A/N: Sorry it's been so long, guys! I promise I'm just busy and I'm not abandoning it… Hope you all enjoy =)

Barry stared up at the ceiling, lost in thought.

He was confused.

Well, maybe 'confused' was an understatement. He was baffled, bewildered, completely at a loss, stumped, and every other word that basically meant really really really confused.

Iris was beautiful, and smart, and funny, and he had been pining after her his entire life. Seeing her with Eddie had hurt, cut him deep to his core, and he was positive that he would never be able to move on from her. But now, now they were finally getting their chance to start something - a chance that Barry would have given up anything, including his speed, for - and he wasn't even sure that it was what he wanted anymore. After all, he had nearly kissed Caitlin just earlier that day. And sure, it would have been a mistake, and he would have regretted complicating their friendship like that when both of them needed the support of the other, but if he was meant to be with Iris, shouldn't he only have eyes for her?

The woman in his arms stirred, as if she could hear how she occupied his thoughts. "Shhh," Barry muttered soothingly, hoping that she wouldn't wake up all the way.

"Barry?" she asked sleepily, shifting a little more against him. "Stay?"

A slight smile touched Barry's lips at the sleepy, almost incoherent request. "Of course, Cait. I'm not going anywhere." They had spent the evening after the meta attack together, just talking and taking comfort in each other's presence, and then had somehow ended up on the couch. Caitlin had fallen asleep on his shoulder...and somehow Barry had also succumbed to his exhaustion and then had woken up with Caitlin nestled against him, his arms around her.

Not that he was entirely complaining. Confused, but certainly not complaining. It felt...nice. Nice to hold her and know that the nightmares left her alone when he was there.

Caitlin's breathing slowed and evened out - he could feel the little puffs of air against his arm as she returned to sleep.

Confident that she was okay, Barry's thoughts began to wander towards his predicament again. It was clear now that Caitlin had risked using her powers to free him from the mirror he had been trapped in, even though she had known the consequences of her actions. However, she had still done it, and that showed just how much she cared about him. As a friend, though. Had she wanted him to kiss her, too? No, that didn't matter, because they were just friends, and he had Iris. But Caitlin's legs, bare to mid-thigh in her fuzzy robe kept entering his mind and informing him clearly that he felt something more than just friends for the woman asleep against him.

Sighing deeply, Barry pushed all thoughts aside and closed his eyes. Right now, it was late and he had had a long day. Tomorrow, he could deal with the meta and his mess of feelings, but for now, he was going to sleep. Eventually, the sound of Caitlin's even breathing lulled him to a blissfully dreamless sleep.

…

There was only cold - nothing else.

It was like being in the midst of a blizzard, but a blizzard that never ended, could never end.

It was being frozen, slowly, piece-by-piece, until you were indistinguishable from the cold, in a process that continued forever.

The cold continued, seeping through everything, contaminating everything with its icy touch.

There was no escape, no warmth to be found.

Nothing to do but to surrender to the cold.

"Caitlin…" a voice entered into the midst of the freezing nightmare, calling to her. "Caitlin, wake up. Please."

The voice was too far away - she knew that she should reach towards it, towards the warmth it promised, but she was too cold…

"Caitlin. Wake up!" The voice was closer, more urgent now. She felt herself pulling towards it.

Her eyes flickered open. But the nightmare continued.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she mumbled through the numb cold pervading her body. Her breath frosted as it left her mouth. All around her was ice - frost rimmed every object in the room, and spears of ice were pulsating from her body and embedding themselves in the floor, the walls, the ceiling. The air temperature had dropped, far below the frostbite level - only her powers were saving her from that, she supposed.

"Caitlin, you have to calm down," Barry's voice broke into her horrified realizations of what she had done in her sleep.

She looked at him, her eyes wide, glazed with shock. "I can't," she whispered, glancing down at her hands. A tear dropped down and froze immediately, before it even reached her skin. "Get out of here. Before I kill you. Before I become her." There was no need to explain who 'her' was - Barry knew her fear of becoming Killer Frost better than anyone.

"That's not going to happen," Barry promised, his voice vibrating along with his body in his attempt to stave off frostbite and eventual death. His speed allowed him to dodge the flying icicles without a problem, but getting too close to her was a risk - even his impressive powers might not be enough to fight off the extreme cold in her immediate vicinity.

"I can feel her coming." Caitlin's voice sounded flat, unemotional, even. "She wants you to die."

Barry moved slightly closer, but then halted, unable to penetrate the area where her powers were the strongest. "You don't want to do this, Cait," he pleaded. "Take a breath, calm down."

Caitlin found herself smiling. A small part of her screamed, begged her not to hurt him, but she ignored it. "No, Barry, I really do."

Before she could so much as stand, something flew at her with incredible speed and struck her directly in the chest. The impact threw her over the back of the couch and sent her sprawling on the frozen floor, gasping for breath. One of her shoes dropped to the floor beside her - the object Barry had thrown. Then, an instant later, Barry was there, pulling her up and into his arms and speeding off before she could react.

An instant later, there was heat - oppressive heat, soaking up all the cold she was exuding. "Let me go!" she ordered, wrenching herself away from Barry, searching the area to figure out where she was. A sauna was her guess - it would explain the heat and humidity that were nullifying her powers. The temperature in the room was dropping, but slowly - much too slowly to allow her to kill Barry like she wanted to. Her powers wouldn't manifest until she could cool herself down again.

"It's for your own good," Barry moved closer and pushed her against the wall, pressing his body up against hers. "I just need your powers inactive long enough for you to remember who you are."

"Killer Frost," she hissed at him, struggling to escape his grip.

"Caitlin Snow," he corrected her, staring deep into her eyes. "Dr. Caitlin Snow. My best friend. Someone who has saved countless lives in this city. I won't let you become a killer."

Caitlin paused, something warring inside of her. "It's too late for that," she told him, but there was uncertainty in her voice.

"It's never too late for you."

Suddenly, the rage and bloodlust drained out of Caitlin, leaving her feeling weak. She felt the cold leave her bloodstream and she slumped against Barry. "I'm...Barry, I'm so sorry…."

"It's okay, Cait." He held her close for a couple minutes, then swept her into his arms and sped her over to her apartment.

…

Aside from the layer of water covering the floor and the destroyed decorations, Caitlin's apartment was in surprisingly good shape when Barry arrived, an exhausted and terrified Caitlin clutched to him.

"Thank you."

Barry looked down at Caitlin. The amount of white in her hair had doubled since her powers had activated in her sleep. He had only been gone for a couple minutes - out to pick up breakfast for the two of them - and when he came back, Caitlin had been fully in the grip of her powers. "You know I'm always here for you, Cait."

"I know," she mumbled, indicating that he could put her down. He did so reluctantly - he didn't want her powers coming back, and physical contact seemed to help with that. "But I'm dangerous," she continued, "and I have to figure out how to stop it -"

"-we will-"

"-or you'll have to put me in the pipeline with all the other criminals."

"Never," Barry shook his head. He refused to even think about that. Unconsciously, he stepped towards her and pulled her into his arms. "Never."

"I almost killed you."

"But you didn't." He rested his head on her hair. "We'll spend some time in the lab today. We'll figure something out, I promise. I won't give up on you, and I won't imprison you for something that's not your fault."

He could tell from Caitlin's silence that she didn't believe him, but she didn't pull away either, which told him that she was willing to try.

And he was going to keep trying until he fixed this, because he couldn't stand the thought of losing her.

Please leave me a little review to let me know what you thought! That was not where I was planning on going with this chapter, so I'd love feedback… Anyway, next chapter will probably feature the return of the meta!