A/N: I am so sorry I have not posted in ages! Fear not, though, for my muse is back and ready for action! Already, I have at least three ideas, and at least a bunch I've started working on. It's definitely going to get more productive around here! I seem to have an awful skill at proofreading, indeed, this chapter must be full of mistakes.
Sorry for the weird language. Anyway I haven't seen 1x10 or 1x11, but I did manage to get to watch most of 1x12! Drunk!Caitlin is awesome. And I seem to keep humming 'Summer Lovin'' a lot, especially in class. Speaking of class, tomorrow is a Monday. Reviewers will be announced as usual.
Caitlin's POV
"Let's go, what are we waiting for?" I bury my face into his chest, not wanting to get dizzy, or heaven forbid and touch wood, that I throw up on him. We show up when I think he's stopped at a grocery store close to my house, in the opposite direction of the mall.
"Thanks for the ride," I detatch myself from him, savouring the press and warmth of his body. Oh, why didn't I think to wear a coat?
Because I was with Barry, and I thought I'd be going home straight after. Right.
I nevertheless push through, determined to not have to go home.
I walk in ahead of Barry, and something warm encloses my shoulders. I look behind me to see Barry putting his jumper aound my shoulders.
I try shrugging the jacket off, but Barry keeps his ands there.
"Aren't you going to get cold?"
"Nope. I'm wearing so many layers, I think I'm sweating!" He exclaims, and I stop trying to subtly shift the jacket off of me, and he helps me put my arms into it. I shiver, secretly thrilled that it was Barry that was helping me, Doctor Caitlin Snow, into a jacket.
"You can't be sweating. No way."
"Whatever you say, love."
I whack him in the arm, and bring up a cheesecake recipe on my phone.
"Got the list," I say to him, and he walks over to me with a trolley.
"Okay," he gives it a once over.
"You get the top half, I'll get the bottom, meet at the egg aisle?"
"Knowing me, you'll grow a beard by the time I get there, but sure, that'll work," I say to him, grabbing a basket from the stack nearby.
"See you soon!" He says, and I depart for the dairy aisle.
Half an hour later, as I get the final ingredient in the top half of the list, I meet Barry in the egg aisle. The owner of this place might be crazy.
There were literally so many eggs. Chocolate and real, and prank ones. I'm not sure how I felt about those. I see Barry heading towards me.
"Hey," I say to him.
"Hi," he says back.
"You wanna go?" I ask him.
He nods, but his phone seemingly picks that moment to ring.
"Hello." He answers, and I go to the other end of the aisle, suddenly finding another packet of yet more prank eggs very interesting. They apparently advertised that the would explode with a putrid, foul-smelling goo once you expose them to a liquid.
"Yes, I understand. I'll see you soon..." Barry finishes his call from next to me.
"Hey," he says to me.
"You didn't sound too happy. What's up?"
"We have to go find a new Snowbarry. A shop trainee accidentally sold ours while her co-worker went to go get lunch." His eyes hold a flicker of annoyance.
"It's okay, Barry. We'll go look for another one."
"And they also can't deliver on Christmas Day, but they can do it tomorrow. How does 11 sound?"
"It sounds perfectly good." I smile at him.
"Come on, let's go find ourselves a puppy!"
And so after we've paid for the groceries, we're at my house, then the pet store, me empty handed except for my purse.
"The lady told me that they got a new shipment in today."
"Sounds good. You want to look together this time?"
"Yeah."
So we go, exclaiming over a few cute puppies, and the tasteless song that was playing suddenly ended to play 'Summer Lovin'' and I giggle.
"What is it?" He asks, looking around for the joke.
"This song." He looks confused.
"Okay, my friend and roommate invited me to this party and I said okay, because I only studied and didn't really have a life. I accidentally took a pot brownie in my freshman year, and I was sooo drunk as well, and it was like that scene from that Jump Street movie, and man. The next morning, I was hungover, lying on some weird dude's couch. The next day after that, when I recovered from it, I moved out of my apartment. I think the roommate was at another party, and didn't miss me at all."
