Hello everyone, I'm back with another chapter. This chapter will be focused around (2x15) and it is a fluffier, heart warming sort of chapter. This chapter has more interaction between Barry and Caitlin, but Cisco does sneak in there. Hopefully that is okay with everyone.
Write-To-You: Ahh but it's only been 6 months, who knows what could have happened with more time 😉. Glad you liked the loyal to the God of Speed part. I was kind of worried that it was a little bit confusing.
crying mink: I could see your point, I hated the fact that Joe was so readily pointing a gun at Caitlin when she came back to Star Labs when Barry lost his memory.
All characters, story plot lines to the writers, producers of The Flash and The CW. I do not own the rights to any of them just the idea is my own.
Feel free to write a review on your thoughts.
P.S. Last week Season 5 of The Flash has begun its' run. What is one thing that you hope would happen in Season 5? I hope they would combine different members of the team on screen to build the bond between the members instead of keeping the same people together. I would love to see more Iris/Cisco or how about Ralph/Joe or how interesting would it be to have Iris/Caitlin/Cecile interact more alone?
Chapter 8: Their Lives Are Not Your Lives.
Barry flashed himself and Caitlin towards Star Labs as they waved their goodbyes to Diggle and Lyla after the King Shark mission was cleared. Their damp hair from being on the dock dried quickly as Barry ran. Barry placed Caitlin back on her feet in the Cortex before flashing off to remove his suit.
"Caitlin, I'm going to head home now, good night." Barry peeked his head into the infirmary on his way out of Star Labs and waved a goodbye to Caitlin.
Caitlin's head snapped up quickly at Barry's goodbye. "Nu-uh, not so fast mister, you're not going anywhere until I do a complete body check."
Barry groaned. "Caaiiitlin, it's late. Plus, I didn't even get injured. King Shark didn't even lay a misshaped hand-fin on me."
"I don't care if King Shark didn't even breathe on you, you're sitting your butt here, so I can conduct an exam." Caitlin stated firmly as she moved to wash her hands over the sink.
Barry opened his mouth to argue with Caitlin before being promptly silenced by Caitlin's harsh gaze.
"Who's the doctor here?" Caitlin asked while crossing her arms.
Barry resigned in defeat and sighed. "You are." He stated in response as he crossed over and sat down on the medical bed.
Caitlin grinned smugly before placing her professional mask back on and started on her checklist of exams. She worked in silence, her attention fully on Barry as she completed each test thoroughly with precision. Barry sat back relaxed for he was no stranger to Caitlin's medical exams and laid-back planting his head on a pillow. He reveled in the silence of the infirmary after a long day he had not only as Flash but as Barry Allen. Silence gave him an opportunity to sort through his thoughts which reminded him to make a mental note to go and talk to Wally tomorrow about the tension they had earlier. Now that he think about it: what was that guy's problem?
Caitlin glanced at Barry as the muscles in his hand tensed and his eyebrows furrowed together. "Penny for your thoughts?"
"What?"
Caitlin placed her hand over the creases formed between his eyebrows smoothing them down. "You furrow your brows together whenever you are thinking about something that frustrates you.
Barry unclenched his hand trying to release the tension and cleared his throat. "It's nothing."
Caitlin raised her eyebrow in doubt. "You're going to have do a better job at that poker face in order to convince me."
"Well…it's just…well Joe and Iris has been trying to get me and Wally to talk to one another to bond and to see if we have anything in common."
"Okay, that seems fair."
"Yeah but I don't think Wally likes me very much. He didn't take it too lightly when I tried to give him suggestions for his engineering project and he called me a coward when I didn't "help" when King Shark showed up at the house." Barry uttered as he sat up and crossed his legs.
Caitlin sat down on the bed next to Barry. "Barry, I don't think he really meant that. He was probably just frustrated."
"What does he have to be frustrated about? He's the one that's frustrating." Barry countered.
"Well think about it. He grew up not having much of a family and suddenly, he is introduced to this hidden family. Dreams that he probably had as a kid to have a dad or a sibling is now fulfilled and when all seemed good. Here is another guy who is loved by his dad and sister, who is part of the family. How can he compete with that? How can he compete with years of love that was built by the three of you? You one upping him in engineering was just the cherry on top." Caitlin replied defending Wally.
