A/N: Sorry everyone. This is where my notes go all over the place. I've had two ideas with how the story will play out from here. I had an idea of where I wanted to go but I think things have changed since then. I do plan on finishing this story, no matter what. I have the ending already done and finished just need to get there!

Please note that I have seen probably 8 episodes of the Arrow season 1 and nothing but crossover episodes since that so if things are inaccurate, bear with me.

*I'm also working on something else Snowbarry so keep an eye out.*

**IMPORTANT: I have a very busy schedule next couple of weeks and might not be able to post for awhile. I had most of this chapter done a few days ago but couldn't finish it. Time is valuable thing. I just don't seem to have enough of it.

As always, I own nothing. Please let me know what you all think! :)

Chapter 19

When Barry first discovered that Moira Queen wanted to meet him he was startled and nervous. But when the days passed and the date of the family dinner loomed nearer and nearer, it was Caitlin that turned out to be a nervous wreck.

"She will insist that we stay at Queen mansion. But she will expect that we sleep in different rooms and different beds. But if we get a hotel, we can get our own room but she will probably like you that much less. Not to mention she will probably insist that she pay for the expenses. Ugh! Barry, stop that! You're distracting me." Caitlin moaned as Barry places small kisses on her neck. He smiled.

"You need to relax. I'm sure everything will be fine. You, stressing over everything isn't going to help. It'll just make her think I'm not taking care of you." Barry said placing one hand on her waist holding her still, while the other brushed through her curls. "You've been nonstop for three days Cait. And no offense, but nothing has been accomplished."

"I know. I just want things to go perfect. She has never approved of any of my boyfriends or Oliver's or Thea's! And they are her blood children!" Caitlin cried.

Barry couldn't believe she was so worked up over this. "Cait, does it really matter all that much? I mean of course I want her to like me. But if she doesn't that won't change the way I feel about you." She sighed in response.

"And it won't change how I feel either. I love you, Barry." Reaching up her arms she wound them around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. They kissed for a few moments, lips gentle and careful. A familiar warmth filled Barry as she attempted to deepen the kiss but he pulled away.

He wanted to ask her to make things official before Moira's family dinner two days from now. He wanted to make things special when he asked her to officially become his girlfriend, like he has dreamed about since he was ten.

"How about we do something special before we go? A dinner for ourselves–" He started but was cut off when her phone started ringing loudly. He released her when she shot him a sad smile and pulled out of his embrace.

"Sorry." She mumbled before answering her phone. "Hey Cisco. Yeah. Well Hartley… But he said… okay. No, I'll be there in ten minutes. Yeah, I know. Fifteen tops. Alright. That was one time! Fine, fine… I'll grab some, the usual? Okay. Yeah, see you. Bye." She started getting ready while still on the phone. Stepping into one of her more flowing work dresses as she turned her back to Barry motioning him to zip it up.

Barry sighed as he lightly grazed her spine as he pulled the zipper up. He placed a kiss on the top of her head as she hung up the phone. Turning around she saw his expression.

"I'm sorry. I know I have the day off today but Cisco said it's an emergency because Hartley said the system needs correcting and even though that's not my department Cisco said he is going to murder him if I'm not there to mediate them and he asked for Big Belly Burger because he ran out of food at his apartment. Not to mention it will annoy Hartley that much mor–" Barry silenced her with a kiss. Resting his forehead against hers he smiled.

"Cait. Breathe. I know this is important to you. It sounds like an emergency if Cisco is asking for Big Belly Burger."

"But I would much rather just stay here and cuddle with you all day." She snuggled into his neck, pulling him closer.

"We can do that when you get home." He sighed into her hair. "Speaking of homes, I need to return to mine. It hasn't been cleaned in days since I've been spending all my time here."

She laughed. "How about I come over instead? I'll bring food, we will clean," Barry groaned, "and I'll spend the night at your place for the first time?"

Barry froze. He had spent many, many nights over at Caitlin's apartment. Just passing by his for some clothes and to eat sometimes. He only slept there when Caitlin worked really late, and even then, he slept on the couch.

Caitlin, sensing his discomfort quickly amended her later suggestion. "Or I could just make something here." She pulled away from him. But he wouldn't let her go that easy. His hands still firm on her waist, keeping her from escaping his hold.

"No Cait. I would love for you to stay the night. It's just… My apartment isn't much of a home anymore." He looked into her eyes, pleading her to understand.

"That's because you won't give it a chance to be a home." She kissed his cheek.

"You are my home." His face wore a serious expression but his eyes were always honest and tender for her.

Giving him a watery smile, holding back the happy tears. "Barry, you are going to make me cry." She sniffled and laughed as she wiped her eyes trying her best not to let them fall. He gave her a sweet smile, using the pads of his thumbs to brush her cheeks.