"And this song relates to the experience why?"
"It was playing during the hallucinations."
"Ah."
And suddenly, I see it, and run over to it.
"This one!" I say. He doesn't bat an eyelid, just asks the delighted (if you know what I mean) female store worker how big they get.
She replies, practically drooling, "They don't get big, they're like a chiuaua labrador crossbreed, and that's sweet, you and your sister are getting a puppy together."
"Actually I'm," "She's," "his," "my," "girlfriend." We say at the same time. She doesn't get it at first, still obliviously staring at Barry, but he puts his arm around me and whispers seductively into my ear, "Never again."
"Agreed." I'm not taking him ever again if this is going to happen every time I do so.
It's nice to know that Barry doesn't like it either, though.
So an hour later, we're lying on my bed, my head on his stomach and him playing with my hair, and we're quiet.
"Hey, you want to prank someone?" I ask him.
"My my Caitlin Snow, I have corrupted you far more thank I have feared. But yes."
Somehow, I really liked the 'my Caitlin' bit falling from his lips.
"You wanna prank call everyone we know and tell them we're together? Then at the Christmas party, we have no idea what they're talking about?"
"You know, I would not have pegged you for a pranker. The idea is honestly brilliant, but how about we tell them in person? I've got dibs on Felicity and Eddie."
"You'd better take Dr Wells and Cisco too. I've got Oliver, Iris, Joe and Diggle."
"And if they don't believe us, we can show them the pictures. And if they do believe us, show them the pictures."
"I like your thinking. I'll get in my car."
"Actually, wanna take the Flash Express? You'll take about an hour to get there on the train."
"Okay. But only because it's-" And we're off. It's exhilirating, running like this, and it's over too fast. I can see how a guy could get addicted to this.
I see Barry whipping his phone out, and I leave him to it, seeing as I've forgotten mine, thanks to Barry.
"Thanks," I whisper in his ear. "There are traffic cameras Felicity can hack, though, so on the safe side, it's best to act couple-y." His phone goes back into his pocket.
"Good idea, my dear Watson." He whisper in my ear and we're hugging.
"I'd like to say I've always pictured you as Watson, but I haven't. I'm obviously Watson." I whisper back, feeling a strange exhiliration at being part of the pair to trick all our friends.
"Obviously." He scoffs, and I shove him playfully.
"No need to rub it in."
His phone rings, and the spell of the moment is broken. He checks the message.
"Felicity's not at the foundry tonight, she just left. She's picking up Italian for her and Oliver, and she's seen us on the traffic cameras."
As if on cue, my stomach growls. He laughs.
"Oi, you should be hungrier than me, and you better be eating those calorie bars."
"Four a day, just as you promised, my lady."
"If you don't eat them, you could die, and-"
"And what?" He urges.
"I would miss you. Central City needs you Barry. And it's scary to think of just how strong, yet fragile you are."
"Then don't think about it." He embraces me. "Want a ride to the foundry?"
"You thought I thought you'd let me walk?"
"Fair point." And suddenly, I'm at Verdant, and it looks like it's opening.
"Hi, I'm Sara." The blonde bartender says.
"Hi, I'm here to see Oliver Queen?"
"Darling, everyone's here to see Oliver Queen."
"No, you don't understand. Do you know Barry Allen?"
"Yeah, Felicity says a lot about him."
"Felicity works in the bar? And I'm Barry Allen's personal physician. Barry is-"
"Okay. No need for-" she lowers her voice, "a secret identity to slip through."
"You know?" I ask, surprised.
"Yep. In fact, I'm the Black Canary. I work with him."
"Cool. No seriously, I wish I had the skills to do this sort of stuff. I'm the one who gets kidnapped and the one with the boring office desk job."
"Felicity had the same sort of thing. Maybe come along sometime, and I'll show you some moves? To help with the kidnapping?"
"Thanks for the offer. I'll take you up on it, but not right now. Also, would they help against meta-humans?"
