Hey, wow, it's been a while. Where to begin?
Around the time I started writing Part 3, I was going through some pretty major life changes, including a new job that's kept me pretty busy. That and I was deciding on the exact circumstances of Barry's return, all of which had this middle string of chapters play out very differently.
I don't know how frequent updates are going to be from here on, but for now, enjoy.
The Loft
Barry woke up late the next morning. He couldn't remember the last time he woke up so peacefully. No nightmares, no empty bed. He looked down at Caitlin sleeping soundly resting her head on his chest.
The time before Caitlin opened her eyes was well spent. Barry admired her brown hair glowing in the morning sun seeping through the crack in the drapes. He ran his fingers through it, trying to tidy it a little from all those months she was on her own (and from all they did last night).
"Hii." Caitlin refused to move in the slightest. She didn't want Barry to stop what he was doing.
"'Hi' yourself." Barry moved his hand down to Caitlin's and laced his fingers into hers. He felt his mother's old ring sitting on his fiancée's finger. "You ready to break the news to everybody?"
"Absolutely." Caitlin chuckled slightly. "Assuming we don't run into something trying to kill us."
"What could possibly happen?"
Central City
Later that day, Cisco and Barry each hid behind their own barricade to shield themselves from something firing at them. They'd gotten separated from Caitlin in the chaos of the dimly lit arena. The boys were lucky to be taking cover so close to one another. They tightly gripped the blasters in their hands, looking for any opening to fight back.
"Barry!" Cisco shouted. "Where are you?"
"I don't know!" Barry shouted back. "I lost Caitlin! There's too many of them!"
"No! You can take them! You just gotta do one thing. Run, Barry. Run!"
Barry steeled himself, let out a battle cry, and charged... at a group of kids wielding laser tag guns and immediately got his vest deactivated. "Aw. They got me."
"Oh, you have failed this city!" Cisco decried before jumping in.
Cisco wondered how he got taken out so quickly, seeing as none of their opponents had fired.
Barry and Cisco looked behind them, where Harry was setting his blaster down after just meeting the same fate they did. He looked more irritated than apologetic for his friendly fire.
"For real, Harry?" Cisco said. "You were supposed to be keeping an eye out for Chad."
"It's too dark in here, Ramon," Harry complained as he fidgeted with his vest, clearly uncomfortable with its weight.
"Do I look like Chad?"
"Well, you're about his height, so..."
As Cisco gasped with a look of pure, unfiltered offense on his face, Caitlin finally found them, her vest still active.
"Wait, did you all die already?" She shook her head disapprovingly.
"Well, Harry-" Cisco failed to explain. He just shook his head and led his eliminated teammates to the waiting area until the round ended.
After the game, the team (sans Harry) stopped by the picnic area in the park to meet up with Cecile and Wally. Joe arrived with the food everyone ordered, quickly becoming accustomed once again to the absurd amount of food Barry ate.
"You okay, Wally?" Barry noticed he was being a little quiet.
"Uh, yeah. I'm good," Wally said. "Just got something on my mind.
"Where's Harry?" Joe asked. "I thought he was with you guys."
"He wanted me to take him straight back to STAR Labs," Barry mumbled in between bites of his burger. "Said he had some things to take care of before leaving."
"Right. He's supposed to be going back to Earth-2 tomorrow, right?"
"He said he might stay another day if he needed to," Caitlin said.
"Yeah, well, while he's still here, Jesse insisted he spend some time with us while he still can," Cisco laughed. "Look how that turned out."
The very mention of Jesse's name made Wally squirm.
Cecile shot Joe a look like she had an idea. "Well, we should have them both over for dinner before then. Everyone here is welcome, too."
Barry's eyes perked up. "Hang on. Did you guys move in together?"
"Yeah, a couple weeks ago," Joe caught him up. "While we're on the topic of big life news, what about you, Barr? You said you guys had something."
"Well..." Barry couldn't keep his smile contained as he let Caitlin take it from there.
She pulled down the sleeve of her sweater hiding the fingers on her left hand. And the ring Barry gave her.
The outburst of surprise and joy was followed by hugs going around congratulating them.
STAR Labs - Caitlin's Lab
Lunch had to be cut short. Now that things had calmed down, Barry and Caitlin put some time into cleaning up the building after Thawne shook it up during his attack.
While sweeping up some broken glass, Barry stumbled onto a framed photograph of three people on the floor. A young Caitlin, couldn't have been older than ten, was in the middle, in the arms of her mother. It was hard to imagine that they were ever that close. On her other side was a man Barry didn't recognize, but his eyes looked a lot like Caitlin's. Three guesses who it was.
"Hey, Cait." Barry showed her the photo, shaking off the remaining shards of glass.
Caitlin held the photo, taking a second to remember better times. "That's my dad."
"You never talk about him." Barry wasn't sure how far to press. This was uncharted territory.
"Not much to say. He died when I was really young. And it's not like Mom ever thought it was a good idea to even mention him."
That didn't stop Barry from wanting to give her a hug. He could tell how much Caitlin still missed him.
Caitlin told Barry she could finish cleaning her lab from there. She needed a few minutes alone. Barry told her he'd check on her later and went to see if there was anything else he could help with.
STAR Labs - Cortex
In the other room, Barry found Harry working at the terminal.
"Oh, hey," Barry greeted him. "Thought you would be getting ready to head home."
"Well, I found some time to kill." Harry shrugged. "Helps when your daughter is a speedster. Thought I would look into why Snow's powers are acting up."
"And?" Barry excitedly darted for Harry's side. He couldn't think of a better person to ask for help. "Did you find anything?"
"Uh, yes and no." Harry opened the results of several tests he ran. "The thing is, there doesn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary. Dark matter levels are normal, body temperature hasn't fluctuated; medically, there's nothing wrong for the most part."
