"Iris, I'm not doing this with you," Caitlin tried to move around the other woman only to find her way blocked. It had been a week since Barry started sleeping on her couch. Things had progressed and they'd discovered that when they pulled Barry out of the speed force dark matter had come in direct contact with a bus full of people. They had yet to discover what this all meant but the second meta they had to deal with made things interesting for sure. Caitlin was trying to help Barry find more of the bus metas but now Iris was picking a fight with her.
"I just want to know what is going on with you two," Iris said. She stuck around the lab even though everyone told her she could stop, she wasn't giving Barry up that easily it would seem. She still tried to boss him around, or tell the others what to do, but for the most part unless it actually helped them they just ignored her orders.
"Nothing. He is my friend. Why can't you just leave him alone?" Caitlin finally managed to get into her seat to monitor Barry's vitals. He was currently helping the CCPD with a bank robbery. "Barry, please come back here soon, your ex is about to be a popsicle." She said into the microphone and sighed back into the seat.
"Seriously? Threats?" Iris crossed her arms over her chest. "Do you really think that he'll love you? Please. I see the way you look at him." She leaned close and smirked. "Pathetic Caitlin still has a crush on him. He's mine. We are destiny."
Caitlin didn't speak. She just sat there staring at Iris. The truth was that Caitlin has been in love with Barry for a very long time. Hearing Iris say that to her, she just felt…angry. Pathetic? She's the pathetic one. At least Caitlin respected Barry, at least she wanted him to be happy. She stood up slowly, as Frost took over. Iris backed up and wondered if the she'd go through with the threat.
"You just can't face facts can you Iris?" Frost said with a smirk on her face. Her hands started getting frosty as she walked around the control panel towards Iris. "I belong here. You don't. You forced your way on this team while Barry was gone and you didn't even want to bring him back. You had already moved on. He doesn't want you anymore and you just have to hold on. It's sad really. That you think that he'll change his mind just because you are around." She lifted her hands and shot a frost blast next to Iris, hitting the Samuroid head that Cisco decided to keep.
Barry ran in to see Iris cowering on the ground with Frost standing over her. He noticed the Samuroid head busted open on the floor near Frost's feet. He walked over slowly and slipped his hand into hers. She turned to look at him and Frost melted back and Caitlin let out a shaky breath.
"She just wouldn't stop talking, I…I wasn't going to hurt her," she started. Iris jumped up and looked livid.
"Yes you were. Killer Frost was about to kill me!" she screamed. Caitlin started crying, she went to leave, used to needing to hide herself away when she did something wrong.
"Iris, she clearly aimed for the head and not you. And don't call her Killer Frost anymore. I think Frost is better," he said and gave Caitlin's hand a squeeze before letting go to look down at the head in question.
"I can't believe you'd believe her over me," Iris huffed before shoving her shoulder into Caitlin as she left. Cisco and Harry walked in as she passed and they saw Barry as he picked up the busted Samuroid head.
"What happened to it?" Cisco rushed over, he wanted that to remember fondly when they got Barry back.
"Frost used it for target practice," he winked at Cait. "But look, seems like someone is spying on us." He pulled out the small camera that was hidden in the head.
"Go Frost!" Cisco said raising his hand for a high-five. Cait couldn't help but laugh and give him the high-five. This wasn't the reaction she was expecting at all. She thought that Barry would protect Iris, that he would judge her or at least talk down to her about almost hurting Iris. This was weird but good, better. Cisco took the head and pulled Harry with him to figure out who it is that's been watching them.
"Are you okay?" Barry asked now that he was alone with Cait. She sighed and shrugged. "You can talk to me Cait." He moved closer towards her.
"I know. I just…" she looked at him. "Last year, you'd have put me in the pipeline without a second thought and now…you defended me and I." She wiped at her face, the tears falling fast. Barry took her face in his hands and looked down at her.
"I'm so sorry. I don't know if I'll ever really be able to make up for all the pain that I have caused you. That you felt that's how I would respond…I trust you. Both of you," his thumbs swiped away the tears on her face.
Caitlin's hands were holding onto his arms at his elbows, her stomach was full of butterflies at having him so close. She'd dreamt of him holding her like this for so long that she didn't know how to feel now that it was happening. Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment just so that she could take a breath before looking up at him again.
"You've made up for it many times over already. I can't thank you enough for making me feel at home again," she smiled and moved her hands to grip his forearms. Barry didn't seem to want to move away or let her go but he did, his hands sliding slowly off her face. He didn't take his eyes off her though.
"So I was thinking that maybe it's time that you trained? I mean, we can see what you can do and help teach you how to hold your own when Frost isn't available," he put his hands in his pockets. "I mean if you'd like to that is." He didn't know why he was so nervous but he knew that she was a part of this team and if Frost was ever going to feel like she mattered, she needed to be shown that she did. Training was just one way he could show her.
"Okay, I mean I think it would be good to let Frost stay out for a while too, if that's okay with you," Cait smiled, feeling excited even in the middle of all that was happening.
"Yeah that'd be nice," he smiled. Joe walked in with Iris, who glared at both Caitlin and Barry, but took a seat once again like she was the team leader.
