't like him," Marcos came with a handful of action figures and the white and green rocks in his tiny little hand.
"You don't know him Marcos," Jade chided, "he's Caity's prince, right Caity?"
"Well..." she said in a higher octave, letting out a small nervous laugh in the process.
"Nu-uh, I'm Caity's prince, right?" He looked at Caitlin with hopeful eyes.
"Of course," Caitlin said quickly.
"But Caity, you already married prince Barry, you can't have two," Jade said as a matter of fact.
Before a debate ensued Caitlin stepped in, "If all goes well, you should meet Barry on this day," she said pointing at the second Saturday in May.
"Really!" Jade squealed excitedly.
Marcos frowned.
"Yep, you just need to behave and be good for Dr. Stewart, and Barry promised he would be here."
{-}
Barry was tapping away at his desk. Why on earth did he accept such a ridiculous wager? Apparently spending time with Caitlin was having detrimental effects on his decision making. First Genevive, then this little bet of theirs.
"Yo!" Cisco called from the door.
"Sure, come right in, why don't you,"
"Don't I have some seniority since we've known each other for almost a decade now?" Cisco took a seat. "Anyhow, came to discuss vacation time, boss."
"Don't we have an online system for this?"
Cisco shrugged, "Wanted to avoid the back and forth and just clear the dates with the boss man himself."
"Because obviously I have nothing better to do," Barry deadpanned.
The engineer looked at his boss's monitor and then back at him with a mocking look, "You don't seem too busy right now."
"Research," Barry muttered as he exited out of the site.
"So what do you think of these dates," he placed his tablet on the desk and showed Barry his electronic calendar.
"Which ones exactly?" The calendar was a colorful mess.
"Not the yellow ones, those are Wally's days off," Which Barry noticed were very similar to the ones Jessie had requested. "Red ones are Jax's,"
"A whole week? Wow, you're generous."
Got'cha. "It's for the greater good boss, trust me."
Barry looked up with a do-I-care? look.
"It's the week before finals."
"I thought all of your team was made up of college graduates."
Cisco nodded, "Well most of them are, but our new intern isn't quite there yet."
"Caitlin?"
"Yes sir."
"I thought she wasn't joining your team until the summer," And what did Jax's vacation have to do with her to begin with?
"Right, well she needed some help with a class or something," Cisco started, throwing the bait, "and Jax kindly offered to tutor her."
Surprisingly, Barry leaned back and smirked. Interesting move Caitlin.
"He's your resident expert on thermodynamics, correct?"
"Yes," the engineer said tentatively.
"Very well," he gave the tablet back to his friend, "just make sure the reports for the second quarter are submitted on time and your vacation is approved,"
"I didn't even give you my dates,"
"As long as the guidelines are followed, I have no problem with the dates Cisco," Barry responded. "Besides, when have you ever come in to discuss vacation dates with me?" He teased.
"There was that one time —"
"Don't."
"Okay then," he got up from his chair and headed to the door. "So it goes without saying that Jax and the wifey will be seeing a whole lot of each other."
Of course that's what Cisco was getting at. "Nothing more than a means to an end."
"Huh?" Cisco was confused.
"Goodbye Cisco."
{-}
It had been two weeks since his conversation with Cisco. Things seemed to be normal…until they weren't. Barry noticed that Caitlin was getting home much later than usual and leaving earlier than him, so they rarely saw each other. The few times he actually got a glimpse of her she looked tired and worn out. At first, he figured she was studying with Jax, but that hadn't been the case. He'd heard from Cisco that Caitlin had canceled those plans (much to Jax's dismay) and hadn't gone back to visit the engineering team since. These little things shouldn't matter, but somehow they did. And that bothered him. He wouldn't say he was worried, more like mildly concerned. Like you would for an employee.
Yes, something like that.
It was Thursday evening and no Caitlin was in sight. He casually made his way to the kitchen, which had a window facing their driveway. He made himself coffee and looked out the window, pensive. Before their marriage he would rarely call her and even more sporadically meet with her. He was a busy man. Now, it seemed that Caitlin was also just as busy, if not more so.
He saw a familiar figure walk towards the door and waited patiently for her to step in. Maybe it was his turn to ask how her day was. There was nothing wrong with being courteous. He nodded to himself agreeing with his idea.
Meanwhile, Caitlin stepped in and slowly took off her jacket and undid her ponytail. With a resolute sigh she dropped her bag and backpack by the entrance and just stood there in defeated silence.
"Caitlin?" Her husband asked from a few feet away. "Are you okay?" He was used to the woman being more lively, and him constantly chastising her in his mind for how childish she was.
