The next morning, Barry was awakened by the mouth-watering smell of bacon being cooked. He could feel his stomach pinch in the way it did when he was hungry as the scent continued to wafer upstairs. Any other day, he would've sped down to the kitchen and already had a piece chewed in his mouth, but today he was far too comfortable to want to move. He opened his eyes to see Caitlin's cheek resting up against his chest and her slender arms wrapped around his stomach. He contently sighed, his heart overjoyed by the sight, especially when he thought he'd never get to experience it again.
As if she knew he was thinking of her, she lifted her head and met his gaze with squinted eyes. "Morning," she sleepily greeted.
"And Merry Christmas," Barry replied, his lips lifting upwards at the sight before him - muzzy hair and sleepy confusion.
"Oh yeah..." she softly let out in realization as she ran a hand through her hair.
"I'd say it's a pretty merry one already, no?" Barry cheekily said as his hands roamed under the covers to caress her bare skin.
She snorted, but a smile made its way across her face. "Very merry indeed…"
Suddenly, the speedster jolted from an unexpected cold touch. "Of course you go straight to my butt," he teased with a smirk, causing them both to quietly laugh. "Is that all you love about me?"
She smilingly shook her head, eyes still hooded from sleep. "I can promise that I love you for a lot more than just your butt."
"Knowing how much you love my butt, you must love me a lot a lot then."
"I do," she said with a grin, her tone teetering into seriousness as she then softly added, "I really do."
Barry smiled as he leaned down to kiss her bare shoulder; her skin so smooth and calmingly cool.
"Hey, Barry?"
"Hmm?" he hummed into her skin, eyes flicking up to meet her gaze.
"You lied."
His heart rate spiked as he pulled far enough back to judge her facial expression, which was unhelpfully stoic. "What?" he confusingly let out.
"Your bed," she continued, "it's so much more comfortable than mine. It's like a cloud," she let out dreamily, snuggling her body further into the mattress.
Immediately, his fright disintegrated and a laugh tumbled through his lips. "Maybe the sleeping partner is what makes a bed so comfortable."
"Mmm, smooth," she teased before leaning up to connect their lips in a soft kiss. "Oh, and Barry?"
"Yes?"
"Different location."
He threw his head back with a hearty laugh. "Look who's keeping track now."
She shyly shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe it's rubbing off on me."
"From me rubbing on you?"
She snorted before softly chiding, "Barry!" as a blush blossomed along her cheeks.
He flashed her a shameless, lopsided grin. "What? It's true, right?"
She proceeded to fondly roll her eyes at him, but he was delighted to see the same amount of happiness he was feeling being radiated back - her smile so vast and her eyes bright like honey. "Hey, Caitlin?"
"Yes?"
"I love you."
Her eyes softened as her smile grew. "I love you too, Barry."
He smilingly kissed her shoulder, before peppering more across her clavicle and up her neck until he reached her lips, all the while repeating that he loved her after each kiss.
A breathy laugh escaped her as he pulled back. "I love you too," she told him once again, and it felt just as invigorating as it did when she first said it the night before.
"Just let me know if I start getting annoying...or excessive…" he told her, but Caitlin was quick to shake her head.
"You could never," she told him as one of her hands came up to caress his face, her touch so gentle and loving.
He leaned into her palm, closing his eyes at the comforting coolness. "I'm just so happy to be able to say it that I kinda want to say it all the time now. Maybe even scream it off the top of random rooftops. Make it Facebook official."
"Do people still do that?"
"Still do what?"
"Change their relationship status on Facebook?" she mused, her one eyebrow cutely rising. "I thought only old people used that anymore."
Barry gasped in fake aghast. "Are you calling me old?" he scandalously questioned. "Because, if I recall correctly, someone else in this bed is older!"
"But I'm not the one that goes around carrying handkerchiefs."
"But you're the one that tends to actually use them…"
She shook her head amusingly. "Fiiiine, we're both old souls."
"But luckily we're still very much young," he chimed as he trailed a hand sensually down her side, "and able."
She bit down on her lower lip, but he could tell it wasn't because she was bothered (at least not in the traditional sense). "And just how able are you right now?" she inquired, a hint of a fire glinting behind her eyes that was turning him on quite considerably.
"Oh, I'll show you," he told her before playfully rolling them over and pressing a searing kiss against her lips, hands already making a heady passage downard, only to be interrupted by a round of little knocks bumping against his door soon after.
"BAWWY - BREF'FAST!"
The speedster tore his lips from Caitlin's to rest his forehead against her shoulder and proceeded to groan. He then lifted his head and hollered towards the door, "Be right down, Jenna!"
He turned back to Caitlin remorsefully. "Sorry," he told her as he crawled off of her to sit down on the bed instead.
She merely shook her head, faintly giggling. "It's fine - I'm just glad you had the door locked or that would've been something..."
He nodded his head, thanking himself in hindsight, before sighing. "I really need to get my own place again, don't I?" he asked, getting up to pull together some clothes to wear.
"Not trying to persuade you either way, but it would be nice," she told him, unabashedly watching him from her space in bed. "Especially since one of my neighbors just recently made a comment about the noise…"
He tore his attention from the pj bottoms he was pulling on to look at her, his expression curiously amused. "Who? And what did they say?"
"My next door neighbor on the left - the retired nurse, Evelyn. She caught me coming out of my apartment a couple days ago and said that while she was very happy to hear that I had a very devoted boyfriend now, that she'd appreciate it if we tried to be quieter," she recounted with a faint blush.
Unable to help himself, Barry let out a boisterous laugh. "And what did you say back?"
"I just mumbled a 'sorry' and hightailed it out of there!"
Barry chuckled some more as he pulled a shirt over his head. "I didn't think we were ever that loud though."
"I don't think we are - she's just nosey," she waved away the comment with an eye roll. "As an OB nurse, she was used to being all up in people's private business, and I guess that didn't stop when she retired."
He snorted as he crawled his way back onto the bed next to her. "So I definitely need to get a new place," he concluded. "So...maybe you can go apartment hunting with me soon?" he suggested unsurely, looking at her with a jutted out lip and puppy eyes for extra measure.
"You don't need to act extra cute just to get me to agree," she humorously told him, her fingers reaching up to matte some of his hair down. "It's going to be your place though. So the important thing is that you want it and that you like it."
He licked his lips, unsure if he should say his next words or not given they were barely a day into this new relationship, but he wanted to be completely upfront with his intentions and feelings from now on. "But what if I want it to be ours?" he trepidly asked. She opened her mouth to say something, but Barry was quick to keep talking. "I know we kinda said we'd go slow, so this isn't me asking you to move in - not yet, anyway - but eventually...when we're ready for that...I'd like to know it's already a place you like too."
She exhaled, her lips immediately spreading into a massive grin. "I'd really like that."
"Good," he expressed, contagiously smiling back before leaning forward and sealing it with a kiss. As he pulled back, he looked down at the covers wrapped around her frame. "And while I love this look, are you going to get dressed?"
"About that," she started, biting her lip. "How are we going to do this? Should I climb out your window? Or is that too ridiculous? Probably, " she said with a shake of her head, quickly dismissing the idea before launching to her next. "Are you going to quickly speed me out? Though they're downstairs and might find that weird…Or what about-"
"Cait," Barry said, chuckling as he interrupted her mini rant, "why don't you just come downstairs to breakfast with me?"
Her doe eyes widened. "But...wouldn't that be awkward? They'll know that we…"
"...are two consenting adults in a relationship doing relationship things?" he cut in, shrugging. "Probably, but I think it's only going to be awkward if we allow it."
Caitlin still looked unsure.
"If you don't want to, that's fine. I'll speed you home right now. But it's Christmas and I'd really like you to be here. Plus, how can you turn down free delicious food? And, if you're lucky, you'll get to sit next to a very handsome man while eating it."
