Always Running

Trust Issues

Barry walks into S.T.A.R. Labs early the next morning to have his morning coffee with Caitlin while Cisco naps. However, when he gets there, he finds them both wearing the clothes they wore the day before, sitting in the observation room, sipping coffee, and staring into the training room where Jay is running, shirtless, on the treadmill.

"Morning?" Barry says, sounding confused. He sits down in between the two.

"Oh, thank god!" They both say, reaching for the two coffees in front of him that he just sat down and immediately taking sips.

"One of those was mi- nevermind. Have you two been here all night?" He asks.

"Mhmm." They both groan.

"Why?"

"Stein thinks he's close to a breakthrough on this whole multi-universe dimension thingy." Cisco mutters out.

"Multiverse?" Barry corrects. Cisco grunts in agreement. "So...you had to stay here all night?" Barry asks again, still confused why they did.

"If we prove that, we still have to prove he's a speedster and is telling the truth. And the sooner we do that, the sooner I can sleep peacefully." Caitlin says through her arm that she's laying on.

"So, what have you found out?"

"He is physically capable of running." Cisco snaps, leaning back in his chair and sounding annoyed.

Barry tries not to laugh. He turns to see Caitlin staring at Jay through the window. He can't tell if she looks annoyed, delirious, or interested, but there is an intensity in her eyes that has to be one of those.

"Blood pressure is low. Heart rate is low. My general morale is low." Caitlin says flatly. She takes a deep breath and shakes her head. "His oxygen levels are impressive." She adds matter-of-factly.

Barry hums a response and looks in at Jay who is still running, not having slowed down since he walked in. He was looking at Caitlin when Barry looked in. He immediately turned to Barry to smile then looks forward again. Barry looks back at Caitlin who was staring at the coffee in front of her with wide eyes, looking like she was about to bury her face in it at any moment.

"Think we could shock him like we did with Barry?" Cisco asks.

"Yeah, but what if we don't want him to have speed? I'd rather just know he was or wasn't a speedster without giving it back to him right now." Caitlin explains.

"I agree. We still don't know if he's on our side." Barry interjects.

They all nod and watch Jay continue running while Caitlin monitors his vitals.

"What if we give him the same training we gave Barry last year?" Cisco suggests. "We could test his reactions and ability to multi-task."

"Yeah, we could try it." Caitlin says as she stands up. "I'm gonna go unhook him. Get the stuff set up?" She says, looking back at Cisco, exhaustion very clear in her eyes.

Inside the training room, after she finishes unhooking Jay from the monitors, she asks him how he felt.

"A little winded, but overall, pretty good."

"Good. Your oxygen levels are higher than normal."

"But I still haven't convinced you?" He asks, looking at her hopefully.

Caitlin chuckles and looks up at Jay, giving him a sympathetic smile. "Sorry, but no."

"Soon, Dr. Snow." He jokes.

She shakes her head and looks down, laughing again. She writes down the time they ended training on her notepad and turns to walk out.

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