She walks over to where the two boys are. Barry is currently in a headlock, with his hands tapping against the buff arms wrapped around his neck. Caitlin knows that Barry could easily maneuver himself out of her brother’s vice like grip and she wishes that he would, just to prove a point to Cameron.

“Oh Caity-Cakes, we’re just having a bit of fun,” Cameron winks at her and her scowl deepens. Before she can yell at him more, Cam’s obnoxiously loud voice booms. “Are you tapping out? Giving up already, little man?”

Caitlin wants to bang her head against a wall, especially when Barry rolls them back so that he’s left with the advantage now. Yet instead of stopping, he continues to wrestle her older brother. 

“Glad that I’m just in time for the party,” a snarky voice says behind her and Caitlin has to close her eyes and count to ten.

“Hi Charlotte,” she says begrudgingly to her older sister. She crosses her arms when Charlotte comes to stand beside her and now Caitlin feels like she’s just come short of her older sister, yet again, when she sees how immaculate Charlotte’s outfit is. She knew she should have worn the blue dress and she maybe should have combed her hair a bit and oh god, maybe the bangs she just got actually do look stupid on her.

“I can see your boyfriend and Cam are getting along,” she says as she takes a sip of the white wine in her glass. The giant diamond ring on her skinny finger glints in the sunlight and Caitlin discreetly rolls her eyes. 

“They’re being stupid, is what they’re doing,” Caitlin sighs and moves a lock of her hair that’s been bothering her behind her ear. She places her hands on her hips when the two boys finally begin to settle down. Barry is sitting up, holding his knees to his chest, with Cam sprawled out on the floor. 

“You’re actually kind of strong,” Cam says, apparently trying to conceal how out of breath he really is. It’s a fact that makes Caitlin smile and she moves towards them, extending a hand to Barry. “Not going to help me up too?”

“No. You get to stay on the floor,” she says with a ‘hmph’ of her voice as Barry takes her hand and she helps him up. She turns towards him and rubs a hand against his cheek. “Sorry about him. He’s an actual eleven year old boy.”

Barry laughs and turns his head to press a kiss against her palm. “It wasn’t so bad,” he smiles and moves to whisper something in her ear. “I let him think he won.” She laughs, suddenly feeling much better about that idiotic display of male dominance.

Her mother, Evelyn, walks into the room, looking less than amused by all of the noise that’s been coming from them. “If you are all done horsing around and almost breaking my furniture, then you’re more welcome to join us in the dining room for dinner.”

They all filter out of the living room and at the same time, Barry introduces himself to Charlotte, who smiles perfectly and politely. And Caitlin ignores it as she follows Evelyn to the dining table, where food is perfectly laid out. Caitlin’s father, David, comes walking in, an apron tied around his body and a tray of dinner rolls clutched between both hands. “And voila, dinner is served.”

There’s a murmur of thanks from everyone as they all begin to take their usual seats. David at the head of the table, Evelyn to the right of him, followed by Cam and Charlotte. While Caitlin and Barry are on his left. “I’m so glad you could join us tonight Barry,” David says as plates of food begin to be passed around the table. Her father is a goofy man and an even goofier looking man, with a long nose and glasses that never seem to stay up properly and a toothy smile always plastered to his face. “It’s not often that Caitlin brings her male lovers home to her family.”

Caitlin cringes as Cam snickers behind his fork filled with mashed potatoes. “Male lovers?”

“I’m your male lover,” Barry says with a satisfied looking smirk on his face as he scoops out a helping of green beans from a glass dish and onto his plate. 

“Ew, please don’t ever say that again,” Caitlin laughs with a scrunched up nose as she pushes her food around her plate with her fork. 

“So Caitlin tells me you two met at STAR labs,” Evelyn says. There’s something more stern about her mother, something solid. There’s no silly smiles, or funny jokes. But her mother is calming and reassuring, even in the most hectic of times, and it’s something that Caitlin has come to appreciate over time. Her mother is dressed simply, in all beige colors, with small diamond earrings that Caitlin recognizes her father gifted to Evelyn a few holidays ago.

Barry flicks a glance at her, even though they already went over everything on their way here. Of course she didn’t tell her mother, or anyone else for that matter, the actual truth about how they met. Barry clears his throat and nods. “Yes ma’am,” he says respectfully, because although he’s on a first name basis with her father, he still feels the need to be polite to her mother. “We’ve been working together for almost a year now.”

