Chapter Text
Something was wrong with Barry. He was acting strange, had been ever since Caitlin had picked him up from home. And he was standing too close.
An uneasy feeling reared inside her.
And Barry spun her around, saying something about something he should have done, and then-
And then Iris was holding her. That didn’t- Iris wasn’t-
Caitlin’s eyes landed on Barry, face so pale, lying unconscious the other side of the Cortex and she trembled and made a noise as she clung onto Iris in fear.
“I don’t,” she said. “I don’t-”
“It’s okay,” Iris soothed, running a gentle hand through Caitlin’s hair, so impossibly warm. “What happened? You’re cold as ice.”
“I don’t remember,” Caitlin said. “I don’t know.”
She rubbed her eyes, trying to wipe away the tears, and they clung to her fingers like tiny snowflakes glistening under the fluorescents of the lab.
“Barry,” Caitlin said, unwilling to leave Iris’ embrace but looking at the body that demanded her attention. She was Barry’s doctor, she had to help him, even as this irrational anger reared inside her, demanding she leave him there to rot but no, he was her friend-
“I think he can be left for now, Caitlin,” Doctor Wells said angrily, coming into the Cortex clearly holding a taser.
“Doctor Wells?”
“Are you hurt?” he asked, kind now, coming over to her instead of to Barry’s prone form.
“I don’t- I don’t think so,” Caitlin stuttered. “I just don’t remember.”
She sniffed and Iris hugged her tight.
“I’ll deal with Barry,” she said, letting go of Caitlin and heading over to him.
“You don’t remember anything?” Doctor Wells asked. “You triggered your panic alarm.”
“Are you sure this is Barry?” Iris asked.
Caitlin and Doctor Wells looked over at her.
“He’s holding a scalpel in his left hand,” Iris said. “But Barry’s right-handed, and I may have used my dad’s login to look at the footage from last night and it’s the same, it looks like Eddie, but whoever shot those cops used their left hand. Eddie’s also right-handed, and I know Barry was with him interviewing someone, and that’s not part of Barry’s job, which means Eddie had a reason for taking him there.”
“He was acting strange,” Caitlin said. “But I met him at Joe’s.”
“I think perhaps we should handle this, Ms West,” Doctor Wells said.
“How?” Iris asked. “I’m not leaving him with Caitlin, I’ll take him to Captain Singh.”
“Not on your own,” Caitlin said.
“Are you sure?” Iris asked.
Caitlin nodded firmly.