Only Because I Need You Too

Chapter 35: All Quiet On Set

Ethan strolled into the S.T.A.R. Labs lounge with his hands stuffed into his pockets. The team was scattered on the couches, their heads angled up towards the small screen suspended from the ceiling. "There he is, the man himself!" Cisco cheered, pointing a finger to the screen. Displayed on it was a blurry, unfocused photograph of the Ebony Ghost. Ethan let out a soft pfft. he plonked himself down on the C-shaped couch next to Caitlin and Cisco. The news report droned in the background.

Ethan could never understand why people cared so much about the Ebony Ghost. Perhaps it was because he was a novelty. A hero who only appeared in the most dire situations. On his occasional public job, Ethan got more press than the Flash did for the week to follow. It hadn't taken long for the media to reveal that the Flash and the Ebony Ghost were working together and that the Ebony Ghost only appeared when The Flash was otherwise occupied or overwhelmed. Then the conspiracies started. Some of them were scarily true, others not so much. One such one was that the shadow hear was an alien from mars who had taken the form of the Flash to help face crime on earth. Ethan nearly rolled his eyes. Why would an alien care about the crime in Central City?

"How's Sonny Cisco?" Iris was sitting next to the mechanic, a gentle smile gracing her features.

Cisco blew out a puff of air between his lips. "The tyke's doing great. He sent me a letter talking about all the other metas his age he as met." He chuckled. "He's in awe and..." he paused for a moment, pursing his lips, "I think he's happy."

"That's great," Barry stretched an arm around his wife's shoulders and patted his friend on the back. "We don't have to worry about him, Medusa wouldn't dare attack such a highly protected institution." Cisco nodded.

Ethan cast his eyes up to the screen. The topic had changed. The petit news reporter had moved on to the case of the missing victims. From his peripheral vision he could see Dawn staring intently at the screen, her face entrapped in a tight scowl, her hand squeezed into a tight fist. Naturally she was sitting at the very end of the couch next to Dawn. Ethan supposed it made sense and that he shouldn't think too deeply into it. Although they were the same people in her future, she didn't know them in this time. So Nora was the only one she was close to. Literally and physically.

"I don't understand Medusa's motive. Why take the bodies? For what purpose?" Nora scrunched up her features and ran a hand through her hair.

"A last ditch attempt to kill us." Ethan snorted, running his hands down his jeans.

"I spoke to Taylor, our Medusa, and she was much more sane than the future Medusa. Also, she hated being called Medusa. She insisted I call her Taylor." Iris let out a deep winded sigh. Ethan's guts stirred. That feeling, hating the name you have been given, he knew it all too well. The memory of the seething rage he felt when Caitlin first revealed his new name still burned inside his chest.

"She has been stripped of everything she knew, dumped into a cell, forced to fight for her life, succumbed to Stockholm syndrome and been turned into a criminal in the eyes of the public. She lost everything. Her name is the one thing she can hold onto." Caitlin spoke freely, her dazed eyes focused on the screen. Ethan grasped her hand in his own. They knew. The torture of being a slave to entertainment. Being forced to fight for people you didn't know. Children. At the time Ethan didn't care. He knew it was survival of the fittest and was not proud to say that the guilt he was supposed to feel had never revealed itself to him.

"Medusa is insane." Dawn spoke evenly. All eyes turned to her. "She controls it well in public, but when she is alone it really shines out."

"You witnessed her insanity whilst you were working with them?" Iris cocked a brow. Dawn nodded slowly, a shudder traveled visibly down her spine. "Did it feel good to shoot Barry in the back?" Iris smiled widely, sending a taunting glare to her husband who simply narrowed his eyes back.

Dawn shrugged, "Well he did break my back." Ethan nearly choked. Nora turned to Dawn with an alarmed stare, slapping her half-sister on the arm and hissing under her breath. Dawn was staring back at them with reddened cheeks and a wary glance.