“STAR labs has garnered a bad rep since the accident,” Charlotte says casually, but there’s something laced behind her words that makes Caitlin squint her eyes at her. “I always told Caitlin that she should have followed my steps.”

“Well, not everyone wants to be a neurosurgeon,” Caitlin says flatly and takes a sip of her wine. Her father gives her a sympathetic look, because this has always been an issue between Caitlin and Charlotte. Charlotte’s early success as a neurosurgeon is admittedly impressive, but the woman uses her position against Caitlin at every available opportunity. They’re not even ten minutes into dinner and she’s already starting something. 

“I definitely didn’t,” Cam says before burping loudly and their mother rolls her eyes. Barry’s watching him with an amused smile as Cam shovels another spoonful of food into his mouth. “Not that I could. I mean, being an artist is much more satisfying.”

Which was surprising in itself, because everyone was almost certain that Cameron would become a football player, or a physical therapist. It turns out that he’s amazing at sculpting. His work has been on display at some fantastic places and it makes their father proud, because they’re both right brains and her father is ecstatic that one of his children decided to do something creative.

“Oh yes, I especially enjoyed your piece that included several naked women,” Charlotte says dryly. “A true masterpiece.”

“Better be careful, or I might do a sculpture of you as a hairy little troll,” he quips back easily.

And that’s basically how the rest of the dinner goes, and it actually drags on longer than it needs to, but by Caitlin’s third glass of wine, she can’t seem to care. She doesn’t mind Charlotte talking about work and buying a new house with her husband, or the not so serious (yet still serious) threats that Cam hurtles towards Barry if he ever hurts his baby sister. Her parents end up leaning against each other, with her father almost asleep, and sometimes a small crack of a smile will appear on her mother’s face. Barry’s is leaned forward, intently listening to one of Cam’s wild stories from art school, and that’s when Caitlin realizes how amazing he’s been this whole night.

She saw how eager he was to join their conversations, how he laughed easily with everyone, and didn’t get agitated by her siblings. She can see how much he looks up to her father, and how much he admires her mother. And it makes her think about how he had always wanted a normal family. Something stable and secure— two loving parents and siblings whose sole purpose in life is to annoy each other to death. 

At the end of the night, Caitlin makes sure to hug her sister, and to tell her thank you. She makes sure to kiss her brother on the cheek and not punch him when he begins to tickle her. She also makes sure to kiss Barry longer than necessary as they stand outside in the snow besides his car. The ride home is quiet, but she can feel Barry itching to say something.

“What is it?” She says as she pokes his side.

He flicks a glance at her, then back towards the road. “Let’s have lots of kids.”

“Look at this bathroom!” He hears her squeal from another corner of their room, and Barry shrugs a smile at the bellhop on his way out from dropping off their belongings. 

Barry’s faded duffle bag and scuffed up suitcases looked mediocre next to Caitlin’s clean and pretty luggage, but now they look like they belong in a dumpster and not in their room.”I’ll make sure to let Oliver and Felicity know that you like the place.”

Caitlin comes walking out of the room, holding a fluffy white towel against her face. “Like it? I love it,” she says and tosses the towel at him, that he catches. “Feel how soft that is. Can you even believe this? And the view. Oh. My. God.”

Barry laughs at how excited she is. His wife, he remembers, and smiles even wider at the thought. “Come here,” he beckons her over to pull her away from rubbing her hands against every little thing here. “I’m not losing my wife to a hotel room.”

“Well are you made out of marble and silk?” She smiles playfully, but walks over to him anyway. He wraps his arms around her middle and kisses her deeply, laughing when she yelps in surprise. 

“I think you’re forgetting why we’re here,” he smirks and swiftly moves his hands to the zipper on her dress. Her attention is now on him, with darkened eyes, and her hands move to the base of his neck.

“Oh trust me, I haven’t forgotten,” she says, being equally coy, as her dress pools at the bottom of her feet. “I think I spotted a bath tub big enough for two people, if you want to come join me.”

Caitlin scowls, but it’s a weak attempt to be mad when she sees the small smile on Barry’s face as he flips through the pages. “I wasn’t chubby,” she says, more resigned with the fact that embarrassing photos from her childhood are now on display. “I was soft.”

