Author's Note: Originally, I was going to use this fantasticmongo prompt (if I do say so myself :) for the Snowbert Prompt-A-Month challenge. But I reeeeaaally wanted to write it.
That being said, I might still use it. I just want to write it first so that I don't have to wait until October.
It was a Friday night, and pouring outside, but Julian didn't particularly care. He was more concerned about the fact that it was Friday and it was 7:10, and Caitlin still hadn't gotten there. She was a very punctual person- they both were.
Date night always (as in the past 4 months) started at 7:00, and Caitlin had only been late once. The tardiness had been caused by an episode including a runaway meta black bear and about 3 and a fourth bags of burnt popcorn.
Don't ask.
He was starting to get concerned, though. Being late usually meant that Barry was rubbing off on you or something bad had happened. And while both would be unfortunate, Julian was thinking it was the latter.
He pulled out his phone, crossing his legs anxiously as he sat waiting on his couch. We still on for tonight?
There was no response. Granted, Caitlin could be driving and it was better that he was left in suspense then for her to text and drive, but still...
15 more minutes passed, and Julian was just about to start panicking and call Cisco when there was a knock at the door.
Julian frowned. He hadn't heard her car in his driveway. The rain was hard but it was nearly silent inside, save for his fake fireplace crackling quietly in the background. How had she driven in so quietly? Had he been so lost in his thoughts that he had just blocked out any noise?
"Julian, could you please hurry? It's pouring out here, and I'm freezing."
That was definitely Caitlin. Julian leaped off his couch and hastily unlocked the door.
Caitlin was, predictably, on the other side. Her clothes were completely soaked through and her hair was plastered to her head. She was way too wet for just the walk from her car to his door. It was raining hard, but it wasn't raining that hard.
Julian peered around her. There was no car parked in his driveway.
Before he could start asking questions, Caitlin had gently pushed passed him and moved, dripping, into his entry hall. "Sorry. I know I'm already soaked, but I couldn't stand being out in that for even a second longer."
"Um..." Julian gave her a strange look. "Can I ask why you decided to walk?"
She giggled. He probably looked just as stupid as he felt. "I didn't decide to walk- It's a long story. Could you maybe grab me a dry towel? I don't want to drip all over your floor."
"Oh, yes, yes, of course, where are my manners?"
"I think they probably left when I showed up at your door soaking wet and crazy late." Caitlin said as he ran into his bathroom and yanked out three towels. She was going to need to get practically mummified if she was hoping to get dry.
Julian wrapped her up in towels and lead her to his living room. She refused to sit on something with cushions, convinced she would ruin them, so he brought her over a stool from his kitchen.
"Alright, you." Julian said, sitting back down on his couch. "Tell me your story, and then go take a hot shower and get out of those clothes-"
He paused for a moment. "That was, uh, said with the least dirty intentions possible, I promise." He coughed, blushing. "I just, uh, I don't want you to catch cold, being wet like that."
Caitlin laughed again, wrapping a towel around her hair and squeezing it out. "It's not a very exciting story. I left home at 6:55, just like I always do to get to your house. When I got in my car, the battery turned out to be completely dead. I would have just called Triple A and gotten to your house a little late, but they said it would be about an hour wait, and then we probably would have had to cancel." She sighed, smiling sheepishly. "Then I accidentally left my phone on the dashboard of my car, and was already to the bus stop before I realized it."
"Why didn't you just call me to come pick you up?" Julian asked, trying not to laugh at her misfortunes.
"I thought I could still make it here on time!" Caitlin defended herself, groaning. "I with I had, now, because when I got to the bus stop, I realized that it was 7:15. I had missed the bus, and there wouldn't be another one until 8:00. Going back home to call you would take even longer, and I couldn't text to tell you I would be late. So I started walking. And then it started completely pouring."
"I see."
"Yeah. So I by the time I finally got here, I was late and soaked, and you know the rest."
Julian leaned back, grinning. "You certainly have the best stories for being late to a date night."
Caitlin bit her lip. "Sorry, Julian. I hope you didn't have anything big planned for tonight."
Julian shook his head, getting to his feet. "If you consider red wine and pizza to be something big planned, then yes, I did. Otherwise... no. This makes for something much more interesting that what I had in mind. Now you go take a shower. I'll make you some tea."
Caitlin nodded, standing up to follow him to his bathroom. "I don't have any spare clothes..."
"I'll get you something." Julian assured her. "Just leave your stuff outside the bathroom and I'll throw it in my dryer."
