Chapter 3
Not long after having left the cortex, Caitlin found herself walking outside of Star Labs with her arms wrapped around Jason's, finding herself excited for this date. She didn't feel totally safe, as she was never going to be able to feel totally safe with another speedster other than Barry until she was certain that he wasn't a psychotic murderer who would kidnap her and take her to another universe, but she felt a lot better about it knowing that Jason had come up with some measures to ensure that she would be protected. The bracelet on her wrist was not only beautiful, but had proven to show that he wouldn't be able to whisk her away if he did manage to get his cuffs off somehow. Needless to say, she felt confident that things would not go the way they had with Jay.
There was still a part of her that wished that she was going on a date with Barry, but despite his weird behavior earlier and finding out that he had been more worried for her when she had been kidnapped than he had let on, she still was almost certain that he didn't see her that way and never would. As much as she wished that he would see her the way she saw him, she knew that it was nearly impossible, anyway. The future had been clear: He was to marry Iris. So, the best thing she could do now was try to find love with someone else. And Jason was by no means a bad contender.
Jason opened the door to his car for her, making her smile as he helped her in and closed the door behind her before taking his own seat and driving off towards the restaurant that they would be going to. It was sort of weird being in a car with a virtual stranger, as her line of work was rather dangerous and she knew better than to get in a car with someone she hardly knew, but this was different. Jason had proven that he cared enough about her to make her feel safe at his own expense, and had even bought a car from a different universe than his own so that he wouldn't have to use his powers to get them where they were going. He was going above and beyond the call to make sure that she wouldn't worry, and she appreciated it very much.
Before long, Jason pulled over right in front of the restaurant, finding a good parking spot before flashing her a bright smile. "And we're here." Looking at the restaurant, his smile grew as he looked at it. "Looks like a nice place."
"It is," Caitlin agreed happily as she looked at it as well, remembering going with Ronnie a few times when they had been together, and even had gone there once with Barry and Cisco after she had agreed to come back to Team Flash after Barry had gone to talk to her at Mercury Labs. "They serve the best Italian food I've ever had."
"Great! I'm looking forward to trying it!" Jason grinned before looking down at his hands and displaying the cuffs. "Uh, before we go in, would you make sure they won't be able to see my cuffs?"
Realizing that he was right, Caitlin laughed and nodded. "Of course." Looking down at her bracelet, she temporarily forgot which button activated the camouflage on them, and guessed it was the one in the center. Unfortunately for Jason, she had been wrong, as it was the one that would zap him with electricity as needed. Jason gasped as currents of electricity circled around his body, making Caitlin's eyes widen to the size of plates as she helplessly watched him be electrocuted for a few more seconds before the electrical currents disappeared. "Jason! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" she asked worriedly, searching him for any signs of outer or internal damage.
Once he finally regained his breath, he gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm fine, Cait, don't worry," he promised with a laugh, being honored at her concern for him. "Those electrical currents may hurt a lot, but they won't do any damage unless I have too much exposure to them."
Caitlin frowned as she looked at him, but was relieved that he seemed to be okay. "Are you sure?" she asked unsurely, making him chuckle as he took her hand in his and gave her a gentle smile.
"Absolutely. And hey, if I wasn't awake before, I definitely am now," he joked, making her giggle as she playfully rolled her eyes at him.
"Alright, if you say so," she smiled warmly at him."I really am sorry. I didn't mean to do that."
"I know you didn't," Jason assured her as he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "And look on the bright side: At least now you know for sure that the device works so you can stop me if you feel the need to."
Shaking her head at him, she sighed and gave him a sad smile. "I would rather have not found out and you not get hurt, but I think it's great that you look at the bright side. You're so much like-" she stopped herself, realizing what she had almost said with wide eyes as she chuckled nervously.
"Barry?" Jason asked curiously with an easy smile, appearing not to think much of it and making her surprised that he had appeared to read her mind. "Or did you mean Ronnie?"
Being silent for a moment, she answered. "Both, actually. Ronnie and Barry are pretty similar for the most part, but Ronnie and I had more issues because he wasn't quite as interested in the things that I was interested in, even if he tried to be."
"Ah, I see," Jason nodded in understanding with his smile intact, clearly not being bothered by talking about her former husband or Barry. Well, she figured it would be easier for him to talk about Barry since he didn't know about her feelings for him… or did he? He had seen her life ever since the particle accelerator had detonated, after all. Had he seen… Before she could ponder on this, Jason finally continued. "I'm flattered that you would think of me like them. They're both great men, even if they both had their… flaws."