"Joe?" she teased.
"Ha-ha," he deadpanned. "But I'll remember that," he told her, wagging his finger at her.
She giggled as she wound her hands around his neck, nails scratching over his nape, causing his lips to twitch into a content smile. "Fine," she relented. "Though I'm definitely going to need to borrow some clothes, since showing up to breakfast in last night's dress feels a little too on the nose about our nightly activities..."
He cackled, but nodded. "I think I have stuff that will do."
.
"Hey! Smells great!" Barry said as he entered the kitchen, where Cecile was finishing up with the scrambled eggs while Joe was platting the pancakes.
Joe lifted his eyes for a second before returning back to his task. "What took you so long? You're usually speeding down here the second the bacon starts sizzling," he joked with a chuckle and Cecile joined in with a knowing nod.
Barry let out a laugh himself, albeit a nervous one. "Yeah, well, about that," he started, causing Joe to look over at his foster son again, sensing his sudden uneasiness with a lifted brow. "We're going to have a guest for breakfast, so can you guys please not make it a big deal?"
"A guest? This early?" Cecile puzzedly questioned. "Who?"
"Cay-ey!" they suddenly heard Jenna excitedly scream just as the knowing squeak of the stairs sounded too.
Joe and Cecile both looked at Barry with amused expressions.
"So I'm guessing Caitlin didn't actually go home last night…" Joe perceptively teased.
Barry could feel his whole face burn with a blush. He had girls over at Joe's house before - Joe may have even known about some of them (or all of them, it's not like he did it often) - but they've never openingly had to talk about it. "We're officially together now - if...if that helps," he stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck.
Joe's face softened. "I'm happy for you, Barr," he said, reaching out to lay a fatherly hand on his shoulder and giving it a small squeeze. "So, does this mean you'll finally be getting your own place again...? Because if not, we might want to consider moving you to somewhere quieter...like maybe Wally's old bedroom in the attic..."
The speedster embarrassingly groaned, his blush flaring up again.
"What?" Joe innocently asked, his face fighting off a grin. "We have a little lady in this house now that I don't want hearing or seeing certain things..." he added. "And I'm talking about Jenna, not Cecile, in case you were unsure," he jokingly clarified.
"Ha ha ha," Cecile deadpanned as she playfully bumped into Joe's side. "I get it, I'm short."
"I love my shortie," Joe murmured as he kissed her cheek in forgiveness.
"Mmhmm," Cecile disinterestedly hummed, but leaned into his touch nevertheless.
Barry smiled, admiring how light and playful they were with each other, even after being together for a few years and having a daughter. He hoped his relationship with Cait would age as well as theirs had.
"I'm going to start apartment hunting soon though, I promise."
"You know I'm just teasing ya, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Barry smilingly acknowledged. "But it's still something that I need to do. And also, can you please keep the teasing between us? Caitlin's really nervous about showing up to breakfast and all, so don't be too embarrassing," he pleaded.
"I'm a father, embarrassing is what we do," Joe joked with a wink. "But don't worry, I'm not going to run her out of the house."
"So you and Caitlin, huh?" Cecile then chirped in, lips growing wide as she pulled the eggs off the burner. "I always thought you two complemented each other well."
Barry couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, it feels really...right…"
Joe cleared his throat, interrupting the pair. "You two can gossip over this later, or else the food is going to get cold!" he told them as he pushed the plate of bacon into Barry's hands and ushered everyone into the dining area with the food. "Good morning, Caitlin," Joe then greeted as they all entered.
She was standing in the living room area, wearing his much larger STAR Labs sweater and joggers as she listened to Jenna rattle off about something. Barry nearly dropped the plate he was holding - maybe giving her his clothes wasn't the best approach after all, since he wanted nothing more than to whisk her back to bed right now.
At the sound of her name, she tucked her hair behind her ears, nibbling on that bottom lip. Gah, she was trying to kill him.
"Good morning," she shyly greeted back. "I - I hope you don't mind an extra mouth to feed."
"Nonsense!" Joe regaled, beckoning her to take a seat. "There's always more than enough food since I have to make sure this one," he said, pointing in Barry's direction, "eats enough."
"Hey!" Barry playfully hollered, "it's not like I can help it!"
Everyone proceeded to laugh as they took their seats and started piling food on their plates.
"Momma?" Jenna called out a few moments after everyone had their first bites.
"Yes, sweetie?"
"Can Wucy sweep-over today?"
"No, sorry, baby girl," Joe answered, "It's the holidays. You can't. Everyone has to be with their family right now."
"But Cay-ey sweep-over with Bawwy!"
The food Barry had been chewing abruptly halted down his throat, causing him to cough just as he heard Caitlin mutter an "Oh, god," beside him. She proceeded to drape her hand over her face, looking like she wanted to drown in his clothes more so than she already was. It looked like he had been worried about the wrong West making things awkward!
"That's different," Cecile tried to explain.
Jenna cutely tilted her head to the side. "How?"
"Uh, well," Barry started, reaching out to interlace his fingers with Caitlin's, "because Caitlin is my girlfriend," he finished, a grin overcoming his face as he did - he really liked getting to say that. "So, she's like family. So it's okay."
"You mawwy her?"
"Uhhhh," Barry let out unintelligently. He looked toward Joe and Cecile for help, but they both looked like they were on the edge of bursting out into laughter. "Time will tell," he measurably answered before glancing towards Caitlin, who was bashfully smiling his way, and if he didn't already know, he knew for certain then that he wanted to marry this marvelous woman, if she'd have him.
Joe cleared his throat, fumbling over a laugh. "Barry told us earlier that you two were together now," he told Caitlin. "We're really happy for you both," he added, sending an extra smile Caitlin's way for some reason.
His girlfriend took a breath through a wobbly smile, trying to compose herself. "Thank you. It means a lot to have your blessing."
"Caitlin, you've had my blessing from the moment you helped save Barry during his coma," Joe told her, "but after having that famous baked casserole of yours last Thanksgiving...sold!"
Everyone broke out into a chorus of laughter, the atmosphere lightening up considerably, helping to dissipate any of the residual awkwardness left.
"You're not a bad cook yourself, Joe," Caitin pointed out. "These pancakes are delicious!" she praised before leaning close to Barry's ear, whispering, "though I do like yours better."
The speedster smiled, warmth filling him. "Okay, you're off the hook for your Joe comment from earlier," he teasingly whispered back, loving the way she quietly giggled to herself and shook her head at him, before zeroing back in on the table talk.
.
"So, are you glad you stayed to spend Christmas with us?" Barry asked Caitlin as he was rinsing off the last plate he'd just scrubbed clean before handing it off to her to dry.
She was casually leaning back against the counter next to him, her lips spreading into a content smile as she accepted the wet dish. "I am," she told him. "Thankfully, it's been less awkward than I feared it would be."
Barry slightly winced, shutting off the water. "Yeah...sorry about Jenna this morning."
She fondly shook her head, a small laugh bubbling up as she placed the plate down on the counter. "Even though in the moment I wish I had your superspeed to dash out of there," she said, causing Barry to chuckle, "everything else went smoothly. So, it's alright. I didn't die of embarrassment."
"Which I'm very happy about," he said, booping his suddsy finger onto her nose, making it cutely scrunch. He then circled his arms around her waist, holding her securely. "This has been the most enjoyable Christmas I've had in years, and it's because you're here, and that we're together, so thanks for staying."
"Of course," she told him. "I wouldn't have it any other way," she added as she leaned up on her tippy-toes to peck his lips. "I love you."
His grin magnified and eyes softened. "I love you too," he told her, before initiating another kiss, prolonging it as he reveled in the euphoria that he was experiencing - the sensation coursing through his veins thicker than his blood and faster than his speed.