"Hey Barry," Joe said and he smiled at Caitlin.
"Hey Joe, I gotta get to lab. Call me if anything comes up," he grinned at Cait before running off. Joe looked between the two women, Iris already having told him what happened earlier. He understood why Iris was upset but if Barry trusted Cait then he would too. He tried to tell Iris that if Frost actually wanted to hurt her, she would have.
"Don't you have something else to do Caitlin?" Iris said looking smug and bossy. Caitlin just let her eyes change to wait and gave Iris the middle finger before walking off to see how Cisco and Harry were doing.
Barry felt confused as he stood staring at the board of Villians he'd created. Caitlin was upset with him for not giving Ralph a chance. At the time he felt justified, knowing what kind of person Ralph was, but now he wasn't so sure. It seemed that the Mayor was the dirty one, that Ralph made a choice to try and stop a bad person and Barry was the one that allowed that person to go free, and that maybe Ralph wasn't a bad guy after all.
Cisco and Harry hadn't found the source behind the camera but Cisco had his own thing to deal with and Barry was too busy wondering about what he was going to do next. He heard the footsteps and turned to see Cait walking towards him.
"I'm sorry for getting so upset with you," she said and Barry shook his head.
"No. You were right. I was…I was upset because I judged him. Without understanding him at all. I just assumed that he was dirty and I couldn't have been more wrong," he said rubbing his face with his hand.
"You know, I don't think not blackmailing the mayor is a very villainy thing to do, do you?" she looked over at him.
"No it's not," he stepped forwards and erased 'Villians' and replaced it with 'Victims' before stepping back and looking at Cait.
"Better," she said with a smile. She put her hand on his arm. "Things are so different now." She turned to sit down.
"Different how?" he joined her, pulling a chair over.
"You aren't with Iris, Cisco has a girlfriend, and Frost doesn't feel like she wants to murder anyone…"she smiled. "I think that it's good that things are different, I just worry that you aren't happy. Are you happy? I mean without Iris, being back and out of the speed force?"
"I'm happy, for the first time in a long time, I don't feel like it's all on me. Or that I can't handle something. It's nice to feel like I'm enough to save those that I love. Being in the speed force was hard, and obviously it affected me, but I think it helped me too. To come to terms with what happened to my parents. He reached for her hand. "Thank you for helping Ralph and putting me in my place." He grinned. "We can all train together, though something tells me Ralph is going to hit on Frost."
"She is rolling her eyes," she said with a grin. "I think training will be fun and she's excited to be a part of the team."
"We are excited to have her," he grinned back at her. "Come on, we can get started early." He stood up and pulled her to stand.
Frost took over and grinned at him. "Hey handsome, ready to get beat by a girl?" she hip checked him before sauntering off towards the speed lab where they train. Barry just watched her walk away and laughed. Working with Frost was going to be extremely interesting. He ran passed her to beat her to the lab and laughed when she arrived after him.
"I suppose you'd have to catch me first to beat me," he teased. She moved to throw a frost blast at him but he was able to move out of the way, standing behind her. "Missed." He whispered before moving again.
"Barry Allen, you aren't playing fair!" she huffed but there was still a smile on her face. She let herself relax, following the lightening trail behind him to put ice on the floor at the right time to cause him to fall. Suddenly she was hit with a tranq dart and collapsed on the floor. Iris rushed over to Barry.
"Are you okay? I stopped her. I told you she wasn't to be trusted," she moved to help him up but he flashed up and moved to Frost.
"What is wrong with you?" he yelled to Iris. "We were training. She wasn't fighting me!" he picked Frost up and flashed her to a bed. He brushed the white hair out of her face and looked down at her. He pulled out the dart and tossed it on the tray that was next to the bed. He felt fiercely protective of both her and Cait. It was weird that she was two people and he found himself caring for both because they were in the same body.
"Barry!" Iris ran in. "I thought…I mean, she…" Iris looked actually sorry for once. Maybe she was wrong, maybe she needed to stop acting like Cait was the enemy.
"Don't. Just go Iris," he turned to look at her. "I've tried to be nice, I've tried to be understanding. I don't love you. Okay. I don't want to be with you. I don't want you working on the team. I want you to leave and I don't want you back here." He was angry, maybe in time he'd feel differently but it seemed being mean was the only thing he hadn't really tried.
"We are the flash Barry, come on," she reached for him.
"Iris. You've been my family for a very long time, and you've always meant so much to me. But you've never actually listened to me. So hear me now. Get. Out. And don't come back. I don't ever want to see you again," he waited before turning back to Frost only to see that her eyes were open and she was looking at him. Iris started sobbing and disappeared out the door.
"You don't mean that handsome. You should go apologize. Isn't she the one or whatever?" Frost sat up in the bed. She never really understood how Barry could love someone as selfish as Iris but she probably was just jealous.
"No, no she's not," he said his eyes not leaving her. "Are you okay?" He sat on the bed next to her.
"Yeah. I'll live," she said and leaned her head on his shoulder.
"How about we go home hmm?" he asked. She nodded so he picked her up and flashed them to Cait's apartment.