Caitlin laughed at this, knowing that indeed both of them did, and that Barry undoubtedly still had many flaws as well. But she had developed feelings for him even knowing his flaws, even when he had proven to be a jealous fiend when he had to deal with Iris dating Eddie. "Yes, yes they did." It still hurt to think of Ronnie in the past tense, but she knew she had to leave him in the past and took comfort in knowing that he would want her to be happy. "So, how about I make sure that I don't electrocute you this time and hide your cuffs so that we can go in?"
"That sounds like a great idea," Jason chuckled, making Caitlin grin as she made sure that she kept her finger away from the main button and pressed the other one, watching as his cuffs soon faded out of sight as if they had never been there at all. "Excellent." Getting out of the car, he hurried over to the side and helped her out of the car, being a complete gentleman as he led the way to the restaurant and opened the door for her.
Smiling at him in thanks, she walked in and made her way to the podium with him right behind her, where an employee greeted them kindly and asked if they had a reservation. Once Jason had helped her find theirs, she motioned for them to follow her where she led them to a table for two out on a balcony overlooking the city, giving them some menus and promising that their waiter would be with them shortly.
"Central City really is beautiful," Jason commented as he looked out at the city lights around them, enjoying the sights and the traffic that was just beginning to wind down as people made their way home or to the bars.
"It is," Caitlin agreed easily as she smiled while looking at it, feeling herself enjoying the peacefulness of the moment. She was usually so busy with her friends trying to stop metahumans or getting home that she rarely got out anymore, and she was glad that she had taken some time to go to a place where they could eat some good food and enjoy the city that she loved. "I love it here. Even if we can't seem to go a week without some crazy metahuman trying to hurt someone."
Jason chuckled at this. "Yeah, I can imagine. My world has much of the same problem, but it's much more under control than it was before."
"Really? How so?" Caitlin asked curiously as she looked at the menu, but Jason was prevented from being able to answer her immediately as the waiter finally came around and asked what they would like to drink. After agreeing to share a bottle of red wine, he complimented their choice and promised to be right back with it before Jason allowed himself to answer the question.
"Well, my people have watched all of the earths with the same problem and saw what strategies worked best and what didn't," he began explaining, pausing to thank the waiter for the bottle he had returned with who proceeded to ask if they were ready to order. Asking Caitlin if she was with his eyes, Jason saw that she was and smiled before nodding to the waiter and allowing her to order for herself before he also ordered for himself. With that settled, the waiter walked off after uncorking the bottle for them and put their orders in, and finally Jason continued. "The best idea we could come up with was to form a large metahuman task force for each region that would focus on any bad metahumans that would come up. It took some time and effort, but we eventually managed to create a sort of metahuman law enforcement to deal with the bad metahumans, and ever since metahuman crime has been at an all-time low."
"Wow," Caitlin said in amazement, liking the idea a lot as she thought it over. "That's a great idea, but it sounds like it would take some time to put into effect."
"It did," Jason agreed with a sad smile as he took a sip of his wine and let out a refreshed sigh. "There were many losses of good metahumans in the process, but in the long run it's made our world a much safer place, and we've made sure to honor the ones who gave their lives to make the world a safer place."
Seeing that talking about this had made him sad, Caitlin decided that it was time to change the topic to something else and asked. "So, it seems like you already know so much about me since you've… watched certain parts of my story," she began with a weird look, clearly still not used to the fact that the man before her had been able to watch important parts of her life as if it was a tv show. "So, how about you tell me about yourself since you know quite a bit about me?"
"That's fair," Jason laughed as he nodded and took another sip of wine before thinking about where to start. "There's not a lot to talk about, truth be told. My story isn't much different than Barry's."
"Really?" Caitlin asked in surprise, watching as he nodded with a sad smile as he remembered his own past.
"Yes, crazy as it may seem, we have more in common than just our personalities," he told her as he swirled around his wine and prepared himself for the next part. "When I was a boy, just about Barry's age when he had lost his mother, both my parents were murdered in front of me by a speedster who had wanted to prevent me from becoming my world's version of the Flash."
Caitlin's eyes widened in shock as she heard this, not quite having expected this. Sure, she had noticed many similarities between the two speedsters, but she never would have imagined that they had a similar story of their past as well. "Oh, Jason. I'm so sorry," she told him as she put her hand on top of his and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Don't be, Cait. It's not your fault," he gave her a reassuring smile to show that he was okay as he took another drink of his wine before continuing. "Fortunately for me, I was whisked out of the way by future me so I didn't have to see it, but it still hurt all the same when I made my way back and found the bodies. After that, my neighbor who had been a close friend of my father's took me in and raised me." He smiled fondly as he remembered the man who had sheltered him. "He was a good man, and me and his kids got along really well."