"Thanks, Julian." She leaned over, kissed his cheek, and disappeared into his bathroom.
He went into the kitchen to put some water on the stove, and then transferred her clothes his dryer. Then he started to search through his drawers for something she could wear. It wasn't the easiest of tasks, but he finally settled on an old Christmas present from his father: a shirt that had been too big on him, and would hopefully be like a dress on her.
Julian left it folded outside of the bathroom, listening outside for a moment to Caitlin's soft humming as she showered. She wasn't much of a singer, but she liked to hum, and he found that she would do so when she cooked or cleaned. He liked it. It felt strangely homey.
The water was boiling by the time the shower stopped and Caitlin's bare arm stuck out of the bathroom to grab her clothes. Julian hurried to put a tea bag in a mug and fix her drink. He was just setting it down on the counter when she came out of the bathroom, still toweling of her hair.
Julian gulped, unable to speak for a moment. She looked impossibly beautiful, with no makeup and her hair uncurled and her feet bare, wearing nothing but his shirt.
Caitlin smiled at him as she reached for her mug of tea. "Thank you for making this Julian. And for the shirt." She tilted her head. "I can't see how this would fit you, though. I'm practically drowning in it!"
She was. The shirt went all the way down to mid-thigh, and Julian gulped again, trying to drag his eyes away from her long, pale legs. She seemed so much smaller without her heels, and she only went up to his nose. It made him feel oddly protective, like he wanted to shield her away from all the horrors of the world and lock her in a bubble where she could be safe.
"Julian? Julian?" Caitlin peered at him, smiling quizzically. "You okay? Can you hear me?"
"Um..." Julian tried valiantly to snap himself out of it, but her eyelashes just looked so long up close, little droplets of water clinging to the small black strands. "What?"
Caitlin smiled, biting her lip self consciously. "Stop staring at me. I know I look funny."
"What?! No! No, Caitlin, you look... you look beautiful."
She turned pink, hiding her face as she took a sip of her tea.
The moment was broken when she spluttered and raced to his sink to spit it out. "Hot hot hot! Owwww..."
"You weren't supposed to drink it this soon!" Julian's eyes went wide. "I just took the pot off the stove!"
"Sorry..." Caitlin cupped her hand in the stream of water from his sink and hastily swirled the cooler liquid around her mouth. "It was good tea though... if I could have tasted it."
He rolled his eyes. "How do you know it was good tea if you didn't even taste it?"
She shrugged. "You're British. It's going to be good tea."
Julian snorted with laughter and reached into his fridge to get some milk, hoping that would cool off her tea. He leaned against his counter as she poured it, watching her long hair slide across her back, leaving wet marks on his shirt. She pursed her lips as she concentrated on what she was doing, testing the tea with her finger before siping it.
She brought her hand up to her mouth, sucking away the drips of tea before wiping it on her shirt. His shirt. He couldn't stop staring. He wanted to shove her up against the counter and kiss her until she forgot what her name was and she was wearing even less then just his shirt.
Boundaries, Albert. Julian reprimanded himself. Slow down.
Caitlin took a sip of her tea and smiled. "Much better." She said teasingly, walking to join him and jumping up to sit on his counter. She seemed so comfortable... so herself... so...
"You're so beautiful." He found himself murmuring.
Caitlin turned a even darker shade of red. "Would you stop? I'm know I'm not."
"Yeah, well, you are." It was a lame comeback but it was better the saying that she was more wrong that she had ever been in her life. "You're the most beautiful woman in the world."
Caitlin was quiet for a moment, staring down at her hands, and Julian took a breath to calm down. "Uh... Was that too much? I apologize if I overstepped."
Caitlin smiled down at him, taking her face in her hands and kissing him. "Don't be ridiculous. You're so sweet. You're always so sweet."
He raised his hands, ghosting over her hips and feeling the heat of her skin through the thin cotton of his shirt. She shivered, but Julian had the feeling it wasn't because she was cold.
Caitlin set her tea to one side, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck and letting him pull her off the counter. Julian swallowed at the intensity of her gaze. "Caitlin..."
"Shh." She pressed a finger to his lips. "No more talking."
He kissed her instead; kissed her until she forgot her name and they found themselves tangled together on his couch, a mess of bare legs and arms, and her in his shirt.
Author's Note: Believe it or not, I wanted to make it longer, but it just seemed so perfect to end it there.
I hope you enjoyed! I really liked writing this one- I did it all in one sitting, which is getting more and more unusual as time goes on...