A/N: Hello! Yes, it has been a while. I'm sorry. Life is hectic.
Anyway, I want to write some filler chapters before I get to the plot/end so if you want to see Barry and Caitlin doing something in their relationship like a vacation or dates or holidays, stuff like that, let me know in the reviews! Otherwise it'll take some time for chapters to come out as I try and get my thoughts together.
I own nothing.
As always... Let me know what you think & Please Enjoy! :)
Chapter 24
Barry told Caitlin everything he knew about the case. Both the SCPD case and Team Arrow's case. They coincided with one another overlapping multiple times. He told her that was reason that he was shot. He was looking into everything the SCPD had on the Archer and that led him to the warehouse he was shot.
He was meeting up with Oliver there when Archer jumped him and took him by surprise. Barry made sure to tell her all the details he knew. And it felt so good to get everything he was holding secret from her for so long out in the open. Honesty was truly the best policy.
Caitlin was silent the entire time he talked. Lying in bed with his arms wrapped around her, she rubbed the tension from his muscles as he spoke. Her mind was running with ideas of how to disassemble the drug. The team had gotten stuck. They may have caught Archer but the drug he was using was still out there. The Archer wouldn't tell them anything useful and Team Arrow found themselves at a dead end.
But Caitlin had an idea and she was going to do her best to help her family.
Barry was sure to tell Caitlin where he was heading the next day. Even if she didn't approve of him helping The Green Arrow, Caitlin told him that she would help synthesize something to counter the steroid the Archer was injecting into himself.
Both Caitlin and Barry arrived at Verdant early the next day. Laurel and Tommy already there to greet them at the bar. Laurel was drying some glasses and Tommy was writing something in his notebook, presumably for Verdant popularity.
"Surprise?" Laurel questioned, making her way around the bar.
Tommy effectively turned around in shock. "I didn't expect you guys to be back so soon… or ever."
"And miss out on the best drinks in the city? Never." Caitlin responded giving each of them a hug.
Before either of them could open their mouth to apologize, Caitlin abruptly cut them off. "Don't even need to apologize. It wasn't your fault. Barry already explained everything."
She made her way back to Barry, entwining their fingers together. He smiled still relieved she wasn't mad at him. "Anyway, Cait wants to help trace the drug."
Tommy sent Laurel a look before nodding. "Go, I'll finish these glasses."
Laurel gave him a smile and kissed his cheek, her hand running across his shoulder as she walked passed him.
"I'll catch up with you guys when I'm done." Tommy yelled out after Caitlin and Barry followed Laurel into the hallway. She smirked and hollered back, "Whatever you say Babe!"
She whispered to Caitlin and Barry, "He hates cleaning the dishes. Honestly, it takes him hours. He is so slow!"
"Duh! He has never done a chore in his life! You remember how snobby he was when we first met. He hated me because I wasn't in the same social class." Caitlin recounted
"And Sara punched him in the face so hard his nose started bleeding." Laurel continued.
"And you helped clean him up. Ugh the heart-eyes he had for you since then was unbearable." Caitlin whined pulling Barry closer. Back then seeing anyone in love always hurt, knowing she couldn't be with her love.
"Yeah. Guess that's something good that came out of the situation." Laurel smiled longingly.
"Along with Sara becoming known for her tough 'Don't-Mess-With-Me' attitude, our entire group becoming best friends, and Oliver finally admitting to Felicity that he liked her instead of drooling over her in silence. Yeah, I can admit that was something good that came out of it."
"Exactly! Our group is so close. Don't break that up because Ollie lied to you. It's Ollie, he does stupid shit like that all the time. Don't let it affect your relationship with the other team members. Especially Lis."
"I know. It's just hard. He lied to me. Made others lie to me. Any of you could have been hurt or killed and I wouldn't have been the wiser. I would've just continued on with my happy little life not knowing the dangerous game you guys were playing. Did any of you ever thing how it would affect me?"
"Of course we did, Sweetheart." Laurel said stopping at the entrance of the Arrow cave. "But that's exactly why we didn't want to get you involved. Can you imagine how much danger you could have been in just associating with some rouge vigilantes?"