Putting on a teasing smile, Caitlin joked. "I don't suppose you had your own version of Iris, did you?" To her relief, Jason laughed and shook his head.
"No, no, he only had one daughter and she and I became more brother and sister than anything as we grew up together," he answered her honestly, making her glad that he didn't appear to be longing over a girl that he had grown up with like Barry had. "There was a girl that I had fallen in love with once I went to college, but it didn't work out and we had agreed to stay friends."
"Well, at least it sounds like I won't have any competition then, huh?" she laughed, trying to keep the mood light since she had unintentionally brought up sore subjects for him twice in a row and wanting their date to go well.
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," he promised as he looked out at the city before flashing her a smile. "You're the only girl I see right now." She couldn't help but smile warmly at him at the sincerity in his voice, but she became shocked as he then said. "I'm pretty sure that it's me who's going to have to worry about competing for you."
Being more than a little surprised at this, she raised a brow and tilted her head as she bit her lip, her mind racing through all the possibilities as she tried to guess why he would say such a thing. "What do you mean?" she asked puzzledly, making him laugh as he saw how cute she was when she was confused.
Giving her a bright smile, he answered without reservation. "Well, I'm not the only one you know who has feelings for you."
"Huh?" she asked in even more confusion as her heart began to race, wondering what on earth he was talking about. "I know that your people have been watching us for a while now, but the only person I know… knew who had feelings for me other than a psychotic murderer was Ronnie. No one else that I know has shown interest in me besides you."
"Well, there's an important distinction between showing interest in you and having feelings for you, Caitlin," Jason responded easily as he raised an eyebrow at her with his smile intact, apparently not bothered by the fact that he apparently believed someone else had feelings for her as well. "The difference being that one shows interest while the other has interest without showing it."
Caitlin didn't know where he was getting this from, but she knew that the likelihood of this was nearly impossible. Cisco and her had always been like brother and sister, Joe was something of a father figure to her and definitely too old for her, Wally was dating Jesse and she was certain that he had no feelings for her, and that left Barry. And even if she wouldn't mind it if Barry had feelings for her, she was almost certain that it wasn't so.
Not wanting to argue with him and potentially ruin their date, she decided to laugh it off and joked. "Sure, but who could possibly have feelings for me? Cisco? The guy who's like a brother to me? Or Barry who's madly in love with Iris?" she finished with a fake smile, one that didn't reach her eyes as she tried not to think about that fact too much.
"Don't underestimate yourself, Cait," Jason argued as he took her hands in his and gave them a gentle squeeze. "You're a beautiful, kind, caring, compassionate woman who's willing to put others' happiness before her own. Just because someone's in a relationship doesn't mean they can't have feelings for someone else at the same time," he said with a pointed look, making her sweat a little as she wondered if he had seen what she thought he may have seen. "Besides, you're quite the catch yourself. Any man would be lucky to have you." His last words brought her back to earlier when she had been talking to Barry, who had echoed the same sentiment. The gears in her head began turning as she wondered if Jason was talking about Barry, but she quickly stamped the thought out. It was impossible. Barry would never see her that way, as he was too focused on Iris to be able to see anyone else as an option, let alone his close friend who had lost her husband because of his decision and who was still scarred from Jay. Even if he wasn't with Iris, she wasn't confident that he would see her like that, anyway.
Before she could respond to his thoughts on him thinking that he had competition, the waiter came back with their food, the two thanking him before turning to their respective meals as they dug in. "So," Jason began after taking a big bite of his food, having ordered two orders of lasagna since he had the increased metabolism of a speedster. "I told you about myself. Would it be okay if we talked about you now?"
Being surprised at this, and even though they technically already had talked about her while referring to his supposed competition, she decided that she was happy for the change of topic and nodded her agreement. "Of course. What would you like to know?"
Taking a moment to swallow his food before wiping his mouth with a napkin, she found that she admired his dinner manners which were in stark opposition to Cisco's who could eat like a pig in front of ladies and smirked at the thought, but the smirk disappeared rather quickly once she heard what he wanted to learn about her.
"Why don't you tell me about your feelings for Barry?"
Having been taking a bite of her food, she nearly choked on it and struggled not to cough it up, making Jason become concerned as he stood up and quickly put a hand on her back to soothe her, giving her gentle encouraging words as he guided her wine to her lips and helped her swallow the food down. Once he saw that she was okay and wouldn't require a heimlich maneuver, he let out a sigh of relief and sat back down before apologizing. "I'm sorry, Cait. I didn't know that you would react like that."