"It's not like I meant to do that. I'm not trying to prove that I'm the better one. This isn't a competition for the Wests' affections."
"Barry, I know that but that's because I know you. He doesn't and for all he knows. You're just a guy that his birth father loves as a son more that his actual biological son. Imagine how you would feel if you were in his shoes. I'm not saying to go hug the guy and be best buds but maybe just give him a little more sympathy." Caitlin offered.
Barry laid back down on the bed. "You're right, I guess I'm not seeing it from his perspective. With everything that the Wests have done for me, the least I can do is give Wally a chance."
"I'm always right." Caitlin replied cheekily.
"Wow not doing a good job at holding the humbleness there." Barry shot back to which Caitlin responded with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Well Dr. Snow, what is the diagnosis? How long do I have to live?"
"Hmm, the test results show that you have a slight decrease of oxygen in your blood from all the running you did but all other exams passed with flying colours. With a little rest, you will see many days ahead of you. Although anymore witty comments like that and you may see your life span drop just a bit."
"It's a risk worth taking." Barry answered in response with a wide grin. "So, I'm in the clear right? No more tests?"
"Yes, no more tests. But you're not in the clear yet."
Barry frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Caitlin stood up. "So, I heard from Cisco that you met my doppelganger when you guys went on your crusade to Earth 2?"
Barry's eyes widened. "Uh…what? No…ahahah…uh…Cisco doesn't have any idea what he's talking about. He probably just saw someone who looked like you." Barry stammered as he glanced his eyes downwards and mentally scolded himself for not thinking of a better response.
"Do you realize that you suck at lying?"
Barry gulped. "Cait, I'm telling the truth."
Caitlin scoffed. "Please, Cisco caved like string cheese with a little pressure. What's going on Barry? Why are you so reluctant to tell me? What's so bad about my doppelganger?" Caitlin demanded as she stepped closer towards Barry.
Barry inched backwards. "Caitlin, you know as well as I do that talking about this stuff is not a good idea, I don't want to reveal too much. Besides why does it even matter, she's not even you."
"So, there is a me then?"
Barry winced at his slip up. Dang it.
"Bartholomew Henry Allen. I know how to perform a lobotomy."
"Damn, you had to throw in the full name, didn't you? Okay, fine but are you sure? You may not like what you hear." Barry warned.
"Yes, I'm sure."
Barry patted the bed motioning for Caitlin to sit before he began to speak. "On Earth 2, you're a metahuman who goes by the name Killer Frost and she is a metahuman who yields the power to blast cold in different forms: shards, frost, blast. She seemed to enjoy using those powers to inflict fear and pain. "
"Wait, she has ice powers?" Caitlin questioned as she took her heels off and crossed her legs.
Barry nodded in response.
Caitlin let out a short laugh and rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on! Of course, I would have a metahuman power that matches my last name. Talk about ironic."
Barry laughed at Caitlin's disapproval. "Oh, she's blonde."
Caitlin's eyebrows raised and lifted a lock of hair to look at. "Really? Hmm, I almost dyed my hair blonde once, but I chickened out. I always wondered if I could pull of blonde. Well, did I?"
Barry smiled lightly. "Yeah, you did. You pulled off blue lipstick and blue leather too."
"How bold of her. So, so far, she and I are nothing alike. Did we have anything in common besides our face?"
Barry hesitated for a moment. "You both fell in love with a Ronnie."
Caitlin glanced at Barry. "He's alive on Earth 2?"
"Zoom killed him in front of her when he disobeyed him for trying to kill me." Barry sat up and placed a hand on Caitlin's shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing to me?"
"Even though he was trying to kill me, it didn't hurt any less to see someone who I cared about on this Earth killed in front of me. When she screamed in anguish from losing her Ronnie, I couldn't help but be reminded by how you lost yours. I'm responsible for both of you losing your Ronnie."
"Barry, you didn't make Zoom kill Earth 2 Ronnie and my Ronnie made his choice to save Central City. Does it hurt that he died? Yes of course it does but I can't be upset for him sacrificing himself like that because that's the kind of person he is and at the end of the day I couldn't be prouder of him… Look, I know lately I have been reserved and cut off after what happened with Jay. I can't help my instinct to reverse back into a cold shell for fear of losing any control I have left on my emotions."
"Cait, that's okay. There's no obligation for you to show your emotions."
