Author's Note – Hey guys! Sorry this chapter is a little late in coming. I haven't been too well – better now though and hoping to catch up on updating my stories. Again, thanks to everyone who has commented, subscribed, or favorited this story, it means a lot. I hope you enjoy!

Shattered

Chapter Three

It was raining outside. Caitlin could hear the sound of rain beating against the windows. She drifted in and out of consciousness, listening to the pouring rain, and the whoosh of traffic. She couldn't move. Her body felt leaden, like it was being held down by something heavy. She began to become increasingly aware of the pain localized in her center, and she moaned from the depths of her throat.

Trying hard, and with great effort, she pushed her eyes open. She took in the bleak environment. There were tubes going into her arm, and machines bleeping steadily at her side. Slightly elevated, she lay with plastic railings raised, and surrounding her. The bed sheets were white and scratchy. Alarm and panic seeped into her mind. It made her feel sick to her stomach. She was in the hospital.

She remembered him. Remembered his huge, hulking frame coming up from behind her. She remembered his brute strength as he wrenched her from her feet, and pinned her down in the parking lot. She'd never forget him. Never forget his voice. Cold and cruel. Inhuman.

Squeezing her eyes tight, and shutting out the unwanted memory, Caitlin turned her head a fraction. The slight movement sparked pain in both her head and her chest. She winced, and though her sight was blurred, she watched the whole room, as it began to spin around in front of her eyes. Nausea seared its way up into her throat. She moaned, fighting against the urge to throw up.

A person, she guessed it was a nurse, entered into her field of vision. The figure was dressed in hospital scrubs, and they hovered above her. They were indistinct, and yet they seemed so familiar. Caitlin tried to focus on them, tried to look at their face, and meet their eyes, but she couldn't. She parted her lips, attempting to speak, but no sound came out, that was aside from a low, hoarse groan.

"Cait, Cisco's outside. He's looking forward to seeing you. He's been waiting. I'll go get him."

Finding comfort in those words, and the sound of the voice, her heavy eyelids fluttered shut. She heard the tapping of footsteps echoing out of the room. Cisco, she thought gratefully. Cisco never failed to cheer her up. At the thought, she drifted back to sleep, while the rain rattled against the glass.

She awoke a little later. She was alone. The pain was worse, but her mind was less foggy. The anesthetic had to be wearing off. She ran her tongue clumsily around the inside of her mouth. Both her tongue and her mouth were dry. The left side of her face felt tender. Shakily, and keeping her eyes firmly shut, she brought a hand up to her swollen cheek. Her whole body hurt, but her chest and her head hurt the worst. With a murmur, she wondered how long she'd been there in the hospital. A day? Maybe longer?

"Oh, good, you're awake."

At the sound of the voice, tentatively, Caitlin opened her eyes. The room was dimly lit, and it was dark outside. The rain had stopped.

A nurse shuffled forward into the room, pushing a medicine trolley in front of her. The nurse was a middle-aged woman with short, black hair and a kind smile. "Hello Caitlin. You're in the ICU at Central City Hospital. I'm your nurse, Liz. I'm going to check your vitals. And give you your medication. Your friends are just outside. They'll be happy to see you."

Again, Caitlin tried to speak, but no reply passed her lips. Nothing but a low whimper. Promptly Liz held a plastic cup of water, with a bent surgical straw, to Caitlin's lips so she could drink. Caitlin sipped at the cool liquid greedily. It trickled its way soothingly down her dry throat. When she was done, Liz took the glass away, and set it down on the small table at the bedside.

Resting against the pillows, Caitlin looked over Liz's shoulder. Her eyes fixed on the red and white roses sitting on the window sill. She tried to speak once more. But it still seemed like such a huge effort, and she gave up with a long, frustrated sigh. Though her eyes never left the bouquet.

"It's okay," Liz busied herself preparing a syringe. "You're due some medication. It'll help with the pain."

She injected the clear fluid into Caitlin's I.V. A sensation of coldness seeped beneath her flesh and crept up her arm. A sensation of heavy sleepiness soon followed.

"You were involved in an accident," Liz said softly. She discarded the used medical supplies and offered a gentle smile. She gestured to the stocky, uniformed officer stationed vigilantly outside her room. "The police put a detail on your door. You're safe now."

Caitlin lifted her head from the pillow, only to be rewarded with the sharpness of pain, dizziness, and nausea. It was then that she finally found her voice. "Ronnie," his name passed her cracked lips beside she slipped back under the black blanket of sleep.

Early the next morning, Caitlin slowly and reluctantly opened her eyes up to the harsh lighting above her. Hastily, she closed her eyelids against the offensive brightness. Her mind felt muddled from sleep, and the medication, and her chest felt tight. Gingerly, she opened her eyes again, and this time, she turned her head away from the ceiling. The small, simple movement zapped what little strength she had.

She scanned her surroundings. She saw Barry sitting on one of two plastic chairs that were clustered together on the opposite side of the room. He was wearing blue scrubs and a police windbreaker. There were several discarded vending-machine coffee cups and empty candy bar wrappers scattered around him. She noted Cisco's hooded 'Bazinga' sweatshirt draped over the back of the empty seat.

