Broken Together

Eighteen

Caitlin sits on her window sill with her head leaning against the glass. She watches as the wind kisses the trees, causing the branches to rock back and forth. She places her hand on the glass to feel the cold air and smiles before tightly wrapping the blanket around herself. She feels at peace in this one moment - a part of her happy for what the day has to come. She pushes her head off the window and opens the blanket to look at her slight bump with a smile.

"You ready to meet daddy?" she breathes as she rubs circles on her stomach with her thumb. At that moment, her emotions start to get the better of her. Tears begin to fall down her cheeks as she shakes her head. "I'm so sorry for keeping you from him," she whispers. "Mommy," she breathes, "mommy needed time away from daddy." She inhales a deep breath and bites her lip as her thoughts untangle in her head to explain herself to her unborn child. "Daddy did a bad thing and it hurt mommy's feelings- a lot. It hurt so much that mommy thought it was best to keep you away from him." She lets out a shaky breath as she stops her finger motion on her belly and half-smiles. "But now mommy thinks it's time to give daddy a chance, what do you think?"

The sound of her brother yelling from downstairs interrupts her conversation and she looks at her close door as the sound of commotion follows suit. She quickly wraps the blanket around her frame and walks out of the room. As she looks down the staircase, her breath stocks at the sight before her - her brother holding her husband by his neck against the wall while Felicity begs him to let go. 

"Oliver, stop this right now!" Felicity yells as she fails at prying his grasp from Barry's neck.

"What the hell? Why did you bring him here?" Oliver growls as he tightens his grip.

Caitlin watches on horror as she sees Barry fighting to breathe. "Oliver stop!" she screams from the top of the stairs. Everyone stops and stares at her, finally noticing her presence. Felicity's face fills with relief, Barry's face fills with hope while Oliver stares back with a mixture of anger and guilt. "Let him go, now," She orders as she walks down the stairs.

Oliver wipes his teeth with his tongue then lets out a frustrating sigh as he looks at Barry then back to Caitlin. "Why is he here Caity?" he snaps not loosening his grip. "He should not be here."

"He is here because I want him here," she snaps as she stops at the bottom stair. "Now, let him go." The siblings have a slight stare-off before Oliver reluctantly releases his hold and throws Barry to the ground.

Caitlin rushes to his side as he struggles to breathe again. She kneels beside him and starts to rub his back in comfort. He smiles as he looks in her eyes. "Cait," he breathes as she slightly smiles back. 

She starts to slowly stand up, seeing him get his composer back, only to feel him grab her arm to hold her in place. "Barry, let me go," her voice slightly louder than a whisper.

He shakes his head. "No," he coughs. "I'm not letting you go again," his voice cracking as he holds back his emotions, looking into her eyes. 

Before she can respond, Oliver violently pulls him away from her. "She said to let her go," he spits as he looks down at him with anger. He ignores Caitlin's cries for him to stop. "When will you learn your place? She doesn't belong to you anymore," he growls and kicks Barry in the stomach. Barry groans in pain as his ears fill the sound of Caitlin screaming for her brother to stop. Oliver continues to ignore her as he kicks Barry again.  

Seeing the pain on Barry's face, she rushes in front of her brother, dropping the blanket. "OLLIE STOP!" she screams as she stands her ground, protecting Barry for any more blows.

"Get out of the way, Caitlin. NOW!" he yells, his face red with anger.

"NO!" she yells back. "If you want to get to him, you're going to have to go through me," she crosses her arms as she glares at him.