Caitlin walks into Jitters completely exhausted. She got very little sleep the night before. She kept dreaming of a certain green-eyed speedster, followed by a red-eyed one. The Man in Yellow had been haunting her for a while now. Ever since she realized where she recognized him from. Was he from the future or from their time? Why did he kill Barry's mom? Why was he there when the car crashed? Did he save her? If so, why? What was she to him?

With these questions running through her head, Caitlin isn't paying much attention to her surroundings, meaning she doesn't notice the brunette walking her way. She does when the two collide and coffee goes on both of their shirts.

"Shit, I'm sorry!" Caitlin says before looking up.

"No, it's my fault." Iris responds. "Oh. Caitlin. Hi!" She says with a cautious smile.

"Hi." Caitlin says, hurriedly dabbing the coffee off her blouse.

"Could we maybe...talk?" Iris asks.

Caitlin looks up, tossing the napkins in the trash. "I don't have much time, but sure."

They take a seat in the arm chairs toward the front after getting new coffees from the counter.

"I made a mistake. I should've never betrayed your trust and I should've come to you first. It was selfish and I hurt my friend. And I'm sorry." Iris says, slowly but not pausing.

"Iris there is a lot going on." Caitlin says, discreetly looking around to make sure people aren't close enough to listen. "S.T.A.R. Labs is trying to make up for the damage we've done even just a little bit. We're working with the CCPD and you already know that. We're doing everything we can to help stop the new juiced up criminals that are popping up because the police are not used to dealing with these types of people, and our equipment can help. There is a lot that we do for them that the public should not know about. It wouldn't be safe for them. I know that sounds political and shady but it is what it is. This is not a typical situation. We have to handle it differently."

Iris is just nodding, absorbing everything Caitlin says.

"We get along, Iris, and I'm really not used to having friends that aren't Cisco. You and Barry have been a welcome addition to my life, especially with everything that has happened in the last year. Barry is one of my best friends and you are always going to be around so I want us to get along. I need to know that things that you may hear from us, whether we say it intentionally to you or not, are not going to be repeated in the paper or on your blog unless we say it can be. I need to be able to trust you. And you need to trust us." Caitlin finishes, taking a drink of her coffee and looking at Iris.

"I trust you and Cisco. I don't know, I guess I don't know Dr. Wells that well, just what Barry tells me about him, so I didn't know if I could trust him. But I know what he is to you and I should have approached you about any doubts I had about him. I trust you. And you can trust me." Iris says, smiling.

There is nothing but silence and slurping for a minute then Caitlin turns to Iris. "So tell me about this Linda."

Iris's eyes widen and the gossip begins. She tells Caitlin everything she knows about Linda, which at this point isn't much. She tells her what she's heard Barry say about her, and Caitlin pleads ignorance when Iris asks what she knows, only revealing a small portion of the night him and Linda met.

"We were trying to get in touch with someone we thought might have been affected by the accelerator and we heard they frequented this bar. So we went and made a night of it. He met her there." Caitlin explains, trying not to smile at the vague drunken memory of her and Barry singing.

"Well I gotta go to work. Wanna grab drinks some time this week?" Iris asks, grabbing her bag.

"Yeah, that'd be fun." Caitlin smiles, staying in her seat.

She watches as Iris leaves. She sighs, leaning back into her chair. She takes her time finishing her coffee, and then heads to the lab.

When she walks in she sees Cisco hard at work on something that looks way too complicated for her to ask about.

"How'd helping Joe go?" She asks.

Cisco grunts, burying his face deep into the contraption he's working on. Caitlin narrows her eyes at him, now more interested. He grunts a few more times and then, "Ah ha!...ow...got it!" he says excitedly, pulling his head out. He moves to the side of the cart that the equipment is on and goes to wheel it out, a look of determination on his face. It's scary sometimes when he gets like that, so Caitlin figures it's best not to ask.

Caitlin walks back into her lab to grab a spare S.T.A.R. Labs t-shirt to replace her coffee stained blouse. She takes off her shirt, and as she's arranging the t-shirt to pull over her head, Barry walks in. She lifts her arms to pull it over her head right as her and Barry notice each other. She squeals and ducks down behind her chair which barely covers her up. Barry turns quickly. 

"Sorry!" He calls, facing away from her. 

