Author's Note/Warning: This chapter may start off nice and sweet, in my opinion, for a fair bit...but it will get a lot darker and more emotional. You have been warned. This chapter is completely my own idea, with a familiar ending that I hope you like but also get a bit surprised at, at the very least.

Throughout the next few weeks after Team Flash had come to Star City to get the help of Team Arrow, things seemed to get both very busy and, somehow, at the same time very strange and more dangerous than before. 

They encountered a lot more meta-humans along the way, as well as a run in with a couple of unwelcome past enemies in Leonard Snart, aka Captain Cold, and Mick Rory, aka Heat Wave, that resulted in Cisco getting kidnapped by Snart's sister, Lisa Snart, and Caitlin's identity as "The Flash" being revealed in the process...

Naturally, Caitlin blamed herself for that, as she felt responsible for what had happened to Cisco, but to the surprise of Caitlin: both Cisco and Barry repeatedly told her it wasn't her fault, stating that it could have easily been anyone else they were close to without them knowing, and Cisco also told them that they were only able to trap him in his situation because they used special meta-human handcuffs on him at some point when Vibe wasn't aware of what was going on yet, and that they put the life of Cisco's brother, Dante, on the line as leverage to ensure they got their answers.

Though it wasn't just problems in their job as "Team Flash" that was causing them some grief: because on top of their increasingly challenging job at protecting Central City, they also had to keep what they were doing a secret from both Iris and West, per the request/technically the demand of Joe, and other problems with trying to figure out who Reverse Flash could be, or what his next move could be.

Needless to say, it was certainly driving them mad more than a handful of times throughout their day-to-day life.

Fortunately though, it wasn't all frustrations and stress-fullness: since the whole incident with the Snarts, both Cisco and his brother Dante had started to slowly get on, even if it was shaky going at first between them; and both Barry and Caitlin had moved in with one-another as well.

Well...I say that, but in reality they were looking for a place of their own when they had free time that didn't involve looking for Reverse Flash or training or whatever else. Despite that, however, Barry often was staying at Cait's place per the request of the latter person...and also because it was a little easier as well...

Needless to say: that brought about no end of teasing between the others. Joe and Cisco especially.

Currently, Barry and Joe were at Jitters getting something to drink before both they would go to their respective jobs. Though Joe found it a little strange that Barry was going in today at all, given that it was his day off today...though he had his suspicions as to why he might be going in...

"Going in to see Caitlin, Barry?" the C.C.P.D. detective teased his adopted son, to which Barry simply rolled his eyes a little as they continued to wait for their drinks. To be fair, he often expected either Joe or someone else who knew him, like Iris and Wally more recently, to tease him whenever he did go in to work during his day off.

What Joe, Wally and Iris did not know nowadays was that Barry was going in for more than one reason that wasn't just personal...even if he did admit Caitlin was one of the main reasons, he just didn't want to admit it or been seen like a yandere. The thought of him being one made Barry feel physically ill. The thought of Savitar/Frost being one made him even more ill, given how heartless he often felt to Barry.

Barry sighed a bit, rubbing his eyes a little in slight annoyance as he thought of a way to try to explain his motives for going in on his day off, but nothing came to mind beyond the truth.

Joe soon held his hand up, sensing Barry's discomfort and frustrations in his own fatherly way, before holding his hand up and attempting to reassure Barry. "Hey, don't worry, I'm just joking around. What you do on your days off is your business Barry. I just have something to ask."

Barry raised an eyebrow to that. "What is it?" he asked, to which Joe soon said with a smirk "Bring Caitlin and Cisco with you later over to the house for dinner. I'm cooking. And both Iris and Wally will be over as well."

Barry thought on that for a bit, before deciding 'What the hell.' and saying with his ever charming Barry Allen smile "Okay. I'll bring them over tonight. Just...keep Cisco away from the drinks. He'll be singing like a drunken elephant if he has enough to drink!" Both men laughed at that thought...if only they knew what would happen...

When Barry did arrive at S.T.A.R. Labs: he noticed that Cisco was fast asleep in his seat with a comic book over his face, a pizza box on his lap, and seemingly without any idea that others were in the room, and Caitlin was currently sitting in her lab working on something on her computer...something that Barry had a vague idea on what it could be...

