Collateral Damage (snowbarry)

Lucid

Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco are sitting in Jitters. Barry is staring down in his coffee, Cisco has his head down in his arms, and Caitlin is stirring her coffee mindlessly staring at, but paying no attention to, the traffic of people at the front door. If you looked at them, you'd think that none of them had a good night's sleep in days. You'd be right.

Eddie is at the counter and walks toward them once he gets his drink. He sits down and sighs as the sight of them. "You guys need to go get some sleep."

Cisco groans and lifts his head up enough to glare at Eddie, then buries his head back in his arms. Caitlin blinks a few times and looks at Eddie as if just noticing he was there.

"Eddie." She exclaims, weakly excited. "How uh...you're uh...popping the question soon right? Any idea how?"

"Is that really important right now?" Barry snaps.

"Yes, Barry. With everything happening right now, something as positive as an engagement is important." She snaps back.

Eddie smiles at Caitlin and gladly starts telling them about when he thinks he might ask Iris. Caitlin agrees that sooner is better. If he waits too long and things get crazy with Wells, it'll never seem like the right time. Eddie then drops a bomb they weren't expecting.

Eddie takes a deep breath. "I'm going to ask Iris to move away with me."

Caitlin gives him a small smile, Barry barely look up from his coffee, eyebrows raised. Cisco grunts.

"Wells isn't the end. Even if we...when we," he corrects himself noticing Barry's face turn into a glare. "Even when we catch him, there are still who knows how many metas out there. This town is dangerous, especially for someone like Iris who wants to know and help. Who wants to be involved in everything. She will get herself in trouble, and I can't keep her safe if I'm busy putting in extra time to deal with powered up criminals."

Caitlin gives Eddie a sympathetic smile and looks at Barry who has finally looked up from his coffee. His face softens. "I don't disagree with you Eddie. I hate to see you two leave, but it might be what's best for her. For both you."

"How would Joe handle it?" Caitlin asks. Eddie sighs. "I take it you don't think he'll take it well."

Eddie shakes his head. "I'm not sure. He'd support me keeping her safe, but taking her away, he might not."

"He can't argue that it's not the right thing to do." Barry says.

"Have you told him you're proposing yet?" Caitlin asks.

"No. I figured it was best to mention the move and proposal at the same time."

Caitlin nods in understanding. "How are you gonna convince Iris to move."

"Thought I'd offer New York. Perfect place for her to pursue journalism. A lot of action for me as a cop. Feels like a good step forward. Good place to...move on."

"Yeah," Caitlin starts. "I think we all could do with a little moving on."

Barry nods and looks back down at his coffee. Eddie smiles at Caitlin and mouths "bye" as he stands up and leaves. Caitlin stands up.

"Where are you going?" Barry asks.

"To work?"

"With Wells?" Cisco asks.

"Well I can't exactly avoid him, can I? That would raise questions." She grabs her things and picks up her coffee. "Besides, I have some stuff I need to look into."

"Like?" Barry asks.

"You'll see. Are we still on for Joe's house tonight?"

Barry nods. Cisco grunts again and raises his head. "Wait for me. I don't want you at the lab by yourself."