Away // Snowbarry

IV

"Barry!" Joe cried out as he went searching for his non-responsive son.

I dug around fallen shelves where I knew Barry would have put his dummy Cisco made. I moved a shelf and a few boxes slightly to find a crimson red suit. I moved the rest of the boxes that was covering him up and bent down.

"Guys, I found him!" I alerted everyone else.

I began to do a check-up on the dummy to make it look real before shaking my head.

"He's dead," I began to do my best fake cry.

I ran through the STAR Labs hallways with Cisco and into to the cortex. Joe was at the microphone giving Wally directions on what to do and Iris was checking his vitals.

"Dad, what do I do?" Wally asked frantically.

"I don't know, give me a second to think," Joe sighed, evidently stressed.

I grabbed the microphone from Joe and smiled at them as I saw their stunned facial expressions.

"You get the hostages out first then sneak up on them. You don't normally take robberies so they'll be surprised you're there, use that to your advantage," I instructed him.

"Caitlin?" He asked through the com system.

"It's me," I smiled at everyone in the cortex before going back to the microphone, "Go!"

Wally did as he was told and rescued everyone while sending the robbers off to jail. While he basked in the glory of saving people down at the bank, I gave hugs to everyone in the cortex. Joe seemed happy to see me and I knew Cisco was glad to have me back but Iris didn't seem all that thrilled.

Once Wally arrived back at the cortex we hugged and I congratulated him on his successful day. It was nice to be back with my friends. Of course, I miss Barry but I've been with him almost every day and, somewhere deep inside of me, I knew time apart would be good for us.

"Not that I'm not glad to have you back, but why are you here?" Joe asked suspiciously.

I made something up, "It's been two years since Barry's death and I've finally found myself in a happy place so I decided to visit."

No one knew what to say. Perhaps they don't bring up Barry's death often so when I did they were brought back to a dark time. I looked at them awkwardly as the smile on my face casually slipped away.

After a few moments, Cisco broke the silence, "We're happy you're back for the week."

Iris took a deep breath in, "Why don't we all go get dinner and Caitlin can update us on her life."

Everyone nodded in agreement with Iris's suggestion. We collectively exited STAR Labs and began our way to Iris, Wally, and Joe's house since they offered to cook for us.

Their house still looked the same. The living room furniture was still arranged the exact same way it had been two years ago. The color of the walls was the exact same shade and each picture frame still had the same picture in it.

I had assumed they would be cooking being as they invited us over but Wally just picked up some pizza. Everyone sat down on the couch as the pizza box was passed around.

"So, Caitlin, tell us where you've been," Joe started the conversation.

"Well, I have a house about two hours away and I work as an optometrist," I told them the basics.

"I always knew you would be an optometrist," Cisco smiled.

Everyone laughed at his realization except for Iris. She was really different from the last time I saw her. Iris seemed to keep more to herself and not engage in the conversation like she used to. Then again that could be the new normal for her and I just wouldn't know it.

After some basic conversation updating each other on what was going on and the pizza was finished, my phone rang. No doubt that it would be Barry checking in on me. I excused myself from the living room and made my way into the bathroom to take his call without people listening in.

"Hey beautiful, how goes it in Central City?" Barry started, making me blush.

"Everyone is really good. Iris seems a bit off but I haven't seen her in a while so this could just be normal," I told him.

"Well I'm glad everyone has gotten past it," Barry said and I could tell he was frowning.

"How was your day?" I asked to snap back to a happier thought.

"For the first time since Central City, I had to work a murder case," He told me.

"How was that? I can imagine you had some deja vu," I asked, concerned about his mental state.

"Well it wasn't a metahuman so I think we're in the clear," He chuckled.

"I should probably go," I said with a bit of laughter, "I love you."

"Love you too," He replied before hanging up.

I walked back to the living room to be with everyone else. Joe and Wally were cleaning up the remainder of the mess from dinner as Iris and Cisco sat on the couch talking.

"I'm really tired," I stated, "Cisco, you ready to go?"

"Yeah," He stood up, "Thank you for dinner."

"Yes, thank you! I'll see you all tomorrow I hope," I waved goodbye as Cisco and I walked out the door. 

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