"It's okay!" She calls back. 

A few seconds later, she taps him on the shoulder and he turns to see her in the t-shirt, grinning at him. 

"Sorry, I spilled coffee on myself." She explains, walking around the desk to her own.

He chuckles and goes back to sipping his coffee, loudly. He takes a seat at the desk and stares blankly at the screen.

"Bar..." Caitlin says. He doesn't respond. "Barry!" She says louder.

He jolts up and stares at her with wide eyes.

"You alright?" She asks.

"Yeah, just have to go talk to Linda at some point today and I'm not really sure what to say. Last night was already awkward without the abrupt exit." Barry says, staring off into the distance.

Caitlin walks over and stands in his line of sight.

"I'm sorry. I was expecting I might need to help on a case last night, and I should've told you someone might call. I just wanted everything to go smooth and that's why I was so nervous."

"You were?" Barry says, barely moving his focus to her.

"No. You, you idiot." She says, snapping her fingers just a few inches from his face. "Hey, earth to Barry."

He finally turns and focuses on her. "Yeah, yeah that excuse should work."

He shakes his head.

"Something else on your mind Bar?" She asks, leaning over the desk to look up at him.

Barry looks at her. "I don't know, I...I just keep thinking"

"Ready to track down our burning man?" Wells asks loudly as he wheels into the cortex.

Barry and Caitlin look over to see him wheeling over to the desk. He pulls up a map on the screen with a green blinking dot.

"There he is." Wells says, looking up at Caitlin.

"I'll go get Clarissa." Caitlin says, grabbing her things.

"I'll come too if you don't mind." Barry said, following Caitlin out. "In case something happens."

She turns and nods, smiling at him. They head down to the garage and leave for Clarissa's house. When they arrive, they realize they're going to have to tell her what happened. They agree that Caitlin will do the talking. Clarissa answers the door with a skeptical look on her face.

"Dr. Snow. Mr. Allen. What can I do for you?" She asks.

"We have some news of your husband's whereabouts." Barry says, smiling softly at her.

Clarissa lets them in and invites them to sit in the living room. She offers to grab them drinks, but they both turn down the offer. She sits in an armchair across from Barry and Caitlin who are sat on a couch.

"Clarissa," Caitlin starts, making eye contact with her. "Your husband was conducting research on transmutation. Do you know what this is?"

Clarissa nods. "Briefly. I get the gist of it."

Caitlin nods back. "On December 11th, your husband took a train to S.T.A.R. Labs where he planned to attend the launch of the particle accelerator explosion. He was there to use the outburst of energy from the accelerator to power his transmutation device." Caitlin stops to ensure Clarissa is following. Clarissa nods and Caitlin takes this as her cue to go on.

"As you are well aware, the accelerator launch failed, causing a much more violent outburst. Professor Stein's...your husband's...device. It worked. His body merged with another." Caitlin stops and takes a deep breath. Barry reaches over and grabs her hand. She looks at him and he smiles at her, nodding. She looks back at Clarissa. This was going to be the part that was hard to believe.

"Your husband isn't missing. The reason you haven't seen him is because...he doesn't look like Martin Stein anymore. The transmutation process is an evolutionary process. The strongest features of each organism are kept. In this case, it was your husband's mind, and the body of...the man he merged with." Caitlin pauses again to see if Clarissa is believing any of this.

"Martin did say he had made a breakthrough. He never elaborated." Clarissa whispers just loud enough for Caitlin and Barry to hear. "The man I saw in my house that night. The man who has been watching me...."

"His name was Ronnie Raymond." Caitlin says, her voice wavering a bit. Barry squeezed her hand and she squeezes back. "He was an employee at S.T.A.R. Labs who was in the accelerator when it exploded."

"So that man...that's my Martin?" Clarissa says, her voice breaking on the last two words.

"His mind is your husband's, yes." Caitlin answers.

"You want to try to separate them..." Clarissa says in realization. She sounds cautious.

Caitlin nods. "We want to help them. If you haven't noticed, he is distressed. He isn't thinking stra"

"What do you get out of this?" Clarissa says harshly to Caitlin, causing her to flinch back. "I know how you people work. Martin was involved in the scientific community since the day I met him. You're all selfish, vicious people. Harrison Wells is among the worst. So tell me...what do you get out of this. What do you get out of trying to save my husband?" Clarissa is crying at this point.

