Only Because I Need You

Catch Up

Caitlin sat back in her seat. The familiarity of her lab around her eased nerves she hadn't realised she had. Cisco was sitting on the gurney in the middle of the floor, his dark locks were tucked safely away behind his ears and her eyes stared at her wearily. He slouched over himself, gripping onto the gurney for extra support. Barry was right beside him, mimicking his pose, but he had much darker bags under his eyes and his shoulders were visibly lower than usual. Caitlin clasped her hands in her lap, "so basically, Sonny is being tracked down by a group of breachers called the Breacher's Brotherhood, who want to use his powers to assist them in their criminal activities. So then the head of the Brotherhood, Tate Johnning, put a bounty on his head so breachers from all across the multiverse have been attacking you non-stop since I left," Caitlin raised an eyebrow and sucked a deep breath.

Barry nodded his head, "pretty much,"

"The name Tate Johnning, I have heard it somewhere before," she clicked her tongue and narrowed her eyes into space. No, she had never heard the name Tate Johnning specifically, but she had heard the name Tate J. She sighed, "the man who ran the Meta Fighting Ring, he told us his name was Tate J. I don't know they are the same person, but I wouldn't be surprised,"

Cisco and Barry shared a look, "What did he look like?" Cisco asked, cocking an eyebrow at her.

"I don't really know," Caitlin replied, "our cell was pitch black and we really couldn't see," the only thing she really remembered about the man was his voice. It was smooth like silk, but so harsh and cold.

"We?" Barry asked as he leaned back further on the gurney and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Ethan and I, we had conjoined cells," she explained.

"Speaking of him..." Barry cleared his throat and sent a sideways glance to Cisco, "What do you think we should do with him?"

Caitlin let out a puff of air. That was something that had been niggling at her attention since she woke up again, "I don't know..." she pursed her lips, "I don't think he is after revenge anymore Barry,"

Barry narrowed his eyes, "I will not risk him hurting Iris, so you need to assure me he will not try to kill her if we allow him to leave this facility," Cisco's eyes dropped to the floor and his body partially pivoted away from the speedster.

Caitlin jutted her jaw out to one side. She understood that he was very sleep deprived and that he had justifiable reasons to be concerned for Irises safety, so she decided not to take his mild aggression personally, "Barry, I cannot read that man's mind, but he did fleetingly mention to me that he no longer wished to see Iris dead,"

Barry's lips tugged downwards, "you're right. I'm sorry," he sighed, scratching the back of his head, "I don't want to lock Ethan up again, he saved your life... but I still don't completely trust him to be speeding around this world without supervision,"

Caitlin nodded. She had assumed as much, "that, we can work with," she sent him a cheesy smile. He smiled back, much more softly than her. Cisco exhaled almost inaudibly. They had work to do.

Ethan remembered everything from when he was Barry and more. As a result, when he visited specific places he was overcome with sad nostalgia. The Cortex was one such place. The air was so thick with the smell of coffee and machinery, that he was nearly sent flying back into the past. It still had a few improvements to make before it matched the S.T.A.R. Labs of his time, but it's familiarity was swamping him with unwanted emotions. He could remember waking up, confused and panicked after being trapped in a coma for nine months. He could remember Zoom's hand wrapped tightly around his clothing, his feet barely touching the ground and breath barely reaching his throat. He could remember much from the cortex, but all of it seemed like a hazy dream.