"It's fine," she told him as she drank some more wine, her eyes still wide from what he had asked her. Having finally managed to settle herself, she weakly asked. "What did you say again?"
Unable to hold back a chuckle at the nervous look on her face, he made sure that she was neither eating nor drinking again before repeating. "I was asking you to tell me about your feelings for Barry."
Laughing nervously, and cursing herself as she felt a furious blush come to her face as she realized how poorly she had reacted to his question, she then decided to act like he was crazy. "What do you mean? I don't have feelings for Bar-" she winced as she saw him give her a look of pure doubt, and she sighed as she leaned back in her seat. "Is it that obvious?"
Chuckling good-naturedly as he took a sip of wine, she found herself wondering why he seemed so calm about it knowing that she had just admitted to having feelings for the very one he had indicated to be his competition. "No. At least, not to those who haven't seen the things that I've seen," he told her honestly with a wink, making her blush grow as she found herself growing more and more certain that he had seen The Incident. The one she had sworn to herself that she would never talk about out loud unless absolutely necessary.
Swallowing nervously, she barely worked up the courage to ask. "And what have you seen?"
"Oh, just you kissing who you thought was Barry but turned out to actually be Everyman," Jason grinned at her, making her become simultaneously more flustered and confused as she wondered why he seemed okay with this.
"Great," she groaned louder than she meant to, taking her glass of wine and chugging it down so she could prepare herself for the conversation they were about to have. "Of course the man from a world of observers would see my worst secret."
Seeing her discomfort at the topic, but knowing that it was something that needed to be addressed, Jason reached out and once again put a hand on top of hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I understand your reluctance to talk about this, Cait, but this is important. Your feelings for Barry are just as important as Iris' feelings for him. You have every right to want him just as she does."
Giving him a weird look, she couldn't stop herself from asking. "Aren't we supposed to be getting to know each other? Why are we talking about my feelings for Barry and something that happened years ago?"
"We're talking about this because whether you want to admit it or not, you have strong feelings for Barry and you should get to have a chance with him," he told her simply, only serving to confuse the poor girl more as she tilted her head and bit her lip worriedly.
"Is this a date? Because right now I feel like I'm talking to a friend who's trying to set me up with a guy who he knows she likes," Caitlin told him seriously as she looked at him with a raised brow. "Do you even like me, Jason?"
"Of course I do, Cait," Jason assured her as he took her hand and brought it to his lips, making her blush as he kissed it before letting it go. "I have very strong feelings for you, and if things were different, I wouldn't be bothering to talk to you about your feelings for Barry. But I know you. Ronnie was your One that got away. Barry, in spite of what you've seen from the future newspaper, has the potential to be the One for you."
Caitlin let out a sigh as she shook her head at him. "How can that be, Jason? The future doesn't lie. Besides, have you seen the way he gets with Iris? The only reason he went out with other girls was because she rejected him and he knew that he had to move on. Now he's with her, and I can't picture him ever letting her go if she wants to be with him."
"The future may not lie, but it isn't set in stone," Jason argued gently as he took a sip of his wine with his free hand, continuing to hold onto the other as he soothingly traced her knuckles with his thumb as he thought about how to explain this. "Time isn't a fixed concept; it bends to the will of every decision made by every person in existence. Everyone is free to choose their own destiny, and their futures can be changed with one simple change of mind. And that's what I've been working on with Barry."
Taking on a look of complete surprise at this, Caitlin couldn't help but sputter out. "W-what?!"
Understanding her shock, Jason gave her a gentle smile as he attempted to soothe her nervousness. "Relax, Cait. I haven't told him that you like him, although I did get him to come to the conclusion that you at least possibly have had feelings for him in the past," he confessed, causing Caitlin to blush madly as she took her hands and hid her face with them. Knowing that she was very likely panicking, he gently took her hands in his and kissed them again. "Please, calm down. I promise you that everything is okay."
"How can everything be okay, Jason?!" she demanded as she looked at him like he was crazy. "Barry's in love with Iris, so even if he did like me back, he's always going to pick her. And now that he knows-"
"Thinks," Jason interrupted her, making her roll her eyes as she corrected herself.
"-Thinks that I might have liked him, everything's going to be weird between us!" she finished in exasperation, but she became oddly calm as he flashed her one of the warmest smiles she had ever seen.
"Cait, I can promise you that Barry has no conclusive evidence that you like him," he assured her as he took a bite of his food, encouraging her with his eyes to do the same. She did, albeit reluctantly, and watched as he swallowed before continuing. "All he knows right now is circumstantial evidence that he can't justify without further proof. Things would only get weird between you two if he knew that you have feelings for him. And even then, him knowing how you feel about him would not be nearly as bad as you think it would turn out to be."
