Every Breath You Take

13

Snart had almost killed her.

Twice.

The first time, he had sat in the background as Caitlin tended the terrible black 'burn' on her side, his hands clenched tightly into fists. From the corner of his eye he could make out Cisco standing to the side, staring wide-eyed at the damage done to the speedster.

Eobard wanted to turn, to rant at him for what his weapon had done to her.

And then Felicity asked him how it was possible for someone with Snart's education level had managed to build such a weapon and he wanted to laugh; Snart was a brilliant man, even he admitted that. Just because he hadn't finished high-school wasn't a reason to think he wasn't.

"STAR Labs built the cold gun," he had announced and was on the receiving end of the most raw, betrayed look from Carrie.

He wanted to move forward, pull her to him and cradle her.

Cisco manned up quicker than he thought and he was no longer on the end of that look and he all but sagged in relief.

After she had left the Cortex, he had retreated as well, checking on her by the surveillance he had set up before he found her in her apartment....boiling water as her bath tub slowly filled.

Ahh....she was trying to warm up. He watched as she sank into the bathtub; she rarely just soaked, always hurrying with a shower so it was a moment of peace and quiet for him to watch her.

His eyes kept going to her side in worry; it was healing so slowly by her body's standards...every movement, every breath, had to be excruciating.

He might have to send Felicity a thing of roses or chocolates or a new computer – she had been just what was needed to give Carrie a pep-talk to bring her back to STAR Labs...

...though as he watched her curled up and unmoving in a chair watching the monitor connected to the police scanner...

That wasn't natural. It was like her inner radiance had dimmed. But Felicity, when all else failed had managed to bring the faintest of smiles to Carrie's lips...though not to those blank eyes.

When she had moved from the chair, zooming over and changing into her suit at super-speed, he had been relieved...right up until she had switched off the receiver in her ear piece.

Dammit Cisco!

Eobard was practically on pins and needles the entire time she was gone; faintly he was aware of Felicity rallying Caitlin and Cisco to go out and help Carrie themselves...

...and they did. Surprisingly well too.

But still, all he could think about was if Snart hadn't bought Cisco's bluff---

Eobard took a breath after Felicity and Carrie had left. There was still a sadness lingering in Carrie's eyes that stabbed at him.

"Cisco," Eobard murmured, reaching over and gripping the young man by the bicep, giving him a piercing stare. "Don't you ever do anything like that again. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir," Cisco squeaked. Good Lord, Dr Wells was stronger than he looked!

Satisfied, he released him and wheeled the chair away, feeling Cisco's eyes trailing after him.

Not too long after, he was safely tucked away in his time vault – which was completely outfitted much like a tiny apartment, complete with a bed, half bath, and kitchenette. Eobard settled on the edge of the bed, reviewing the footage from earlier that day – the trivia night.

Yes, he was wanting to know if the friend of Eddie's had shown. And if so, which friend.

At first it looked like he hadn't, which was a relief...and then a figure that shouldn't have been there approached.

Hunter Zolomon.

What the hell?!

Eobard leaned forward in surprise as he stared at the man who would become Zoom, the nemesis of Carrie's successor. Zolomon was friends with his ancestor?! That wasn't---

--time boom.

Of course.

The ripples were small when he altered the past, first by killing Nora Allen and then by building the particle accelerator so soon, but they would still radiate out and make changes.

He ran a hand down his face while he watched Carrie and Felicity dominating in the trivia game, his mind racing.

There were consequences to changing time, there always were.

Nora Allen was to have died that night at the hands of the Keystone Butcher and Henry Allen set up to take the fall for it; Henry Allen was supposed to have been executed for those crimes as Carrie went into college.

But because of his blind rage sending him farther back than he had intended that day....he had screwed everything up. And he had to keep Carrie from finding out.

She could possibly forgive him for what he did to her mother in a frantic attempt to keep the timeline stable, she was....so gentle, so forgiving....but what he'd had to to to Tess Morgan and Harrison Wells...

...of becoming Harrison Wells and deceiving the world...deceiving her....

That would be harder for her to forgive.

Maybe she would, in time.

But the thought of her angry at him....it brought back the memories of her future-self's rejections of his advances.

...he had been stupid and eager then.

He admitted it. He wasn't the most schooled with women.

He'd like to think now, after being stuck here in the past and with the help of the memories he had absorbed from Harrison Wells that he would be a bit better at it. And from how she blushed and acted around him, perhaps he was.

Though, he thought with a frown, watching Carrie absently pat Zolomon's arm before following Felicity off to the bathroom, he probably shouldn't provoke her jealousy.

It seemed to make her look elsewhere for affection and attention instead of making her bolder.

He could kick himself for that now; if he'd known that he'd not have praised Felicity to her as the hacker left earlier.

No matter.

He'd think of something.