Gone.

[the-ice-witch]

Barry @theoreticalguardianangel​

“To the present,” Caitlin stated and followed his motions before pressing the test tube to her lips and finishing off the amber colored liquid inside.  “I suppose you just have to get past the smell first, because that wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be.”  And if there had been any microexpressions on her face immediately following the drink, the bioengineer had been completely unaware of them.

“So how was your drink?  I thought about adjusting a few things but decided to hold off until you tried it.”  Grabbing a pencil and a notepad on her desk, Caitlin scribbled down a few ideas before resting the eraser against her chin with her eyes closed for a few moments.  “It’s kind of nice being normal for a minute.  Nobody to save, no powers to control...” Maybe one day they’d have full days like this, but for the time being she was was grateful for any amount of peace she could get.      

[the-ice-witch]

Ronnie @readytoignite “Interesting,” Caitlin replied to his comment about foods being in pill form.  “I actually enjoy cooking, but I guess I’d be willing to eat something that way if there was a food shortage or if the government decided they wanted to protect all of the animals --- which they probably should.”  After all, all forms of life were precious and she had learned the price that came with mistreating them the hard way. “I meant as a friend,” she said quietly, knowing that her temper had gotten the best of her again, “but if you really think that’s biting your head off I’ll withdraw the offer.  Barry had it much worse when I first met him.  He was in a coma for the biggest part of the year and when he woke up I wasn’t exactly friendly to him.”  It had mostly been because she was dealing with the loss of her fiance and the soul crushing mess that the particle accelerator malfunction had made of her reputation, but somehow Barry had forgiven her for all of those moments of darkness and their friendship grew every day because he had.    

[the-ice-witch]

Laurel @onelastxtime​

“Maybe,” Caitlin replied, still not certain if she wanted anymore children at the moment.  “But it doesn’t make it any easier when stuff like this pops up.”  

Pausing as the boys came down the stairs yelling at each other, the brunette took a moment to ask them to take the noise outside.  “Wait --- what did you just tell me?”  If she hadn’t gone through something similar with Felicity a few months ago, the news of Laurel being Alice’s mother would have been a lot more shocking.  These people were supposed to be his friends, so she didn’t understand how they could keep such a big secret from him --- especially after the fiasco with William.

“And I suppose Sara has a love child with him as well?”  Her words were laced with an anger that was Laurel had never encountered before, but Caitlin couldn’t bite her tongue anymore, “I don’t know, I don’t know anything anymore.  You people keep doing this to him and making me clean up the mess...you could have mentioned it before, but since you didn’t you’re going to come tell him in person because that’s not the sort of thing you want to hear when you’re on the phone.” Putting an emphasis on her last few words, Caitlin slammed the phone on the table and walked away to find a more suitable place to cry.

[the-ice-witch]

Laurel @onelastxtime​

“He’s a bit shocked, but he’s fine,” Caitlin said and let out a sleepy yawn.  Normally she loved talking about Lydia, but the reason for Ollie’s call had been much more urgent than carrying on about how cute her daughter really was.  “Actually --- I’d asked myself that same question.  I mean, first with William, then Conner and Sophie and now...Alice?”

She had known that Oliver had been a bit of a playboy before the island, but FIVE kids?  

“Wait, I didn’t tell you her last name yet,” the brunette added with a bit of a confused tone to her voice,  “and I don’t really understand what you have to be sorry for.  I mean really, there’s nobody to blame here except the driver that hit her parents.  The poor girl would have come looking for Ollie eventually --- BUT that’s not why I took the phone.”  

They needed extra protection at the airport, but the way things were going it didn’t sound as though Laurel would be right for that job after all.

[the-ice-witch]

Laurel @onelastxtime

Caitlin nodded and carefully tugged her hand away so Laurel couldn’t become the victim of her powers if they decided to go rogue.  “I’m feeling a bit cold,” she added, carefully dropping the hint that something could go wrong if they weren’t cautious until she warmed back up.  “I’m just glad that I have someone to talk to who isn’t Cisco; don’t get me wrong, I love Cisco...but sometimes it’s just nice to have another woman to talk to about these kind of problems.”

And some days she wished it could have been about something far less complicated, but given everything that’d happened she’d take what she could get.  “We usually get pizza from Coast City, but I’ll gladly settle for Mario’s since Barry is off duty.”  Not that they hadn’t ever taken advantage of his speed, but she lived in a different city now and needed to get used to the things that they had, instead of what she really wanted.

[the-ice-witch]

Barry @theoreticalguardianangel​

      Caitlin mulled over the idea as she removed her fingers to take another whiff of the amber colored liquid that resided in HR’s shiny flask. “One shot,” she nodded, carefully taking the test tube from her co-worker so they didn’t spill any of its contents, “but what shall we drink to?”  Drinking to the future not only seemed cliche, but a bit saddening for both of their cases, or at least it seemed that way because they were both predestined for some level of self-destruction or madness.  

      “To friendship?”       They might not always have the others in the near future, but at least it seemed that they would always have each other --- no matter how evil they would become.    