"I'd love for you to stay, Cait. Maybe not just yet, alright?" She nodded.

"I'm going to be late." He laughed pulling away from her entirely.

"You can't really be late for something you weren't even supposed to be at in the first place." She laughed with him.

"Good point, Barr." She smiled grabbing her coat and stealing one more kiss before she headed out the door.

"Lock up before you leave!" She called back to him, running down the hallway towards the stairs.

He rolled his eyes, even if she was already around the corner and down the first flight of stairs. Barry had to finish packing for the Queen family dinner. They were leaving tomorrow morning and they both still had to pack.

They had finally arrived at the Queen mansion. They decided to just save money and stay there. Pulling up to the front door of the mansion. Barry was stunned in amazement as soon as he stepped out of the car. Hand still on the top of the open door as his mouth opened in shock.

"I have to say, Cait. When you said mansion, I didn't think it would be this big. Of course, I never thought I'd ever stay in a mansion. The front doors themselves probably cost more than my rent." Barry said with amazement.

Caitlin walking around the car to wrap her arms around his waist. She gave him a short laugh. "Probably, she had them shipped for Australia, I think. Don't worry, I was the same way when I first arrived. I'll give you the full tour later though, Barr." Kissing his shoulder, she released him to unpack her luggage.

They only packed a single bag for each of them, for the few nights they were staying. Barry snapped out of his shock to pick her duffle bag up out of her hands. He through it around his shoulder. "I've got it."

"Always a gentleman." She smiled at him squeezing his forearm in thanks.

Before he could reply the front door opened revealing a woman in a dark, royal blue dress. "Caitlin dear!" The blonde woman said stepping out of the house and gracefully made her way to Caitlin. Completely ignoring Barry's existence. "You made it!"

"Mom!" Caitlin crossed the distance embracing the woman. "I've missed you!"

Barry smiled as he watched Caitlin reunite with her family in Star City. He watched on in silence as she interacted with Caitlin. He did his own assessment of her as he knew she would do of him when he was introduced. But fort the moment he let her reunite with Caitlin.

"Oh, I've missed you too darling." Moira pulled away long enough to look Caitlin up and down, probing for any change. "I was beginning to wonder what was so interesting about Central City that you wouldn't want to come home."

"Mom, I'm fine. Things have just been busy. Dr. Wells has everyone working longer hours to get the Particle Accelerator up and running ahead of schedule." She tried explaining.

"Of course, It always something with work." She brushed Caitlin's hair back behind her ear. "Honestly, why can't your sister take after your work ethic instead of following Oliver's."

"I think Oliver is doing just fine, Mom. And give her some credit. Thea is doing great work. Last I heard she was running a successful business." Caitlin defended Thea.

"A club is not a successful business, especially for a young lady like herself."

"You also said the same thing about going to college for bioengineering for me. Two months in you were cheering me on." She smiled at Moira, placing her hands on her shoulders, "She's a brilliant young woman. She will amaze you at what she can do."

"As always, you are right. I just wish she would have more ambition than working at a club." Taking a step away, Caitlin responded with a short, "She doesn't work in a club, she owns it."

Moira smiled nodded slightly before taking her hand and leading her up the stairs. Caitlin stopped just at the top. "Come dear, let's get you settled in."

"Wait, Mom. You have to meet, Barry." Caitlin bit her lower lip and twisted her fingers.

Barry took that as his chance to introduce himself. He set his luggage down, wiping his hand clean of sweat and nerves. "Hi, Mrs. Queen." He held out his hand, a wide smile on his face, hiding his fear.

Her smile instantly vanished. "Right. Of course. Moira Queen." Shaking his hand gently, "You must be the infamous Barry Allen."

"Yeah– uh yes. I am. Bartholomew Allen." He saw Caitlin try and suppress an amused grin at his nervous introduction. He made a mental note to get her back for laughing at him.

"Bartholomew? Do you prefer Bartholomew over Barry?" Moira quickly released his hand.

"No. Please called me, Barry." He added with a laugh, rubbing his neck, his telltale sign he was nervous.

"Mhm. We'll talk more over dinner. Please come in." She nodded her at him.

Caitlin had paced her way back to him. Taking his left hand, she smiled widely up at him, "The hard parts over." He couldn't help but chuckle.

"I think dinner will be the hard part."

She shook her head. "Nope. Not with everyone there to support you." She kissed his cheek. "Besides with Lissy and Ollie, I guarantee you won't be able to get more than three sentences out before they take the conversation away. That's how it is at every family dinner."

He sighed. "Let's go." Barry picked up his luggage in his right hand, never letting go over hers in the process as he leads them up the stairs and into the beautiful mansion.