"You two almost done in there?!" They then heard Joe holler from the living room. "Movie's about to start!"
They laughed as they separated, blushes adorning both of their faces. "I guess we'll have to continue this later…"
Barry blew out a breath, captivated by the darker shade of her usual honey-hued eyes. "At your place?"
"I think I've had enough embarrassment to last me until next Christmas, so yes," she answered, causing the speedster to laugh as he took her hand, guiding them out to the living room.
"We just finished up," Barry declared as the new couple settled down on the opposite end of the couch.
"Mmhmm," Joe muttered unconvincingly with a low chuckle.
Cecile lightly swatted Joe's arm before turning her attention to their young daughter. "Jenna, you want to come up on the couch with us to watch the movie?"
"No," she answered. "I playing."
Caitlin tilted her head, watching the young girl play with her Barbies, but not in the usual way that she had when she was a young girl. "Is she making them...wrestle?"
Cecile sighed. "My mother is a huge professional wrestling fan. It was all that was on TV the whole time we were over and Jenna had taken a liking to it...evidently."
"Wrestling just makes me think of Fistpuncher," Barry brought up with a groan.
"Why? Was he a wrestler?" Caitlin inquired.
"Yeah, he was like the golden boy at some university in California," he answered. "It's the only thing about him that I was able to track down."
"Is he from Central City originally?" she further asked, and he could already see the gears in her beautiful mind whirling.
Barry thought back on his research before shaking his head. "No, not that I remember. I think he was from California."
"So then why did he come to Central City?" Joe interjected, finding himself intrigued by the new information coming to light.
"Isn't there a big local wrestling company around here?"
They all turned to Cecile, eyebrows raised in perplexity.
"What?" she let out. "I told you, my mom is a huge fan of wrestling! Some of it rubs off!"
"Did it happen to be called the CCW?" Caitlin wondered.
Cecile nodded her head. "Yeah, that's it. Central City Wrestling - CCW for short. Why?"
Caitlin stood up, her hands flaring a mile a minute as she spoke. "Remember how I took a bunch of those old cold cases to see if I could find any earlier victims?"
Everyone nodded their heads.
"One of the cold cases happened to be the owner of CCW - Tom Spade - who was found dead in the arena. I didn't think anything of it at the time, since the injuries didn't coincide with Fistpuncher's usual M.O., but if Fistpuncher was wrestling for the company and something went awry…"
"He may have killed them," Barry said, finishing her sentence. "And we may have found his first victim..."
"Looks like we know what we're doing tomorrow," Joe piped in. "We have to talk to someone who knew him."
...
"Mr. Jack Spade?" Joe inquired as a man in his early-40s with blond buzzed hair opened the front door of a single-storied rancher.
"Yeah," the now owner of CCW lowly answered, eyeing both Barry and Caitlin with unease over the detective's shoulder. "What's this all about?"
Joe pulled out his badge. "We're with the CCPD, and we'd like to ask you a few questions."
Mr. Spade threw his head back in defeat. "Jesus Christ, it's the day after Christmas. Did one of my wrestlers do something?"
"Oh, no - well actually, this might be about a former wrestler of yours," Joe clarified. "Mind if we come in?"
"Right, of course," he said, stepping aside for everyone to enter his home. "Let's go to my office," he then said, redirecting everyone to a room off to the side of the entryway.
The room was relatively dark with only one small light on the desk and two foggy windows to illuminate it. Joe and Caitlin took a seat on the old, rickety chairs in front of Jack Spade's desk, while Barry stood behind the two. His hands leaned against the back of Caitlin's seat, just minutely brushing her shoulder blades. The touch was small, but it put her mind a little at ease; she wasn't used to being in these sort of settings.
"Now what's this about?" Jack asked as he took a seat at his desk.
"Do you remember someone by the name of Bane Dorrance?"
Jack looked contemplative. "The name sounds familiar…"
Joe reached into his inner-coat pocket to pull out a picture and handed it to the other man. "Maybe a picture might help. Unfortunately, we don't have anything recent. This is from a while ago."
Jack studied the photo for a moment. "Yeah...I - I remember this guy. He didn't wrestle with us long, but he had potential. He was some hot-shot college wrestler, but still needed to learn the ropes - literally."
"Well Bane has been going around on the biggest roid rage of roid rages, and becoming more erratic and more dangerous. He's killed people."
Jack Spade's eyes widened, shock evident in his expression. "The guy was a bit of a narcissist, but I never thought he'd be capable of murdering anyone…"
Barry took in a deep breath. "We're here because we've been going through old cold-case files, and we saw your father's…"
Jack shook his head. "The coroner ruled it a suicide, but my mother just wouldn't have it. She fought the city tooth and nail to have it changed, but then the case just sat on a dusty shelf."
"What do you believe?" Barry softly questioned, and Caitlin knew it was something Barry wanted Jack to have - his own narrative.
"Times were tough right after the particle accelerator went off. We had a huge hole in the ceiling of our gym from it and we weren't sure the insurance was going to cover it. Our wrestlers were quitting left and right and it looked like the company was going to go under. I think it was too much for the old guy, so he shot himself in the head..."
Caitlin's body shook from the mental image.
"Why? Do you think Bane had something to do with it?" Jack then asked, connecting the dots from their line of questions.
Caitlin cleared her throat. "It's possible. So far, Bane has only killed people who have gotten in his way from achieving something. Would he have a motive to kill your father?"
"Fuck," Jack let out, standing up to take it in before looking at his guests with remorse. "Sorry for my language, but I just had a feeling something bad would come out of my father giving Petey a title shot so early."
"Who's Petey?" Joe questioned.
With his hands on his hips, Jack sighed. "Petey was another wrestler. Him and Bane came in together. Hell, they were the best of friends, but Bane was in the business for the eventual fame. He wanted to be the top guy. He wanted the championship belt. He wanted to make a name for himself so he could move on to greater pastures, and everyone in the locker room knew it.
"But Petey was the one getting all of the glory. He was a highflyer and entertaining as hell. They called him the human spider and the audience couldn't get enough. So when Bane found out Petey was getting the title shot before him, he was livid. My father and him had a huge ass argument the night before the particle accelerator accident."
The trio all exchanged knowing looks.
"Do you happen to know where this Petey currently is?" Barry asked.
"Haven't the faintest clue," Jack answered. "After the particle accelerator, he went AWOL and we never saw him again."
"He just stopped coming all of a sudden and you didn't think anything of it?" Joe dubiously wondered.
Jack shrugged. "Our business isn't like the big companies. Our wrestlers still have to work 9 to 5 jobs, and sometimes it gets too much for folks and they just stop coming. Plus, around this time, half of our roster went AWOL.
"The particle accelerator hit and that sucker scared a lot of people, causing a lot of wrestler to stop wrestling to prioritize their families more. Some others even moved out of the state. My father and I were too busy trying to keep things afloat to figure out why people stopped showing."
Joe gave a sound of acknowledgement. "Since you knew of the guy, do you remember anything about Bane that might be useful? Like where he used to hang out? Any friends?"
Jack shook his head. "He only hung around Petey and he practically lived in the weight room at the old gym."
"Old gym?" Caitlin brought up.
"Yeah, it ended up being cheaper to buy a new place than fix up the old one." Jack answered. "Plus, after my old man died there, it was hard to go back…"
Caitlin nodded in acknowledgement. If Dr. Wells - erm, Thawne - hadn't persuaded her to come back to help with Barry, she may not have stepped back into STAR Labs ever again because of what she thought happened to Ronnie.
"Do you happen to know where Petey may be?" Barry then questioned, redirecting the conversation back. "If not, do you at least have a picture you can share with us to help our search?"
"Here," Jack then said, walking back to his desk to do something on his computer, before turning the monitor towards his guests. "This is Petey."
