Broken Together

Nineteen

"Guys!" a voice echoes in the wind, catching the attention of the couple. They look over at the blonde waving them down, trying to gesture for them to come inside. "You need to come inside now!" she yells. A worry expression fills both their faces but, they obey and start to walk over to their friend. Seeing them walking hand-in-hand,  a smile spreads across Felicity's face as she places her hand over her heart in relief. "Oh thank goodness," she breathes.

"What's going on Felicity?" Barry asks as they approach the blonde. "Did something happened?"

The blonde bites her lip as she looks at the couple then gazes down to their hands - a ring on Caitlin's while Barry's is bare. She gulps a lump in her throat as she looks back at Barry. "It's," she sighs trying to find the right way to break the news. "The divorce lawyers are here," she spits out and watches as horror fills the couple's faces.

Caitlin feels her heart stop and her body goes numb. She starts to slip her hand away from Barry's grasp but he secures the hold and turns her to face him. She looks into his eyes, looking for an answer, as her mind wraps around the words that left Felicity's mouth. "You... you wanted a divorce?" she stutters as sadness washes over her face. 

Hearing her question brings him slight relief, now believing what Felicity told him earlier in the cafe. He places his other hand on top of their holding hands, as Caitlin's other hand is tightly grasping the blanket around her, and tightly gives it a squeeze. "No," he quickly states, "No baby, I would never do that to us-"

Before he can finish, she butts in, "Then why are divorce lawyers here?" she questions then realizes the missing piece of jewelry from his hand. "Where is your ring?" she snaps as she tries to pull away from his hold, thinking it everything they had just talked about was a lie.

Before all the progress the couple worked hard to fix could be gone, Felicity jumps in to defend Barry. "Caitlin, they aren't Barry's lawyers. They're yours," she breathes and sees the confusion fill her face.

"Wha- What?" she breathes, not understanding the current situation. The sound of Barry's voice catches her attention as he removes his hold on her hand and holds her by her shoulders to look at him.

He licks his lips, "Cait, the day you left Central City Oliver came to visit me." She nods wanting him to continue the tale - wanting answers. He swallows some saliva, "When he showed up, he brought some papers - divorce papers," he breathes as tears glisten in his eyes. "He told me it was the best thing for you, to free you from me." Blinks away the memory to continue as he notices Caitlin shakes her head about to respond. "I ripped up the papers, telling him I wouldn't sign them. That I would fight for you," he cups his cheek letting his thumb rub across in a soothing matter; a smile cracks in her face. "Sometime later, I received the papers again but this time your signature was on them," his voice cracks.

"Barry, I never signed -" she protests placing her hand over his on her cheek, giving is a tight squeeze.

He lightly chuckles, "I know baby," he breathes then looks over at Felicity. "She told me this morning when we met up" Caitlin looks over to her friend with a grateful smile then looks back up at Barry. "However, I didn't when I was flying over here, thinking I was going to be meeting you," he licks his lips, "So to not upset you, I decided to leave my ring at home." He sighs, "I promise that ring has never left my finger until today. Please believe me, baby," he begs.

Caitlin lets out a breath, one she didn't know she was holding in, then gives a soft smile before colliding her lips on his for a sweet, short kiss. "I believe Barry," she whispers as she looks into his eyes lovingly. "I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions. I was scared that after just getting you back, you were leav-"