chapter one

Barry walked towards Caitlin's medical area, stopping himself in the doorway as his eyes found his favorite M.D. in the corner. He leaned against the door's frame, folding his arms as he watched her gaze into her microscope, eyes scrunched down in immense focus and concentration. When she was like that, Barry noticed a wrinkle in-between her eyes would form, which he admittedly thought made her look adorable. A smile easily morphed across his face as he spotted the little line.

For the past year, Caitlin had been his saving grace - his rock. When Iris left him, ultimately shattering his heart in the process, he never thought he'd recover. However, slowly but surely, Caitlin did as she had always done: she mended him - with talking sessions and movie nights and even singing karaoke for him (sober this time).

She'd always been there for him, making him smile during the toughest times and offering her wise words when he needed the boost. But it wasn't until recently did he truly start to see and appreciate everything she did for him.

She not only was his doctor or a friend to talk to, she restored his hope. Her belief in him as regular ol' Barry and as The Flash transcended anything else he knew, and he felt like he could take on the world because of it. He was lighter on his feet and it reminded him back to the days before things got complicated and messy in his life - before Flashpoint and evil personas and failed relationships - where he was happy go lucky and optimistic. And if he had been finding himself getting more and more caught up in these trances around her, maybe his heart was ready for the taking again too.

He repositioned himself on the frame, only for a pain to shoot up his back and across his shoulders, reminding him why he was there in the first place and breaking him from his gaze.

"Caitlin?" Barry called out, fully entering her office area.

She turned to him at the sound of his voice, her lips immediately widening at his presence, causing Barry to smile back. "Hey."

"Hey," he greeted softly, walking over to her leisurely.

She held up her index finger, signaling him to wait for one second as she looked back into the microscope before writing an observation down on her notepad. She then looked back up at him, giving him her undivided attention. "Did you need something?"

His smile dampened ever so slightly. "Actually, yeah…" he let out reluctantly. "My shoulders have been bothering me a lot lately," he pointed out, rotating them for good measure which enticed a slight hiss from the speedster.

Caitlin frowned, ushering him to the medical bed in the center of the room. "When did the pain start?"

The speedster took a second to think. "Um, when we went against that wooden meta...the uh...," Barry recalled back on, his hand moving in circles as he tried to remember the meta's name, "What did Cisco name him?"

His personal physician pursed her lips to the side, thinking. "I think...I think he just called him the Wooden Man."

"That's...not very creative," Barry remarked with a chuckle.

Caitlin laughed too, shaking her head. "No, it's not," she agreed before her face turned solemn, her eyes alighting with recognition - "Barry, that was a a few days ago," she stressed, "and you're just telling me this hurts now?!"

Barry guiltily grinned. "I kept thinking it would just go away," he admitted with a sheepish shrug. "With my speedy healing and all…"

She clicked her tongue as she rounded the bed to face his back. She lifted his shirt up to his shoulder blades, prompting Barry to take the shirt off the rest of the way, knowing Caitlin's nonverbal cues like the back of his hand now that they've been doing this for years.

Her fingers poked and prodded at certain areas of his back. "You have some serious knots back here. I'm guessing that the fight was more strenuous than usual. So that, coupled with the normal stress of the Flash and the horrible way you're hunched over at the precinct all the time, your muscles stay knotted," she surmised, walking back so she was standing in front of him.

"So...what do I do?" Barry asked searchingly. "Head down to the local spa and get a massage?"

Caitlin bit down on her lower lip, contemplating what to do as she looked at her friend. "You could," she said, nodding, "Though I... somewhat know how to give a massage. Granted I'm not certified but…" she admitted, trailing off with a shrug.

Barry raised a brow in interest. "Have you been moonlighting as a masseuse this whole time, Dr. Snow?" he wondered aloud, his closed lips raised on one side as he watched her humorously.

She gave him a deadpanned look that caused him to chuckle.

"Very funny," she said dryly. "While I was taking care of you in your coma, I was also really stressed about Ronnie and my career that I actually taught myself some techniques to relax, since I always felt weird about complete strangers touching me like that. And it's not like I was going to ask Cisco or…" she paused, wrinkling her nose, "or Dr. Wells-er, Thawne- to give me a massage."

Barry laughed, not being able to picture the aforementioned men giving her a massage. "Well then, Dr. Snow, would you please help your patient?" he play pleaded, hands even together in prayer to further the act. "He is in pain."

"You just don't want to pay for an actual massage."

Barry shrugged, his smile wide and unashamed. "Maybe...but you offered...Or are you rusty?" he then teased her.

She let out a self-dignified huff. "I never get rusty," she proclaimed, before letting out an exaggerated sigh coupled with a fond eye roll. "Go on, lay down," she directed.

He flashed her a cheeky grin before laying down on the bed, his back facing up with his head down and facing her. "Is this good?"

She nodded silently, walking closer to him. She stood still for a moment, surveying his back, trying to gauge where she should start first. Eventually she picked an area and began applying pressure to it increasingly.

