So here's Chapter 3. Thanks everyone for the reviews, likes, and favorites. You're all the best. Anyway, you might have noticed I reposted the previous chapters with some edits. I felt I was burying the lead a bit too much and also screwed up with some grammatical errors since I wrote them pretty late at night, so I think they're a bit better now. Anyways this takes place immediately at the end of 3x12 "Untouchable".

Over the years, Caitlin had accumulated a mental database of most of the bars and drinking establishments within a five mile radius of STAR Labs and her home. She wasn't an alcoholic, or at least she told herself she wasn't, but in the last three years there had been a lot of reasons for a good stiff drink. So she knew where to go on the nights when she couldn't sleep all alone in the ruins of the life she had built with Ronnie. And she knew where to go when Team Flash had just pulled off another stunning victory or startlingly defeat. She knew the sports bar where Cisco dragged her to watch the World Cup and she knew the pub with the deep booths where Barry liked to go when he was beaten black and blue.

What she didn't know was where to take a guy for a drink after he talked you down from killing your friend through negligence. What exactly you were supposed to do when you were buzzing with gratitude and no small case of the butterflies while your stomach was still roiling with inescapable guilt. Being stuck in the elevator with said guy while you were working this through your head didn't help.

Julian rocked back and forth on his heels, hand gripped tightly on the strap of his bag.

"So uh I don't have a car…" he trailed off, pointedly not looking at her.

"We can take mine," she said simply still running through the calculations in her head.

"Actually, I don't know how to drive. I just take the train or the bus or Uber everywhere." He was rambling nervously, Caitlin realized. So this was already off to a great start. Still she couldn't help but chuckle.

"Really?"

"Well, I grew up in the city and my family had a driver and England has better mass transport than America. So I never learned and then I guess I felt to old to start."

"Wasn't that a problem though? What with all the globetrotting and Indiana Jones-ing?"

"It wasn't exactly that exciting. But, yes, it was a bit of a problem," he admitted sheepishly. He rubbed a hand on the back of his neck and smiled at her. Her heart pounded a little harder at the sight of his crinkled blue eyes.

"Well, maybe I could teach you sometime," she blurted out without thinking. "In my little turquoise Fiat. It's a stick shift." She tried not grimace as the words came out of her mouth. Who cared what color it was?

"Well, that wouldn't be emasculating at all," Julian muttered.

"I didn't uh I mean… you don't have to... I was… just," Caitlin fumbled, turning bright red even as a threat of anger worked its way through her.

Julian spun toward her then and grabbed her flapping hands.

"No, I didn't mean. That, that was a joke? I was trying to make a joke. I would love to. I was just trying to be funny. You know I'm still working on my interpersonal skills."

"Right, yeah. I know. I might need to too."

Caitlin looked down at their joined hands. His were warmer and rougher than she expected. One of his thumbs rested on the pulse point of her wrist. It send a surprising thrill through her as he moved it in slow, small circles. Dammit, if she wasn't falling for him. Deep down she knew this would end badly if she continued down this path, if she let herself keep indulging these feelings. It always did, but she wasn't sure if she could stop herself. Julian caught her looking and swallowed hollowly before abruptly dropping her hands and turning on his heel to face the front of the elevator. He tugged on his already loose tie.

"Is there something wrong with the elevator? I don't think it's moving."

Caitlin tried to recover quickly from the sudden lose of his warmth and catch the shift in conversation. She looked at the control panel of the elevator car, shaking her head as if clearing cobwebs from her brain.

"Um, we didn't tell it to go down."

"Right! Obviously, we need to tell it to go down," he reached across her to tap the button for the first floor and the elevator lurched into motion. "I knew that."

Caitlin burst out laughing.

"What?"

"Nothing. It's just we're so bad at this." He looked at her for a second, considering then he shook his head and snorted.

"You might be right about that."

In the parking lot, Caitlin fumbled to get her keys out of her purse. Julian stood on the passenger side with his hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched against the wind. It was getting colder in the evenings and he was under dressed.

"It's not turquoise," he said.

"What?"

"It's not turquoise, it's celeste. The signature color of Bianchi bikes? Which makes sense seeing as Fiat is also Italian."

Caitlin paused with her hand still stuck in her bag and just looked at him. Meeting her gaze, Julian's ears turned red.

"Sorry, I think I talk too much when I'm nervous and say dumb things. I have a few drawbacks."

"I have some of those too. Apparently, I don't know anything about colors. Also, I'm slowly turning into an ice monster."

"I have a brain connection with an evil speedster who may or may also be a Hindu god."

"Wow, that's fucked up," Caitlin said, a smile stretching across her face despite herself.

"Yeah, what the bloody hell is wrong with us?" He was smiling too. They were both laughing again when they piled into her tiny car. Who knew it could be this much fun not knowing what you were doing? It almost made up for how derailed her life had become, not quite, but there was the feeling like someday it could.