"Barry, hey," she rasped in a weak voice that barely sounded like hers.

"Hey," Barry's blue eyes lit up with relief when he saw that she was awake. He stood up, and crossed to her bedside. He offered a warm smile of reassurance. With dark circles beneath his eyes and disheveled hair, she guessed he'd been there for most, if not all, of the night. "How are you feeling?"

"I've felt better," she joked feebly. "A little out of it. I must look terrible."

"No, not at all." Ever the polite gentleman, Barry shook his head at her statement. "Are you in any pain? I can call the nurse."

"It hurts a little," Caitlin grumbled in reply. Her free hand moved almost unconsciously to the white gauze taped to her chest. As she did, she noticed the bandaging wrapped around her wrist. For a split second, she was back in the parking lot. He was on top of her. He was slashing at her with his knife and she was trying to fend him off. He'd cut her arm repeatedly in the struggle.

"It's okay," Barry uttered gently, bringing her back into the present. His finger hit the call button. He sat down on the bed next to her. "Cait, you were attacked. Do you remember?"

Caitlin nodded hesitantly. "I remember…. It's blurry but I remember…."

Her voice caught up painfully in her throat, and threatened to choke her. Her thoughts and memories were jumbled partly because of the effects of the medication, and partly because of the traumatic event. She could remember snippets and sensations. She remembered the hardness of the asphalt against her back. She remembered the rancid smell of his breath, stale and laced with tobacco. She wished that she didn't. Tears prickled at the corners of her eyes as she remembered the cold metal of his blade against her skin.

"It's okay," Barry's hand curled tightly around her greyish one. "It's okay. You're safe now."

Caitlin tugged softly at his hand. Despite all the fear and the pain of the morning in question, and now lying and recovering in a hospital bed, she attempted to smile among the looming tears. "The one good thing I remember is you, Barry…." She'd all but given up in the S.T.A.R. Labs parking lot, and he'd come to her rescue. "I thought I was gonna die. You saved my life. Thank you."

Barry offered a kind smile, and told her honestly, "I'm just glad you're okay. You kinda scared me back there."

Caitlin offered a thin smile, and in a barely-audible voice replied, "I scared myself."

The speedster didn't speak another word on the subject. But the look in his eyes told her that he knew his intervention had been a little too close for comfort. She knew it too, and it frightened her to the core.

"Where's Cisco?" Caitlin asked keen to change tack.

"The doctors said you were going to be out of it for a while because of the medication, so Cisco and Dr. Wells went to get the security tapes for Joe. He texted me a few minutes ago, he's on his way back."

Caitlin nodded. Cisco had re-written the S.T.A.R. Labs security programs after the particle accelerator explosion, and the emergence of the metahumans. It made sense for him to retrieve the tapes for the police. But Caitlin wanted to see his face and hear his voice.

Silence fell between them for several long moments, before Barry opened his mouth and broached the burning questions hanging between them. "Cait, I've got to ask you this."

"I know. It's okay," she nodded. She knew what was coming. Knew that he had to ask as both he, and she, wanted whoever was responsible for the attack caught. And quickly. Before the person had a chance to hurt anyone else.

"But if it's too much we can stop." He gave her hand another reassuring squeeze.

"I'm okay," Caitlin answered feeling anything but okay.

"Can you think of anyone who'd have wanted to do this to you?"

Caitlin thought for a moment. She'd asked herself that same question and came up empty. "No, I don't think so.

"Did you see his face?"

Caitlin shook her head. She felt the tears stinging at the back of her eyes before she replied. "No, he wore a mask. A ski mask." She strained her memory further. She'd binge-watched enough crime shows with Cisco to knew that any small, and seemingly insignificant detail could help. "He had a tattoo though. On his neck. I saw it in the struggled. A snake. It was black, and it was devouring itself."

Barry swallowed hard at the image conjuring before his eyes before asking, "did he say anything to you?"

Caitlin nodded silently by way of her answer. She focused on the white sheets covering her to the waist.

"Would you recognize his voice if you heard it again?"

"Yes, I'd never forget it. He had traces of an accent, like he was trying to cover it up. But I couldn't place it." Her hand toyed idly with her bandaged one.

"What did he say anything to you?"

Caitlin opened her mouth and then closed it again.

"Cait?" Barry's voice was kind as he prompted her for an answer. "Do you need to stop? We can take a break."

"He said I deserved it for what I did." The words left a bitter taste in her mouth. It was personal, it had to be, but she didn't know who she'd wronged, or how.

"Caitlin, this wasn't your fault."

"It all happened so fast…," she choked out. The attack played out before her eyes all over again. He hadn't spoken another word to her as he'd hit her and hurt her. Caitlin's eyes blurred with the thick onslaught of tears.

"Shh," Barry gathered her up into his arms as she broke down. "It's okay. It's okay." He stroked her hair and Caitlin buried her face in his chest and cried for the first time since the assault.

To be continued….