Her heart was ice in her chest. Cold. Dead. All the warmth had gone out out of it, frozen by her grief.

Ronnie was gone.

Ronald Raymond- the man she loved- the man she had married- had given his life to save the city- perhaps even the world itself. It was a heroic, self-sacrificing act that should have filled Caitlin's heart with pride ….

But it hadn't.

There was only the empitiness. The cold. The neverending cold.

She had left S.T.A.R. Labs. Left her friends … no, her family behind. They didn't matter anymore.

Nothing mattered without Ronnie.

There was a knock at her door.

"Go away. I don't want to talk to anyone."

"Catiie, open the door!"

Crystal.

Crystal Frost. Her half-sister. The infamous villain known as Killer Frost.

"Go away, Crystal."

"Caitie, I need your help. Our brother needs our help."

Brother?

"We don't have a brother, Crystal."

"We damn well do … at least for the moment." Crystal's voice softened. "Please, Caitie. He's hurt. He's hurt pretty badly and I can't take him to a hospital. Not me. They would never let me explain."

Crytal was many things, but she wasn't a liar. If she said there was somsone who needed medical care, then that was the truth. Brother or no- and she could not bring herself to believe that- she was still a doctor. She still had an oath to fulfill.

Caitlin tucked her bathrobe around her and opened the door.

"You look like hell," Crystal told her. She wasn't iced up, but she wore her costume under a longcoat.

In her arms was a child.

A boy. He was small and thin- too small, too thin. He lay limply in Crystal's arms and for a terrible moment Caitlin wasn't sure he was breathing or not. "Oh my God! We have to get him inside! Come on, Crystal!"

They laid him on her couch while Caitlin grabbed her doctor's bag- her time with Team Flash had caused her to keep one ready at all times and some other miscellanous equipment she had kept at home. She went to the boy and took his vital signs.

His heart was still beating. His pulse was weak. His body temperature was too low for anyone but a cryokinetic. His hair was snow white and his eyes were frost blue.

She could see the family features in his lips, his cheeks.

He had been badly beaten. He had been starved. He had been stabbed.

The only reason he was still alive was the metahuman healing factor her family possessed … and even that had been stretched to its limits to keep the boy alive.

"His name," Caitlin whispered. "What's his name?"

"Cameron. Cameron Mahkent."

"Who did this to him?" Caitlin whispered. "Cameron? Cam? Can you hear me?"

He didn't seem to have a concussion. He would need fluids and nourishment, and Caitlin would have to check for broken bones, but he wouldn't need stitches thanks to his regeneration capabilities. He would live.

"Who do you think?" Crystal asked her bitterly as she stood beside Caitlin. She smiled at the boy and brushed his hair from his forehead. "You're safe here, Cam. This is Caitie. Caitlin. She's your other sister. She's a doctor."

The boy turned wide frightened eyes to Caitlin. "Am I going to die?"

Caitlin smiled at him. "No, Cameron. You'll be fine. I promise."

For the next hour, she worked on the boy; cleaning his wounds, checking for broken limbs (thankfully there were none) and giving him fluids and a hastily made broth. Finally, she judged his conditon stable enough to let him sleep.

They left him on the couch and made their way to her bedroom so they wouldn't be overheard by the boy. "Surely you're not serious, Crystal. Daddy wouldn't-"

Crystal glared at her. "I know your version of the Old Man was darling daddy to you, but Cam and I weren't so lucky. You know that."

She did know that. Icicle was a criminal... wanted for many crimes up to and including assault and even murder. Still, she didn't want to think of him that way … she wanted to remember him as the kind and loving father he had been to her ….

"What happened?" she finally asked.

"Dad took him on a robbery."

"But he can't be more than ten..."

"He's eleven." Crystal scowled. "They stumbled on a guard. Dad wanted Cam to take care of him."

"Take care of-?"

"He wanted Cam to kill him, Caitie. He wanted to turn our eleven year old brother into a murderer."

"Did he-?" Caitlin was afraid to hear the answer.

"No. He refused. That's why he's in such bad shape. Dad beat the hell out of him, slapped a restraining collar on him, and locked him in the closet. He left him there. He left him there to die, Caitie." Crystal's eyes blazed with wrath.

Caitlin wanted to deny it. She wanted to believe that Crystal was wrong. That their father had not done such a terrible thing …

But she knew the truth.

"How did you find him?"

"I met him when I ran into Dad during … well something you're probably better off not knowing about. I made him memorize my number." Crystal sighed. "He managed to short out the collar and break out of the closet. Then he called me. He's a hell of a kid, Caitie. He's strong."

"He can't go back to Dad," Caitlin whispered to herself.

"No he can't. Sooner or later the old man will kill him … or worse, turn him into someone like him. He deserves better than that, Caitie. He needs someone to take care of him- someone that Dad won't dare cross."

"You can't be serious."

"I can't take him, Caitie. I've done bad things. Terrible things. If he he stays with me then he's going to wind up in the Life. I'm not good enough." Crystal looked at her. "You are."

"Crystal, you had just gotten your powers. You didn't know what you were doing. You didn't mean to hurt those men ..."

"No. But I didn't care about them. All I cared about was survival. You're not like me, Caitie. You're better. If he stays with you, he can be better too." Her lips twisted into a smile. "And Dad isn't about to go against Team Flash or the Justice League."

Caitlin sighed. "I'm not in a good place, Crystal. I lost Ronnie … and right now it's so hard to just breathe..."

"I know, Caitie. I saw the news. But Cam needs you."

"He needs us both."

"Maybe." Crystal bared her teeth. "I know right now I'm looking forward to making sure that Dad never hurts Cam ever again ..."

"Crystal, he's too powerful. He could kill you!"

"Maybe." Crystal shrugged. "You'll keep him? Cam?"

Caitlin sighed. She was afraid this would be too much for her, but she also knew that there were no other good options. Putting Cam into the system would leave him defenseless against their father. She didn't want that. She didn't want the boy to come to harm.

And honestly … the coldness had receded as she took care of Cameron. She had lost her self-pity as she treated the boy.

For the first time, she began to believe that she could have a good life again. It wouldn't be the same- it would never be the same- but there was still a chance for happiness for her.

And maybe for Cameron too.

He had already been through so much. She wasn't naive enough to think that this was the first beating he had been given. She knew that he would have trauma. That he would need lots of help and support if he were going to live a normal life- a good life.

And she wanted that for him.

She wanted Cameron to know that there was good in the world.

"Yes," Caitlin Snow said with a smile. "Yes I'll take care of our little brother."

Author's Note: I'm using some elements from the Flash TV show (obviously) but the setting is the Young Justice Universe. Wally does not get his powers as a young adult. Caitlin has her Frost powers and identity, but not a separate alternate personality as she did in the Flash TV show. Making Caitlin, Crystal, and Cameron ALL the children of Icicle is part of this AU. (The guy got his start in World War 2 so he's obviously old enough to have had several families in his lifetime.)