Caitlin loved working with children. And she knew why. Her mother had deprived her of any chance at a normal childhood. Ever since she had gone done the path of becoming a doctor, she knew she wanted to help kids. You can imagine the disappointment when she told her mum she wanted to be a paediatric optometrist. Her mother, the self-proclaimed greatest scientist to walk the earth. And her disappointment of a daughter.

"Thank you Dr. Snow," said the little girl in front of her. Her name was Rosie, and her glasses would be arriving within the week. She had been a real trooper, done every single test to the best of her ability but not got frustrated when she couldn't see something. A lot of kids cried, or got angry. Rosie had smiled her way through the entire exam. Just the way Caitlin liked her days to end. Rosie gave her a big smile and she watched as her mum walked out the door. She quickly finished making notes in a file, grabbing her bag and heading out the door. Caitlin loved her job, she loved working with the kids. There were times though where she felt like something was missing. Or rather someone.

Caitlin's relationship history was as tragic as they came. Her entire high school life she avoided relationships like the plague, threw herself into work. While studying at university there had been the odd guy. Ronnie was one of the best guys she had ever met, but it just hadn't worked. After all, him disappearing hadn't helped. Then there had been Hunter, boy was that one a mistake. He had been possessive, and controlling, and she had moved cities to get away from him. When she came back to Central City, he was in a mental asylum. She was glad of that one. And with those two ended the book of Caitlin and romance. She would have dated, but no one ever really caught her eye who also looked back at her.

And so her life continued. Every day she would go to work, the one place she genuinely smiled. The one place she felt she could make a difference, even if it was as small as helping a single child see with clarity. The routine, waking up, throwing herself into work, going home to a tub of ice cream and a good documentary. And every day she wondered what craziness would explode in Central City. With all the metahumans on the loose, Central City could be a dangerous place, but Caitlin still found herself walking home every day. There was something about the walk that calmed her. It gave her a moment in her day where all she had to do was go from point A to B. It was simple. Or at least it had been until this day. Suddenly lightning streaks filled the area, police sirens wailing away. Caitlin started to panic, a side effect of growing up with her mother were the occasional panic attacks. Suddenly she found herself pushed to the side as a streak of lightning almost hit her.

"Are you okay?" asked a voice. Caitlin looked up to find herself in the arms of a rather tall and attractive man. Well, at least her version of attractive. He had a nerdy edge to him, brown hair that had a fair amount of volume to it and the most soulful eyes she had ever seen. It was then that she realised she had not replied to his question, too lost with staring at him.

"I'm fine, I think," she muttered, looking back out at the road, the speedsters had moved on to another road. But this man had clearly stopped her from being hit by one of them. Rival had been racing through town testing Kid Flash for so long now that Caitlin was actually surprised she had never seen them before. "Thank you," she said, looking back at her saviour.

"I just happened to be in the right time at the right place," he replied, a goofy grin on his face. Caitlin didn't understand how one person could be so adorably hot.

"Well, I am in your debt," Caitlin replied, a smile on her face. "At least let me buy you a coffee or something to say thank you," she continued, realising she was at risk of babbling. That did not often happen to her.

"Well I try not to caffeinate after 3pm, so how about you let me buy you dinner instead?" the man said, and Caitlin smiled. She may not have dated anyone for a long time, but she knew when a guy was flirting with her. "I'm Barry," he said, holding out a hand to her.

"Caitlin," she replied, taking it and shaking it. When their hands touched, both felt it, something there, something more than strangers. "I would love to," she added, remembering he had asked about dinner. There was something about him, she felt like there was a history between them longer than the couple of minutes they had actually known each other. Walking side by side, they started heading down the footpath. "Where do you want to go?" she asked him, looking up at his eyes. What was so familiar about them?

"How about Big Belly Burger?" he asked, that goofy grin once more spread across his face.

"A man after my own heart," she replied. Even better, the nearest one would leave her with a short walk home afterwards. They walked in the quiet for a while together, enjoying the noise the city generated. When there wasn't a battle on between speedsters or metahumans around, the city had a nice hum to it. "So what do you do Barry?" she asked, internally smacking herself for such stupid small talk.