Caitlin looked at him warily, wanting to believe him, but she couldn't help but have her doubts. Sure, she and Barry had been through hell together, but neither of them had ever done anything to break their friendship barrier, and she had no idea how he would react if he knew with certainty that she did indeed have feelings for him. Deciding that it didn't matter right now, she took another bite of food before arguing. "It doesn't matter, Jason. Like I said, even if Barry did like me back, he's always going to pick Iris. He's been in love with her for over half his life, and he's known me for only a few years."
"Are you sure about that, Cait?" Jason chuckled as he took another sip of wine before pouring more into her glass and then into his own, knowing that she would need it and trying not to smirk as he saw her down some more as she prepared herself to talk more about this. "Because thanks to my efforts, well… Let's just say that Barry isn't looking at Iris the same way he used to, anymore."
Taking on a frown at this, even if there was a part of her that she hated which felt hope at this thought, she asked. "What do you mean? What did you do?"
"Nothing serious," he told her honestly as he finished up his first portion of lasagna and moved onto the next. "Having seen all that I have, I noticed that Barry had a tendency to… idolize Iris while not willing to truly acknowledge her flaws. His obsession with her caused him to only see the good in her, and I simply helped him to see that she wasn't quite as flawless as he had previously thought she was."
She still felt majorly guilty for feeling an odd sense of relief that Jason had managed to get some sense into Barry's head, but she couldn't help but feel horrible that his relationship with Iris was being sabotaged for her sake. "Jason, I never asked you to do that. You should have left them alone," she chastised him, even if she knew that the reason he was doing this was for her.
"Why?" he asked seriously as he raised a brow at her, wiping his mouth with a napkin after having just finished the rest of his lasagna. "So Iris, who broke his heart twice, sabotaged his relationship with Linda, and chose a man she had known for just a little over a year over the man she had loved since she was a kid, can have him with him thinking the world of her and never considering anyone else as an option? Iris may love and care for him, but she's not the only one, and you deserve to have a chance at happiness with Barry, too, Caitlin."
Caitlin, despite still feeling incredibly guilty for the wedge that had been driven between Iris and Barry for her sake, knew that Jason meant well, even if he hadn't necessarily gone about it in the best way. No matter how much she had wanted to know if she and Barry could have a chance, she had never wanted to come between them. "Jason, really, I appreciate that you're trying to help me, but you should never have interfered with them. If they're meant to be together, they'll be together. If I'm meant to be with Barry, I'll be with Barry."
"That's not how the world works, Cait," Jason argued as he looked at her seriously. "Time is constantly in flux. There is no such thing as destiny. There may be some fixed points such as Barry Allen becoming the Flash, but we as a people must create our own destinies. We choose who we want to be with." Sighing and putting his fork down, he looked her in the eyes and continued. "Just because things aren't as they were in Barry's original timeline doesn't mean that things have to be the way they were before Thawne changed his future. The reason why Barry married Iris in his original timeline was because Iris had never met Eddie, and Barry had never met you. Now, Barry may choose to be with Iris regardless, but he is by no means predestined to be with her. The choice is his alone, and now that I've shown him that Iris isn't all that he believed she was, his heart is opening to the possibility of living his life without her."
Being surprised at this, Caitlin couldn't help but quietly ask. "Really?"
Smiling at her, he nodded and said. "Absolutely. It may take some time for him to truly be willing to let her go, but the process has already begun. With some more effort and with him now seeing that we're dating, his feelings for you will become more prominent, which is evidenced by his obvious jealousy."
Caitlin's mouth dropped open as she processed what he had told her. "You're saying that Barry's… jealous… because of me?"
"Yes, he is," Jason grinned proudly as he finished off a piece of garlic bread and let out a satisfied sigh, washing it down with a swig of wine. "Once he began seeing that Iris wasn't who he thought she was, and had been given the idea that you could have liked him in the past, it took him a few days, but he's finally come to the point where he's admitted to himself that he has feelings for you."
This was all too much for Caitlin to take. Just hours ago she had been certain that Barry would never see her as anything more than a friend, and now Jason was telling her that Barry had admitted to himself that he felt more for her than feeling friendship towards her. She had dreamed of this happening, of course, but she had never imagined it would ever actually come to pass.
"Are you sure?" she asked unsurely, making him chuckle as he nodded in affirmation, making her smile widely. It fell, however, as a question came to mind. "Jason, why are you helping me with this? Why leave your earth and come here just to help me have a chance with Barry? Did you ever actually want to date me at all?"