Caitlin’s father snorts from the chair he’s perched in by the fireplace. “That’s another word for it.”

“David!” Evelyn laughs and throws a crumpled napkin at her husband, whose eyes are lit with amusement. “Don’t be rude.”

“Yeah daddy, be nice,” Caitlin grins and takes a seat next to Barry. The couch dips with their weight, until they’re both turned towards each other. The right corners of the album are digging into her thigh and she readjusts it, which leaves herself more nestled behind him. She smiles and presses her lips against the back of his shoulder.

He flicks a glance towards her. The corners of his eyes are crinkled, the way they get when he’s giving a genuine smile. Except when he smiles at her, there’s a certain kind of warmth and love to his eyes that she’s never seen him quite give anyone else. “You were cute,” he says softly to her, like her parents aren’t just a few inches away from them.

Caitlin raises a brow. “Were?” Barry rolls his eyes, which makes her laugh against his warm body. She tilts her chin up, presses a gentle kiss to his cheek. It’s innocent and sweet, yet it still makes both of their cheeks turn a shade of red that would put his Flash suit to shame.

Caitlin is tending to the flowers perched on the windowsill, spray bottle in one hand, and a paperback book with the front folded in her other hand. His eyes are still heavy and his mouth feels like a million cotton balls have taken residence inside. But still– he doesn’t do anything to let her know he’s awake. He doesn’t know how long he’s been out, but judging by the length of Caitlin’s hair and her pronounced abdomen, it’s been a bit of time. 

A heavy feeling settles over him.

Because there’s that too. Her striped thermal stretched around her round belly. His first solid memory is of the night he found out she was pregnant. How she had been stretched across their bathroom floor with a positive pregnancy test clutched in her hand. He remembers how very real everything felt at that moment, the tears and smiles on both of their faces. Then he remembers his last thoughts before going under, before he thought he was going to die. He thought of Caitlin, and that pregnancy test, and how he had always wanted to be a father. 

It’s a miracle that he’s alive. It seems like the universe is content with giving him chance after chance and as he stares at a pregnant Caitlin, he can’t help but feel tremendously grateful. 

She starts humming. It’s low and warm and when Caitlin puts the spray bottle down to rub a hand protectively over her belly, he has the urge to cry and thank whoever is out there for waking him up again. 

Her eyes shift from the book, to him, then back to the book. And Barry would laugh if it weren’t for his dry throat, because the face she makes at realizing he’s awake is almost comical. 

A sense of deja vu washes over him because suddenly Cisco is in the room and both he and Caitlin are prodding at him, giving him ice cubes and small increments of water, making sure he’s okay, but the only thing he can do is muster up enough energy to hold Caitlin close to him. They’re both mindful of her belly which makes him cry a little harder. “I never thought I would see you again,” he whispers against her hair. She still smells the same. Like springtime and strawberries and Barry feels at peace.

Cisco clears his throat somewhere by the door. “I’m just going to go call Joe and Iris,” he smiles when Barry manages to pull away from Caitlin. “It’s good to have you back.”

Barry’s attention is back on Caitlin before the door can even click back in place. He wipes a tear away with a swipe of his thumb. “I missed you so much,” she says softly and presses her forehead against his. They breathe each other in as Barry places a tentative hand to her stomach. “Do you know how hard it’s been while you’ve been asleep?”

Barry clenches his jaw and continues to rub small circles on her belly. Where their child is. That they created together. Barry shakes his head. “I’m sorry.” he says, fully meaning it. He can’t even begin to imagine what she’s gone through. It fills him with a kind of guilt that makes him feel like he’s being choked.

“I didn’t know– I mean– I wasn’t sure what I was going to do if you… if you,” her words fall apart and she hugs him tighter, like if she were to let go he would fly away from her for good. “I can’t even begin to tell you how hard these past months have been. They didn’t think you would wake up again. We thought– I thought I lost you.”

Barry shakes his head and holds her closer. “Don’t cry,” he tells her softly. “I’m here. I’m awake. I’m not going anywhere.”

“You don’t understand,” she sighs and pulls away from him. He takes his hands in hers and silently watches as she plays with the silver ring on his finger. The ring that accompanies the one on her own finger. “Those nine months that you were in a coma were the worst of my life, but they didn’t compare to this time around.” Barry is silent as he stares at the emotions passing over her face. She takes their hands and places them around her stomach. “I thought I was going to have to do this alone. I thought that I would somehow have to explain to our child why her father wasn’t around.”