The picture showed a relatively young guy - no more than in his mid-20s. Short brown hair, small blue eyes and an average physique. He was wearing a rather simple red and blue costume with a red mask in his hand.
Caitlin's eyes widened. "I - I've seen Petey before…"
Everyone's head swiveled quickly to her. "Where?"
"In one of the other cold case files…" - she gulped - "They couldn't identify him, but I recognize the outfit."
She heard Jack swear under his breath. "If he died in his costume, that means he had to have been performing not long before it happened…he never would've left the gym like that."
"So he was probably killed at the gym," Joe concluded.
"And if the files about his death are accurate, this would've been Bane's first kill," Caitlin added.
"Meaning this place has a lot of meaning to him - good, bad and ugly," Joe said, his eyes flickering to Jack's. "Do you happen to still have access to that old gym of yours?"
.
"Looks like we didn't even need the keys after all," Barry noted as the group rolled up in Joe's car to the building that was the old wrestling gym. "The front door is gone."
"It was more of a formality anyway," Joe uttered as he shut off the ignition and unbuckled his seatbelt. "This way we don't have to waste time seeking a warrant to search."
Everyone got out of the vehicle only to stare eerily at the building. The place had been severely weathered by Mother Nature's elements, making the brick look to be crumbling like a cookie. Graffiti was covering most of the front and almost all of the windows had been shattered.
"I just texted Cisco and Ralph our location, just in case," Barry said as they all walked towards the entrance. "This place is already giving me some bad vibes."
"Do you think he's in there?" Caitlin questioned, looking at the building with a close eye, a sense of foreboding settling in her bones. "Isn't this too obvious of a place to hideout?"
Joe shrugged as he took his gun out of his holster. "When people are on the run, many times they end up at known locations for refuge. Plus, this guy has no way out of the city with his face plastered all over, so this seems like the only place he has to go."
"Only one way to find out," Barry said, gesturing to the entrance.
Silently, they all walked into the abandoned gym, one by one. If the outside was creepy, the insides were just as grotesque. The walls looked eroded and dark. The air was damp and heavy. The wrestling ring in the center of the room looked rotten with its ropes slack and filled with leftover rubble from the ceiling collapse, which they could now see happened directly above the ring.
"What is that smell?" she then heard Barry mutter as he tried to cover a cough.
"That would be mold," she answered, wrinkling her own nose. "Best we investigate as quickly as we can and then leave."
The two men nodded as they continued to skirt the perimeter of the room until they saw a sign that indicated the locker room.
Stealthily, the trio entered that room before splitting up to secure the area.
"No one is in the showers," Joe answered as he came back in.
"No one's in the office area either," Caitlin added.
Barry came to a halt in front of them, having just speedily checked all of the lockers. "I saw no one either, but I did find something interesting on the front of these two lockers," he said, walking over to a row towards the back. "See those markings there?"
Caitlin peered closer to get a better look. The splatter was small, not to mention almost as dark as the locker itself; it was a testament to Barry's skills as a forensic scientist that he saw it at all. "You think that's blood?"
"The color is consistent with blood that's been untouched for 6 years. Not to mention, the spatter is laid out in a manner that would come from getting hit hard with a blunt force object."
"Like Fistpuncher's fist," Joe supplied.
Barry nodded as he opened up his CSI briefcase and took out something to safely scrap the splatter into a small evidence bag. "Would just need to take this to the lab to confirm it's Petey's. Could be a shot in the dark considering we're in a wrestling locker room where who knows how many of those guys came back here bleeding after fights, but it's something. And it could give his family closure."
Just then, a creak was heard from outside the locker room. Caitlin's heart rate spiked, and she could feel a tiny mist of frost expelling from her fingertips.
"Do you think an animal waltzed in or do you think it's our friend?" Joe dryly asked, holding his gun in a way that she knew he would be ready to shoot at a moment's notice.
Another creak sounded, this time closer.
"I'll text Cisco and Ralph," she said, needing to do something, at least for a few seconds to feel in control of the situation. Plus, if it really was Fistpuncher, they'd need all the backup they could muster, and soon.
The door to the locker room then flew from its frame, causing everyone to jump in their spots. Heavy steps were then heard, ominously making their way inside, until Fistpuncher's form bone-chillingly entered. "Why. Can't. You. People. LEAVE ME ALONE!" he hollered, before picking up the discarded door and throwing it at them like a frisbee.
Luckily, Barry flashed her and Joe out of the way with ease, but Caitlin's stomach pinched in fear as she saw Fistpuncher's eyes brighten with mirth and recognition.
"Flash?" he exhaled, a manic smile slowly coming over his features. "I've been hoping I'd see you again."
"Shit," she heard Barry mutter next to her, realizing he used his powers without his suit on. "Bane, there is no need to hurt anyone," he further said, voice at a normal volume now. "We truly can help you."
Bane cocked his head to the side, seemingly calculating his next move, before smiling. "Catch me," he calmly stated before sprinting away.
Barry looked to both Caitlin and Joe incredulously. "Did he seriously just say that?" he asked with a chuckle before flashing out of the room after the criminal.
Caitlin and Joe scurried out of the room to follow, and as they exited the locker room, they saw Barry straddling Fistpuncher's back on the ground. When he noticed their arrival, he smiled victoriously. "Super sonic punch, baby!"
She smiled back, elated that they had finally captured Fistpuncher, but something still didn't feel right. While the criminal looked a bit winded, there was an eerie calm to him that left Caitlin still unsettled.
"Hey Joe, could you throw me those meta-cuffs?" Barry asked. "Can't believe we finally got him."
But as the meta-cuffs traveled through the air, Fistpuncher spoke. "Or I got you."
Suddenly a syringe of unknown substance was lodged into Barry's thigh, causing Barry to cry out in pain and fall onto the ground next to Fistpuncher, his body convulsing.
"Barry!" Caitlin found herself hollering, her body moving forward on autopilot to check if he was okay, but Joe pulled her back before she could get too far.
"If you go over there without a plan, you're only going to get yourself killed," Joe told her. "Then Barry really will be in jeopardy."
She frowned, but knew Joe was right. "We can't do nothing though!"
"And we're not," he told her, before raising his gun at Fistpuncher. "What did you just inject him with?"
Fistpuncher rose to his feet, a smirk overcoming his face. "The black market is filled with all sorts of concoctions. Steroids, bio-weapons…power depleting serums…" he spoke, his grin widening. "I fear our dear Flash's days are numbered as a superhero."
Caitlin's heart plummeted into the lowest depth of her stomach, knowing just how much Barry loved his powers; he'd be crushed.
"Maybe I should put him out of his misery then, huh?" Fistpuncher continued, raising his leg directly above Barry's head, but before he could stomp down, Caitlin expelled her frost, throwing him back harshly into the brick wall about 50 feet away from the speedster.
With more distance between him and Barry, she rushed to the speedster's side. She heard Joe follow her, but her attention was solely on Barry, who at least stopped trembling, but now was alarmingly still.
She kneeled in front of him and immediately placed her fingers along his neck to check his pulse. She sighed in relief when she felt his pulse thrumming against her, just slightly slower than his usual. "Barry? Barry!" she frantically called.
His eyes fluttered open. "Cait…"
"I'm here, are you alright?"
His eyebrows scrunched together. "I feel…slower…and…and colder…"
The doctor bit her lip. "That all might be because he drained your powers."
His eyes widened, but before either could say or do anything more, they were interrupted by Joe firing off shots from his gun as Fistpuncher ran to the exit.
"He's getting away!" Barry horsley hollered as he slowly got to his feet.
However, just as he exited the building, a portal opened up in the middle of the room with Firstpuncher running out of it. When he realized where he was, he skidded to a stop, confused. "What the…?" he muttered, before looking at the three he had been running away from and trying to gauge if they had been the ones to cause the weird phenomenon, before seemingly giving up and trying to once again run away, only for the same thing to happen to him once more.
