Greg Turk walks out of his boss's office, turning the corner and letting out a deep sigh. He was just scolded for the umpteenth time in the last six months. One of his clients passed away and his many attempts to contact the recipients of his estate have utterly failed. It wasn't his fault. The letters he has sent have gone unanswered. All attempts to call them have ended in disconnected numbers and voicemails. His most recent attempt to contact their place of employment, the attempt that he was most confident in, disappointed him the most. The Police department in Coast City claimed that no one with that name worked there and the science institution doesn't even have a number. Those labs are listed as 'closed and inoperative until further notice', so what the hell was he supposed to do now? He stares at his computer, tugging at his hair and sipping on his third coffee of the morning.

"Barry and Caitlin. Where the hell are you two?"

***************************************

"Wally, you're gonna be fine." Caitlin says, slightly annoyed.

"Snow, I'm not!" Wally says, sounding worried. He turns to her, smirking. "See what I did there?"

Caitlin rolls her eyes and nods in disappointment. The look of panic immediately returns to Wally's face.

"I'm not ready." He turns to resume his pacing.

"You are, Wal." Caitlin assures him. "We studied for how many hours last night?"

"Not enough." He argues.

"Too many." She argues back. "If you do bad, it's going to be because you're panicking, not because you don't know the material." He sighs, slowing down his pacing and taking long, deep breaths. "Even your mom knew the material by the time we were done studying."

"She has a better memory than I do." He says.

"That's a lie." Caitlin laughs. "She forgot to turn the oven on the last three times she's made dinner."

Wally sighs and leans over, putting his hands on Caitlin's desk and dropping his head between his shoulders. Caitlin hits his hand with her breakfast fork and scares him. He looks up at her with a confused look.

She smiles a calming smile. "Calm. Down." She whispers to him.

He lets out a deep breath. "Okay."

"Now go kick ass." She says in a light, encouraging tone.

He stands and bounces up and down, clapping his hands, and nodding his head from side to side. "Alright. I got this."

He holds his hand in front of Caitlin and she stares at it. He stares a little longer and waits for her to return the high-five. She smiles at him and leans back in her chair. He glares at her and answers his own high-five with his other hand dramatically and struts out.

"Good luck!" She calls out when he's out the door.

She gets back to her work, knowing she won't get much done when he's done with his exam. Before she can get started, her phone rings.

"Hey Iris." Caitlin answers.

"Caitlin! Did you hear?" Iris exclaims.

"Hear what?"

"They're giving the Flash the key to the city!" Iris almost yells through the phone.

"What!" Caitlin answers in disbelief.

"Yeah. Took me forever to convince those jerks that the Flash was even real and now they're having a whole public ceremony to give him the key. And I can't even be there!" Iris says in disappointment.

Caitlin stays silent. She'd been checking the news every day to see if it mentioned anything about the Flash, and she saw nothing. Cisco had told her that Barry was isolating himself, but surely, he was still being the Flash. If he was, he was being discreet about it to the public. Either way, she hadn't seen any mention of him getting the key to the city, so Joe must've told Iris.

"You should go." Iris interrupts her thoughts.

"Um, yeah maybe. Could be interesting." Caitlin says, trying not to sound too interested.

"The whole police force will be there. I'm sure Barry will go. He can't go radio silent forever." Iris says, trying to encourage her.

"Yeah. I might. I'll call Cisco and see what he thinks. See where Barry's head is at."

"Barry or no Barry," Iris starts. "It'd give you a good excuse to go back to Central City for a day. See how you feel."

"Iris," Caitlin scolds. She hears Iris pause. "Can you stop doing a better job of convincing me to go than I am of convincing myself not to?"

Iris lets out a laugh. "No. You're going. End of story." She says in a playful tone. "It'll be good for you." She says more seriously.

"Fine." Caitlin sighs. "I'll think about it."

"That's all I'm asking. Anyway, get pictures please! You know Cisco and my dad suck at taking pictures."

"I will." Caitlin laughs. "If I go." She adds.

"If you go." Iris repeats. "Well, I gotta get to work, but I just wanted to fill you in. Talk to you later!"

"Later." Caitlin says, hanging up.

