Today is the end of our hiatus, so here's a story in celebration! Scales of Magnitude will be updating as scheduled, but this is just a little something extra. Mostly I was inspired by an image I had of Caitlin and Barry lying on the floor of the cortex together-and out of that came this.

This story takes place near the end of 2x09, so spoilers for that episode. This can be read as light Snowbarry or simply as friendship...whatever floats your boat.

Enjoy!

"You pull that trigger, your life ends too. You will go to prison. Everything and everyone that you could have had in your life will be taken from you. Again. Mardon can't take anything else from you unless you let him."

If she was being honest with herself, Caitlin new what Barry would do the instant Mardon had laid out his terms.

You are gonna stand there and let me end you. Very publically and very painfully. And I'll let everybody live.

Barry had allowed a few seconds of hesitation, but Caitlin knew him well enough by now to know that there had never been any hesitation. His life for the lives of hundreds? He would've called it a no-brainer. Or maybe he was simply confident enough in his team to solve the problem before he actually died.

Now, even after the greatest danger had passed, here he was again. Saving lives.

"I don't know your father, but I know he wouldn't want this. Not over him. Please. Please."

Part of her thought she should mute the comm, let Barry and Patty, half-unwittingly, share this moment in private. Then again, she was still concerned for him and didn't yet feel comfortable disconnecting him; his vital signs pulsed and flickered worryingly. At least, that was the reason she was giving herself.

Though she couldn't see the action taking place, she still held her breath at the silence that followed. Patty was strong, but Caitlin knew all too well the way grief could chip away at even the most rock-hard of exteriors.

Then, barely audible through Barry's comm—"Mark Mardon, you're under arrest."

Caitlin would have to treat Patty to an extra-large mug of eggnog at the Christmas party.

The ensuing exchange between Barry and Patty continued in a blur. Caitlin turned the volume down a few clicks and began busying herself with a few medical supplies. There was always some indication of how…damaged Barry was after a fight, based on their ingenious suit monitors, but the full details of his condition were always somewhat of a surprise. She set out bandages and antiseptic as a start and brought her hair back into a ponytail. Cisco, Wells, and Jay should be back soon, but she would stay in the cortex to wait for Barry alone.

She didn't have to wait long. She'd just finished laying out a pack of stitches and was moving back to the computer monitor to check up on Barry when the speedster himself zipped into the room. Like a sputtering engine, he came toward her in bursts, stumbling between bouts of energy. Always a warning sign. He could barely keep his feet.

"Barry," she said, alarmed. "What…"

"I had to get out of there," Barry responded. "Too many people, and I was afraid of passing out." He had made it to the desk now and gripped it for support. He looked disturbingly like an old man, hunched there. "I'm sure the police can handle Mardon and the Trickster."

Caitlin frowned, reaching for his arm. "Yes, they'll be fine. Are you sure you're okay? "

"Actually…" Barry's attempt at an apologetic smile was quickly eaten up by a grimace that Caitlin knew all too well. "I don't feel so good."

She reached for the trashcan just in time for Barry to empty his guts into it.

The symmetry wasn't lost on her; how could she forget, just months ago, Barry holding back her hair as she internally swore off liquor forever. Barry had no long hair to hold back, and his reason for puking was a tad worse than alcohol, but she figured she owed him one.

"Sorry," he said once he had finished gagging.

"No need to apologize," she said, setting the trash can down and threading an arm around his shoulders. "I'm your doctor, Barry. What hurts?"

"Uh." Barry hissed as Caitlin guided him away from the desk. "Let's see. I was nailed in the chest by blocks of solid ice, then tossed a hundred feet through the air, and finally electrocuted. You're better at cataloging this stuff than I am."

"You don't have to be a smart-ass about it," Caitlin said gently. She winced at the moan of pain that accompanied a step forward. "Let's get you to one of the examination beds and I can take a look."

"Yeah, that sounds…great." He let out another pained breath. For a moment, Caitlin thought he might vomit again. But, instead, he simply staggered, sagged. His legs buckled beneath him, and, skinny as he was, he weighed more than he looked.

If she was being honest with herself, there was no chance in hell she was going to keep him upright, but she strained against his deadweight as much as she could. In another blink, both of them were sprawled on the floor, panting and staring at the cortex ceiling.