"Didn't anyone ever teach you your manners?" Cisco as Vibe asked as he walked into the gym. "It's rude to leave without saying goodbye," he finished, before blasting him with a ring of energy that knocked him back onto the wrestling ring mat behind them.
Grunting frustratingly, Fristpuncher got up, eyes enraged with revenge as he stared down Cisco. He stalked to the edge of the ring, intending to jump down, but just as he moved to leave, Ralph as the Elongated Man wrapped himself around the ring as if he was one of the ropes, and flung the villain backwards. Fistpuncher ended up being catapulted to the opposite side of the ring, which propelled him forward right into Ralph's awaiting arm that was stuck out firmly for a closeline.
After Firstpuncher fell down from the maneuver, Ralph jumped up with excitement as he turned to his teammates. "I always wanted to do that!"
The four of them amusingly shook their heads before their eyes quickly widened. "Ralph, look out!"
Ralph looked back just as Fistpuncher picked him up, stretching him out like a slingshot and flung him into the direction where everyone was standing, making them all fall to the ground like bowling pins in agony.
Caitlin barely had time to groan though, before she witnessed Fistpuncher at their side, easily picking Barry up. The villain then threw Barry into the ring like he was a rag doll, before following in after him, circling him like a vulture would to its prey.
"This was MY ARENA," he shouted to Barry, kicking him swiftly in the gut. "The audience couldn't get enough of me! I was a God to them and they only wanted more! They wanted me as their champion!"
Barry managed to lift his head. "Is that why you killed Spade? Because he wouldn't give you a title shot?"
Fistpuncher's neck craned like an animatronic as he gazed down at Barry. "Spade kept saying I had to find an appealing gimmick or find an it factor, so when I got my powers, I showed him. But even after that, he still refused to use me…apparently now I was a liability. But did I kill him?" he asked, sheepishly shrugging, "I don't know…but considering there is little left of his head to even examine, can that really be proven?" he questioned, a smile cracking over his features before a dark laugh tumbled after it.
Caitlin felt her stomach churn.
"So you do whatever you want to get to the top, huh? Even killing all of these people?"
"They were getting in my way!" he roared, leaning down into the speedster's face.
Barry jutted out his chin. "Even Petey?"
Fistpuncher's face darkened, the humor draining. "That was an accident!I - I didn't know I was strong yet…but now that I do…" he hollered as he picked up Barry by the neck, pressing him against the turnbuckle.
The scene eerily reminded her of when Zoom did the same years before to Barry, causing a shiver to run down her spine. She shook her head before trying to slide her body closer to the ring undetected.
"Not so tough and heroic without your speed, are you Flashy?" she heard him say to Barry, his hold on him becoming tighter. She could see the speeder's face start to turn purple from his lack of oxygen, his hands attempting and failing to break the grip.
With Fisterpuncher's back facing her, Caitlin used this opportunity to feebly aim an icicle towards the villain. However, she had to aim further right than she would've wanted so that she didn't accidentally hurt Barry. The icicle ended up wirling past Fistpuncher's ear, hitting the wall beyond him, but it was close enough to knick and essentially startle Fistpuncher, forcing him to drop Barry to grab at his now bleeding ear.
Holding his ear, Bane turned swiftly towards Caitlin, eyes wide with rage. "You little," he began.
But as he started to stalk forward, she expelled frost underneath his feet, causing him to comically slip and fall onto his back.
At this point, Cisco was able to get back up, so when Fistpuncher rose again, he was met with a blast of one of Cisco's energy pulses that landed him back on his back. "Give it up, Fistpuncher. Team Flash is taking you down today, once and for all. You're outnumbered."
The villain got to his feet once again, craning his neck. "Fistpuncher, huh?" he rasped with distaste. "Not that great of a ring name, but it won't matter. If I can't be a hero, none of you can!"
With that, Fistpuncher drove his fists down heavily onto the mat, causing not only the ring to collapse but the whole building to shake and tremble. Fistpuncher then repeated the action, this time debris began to fall down from the already caved in ceiling and cracks began to form up the walls. He hit the ground again and then again and again, causing the whole place to shake as if a massive earthquake was happening right underneath them.
"Everybody get out!" Cisco panically shouted. "The place is going to collapse!" he said, and without a second thought grabbed Caitlin and shoved her through a portal that safely placed them right outside of the gym.
Immediately taking in her surroundings and seeing no one else outside, she urgently took Cisco's shoulders, shaking him. "You need to get the rest of the team!"
Cisco nodded, his hand already motioning to make a portal, but it was at that moment that the whole place caved in on itself, causing a cloud of dust to propel out and overcome them, knocking them on their asses and shrouding their view. Both her and Cisco began nearly hacking up their lungs from the dust that had made its way inside of them, their throats feeling like sandpaper every time they tried to breathe.
As the dust finally started to settle, the low hum of it quieting too, Cisco and Caitlin eventually were able to hear someone distantly call for help.
"Do you hear that?" Cisco asked with a cough. "Or am I hearing things?"
She shook her head, coughing too. "No, I hear it. We need to go to them. Every second we waste could make their situation worse."
Nodding, Cisco crawled to his feet before helping Caitlin up. They then both approached the building, which now just looked like a mountain of broken concrete and brick.
"Hello?!" Cisco hollered.
"Here!" they heard being yelled, though muffled heavily by the destruction. "Help!"
Caitlin and Cisco immediately started digging through the wreckage, trying their hardest to remove the bricks and concrete from the area where they were hearing the voice. With Cisco's vibrations, he was able to luckily break many of the largest pieces down, but it was still long and gruesome work for only two people. After many long minutes, however, they eventually unearthed Ralph's head, an enamic smile overcoming him when he saw the two of them.
"Ralph, you're okay!" Cisco let out, a smile splitting across his own face.
Ralph took in a huge breath of the fresh air before nodding. "Never in my life…did I appreciate my powers…more than today," he told them, obviously stunned but grateful. "I believe Joe is okay too. I stretched my body over him to protect him, but he still got hit with a piece of something as it was all coming down."
Ralph stopped, looking from Caitlin to Cisco and then back again. "Where's - where's Barry…?"
It was then that Caitlin let herself think about Barry for the first time since the collapse. She knew she hadn't seen him, was half hoping he had been the one calling for help, but now that the caller ended up being Ralph with an unconscious Joe, what did that mean for Barry?
She looked outwards towards the area where she last saw him. He had been sitting in the corner of the ring, leaning up against the turnbuckle as he tried to regain his breathing from Fistpuncher's chokehold. Now all that she saw was rubble and dust. A pain rose in her chest that triggered intrusive thoughts to cloud her mind, all that she immediately tried to shake away.
He couldn't be.
He was Barry. He was The Flash. He always found a way out. Always came back.
He couldn't be.
They had just gotten their act together and were about to start their lives together. They had to have more time; this couldn't be it.
He couldn't be…dead…
But as she stared out at the rocky terrain, in an area quiet from further cries for help, the only logical conclusion made her fall to her knees. Her chest lurched forward as a sob raked through her body. Heavy tears fell down her face, the pain of the gravel digging into her knees and hands were nothing compared to the pain storming through her body like she was being hollowed out and ripped to pieces simultaneously.
"BARRY…" she let out loud and brokenly, enticing her cries to only worsen. The cry was fruitless, but it felt cathartic to scream and expel some of the anguish that was only continuing to build up inside of her.
"Cait…"
She hiccuped over a cry, before raising her head to look towards Cisco, who's own eyes were red-rimmed, but they were also wide in shock as he looked at her.
"Cait…"
She heard her name again, but noticed Cisco hadn't said a word, nor was it Ralph who was preoccupied with trying to fully free himself from the wreckage.
