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Iris usually worked the closing shift at Jitters.
Or at least she’d told Caitlin she did, and Caitlin hadn’t questioned it. Why would she? Iris worked around studying, of course she would choose the shift pattern that let her dedicate most of her day to that.
And, well, Caitlin was busy most evenings now. It had been convenient for her too. Maybe the evenings Iris could spend with her were few and far between but Caitlin had chosen to simply cherish them instead of push for more.
Instead of take a risk and tell Iris the truth.
What was it Doctor Wells had warned her? If something seemed too good to be true, it probably was. Whether he’d realised or whether he’d...
It didn’t matter now.
Caitlin pushed open the door.
“We’re closed,” Iris’ voice called out from behind the counter.
“I know,” Caitlin said.
Iris’ brief laugh seemed so bitter. So unlike her.
“I still can’t serve you,” Iris said.
“I just want to talk.”
“Well, I’m at work.” Iris appeared and leaned on the counter. “I have a lot to do and nothing to say.”
“Nothing?” Caitlin asked.
“What do you want me to say?” she asked. “That this is all a big misunderstanding? That this isn’t who I am? That I knew about you the whole time?”
“Did you?” Caitlin asked.
“No.” Iris sighed and leaned back. She picked up another cup to dry. “Do you think I would have let myself near you if I did?”
Caitlin pulled out one of the stools and sat.
“Caitlin...”
“I just want to know why,” Caitlin said. “You’re a good person, Iris, you’re not-”
“Not like the other Rogues?” Iris asked with a raised eyebrow.
“No,” Caitlin said. “You’re not.”
“I’m a thief, just like them. A criminal, just like them. I’ve hurt you, just like them.”
“You wouldn’t have, if you’d known it was me,” Caitlin said.
“No,” Iris said quietly, almost like she was afraid to admit it. “I wouldn’t have.”
“Why?” Caitlin asked. “Why do any of this, why...”
She sighed.
“You’re not a selfish person, Iris,” Caitlin said. “I know you.”
“Do you?”
“I know that,” Caitlin said. “Whatever this is about, whoever’s making you do this, I can help you.”
Iris shook her head.
“I should have realised it was you,” she said. “How did it happen?”
“I was trying to reconnect the accelerator’s cooling mechanism from outside,” Caitlin said. “Ronnie was telling me how while he was trying to switch it off from inside the Pipeline. When it blew, the force threw me back into tanks of liquid nitrogen. I should have died, and instead I woke up like this.”
Caitlin raised her hand, drawing heat from around her to make tiny snowflakes to hang in the air.
“It took a long time to learn to control them,” Caitlin said. “To try not to hurt people. And then Clyde Mardon.”
“And then Clyde,” Iris nodded.
"S.T.A.R. Labs made this mistake," Caitlin said. "This was a way to make up for it. But you don't have powers."
“No,” Iris said. “This was never about that.”
“Then what?”
Iris sighed and leaned back against the wall, as far away from Caitlin as she could get.
“I know Barry ran away from his last foster home when he was fifteen,” Caitlin said. “And the next thing in his file is being sent to juvie at sixteen for stealing a mirror. I know he’s been sent to Iron Heights at least three times now. I know his father is in there for killing his mother. And I know he’s your friend but you didn’t have to-”
“And I know he’s not in Iron Heights now,” Iris said. “I know he fought Frost then disappeared. Where is he?”
“He can walk through walls,” Caitlin said. “Iron Heights can’t hold people like that.”
“Barry never escapes,” Iris said. “He could, easily. That was the point, the second time, but Henry refused to come with him.”
“And the first?” Caitlin asked.
“Wasn’t his fault,” Iris said.
“They don’t send people to jail without-”
“It wasn’t his fault,” Iris said. “You’re wrong, Caitlin. About him, and about me.”
“Then tell me,” Caitlin begged. “Iris...”
Iris shuffled, the counter still between them, so much still between them, and all Caitlin could do was wait.
“My dad died when I was thirteen,” she said eventually. “They called it an accident, no one at fault. His car slipped on some ice and the brakes didn’t work. And I didn’t believe them. But they didn’t listen to me, they just sent me to the mother I’d thought dead and sent Barry somewhere else.”
Caitlin kept quiet, waiting and hoping for her to go on.
“The mirror belonged to Barry’s grandmother,” Iris said. “When Henry was arrested things were seized to pay the legal fees. Barry’s home was sold, his family heirlooms, the only things Dad got for him were his mother’s rings. But it wasn’t- Barry’s smart, Caitlin, really smart. He had a theory he might be able to use the mirror to see the crime scene. It was still hanging in the same place. But they’d already labelled him, labelled us both troubled teens, and I guess juvie was easier than sending him to another foster to run away from.”
“You said it wasn't his fault,” Caitlin said.
“I was studying journalism,” Iris said. “Dad left me everything, he had a will, and Barry had nowhere else to go after he got out. And we... Dad was investigating Nora’s case. He’d found something in Barry’s bedroom, he didn’t know what, but he’d found more, and Barry had found them at other foster homes, that was why he ran each time. We found some notes, from before he died, and I knew I needed to see the file, but… He said he could help us, Professor Thawne, he was involved with the university, and we trusted the wrong person. It was a first offence for me, and it wasn’t for Barry. And, well. Sometimes people make their mind up about who you are, and they don’t give you a chance to prove them wrong.”
“You don’t have to prove them right,” Caitlin said. “I know they’re wrong, Iris, I know you’re better than this.”
“My mother is sick,” Iris said. “My brother has tuition fees. They’re both expensive, and Snart has the only solution offered to us.”
“I’ll help you,” Caitlin said. “You don’t need to involve yourself with people like that, Iris, I can help you. I want to.”
Iris nodded.
“I need Barry back,” she said. “Then maybe I’ll think about it.”
“I can’t do that,” Caitlin said.
“You can, he’s not been legally arrested or convicted,” Iris said. “He just did something Thawne told him not to. Again.”
“I can keep you safe from him,” Caitlin said. “Whoever he is-”
Iris shook her head, conflict clear on her face.
“You should stay away from him,” Iris said. “And from me. It’s better we don’t see each other any more, Caitlin.”
“You don’t mean that,” Caitlin said.
“I have to finish closing up.”
Caitlin swallowed her tears.
“You know where to find me, Iris,” she said. “If you change your mind. I meant what I said before.”
Her hand was on the door handle before Iris spoke again.
“Don’t trust Harrison Wells,” she said. “I meant it too.”
Caitlin nodded and shut the door behind her.