You Make Me Feel Home Again

I'm Here For You

"Barry, there's something I need to tell you," Caitlin stated shakily, her eyes avoiding him and he knew that something was wrong. He took her hand and smiled softly at her to encourage her. He wasn't going to force her to tell him what was going on but he could tell something was bothering her and he wanted to help her.

"You can tell me," he encouraged, squeezing her hand. She dragged her eyes from the sheets of her bed to his and somehow the sincerity in them gave her the courage she needed to tell him her story.

"I told you a little bit about my mother, she died when I was fourteen years old. She was a scientist in the same field as I aspire to be in. One day, she went to work and never came back. A drunk driver collided with her car and..." she paused to wipe the tears away that had gathered in her eyes and catch her breath. "She was killed instantly. The drunk driver was put in prison for a very long time and he's still serving time now. When she died, we lost everything,"

"My father he... he took it hard. It took him a long time to get over her death and honestly I think he is still hurting over it now. He had a few alcohol problems and was depressed for about a year. I remember that time very well. I had to take care of him when he was drunk and hungover and after a while of convincing, I got him to willingly go to see a counselor and go to AA meetings. He's been sober for three years now. But his problems caused him to lose his job. He and my mom worked at the same pharmaceutical company in Utah and he found it hard going to work there every day,"

"His boss was getting tired of the lateness and absences. He labeled my father unreliable and fired him for it. Ever since then money has been difficult to come by. My father has been desperately trying to find a suitable job but his reputation was ruined by his old boss. One mistake changed everything for us, there were times when I thought we wouldn't make it and we'd lose our house and be evicted but we just about got by on the bare minimum. Growing up like that, it was hard. the last five years of my life have been really hard,"

"I didn't think I would ever get to go to college. I had always wanted to come here for college just like my parents but I didn't think I would be able to afford it. But I studied ridiculously hard anyway hoping that if I got a large enough scholarship then I might be able to just about afford it. And I did. I barely had a social life and it took so much work but I got a large scholarship to attend here. My father worked so hard to get me the rest of the money required. I owe so much to him. It wasn't his fault he lost his job. And I know he beats himself enough about it as it is,"

"But the thing is... Utah is so far away and the plane ticket flights are too costly. I barely have enough money to eat right now let alone to go home and see my father. I'm stuck here. All year. No Christmas, no spring break, no summer. I'm stuck in Central City until I have the money to return. And I have no idea what I'm going to do. Before I left I hadn't thought about what I was going to do and now I'm here I just don't know what I'm going to do," she trailed off, tears trickling down the cheeks.

"Hey, hey, it will all be okay. We'll figure something out okay. I will make sure of it. Come on, you are too beautiful to be crying," he comforted putting an arm around her and she cuddled into his chest, blushing from him calling her beautiful.

She didn't realize how tired she was until she felt how comfortable and at home she was in Barry's arms, holding her close. She felt herself slip away into sleep.

"I'll leave you to sleep in peace," he whispered in her ear, kissing her head.

"No, please stay with me," she murmured. He was going to protest but couldn't quite bring himself to do it. It didn't help that she was grasping at him so tightly and didn't want to let go and he didn't either. "I don't want to sleep yet. Can we watch TV?"