"Newsflash, I was already held hostage for associating with you." Caitlin pointed out causing Barry to frown. Pulling her into his side he kissed her forehead before letting her go and heading off towards Felicity typing away at the computers. He hated thinking about how close he was to losing her. He wanted to give Caitlin some time for Laurel to talk some sense into why they lied to her.
If anyone could sweettalk Caitlin into seeing their point of view, it was Laurel.
"Any luck?" Barry asked Felicity. He leaned on the console and crossed his arms over his chest.
"No. I can't identify the compound. And I can't do anything until it is." Felicity rubbed her temples.
"Well Cait wants to help. She's talking to Laurel now but when she's done I'm sure she can figure it out."
"She's here?" Felicity questioned standing up from her seat sending the wheels spinning as she rushed down the three stairs towards Caitlin.
"Caity!" Felicity rushed towards her, engulfing her in a hug, "You're really here?"
Caitlin let out a light, happy laugh as she hugged Felicity back. "I told you I was coming. I want to help."
"I know. But I still thought you'd be mad at me... a-at Oliver." Felicity pushed her away to look up at her.
"I am mad at Oliver. Not you Lissy. But anyway, show me this compound." She gave Felicity a smile.
"Right! Of course! We can't figure it out and we can't just send it to anyone!" Felicity scrambled back to her computer.
Barry smiled at Caitlin as she sat down in the chair next to him. She crinkled her brow and scrunched her nose in thought. Cracking her knuckles and letting out a deep breathe her fingers began flying across the keys.
For once Barry took some time to admire Caitlin as she worked. He loved her quirks. The twist of her lips when she would make a mistake. The way she bit her bottom lip in concentration. The way her eyes twinkled when she discovered something new.
And the excitement she had when she broke the compound. Jumping to her feet, her hands clapping in celebration as she faced the computer towards Felicity so she could do her part by finding the drug through her hacking abilities.
Barry quickly made her way to Caitlin's side pulling her in for a deep hug. Laurel pulling the communicator over to tell Oliver and Sara where to head once Felicity found it.
"That's my girl." Barry whispered in her ear. A proud grin on his face.
"See how much easier life is with me in it?" She gave him a chaste kiss on the lips. "See how much easier this is when I'm helping?"
"You already know how much my life has changed now that you are back in it."
"You are pretty important to me too." She gave him a sweet smile.
"I love you, Caitlin Snow."
"I love you too, Barry Allen."
"Well another villain behind bars. And the drug has been confiscated by ARGUS. Hopefully that is the last time we see it." Felicity cheer stretching her arms out as she stood up.
"I wouldn't be too sure. In the right hands and modified for the right way the drug could be extremely useful. Giving someone enhanced abilities like strength or speed. Depending on the person I suppose." Caitlin rambled off her mind going a mile a minute.
"Let's not get any ideas, Brainiac." Sara laughed stepping out in her bartender attire.
"Yeah we should probably open soon." Laurel announced, "Are you guys staying for a drink?"
Barry looked to Caitlin telling her it's her call. "Yeah, one drink couldn't hurt." Caitlin said entwining her hand with Barry's. The couple began to follow Sara and Laurel out when Felicity spoke up.
"Uhh... Caity! Could- could you stay for a moment. I was wondering if I can talk to you… privately for a moment. If that's alright! I mean if you really want a drink then id understand some people just need a break from talking and talking." Felicity rambled gesturing to their vigilante activities.
"Lissy, calm down. I'm sure I could spare a minute or two." She leaned up and kissed Barry's cheek. "Just get my usual, please?"
"Will do!" He smiled waving briefly to Felicity before heading upstairs.
After Barry was gone and it was just the two of them. They had about fifteen minutes, by Felicity's calculations, until Oliver returned from patrol.
"So, what did you want to talk about? In private?" Caitlin said making her way towards Felicity.
"Remember when we came to Central City and I told you about how I was thinking about having children sometime soon?" She glanced up from her fumbling fingers to see if Caitlin remembered. After receiving a nod in acknowledgement from Caitlin, Felicity continued. "Well I talked to Oliver about it and he said that he didn't really want to think about it now or any time soon."