"Barry…" her voice broke and she walked to him. She knew very well that Barry liked his personal space, and always kept his distance. But today she didn't care. She needed comfort.
She only hesitated if merely a split second and rested her face on his chest.
Barry didn't know how to react. Other than the chaste kiss he gave her at their wedding, they'd never even held hands. In fact there was always this invisible barrier that they both put, to keep each other at a safe distance. Why was she —
"She died…" Caitlin mumbled, but Barry heard loud and clear.
He started to feel a bit of wetness on his shirt. Caitlin was crying. He wanted to push her away, gently. But he only got as far as placing his hands on her shoulders. Dealing with crying women...wasn't something he was good at.
"She…" the woman hiccuped, "yesterday…I…" she gripped his shirt and started to sob loudly, "this wasn't...supposed...to...I…"
Whoever died must have been very important to her. He briefly felt a shiver down his spine and a flashback he always suppressed resurfaced. He shut his eyes with force and took a deep breath, Caitlin needed him. The last thing he wanted was to get lost within himself at a time like this.
"Barry...she...so young…"
He didn't know when but his arms, once close to her shoulders, were now resting on her back enveloping her in a tight hug. He realized that if he let go, the girl would fall, in every sense of the word.
"Shhh, it's going to be okay," he said. Under normal circumstances he would've stayed away. Let her live her grief and recover on her own. Yet, somewhere very deep inside, he knew that if he let go now, he might not have another chance to comfort her. "It's going to be okay."
The woman kept crying, mumbling about this "she" being gone and how she hadn't been able to do anything. Caitlin hated this feeling of impotence. She hated not being able to do anything. It was like reliving her father's death once again. It had been almost a decade since then, and those feelings of helplessness and anger were just as raw, and now this.
Barry managed to move them from the entrance to their couch in the living room. As they sat down next to each other neither let go. Caitlin kept crying, holding onto her husband for dear life. Barry kept holding her and began to rub her back soothingly. He didn't know her well enough to offer any other comfort, so he hoped this was enough.
He didn't know how long they stayed in that position, perhaps minutes, or hours, but slowly Caitlin's sobs started to slow down and her breathing took on a calming rhythm. She'd fallen asleep. Knowing she was resting, calmed him. It was Thursday evening, he had work he wanted to tackle before tomorrow, prepare meetings, review contracts and diagnostics, read some new articles that were published, but all of that could wait. His most pressing matter was staying in this position to allow Caitlin to rest for however long she needed.
Unconsciously he continued rubbing the woman's back providing additional comfort. He wasn't sure why, but he hoped tomorrow she would wake up with a smile.
{-}
The early rays of the morning hit his eyes and he tried to move his arm to block the light but felt something weighing him down. Then all the memories from yesterday night came to him and he looked down at the messy strands of auburn on his lap. Caitlin's eyes were puffy and red rimmed, to be expected with how much she cried. Whoever died, must have meant a lot to Caitlin for her to react this way. It made him wonder who it might be. When Cisco had given him information on his future "wife" he had tuned him out for most of it —now he was regretting that decision. As far as losses, his wife had lost her parents, and had no family. Neither did she have close friends, not that he remembered. So who died?
A faint ringtone pulled him out of his musings. He quickly turned around looking for the source and realized it was coming from the door —Caitlin's phone was probably among her items. He didn't want to wake her, and thankfully he found a cushion nearby to use as a replacement for his lap. He lifted Caitlin's head gently and let her rest on the cushion, while he made his way to the entrance.
"Hello?" Barry said, keeping his voice down, careful not to wake the woman up.
There was a few seconds of silence and then he heard a male voice from the other end, "Uhm, is this Caitlin's phone?"
"Yes, she can't come to the phone right now, can I help you?"
"Okay," the other man said annoyed, "This is Anthony, her manager at CC Elegancé Boutique," he pronounced with a horrible French accent imitation.
Now it was Barry's turn to get annoyed. Could this man just get to the point?
"And it's urgent I reach Caitlin."
Was he not clear? "She isn't available."
"She isn't available to work?"
Oh, so this man was her boss at one of her jobs, "She is not."
"Really now? She's already over 30 minutes late, if she wants to keep the job she needs to be here."
"Anthony, right? Caitlin isn't available, she isn't feeling well alright," it was precisely because of pricks like this that he loved being his own boss. "I'll have her call you when she gets a chance."
"Who are you again?"
"I'm Barry, her husband," he said with a tone of finality.
He heard a gasp from the other side, "Married? Old, in school, and still working a part time job with teenagers, gosh what a miserable life," he said under his breath, but clearly wanted Barry to hear.