Barry simply gave a loud cough to get the attention of Caitlin, which seemed to work as she looked over her shoulder and smiled at her boyfriend when she saw him, before Barry them placed a finger to his lips as he pointed at Cisco and then brought out his phone once he put the drinks down on a desk.

Caitlin rolled her eyes a bit in amusement, already figuring out what Barry was planning, because it was something that all 3 of them used to do in the past with numerous methods, and simply covered her ears a bit.

Barry then quickly scrolled through his phone to find something to play to wake up their sleeping friend. He soon found something to play, and, after covering an ear, he played the music as loud as he could, causing Cisco to not only awaken from his sleep, but awaken from it in almost cartoon-like fashion after falling backwards from his chair onto the ground!

"I'm up! I'm UP!!!" Cisco said in panic, which earned him a fit of laughter from both Cait and Barry! 

Cisco was far from amused at that, even if his face slowly began to show otherwise with the occasional near-laughing smirk. "You jerks planned that out!" he accused, to which Barry shook his head. "Nope. Just came up with that when I came in. It's your fault you were asleep buddy." Barry said whilst trying to control his laughter.

Caitlin just rolled her eyes in amusement after a while, though still she maintained her smile at Barry's attempt at humor. Given the chaos of each day that came with being a super hero meta-humans like The Flash and Vibe was often more daunting and draining than it appeared for them...and with Reverse Flash still running about, it wasn't that much of a surprise if she was feeling a little rundown most of the time.

Cisco soon relented and let out laughing as well as his friends, before Barry soon held his hand out and helped Cisco up to his feet. In hindsight: Barry, at heart, may have secretly been a bit of a joker like Cisco, not that Cisco and Caitlin minded.

"You know I'm gonna have to get you back for that, right?" Cisco said with a semi-serious look, to which Barry shrugged a bit. "I know. Buuuttt..." he began, pausing as he walked over to where he left the coffees and muffins from Jitters, the main desk, and picked them up as he continued. "...I brought a peace offering to wake you up!" 

That seemed to do the trick, as Cisco almost immediately sprinted towards Barry and took a coffee and the bag of muffins to get one of them. "FORGIVEN!!!" Cisco said a little too eagerly, much to the laughter of the Snowbarry couple.

Caitlin soon took her coffee as Barry handed it to her, also paying Barry back with a kiss to the cheek, before getting a muffin from the bag after Cisco had finished rummaging around trying to pick one...for whatever reason...

Barry noticed something was a little off. Not with either of the two friends in front of him, but more in the lack of a presence of one member of not just their team, but also who worked in S.T.A.R. Labs. 

"Where's Wells?" Barry asked curiously...a cold chill of concern strangely ran down his spine at the lack of their boss, though he did know why he felt this kind of chill in particular...

"Oh he had to call in sick today, he wasn't feeling well. Which is...sort of strange now that I think about it..." Cisco responded as he sipped his coffee. Caitlin could only nod in agreement. "Yeah, Dr. Wells rarely takes time off unless it's for meetings. Never really known him to take a personal day either." 

Whilst that did seem fair and understandable to Barry, even if the fact that Wells rarely took time off was something strange to him...another part of him...a certain frosty part of him...did not trust this sudden absence.

As the day went by, things seemed to be pretty much the same as normal for the most part for Team Flash: crimes needing to be stopped, the trio hanging out and talking with one another, and even when Barry did mention what Joe had told him to repeat to the others - Cisco and Caitlin both commented on how good Joe's cooking was, and how he should be, in their words, a culinary chief. 

Barry found that last part pretty funny, reminding himself to store that one for later to remind Joe, even though he knew said person would probably laugh it off or slightly gloat about it in passing throughout future conversations...not that Barry minded that last one at all mind you.

It was when it came to late afternoon where things took a turn for the worse....

Crime by mid-afternoon had already died down a bit that day, which was both a rarity for them and a blessed relief as well, and Cisco had gone on ahead to "help" Joe with the food, much to the amused smirks of his speedster and icy friends, resulting in Barry and Caitlin pretty much being left alone for the remainder of the time.

Barry noticed though that Caitlin's attention or mind set always seemed to be divided once again, and he asked her out of concern "Cait, you okay?" That seemed to break her out of her thoughts, and she slowly nodded her head with a small smile. "I'm okay. Sorry, just..."

