Author's Note: Haha, told you there'd be another one.
This one is more of a spin off of cannon then the last one was (if that's even possible, lol). This would be if Iris (who isn't Barry's fiancé anymore, remember) chose to save Barry and not Caitlin.
It had been a team effort to get Barry away from DeVoe.
After Iris had made the decision to save the resident speedster, Cisco got to work on tracking, Ralph staying helpfully silent, and Harry began to develop a scanner to catch any signs of the specific speedster waves Barry always gave off.
They made it to DeVoe's house, found no one home, and blasted through the door. Cisco and Ralph where there under the pretenses of being superheroes (and no law could argue with that), and Cisco was operating Harry's scanner as fast as he could.
DeVoe was gone by the time they arrived, but Barry wasn't. Cisco vibed all of them back to STAR Labs, and Barry was greeted with plenty of large hugs from Iris and Joe.
"Where's Caitlin?" Was around the third thing Barry said, because he would have thought that she not only would have been there to rescue him, but would at least be at the lab to greet him when he got back.
An awkward silence fell and Barry immediately became worried. "What... what happened? What did you guys do to Caitlin?"
"Look, dude, it wasn't our fault!" Ralph protested immediately, though Barry could see faint traces of guilt in his eyes. "All we were talking about was how cool Frost was and then Caitlin got all upset and left for Jitters, and then when Harry went to go check on her Amunet blasted in and kidnapped her! We didn't know that was going to happen, though, or we never would have made her upset in the first place, I swear!"
Barry's gaze went hard. "You're saying that Caitlin's been kidnapped by someone who's nearly killed her before and you guys are all standing here not looking for her?!"
"Whoa dude, chill!" Cisco held up his hands. "I got the scanners working double time. Well, I mean, they were working double time working for both of you and that fried them so that's why we could only look for you guys one at a time. But they're working really hard."
Barry rubbed the back of his neck. It was something that he always seemed to do when Caitlin was missing... which happened way too much for comfort.
"Okay, okay. Just keep looking, alright?"
"Like I would stop!" Cisco agreed, hurrying over to his computer so it would look like he was doing something."
"Cisco, you should try vibing her." Iris suggested, joining him at the table. "You should be able to by now, right?"
"I dunno..." Part of Cisco was a little bit nervous to try vibing against after what had happened when he vibed Barry. It had hurt like heck, and left him with a headache and over-irritable for the next hour and a half.
"Please, Cisco." Barry begged, planting his hands on the table in front of his friend. "We need something."
Cisco sighed, then shut his eyes and brought his fingers to his temple. The fingers didn't actually do anything, it was just for dramatic effect. And he was pretty sure it looked awesome.
Almost immediately, his vibing powers flicked on. Through the blue-grey mist he saw two people standing with their backs against a truck, and another person advancing slowly on them. Two of them he recognized- Caitlin and Amunet- but the other was unfamiliar.
Whoever he was, he and Caitlin were both in trouble. Cisco lurched out of his vibe. "I have no idea where they are, but Amunet doesn't look very happy."
Barry's face tightened. He turned to Iris. "Please tell me you have a location."
Iris scanned the computer. "I have an area, at least." She said.
Before she could even tell him what that area was, Barry had grabbed his suit and flashed off.
"Alright, Barry." Iris said, speaking into the mic. She gave him quick directions to the section of street the satellites had singled out, and he began sprinting in that direction.
It was one of the fastest speeds he had ever run at. The thought of Caitlin being in danger was slowly threatening to send him into a nervous wreck. If she... If she died because the Team had chosen to save him... he could never forgive himself.
"Keep going, Barry!" Iris said in his ear. "You're almost there."
As soon as he reached the section of the city the satellite had found, he began to canvas it was quickly as possible.
"Look for a truck." Cisco said unhelpfully. "And..." He searched his brain for something else he had seen in his vibe. "A tall building."
Barry gritted his teeth, and sped down another alley. He was just about to run away and search another one when he saw two bodies lying on the ground in front of a truck.
He pulled up short, his heard stopping. "No. No, no, no, Caitlin!"
He flashed toward her and knelt on the ground. There was blood soaking her shoulder and her chest and he could barely feel a pulse.
"Cisco, she's in a bad state." He said with barely contained panic. "What do I do?"
"We need to get her to turn into Frost." Cisco reported, sounding scared. "She'll be able to heal if we can just get her to turn into Frost."
Barry scanned Caitlin for a moment, and found a glowing blue cuff around one of her wrists. In seconds his hand was vibrating over it and he was watching it clatter to the ground. He held his breath, waiting in the cold night air.
Barry was never so glad to see Caitlin's hair turn white.
He watched as the cuts on her face slowly faded into smooth pale skin. Soon, all that remained of her near-fatal injuries was the blood soaked into her shirt. Caitlin breathing evened out, and Barry could now feel a pulse humming steadily (if a little fast, but that was normal for Frost) under his fingertips.
"She's okay." He said softly into the com. He heard Cisco's breath of relief and let one out himself.
Then his eyes fell on the man lying beside Frost. His face was white and there was a large pool of blood spilled around him. Barry leaned over and checked his pulse. He wast still alive, but who knew for how long.