The last thing he needed was to deal with this, "Ok Anthony you've made your point," he took a brief glance at Caitlin, "on second thought, Caitlin won't call, so don't bother reaching her."
"Excuse moi? Uhm, I'm Caitlin's BOSS,"
"And I'm her husband," he really hoped Caitlin didn't chew him out for what he was about to do, "she doesn't need you or that crappy job."
"She's fired!"
"Oh no, she quits," before he hung up Barry added, "and for the record it's pronounced élégance."
{-}
Caitlin woke up with a killer headache, but that was the least of her concerns. She noticed someone had placed a blanket over her and closed the blinds and curtains. She didn't have the strength to smile at the gesture, too heartbroken for that, but she felt her heart get a tiny bit warmer. Barry wasn't anywhere in sight, but she noticed that her jacket and purse were placed on the love seat a few feet away.
"Barry…"
She was ready to apologize to him for how she acted yesterday. He'd been very clear about their boundaries, and even if every now and then there were glimpses of a certain softness around him, with how rare those were, sometimes she wondered if they were even real. But yesterday had been real. Barry's arms were what held her together when she felt ready to let go. And for that, she would always be grateful.
She glanced at her watch and noticed it was almost noon. Oh no! Tony would kill her. He already had beef with her for the time off she requested to go visit Jade and Marcos…
Jade…
Her eyes began to get watery again and she shook her head furiously. She couldn't get herself lost in grief, not right now.
She heard the entrance door close and looked in that direction.
"Barry?" It was Friday, Barry would surely be working. Was she imagining him?
"Hi Caitlin," he placed the groceries away, "how are you feeling?"
Was that a loaded question or what. "Better.." she said hesitantly.
Barry walked to her and knelt down to be at her line of sight, "Brought you this," he handed her a white-pink cup.
"What is it?"
"Just try it."
She took the cup and a small sip without question. The liquid was hot but not unbearably so, "Tea?"
Barry nodded, "Apparently there is a Japanese place around here that sells these strawberry/Sakura teas," he got up and took a seat on the loveseat, "it reminded me of you."
"Mmmm, it's so soothing," she breathed in the aroma, "thank you Barry you...you didn't have to."
"I didn't."
Typical Barry response, "I'm still grateful you did."
"Do you want to talk about it?" He said changing the topic.
She shook her head, "I've already bothered you enough."
"I wasn't bothered," Barry said softly.
Caitlin was surprised by that response, it wasn't expected, and yet…
"You didn't work today?" She asked instead, "Either you skipped work or I slept a day and a half and it's Saturday," the sole idea of having slept so much brought a look of panic on her face.
"It's Friday," he saw her exhale in relief, "some meetings were canceled so I didn't have to go to the office today."
She nodded, "I see. Well it's great, I would hate to make you miss work."
"I am my own boss," Barry said simply.
"Oh my God! Speaking of work I'm going to have to beg for mine," she jumped from the couch and started to look for her phone, "Out of my three jobs I have this horrible boss from a boutique I work at," she said a mile a minute.
"Caitlin…"
"Gosh, he's the worst, and he—"
"Caitlin—"
"I'm going to be fired I just know it—"
"You were."
"And then I'll have to —" she stopped at Barry's words. "What? I was fired?"
"Some guy called Anthony…"
"Yep, that's him," she dropped herself on the couch again. A moment of silence transpired between them, and before Barry had the chance to explain, his wife continued, "Huh? Somehow I feel relieved, is that normal?" She looked at her husband.
Barry nodded, "With a boss like that, yes," he said without hesitation. He only spoke to him for two minutes and couldn't stand the guy.
{-}
The rest of the weekend was awfully quiet. Caitlin went to work at Jitters and would spend the evenings in her room. Barry gave her as much space as she wanted and needed. He wasn't an expert at comfort, but would make it a point to spend his free time in the living room, in case Caitlin ever wanted to talk.
She didn't.
Another week went by, and an idea occurred to Barry. He pulled out his phone and dialed a familiar number.
"Do you have a few minutes?"
"Hello to you too," Said a groggy Cisco.
"Can we meet at Café Central in an hour?"
"Lunch on you?" Cisco said cheekily.
Barry just hung up.
"I'll take that as a yes," the engineer said to himself.
{-}
"So, we've been here fifteen minutes and you haven't said a whole lot," the engineer bit into his sandwich, "I know this wasn't a social call."
"Right."
And then more silence ensued.
Cisco almost finished his set of fries by the time he talked again, "Ok, fine I'll cave."