Her and Iris had been talking a lot since they both moved. Iris called either four or five times a week or left two weeks in between each call. It depended on her schedule. Caitlin rarely called her first, but she had a couple of times. Cisco called her every day. He loved his new job at CCPD and was excited to give an overly detailed account of his day to Caitlin every evening. Barry apparently all but kicked him out of S.T.A.R. Labs. He had been working solo for the last few months. Cisco has been helping out the new CCPD Anti-Meta-Human Task Force as their tech consultant and scientific advisor. Caitlin had even consulted over the phone on a few things when Cisco needed her help.

She tried to keep up with what was going on, but her life had gotten a little busy over the last few months. She was finally able to start on some research projects she'd been thinking about for the last year but was unable to do because of everything going on, so she kind of overloaded herself the minute she got the go-ahead on all of the projects.

Wally wasn't her intern, which is good because he doesn't listen to her anyway, but he was in her office more than anyone else's. She was the youngest one there other than the other college interns and he said they were immature and annoyed him, so he hung out with her. They got along pretty well. He annoyed her the same way Cisco did, which meant she welcomed it. She bossed him around but had a lot of stories to tell that excited him and she was there to listen and talk when he wanted to talk about school or his interests.

She liked her life in Blue Valley, but she'll admit, she still feels like she's just on a temporary leave from home. Some uneventful sabbatical. Part of her hopes Barry will call, but another part of her knows if he does, she'll come running home. But would that be so bad?

********************

"You have to come today!" Cisco exclaims to Barry who is sitting behind his desk processing some evidence from today's crime scene where they found a murdered man named Al Rothstein. "Who turns down the key to the city?"

"Me, apparently." Barry says dryly.

"Why?" Cisco asks, more sincerely.

"Because I don't deserve it."

"I'm not even gonna argue that you do. I've known you too long to be convinced that I could change your mind." Cisco starts. "But why does it matter whether you think you deserve it or not?"

Barry stops what he's doing but doesn't turn to Cisco.

"The town had the biggest catastrophe it's ever had and when they looked up to the sky and saw their town literally being sucked into an abyss, they saw the Flash. They saw hope. Don't take that away from them. If they want to think you're a hero, let them." Cisco says, trying to sound encouraging but also a little stern.

"It should be Ronnie and Stein. Or even Joe. He's the one who killed Thawne. I didn't do anything." Barry says, still not turning to Cisco.

Cisco lets out an annoyed sigh. He's been putting up with Barry's pity-party for the last five months and he's about had it.

"Well then feel sorry for them, not for yourself." He states, turning to walk out.

He's tried to help, and Barry just shuts him out more. He tries to get him to call Caitlin and he won't. He tries to get Caitlin to call him and she just keeps saying 'she can't'. He feels alone. His only joy comes from helping CCPD even though he really doesn't get to be as involved as he used to be with Team Flash. He likes calling and telling Caitlin about it, but he feels guilty because he's really only doing it to hopefully convince her to come back. He supports her needing time, but he doesn't support her leaving. Her and Barry weren't the only two who lost something, and he could really use his best friends.

He walks down to the main floor of the station and sees Joe looking at him for an answer. Cisco shakes his head.

"Damn." Joe sighs. "I really thought you talking to him might work."

"If I hadn't tried a thousand times before then it might've." Cisco says sounding defeated. "He's still stuck in his own head."

"That's Barry for ya." Joe says, leaning on the counter next to Cisco. They both lean back, trying to destress before they go to a ceremony for a man that won't show.

"Standing around doing nothing. Nice to know you two haven't changed."

Cisco and Joe both perk up at the sound of a familiar voice. Cisco runs and attacks his best friend.

Joe walks up to the two of them. "Caitlin." He acknowledges, smiling at her and waiting for Cisco to get off her. He pulls her in for a hug. "It's good to see ya, kid."

"It's good to be back." She says sincerely, looking around the station. "I hear we're celebrating."

"Well, some of us are." Cisco says, his voice returning to its earlier somber tone.

Caitlin raises her eyebrow at Joe.

"The man of the hour isn't feeling too much like celebrating." Joe explains.

Caitlin takes a deep breath and looks up the stairs toward Barry's lab.

"He still has an hour. Maybe he'll change his mind." She says, hoping to cheer them up a bit.

Cisco turns to Joe. "Five months and it's like she doesn't even know him." He jokes. "Change his mind. Pfft." He scoffs.