Barry was startled at the first contact, jumping ever so slightly. Caitlin's hands stilled along the knobs of his spine causing him to shiver further, but for an entirely different reason. "Cold," he quickly murmured into the bed.

She giggled as he felt her fingers begin their work again, digging into his back. "Sorry, but you do know you have a person with frost powers massaging you, right?" she lightly joked.

Barry let out a short laugh. "I'm aware-Ahhhhh," Barry let out, interrupting himself.

Caitlin stopped again, pulling herself away. "What? What now?" she frantically asked. He turned to look at her, her eyes were blown wide in panic. "Was that too hard?" she asked concerningly, obviously not wanting to hurt him.

He shook his head. "Quite the opposite," he admitted with a chuckle. "Please, continue. It feels good."

She let out a relieved breath before taking over her previous actions, her fingers pressing deep into his warm skin, kneading into his sculpted back.

Her hands were like magic against his skin; he could already feel the pain in his shoulders lessening, allowing him to sink into the medical bed, relaxing. Her touch was purposeful - she was clearly just massaging his back - but it felt...sensual at times, to him. Maybe it was because of his growing feelings for the doctor, coupled with the fact that this was the first time she was touching him that wasn't strictly friendly nor doctor related.

He had to take a deep breath, trying to suppress his body from reacting to her hands on him. However, it didn't stop the forthcoming moan from breathily escaping his lips after she pressed into a rather sensitive spot. "...ohhhhh!"

He felt her hands trip over the rhythm they had been moving, but she didn't stop this time. He figured he had just frightened her by the sudden sound, so he let out a meek "sorry" as he threw his friend an embarrassed smile over his shoulder.

She cleared her throat. "No problem," she said thickly, swallowing as her eyes stayed trained on his back.

Furrowing his brows, Barry couldn't help but notice that Caitlin was visibly flustered, blushing even. It hadn't been his intention, but her reaction was catalyzing one of his own as he wondered what she was thinking. Because if she was thinking what he thought she was thinking... - his dick twitched, and, yeah, now he definitely had a boner. Great.

"Barry," Caitlin's voice spoke up, snapping him from his thoughts. "I'm going to need you to turn on your side just for one moment. I'd be easier to reach this patch of your shoulder."

His eyes shot open wide as he intook a quick breath that then led into a momentary coughing fit.

"Barry?" Caitlin let worriedly, patting him on the back to help with his cough.

He cleared his throat once the coughing spell dissipated. "Do - do I really have to?" he stuttered out.

"If you want your shoulders to feel better, then yes," she teasingly remarked. The speedster could feel her hand on his right shoulder, tugging at it gently to encourage him to move that way, but Barry laid stagnant.

He swallowed. "I - I don't think we need to go that in depth, ya know?"

"Don't be silly," she insisted. "Dr. Caitlin Snow is always thorough."

A nervous chuckled spilled from his lips. The thought "how thorough?" then flashed through his mind, concocting pictures of his personal physician that, well - the hope for his erection to soften before he turned over definitely wasn't going to happen now.

"It's really not necessary. I'm sure you can get the area just fine from the angle you're at now."

She pulled at his shoulder a little more roughly while Barry leveraged his weight to prevent from turning. "Barry," she stressed, a hint of her growing frustration becoming evident. "What is up with you?"

"Too much," Barry mumbled, thinking about the problem between his legs while also trying to keep himself anchored to the bed as Caitlin continued her efforts to make him turn over.

Her persistence then abruptly stopped, and Barry let out a sigh of relief when he thought he had won. "Barry, is that Mirror Master?" she asked, pointing to a mirror in the corner of the room.

Barry immediately looked up and squinted at the reflected object. However, it was that simple distraction that was enough to catch him off guard and allow Caitlin to turn him over.

"Ha!" she let out gleefully in victory.

Under normal circumstances, he would have basked in the cuteness of her rare childishness, but instead his heart was nearly beating out of his ribcage in fear as he saw her eyes agonizingly trail down his body.

Nothing happened for a moment, and everything was still, but soon her triumphant smile waned as she finally noticed his tented sweatpants.

With wide eyes, she stared at it for a few (agonizing) seconds before tearing her gaze away, sputtering and blushing. "I - I think we're good for today," she said, her voice exasperated as she backed away. "And I - I just remembered that I told Harry I'd help him with something, so…" she trailed off, motioning to the door before speed walking herself out of the lab.

Too mortified to try and explain himself at the moment, he watched her leave. And only when he was sure that she was out of earshot, did he turn back over on his stomach, frustratingly groaning as he proceeded to bang his head against the mattress numerous times.

Things just got awkward.

A/N: Heh, yeah, so I'm starting a story, so this will be continued. All I have to say to preview the rest of this story is that if you enjoyed my other story Text Me a Heart Attack, then I think you'll love this one...this story is going to get MATURE folks...brace yourselves. Also, PLEASE REVIEW and let me know what you're thinking. :)

Also, special thanks to Caro for helping me brainstorm and come up with the title for this story!