Barry took a bite from his pasta and looked at Cisco waiting for him to continue.
"Yes or no, this is about Caitlin?" Yet again, he said to himself.
Barry nodded nonchalantly.
"You know Barry, you could just ask her yourself," Cisco said as a matter of fact.
He was greeted by silence.
Cisco sighed. Seriously, he would develop telepathy at this rate, "Barry, Caitlin and I aren't like best friends or anything, we just talk occasionally."
After some silence, Barry finally decided to talk, "Has she mentioned someone?" He asked in the most uninterested tone he could muster.
"Someone? As in…" Cisco motioned for his friend to continue.
"A girl."
Cisco dropped his fork and gulped his glass of water for all it was worth, "You mean Caitlin and a woman," he joined both index fingers together.
Barry shot him a glare, "Cisco,"
"No? That isn't what we're talking about?"
"Someone died."
Cisco spewed his water, "What!? Who?"
Barry set his utensils down, "Obviously you don't know anything," what a waste of time, wasn't said but Cisco heard it anyway.
"Alright Bart-man, I don't know what's going on, but I can find out," he raised his eyebrows mischievously.
Barry continued eating, but Cisco saw the faintest nod.
Why was this guy so hard headed?
{-}
"Alright boys, we have a mission," Cisco shared with his engineering team.
Wally and Jax shared a look of interest and then turned to their boss.
"We are to go incognito," Cisco began putting up pictures on his transparent board, "and this is our target, Caitlin Snow."
"Oh it's that girl that came to visit," Wally added enthusiastically. "Although I haven't seen her in a while."
"True…" Jax agreed a bit dejectedly, he still hadn't gotten over the fact that she was married. Then again, it could be a short lived affair. There was still hope, "so what exactly do we need to find out?" he pulled up his personal laptop, which he totally didn't use for illegal things.
Cisco smirked, "Won't be that easy Jaxter. Apparently Caitlin has some aversion to social media, and I'm not about to break into email territory, now that's personal," he didn't feel bad about hacking into social media (when it was private), but email was a different story. Unless there was an impending emergency, he wasn't sure there was one of that magnitude yet.
Almost like a wounded puppy, Jax put his laptop away.
Wally got his shades and jacket, "Were going on a field trip, to do this the old way," he said while rubbing his hands mischievously.
"You got that right Wally. Now, before we go for field research, here's what we know:"
Caitlin had her time split 3 ways:
Work
School
Hospital -volunteer at the Children's ward
"Ok, with this in mind, Wally, you're young looking. Perhaps it's best you're incognito during her CCU time, she works at the library and does evening classes."
Jax, the sanest one among the three, was taking note of their assignments, but had a complaint to verbalize, "Hey! Why does Wally get to go to CCU when I'm younger?"
"But I look younger," Wally said with a cocky smile.
"Boys, boys, focus," Cisco chided.
"Besides, it'll be easier for me to sneak into my uncle's class, and I can totally weasel my way out of there in the rare event I get caught," Jax reasoned.
Cisco turned to Jax, "You got a point there," it was true, at worst Jax could always pretend he was visiting his uncle. "Any reservations?" he asked Wally.
Wally shrugged, "As long as I get Jitters, I'm cool,"
Cisco sighed, "I was afraid you would say that —fine," he said reluctantly, "I'll tag her at the hospital. Thank God it isn't this one, at least I can look forward to a bit of a change."
"Wait hold up," Jax said to the team before they stepped out, "to do this right we have to know the details of her schedule right?"
"Would be helpful, yes," Cisco agreed.
Then Jax gave Cisco the look.
The lead engineer rolled his eyes. "Fine, but we are only doing this to get her schedule."
"You got it boss," Jax pulled his laptop excitedly and started to type a mile a minute.
{-}
Wally was bored out of his mind. Who knew chilling at a coffee shop for hours could be this boring? He saw people come in and out, going about their day. Some couples were having a good time, which made him miss his girlfriend terribly. There was even a hushed argument he overheard, but really there was only so much online gaming he could do before he was bored.
Suddenly, he saw a cup of coffee settling on his table.
"I didn't order —" his words were interrupted by a bright girl with pink hair.
"I know, it's on the house," she said with a bright smile.
Should he tell her he has a girlfriend?
As if the girl had read his mind she continued, "Caitlin sent it over, figured you could use a pick me upper after being here for so long."
He saw the girl walk away and leaving him in shock. Great. Just great. The shades weren't enough to disguise him. Ugh! He was a total failure at this incognito thing. And he had been so excited! Well...the boys didn't need to know of his failure. He could always say there was nothing to report.