Barry tilts his head, his brows furrowing. “Her?” He asks as he cuts her off.

Caitlin bites the corner of her lip. “It’s not just about us anymore, Barry.”

About a million questions and words are poised on Barry’s tongue, but before he can get them out, Joe and Iris are bursting through the door. Caitlin politely moves as the two wrap Barry in their arms. And Barry is happy to see them, but his eyes keep lingering to Caitlin with her arms crossed over her chest, right above her stomach where his daughter is.

And suddenly it hits him. She’s right. This isn’t just about the two of them anymore. This isn’t about his hero complex, or the red spandex suit that he figures is hidden in their closet at home. It’s about their daughter and it’s about him being there. When his eyes wander back to Caitlin’s, he understands more than ever.

His suit should stay in the closet. Permanently.

She has dark shades on that are too big for her face. She’s worrying her lower lip between her teeth and her knuckles on the steering wheel are white. She gets like this sometimes, when she feels particularly paranoid about the day. He always tells her to relax, because if anything does happen, they’ll find a way. They always do, together. He tugs a strand of her icy blonde hair and she shoots him an unimpressed look. They weren’t around long enough for people to see her chestnut hair turn a different shade, but it’s convenient to keep her unrecognizable.

They’ve been on the run together for a while now. He doesn’t want to think about how long exactly they’ve been living with the police trying to sniff their tails. Some days are harder than others; he thinks of the life they left behind-- of Joe and Iris-- and he thinks about the life they could have had. He reaches over and takes one of her hands in his, giving it a small squeeze. Some of the tension in Caitlin’s shoulders dissipates, for she looks at him to give him a soft smile that he returns.

He would have asked her to marry him, and he would have bought that old Victorian house with chipped blue paint that she loved so much, and they probably would have had children. If only things were that simple and that easy, but Barry has always had the feeling that his life would be anything but simple and easy. He used to think it was unfair that the universe could rob him of having a normal life, but he’s starting to come to terms with it. Because he’s still alive, and he still has people who love him, and he has the woman he loves.

He remembers the night that Joe confronted him, with stiff shoulders, and in his police uniform. It was the concerned look that told Barry all he needed to know. And it wasn’t as if Joe exactly told them to get out of town, but the way that Joe delivered the news-- without any back up, or other law enforcement officials-- that made Barry realize Joe was giving them an out. Barry was the one who grabbed Caitlin’s hand and made them run. And he hopes that she doesn’t resent him for it. He didn’t want her to go to prison, or to end up in a cell at the bottom of STAR labs. This was the woman he loved and he wasn’t going to let her rot away in an isolated room. Some nights when they’re lying together (usually it’s just in their stolen car, or a cheap dirty motel) she whispers that maybe she belongs in a cell, where she can’t hurt anyone.

He knows how much she wishes she could reverse time and change things. He knows how remorseful she is for the lives she’s taken. So he’s always quick to remind her that what happened was out of her control, and that she would never intentionally hurt someone, that she’s still good and will always be the same Caitlin he fell in love with all that time ago.

He’s brought out of his thoughts by the sound of her light humming. They’re on a deserted highway now, clear of people and other cars, and she looks more at ease. The sun is low in the sky, slivers of orange and yellow pour through the windows of their car, highlighting the planes of her face that he loves so much. He reaches over and gently pulls her ridiculous sunglasses off.

“I hate these,” he scrunches his nose and puts them away in the glove compartment.

She gives him an amused look. “I’ll make sure to consult you first next time I shop for eye wear.”

“Please do,” he gives her a wide smile and she snorts, untangling her hand from his and poking him on the side of his stomach. He makes an embarrassing squealing sound and pushes her hand away. “Not cool,” he says flatly and ends up smiling anyway.

She’s laughing and he likes these moments when they can joke around and look at each other like she hasn’t killed people and he didn’t help her escape imprisonment.

“So where to now?” He asks as he pulls a map out of the backpack near his feet. He unfolds it until it’s spread out over their dashboard. Black marker is dotted along the cities that they’ve stopped in and it’s kind of incredible how far they’ve gotten.