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Year 1 . Month 6
"It's soooo hot," Wally moaned as he fanned himself.
"It usually is when we come to check the generators," Cisco said as he wiped sweat off his eyebrow.
"Come on guys!" Jax said animatedly as he adjusted some bolts on a generator. "It's summer, cheer up a little."
Both Cisco and Wally glared at their colleague. He was usually the one that complained the most and now he was being a total hypocrite. Everyone knew why.
"I come bearing gifts!" Caitlin's cheerful voice was heard and with her were four cups of flavored shaved ice, "Lime and strawberry for Wally and Cisco, and blueberry for Jax," she handed the cups one by one to the men.
"You're heaven sent," Jax said with a big grin.
Cisco rolled his eyes. It was never going to happen, but Jax hadn't given up yet apparently.
"Thank you again for having me," after all, accommodating her summer class schedule had always been a nightmare at her previous jobs.
"You've been a lot of help," Cisco said as he munched away at his shaved ice, "besides, gotta put those hospital fees to good use,"
"But can they buy new generators, for the love of GOD!" Wally exclaimed.
Everyone laughed.
"We have job security, why jeopardize that," Jax pitched in. "Anyway Caitlin, how are you liking working with me —us, working with us?"
"It's been great!" The woman started to talk about all the things she's learned the last two weeks, and how there was so much interconnectedness in the hospital. She had never considered the impact of the hospital engineering division, but they were critical to the operation of the hospital.
"She is married right?" Wally whispered to Cisco.
Cisco nodded. "Yep, to our one and only Barry."
Wally shuddered, "God bless her," that man had a reputation, and not a good one per Jessie's accounts. "So why is Jax making those eyes at her?"
"I think he's still in the denial phase," Barry had been pretty clear about introducing Caitlin as his wife since day one. Cisco suspected he saw Jax's interest in the woman, and took that bold action in response. Not that he would ever admit to it though.
"I would not get into that mess. Barry is already an ogre as it is," Wally said sagely and continued eating away at his ice.
Cisco chuckled, "He's not that bad," but he had to agree with his colleague that this was a disaster waiting to happen.
{-}
Barry wasn't too fond of summer. He could deal with the heat. Not that he liked it, but he could deal with it. What he disliked about summer was all the work that came with it. It was the last quarter of the fiscal year, and all financials and operational reports were due. He was still recouping from the incident with Genevive on the inventory. Not all of the heads of division were as good as they needed to be when it came to deadlines and accuracy of data. And the list could go on and on about the things that ruined summer for him.
This summer, however, was different from the rest. Now he had Caitlin to look after as well. Actually, she was very capable of taking care of herself, but he was still keeping an eye out for her, since her loss had been so recent. Nevertheless, it didn't cease to amaze him how she pushed through life with a smile. It was a quality that he had seen in her from the beginning. Despite her hardships she maintained a positive attitude. Sure it was naive at times, but it was no less commendable.
"Sir, here's a copy of the checklists for the afternoon rounds."
"Thanks Jessie."
"Would you like me to assist with the note taking?"
"Sure."
They could ignore the fact that what she really wanted was to go to see Wally. Bottom line it was a win-win for both.
They started to walk the hallways and crossed paths with several doctors and nurses, who exchanged brief hellos and goodbyes. As the pair walked by the engineering room, there was a sign that read: Out on the field. Back at noon.
Jessie noticed her boss reading the sign and quickly pitched in, "They are checking the generators," which she knew from her and Wally's constant texting, but who needed to know that tidbit.
He nodded. He wondered how they (read: Caitlin) were handling the heat down there. He'd been there a handful of times, mainly at Cisco's request and it was a terrible experience. Did they have access to water close by?
Good thing his musings didn't have to go on for much longer, since the engineering crew was coming back in their sweaty glory.
"And that young Wally is why the last Star Wars trilogy is nothing more than a glorified and over budget fanfiction," Cisco finished.
Meanwhile Jax and Caitlin were further behind talking about something that was outside Barry's range of hearing. It didn't go past him, the bright smile the young engineer gave Caitlin. That would be something for her to worry about, since it seemed that clearly announcing she was his wife hadn't been enough.
"Barry!" Cisco said with a grin. "Missed me brother," he opened his arms and was nearing closer to give his friend a big hug, but quickly stopped when he felt Barry's deadly and cold glare. "Maybe not," he muttered to himself and lowered his arms.