She stepped ahead, leading him into her old home. Barry was still amazed over every little thing about the house. He thought the sheer size of the mansion was impressive, the inside of the house was even more gorgeous. The chandelier in the entranceway was surprisingly small compared to what he pictured but the fact they even had one in the first place.

"Hey," He felt Caitlin squeeze his hand, "You okay?"

"Yeah, sorry. Didn't realize I stopped." He replied moving his feet and allowing the door to close behind them.

"It's a lot to take in." She looked around, "Surprisingly not a lot has changed. C'mon, Mom's probably in the tea room."

She passed her keys to the valet and continued to guide Barry further into the house.

When they got to the tea room Caitlin untangled her hand from Barry's. "Mom. If it's alright with you, I think we are going to head upstairs and unpack. It's been a long trip."

"Of course, dear. Please rest, you look exhausted. Oliver should be around in a couple hours. I'll send Rosa to come get you when they arrive." Moira said kissing Caitlin's cheek before patting her head. "Run along, darling."

"Thanks." She said taking Barry's hand in hers.

They made their way upstairs. Caitlin's room remained the same with her absence. The only signs of life being her open closet and a few articles of clothing laying around.

"Thea's been in here." Caitlin murmured, picking up her strewn clothes.

Barry walked around taking in her room. Placing the bags down near the bed he observed her old room. There were still pictures on the walls and make up kits on the dresser. A brush and some other womanly living essentials thrown about on the bathroom counter.

A familiar picture of Caitlin, Felicity, Sara, Thea and Laurel all in their dresses from Felicity's wedding hung by the floor length mirror. Another familiar one, she must have made copies following her to Central City, of Caitlin, Oliver and Felicity on their wedding day. The two women had their arms tightly wrapped around Oliver, Barry decided he looked squished and uncomfortable.

"Wedding photos. We took a ton that day, but these two are my favorites. Really reminds me of how much I love my family here. There are more if you'd like to see sometime? Ollie with cake on his face. Ollie throwing cake at Lissy starting and all out-cake war. Bridesmaids versus Groomsmen. We won." Caitlin let out a little laugh. Wrapping her arms around his waist from behind, "I wish you could have been there."

"I wish I could have too." She smiled but she could hear the sadness in his tone for not being there, for not being in her life. It was her choice though. Her mistake.

"Well, with luck, Tommy might propose to Laurel soon. And if that happens, you want to be my plus one?" She asked hopefully.

"Or you could be my plus one?" He chuckled turning around to wrap his arms around her.

"Don't start now, they were my friends first. And you've never met Tommy. He spends a lot of his time at Verdant. He was born to be a socialite." She giggled as she nuzzled closer into his chest.

"I can meet him now that I'm in Star City." He mused, swaying her slightly, side to side in a mock dance.

"Are you trying to dance with me, Mr. Allen?"

"I am dancing with you, Dr. Snow."

She laughed and joined in placing her hands on his shoulders. "I thought you had two left feet?"

"I grew out of it."

She just smiled at him as they swayed. A few moments later her eyes began to droop and her steps became sluggish.

"You tired? Want to get some rest?" Barry asked as they stopped swaying.

"Yeah. Just for a few minutes." She smiled pulling him towards her old bed. "We'll need the rest for when Lissy and Ollie get here. This place becomes a riot." Pulling the covers up to slip inside she snuggled closer to Barry once he slipped into the bed as well.

A few hours later Lissy had knocked on the door to wake them up for dinner. Hugs exchanged and a few minutes of putting away their things, the two made it downstairs for dinner.

"So, Bartholomew–" Moira asked after a few minutes of chit chat.

"Please, call me Barry."

"Barry. Caity, tells me you work for the Police department. You are and officer there?"

"Oh, no. I'm a CSI. A Crime Scene Investigator. I find and analyze the data at crime scenes to solve the crime. I'm the science behind it. I'm the one that solves the crime and the officers are the ones that stop the perp."

"Interesting. Caity's always had an advanced mind for science. She graduated top of her class." Moira announced very proud.

"Mom." Caitlin said with a warning tone.

"Be proud, Caity. Some people can't even make it through one college."

"Mom, honestly. Can we have one family dinner where we don't talk about my lack of college degree." Oliver grunted.

"Or my lack of college anything." Thea added.

Felicity placed a hand on Oliver's forearm. "Guys, this isn't about us. It's about Barry. Mrs. Queen, did you know that Barry did very well in track all throughout high school and college. He won a lot of awards for it too." She gave him a bright smile.

Barry looked shocked at Felicity's assessment. He hated talking about his track career. Running always brought up memories of his mother's murder.

"Really? That's very interesting. What kind of awards."

Barry was at a loss for words. "I– ugh. Umm… I–"

"He doesn't like talking about running. He doesn't do it anymore. Can you pass the potatoes?"

"Already dear? You've had two helpings as is." Moira quickly got distracted when Caitlin asked for more food. The table was filled with more than enough, but mostly for show.