"Of course I did, and who said that I stopped wanting to date you?" he asked with a raised brow as he once again took her hands in his and interlocked their fingers before giving her a warm smile which caused her to flush as she found herself unable to look away. "I have every intention of dating you, and while I can, I will do everything in my power to make you as happy as possible and enjoy my time with you until Barry comes to a decision."
Biting her lip nervously, she then questioned. "And if he doesn't choose me and decides that he still wants to be with Iris?"
"If it comes to that, which I don't believe it will," he added with a reassuring smile. "I have a backup plan of sorts. I'll explain it another time, but for now all you need to know is that if you wish, I'll have a couple of options for you on the off chance that he doesn't decide to be with you. And if you ask me, if he doesn't, he will be the biggest dummy I've ever seen to turn down a woman as beautiful, intelligent, and caring as you."
Caitlin couldn't help but give him a grateful smile as she looked at Jason with some admiration of her own. "Thanks, Jason."
"Anytime, Cait," he told her with sincerity, watching as her face soon took on a puzzled look.
"You never did tell me why you came here to help me," she pointed out, seeing her date nod as he took another sip of his wine and thought about how best to answer her.
After a moment or two of silence, he finally explained. "When I was given the privilege to watch you and your friends' lives, I quickly became quite fond of you. You reminded me very much of the girl I fell in love with while I was in college, and I was impressed by how you handled yourself while losing Ronnie, getting him back only to soon lose him again, to realize your feelings for Barry but then decided to put his happiness before your own even if you could have taken a chance to try to be with him while he had thought that Iris wouldn't ever want to be with him. Not to mention the fact that you were brave and strong even when being kidnapped and mentally scarred by Zoom." He paused and gave her a look of clear admiration as he looked into her eyes. "You are quite special, Caitlin. And it broke my heart to see you go through so much and still put your own happiness to the side so that Barry could have his happy ending. And he did."
Caitlin looked at him in surprise, having known that he had seen their futures, but having never thought about asking him what he had seen. "And what happened?"
"I can't tell you everything, as there are some things that can't be changed," he told her as he gave her an apologetic smile. "But what I can tell you is this: Barry, being blinded by Iris and not allowing himself to see that there were other options that could be better for him than her, married her." Caitlin's eyes squeezed shut, having known that it was going to happen, but being saddened to hear it anyway. "They had their ups and downs along the years that followed, but in the end they had their family and were happy."
"So why change things then, Jason?" Caitlin demanded, guilt gnawing at her now that she knew that Barry's future with Iris was potentially in peril due to Jason's decision to intervene. "As much as I care about Barry, I want him to be happy. And if Iris makes him happy, then that's all that should matter."
Jason took on a frown as he heard this, clearly understanding where she was coming from, but she could see that he was not so inclined to agree with her. "Because the truth is, Cait, that just because you can end up being happy with someone does not mean that they're the right one for you." Thinking about how to explain this, he then said. "Take this for example. In the multiverse, there is currently a world where you, Caitlin Snow, are happily married to Cisco Ramon. Whereas in this world the very thought of that will probably make you want to puke."
He appeared to be right, judging by the look on her face as she tried not to think too much about that fact, and watched as she composed herself before looking at him questioningly. "Okay, you're right about that, but what's your point, Jason?"
"My point is that just because you can be happy with someone doesn't necessarily mean that they can make you the happiest," Jason answered her as he looked at her seriously. "Iris West is a lovely, intelligent girl who cares very much about Barry. But she is also often selfish, strong-willed, and at times has the tendency to act entitled. And Barry's obsession over her has caused him to become a different person from the real Barry you knew when he wasn't acting like she was the only girl in the world. She has a bad tendency to bring out the worst in Barry, whether she means to or not. You, however," he added with a smile as he leaned back in his chair. "Make Barry quite happy, too. Even if he didn't realize that the happiness he felt when he was with you was more than platonic. He becomes a better person around you, the Barry that he was meant to be, and doesn't have to hide his interests with you because you often share them. He's free to be himself when he's with you, and he knows that he can trust you with his problems and that he can rely on you even on the worst of days. And now he knows that while Iris chose Eddie over him, that you chose him over Ronnie."
Caitlin's eyes widened to the size of plates as she looked at Jason, thunderstruck by this conclusion that Jason had come to. "I'm sorry, what?"
Jason smirked as he looked at her. "Come on, Cait. Don't you remember what you told Barry when he first came to see you while you were working at Mercury Labs?"