"I actually work for CCPD. I'm the forensic analyst for the department," he said. Caitlin felt a smile spread over her face. A scientist, now this was a good sign.

"That must be incredible. I mean, everything you would see, it would be such a variety of scientific analysis and experimentation," she started to babble, but stopped upon hearing him chuckle. "Sorry, I have a habit of doing that," she added, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I have a habit similar. What about you?" he asked, sending a smile back her way.

"I am a paediatric optometrist," she replied. "I finished my med degree and realised that I wanted to use my skills to help children. So, I may have disappointed my mother by not going into medical research, but I found my passion. I just love helping people. Seeing those kids smile, it makes everything seem right," Caitlin continued, finding she was starting to babble again. "Sorry, please do feel free to shut me up," she added, causing Barry to laugh again.

"I think you can count on me never asking you to do that," muttered Barry, causing Caitlin to give him a slightly quizzical stare. They got to Big Belly Burger, and Caitlin realised this was different. She was happy, genuinely happy. It was nice. It was better than nice. Barry opened the door with gusto, stepping aside for her. "After you!"

Caitlin hummed a light tune while cleaning her equipment at work. Her date, which she had decided it was, had left her feeling pure joy. There was something about him, about Barry, that made her feel incredible. She was packing up for the day, making sure everything was tidy before the weekend hit.

Suddenly she found herself encased in red lightning. The wind whipped around her.

"Whoa," she said, stumbling as she stopped moving. "What just happened?" she asked turning around.

"Stop bringing strangers into my lab!" yelled Cisco. "Who is this?" he added, pointing at her.

"This is Dr Caitlin Snow, in my timeline she's a part of our team" Barry quickly responded.

"You just kidnapped this woman," replied Cisco.

"Yeah, well, I ah," stumbled Barry. "She was a scientist!" said Barry, as if that qualified his statement. "We need her," he added.

"Listen, Barry, what the hell is going on?" asked Caitlin, glancing around the room. What was he wearing? Why was she in this room with the billionaire Cisco Ramon? "You're a speedster…" she stammered, realising who it was who had brought her here. "Oh god, no…no," she muttered, falling into the nearest seat. Why did everything good have to end so badly? Barry moved across to her and knelt down beside her.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," he whispered. She looked into his eyes.

"There is something else you aren't telling me either…" she muttered. Barry looked at her, ignoring everyone else in the room. "Why do I know you?" she added. Suddenly her eyes went dark and the world around her faded.

"Caitlin!" she heard, before everything went silent.

There was nothing in the darkness, she was alone, in the silence.

It comes for you, the cold. It will take you, and take the man you love from you.

Caitlin awoke lying on a bed.

"Good, the doctor is up, you have a patient incoming," said Cisco, moving quickly through the room.

"What happened?" she asked. Before Cisco had a time to answer, in sped Barry, holding Wally in his arms. Caitlin quickly got to work, her medical training from back in the day kicking in. she tried to stabilise him as best she could.

"Wally's vitals are low, and he's lost a lot of blood," she muttered, removing her hand from his arm.

"He should be rapidly healing," replied Iris, irritation seeping into her voice. Irritation caused by worry for her brother.

"It's one of the gifts of being a speedster," Barry added, explaining to Caitlin.

"He's not, I'm sorry," Caitlin replied. Joe quickly ran out of the room.

"This is why I didn't want to get involved," muttered Cisco, looking at Wally lying on the bed. "Crime fighting sucks," he added, walking out of the room.

"I thought I could just make things better," Barry whispered, moving to stand by Caitlin. "But everyone has been paying for my happiness," said Barry, burying his head into his hands.

"Look," said Caitlin, reaching for one of his hands. "I barely know you. I met you yesterday and since then I have next to no idea what has happened. But for some reason, I think I know you more than that. And the part of me that somehow, someway, knows you. I know you Barry, and I know the kind of man you are. You would never hurt anyone, especially not for selfish reasons. You are a hero Barry, and you always do what a hero does," she finished, a tear edging its way out of her eye. Barry looked at her once, before lightly pressing his lips against her.

"Thank you," he whispered, before disappearing from the room. Caitlin had barely recovered from the kiss and know the man before her was gone. Gone to do what he had to do. Be the hero.