"More potatoes sound amazing!" Felicity easily caught on to a subject change Caitlin was trying to push subtly. "I've been trying these new recipes I found online… because you know you can find anything online. These cheesy potatoes looked super good but you are supposed to add like four different seasonings and it got too complicated for me."

"Cooking isn't exactly your forte dear." Oliver nodded.

"I used the Tablespoon instead of the teaspoon one time and you never let me hear the end of it."

"You added paprika instead of pepper and it was more than once!"

"Who puts them next to each other in the spice cabinet?"

"They were alphabetized!"

"Who alphabetizes spices? I just used to put the ones I needed to buy in the front so I could remember to get more at the store."

The argument continued as Thea and Moira added their opinions in a few times. Caitlin looked to Barry, holding his hand underneath the table. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I didn't expect anyone to ask about my running career." He gave her a half smile.

"Lissy likes computers. And she's good at it too. No doubt she looked you up and did some digging. I'll yell at her later for it." Caitlin shook her head at her friend.

"It's okay." He gave her a smile, kissing her cheek quickly while the others were distracted. "Don't yell at Lis, I'm sure she did it with the best intentions."

"Lis? When did that become a thing?" Caitlin inquired.

"We talk sometimes. Not often but maybe once every other week. Wants to know how you are doing without asking you straight out. She misses you."

Caitlin smiled at this.

Hearing a hand pound on the table, the two scientist looked towards the table to find a pile of potatoes on Oliver's plate.

A victorious Felicity standing and yelling, "Eat those Potatoes Oliver!"

"Felicity, you just need a little more practice."

"More practice? You need to understand good food!"

"Your experiments are not edible."

"Thea?" Felicity turned toward the girl in question.

"They really aren't." She scrunched up her nose.

"Honestly! Caity?"

"Oh no, don't get me involved with this. I stopped getting between you two a long time ago." Caitlin folded her arms, not budging.

"Barry!"

"I've never had your cooking."

Felicity opened her mouth to retort, "Okay fine. I can't cook. But I have mad computer skills!"

"And that's why we love you." Oliver said kissing her check as she sat back down.

After dinner, the family talked more as Caitlin, Oliver, and Felicity gave Barry a tour of the house.

"We should go out to Verdant sometime while you are here!" Felicity jumped in excitement.

"That would be nice. It's been awhile since I have seen Tommy, how has he been?" Caitin asked talking over details with Felicity as Barry and Oliver let them wander off ahead.

"How're you holding up?" Oliver inquired.

"It's a lot to take in. I'm in a mansion of the pseudo-step mother of my not girlfriend." Barry rambled.

"It is a lot to take in. You're taking it better than any of the others. Mom seems to like you too. That's always a good thing."

"Yeah, I know. I'm surprised. She asks a lot of questions."

"That why I bring Felicity along. She is an easy distraction."

Both men chuckled at his joke. "Yeah you guys should come out tonight. It'll be fun."

Just as Oliver said that his phone started beeping loudly. Barry could hear Felicity's beeping down the hall as well. "Work again?"

Oliver nodded. "Tell Caity, we will meet her at Verdant."

"Will do." Barry nodded.

He wandered back towards Caitlin.

"They had a work emergency. Which is okay. We need to get ready for tonight." She nodded "help me pick out my dress?"

"Torture." He whispered following her into her room.

She pulled open her closet with a laugh. "We have color coated. That side is the party dresses, the middle cocktail dresses, and the professional ones are on this side."

Barry ran his fingers over a few. He strayed away from black. She looks too good in black. She looks good in anything. Barry nodded his head at his thoughts as she pulled out a violet dress before realizing it was floor length. Sighing she put it back. Running his fingers over a few more, something snagged his eye in the back of the party dresses. It was out of order and partially hidden by the second layer of dresses.

"What is this?" He said holding up an extremely short dress that was shorter on her than most of his shirts.

"Oh no. I told Thea to burn it. Or at least get it out of my life ever again."

"Why?" Barry asked, eyeing the dress and then her body.

"Do you see how short it is? It's from a more adventurous Caitlin." He opened his mouth but she cut him off before he could ask, "And no. I'm not modelling it for you. How about this?" She held up a black and blue one. It had lace and a few shiny black pieces of material in what seems like random spots but reflected light when she turned it here and there.

"I'm sure you will make the dress look very beautiful." He said.

"Ha ha." She grinned before kissing him briefly on the lips. "I'm going to get ready."

She sauntered off into the bathroom. Barry looked down at the red dress Caitlin detested so much before folding into her suitcase under some sweaters he knew she wouldn't be wearing but wanted to pack just in case.

He began to get ready himself, throwing on a black shirt and some dark jeans.

This was going to be a fun night.