"...distracted?" Barry finished her sentence, which the speedster slowly nodded her head at. Barry gently pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. "You're an amazing person Cait, but you need to take time for yourself and calm a bit every-so-often." he said in the nicest way possible, something that Caitlin understood.

"I know...though you, mister, are hardly one to talk." she said in a teasing manner as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pecking him on the lips briefly 3, maybe 4, times. "Don't think I've not noticed you either in the lab, or using the computers to do tests on yourself when we're not busy."

Barry gave an awkward chuckle at that, before answering with a serious, yet kind and loving smile on his face. "Okay...you got me there. We both are as bad as each other." The Scarlet Speedster herself giggled a little at that, pulling Barry's head down gently and kissing him on the lips softly, which Barry returned with a smile on his face.

"How did I get so lucky to have you in my life...?" Caitlin said dreamily with a smile when the two did part from their kiss. Barry chuckled a bit, giving her the ever-lovable Barry Allen smile, before responding. "Pretty sure I was going to say that as well...You sure you're not psychic as well?"

Cait laughed at that little joke of his, even if it was on Cisco's level of occasionally cheesy jokes...

However, the moment was ruined when......

"Oh how nauseatingly adorable...My heart would leap for you two if I wasn't a cold-hearted person...and that I despise you both!" they heard, turning...only to be met with the last person they had wanted to see at this moment...It was Reverse Flash!

Before either could truly react: Reverse Flash soon sped towards Caitlin and smashed through the nearest set glass and monitors - dazing her temporarily for the time being - before he ran over towards Barry...and before Barry could react...he stabbed him with a sharp metal spike!

"BARRY!!!" Caitlin shouted in shock at seeing this, having been able to see this despite her dazed state...but she really wish she hadn't!

Barry could feel blood coming out of his mouth as he looked to Reverse Flash, who smirked as the sight before him, even if neither Barry nor Caitlin could see this. He then whispered to Barry in his ear in an eerie way "See you soon...Killer Frost!" before throwing Barry into the monitor in the room back-first - causing the monitor to explode at the speed that it was hit at, and for Barry to slump onto the ground almost passing out!

Reverse Flash then looked over to a completely horrified Caitlin, and smirked a bit sadistically before speeding off out of S.T.A.R. Labs!

Caitlin ran over, as best she could, over to Barry - tears streaming down her face - and she tried her best to keep Barry conscious whilst her heart and brain were racing at god knows how fast right now!

"Stay with me Barry! Stay with me, please Barry!" was all she was able to say before grabbing her phone....

With Cisco, Joe, Iris, Wally and Eddie - Joe's House:

Cisco, Joe and Wally were already at Joe's place by the time Iris and Eddie Thawne began to arrive, though Joe had noticed that Cisco had seemed a little...off, since he arrived. Almost like he was expecting something to happen...

As Iris and Eddie did arrive and they awaited for Barry and Caitlin to arrive, and for dinner to finishing being made, Cisco's mood did seem to lift a bit as they had some drinks and laughed a bit at jokes and old stories. But the more they laughed and waited, the more they began to wonder, silently, what was keeping Barry and Caitlin.

They knew Barry would most likely be late, even despite dating Caitlin. If there was possibly one thing that couldn't completely be changed with Barry dating Cait, it was Barry's tardiness. But then, not too long before Cisco was about to call Caitlin...his phone began to ring, and Caitlin's number appeared...

"Hey Caity, where are...?" he began to say as he answered the phone...only to be interrupted when Caitlin spoke frantically on the other end.

"Cisco! Reverse Flash was here! He...He attacked Barry!" At those words, Cisco's face fell into a scared and dread-filled look, getting up immediately to his feet and catching the attention of everyone in the room with him.

"What did he do!?" the breacher meta-human asked in concerned, a little too concerned than he should have been given where he was at the time. "He...He stabbed Barry...!" And with that response, Cisco dropped his phone onto the floor and created a portal straight to S.T.A.R. Labs, much to the shock of the West siblings and Eddie, before running through it without a seconds thought or notice!

The others grabbed Cisco's phone and stopped what they were doing before heading after Cisco, Joe already getting an idea where he was going...and he was already fearing the worst as well...