"Oh, Lis." Caitlin approached Felicity's chair with open arms. And Felicity quickly stood up and fell into Caitlin's open arms. "I know that being a mother has always been a secret desire of yours. Don't let Oliver hold you back. You are still young and you have tons of time before you need to start worry about being infertile."
Sniffling to keep the tears from falling, "I know. I'm just worried we will never have that family we once talked about because of The Green Arrow and Overwatch always getting in the way."
"Overwatch?" Caitlin tilted her head in confusion.
"I am Overwatch." Felicity replied seriously.
"Does everyone get a fancy nickname?" The brunette laughed.
"Of course! We need to think of some for you and Barry!"
"Don't think too hard. We are only part time superheroes. Helping out whenever you need us. Like really need us." Caitlin coaxed a laugh from the blonde.
"Maybe someday when you have your own superhero team." Felicity wiggled her eyebrows.
Caitlin snorted in disbelief, "I highly doubt that'll ever happen."
The two girls laughed together before Caitlin sobered up a bit. "Back to the whole family thing. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Like I said Oliver loves you. Keep hounding him down and he won't be able to say no." She gave Felicity a kind smile. "Besides, weren't you the one that wanted me and you to have kids at the same time so they can grow up and be best friends?"
"Of course, I still want that!"
"Yeah well you are going to have to wait a bit. I'm not married." Caitlin's lips quirked up into a smirk.
"Yeah better hurry that up." Felicity teased.
"No way! Barry and I just got together. Yeah, we are serious and if he asked I would say yes. But I want us to fall in love and be in love. Make up for all the years we couldn't be together. It's still really soon in the relationship." Caitlin trailed off quietly.
"True. It is soon. But you have been in love with that boy your entire life. And you have no idea the way he looks at you when you are together. You can spend all the time you want 'being in love' once you two are married." Felicity gently told Caitlin.
"I'll leave that conversation for you to have with him then." Caitlin laughed.
"How about this?" Felicity said after thinking. "We give it one year. I'll keep talking to Oliver about having a family and you enjoy your relationship with Barry. But one year you better be engaged and Oliver better be ready to start a family."
Caitlin shook her head with a wide smile on her face. "Okay. Sounds like a deal!"
"Great!" The two girls hugged as they heard the rough, disguised voice of Oliver over the comm. "All clear on this end. City is quiet. I'm heading back now."
The static cleared before Felicity spoke. "Okay, now let's go get that drink. I think we've all earned it. And now I've got a brother-in-law to nudge into proposing."
"I hope you mean Tommy? Because they should have been the first ones married out of all of us!" Caitlin teased.
Two weeks later Caitlin and Barry were back in Central City. Caitlin was hard at work in the safety of her cozy little lab. Her classical music was playing softly through her headphones encouraging her to focus on the equation she was looking at.
Caitlin preferred the quiet, serene atmosphere at work. Apparently, Cisco does not.
"Caity!" Cisco's voice snapped Caitlin out of her focus. Startled, she shot up from her seat in a rush and she yelled, "What!"
"What, Cisco?" She pulled her headphones out.
"You've got a visitor." His smile was wide and stretched across his face.
"Oh, tell Barry I'll be right there. I didn't realize it was–" Caitlin looked at her clock expecting to see five-thirty when Barry said he would stop by to pick her up for dinner tonight, "Four-twenty. What is Barry doing here so early?"
"It's not Care-Barr!" He said in a singsong like voice. Her eyes twitched as she forced herself to stay serious.
"Stop calling him that." She deadpanned.
"It's your brother!" he eagerly jumped up and down like a puppy.
Caitlin froze. She hadn't spoken to Oliver since she left Star City. She knows Barry's been in contact with him and that Oliver is now staying at Thea's place. But other than that, he information regarding all of Oliver's doings were limited and unwanted. She was still mad at him.