Joe chuckles and Caitlin rolls her eyes.

"Well, if you two aren't busy, I thought we could get lunch before the ceremony." She suggests.

"I've got some work to get done before but you two go ahead." Joe says.

Cisco gladly accepts the lunch offer and heads to Jitters with Caitlin.

"So, are you back for the ceremony or..." Cisco asks hesitantly.

"Just the ceremony." She assures him.

He noticeably slumps when she answers, grunting in acknowledgement. They eat in silence for a few minutes.

"Why?" He says softly, sounding hurt.

"Why what?" She asks.

"Why are you staying away?" He asks, sounding like he's accusing her of something. "I got that you weren't running away from Barry, but that doesn't mean that you weren't running away."

Caitlin looks at him, thinking, but doesn't say anything.

"You were running away from him." Cisco states, leaning in toward her.

"I know." She admits quietly, looking down.

"Every day you stay away, you're still letting him affect you."

She looks up at him when he says this. Her eyes are sad.

"I'm just saying, if you want to come back, if you're even questioning it, then choosing not to is still letting him control your life." He explains, not wanting to hurt her.

"I'm sorry." She whispers.

"Don't be. I know you're doing what you need to do." He assures her. "I know you need to forget for a while...everything that he was to you. But forgetting isn't moving forward. It's not living."

"You've become wise in your years." Caitlin says, joking lightly.

"You and Barry's bickering has aged me." He jokes, glaring at her.

"I'm sorry." She says sincerely. He laughs. "I mean it Cisco. We've both been too busy wrapped in our own worlds to be there for you and I'm sorry. You shouldn't have to shoulder our crap on top of your own."

He looks up at her, his eyes sad now. "I just miss you. Both of you."

"I'm here, Cisco. Any time you need me." She says, reaching across and grabbing his hand.

He lets out a deep breath. He gives her a weak smile, not wanting to explain to her that that wasn't what he meant. They finish their lunch, talking about the preparations the town has been taking for the ceremony.

"I noticed a lot of the town is cleaned up. You didn't tell me your idea worked." She scolds.

"It didn't." Cisco sulks. "But uh, it's crazy. Different stores and shops and homes are just...magically fixed. Overnight." He says, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Hmm." She says smiling at him. "That's fast."

"Very." Cisco agrees. They both laugh.

They gather up their trash and throw it away, walking out of Jitters. They walk downtown to where people are gathering for the ceremony, where they meet up with Joe, Stein, and Clarissa. Caitlin walks up to Stein and hugs him, followed by Clarissa. Both are excited to see her and ask about her time in Blue Valley. She's checked in with Stein about once a week, but it's mostly been checking on his health. She's not sure how Ronnie's death affected him, both mentally and physically.

They all stand to the side, leaning against Joe's police car, waiting for the ceremony to begin.

********************************

Back in his lab, Barry is looking out his window watching people walk downtown, all dressed or accessorized in red and yellow. He takes a deep breath. Cisco's last comment has been weighing on him. He has been selfish these last few months and he knew that. Guess it just took his friend pointing it out for him to realize that other people knew that too. He didn't want to go because he felt like he was lying to the town by accepting, but did that matter? Was he really letting the town down by not showing up?

Barry turns when he hears a knock on the wall behind him. He sees an unfamiliar man standing in the entrance to his lab.

"Can I help you?" Barry says, turning and taking a step toward the man.

"Barry Allen?" The man asks. Barry just nods. "Oh, thank heavens. You're a hard man to reach, Mr. Allen. Well I did mistake the CC in CCPD for Coast City, but other than that, you've still been very difficult to reach." The man rambles.

Barry just gives the man a confused look. The man walks toward him, taking an envelope out of his briefcase.

"My name is Greg Turk." He reaches out to shake Barry's hand. "I'm Harrison Wells' attorney."

A/N:

Hey guys! So there are going to be a few chapters of setting the stage for the main plot of this book and where the characters are now, but they are important for connecting the first book and will come into play later. I'm posting all of the set up chapters at once so you can get those out of the way without waiting for another one.

Hopefully they aren't too boring. I'm frustrated writing them cuz I wanna rush to the big stuff, but I feel like I'd be skipping too much if I did that. Anyways, enjoy!

Peace and Love! - Ali