Back At S.T.A.R. Labs:

Caitlin had managed to get Barry safely onto one of the stretcher beds in the medical area of S.T.A.R. Labs, but Barry was already losing a lot of blood at this point, and Caitlin had to try and save his life without causing more harm to Barry!

Cisco soon entered moments later and ran over. "Caitlin!" he shouted, catching her attention, before Caitlin quickly sped into her medical gear. "We need to get the spike out of Barry and seal the wound before he bleeds out!"

"What about removing the necklace? His cold powers will instantly heal up the wounds and stop the blood loss!" Cisco tried to reason, but the speedster shook her head almost immediately. "No! If we do that now, then the spike could end up permanently lodged into him and he could still die! And we can only remove the necklace as a last resort!" 

Cisco's head fell down at that in frustration, before looking towards Barry as he asked Caitlin "Then what do we do!?" The good doctor looked like she was having a mini-panic attack, or at least was trying to prevent herself from having one, but she managed to compose herself together enough to think on what needed to be done. 

"We need to remove the spike from Barry, carefully, and seal up the wound without causing more blood to be lost! I need you to keep an eye on the screen to make sure that I don't do anything wrong! This surgery is very complicated, and one wrong..."

She wasn't able to finish speaking, because seconds later Joe, Wally, Iris and Eddie all ran into the room and saw what was going on, with Joe being the first to react...and not in a good way...

"BARRY!?!" he ran over and had to be restrained by Cisco as Joe spoke close to tears, his fatherly instincts kicking in and causing him to panic! "What happened!? Caitlin, what happened!?!" 

"Joe, JOE!" Cisco shouted, managing to get the detectives attention, even if Joe was still glancing at the body of Barry. "Me and Caitlin need to help Barry right now! I promise we'll explain everything afterwards, but you need to wait in the other room with the others! Please Joe!" 

Joe slowly looked over towards Barry and then at Caitlin, whose face at this point was tear stained, but she was trying to dry up her tears with as best as she could whilst almost begging the elder West to do as Cisco asked without saying a word. 

"Okay...okay...but you bring him back, you here...! I can't lose him again...." he said, close to tears, before Joe walked into the next room with Iris, Wally and Eddie - all of which were begging for Barry to come out of this alive and okay!

As time passed throughout the surgery, and the atmosphere continued to get more tenser by the second and more dread-filled by almost everyone but the subject in question: Caitlin continued to work her way through the surgery carefully and with the precision of an expert surgeon...though you wouldn't know it by the way her hands were almost shaking at times when she wasn't working on Barry, and going through every step.

Cisco watched every moment closely, never daring to utter a single word aloud in fear of causing something to go horribly wrong. The only times he did speak was when he was explaining everything step-by-step. He was by no means the medical expert that Caitlin was, but he had learnt enough throughout the years working alongside Caitlin to know what was required...and what was racing throughout Caitlin's head as well...

A thousand thoughts were racing through Caitlin's mind, as the speedster managed to carefully remove the spike from her meta-human boyfriend...but to say that the surgery hadn't come without complications at times would be a complete lie.

At one point, Caitlin and Cisco both noticed that Barry's heart beat was slowing down, weakening at one point, causing more panic to rise up inside Doctor Snows mind! She was able to revive him and get his heart beat steady...but by this point Caitlin, Cisco and the others all assumed that it was only possible by either a wish or a pray at this point...but still, Caitlin did not give up!

She knew she could save Barry, and she believed it - she had to believe it! It was all she could do from falling into a hysterical fit of crying and worry - but at more than one point into the surgery during the stabilising of his heart, and the aftermath with the remainder of the surgery, she mentally felt herself saying "Please Barry, don't die...stay with me Barry!" over and over again in her head.

She wasn't the only one who was thinking that either: Joe, Iris, Wally, Eddie and Cisco were all thinking that as well. And even though Eddie and Cisco weren't family to Barry as the Wests were: to Barry they were family regardless.

Time seemed to get lost between everyone in S.T.A.R. Labs...but eventually, the best news they had gotten all evening came to them all, in form or another depending on the people in question...and that news was that the surgery...had been a success! Caitlin had been able to save Barry!

The news came as a blessed relief to everyone - Caitlin most definitely so, given her role in trying to save the love of her life - and everyone ended up spending the night at S.T.A.R. Labs, because they wanted to be there for him when he woke up. 