Of course she remembered what she had said to him that day. She had missed him terribly since she had left Star Labs, but she had known that she had to get away to ease her pain and guilt from what had happened to Ronnie. There were too many memories there, and when she had lost Ronnie again after having just married him, she had known that she couldn't stay. At least, not until she had found a way to get past blaming herself for what happened and could move on from the fact that she and Ronnie would never get to be together because she hadn't been able to leave Barry. There had simply been too many memories there that she wouldn't be able to get past until she found a way to release her guilt and let him go.
"Yes, I remember what I told him," Caitlin sighed as she stared at her wine glass, knowing that even if she had agreed to move with Ronnie to another city, that it likely would have ended the same, anyway. Ronnie and Stein had been bound together by the Firestorm matrix, and they would have had to stay relatively close to each other to prevent themselves from dying since they would need to fuse together to keep themselves stable. "Even though Ronnie wanted to leave Central City so we could get away from everything, I couldn't. I couldn't leave Barry."
"Exactly," Jason agreed as he looked her in the eyes. "Even with Ronnie Raymond, the man that you were going to- and did- marry, and having the chance to start a new life with him away from all the metahuman craziness, you knew that you didn't want to live your life without Barry in it. And the reason for this wasn't just because Barry had pulled you out of a dark pit in your life. It was because you fell in love with him, and came to love him more than you loved Ronnie, which was why even when you knew that Ronnie was still out there that you were unable to stop yourself from kissing him back the second time when you thought it was actually him."
Was what Jason was saying true? Could she have fallen in love with Barry without even knowing it? Thinking back to her time with Barry, she supposed it was possible. Yes, Barry had given her a reason to live when she had thought that there wasn't one anymore after Ronnie's disappearance, but she realized that it was deeper than that. Ronnie had entered her heart by sneaking past her defenses with his jokes, charm, and genuine affection for her. He had somehow figured out just how to scale up the walls she put up and find his way over them, slowly but surely continuing on until he had won a place in her heart. With Barry, however, it had been different. Barry, being the noble, kind, charming, funny, heroic- even if he was also a total dork- man that he was, hadn't merely gotten past her defenses. He had broken them down. Super-sonic punched his way through them without even trying until he had claimed his place in her heart, and it wasn't until after her kiss with Everyman that made her realize her feelings for Barry that she figured out what had been done.
Over such a short time, he had managed to somehow become more important to her than Ronnie, and she was now realizing that Jason was right. She did love Barry more than she had loved Ronnie, and it explained perfectly why she had been unable to stop herself from kissing Everyman back the second time around, even when she had known that Ronnie was still alive. Caitlin still felt horrible for betraying Ronnie as she had, and even though she was glad that he would never know of it, she would always blame herself for not being strong enough to push who she had thought to be Barry away.
Regardless of her guilt at what happened, from thinking about all of what Jason had pointed out, she now knew that he was right: She loved Barry Allen more than she had loved Ronnie Raymond. She hadn't thought that such a thing was possible, but now she knew. And it was secretly terrifying, especially given the fact that she knew there was still a pretty good chance that Barry would turn her down in favor of Iris.
"You're right," she finally acknowledged in amazement as this realization surged over her. "I love Barry. Even more than I loved Ronnie."
Jason grinned, glad to see that he had finally put things into perspective for her. "There you go. Ronnie Raymond was your first love, but he was by no means your last. And whether Barry realizes it or not, he has strong feelings for you, too. And although he and Iris could have a happy life together, the same could be said for any of his girlfriends. Patty, Linda, even Becky Cooper. He could have lived a happy life with any of them as well as Iris, but that doesn't mean that any of them were the right woman for him. Barry needs someone who can be there for him, care for him and show him, powers or no powers, that he would still be every bit the hero that he is now." Pausing for a moment, he then continued. "Iris could be that for him, but so could you, Cait. And from what I've seen, no one has ever made Barry Allen feel as free to be the hero that he is more than you have. His feelings for Iris may be strong, and she may love him a lot, but so do you. And the way I see it, you love him enough to put his happiness ahead of yours, while Iris chose to put her happiness ahead of his."
Caitlin was stunned as she listened to Jason, finding her heart beating hopefully as she realized that he very well could be right. Iris really was a great girl, but the thing that she had loved about Ronnie most was how willing he was to make the choice to put her happiness above his own, which she had tried to do as well. And Barry, even if he had let his jealousy often get the best of him while she had been with Eddie and had wanted to sabotage their relationship as well, had loved Iris enough not to cause further trouble for them once she had made her decision, knowing that it was a lost cause to continue trying to convince her to be with him and that he had to let her be with the one she had chosen. Albeit reluctantly, he had decided to put her happiness ahead of his own because he loved her, while she had chosen to be with Eddie for the sake of her own happiness and because she had simply wanted to be with him more.