"Hello boss," Wally acknowledged with a nod, "Jessie," he said softly.
"Hi," the woman said with a short wave.
"Everything okay?" Barry asked.
"Well we almost died of heatstroke but here we are."
"And then all the mashed potatoes flew around the table," Jax finished his anecdote and made an explosion effect for dramatics.
Caitlin laughed, "I can't believe Dr. Stein would do that!"
"Well you better," he bumped into Cisco's sweaty back, "Hey man why are we stopping?" he said, caught off guard. Then he took a good look at the man in front of Cisco. "Oh, hello there sir," he finished awkwardly.
"Jackson," Barry acknowledged.
"It's Jax," he interjected.
Barry raised an eyebrow.
"Barry, what brings you here?" Caitlin asked as she walked a bit closer.
"Caitlin," he said with a gentler tone. "I'm doing hospital rounds."
She nodded, "I see that you are alone this time around,"
She didn't realize Jessie was accompanying him, since she was chatting away with her boyfriend.
"This is my individual assessment. I can't lose touch with the happenings of the hospital," she had to agree with him on that. "How's your...internship experience going?" she looked disheveled, almost as if she had run a marathon.
"That's our cue boys," Cisco started to rally the men inside, much to Jax's dismay.
"But," Jax began in protest.
"No buts, except for yours getting inside that office," he shooed him in the direction of the engineering cave.
"What about Caitlin?"
"I'm sure she will appreciate some alone time with her husband,"
Jax's face dropped.
"I keep telling you it's not gonna happen man. Just let it go."
{-}
"Thank you for dropping me off at home during your lunch break, you really didn't have to," Caitlin said as they walked inside their home.
Barry shrugged, "It's nothing, I had to pick up some files anyway."
"Still. Thank you," she emphasized, "I couldn't really go to school smelling like I'd ran a 5K marathon last week and hadn't showered since."
He scoffed softly, "I guess that's the norm when you go to the generators," it was like a sauna down there, "why didn't you let the engineering team handle it?"
She had just undone her messy ponytail, "I'm part of the team, besides, I'm there to work."
"I doubt you have the expertise to fix or even assess a problematic generator," he said as he walked out of his room with two blue folders.
Caitlin sighed, "How else am I going to learn?"
"I thought you wanted to be a doctor," he said.
Caitlin gave him a mischievous smile, "Are you implying I should follow you around to learn about that?"
He looked up from his files, "Not really," he smirked, "I doubt you could keep up."
She gaped. How dare he! "Wow, humble much?"
"Only stating the truth."
"You're lucky I need to take a shower and run for class, otherwise, you wouldn't be hearing the end of it buddy."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he deadpanned, "if you can get ready in thirty minutes I can drop you off at school."
She walked closer to him and squinted her eyes analytically, "Who are you and what have you done with the real Barry Allen?"
He furrowed his brows, "I guess you're taking the bus then."
"I'll be ready in twenty!"
{-}
It was almost the end of her first month with the engineering crew and things had been great. There was a lot she was still trying to wrap her head around, but all the guys were willing to explain things to her and allowed her to get as much hands-on experience as possible. She was grateful for the distraction, as her loss still pulled at her heart on multiple occasions throughout the day. It was funny how being around that trio made her laugh and feel so light. Even serious Barry was kinder than usual, and she couldn't be more thankful.
She would occasionally see him doing his rounds, but he wouldn't always stop by. Despite him being clear about their relationship at work, she still gave him space and wanted to minimize any possibility of gossip. Thankfully, her job didn't have her going out and about to other departments just yet.
"So Caitlin," Cisco started, now that they were all alone. "How are things going with our favorite CEO?"
She finished putting away some files in the archives, "Good."
After some seconds of silence, Cisco continued, "Oh come on! He's rubbing off on you. Please say more than one word, gosh it's like pulling teeth with him," he complained.
She laughed, "Right!? I know exactly what you feel," she could definitely relate. "In the beginning he would always say: fine, okay, or uneventful," she mimicked his tone.
Cisco nodded, "Yes! It's like he had to pay to speak or something."
"Oh yes, that's Barry for you," she still remembered those days. "But things have been good lately," she trailed off, "I...Barry is a kind person," she said sincerely, as she recalled the beautiful gesture she had with her when Jade passed.
