Always Running

Battle of the Earth 2ers

"Why are you vibrating?" Caitlin sleepily asks Barry, opening one eye to look at him.

Barry smiles back at her, no longer vibrating. "Your skin was freezing. Thought it might warm you up."

Caitlin closes her eyes again and chuckles, snuggling closer to Barry. "Not cold. But I appreciated the gesture." She buries her face in his chest and he holds her tighter, resting his face in her hair. "But now I'm thinking about hot coffee." She whispers.

"Aren't you always?" Barry laughs, rolling out of bed and pushing her away. She laughs and follows him into the kitchen.

The two make coffee and cereal and sit down at the table.

"So, now that you've slept on it a bit. How are you feeling about Wells?" Caitlin asks.

"I still don't know. I mean, him and Jay obviously have some problems, but that seems more like a personal feud than some good vs. evil thing. When I don't focus on his face, something about him tells me he's telling the truth." Caitlin nods. "You feel it too?"

"Yeah." She says softly. "I mean, I've been avoiding his face anyway, so..." She takes a deep breath. "But yeah, I have to admit, I'm inclined to believe him right now. But I haven't been the best judge of character in the past."

"One mistake doesn't make your judgement bad."

"It was one very, very big mistake." She argues.

Barry takes a deep breath. "I used to be someone who trusted people first, asked questions later. Innocent until proven guilty. I...I want to be that person again. That hopeful." He says, staring down at his cereal.

Caitlin smiles up at him. "Then until he gives us a reason not to...let's trust him."

Barry gives her a weak smile and nods. "Think everyone else will go for that?"

"Not a chance. But they'll follow your lead." Caitlin says, more seriously now.

Barry nods. He chugs his coffee, followed by his cereal milk and moves his dishes into the sink. "Want me to run you to work?"

"No. I gotta pick Cisco up and we'll probably get Jitters before we go in."

"You just had coffee." He questions.

Caitlin narrows his eyes at him. "Don't start trying to monitor my caffeine intake. You already have a fulltime job."

Barry laughs. "I'll come with. Nothing too pressing at the station this morning."

Barry and Caitlin drive to pick up Cisco and head to Jitters.

"We gotta call him something else. I can't keep hearing 'Wells'. Makes me break out in a sweat." Cisco complains.

"Harrison?" Caitlin offers. "He's a hell of a lot less formal and about ten times more gruff than Wells. No need to stick to a formal name."

"Harrison still sounds formal. And he doesn't deserve the name of the genius behind Han Solo." Cisco argues. "How about Harry? Informal. Sounds like it would drive him crazy. All good things."

Caitlin and Barry both laugh at this. "Harry it is." Barry agrees.

The three get coffee and sit at Jitters, discussing their plan to trust Harry for now, but keep him at an arm's length on their personal lives and keep an eye on him.

"We need to have someone around him as often as possible." Barry says. "Cait, are you okay being alone around him?"

Caitlin takes a deep breath. "Yeah, I will be."