She immediately got to her feet. "Barry?!" she hollered again, but this time hoping for a response.
"O-over…here…" she faintly heard.
On numb legs, she frantically ran to the voice, which led her to the side of the building. The gym was built on a slope, so on the side only, you could see that there was a level underneath the main one, which had windows. Her heart caught in her chest, igniting and rejoicing as she then saw none other than Barry, barely sticking his head out of one of those broken up windows, seemingly too weak to do more than that.
"Barry!" she let out, scrambling to her knees so she was at a better eye level with him. She let out a wobbly smile as she caressed his cut up cheek, comforted by its warmth.
"Cait…" he muttered with a delirious smile, falling into her touch, sighing in relief.
"How - how did you…?"
He tried to snort, though it only led to coughing and wincing. "You'd think by now Fistpuncher would've realized that his blackmarket serums never last."
She gasped. "Your powers are back?"
"Slowly but surely," he answered. "I had just enough to phase myself down into the basement, which sheltered me from most of the fallout, though a beam still hit my leg - I think it's broken - but otherwise…I'm good."
Caitlin's lip trembled as she looked at him once more, swallowing a lump of emotion. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you. I - I thought you-"
Barry shook his head, offering her as much of a smile that he could muster. "I'm here. I'm alright. You're not getting rid of me that easily, Dr. Snow."
A laugh tumbled out of her lips as a stray tear fell from her eye. "Come on. Let's get you out of here," she told him, before hollering for Cisco to help her drag the speedster out.
.
"From your latest X-Ray," Caitlin began, said imaging in hand as she walked towards Barry who was laying down on the gurney, "it appears your leg is nearly healed."
"That's good," he said with a nod. They'd been at STAR Labs now for a few hours, where Caitlin had been running numerous tests on him every so often, wanting to make sure the serum Fistpuncher had given him didn't leave any nasty after effects. "And what about my speed?"
She smiled as she grabbed a nearby tablet, bringing up the results for him to see for himself. "Your speed is currently at 93% efficiency, and I haven't detected any anomalies or stagnets in its recovery over the last few tests I ran, so I expect by tomorrow morning that you should be fully recovered from everything."
Barry let out a sigh of relief. While he could feel the speedforce running through his veins, becoming stronger and stronger as it built to its full capacity, it was still nice to hear Caitlin confirm with science that everything was going back to normal and would be okay.
"Sorry to interrupt," Joe said, sticking his head in, "but I wanted to let you both know that the CCPD just dug up Fistpuncher from the debris. Confirmed dead now."
Despite the tension in his shoulders dissolving, he sighed. "Glad he's off the streets, but it's still sad," he commented with a wry smile. "I think he truly just wanted to be a hero to people, but his addiction to both fame and the power he possessed did him in. Almost did us all in…"
Caitlin comfortingly caressed Barry's arm. "We tried to help him, multiple times. There wasn't anything more we could've done."
"I know," he soberly let out, and he knew he did as much as he could, but these types of conclusions always left a bitter taste in his mouth. He always wished things could end better, even for the bad guys.
"And how are you feeling, Joe?" he then heard Caitlin ask. "You still have a headache?"
Joe waved her off. "I'm fine."
She tilted her head. "Joe."
He frowned before reluctantly answering,"It's still there but subsided greatly after I took the medication you gave me."
"Good," she said with a nod. "Because concussions - even minor concussions - are no joke. Just because you feel better doesn't mean you should be up and making calls to the CCPD," she pointed out, eyeing him knowingly. "You should be resting."
"Then can I rest at home?" the older detective nearly whined, making Barry chuckle under his breath. "If I'm being forced to rest, I'd rather be in the comfort of my own home, sitting on my own couch and watching sports on my own TV."
"Are you going to actually rest?" Caitlin asked, arms crossed.
"Yes," Joe exasperated. "I promise. You can even stick Cecile on me to make sure I do."
Her eyebrows rose. "I might do just that, but sure, you're free to leave, as long as you have someone that can drive you home."
"I can do it," Ralph volunteered, holding up his hand. "I was cleared awhile ago, and since now we know Fistpuncher is no longer a problem anymore, I'm going to take that as my cue to head home for the night."
Barry watched the duo leave before swinging his legs over the side of the gurney to face Caitlin. "So, when will I be cleared to go home, Dr. Snow?"
A short huff of air came out her nose as she quietly laughed at his formality. "Well considering your leg and speed are both nearly healed, I'd say you're good to go home too."
"Do I have to rest and relax as well?
"Of course," she let out matter-of-factly, but he could tell she was amused by his question.
"Would cuddling with my girlfriend count as relaxing?" he asked with a grin as he reeled her in between his legs.
The cutest smile morphed its way across her face, her cheeks faintly blushing. "I think that sounds like a good way to relax."
"And what about kisses?"
Her head leaned back as she heartifly laughed. "I think kisses should be fine too, so long as they remain just kisses, Mr. Allen."
He smirked. "So like this?" he then asked, before pressing his lips to hers, lingering for only a second or two longer than what would be considered chaste.
She cleared her throat as they seperated. "That - that seems like a safe enough kiss."
An abrupt cough was then heard. "You two realize I am right here, right?" a voice then said behind them, which he confirmed was Cisco when Caitlin jumped out of the way, blushing maddeningly at realizing they had an audience to their lovey dovey corniness.
She grimaced. "Sorry!"
But the long-haired man merely waved his hand of the matter, chuckling. "Nah, it's fine. You know I just like to pull your legs," he told her, nudging her playfully with his elbow. "But I do have to say, you two are disgustingly sweet together."
"Thanks?" Barry let out unsurely over a laugh.
"I'm just…" Cisco started, wiping a tear from his eye, "I'm just so happy for you guys," he finished as he pulled both Caitlin and Barry into a strong hug.
Barry awkwardly patted the back of his friend's back."Thanks, man. We appreciate it. We definitely wouldn't have gotten here without you."
Cisco backed up, wiping another tear from his face. "And don't you forget itI" he lightheartedly said, pointing to the both of them. "Now get home, you crazy kids. It's been a long day."
"Thanks, Cisco," Caitlin let out, giving him a parting hug. "We'll see you tomorrow."
…
SIX MONTHS LATER
"You have everything packed?"
Caitln looked up towards the bedroom door to see Barry leaning against the frame, dressed in a tank-top and swim trunks. He was rarely ever this casual and she treasured that she got to witness this side of him now. "Just about," she told him as she packed the last article of clothing into her suitcase and zipped it up. "And done!"
He smiled as he walked over to her, wrapping his arms loosely around her waist. "You excited?"
She interlocked her hands behind his neck. "To spend two whole - hopefully uninterrupted - days with you on vacation? Very. Even though I still don't know where we're going!"
"Cait…"
"Can you give me just one detail?"
He chuckled. "Stop fishing for hints already."
"Was that a hint? Something to do with fishing?"
"Cait," he amusingly let out, shaking his head.
She pouted. "You know I hate surprises."
"I know," he acknowledged as he dropped a small kiss on her lips, "but I promise it'll be worth the wait."
"Anything that gets you to show off your biceps definitely is," she murmured, her arms trailing down his exposed arms, giving them a slight squeeze.
He laughed again. "Okay," he said, detaching her hands from his arms but continued to hold them loosely, "we need to go before we get distracted. Again."
She faintly snorted but nodded as she uncoupled their hands to pick up her suitcase. "I get it. I get it. Let's go!"
With a huge grin, Barry picked her up and ran them out of the apartment. Caitlin had hoped that she'd have some type of idea of where he was taking them once they sped off, but the velocity of his speed disabled her ability to differentiate any type of landmark since everything looked like a swirl of a rainbow as they went by. He could have run them through the ice caps or on top of volcanoes and she would've been none the wiser.