Caitlin lets go of Barry's hand and moves over to Clarissa, kneeling in front of her.

"Ronnie Raymond, the man who's body your husband is currently occupying...was my fiance." Caitlin says in a softer tone. 

Clarissa seems taken aback by this confession. She stares, wide-eyed, at Caitlin.

"Your husband is still alive. No body was found. We are assuming his body was merged as part of the process. If we can separate them, we believe he will be returned to his body and his mind will come back to him. He will be himself again. The way he is now is not who he is." Caitlin explains.

"How do you know it won't kill him?"

"We don't. But we do know that he is growing more and more disconnected with who he is. He is becoming violent. The man murdered at Concordance Labs, was murdered by someone called the 'burning man'. The fire is a result of an unstable transmutation."

"That was Martin?" Clarissa asks in disbelief.

"No. It was the transmutation. But if he stays like this he will become less mentally stable and he will grow more violent. He will be arrested. He will spend his life in jail for murder. One that he didn't mean to commit. He will be more scared. More confused. Any chance of your husband coming home will be lost." Caitlin catches her voice becoming harsh, so she takes a deep breath and sits back on her heels.

"Clarissa," Caitlin starts. "If you want your husband back, you are going to have to risk losing him. Or else you are damning him to this life."

"What about your fiance? Are you comfortable going forward with this procedure?" Clarissa sincerely asks.

"I...he isn't. There has been no indication that Ronnie Raymond's mind is still active inside his body. It wouldn't be fair for me to say I'd take the risk because...I've already lost him."

"How can I know what he would do?" Clarissa whispers. Caitlin can barely hear it.

"We will be able to give him something to make him more lucid. Bring more of Professor Stein forward. You will be able to speak to him. He'll be able to work with us on separating the two." Caitlin explains.

Clarissa nods. "Where is he?"

Caitlin smiles and stands up. She reaches her hand down to help Clarissa up and the two of them, along with Barry head to car to go find Martin Stein.

The three of them pull over at the side of a road. They start to walk down the hill on the side of the road to walk under the bridge where the tracker lead them. Barry asks Clarissa to stay back for now, to keep from causing an extreme reaction from Stein.

Stein is in dirty clothing and long, greasy dark brown hair is sitting on a log under the bridge.

"Professor Stein?" Caitlin calls, softly.

He turns, and walks toward Barry and Caitlin.

"I told you to leave me alone," he says. His hands are outstretched to his sides, the way they are before he burns up.

"Wait, wait!" Caitlin begs. "Wait. Please. We have someone here to see you."

Barry turns and motions for Clarissa to come down. She walks down and around Barry. As she approaches Stein, he looks away. She reaches for his face and turns it toward her.

"Martin?" She says, hopefully. "Is it really you?"

"You shouldn't be here," he says, looking away.

She puts her hands on either side of his face, turning it toward her again. "What's my favorite color?"

He winces. "You couldn't choose just one. So you chose stripes."

She smiles, tears welling in her eyes, and hugs him. She pulls away, grabbing his face again. "These people can bring you home."

Caitlin and Barry look at each other. They didn't promise that. When they look back, Stein is looking at them. "Help us," he begs, holding one of Clarissa's hands to his face.

Caitlin and Barry both nod and help lead Stein back to the car. He can't take his eyes off Clarissa who is looking down into her lap. When they get back to S.T.A.R. Labs and walk into the cortex. Stein starts wincing.

"Professor?" Caitlin asks, looking him over.

He starts groaning and grabbing at his head.

"He's fighting me," he says.

"Who is?" Barry asks.

"The other one. He wants out. He want her." Stein says, pointing at Caitlin.

"He's....Ronnie's still in there?" Caitlin breathes out.

Stein yells and drops to his knees, grabbing the back of his head.

"Clarissa, I think it's time for you to go . We'll contact you when he's lucid. I promise." Barry says. Without thinking he races Clarissa home and is back in the cortex.

"Cait!" Barry calls to get her attention.

She shakes herself back to reality and runs to her lab. She comes back with a syringe and hands it to Barry who injects it into Stein before he can resist. His yelling quiet, and he drops to his hands and knees, before falling on the floor.