"Caitlin, you did not have another brother," Barry confessed after months of bringing along the time aberration and hiding what is was.
"What? Barry, you're crazy." Caitlin said, not believing a word from him. She began walking away from the man she loved.
"Caitlin, I'm serious! It's my fault!" He said through tears. He was sad about betraying her.
She turned around and peered her eyes at him. "You're not lying." She said in a burst of realization.
He sadly shook his head. "I'm sorry, Cait. I don't know how it happened. It's my fault," his voice choked.
She looked at him sadly. She couldn't stand to see him after knowing he wasn't lying. Then she walked away.
~About 2 months earlier~
"Caitlin, this is your brother." Carla Tannhauser told her daughter. Behind her stood a tall, brunette man with rosy-pale skin, a lightly stubbled chin, and a fringe-up hairstyle. He wore a red hoodie and black jeans. His white sneakers finished off the outfit. "His name is Cooper. Snow, that is."
Caitlin took a small gulp and stared at the man in disbelief. "What?" she asked. This man, who her mother claimed as her brother, was one she'd never seen before in her life. Now suddenly he was her brother? "Mom, I don't know who this is." Then she looked at Cooper. "I don't know who the hell you are, but you need to get off of my property." She shakily demanded and began shutting her door. It was stopped by her mother's hand, though.
"Caitlin! This is your brother, Cooper Snow. He is your brother, you need to meet him!" She sneered. Caitlin was taken aback. It wasn't an unusual thing for her mother to do, after all, they weren't on good terms. They never were.
The scientist and doctor still couldn't believe this. Her brother? By the off-chance that they actually were related and were siblings, Caitlin let the man into her home, stepping aside so he could enter through the doorway.
Dr. Tannhauser looked at her daughter with empty eyes through her glasses. "Thank you. We'll talk about this later. Get to know him a bit." Caitlin nodded. Her mother was finished speaking, but Caitlin wanted to hear a little bit more from her mother. An 'I love you', Caitlin thought, was past due. Carla said nothing though, and Caitlin was left begrudgingly sad.
She walked back over to her couch, where her newfound brother was sat. "Uh, hi." She croaked out. He looked at her with remorse in his eyes.
Cooper jolted up from his place on the couch, immediately feeling intrusive. "Look, I'm really sorry about this all. I thought you knew about me."
Caitlin rose her eyebrow. "What? How could you have thought I knew you?"
"Well, not knew me. Knew of me." He corrected. "Mom told me that I'm not your half-brother or anything like that. Thomas is my dad, and Carla is my mom."
Caitlin looked at him and took a deep breath.
Cooper took a deep breath, "Here's what happened;"
~29 years ago~
"He's amazing. We did really good, you know?" Carla said while looking at her three-year-old son playing tag in the park.
Sat next to her was her husband dressed in a white suit. He nodded his head. "Yeah, we really did." He rubbed her thigh reassuringly.
"It'll be hard with Caitlin coming around. My boss still isn't giving me that raise and I'm not sure how we'll take care of him, let alone our little girl." She rubbed her belly.
"Actually, I- I've been meaning to talk to you about something." This caught the woman's attention and she looked at her husband.
"Yes?"
"I think I should leave and take Cooper with me."
Carla widened her eyes in anger and astonishment. She rose her index finger and dropped her mouth wide open, ready to protest.
"No!" He cut her off before she could even speak. "Just listen. You won't even need that raise because you won't have to worry about providing for 2 children. You won't have to worry about me—providing for me. I'll have my job back again." He brought up some great points to convince her.
She scoffed. "I'm not leaving behind my three-year-old son. And how do you know you'll be able to provide for him? I need to be with my son!" She finalized. Then she looked back at the tag-playing Cooper. "We'll figure out a way to make this work."
Thomas sighed. He was not content with her decision. The only way to ensure a good life for his daughter and son, as outrageous as it may sound, was for them to be split up. He made the decision on his own already, it was going to be the way he wanted one way or another.