"Meta-humans?"
"Oh, the particle accelerator exploded at S.T.A.R Labs and they created people with an array of terrifying superpowers."
"Right. Couldn't hurt to know something though."
"Thank you so much."
"Don't worry. You come from the same kind of cuteness as Felicity. You're my friend already."
"Thank you. You're mine too. I'll visit soon, and maybe you can come to this Christmas party at Iris West's house-"
"Sorry. I'd like to do that, but I'm sort of supposed to be dead, so,"
"Sorry. I didn't know. I'll go see Oliver, and talk to you later?"
"More like I'll have to fish you out. But do come over for a drink. It's on the house."
"Thats very kind of you, Sara."
"Don't mention it."
I walk down the stairs and there seems to be no one here, until I step out onto the foundry floor and suddenly there's a knife at my throat, drawing a small beads of blood.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" A strange voice says, one I haven't heard before.
"Where's Oliver? What have you done to him and Diggle?"
Someone comes running in. "Roy, let her go. She's a friendly." So Roy lets me go, and I stumble forward.
"Hi, Caitlin." Diggle steps forward.
"Hey Mr Diggle. Where's Oliver?"
I hear a clank, and Diggle looks pointedly behind me.
I turn around to see Oliver jump off like a graceful gazelle onto the floor from the hightest level of the salmon ladder.
"Is Barry okay?" Are the first words to tumble out of his mouth.
"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you guys about. Don't worry, he's not dead or in another coma," I add quickly after seeing Oliver's reaction.
"Barry-and-I-are-together," I say in one breath.
"And why would you come all the way from Central City to tell us this?"
"Barry wanted to see Felicity, and we know you guys are together, so congratulations, and he's not trying to steal your girl," I say, seeing Oliver tense at my first words, then contract as I explain.
"We just thought it'd be nice for you guys to know. And you guys are coming to the party tomorrow, right?"
They all nod, which is surprising, because I've never met Roy before. His uniform looks like a cross between Barry's and Oliver's.
"Cool. You can see our puppy then."
"You got a puppy?" Roy exclaims.
Diggle explains, "He's big on dogs." And I nod in understanding.
"What's it called?" Oliver asks, pulling on his shirt.
"Snowbarry, actually. It was one of his 'conditions'," I use quotation marks.
"Ah."
"Anyway, he's the one who dropped me off at the foundry, so can I hang with you till he gets back?"
"Sure." Diggle says.
And then the rush of air that is always accompanied by a certain streak arrives.
"Hey Caitlin." He greets me first, and I go hug him.
He kisses me on the forehead, and keeps one arm still cuddled against me.
"Hey Oliver, Diggle, Roy."
"Hey, Barry," Oliver smiles.
"Oh. Felicity says she'll kill you if you don't come home soon." Barry breaks the ice.
"Congratulations for you two, by the way." Diggle says.
"Thanks," Barry replies.
Oliver jogs to us, pats Barry on the back and says, "You guys take care of each other, alright? I gotta get home."
"Want me to drop you?" Barry offers.
Oliver nods, and give Barry a pat and release him.
The air messes up my hair again, and I smooth it over.
"Hey, so how's the baby doing?" I ask Diggle.
"She's good." His reply is friendly, not hostile.
"You have a doctor on speed dial. Well, you have Barry, and he's got me."
"I'll call you if I need you."
"Seriously, do so. Sara asked if I wanted to train with her a little bit, and I said yes. So you might see me round here a bit."
"Cool." His reply is short, and I ask Roy something.
"Is it hard to shoot a bow?"
He laughs. "Not the question I was expecting. But want an impromptu lesson?"
"Okay." He hands me a bow, and I hold it, feeling awkward.
"You're holding it wrong. Here." He pushes my left hand up the bow, and pulls back my elbow. He tilts the bow slightly, and puts an arrow in the notch, pulling my fingers to clasp around it. He puts both his hands on mine, and spins me to face the target. He pulls it back a little more, then lets go of the arrow.