"Well you don't hear that every day," Cisco said to himself, "seriously, I think you're the first person to say Barry is kind."
"I've always thought that about him," she confessed.
"You're pulling my leg right?" He remembered how Barry acted and reacted at the beginning of this all, and there was nothing that indicated the man had a nice bone in his body.
She shook her head, "Nope. I've seen that usually the toughest looking people are the most kind, loving, and sincere once you really get to know them."
Cisco gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder, "Bless your heart woman."
"Speaking of Barry," she started, "I was wondering if you could tell me what he likes?"
Oh this was getting interesting, "Well now that you are asking," his mind was wild with ideas, "he really likes brunettes, so you got that down, maybe if you—"
Caitlin chuckled, "That's not what I meant. Barry did something," she hesitated a bit, "something nice for me, a while back and I want to return the favor."
The engineer stopped himself and pondered on the question for a few moments.
"Actually, I can't think of a lot right now," he thought a bit harder, "well there is something."
"I'm all ears."
"Ok, so here's what I'm thinking…"
{-}
It was Friday afternoon and Barry had checked out of his work for the day. There was one other pending item he had on his agenda for the week, but he wasn't looking too forward to that. Not after the first interaction.
"Dr. Allen, what a surprise," the familiar voice of Dr. Stewart said from the oncology reception.
"Dr. Stewart," both men exchanged a handshake.
"Should I assume you're here to visit my favorite patient?"
Barry suppressed the impulse of sighing in defeat, "You're right."
"Right this way then," he led them both to the boy's room, "he hasn't been in the best mood these days."
"How come?" Barry asked, while looking through the small door window at the little boy laying on his hospital bed.
"Caitlin and I talked to him a few days ago, regarding Jade," Dr. Stewart said with sadness. "He's been a good sport, but still trying to come to terms with the loss."
"If it's hard on adults, I can only imagine how it would be for him," this also explained why Caitlin had been much quieter the last few days.
Dr. Stewart nodded, and was impressed by Barry's empathy. He wasn't expecting that type of understanding from the stoic doctor.
"Is now not a good time?"
"Actually, I think it would do him well to distract his mind."
Barry opened the door and stepped in with Dr. Stewart walking behind him. "Hey squirt."
The boy barely acknowledged the man, and turned around.
"Marcos, that's not nice," Dr. Stewart chided gently.
The little boy turned around and sat on his bed, "Hi Dr. Stewie," he said tiredly, "Barry," he forced out.
"No T-Rex to my face this time?" The CEO challenged.
Marcos briefly glanced at his toy box, but the dinosaur was too far, "I don't want to fight today," he didn't want to do anything. His friend wasn't coming back, and Caity didn't come today. He was alone, and now he would be alone all the time.
"Good, because I would win the fight," Barry said haughtily.
Dr. Stewart looked at him from the side, visibly confused by the petty act.
"No, I would win, because my T-Rex is strong, and I can throw rocks very far," Marcos said with a frown.
"No, I would win because I'm taller and stronger."
"Nuh-uh, I'm going to be taller and stronger."
"But I'm taller and stronger now," Barry mocked.
The little boy stood on the bed, "But I'm Caity's prince, not you! And Jade said I would be the strongest and biggest, and prettiest prince!" The boy started crying, "I'm going to be so big, and I'll protect everyone!"
"Marcos…" Dr. Stewart said while his heart broke for the little boy.
Barry walked a few steps closer, but didn't say anything else.
"And when I'm big, I won't let anyone get hurt or cry, or die!" The boy cried more and started punching Barry's chest.
Dr. Stewart was about to remove the boy, but Barry raised his hand to stop him. For the second time that day, the doctor was impressed. He'd heard stories about the younger Allen, but he was not nearly as bad as he'd been described. Word on the grapevine was that he was married to Caitlin, which didn't make much sense, she was a student with little to nothing to her name. While Barry, was a CEO and doctor of a well known hospital, those two didn't even run in the same circles. Yet, the idea became more plausible the more he thought about it or the interest Barry took in Jade and Marcos, only after Caitlin was involved.
He hadn't dared to ask either of them if what the rumors said were true. As time went on, the idea seemed less far-fetched however.