Eddie did leave briefly, but that was only to get everyone some coffee when they asked for it.

But the roller-coaster ride of emotions, shock, and concern...was FAR from over yet.....

It was about 3 in the morning by the time Barry had begun to stir. Caitlin had not left his side once throughout the night following the surgery, with the only exception that being when she got out of the surgery garments and into cleaner, more baggier clothes, including the S.T.A.R. Labs jumper that she'd given Barry about a day or two after he came back into their lives after the Killer Frost problem.

She also had a blanket over her and her head had been gently laying on Barry's legs, sleeping whenever she could do. Cisco and Joe came into the room when they noticed Barry beginning to stir, and Cait began to awaken from her sleep as well when she felt Barry begin to stir every-so-slightly.

His eyes only opened a little, but it was enough for him to see who was there, and to see Caitlin as she both sat up from her position and smile a teary smile at seeing Barry awake.

"Hey..." he said, his voice dry and with a hint of tiredness in his tone. "Hey." she responded with a smile, her voice breaking a bit as she said that, before placing her hands gently on Barry's cheeks and kissing him on the lips softly for a brief moment. 

"Well...I guess I'm alive then..." Barry said a bit with a teasing smirk, causing his speedster girlfriend to roll her eyes a little at that as she sat next to him on the bed. He glanced over as best as he could before seeing Joe and Cisco.

"Glad to see you up pal." Cisco said with a smile, patting Barry on the shoulders gently as Barry smiled as best as he could to his breacher friend. "I swear, you're roll in life is making me worry about you." Joe half-scolded yet mostly teased, which Barry chuckled at a little before speaking again.

"How bad was it...?" There was a noticeable and uncomfortable silence for the longest time, something that didn't go unnoticed by Barry. "Bad..." Caitlin began, the concern evident in her voice and even in her body language. "It was...it was tough seeing you like..."

Caitlin cut off her own words when she saw something that shocked her. "Barry you're bleeding again!!!" she shouted in shock...and then...it got worse!

Barry's body began convulsing and violently shaking, blood appearing once again, and his heart rate on the monitors began to spike and go haywire! Caitlin and Joe began to panic, and Caitlin tried to find something to help stabilise Barry....but then...the heart monitoring machine began to return to normal, much to the confusion of Caitlin

And that was when things became so much more clear...and so much more dangerous!

Caitlin turned her head, and saw that the bleeding began to stop, as did Barry's violent spasms and shaking...but what was terrifying was that this only occurred when a patch of ice appeared briefly over the area where Barry was stabbed by Reverse Flash with the spike, leaving only a scar where the wound once was!

"H-How...?" she began to say...before looking up, and seeing that, to hers and Cisco's shock...that Joe had Barry's power dampening necklace in his hand - Joe having snapped it off from around Barry's neck.

"What did you do...?" was all Cisco could say in response to that...but they didn't get a chance to listen to Joe's answer.

The temperature around the room began to get colder, and soon an icy fog-like mist began to appear from Barry's hands to the floor...and then, his eyes eyes opened - revealing the icy blue eyes that belonged not to Barry, but to his icy cold alter ego, Killer Frost! - and immediately afterwards, his entire body was covered in an icy mist that sent all three of them flying in multiple directions - crashing into glass or equipment instantly!

And then, the icy pale and scarred faced body of Savitar, aka Killer Frost, began to appear from within the icy fog, smirking his dark smile as he blasted icy energy around the room, simply saying one thing as he did so: "I'm...BACK!!!"

Author's Note: I know, I'm evil for leaving it on a cliff hanger! *chuckles* I hope you are all doing well, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It was an idea that I was playing with for a while on whether or not to do it now or later. But to be honest, I couldn't think of a better time than this chapter to upload it.

I'll be honest though, the whole tense scene part with explaining how things were in the surgery part...that was tricky to figure out how to do properly. But I thank one of my friends, QueenZain3, for helping me go through it piece-by-piece. 

Please do go and check out QueenZain3's stuff: they are fairly new and has a really good/great story based on inspirational quotes of their own design or ones they've perfected that honestly have helped me out.

What did you all think to this chapter? And what do you think about what Reverse Flash did to poor Barry? In the meantime, see you all in the next chapter, and I hope you all have an amazing day!