Destiny

Thirty five

After regrouping, Caitlin and Barry went into the Cortex where Cisco and Charlie were waiting.

"Oh my gosh, Caitlin," Charlie sighed in relief as he gave his little sister a hug, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling better," Caitlin sniffled. Forming a small grin, she said, "I feel like this getting kidnapped thing is kind of getting old though."

Cisco and Barry joined with small laughs, as Charlie turned his head. 

"Huh?" he said, showing a sense of concern. He hasn't been in Caitlin's life, physically, very long, but he had grown up with the pain of knowing he had a baby sister who wasn't allowed to know about him. On the very few occasions that Thomas and Elijah had told Charlie about his sister, it only made him want to be her big brother even more. Now that he is now able to be her big brother, he wanted desperately to make up that time and protect her, but she isn't his baby sister anymore. 

"Oh, it's nothing you need to worry about, Charlie," Caitlin replied. "I'll tell you more Team Flash stories later." 

"Oh, okay," he replied, unsure he wanted to push aside this conversation for later. "Umm, so what happened with that guy?"

"Joe, he shot him," Barry replied, looking down. Although he knew it was apart of the job of law enforcement, Barry hated it when anyone died when the Flash was involved, bad or good. He wasn't a killer and has always tried to avoid it, the whole killing the another city's thing. "He's dead."

"Is Joe going to be okay?" Cisco asked. 

"It's being filed under self-defense, which it was," Barry replied, "Cecile is helping him with everything else." Barry paused, and sighed, "I just wished this ended on a better note."

"C'mon Barry," Caitlin took his hand, "Don't this weigh you down. Just think what else could've happened." 

Barry nodded, "Yeah, I know. But I wish death wasn't the option." 

"I mean, it seemed like the only available option at the time," Charlie added in.

"W-what do you mean?" Barry asked raising his eyebrow. 

"If Joe hadn't killed Mardon, you would've died, both of you. It seems like it was the best choice," Charlie replied. 

"But there's always another way, we don't kill," Barry added, the room seemed to feel slightly tenser. 

"I'm not saying we should kill all the bad guys, but it's a last resort that should always be taken into consideration," Charlie said. 

"Into consideration?! Charlie, this team doesn't kill, and I don't know how things worked when you were up in Gotham. Which by the way, we know absolutely nothing about. But killing the enemy, killing anyone, we don't do that." 

"Yeah, and how about when the enemy kills the whole city? Bomb, a countless number of hospitals? Take women and children hostage?" Charlie argued, "Barry if you as leader of team Flash, won't take the necessary steps to save and protect, I will. I've been doing this vigilante/hero thing for a whole lot longer than you or your Arrow buddy has, and I've learned things I wished weren't true. But they are." 

"Hey, if you don't agree with the way things work here, maybe you should ice surf your way back up to New York," Barry replied with a harsh tone. 

Charlie was about to reply, but Caitlin intervened, "Guys... Stop it!"

They both took a step back, after seeing the eagerness in Caitlin's eyes. She hated seeing her family fight, after having fought with her single, workaholic, mother through years of teenhood. 

"I need to go back to work," Barry said, breaking the silence before leaving. 

Cisco stepped away from the awkwardness and went into his workshop to improve Charlie's suit. 

"I'm sorry," Charlie said to Caitlin, "Sometimes I forget I'm still new to this team."

"Your new to the team, but you're family Chalire," Caitlin replied causing him to break a smile. "C'mon, Barry probably wouldn't want me to go anywhere alone, and it looks like you could use a drink," she said upon grabbing her purse and heading for the door. 

"Wait, but you-," he began before she cut him off. 

"You," she replied, "could use a drink." 

He nodded, she wasn't wrong, and followed her out the door. 

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Sorry for the shorter chapters. 

What did you think? I love a good sibling dynamic.
do you think Barry will be okay with how Charlie works?
What kind of hero was Charlie in Gotham, and who has he
worked with? What do you think of Caitlin and Charlie's sibling
dynamic? Be sure to leave a vote and/or comment, thanks for reading!