He hesitated. Barry didn't want to leave Caitlin again, even if it was just for the short trip back to STAR Labs so that Cisco could start healing this unknown man. At the same time, he knew that Caitlin would never forgive him if he chose staying with her stabile body over someone who really needed his help.
With a sigh, Barry got to his feet. "Cisco, prepare a medical bed at STAR Labs. There's someone else here, and he's hurt."
"On it, dude." Cisco said.
"I'll be back, I promise." Barry told Frost, even though she probably couldn't hear him, and then he picked up the man and flashed off.
It took him about a minute to get the man settled at STAR Labs and then to flash back to the location where he had left Frost. At first, he thought he had gotten the alley wrong, because there was no sign of Frost anywhere, but then an icicle came zooming past his head.
"Whoa, hey!" Barry dodged the missile and held up his hands in a mixture sign of 'stop' and 'I surrender'. "Frost, it's me!"
Frost came out from behind the truck, letting the new icicle she had in her hand smash on the pavement at her feet. "Certainly took you long enough." She grumbled. "Where have you been? Caitlin's been waiting for you to rescue her for at least a day and a half."
"Look, I would have." Barry explained quickly. "But I got kidnapped, too. By DeVoe."
Frost raised her eyebrow. "That excuse is so dramatic I'm almost thinking it's not an excuse."
"It's not." Barry insisted. "C'mon, Caitlin's gotta know that I would come save her if I could."
Frost shrugged. "She's rather lost faith in you, you know- oh, she did not like me saying that." She grinned. "She's gonna be maaaaad."
"She's lost faith in me?" Barry's heart sank. "What do you mean?"
Frost shrugged again. "Hey, I told you this much. The next piece of information comes at a price, speedy."
Barry shook his head, unsure of how this conversation had spiraled so much. "I- I'm not going to pay you to tell me Caitlin's personal thoughts, Frost!"
Frost pouted. "Oh, you're no fun. All I was going to ask for was a kiss."
Barry gulped. "I think you already got one of those last year."
Frost considered. "But it was short. And it was under the intention of killing you, not enjoyment."
There was a long silence. Frost smirked. "I'll let Caitlin out now. I just love awkward situations."
"No, Frost, don't-"
White hair turned brown and suddenly Caitlin was standing before Barry, her cheeks a red so dark it almost matched the blood stains on her shirt. "Um... Whatever she said..."
"No worries." Barry smiled gently at her, but part of him was still uncomfortably stuck on the part about her loosing faith in him. All of his mistakes, all of his years as the Flash, and Caitlin had never lost faith in him. Why now? "You ready to head back?"
Caitlin hesitated a moment. "How would you feel about walking?" She said softly. "I think we have a few things to talk about."
After a couple of seconds, Barry nodded. He was exhausted, but he was sure that Caitlin was too. If she was willing to spend even more time away from home and a comfortable bed, he could at least give her that.
He reached out his hand and Caitlin took it, her fingers falling into his with ease. Handholding was something they hadn't done in quite awhile. It brought him back to pep talks in the pipeline and hunting down Wells days. Days that seemed awful then, but looking back on them weren't quite as bad as life now.
"At least I had you back then." Barry murmured.
Caitlin glanced up. She heard him, and somehow she understood what he meant without him having to say anything else. "You still do, Barry."
"Frost said-" Suddenly, he felt like a grade schooler tattling on someone. He pressed on, embarrassed. "Frost said you lost faith in me. What did she mean?"
Caitlin looked down at the sideway. "Not you as the Flash, Barry. I still believe that you're a hero and that you'll do everything you can to protect Central City and the people you care about. But don't act like you haven't noticed that things between us have changed. Maybe I've just... lost faith that you are really my friend anymore."
Barry swallowed. It hurt, but she was right.
"We barely talk anymore." Caitlin continued, not seeming like she could stop even if she tried. "Even after I became Killer Frost, I didn't hear a word from you. I guess I just expected that you would be the first person, I don't know... supporting me. Making sure I was okay. Instead I had to fall onto Iris, who I've barely talking to the last 3 years." She paused, her cheeks becoming flushed again. "I just- I just don't understand it. Why are we so distant now? I mean, if with Cisco and me... we don't do anything just the three of us anymore. It's like going into the Speed Force has shut you off from everything you used to love. What am I going to do to get you back?"
Barry felt shell shocked. "Cait... I had no idea you were feeling like this. You know you can still talk to me whenever you need, right? I'm still always here for you."
Caitlin reached up and wiped her eyes on the back of her hand. "I know; I'm sorry. It's been a long day, and I'm spinning things out of control." She forced a laugh. "Girls, you know. Always over analyzing things, huh?"
Barry didn't laugh. "You're not, though. I haven't been fair to you. You've been going through so much lately and I've been so focused on my own and the rest of the team's problems, and somehow you just slipped out from my notice. You just- you always act like you're okay; like you can take care of yourself; like you don't need help and you don't need anyone. And I should know by now that you do."
Caitlin sniffled, wiping her eyes again. "It's okay." Was all she said.
Barry slung his arm around her shoulders and carefully kissed the top of her head. "Come on." He said softly.
"Let's go home."
Author's Note: AAAAAH it's about time they had a talk like that! I mean, not that they actually had this talk...
Or did they?
No. No, Write-To-You, they didn't. They didn't.
Weeeeeeeeeeell... anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!