[the-ice-witch]

Barry @theoreticalguardianangel moved from | here

      “ A test run? ”  Caitlin smiled kindly, “I hope it lasts longer for you than the last brew I made, but that’s really not --- necessary.”  There was a long pause between her last two words as she struggled to catch the flask that Barry had tossed at her without any warning whatsoever.  “ Have I failed to mention that I’m not at all athletic? ”  She was certain that they’d had that conversation, but maybe he’d managed to confuse her abilities with that of her Earth 2 doppelganger, Killer Frost.

      “ I’m not sure this is such a good idea, ” she mumbled. “ I mean, what if the stuff that’s in this flask is what makes HR a bit crazier than the rest of us? ”  It was a joke that she spewed out as she tugged the top off the silver flask, but quickly discovered regret because of the pungent odors that oozed out without it’s cap.  

      “Whew!”         The brunette gasped and reached up for her nose, “ that’s awful!” And she had no doubts that it the drink inside was an Irish whiskey to sneak in his coffee, but it wasn’t something she was used to drinking so it’d probably burn like hell while it was going down. 

[the-ice-witch]

Oliver || @greenmartyrdom​

     “I haven’t had signal since we left Central City,” she said, figuratively wanting to kick herself for not switching carriers after the last time they’d gone out of town together.  “At least I thought to bring food and water.  There was supposed to be enough for everyone to have lunch, but since it’s just the two of us there should be enough sandwiches to last us a couple of days.”  

     It wasn’t as though they had power, but a bit of common sense told her that it was cool enough to safely keep their cooler covered under the snow when the ice inside it started getting low.  “Do you think I could try to light the fire?”  Caitlin asked, reaching on the mantel for the lighter that Barry had left earlier, “I used to always let Ronnie do these things for me, but he’s not here so I think I should learn how to light a fire on my own.”

And it wasn’t as though she’d never light a fire before, but most of her experience had been with the gas burners that they kept in the lab, so her knowledge in that department just didn’t count.  

[the-ice-witch]

Laurel

“Uh...It’s not important,” Caitlin stated, waving her hands around as though the motions helped to help prove her point.  “Do you want to go grab something from jitters?  They have some new coffee drinks in since the last time you were here, and I don’t know about you, but I think I could really use a muffin right now.”    

@sonicanary​ asked || “ What’s that you were saying about luck? ” 

[the-ice-witch]

Roy

“ Of course we do, here.  I’ll put you on speaker phone and you can ask Ollie your --- what do you mean, no? ”  Caitlin’s facial expressions went from happy to utternly annoyed in a matter of seconds.  She didn’t like being told that she couldn’t do something, but it did seem as though she understood their husbands objection as the conversation continued. “ I guess that’s alright, Oliver, but you didn’t have to be so grumpy about it.  The kids aren’t even with us right now....so...fine we’ll come downtown.  Give us 20 minutes and we’ll be ready. ”

Just one click of a button was all it took before she let out a sigh and sat back down on the bed again, “He wants us to go to the cave.  He sounded like he was worried about something, but he wouldn’t tell me over the phone, so I guess it’s important.”  Knowing Oliver some villain was threatening them, but little did they know that their world was about to be turned upside down by a former enemy known as the league of assassins.

@firing-red-arrows​ continued from | here

[the-ice-witch]

Roy

One night out of town and Caitlin couldn’t help but to wonder how things were back home.  She worried about Oliver staying at work to long or overexerting himself at his night job, she worried about the kids getting in trouble and she worried that Roy might go crazy putting up with it all --- but just as soon as the thoughts popped in her head, the brunettes phone rang.  

     “Roy?”  

Caitlin asked as she answered the phone, “What’s wrong....do I need to leave Central City...?”  The truth of the matter seemed that she’d been looking for a reason to leave since she’d arrived, but the others had insisted that she stay.

@firing-red-arrows​ answered from || here

[the-ice-witch]

Death Storm

“ Mikey Mouse? ”

     Caitlin made a joke, in spite of their unique situation,  “ But, seriously, Ronnie.  I’m really glad that I found you.  These last few months Zoom have just been terrible.  He’s even gone so far to have the calculator’s daughter watching over me with her cyber toys — he’s the one that made me get this stupid cut, so I’m a little surprised that you actually like it….but, oh well, I suppose.  ”

     Her hair had been the last bit of the person that she’d been on earth 1; so cutting it off made her feel insecure and incredibly vulnerable.  “ At least he did give me a lab to work in.  Every bit of it is probably stolen and I can only do experiments that involve his DNA or his blood, but I guess it’s better than nothing.  I just.  I wish it had only been my life instead of mine along with everyone that we’d ever known because I never would have married him if I had thought he’d really given me a choice; but Ronnie, I could never love him  after all the terrible things that he’s done so I don’t know what good marrying him has done. ”

Pausing as she realized that she’d mentioned her marriage to Zoom, Caitlin  expected a large explosion, despite the knowledge that Ronnie’s super powers had been locked down.

@readytoignite

[the-ice-witch]

DeathStorm   

“What did I do to deserve this?”  Caitlin wasn’t exactly complaining about the hug; but she knew that her behavior had been less than stellar since they’d found out they weren’t each other’s significant other --- and therefore couldn’t figure out why he’d offer her such a long hug.  

@readytoignite asked || 💗