Collateral Damage (snowbarry)

I Can Save Her

The doors to the accelerator open to reveal Eobard Thawne, previously known as Dr. Harrison Wells, whose face he still wears. He is sitting in a chair, staring at the face he knew he would be greeted with first, Barry Allen's. He smiled.

"What do you think he's saying?" Cisco asks Caitlin. The two of them are watching on the cameras in the cortex.

Caitlin doesn't answer. She hasn't said a word since they brought him in. She sits there, staring at the screen, an expressionless look on her face. If he didn't know better, Cisco would think she had put her wax figure here and gone home. But he did know better. He knew she couldn't find the words to express anything right now. He knew she was struggling to accept the image on the screen in front of her. And most importantly, he knew that he didn't know anything about how she was feeling right now.

Caitlin finally moved, but only slightly, jumping when Barry slammed his fist against the glass of the cell door. Cisco and her watched but didn't listen. They felt like they were intruding on something, so they turned the sound off. All they had now was facial expressions and body language to read. That was enough to read the mood in the room. Barry was mad. Thawne was indifferent. The thing that worried Caitlin the most was that she knew the look on his face, and he wasn't worried. He was exactly where he wanted to be.

Barry walked back into the cortex. His hair was disheveled from running his hands through it. His jaw was clenched. He paid no attention to Caitlin and Cisco who were both looking at him expectantly. He ignored them and walked into the training room. They decided to let him sit on everything for a bit before asking him anything. After a few minutes, Joe reentered the cortex. He had gone to CCPD to get the necessary equipment to record Thawne's confession, should they be able to get it.

"Where's Bar?" Joe asks, looking around the room.

Cisco points to the training room and Joe walks in to talk to Barry. Cisco sits and takes a deep breath. The suspense was unbearable for him. What were they doing? What were they gonna do next? What did Thawne say to Barry? Why did he suddenly want food?

His stomach growling caused Caitlin to look over at him. She gave him a weak smile.

"How about I go get us some food? Kill some time?" She offers. He smiles and nods at her. "Usual?" She asks.

"It's called usual for a reason." Cisco says, in a joking tone that only carries half the energy of his usual tone.

Caitlin stands to leave. She walks out of the cortex and stands in the lobby to the elevator for a minute, staring at the buttons. If ever there was a time to do it...it was now. She turned to look into the cortex to see Cisco leaning back in his chair, paying no attention to anything. Barry and Joe were still in the training room. She walked slowly and quietly away from the cortex, away from the elevators, and toward the pipeline. Toward him.

*************************************

15 Years ago...

"Sir?" A nurse entered the waiting room and gently shook awake the young man asleep in the chair.

Harrison Wells looked up at her, his eyes heavy with sleep.

"She's stable for now, but not awake yet. Would you like to come see her?" The nurse asks as Wells shifts in his seat.

"Is her mother not here yet?"

"She's....she is busy. I'm sure she'll be in to see her when she's awake." The nurse said. Wells narrowed his eyes at this. Her mother was here, at the hospital, as far as he knew. She couldn't come see her own daughter?