~A few months after~
"Caitlin will be here in 4 months." Carla mused, smiling.
Thomas smiled too but still wanted to split them up. For the past 3 months, he'd been trying to get closer to his son, so that when the time came, he'd be okay to leave. 'No problem.'
Carla didn't notice the targeted bonding as she was too busy with her pregnancy.
One day Thomas brought up the subject again. "Please Carla," he begged, "let me take my son away. It will be good for all of us. I promise we will all meet again."
Fed up with the same usual conversations that happened between them, Carla grunted in anger. She was sick of this being the only thing he talked about and was now almost sick of her husband. "You know what? Fine, take him. Please, just stop!" She yelled. She didn't expect him to have Cooper for 26 years. Carla expected the man to be back within a week or two, but there was nothing she could do.
~Caitlin's birth~
Thomas was still in touch, and he would not miss the birth of his one and only daughter. He had kept his son behind with a babysitter, thinking it was unhealthy to see someone who he'd never see in his life again.
"Can I hold her?" He asked carefully.
Carla, happy to have her husband back in the same room with her, gladly handed the newborn girl over to him.
He fawned over the little girl. Tears streaming from his eyes. He knew he'd never hold her again.
~Years after~
Caitlin Snow was smart enough to find out about her father. He wasn't exactly pushed out of her life. Just not really there. She still did not know who Cooper was.
She would meet up with Thomas once every few months. It was getting out of hand though. Caitlin was too curious and too attached. Carla and Thomas had to do something about it. As hard as it was to admit, Thomas's idea was working out. Something had to happen that secured the deal of her never being around him again. So when Caitlin turned 11, a plan was conceived. One death certificate later, Thomas Snow had passed away from ALS. Sadly, Thomas went above and beyond to make it look real. Because of this, he became a meta-human. He was always in Cooper's life though.
~2018 (months preceding the present)~
"Who are you?" Carla Tannhauser shouted, terrified of the man on her doorstep. Behind the open door was a small desk, and on that desk a small handgun. She began to reach for it.
"Wait no! You're my mother! It's me, Cooper." He said quickly, not wanting to get shot by his own mother.
She looked at the tall man in disbelief. He was so old in her mothering eyes. Carla cupped his cheeks in her hands. "Cooper?" she asked, unsure, and scared if the answer was what she wanted.
He nodded his head with teary eyes. "I'm so glad I found you." He choked out.
Cooper had been looking for his mother for months, but eventually tracked her down to Bestowed City from National City. His father had been working on another project, but now Cooper was old enough to live without him. Not that it'd matter anyway, the man was always concerned with his new work.
Just because he found his mother didn't mean that he knew who his sister was. Carla taught him about her, even though they weren't on the best of terms. Cooper filled her in on her ex-husband, Ronnie Raymond. They bonded for the next few months. Cooper wasn't content with just knowing his mother though, he wanted to meet his sister. He wanted to know his sister.
It was scheduled that in January 2019 Cooper would meet his long-lost sister. That's what happened. That's what brought him to where he is today.
"So dad's not dead?" Caitlin said in tears. Hearing about the same craziness in her life that she knew nothing about took a great toll on her. As smart as Caitlin was, she still couldn't understand why what happened had to happen.
"No," he chuckled. Then he looked at her with nice eyes. "And I'm your older brother. And I'm so sorry that we missed out on each other's lives."
Cooper lunged towards Caitlin, embracing her in a long overdue hug. Caitlin pulled away. "I'm sorry, what's your name again?"
Cooper nodded in understanding. "Cooper. Snow. Just like you!" He smiled brightly at her.
Caitlin lightly giggled. "Okay, let's get to know each other."
For the rest of the night, Caitlin and her newfound brother shared stories from their lives. Caitlin, wanting to savor her brother long enough, offered him the guest room in her house. For the next week, Cooper had moved in with his sister.