It lands a perfect bullseye.
"Want to do one on your own?"
"I'm up for it."
So I take a deep breath and try it again. I land in the middle circle, but not exactly smack bang in the middle.
"It's all about practice, see," Roy says.
"Hey guys," Barry emerges from someplace near the stairs.
"Hi Barry. Wanna try this?" He seems kinda mad. I wonder what I did.
"Nope. I picked up Italian too, though." He holds up the bag, and I go over to him, and hug him.
"You are the best." And I meant it too.
"Bye Roy," I say, and he waves. And suddenly we're running.
This time, my eyes are open, and I feel dizzy as I look around at our surroundings.
We're finally at my apartment. And I feel like I'm going to puke, so I let go of Barry, and try to catch my balance.
I don't, and I crumple onto the floor.
"Caitlin!" Barry yells.
"Yeah?" I reply through a hazy brain.
"Oh thank god. You want some water?"
"Water sounds good." The world spins.
A glass is pushed to my hands, and I shakily accept it.
"Sorry. I peeked while we were running, and it was cool but my head hurts and I feel dizzy."
"Take a nap." Barry suggests.
"We've gotta make that stupid cheesecake."
"The recipe only takes two hours to do. Go, or I'll drag you."
"You actually might have to. I'm not moving because I'll be sick."
"I'll take the risk."
And so, he gathers me up in his arms and walks me at a normal pace down the hall. I cuddle into his chest, feeling the steady and fast pounding of his heart.
"Okay, last stop. Bed."
"Barry?"
"Hmm?"
"Can you sleep in the bed with me?" I'm kind of blunt, but I don't really care, because Barry helps with the spinning.
"Sure, Caitlin. Anything for you." So he gets into the bed, and I cuddle up beside him, and fall asleep to smell of him and the beat of his heart.
[Two Hours Later]
Thu-thump, thu-thump, thu-thump. Barry's heart beats. Sometime during our nap, his arms enclosed around me.
I don't question it, though, and am lulled again by the beat of his heart.
He groans, and the peacetime is over.
"Barry?"
"Hmm?"
"How fast can you make a cheesecake?"
"I don't know. I've never tried." He seems to smile in his sleep, and I look up, to see him smiling down at me.
"You wanna test it?"
"Why not?"
"But please, five more minutes."
"Anything for you." He smiles, and I snuggle into him.
Five minutes later, Barry shakes me awake.
"I bet you counted that," I grumble.
"Come on. Bring some of the dog food I bought too."
"Why? I don't think it's exactly your favorite, or even intended for your species. By the way, what's next? So I can stock up food, that is. Fish food? I don't think guinea pig or rabbit are suited for your tastes. Oh my god. I'm sorry. I'm just really nervous. And we need to tell Iris and Eddie and stuff."
"Okay then. And by the way, the dog food is so we can sort your house out so it's dog-proofed."
"I'm really sorry. Anyway, you're amazing."
"I know."
"I know you know."
"I know you know I know."
"Okay, we have soo much stuff to do, so I am not going to lie here and argue with you all day. Even if I want to."
"So do you, Dr Snow?"
"Course I do. It's not like I have an amazingly fun life."
"Course."
"Okay. I'm getting out. And we're testing that theory."
"Let's call it Operation: Flash Cheesecake."
"Okay. I'll call Iris and Joe."
"I'll do the cheesecake then."
"Game plan is made up. Team talk over."
"Kay."
I roll out of bed. And land on the floor.
"Oomph."
I get up though, and roll my hair up into a really messy bun.
"If you give me a kiss on the cheek, I will get out of bed."
I turn aroun, and give him a kiss on the cheek so fast it would give its Mach 1.1-running recipient a run for his money.
Barry groans his way out of bed, and I grab my house phone.
Oh my god. Why am I nervous? It's not like I'm actually Barry's girlfriend.
"Actually, want to dog-proof the house while I call them?" I didn't realise I'd said my thoughts aloud.
"You're the best." I praise.
