Collateral Damage (snowbarry)

Transmutation

Caitlin walks into Jitters completely exhausted. She got very little sleep the night before. She kept dreaming of a certain green-eyed speedster, followed by a red-eyed one. The Man in Yellow had been haunting her for a while now. Ever since she realized where she recognized him from. Was he from the future or from their time? Why did he kill Barry's mom? Why was he there when the car crashed? Did he save her? If so, why? What was she to him?

With these questions running through her head, Caitlin isn't paying much attention to her surroundings, meaning she doesn't notice the brunette walking her way. She does when the two collide and coffee goes on both of their shirts.

"Shit, I'm sorry!" Caitlin says before looking up.

"No, it's my fault." Iris responds. "Oh. Caitlin. Hi!" She says with a cautious smile.

"Hi." Caitlin says, hurriedly dabbing the coffee off her blouse.

"Could we maybe...talk?" Iris asks.

Caitlin looks up, tossing the napkins in the trash. "I don't have much time, but sure."

They take a seat in the arm chairs toward the front after getting new coffees from the counter.

"I made a mistake. I should've never betrayed your trust and I should've come to you first. It was selfish and I hurt my friend. And I'm sorry." Iris says, slowly but not pausing.

"Iris there is a lot going on." Caitlin says, discreetly looking around to make sure people aren't close enough to listen. "S.T.A.R. Labs is trying to make up for the damage we've done even just a little bit. We're working with the CCPD and you already know that. We're doing everything we can to help stop the new juiced up criminals that are popping up because the police are not used to dealing with these types of people, and our equipment can help. There is a lot that we do for them that the public should not know about. It wouldn't be safe for them. I know that sounds political and shady but it is what it is. This is not a typical situation. We have to handle it differently."

Iris is just nodding, absorbing everything Caitlin says.

"We get along, Iris, and I'm really not used to having friends that aren't Cisco. You and Barry have been a welcome addition to my life, especially with everything that has happened in the last year. Barry is one of my best friends and you are always going to be around so I want us to get along. I need to know that things that you may hear from us, whether we say it intentionally to you or not, are not going to be repeated in the paper or on your blog unless we say it can be. I need to be able to trust you. And you need to trust us." Caitlin finishes, taking a drink of her coffee and looking at Iris.

"I trust you and Cisco. I don't know, I guess I don't know Dr. Wells that well, just what Barry tells me about him, so I didn't know if I could trust him. But I know what he is to you and I should have approached you about any doubts I had about him. I trust you. And you can trust me." Iris says, smiling.

There is nothing but silence and slurping for a minute then Caitlin turns to Iris. "So tell me about this Linda."

Iris's eyes widen and the gossip begins. She tells Caitlin everything she knows about Linda, which at this point isn't much. She tells her what she's heard Barry say about her, and Caitlin pleads ignorance when Iris asks what she knows, only revealing a small portion of the night him and Linda met.

"We were trying to get in touch with someone we thought might have been affected by the accelerator and we heard they frequented this bar. So we went and made a night of it. He met her there." Caitlin explains, trying not to smile at the vague drunken memory of her and Barry singing.

"Well I gotta go to work. Wanna grab drinks some time this week?" Iris asks, grabbing her bag.

"Yeah, that'd be fun." Caitlin smiles, staying in her seat.