Her and Barry often argued over the ordeal still, Caitlin still unable to move on. But she always made an effort not to go to sleep without making up with Barry. It wasn't his fault. She wasn't mad at him. He was just trying to help a friend.
"Caity." Her eyes flew up to his.
"Oliver."
"Can we talk?" He glanced at Cisco, indicating he wanted to talk to her alone.
"I'm sure he can stay." Caitlin drawled out with indifference, looking for some reason to keep Cisco in the room longer.
Cisco has been excited to meet her family again. He got along with Felicity so well. But it didn't look like Felicity was going to walk into STAR Labs anytime soon. And Barry might have let it slip that Oliver was the vigilante of Star City that Cisco has been fawning over since the Hood first appeared in the news.
"Cisco, can you give us a minute?" Oliver asked the engineer.
"Yeah. Of course." Cisco obviously sensing the discomfort between the two he sent Caitlin an apologetic smile on his way out.
"What are you doing here?" She asked not even making eye contact with him.
"We needed to talk and you wouldn't respond to me. You stopped responding to Thea and Felicity." Caitlin felt guilt eat at her insides. She knew she wasn't making things easy for Team Arrow over in Star City. Felicity was her best friend, and going from texting and calling her nearly three times a week to not responding to her must have been hard on all of them. Felicity held the team together. Oliver grunted out, "What else was I supposed to do?"
"I'm not punishing them. I've just been busy with work. We have the Particle Accelerator we just started to build and I have a lot of–"
"Enough Caity! That's not why you've cut ties with everyone in Star City." Oliver cut her off. He was angry but he had absolutely no right to raise his voice at her.
She sent him a glare which immediately calmed his temper. Yelling at her would never fix their problems. Oliver knew she wouldn't take any apology accompanied with anger.
"I never told them to kick you out." Caitlin snapped at him.
"Caitlin, I am so sorry you found out like that. I should have told you. You are right about that. But I didn't want to tell you because I know you would have wanted to get involved."
"I could have helped. If I had known, if I had been in on your little secret maybe Barry wouldn't have gotten hurt."
"I know. And I hate myself for you two getting hurt. But please… What do I have to do for you to forgive me?"
"Jump off a bridge?" She spat sarcastically, as she flipped through slides she still needed to look at.
His lips twitched upward a bit. It was the first indicator that she would forgive him. She would always respond with that every time he asked her to forgive him. Their little inside joke between the two of them. "Do I have to do that every time you are mad at me."
"Yes." She nodded turning around to face him. A small smile on her face now. "Ollie, I know you meant well. You love me. We are family. But it wasn't fair that I was kept out of everything. I could have helped far more than I already did. You guys wouldn't have been able to find the drug if it wasn't for me."
"I know. Thank you." Oliver said sincerely.
"You're welcome." She smiled at him.
Oliver wasn't a touchy-feely kind of person but when he was overcome with joy he had a tendency of showing it in the most uncharacteristic way. He reached over and pulled Caitlin into a long hug. Her giggles filled the space around them as she returned the hug.
Pulling apart he placed a brotherly kiss on her cheek. "I'm really sorry again, Caity."
"I know." She patted his cheek before turning around to continue work. "So, you want to tell me what is going on with you and Lissy?"
"She kicked me out because she blamed me for you still being mad at her." He shrugged depressed.
"No. Not that. I'll talk to her about that. I mean the whole future Queen family situation." She continued working, looking through slide after slide.
"Oh. She, uhh… told you about that?" Oliver stumbled through his words.
"Yeah? She tells me everything. And yes, that includes everything, you dork." Caitlin emphasized.
"Oh jeez! I can't look at you right now. How can you look at me and not think–" Oliver shuddered uncharacteristically.
"If you want to become best friends with Barry, you can learn everything about us if you really want to."
"Caitlin! No, that's the last thing I want to think of my sister doing!"
"Jeez, someone's mind is in the gutter. I meant that she tells me everything you two talk about." Caitlin smirked at Oliver's uncomfortable appearance. He shuffled on his feet a bit before responding.