Normally, she wouldn't have minded not knowing where they were going - Barry was Barry and always seemed to have some type of surprise for her - but him booking a getaway vacation for them for their 6-month anniversary left her a little apprehensive of just what kind of surprise he had in store. He had worked diligently on the plans for a while now and she didn't quite understand what would take that much planning. Her mind kept envisioning him proposing, and she dreaded it. Not because she didn't want to marry him - that was literally the stuff of her greatest dreams - but because she knew it would be too soon and she wouldn't have the heart to say no anyway. She just didn't want them jumping into anything just because things had been going extremely well in their relationship so far.
Suddenly, everything abruptly stopped. She had to hold onto Barry with a death grip for a moment as the feeling of vertigo subsided.
"You okay?" he gently asked, rubbing tenderly at her shoulders. As she nodded, he then flashed her a dopey smile. "Then tell me, what do you think?"
She looked in front of her at a house with a strong oak door, stone pillars, and a neatly landscaped garden. It was pretty and modern looking. She looked around her immediate surroundings, but didn't see any other houses, just the brush of numerous trees. Then her eyes went wide as an idea popped into her head. She sharply turned to her boyfriend. "Please don't tell me you bought us a house."
His head shot back from the question before amusingly asking, "Why would I buy us a house when I just helped you move into our apartment last weekend?"
Caitlin pressed her lips together. "You're right, that wouldn't make sense. Sorry!"
"No need to be sorry," he told her with a chuckle, wrapping his one arm around her. "Trust me, when we buy a house, it'll be together. Just like what we did with the apartment."
She looked up at him, admiring his handsome profile. The way his eyebrows peaked, the slope of his nose, the curve of his lips and the shagginess of his hair. Even though she knew it was still a few years away, she couldn't help but feel giddy at the idea of buying a house with Barry, where they could hopefully raise a family and grow old in.
She bit her lip to contain her smile as she redirected her attention to the house before her. "So this is just a rental home for the weekend?" she guessed again.
His smile morphed slowly into a smirk as he moved to open the door. "Something like that."
Caitlin's mouth went ajar as the door opened, revealing a beautifully adorned inside with an open-concept layout. The whole back wall of the house was covered in floor to ceiling windows that looked out at the beautiful view of the beach and the ocean just beyond that.
"Are we in Hawaii or something?" she asked, turning to Barry, smiling widely with elation.
"Well, we're in the Pacific Ocean, just not…that far out," he told her, grimacing guiltily. "I hope that doesn't put a damper on your excitement."
She shook her head as she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his middle. "It doesn't," she assured him, "because you know I don't care about fancy vacations or gifts."
"I know," he told her, taking a moment to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear before briefly kissing her. "But I can't help but want to spoil you too."
She bit down on her lower lip. "I just hope you didn't spend too much money on this. I mean this is a honeymoon type of spot, not a 6-month anniversary spot."
"That's the beauty of it, it was free."
She leaned back, evidently confused as she studied him.
"It was Dr. Wells'," he clarified. "One of the many properties under his name that I got after his death. Didn't even know it existed until recently though."
Unconsciously, Caitlin looked all around the interior, inspecting every corner with a fine eye. "You sure it's safe to be here then?"
"It was bought by the original Dr. Wells. From my understanding, Eobard never visited here."
"But-"
"But," he stressed, "I still did a thorough check, from top to bottom. Even had Cisco in here to check if there were any hidden cameras, microphones or rooms. None. It's clean."
Her shoulders slunk as she let out a sigh of relief. "Good."
Barry gently took her by the shoulders, rubbing them tenderly. "You know I'd never bring you anywhere that I thought was unsafe."
"I know," she acknowledged, offering him a smile. "But best to double check just to ease the mind."
"Easing the mind is half the reason we're out here."
"And the other half?"
"Celebrating our love, of course!" he told her. "Now, why don't you change into your bathing suit so we can go lay out on the beach and watch the waves? Doesn't that sound nice?"
She nodded. Some fresh air and sunshine would definitely help her relax. "Sounds good."
.
About 10 minutes later, Barry heard the bedroom door open up. Thankfully he had just gotten back from setting everything up outside, so she'd be none-the-wiser that he had been gone. He then peeked down the hall to see his gorgeous girlfriend walking towards him. However, he pouted at what she was wearing.
"Why are you wearing a coverup?" he asked her, reaching out to touch the white, lacy material that was over Caitlin's scarlett bikini.
"Because if I didn't, we might never make it to the beach," she said with a smirk, looking at him knowingly. "Or did you forget about what caused the distraction from earlier today?"
The speedster could already feel himself getting flustered as he remembered back to that morning. He had walked into their bedroom just like any other day to find Caitlin twisting and turning in front of the mirror while wearing the bikini. His mind nearly short-circuited at the sight of her beautiful porcelain curves filling out the thin red material. "I wasn't expecting you to be like that when I entered the bedroom," he said in his defense. "Why were you even wearing it already anyway?"
"I haven't had an excuse to wear a bathing suit in years, so I was just making sure it still fit before I packed it," she explained with a laugh. "You didn't hear me complaining about where it led though, did you?"
Barry's flustered face morphed into a satisfied grin. "No, no you didn't."
She giggled with a shake of her head. "Come on, let's go to the beach now."
"As you wish," Barry said, extending his hand to hers. "And I may or may not have another surprise or two for you out there."
Caitlin raised her eyebrow as she interlocked their fingers, letting him guide her outside the house and onto a path that led to the beach. "What more could you possibly have to surprise me with?"
Barry gestured towards a tiki-styled cabana off in the distance that had flowy white curtains drawn closed on three of its sides. "The house has one of those, so we don't have to roast out in the sun all day and become lobsters."
"That's good," she surmised. "Though I did bring plenty of sunscreen if you did want to lay out in the sun."
He chuckled as he pressed an affectionate kiss to the side of her head. "Of course you did, but the cabana itself isn't a surprise. It's what's in it."
Her face screwed with confused curiosity. He could see her mind whirling just as fast he could run with what could possibly be hiding within the structure. He really wondered what she was thinking and he hoped he wasn't going to disappoint her.
As they rounded the side of the cabana, however, Caitlin started to giggle as she saw one of the surprises. "You can't be serious."
He grinned, enjoying her reaction. "Very serious. I'm a man of my word. I told you I'd get a really, really big towel for us to take to the beach one day and here it is."
"And here it is," she agreed, staring down at the massive towel, big enough for two Barrys in width and about four Barrys in length before giggling again as she turned to her boyfriend. "Are you planning on us partaking in certain activities on this towel?"
His lips lifted into a smirk. Oh, he had definitely thought about that and wouldn't turn down the opportunity if she was down, however, he had another surprise planned that took precedant.
"You mean like…" - he paused to enter the cabana - "...having a picnic?" he asked as he came back out, brandishing a traditional wicker picnic basket.
"Barry," she whispered out with affection clear in her tone.
"Then later we can go swimming, build sandcastles, and we can end the day by watching the sunset."
His heart swelled witnessing Caitlin's eyes softening with recognition, knowing she remembered them outlining this particular outing many months ago, before they were even together. Something she probably long played off as silly pillowtalk that he was now trying to make a reality.
"Barry Allen," she started as she wrapped her arms around his neck, "you're the sweetest man alive," she told him, then stood up on her tippy-toes to seal the compliment with a kiss.
"You're quite sweet yourself," he told her as they separated. "Come on though, let's eat the sandwiches before they get soggy," he said as he crouched down onto the towel, lightly tugging Caitlin to follow him, which she did.
The duo peacefully munched on their sandwiches while looking out at the ocean, talking as they watched the small waves crash onto the shore, the seagulls flying overhead, and dolphins jumping out of the water in the vast distance.