"Clearly it's not okay if Cisco thinks I'm one cold, snarky remark from emerging as the counterpart to Captain Cold."
"Okay Cisco may have jumped the gun with his assumption, but he's just worried about you, we all are. Caitlin, I know we all have different ways of dealing with grief and heartbreak and take all the time you need but don't cut us out."
"I'm trying…I don't know how to deal with this pain that I'm feeling. I want to let it out, I really do but my rationale brain is screaming at me to pull myself together."
Barry had no words in response to Caitlin's words, so he did the only thing he could think of. He opened his arms widely and offered Caitlin a gentle smile. Without a second thought, Caitlin wrapped her arms around Barry's torso tightly and tucked her head under Barry's chin. Barry placed his arms around Caitlin protectively as Caitlin started sobbing gently and he silently prayed that the future would offer his Cait the happiness that she deserved.
Caitlin shyly released her grasp on Barry as her tears started to dry and her emotions had been dealt with. "Thank you."
Barry reached over for a Kleenex and gave it to Caitlin to wipe her face and nose. "Any day."
Caitlin blew her nose in and sniffed. "Still think that Cisco stepped over the line for assuming that I would manifest as some killing icicle."
"I agree." Barry nodded before grinning evilly. "Hey, you know what we can do to get back at him?"
Caitlin grabbed another Kleenex before looking at Barry. "What?"
"How do you feel about pulling a little prank on our dear friend?"
Caitlin smiled widely. "What's your diabolical plan?"
*Scene: Barry's ending speech*
"Okay Barry, what do you want us to do?" Joe asked.
"Keep the city safe with CCPD, Zoom will come back and when he does we will have to be ready."
"I'm on it." Joe nodded and made his way out of the Cortex.
"In the mean time, we can see what we can do to help increase your speed Allen." Harry remarked before exiting swiftly with Jesse. Cisco nodded in agreement and sat down in front of the monitor to pull out some research.
"Hey, I love to stay and try and help out, but Wally is coming over tonight and I kind of promised to show him around Central City but keep me updated." Iris gave Barry a quick hug before heading out.
Barry stood in the Cortex with Cisco and Caitlin as they began to brainstorm different methods to improve his speed.
"Since I'm doing some research, maybe I can research if you have a history of Raynaud's in your family genetics. I seriously think something is wrong with your circulation." Cisco insisted as he pulled out a liquorice rope to munch on from his candy stash.
Caitlin rolled her eyes in response. "You can go ahead and try but you won't find anything."
"Oh yeah speaking of which, how did the prank go Caitlin?" Barry inquired as he tried to grab a liquorice rope for himself but was stopped by Cisco slapping his hand away.
"It went great, Cisco was this close from peeing his pants from fear." Caitlin and Barry giggled as Barry offered his hand to Caitlin for a high five.
"It's not funny. I can't believe you guys teamed up to prank me. That's not cool, sooooo rude."
"Ruder than you having doubts about your best friend's integrity?" Barry said as he placed an arm around Caitlin's shoulders.
Caitlin smirked and crossed her arms at Cisco. "Yeah."
"Alright I'll admit, maybe that was a little hasty of me to think that but that doesn't give the both of you the right to scare me." Cisco pouted.
"Aww poor Cisco is sad, who wants a hug?" Caitlin asked as she raised her hands towards Cisco.
Cisco jumped out of his chair and backed away. "Nope, you keep those frigid paws away from me."
Caitlin advanced forward not heeding to Cisco's words. Cisco backed away further before fleeing away from Caitlin's grasp.
"Come on Cisco, I just want a hug." Caitlin taunted as she began to chase Cisco.
Cisco only ran faster around the Cortex with Caitlin close behind. "Dang girl, you're fast. Hey Barry, how about giving a brother a hand here?"
"Sorry Cisco, I'm a little busy." Barry responded with a careless attitude as he rummaged through Cisco's secret candy stash before taking out a bag of gummies. Barry sat down and propped his feet up on the desk before opening the bag.
"Hey those are mine!" Cisco exclaimed but he was in no position to stop Barry as Caitlin continued to chase him.
"Yes, they are, and they are tasty, thanks Cisco." Barry responded with a mouth full of sweets as he watched his friends run in circles around the Cortex.
That's a wrap on this chapter. I hope you like it.
-V