"Don't forget it." Sometimes his lack of modesty concerns me.
"I won't. It's not like I could. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Okay." I say again.
"Oh my gosh you just ruined it, and basically admitted to secretly being in love with me this whole time."
"How the heck do you get that from two 'okays'?" I blurt out.
"You've never seen The Fault In Our Stars?"
"I may have forgotten to put on both my nonexistent and my nonexistent eHarmony profiles that I do not have much of a social life. And it's from Shakespeare. The title, anyway."
"Yep, but I knew that."
"The fact I didn't have a life or the Shakespeare thing?"
"The Shakespeare thing. Besides, since you've had me stick around, you so do have a life. We've gone to the mall, eaten pancakes, done a photo booth thing, and had a food fight. If that isn't a life, I don't know what is."
"That's very reassuring."
"Shut up!" I smirk at him, and he flogs me with a dishtowel on the arm.
I snatch up my arm and poke my tongue out at him. "I'll get the cheesecake ingredients."
"Okay. I'll call Joe."
I hand him the phone, and he keys in the number and turns it onto speakerphone.
"Hey, this is Joe."
"Hey Joe, this is Barry."
"What is it?"
"Um, I have a girlfriend."
"Uh- wow. Really? Have I met her?"
"Yeah."
"Would it be Caitlin?"
"Um, yeah. How did you know?" Barry makes eye contact with me, and I decide to save him.
"Hey babe." I make a gagging face. I've always hated that nickname. "Who are you talking to?"
"It's Joe, sweetheart."
"Okay, but can you make it quick? I want my snuggly space heater to come back to bed with me." He makes a 'what?' face, and I make a noncommital eyebrow raise.
"Okay, cupcake." He kisses my cheek.
"Um, I can hear you have your hands full, so I am going to um, go and get some work done."
"Okay Joe, bye."
He hangs up, and I am so filled with nervous energy I just hug him and giggle.
He hugs me back, and we stand here for a long minute, euphoric and triumphant.
"Okay, Iris now!" I say.
"Okay, but when I give you a thumbs up, you intervene." I nod my agreement.
He punches in the numbers. "Here goes," he says, as the first set of ringing starts.
"Hey." Iris says.
"Hey, this is Barry, I have good news."
"What?! What is it?!"
"I have a girlfriend."
"Oh my gosh! Does Dad know?"
"Yes, and you know her."
"Is it Caitlin Snow?"
"Uh, yeah. How did you know?"
"Well, I can see you guys are so obviously smitten with each other, and it was about time," Barry and I give each other a confused look, and he gives me a thumbs up.
"Mr Allen, please get back into the bed with me."
Iris hangs up, without a word of goodbye, and the dial tone underlays our laughter.
We're both rolling around on the floor, in tears. Eventually, our spleens are sore, and we look at each other, still on the floor. For a second, I was going to kiss him, but my brain recalls the conversation we had in the mall, about him having a crush on another girl, and I know he doesn't share the same feelings.
"Just imagine their faces tomorrow." I giggle, and we laugh for about five minutes.
"I have super-healing, and my spleen hurts. I can't imagine what yours feels like."
I groan on the floor. "Very painful. I think I won't recover."
"You're so dramatic."
"So are you. Anyway, you have that super-healing."
"I know I do, so I intend to try and present the fact to you as many times as possible."
"Has anyone told you that modesty is an attractive trait?"
"Multiple times. The meek shall inherit the earth, but at the moment it is owned by the conceited."
"You will never cease to amaze me."
"You won't either." His sincere voice and eyes promise me.
So, how was it? Be honest.
Reviewers for the last chapter are:
-Mairrenn-
-Stresses-
-Fran Stark-
-Guest (Haha, yeah, but probably next chapter)-
-Airsay-
-Guest-
-Snowy91399-
-brico4899-
-snowbarryshipper(Guest)-
-SorryI'mNotPerfect-
-DarowdrynofArcadia-
-Guest-
So, maybe just a couple for the next?