As they waited for their food to digest (per Caitlin's orders), they wandered closer to the water and tried (but failed) to build a sandcastle. They laughed as their attempts to build even the simplest of buildings crumbled and fell over. It ended in them flickering sand at each other before Barry carried her out into the ocean and playfully threw her into it.
"Barry!" she playfully hollered as she surfaced. "You got my coverup all soaked!"
He laughed, but attempted to look mildly shameful. "Sorry?"
Caitlin rolled her eyes, but smiled nevertheless. "Yeah, I'm sure you're really upset about that," she said while taking off the coverup and throwing it at Barry who was closer to land and still only ankle deep in the water.
"Heartbroken," he confirmed as he caught the coverup with ease, but stood still for a few moments just to unabashedly look at her. She looked like an angel that had cascaded from heaven, so beautiful and radiant as she basked in the sun's glow, the water glistening around her like magic.
"Are you and your cute butt going to join me, Mr. Allen?" she asked, breaking him from his thoughts. "Or are you just going to creepily ogle me from afar?"
"It's not creepy," Barry said as he took off his own shirt and threw their clothing onto the beach, "it's romantic," he corrected as he walked into the water and paddled his way to her.
"But wouldn't you say that this," she said, wrapping her arms loosely over his shoulders, her chest pressed into his, "is much more romantic?"
He hummed as he took in the wetness of her body, the plumpness of her lips and the haziness of her eyes. "You'd be right as usual," he said, gravitating his face closer to hers until their lips meshed together blissfully.
"Are you enjoying yourself so far?" Barry asked as they ended their kiss, but continued to remain wrapped up together.
"I am," she answered, but it caught Barry's attention that she was avoiding his eyes. "But…" Caitlin began, letting the word drift off to make sure she had his attention before proceeding, "you don't happen to have any other surprises up your sleeve for this weekend, do you?"
He playfully narrowed his eyes. He had an inkling as to what she was thinking. "Would you believe me if I said no?"
She lolled her head to the left and right a few times in thought. "Probably not."
He chuckled. "And why is that?"
"Because you're Barry, and you often do grand and elaborate surprises...and this place just feels like where one might…" - she sighed, her uncertainty evident - "...you know…pop the question…"
Barry couldn't help but smile as he strengthened his hold around her waist. "Cait, do you want me to ask you to marry me this weekend?"
She bit down on her lower lip. "I do want to marry you. I do, I've told you this before."
"I know," he said, remembering back on that moment fondly. It had been a lazy weekend morning, the day after her birthday and they've been dating for just a little over 2 months. They had been cuddling extra close and talking about all sorts of things in between languid kisses.
"You want to know what I wished for on my birthday?" Caitlin asked.
His eyebrows humorously crinkled. "What?"
She reached out to run a hand through his hair. "To be able to be like this with you for the rest of my life," she serenely murmured.
His heart flipped with a flutter. "In order for that to be true, you may have to eventually marry me, Dr. Snow."
Her smile, while shy, grew radiant. "I can definitely see that in my future," she confessed, her big brown eyes looking up into his, watching him with cautious optimism. "What about you, Mr. Allen? Would you want to settle down with little ol' me one day?"
Barry caressed her cheek, his heart so full with love. "I would want nothing more," he told her, before playfully rolling her over to shower her with affection.
"And I told you the same."
"Right, but even though we've known each other for years and both want to marry each other, I think we should still wait a little longer."
"I agree."
"Because this is not," she started, but abruptly stopped herself when his words registered. "Wait - did you say you agreed with me?"
"Yes, I did," he confirmed with a short chuckle. "Because you're right. When we first got together, we said we'd go slow, and I still want that. I mean, diving head-first and full speed ahead didn't do any favors in my last relationship either. I want to do things right this time, and that means letting the relationship grow and marinate. I want to feel like I'm enjoying every moment of it instead of racing towards some finish line."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," he echoed, hugging her just a little bit tighter as an extra confirmation.
She blew out of breath. "Then that's a relief," she commented. "Because I don't want to rush into buying a home or getting married only for you to then realize that you hate the sound of my snoring or that you think I nag too much about the house chores."
"Hey," he lightly interjected, booping her softly on the nose, "for your information, I think your snores are adorable," he told her, to which she fondly rolled her eyes at. "Plus, I've been listening to your nagging for years now about my health and well-being, why would that suddenly bug me when it comes to the house chores?"
Caitlin lightly swatted at his chest, causing them both to laugh.
"So you're not sick of me yet?"
Barry shook his head, his lips twitching into a smile as he thought back on the last week of them living together. "I loved coming home to you every night and loved waking up to you every morning. I loved us cooking our meals together and cuddling up on the couch after a long day. I finally feel like I'm truly sharing my life with you and I love it - I love you. Somehow, I think I've fallen even further in love with you this past week, and I only see that continuing."
Her lips trembled as a lone tear fell from her eye. "Dammit, Barry," she let out with a watered laugh. "I can't top something like that."
He merely laughed, kissing her tenderly on the forehead.
"But I do feel the same," Caitlin said, nodding as she looked up into his eyes. "Moving in with you has already cemented the idea that I do eventually want it all with you. I want the house and the kids and maybe a dog added in the mix too."
The speedster's heart pleasantly burned as he thought of that future. He wanted all of that too.
"A dog, huh?"
Her face scrunched up. "Don't tell me you're a cat person, because then I might have to take back everything I just said," she joked.
Barry chuckled, shaking his head. "No, no, a dog would be perfect. What kind of dog is your favorite?"
She took a second to think. "I always loved huskies. Such pretty dogs."
Barry filed that information into the back of his mind for later. It might be a good gift to give down the line. Like, for say, Christmas.
"And how many kids do you want?"
He saw her cheeks pinkened. "I'm - I'm not set on it or anything, but I'd like at least two," she answered with a shrug. "I always wanted a sibling growing up and always wished that for any future children I had."
"I've always wanted the same too," Barry confessed, reaching out to caress her cheek. "And I hope these future children of ours get all your looks and brains too."
She giggled, rolling her eyes. "Either way, these kids are going to pull from a good gene pool, but that future is still a few years away."
"Of course," Barry agreed, "but that doesn't mean we can't practice," he said, jumping his eyebrows up and down and letting his hands dip a little bit lower on her back.
Caitlin's head went to his shoulder as she giggled. However, as her head rose back up, he could tell she was up to something. "Did you say this was a private beach?" she then suddenly inquired.
"It's actually a private island," he answered. "So, only us."
She thoughtfully nodded as she detached herself from him and began walking back to land wordlessly. This caused Barry to scratch his head, wondering just what she was doing. Had he said something wrong?
"Where are you going?" he puzzledly hollered out to her.
She looked over her shoulder, a ridiculously sexy and enticing smile on her face. "I thought you might want to put your really, really big towel to use, especially if you want to practice," she said with a simple shrug. "But if you don't want to-" she started, but she didn't get to finish as Barry flashed himself out of the sea and carried her to the towel in record time.
This was the good life, and they were just getting started.
A/N: Well this is it, folks! I can't believe this story is over. So much has happened since I started this story - on the show and in my life - but I'm so glad you all have been here to read this and leave comments telling me how much you've enjoyed it. I hope this last chapter was a good sum up for you! Please let me know your thoughts!
Also, if anyone is wondering (and caught that husky reference towards the end), the Snowbarry relationship in this story is the same as the Snowbarry family oneshots from my 12 Days of Snowbarry series. So If you'd like to see more of their relationship and milestones, you can check out the following stories:
From 12 Days of Snowbarry '16 - Christmas Morning, Christmas Morning II, Christmas Morning III, Christmas Morning IV
From 12 Days of Snowbarry '17 - letter to santa, best christmas ever, kiss kiss
From 12 Days of Snowbarry '18 - want to build a snowman?, 2am
From 12 Days of Snowbarry '20 - perfect to come home to, of antlers and ornaments, santa's not real?!