Before he left, he eyed Caitlin without his shades. He didn't know her well enough to make any assessments, but despite her professional smile and courteous greetings, it seemed like it was all terribly forced. Even when their eyes met briefly, she only gave a curt nod and polite smile before going to the back out of sight.
It didn't seem like she had an issue with anyone there, but she didn't look like the bright and eager woman he was introduced to the first time.
{-}
Jax was super excited about this mission. He would never admit it to the boys but he had developed this instant crush on the auburn haired woman. She was smart, loved computers, was awfully cute, and he could tell from miles away that she had a big heart. There was just something about her that he liked and he couldn't help it.
Learning that she was married to Barry Allen, their CEO, no less, had been a huge blow. Yet there was still something there that allowed him to hold on to hope. He shouldn't allow it. He shouldn't even entertain the thought of liking a married woman, and yet —
"So you're here to sit in class for old time's sake?" his favorite uncle surmised inquisitively.
Jax nodded, "Yep, just pretend I'm not even here."
"If you want us to discuss a topic, you only need to ask son," Dr. Stein said politely.
Jax shook his head, "It's all good uncle, I missed the class environment, but I'll be like a fly in the wall, pretend I'm not even here."
"Only if you're sure Jefferson."
The youth held back an eye roll. His uncle was always so formal.
He sat in the far corner of the top of the auditorium and wore glasses without lenses, burying himself in his laptop but observing the class with keen interest.
Caitlin walked in with a serious expression, minding her own business and seating herself in the opposite corner from Jax just two rows away.
He noticed her eyes were staring at his uncle almost as if there was no one else in the room, but at the same time it looked like she wasn't paying attention at all. His theory was confirmed when his uncle called on her to answer a question and she was unable to respond, shrinking quietly into her seat.
He wanted to catch her and check in on her after class was over, but she snuck away from everyone without a word.
Whatever was going on must have shaken her big time. She didn't look like herself and was a complete opposite of the woman he'd met at the hospital.
{-}
Wally and Jax had had no luck when it came to finding out what was happening with Caitlin, yet they both agreed something had happened. Now it was up to him to find out what it could possibly be. Not that it wasn't fun teasing Barry about it, but might as well give his friend a little nudge. It was rare that he paid attention to anything other than his business, so it was best he continue to nurture this side of him, as brief as it was.
"What's your business?" a woman who seemed as old as time itself drawled out with the most uninterested and annoyed tone he's ever heard.
Talk about poor customer service, he mused. "Uhm, I'm looking for Caitlin Snow," he said a bit hesitantly.
The woman raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips, "She's not a patient or a doctor."
"Right. I know. She's a volunteer."
The woman let out a sigh in exasperation. She seemed upset at being asked about a volunteer. Cisco might've heard her mutter that she wasn't paid enough for this.
"Not a patient or doctor. No information," she said as she continued flipping through some notes.
"Yeah, uhm," he slid a twenty dollar bill to the woman, "maybe you can help out a friend here,"
The woman eyed the bill and then looked back at the man with messy hair. "Third floor," she said as she took the bill inconspicuously, and went back to her notes.
"Thanks," he said as he headed to the elevators. Once the familiar ding rang and the doors opened the third floor looked...surprisingly like all the other ones.
He was so grateful his chase was cut short as he spotted a familiar female figure next to a doctor. He hid behind a wall and could only see that the girl was shaking her head. The older doctor placed a comforting arm on her shoulder and was trying to be reassuring but without context it was hard for him to understand the situation.
He pulled a wireless earbud from his pocket and his phone. He hesitated briefly about using this app, but he reasoned it was for the greater good. He tapped his earbud to life and listened on intently, finally matching what he was hearing to the expressions of the two people a couple of feet away.
"I'm not ready Dr. Stewart,"
"I know Caitlin, and I know it's a lot to ask, but he…"
"Later...please…"
Her voice sounded fragile and so broken that it pained even Cisco to hear her.
"I understand that Jade's death is so recent, and this is —"
"It hurts," after a beat she added, "that little girl was my friend. The best friend I've had in a long time, and I miss her…"
"If that's how you feel, imagine how he will feel."
She struggled to keep herself from crying, "You don't play fair Dr. Stewart," she said with a choked voice.
"I blame my wife," after some silence he said in a much gentler tone, "when you're ready, we can do this together."
"Thank you."
Now he had enough intel to...continue gathering more before he gave his full debrief to his friend. He pulled at his wallet to check how many twenties he had on hand, before he headed back to the reception area. He'd have to thank his Golden Goddess for insisting he carry cash for emergencies.
{x}