Author's Note: This one is more of a humor saving then a life-and-death situation saving.
Julian, still wanting to repay her from saving his life not once but three times, had invited her over to dinner. Caitlin was a little confused, not sure if this was a platonic gesture or not. Everything had been so simple before Julian... and that was saying something, considering her life.
Still, platonic or not, she was dressing up. She hadn't gone on a date since Jay, and it would be nice to switch things up a little bit. So she grabbed her currently favorite dress (blue, with a silver pattern that looked like a galaxy on fabric), slipped on matching heals, re-curled her hair, and walked out the door.
Julian looked very pleased when he saw her. "You look fantastic, Caitlin." He complimented, taking her coat and admiring the newly-revealed view.
Even though she kind of knew he was going to say something like that, she blushed. "Thanks, Julian."
She had gotten there a little bit early, so Julian was still using his balcony grill to make the fish. She had just leaned herself on the rail and was admiring the view from his apartment (she had never been there before, it was a really nice place), when Julian began to fan away smoke from his grill.
Caitlin turned with a groan to see flames leaping up from the fish. "I am so done with all my stuff smelling like smoke." She complained, but rushed back out of his house and into the hallway to grab the fire extinguisher.
Julian met her halfway and yanked the canister from her hands, racing back to his grill and spraying. Or, trying to, anyway. Nothing happened.
"Spray it, Julian!" Caitlin cried, waving her hand in front of her face. The fish was completely crisped now, and she was starting to get worried that the whole grill would explode soon.
"I can't- it's not working!" He gave the can a desperate shake, and squeezed the handle again. Nothing.
Caitlin felt like slapping herself on the forehead. "I cannot believe I'm doing this again!" With that, she yanked off her necklace, and shot a well controlled stream of frost directly at the grill. The fire sizzled out, leaving a way-too blackened haddock in it's place.
"Well." Julian laughed nervously. "That was certainly exciting."
She let out a giggle as well, because it was all just so ridiculous. "Julian, I think that smoke must really, really, like you."
He gave her a playful smile. "Well, they always said that smoke went to the hottest person in the room..." She rolled her eyes, and he reconsidered. "So are you sure the fire isn't following you?"
Once again, Caitlin blushed heavily. "I, um... do you like pizza?"
He blinked, startled by the random question. "Yes, of course I like pizza. Who doesn't?"
"Harry." Caitlin answered automatically. "And I think we should order some, because, no offense, I am not eating that."
Both their gazes fell to the charred fish, which had a unappetizing grey hue to it, and was covered in a thin layer of ice. Julian wrinkled his nose. "No. No, that's disgusting." Using his tongs, he picked it up and promptly tossed in the trash.
Giggling, Caitlin pulled out her phone and quickly ordered a large vegetarian pizza. Julian sighed. "I should have known you'd be the healthy pizza type."
She nudged his shoulder his shoulder. "I take offense. I'm the healthy everything type."
"Oh." Julian rolled his eyes, smirking. "Sorry."
They took a seat on his couch, waiting. Caitlin realized belatedly that she hadn't even had to put her necklace back on. No signs of Killer Frost were pushing to the surface anymore. She was amazed, and unconsciously glanced over at Julian. There was just something about him that kept her in check- in a good way.
Julian caught her look at gave her a smile. "What?"
"What?" She blinked, trying to focus.
"Why were you looking at me?" He asked, obviously trying not to laugh.
Caitlin shook herself. "Nothing. I mean, I was just thinking about stuff. I mean things. I mean I was just thinking about..."
She trailed off as his gaze fell to her lips for a second. Her heart started to pound. No interruptions. Please no interruptions...
Julian leaned foreword slowly, inching a little closer on the couch. His eyes were wide, a he looked nervous. Caitlin rested her hand on his knee. There lips were about to touch when-
"Pizza Delivery!"
Caitlin groaned quietly, but it was masked as Julian all but leaped off of the couch and sprinted toward the door. "Pizza! Yes, yes, pizza. We ordered pizza. Ok. Pizza." He muttered, yanking open the door and giving a nervous smile to the bored looking delivery guy.
He sprouted off the price, and Julian yanked out his wallet. Caitlin could see his fingers trembling as he fumbled with the bills, and she let out a sigh, resting her forehead against the couch. Would they never get to the part where the actually kissed?!
Julian was crashing around the kitchen now, pulling down plates and filling glasses with wine. She stood up slowly, to go if she could help. "There's not much to do, but thanks." Julian gave her a quick smile, passing her her plate and opening the pizza box. "Oh, looks good."
"Better then the fish, anyway." Caitlin said teasingly.
He fought his smile, lost the battle, and grinned. "Yeah. Much better then the fish."
They both took their meal and sat down at Julian's slightly crowded dining table. Julian hurried to move books and papers to the nearest chair, attempting to make room for the both of them. "Sorry, mate." He apologized, embarrassed. "I'm not very used to company."
"That's quite alright." Caitlin smiled, moving another stack of books to help him out. "Not all of us can be neat freaks like me." He snickered, finally clearing enough space to sit down. Caitlin took the only other uncovered chair, and they fell into a food-eating silence.
After her second piece of pizza, Caitlin sat back and took a sip of her wine. "Mm, this is good. What kind?"
"Pinot Grigio." Julian told her, picking up his own glass. "It's from my mother."
"Well, you're mother has very good wine taste." Caitlin smiled.
"You should taste her tea." Julian grinned. "I've got ice cream in the fridge if you want it. You know, lame people like us, we eat wine and ice cream."
She giggled. "Depends on what kind you have. I'm more a vanilla and chocolate strictly one flavor kinda gal myself. But with Cisco as a best friend, I like pretty much any flavor you've got."
"Why does that not surprise me?" Standing, Julian strode to his freezer and pulled out a container of vanilla ice cream, followed by two spoons (...not from the freezer, though). "Good thing I bought this." He smiled and her, and grabbed the whipped cream before leading her back to the couch. "Dig in."
They ate straight out of the container, like old friends well used to the tradition of ice cream eating and binging Netflix, minus the Netflix. Caitlin dug into the ice cream, then squirted whipped cream on top, before sticking it in her mouth, and washing down with a sip of wine. "Yum."
Julian grinned, following her example and doing just about the same method of consumption, just with more ice cream and heavier amounts of whipped cream. Caitlin giggled, reaching out to swipe her thumb across his chin. "You got something there."
Her hand froze, still on his face, and the rest of the movement in the room stopped, too. Caitlin swallowed, and licked her lips.
Julian's throat clearing broke the spell, and she hastily placed her hand down to rest awkwardly in her lap. Julian stuffed another bite of ice cream in his mouth, just as something to do.
Their silence eventually flattened out to become a little more comfortably, but Caitlin kept her hands firmly in her lap, only moving to get another bite of dessert, or a sip of wine. She would certainly not be making any moves on Julian tonight.
Julian saw her to the door when she could no longer contain her yawning behind her hand. He awkwardly patted her shoulder, then, spur of the moment, leant down to peck her cheek.
It wasn't much, but Caitlin was still staring blankly at the door, even after he walked inside.
Author's Note: Well, that's four!
As you could probably see, the reasons for her to take off her necklace are become a bit more ordinary and mundane. Maybe the term "save" should be taken a bit more loosely in my 5+1 trope...