"That was me?" Barry spoke, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

Dawn waved him off, "Well Ethan wouldn't do it and Nora was too young." With a snort she added, "as I was saying, that just means we are even now."

*

Caitlin pinched the bridge of her nose, inhaled sharply, stole a glance at Ethan and pushed open the wooden door in front of her. The door creaked open at a painstakingly slow speed. With a shaky breath, she stepped into the dim lighting of the room beyond. The room beyond was small, a tiny lounge with only a few chairs and a coffee table. When star labs had been running it was knows as the consulting room which doubled as the interview room. Sitting cross legged on one of the armchairs was Dawn, a small book clutched in her hands. The speedster glanced up at the pair and smiled. "Dawn, can we talk?" Caitlin asked. Even she had to strain to hear her own voice.

Loui sent the, a warm smile, "of course." She gestured to the seats around her.

Caitlin wasted no time in taking a seat. She was in her last term of pregnancy and her feet were sure to let her know. Choosing the armchair closest to Dawn, the doctor nearly collapsed into it. Ethan chose the seat closest to her's. The gentle buzz of the lamp cooled her nerves. "I'm just curious, what was Ethan like as a father?" She sent a playful glare towards him. Caitlin inwardly cursed, that was not what she wanted to ask, but she supposed it was better to start with something small.

Dawn let out a huff of air and sent them a happy smile. Ethan happily returned it. Caitlin nearly snorted, that was the first time in a long time he smiled back at someone he barely knew. "Well, he was very reliable." Dawn hummed, her eyes trailed away. "Always there when I needed him." She made eye contact with her father, a grin spread for, ear to ear, "lets just say I thank God all the time that he is my father." Ethan's face had gone a pretty pink colour.

"That's a relief," he mumbled, thumbing the edge of the armrest, a goofy grin suspended underneath his blush.

'Just ask already. Or I will.' Frost's voice grumbled inside her mind.

Dawn turned her gaze back to her mother expectantly. The way her eye bore into Caitlin's made the doctor feel as though her daughter already knew what she wanted to ask. Perhaps she did. "How can you detect heat?" She cocked her head to the side and stroked her chin. Caitlin herself could use her ice abilities without the help of Frost, but Frost had much more battle sense than she did. So it only made sense for the doctor to pass the baton onto her cold self. Yet still, never had she been able to detect heat before.

Dawn pursed her lips and Ethan stared at the doctor from the corner of his eyes. "Well... close your eyes." Caitlin obliged with no hesitation. "That pit of cold you can feel resting in your mind, the one that always lingers, dive into it." The doctor relaxed. She knew the cold her daughter spoke of. Most of the time it went entirely unnoticed by her, but it was always there. It always had been. It was different from the cold fear feeling where Frost resided. No, it was much darker.
"Let that cold surround you." Hesitantly, Caitlin did so. Within seconds the hair on her arms stood on end and cold ran its harrowing hands all over her body.

'This feels... cold...' Frost commented weakly.

Once the frigid touch had claimed her body, it was as though a switch was flicked and Caitlin could see without her eyes open. She could see Ethan staring at her intently, picking at the hem of the couch. She could feel Dawn grinning. Clouds of heat puffed from their mouths, it coursed through their veins and emanated from their eyes. It was everywhere. It was overwhelming. "Jeez, it got cold." Ethan grumbled, rubbing his arms and leaving streaks of heat behind on his clothing that lingered for a few moments.

"Wow." Caitlin could hardly comprehend what she was seeing. A cloud of her own warm breath fogged up. The doctor sucked in a breath. She could just make out the heart of baby Dawn pulsing steadily in the womb. With a warm smile she placed a hand over her belly and watched the gentle throbbing of the organ.

"It's pretty amazing, isn't it?" Dawn murmured, breaking Caitlin from her heat vision. Blinking hard, the doctor glanced around. Everything was back to normal. Ethan arched a brow at her, but the only thing Caitlin could do was nod and shut her gaping mouth.