After long minutes of crying the boy fell asleep and Barry laid him on the bed and covered him with the sheets. He was reminded of Caitlin's tears. Both of them cried with so much strength and abandon. He felt for the two of them, many, many moons ago he had cried in the same fashion.
"Wow, I didn't know you were so skilled dealing with children."
"I'm not," Barry confirmed. He wasn't skilled at dealing with people. He could only relate to the feeling of losing someone you loved very much.
"I was starting to get worried, he hadn't cried even once since we broke the news."
"It takes time to assimilate. To understand that your whole life will change, even if for the rest of the world it's just another day," he said enigmatically.
Dr. Stewart surmised that Barry's understanding was due to his own personal experience.
The two men walked out of the room, leaving the boy soundly asleep.
"Should we expect to see you again next week?" The older doctor asked. Barry had been coming every week to check in with him and keep tabs on the boy, even if he rarely interacted with Marcos.
Barry didn't say anything, only waved his goodbye and walked towards the exit.
His usual MO. Doctor Stewart shook his head with the tiniest smile, and left to check on the rest of his patients.
Both men knew Barry would be there next week.
{-}
"Anything eventful happened today?" Caitlin said as she served the Caesar salads for them.
"Nothing much," Barry said as he settled the drinks for them.
Caitlin shook her head hiding a slight smile, not surprised at his response in the slightest. After six months of living together, she could predict this much.
"What about you?" he asked as they both took their seats and began eating their dinner.
She played with her salad a bit, "Nothing interesting, same old with school. Learning a lot with the engineering trio," she finished with a small smile.
He could tell she was forcing herself to be cheerful. Some days were better than others, he supposed.
"I bet Jax is going out of his way to teach you," he said in a neutral tone. Not that he was bothered by any of it or anything like that. It was just amusing to watch.
Caitlin didn't catch on to the full scope of his words, and agreed with him, "Yes, he's been extraordinarily diligent about teaching me. I think it's because he's trying to get me into thermodynamics."
"I'm sure that's exactly what it is," he muttered to himself.
"Wally and Cisco are also great, they really love what they do and it's so much fun working with all of them."
"That's good," he said sincerely. He was certain that keeping her mind occupied was the best antidote for her pain.
A silence overtook the room. Barry continued to eat but would glance at the woman regularly. Taking in her faraway gaze, and the occasional sigh that would escape her. She was holding up well considering how broken he had seen her before.
"Are you free next Saturday?" She asked out of the blue.
He blinked, slightly disoriented by her abrupt question, "I might," he said as he was going through next week's agenda in his head.
"I, uhm, I wanted to see if we could do something together," she said with a sheepish smile.
He stared at her blankly, it's not like they did anything together to begin with. Dinner notwithstanding, "What exactly?"
She set her utensils down and took a big gulp of water, "Swimsuit shopping," she said bravely.
He was glad, he wasn't the one drinking at that moment. Swimsuit shopping? That was probably the last thing he expected she would ask. "Well…" he wasn't sure what he should answer in this case.
She started flailing her arms in front of her, "You don't have to if you don't want to!" Gosh she felt so dumb about asking this, she should've come up with something else entirely. "I'm sure you have other things to do, I just thought it would be a good idea to use the pool. It's so hot and stuffy, and hey it's —"
"Caitlin," he interjected, to no avail.
"—it would be refreshing and to wear a lot of sun block we don't need any sunburns. I look like a burnt tomato—" she felt Barry grab one of her hands, which stopped her on her tracks and she looked at him nervously.
"Is this something you want to do?"
Well it wasn't that she didn't want to do it. "Erm…"
He waited patiently for her response, not removing his hold.
"Only if you want to…?" She finished hesitantly. At the end of the day she was trying to do something for him. It wasn't the swimsuit shopping experience she was going after.
He regarded her carefully. The truth was he didn't want to do anything that involved him leaving the comfort of his home or his office. Even so, looking at her expectant big brown eyes, he didn't want to disappoint her either. He didn't owe her anything, but perhaps taking her mind off things and actually having fun would do her good.
"If you don't —"
"Saturday it is," he gently let go of her hand, "does the afternoon work for you? I need to finish some things in the morning."
She released a breath of relief, "Yes!" she finished excitedly.
Now it was time to put her plan in motion. Or Cisco's plan rather.
{x}
{-}