"Oh. Well yeah. I mean…" He let out a loud sigh, leaning against the table. "I do want a family with her. She is my family. She is all I ever wanted; all I ever will want. But things are… difficult right now. And I don't want to put a child's life–my child's life– in danger because of what I do. I'm not giving up being The Green Arrow any time soon. The city needs saving. And I need to protect the people that I care about."
"Tell her that. Exactly what you said to me. Tell her that. Talk. To. Her. She's upset because she thinks you don't ever want that with her." Caitlin told him gently rubbing his shoulders.
"Of course I do. I want to experience everything with her." Oliver finally looked up at her.
"Just talk to her. You two will work things out. She promised me to wait a year before she tries anyway." Caitlin pulled away to check the time.
"I really don't want to know about another one of your deals or pacts."
"It's more for her anyway. I love Barry. I'm willing to take things slow. Moving fast is not really my thing anyway." She smirked at him.
"True." He chuckled. Standing up he was getting ready to head out. "I should prob–"
Jay strolled into Caitlin's lab without knocking. He entered shouting a happy, "Caitlin!"
Breaking through the quiet atmosphere the two siblings had created annoyed both of them. "Jay, what a surprise." Caitlin deadpanned expression showed Oliver just how often Jay must bother her at work. "You realize you forgot to knock… again."
"Just coming to visit my favorite Doctor!" Jay smiled before noticing Oliver's presence in the room. "Oh, Oliver. What a surprise. What are you doing here?"
"Just visiting." He ground out.
"Hmm… You shouldn't bother Caitlin while she is working." Jay reprimanded him.
"Neither should you." Oliver spat back.
"I actually need to be here! I need–"
"–to leave." A new voice sounded from the door way. With one hand on his hip and another hold a rose, Barry held a serious expression, focused solely on Jay.
"Barry!" Caitlin quickly made her way over to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck kissing him on the lips a little longer than she usually would.
"This is for you, love." Barry said smiling, giving her the rose.
"Oh, Barr! Thank you!" She exclaimed taking the rose a kissing his cheek again. "I'll put it in a beaker and keep it at work with me!" She rushed from the room, heading towards the storage room looking for an unused beaker.
"So, Jay. Something tells me you still can't seem to take no as an answer." Oliver started towards him.
"I don't know what you are talking about. I was merely visiting a colleague for some files." Jay responded looking unafraid.
"I don't care what your excuse is. Caity is my sister and you pose a threat to her." Oliver stopped only when Barry placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Listen Jay. I really don't want to hate you… but I already do. I hear about how you act here. Not just from Caitlin. I hear about the things you say to her, the way you touch her. Not only is it inappropriate for work but it is inappropriate towards a colleague in a serious relationship with someone else." Barry calmly stated.
"Are you trying to threaten me?" Jay growled taking steps toward Barry only to be stopped by Oliver's leering frame.
"No. Just warning you. You realize I have some pretty powerful friends. Not only in the police station. But the courthouse too. Hurt Caitlin in anyway. Even a simple bruise from an unwanted grope. And you will regret it." Barry finished glaring at Jay menacingly.
"Hmph. You really don't scare me, Kid." Jay said brushing past him.
Just then Caitlin walked back into the room. A large wide smile on her face as she held the rose in a beaker full of water. "Found one! Isn't it beautiful! Thank you, Babe!" She placed it on her desk. "Jay before you leave, I already had your files sent back to your department. Sandy will be the one working with you from now on. So, you don't need to come to my office every day."
"Of course." Jay grunted leaving out the door.
The room was quiet for a moment. Caitlin let out a loud, relieved sigh.
"C'mon, I promise you a romantic night on the towing right." Barry said taking her hand a twirling her in a circle before pulling her towards the door.
She giggled Giving Oliver a quick hug and grabbing her jacket before quickly following behind Barry. "Bye, Ollie! Let's meet up before you leave, okay? I've got a romantic night with the love of my life."
Oliver watched the two lovebirds walk down the hallways with a smile on his face. Barry's arms wrapped around her shoulder and her arms wrapped tightly around his waits.
A/N: Respond with a scene or situation you want to see Caitlin and Barry in the Reviews!