True love wasn't choosing your own happiness. It was about seeking the person you love's happiness above your own. If you really loved someone, you had to be willing to let them go for them to be happy. That was something Barry had struggled to do when he had wanted Iris to be with him while she had been with Eddie, but had eventually figured it out when Iris had made her choice and knew that he couldn't keep pursuing her. Even when Eddie was out of the picture, he knew that she had made her choice and that he needed to let her go, even if it had taken him until meeting Patty for him to truly try.
Was Barry by any means perfect? Absolutely not. He was impatient, stubborn, and one of the most jealous people she had ever met. But he learned from his mistakes. He learned from his time dealing with Iris being with Eddie, and Caitlin knew that if Iris ever decided that she wanted to be with someone else, that Barry would not repeat his mistakes like he had after waking up from his coma only to find out that Iris had decided to date Eddie.
Iris, however, had chosen her own happiness over Barry's. And although she loved Barry a great deal, she wasn't sure that Iris' love for the scarlet speedster was the right kind of love, not like the way Caitlin loved him. She was willing to sacrifice her happiness for his, while Iris had sacrificed Barry's happiness for her own.
"You're right," Caitlin finally conceded, making Jason grin, but it fell as she gave him a serious look. "But regardless of that, the decision is still Barry's to make, and he still might choose Iris in the end. I'll let him figure it out in his own time, but until then, I'm going to enjoy my time with you. If that's okay with you," she amended, making Jason laugh as he took her hands in his and squeezed them.
"I'd love nothing more." Caitlin smiled gratefully at him, being glad that she had someone who cared enough about her to go to such great lengths to help her have a happy future, especially someone who wasn't even from their world. "And I know you're still not confident that Barry will choose you, Cait, but I really think he will. All he needs is someone to help him see what he's blinded himself to, and I am happy to help him out with that." Looking at the time, Jason saw that it was getting late and decided that it was time for him to take her back home. "Well, I have to say that was one of the best meals I've ever had, and I've had a great time tonight. Even if our date wasn't exactly normal, all things considered."
Caitlin laughed as she nodded her agreement. "Yeah, I can definitely say this is the first date I've ever been on where the guy spent half of it talking about how he was trying to set me up with his own competition," she joked, making him chuckle as he finished his wine. "Even if it's weird, and I'm still scared about what's going to happen, I really do want to thank you for trying so hard, Jason. It means a lot to me that you're willing to go to such lengths to help me find the right guy."
"It's my pleasure, Cait," Jason told her honestly with a warm smile. "Girls like you are rare to find, and I want to do whatever I can to help them find their happy ending."
"My hero," Caitlin smiled warmly at him, watching as he called for the bill and paid for their dinner. With that taken care of, the two made their way back to his car and soon found themselves outside of Caitlin's apartment building. Letting him help her out of the car, she let him walk her up to the entryway doors before turning around. "So… I know that our relationship is not going to be normal since you're trying to help me get Barry, but what's the verdict on kissing while we're together?"
Jason smiled as he shrugged. "That would be up to you, Cait. I have no problem kissing you, but I know that your heart is really with Barry. But," he added as he took on a mischievous smirk. "If we kiss, you can tell Barry about it and make him more jealous."
Finding herself smiling at the thought, even though there was a part of her that still found it hard to believe that Barry had actually shown jealousy for her, she smiled and shrugged. "Why not? Besides, you've earned it." Leaning into him, she put her free hand on his shoulder and gave him a gentle kiss, letting her lips linger on his for a few moments before pulling away.
"That was lovely," Jason told her as he gave her a bright smile. "Almost as lovely as you, Caitlin." Caitlin blushed and playfully rolled her eyes before pressing the button on her bracelet so he would be able to take off his meta cuffs when he left. "Thank you for a wonderful evening, Doctor Snow."
"Thank you," she thanked him sincerely back before giving him a gentle smile. "Goodnight, Jason."
"Goodnight, Cait," he responded, making her smile grow a little before she made her way inside, and Jason couldn't help but smile. What he had said was true: Caitlin reminded him a lot of his college girlfriend. He hadn't seen her in years, but he did still miss her every once in a while. Maybe once he had finished what he came here to do, maybe he could see if she would be willing to give their relationship another chance. But for now, his job was to do whatever he could to hopefully get Barry Allen to see that the right choice for him was Caitlin Snow. This would not be an easy task, but it was one that he was going to give his best. And if he failed, he would be content in the knowledge that he had tried all that he could.
Knowing that there was more work to be done, and knowing that he would soon have to have another discussion with Barry to move things along, he decided that it was time for him to go back to the hotel he was staying at and get some rest. His plan was in full effect. There was no turning back now.