"That's my bad," Barry groaned.

"No, me too," Caitlin said. "Maybe I should join Iris at CrossFit."

She began levering herself to her elbows, but Barry failed an arm her direction. "No, can we just…take a minute? Lying down feels better."

She glanced over his prone form, wanting desperately to unzip the top of his suit and assess the true hurt to his body, but she relented. "Fine." She rested her head back on the hard floor. "You win. Five more minutes. Then I seriously have to make sure you haven't permanently damaged anything."

"Thanks, mom," Barry said with a pained wheeze of laughter.

Caitlin frowned. "Okay, besides that obviously inappropriate statement, I do not like how that sounds. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I thought we'd established that I wasn't okay, what with all the puking and collapsing." He coughed. "I also thought we'd established that this was part of the job description."

"It never gets easier."

"No, it doesn't. But it's worth it if it means helping people."

"Sometimes you need to worry about saving yourself," Caitlin said softly.

"I think we've had this conversation before."

"When?"

"You may have been drunk."

There you go again, saving me from that evil dress. Oh.

"That doesn't mean it's not true," she said, as sincerely as she could while swallowing her embarrassment. "I'm serious, Barry. You couldn't have known that we'd find a way to save you tonight."

"I always have faith in you guys." Caitlin turned her head to the side and found that Barry was also looking at her. "But also I knew that what I had to do was not dependent on that. I couldn't let those people get hurt."

"No, I understand." Now that they were eye to eye, Caitlin tried to keep her expression passive. She couldn't let him see the depth of her own fear. The terror of watching him die from afar, over a computer screen, week after week. The terror of a moment like now, seeing him exhausted and in too much pain to comprehend. She couldn't let him see that. "Just…I mean it. A lot of us in this world need you, too, Barry. Every once in a while, you need to pause being a hero and let yourself be saved. Especially after…after Zoom. You're not invincible."

If the reference to Zoom fazed him, he didn't show it. He grinned a bloody grin. "That's why I have you. My hero."

He turned his face back to the ceiling. It was that moment that Cisco, Wells, and Jay decided to walk in, chatting excitedly about their drone. Once they saw Caitlin and Barry lying on the floor, they clipped the conversation. Cisco rushed forward with a panicked shout that was cut off when he saw both of them blinking up innocently at him.

"What are you…uh…doing on the floor?"

"Stargazing," Barry said, innocently enough.

The moment, the illusion, was broken, and Caitlin hauled herself to a sitting position. "I couldn't lift him onto an examination bed myself, so we decided to take a brief respite. Help me get him up?"

With much moaning and protesting, she and Cisco got Barry to an upright position and took him under the armpits to the examination bed.

Getting Barry's suit off was more problematic, and all of them winced at what lay underneath. Like she'd anticipated, Barry's chest was littered with tennis ball sized bruises, and a few gentle prods confirmed her suspicions of at least one broken rib.

"Don't forget the lightning shock," Cisco said as Caitlin cataloged the injuries. "You're like a lightning rod, buddy. With all of the times you get yourself electrocuted, I'm beginning to think I need to make this suit completely rubberized." He shot a reproachful look Barry's direction, but Barry had already closed his eyes against the pain of Caitlin wrapping his ribs.

The bruises would heal on their own, just another vanished layer of destruction before the next round came. Which it would. Over and over again, probably worse. More than any one man should face in a lifetime. More than she would face, she hoped. More than any sane person should run toward time and time again.

Yet she knew, in her heart, that he would. Run into it again. A small part of her would have been disappointed if he didn't.

(A very small part—she was his doctor, after all.)

And she would be there, always, to pick him up. If not always literally.

"Hey, you want a pick-me-up while you heal?" Cisco asked Barry after the worst was over, once the bandages and monitors were in place and Barry's eyes fluttered with the exhaustion of treatment. "I was thinking of running downstairs and whipping up some smoothies."

Barry cracked his eyes open and smiled. "My hero," he said.

Caitlin grinned, too, and peeled off her gloves.

Thanks for reading, and happy Flash day! Please leave a comment on the way out with your thoughts, and definitely let me know how excited you are for the hiatus to be over. :)

Till next time,

Penn