Technical Difficulties

It was a few days after the two companies had come to a truce, now working as one big company, making the process much faster and more efficient. Cisco Ramon, the new head of the previously named Sparkfire, had made life significantly easier for everyone working there. It had been around two days since the prototype of Barry's design had been created, much research being put into the product. The breakthrough had been extremely beneficial to the company's progress, Barry specifically working on an upgrade to the design, Caitlin doing a lot of work into it alongside him. They had bonded quite a lot over the course of this product, bringing up the happiness of both of them. Thomas and Cisco also got along surprisingly well, as the two heads they were looking over the entire project.

Barry was walking through the office building, heading towards the room him and Caitlin used for their research. He entered to see her already sat down, working away on her laptop.

"Hey," he said as he walked in, alerting her to his presence as she looked in his direction, replying with a similar 'hey'.

Barry sat down and took his place at the desk, opening his laptop and loading up everything he needed.

"So, out of interest, what have you done today so far?" he asked out of curiosity.

"Not too much, just a few paragraphs."

"Okay. I am aiming to get the main briefing complete today,"

"Okay," she replied, seeming slightly less happy and enthusiastic as usual.

"Are you okay?" he asked, noticing this.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" she replied in the same flat tone as before.

"Okay," he replied, ending the conversation as to not sound nosy or anything along those lines, however, he was still slightly worried about her. It was certainly unlike her to act this way, so it definitely came to his attention when she was acting differently. 

Trying to push this thought away, telling himself that it wasn't too big a problem, and then opening up a word document to continue on the briefing he had been assigned with. The time went rather slowly in this situation, unlike usual the atmosphere in the room seeming kind of dull and depressing. It was something that slightly bothered Barry, realising that there was something wrong with Caitlin. 

--------------

It had now been around half an hour since Barry had entered the room, not either of them having had uttered a word this entire time. Barry had had Caitlin in the back of his mind throughout this time, worried about her well-being, the fact that she was acting very unlike her usual self.

"Hey, are you sure that you are okay?" Barry asked, breaking the long silence.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" she replied, not really sounding any better.

"You just aren't being your usual self, you seem rather down," Barry said, hoping that he wouldn't turn the situation into an awkward one. 

"Really? I am fine, I think," she stuttered, going slightly red in the process.

"Okay, it just seems that something is on your mind, that is all," Barry said.

"Well I think I am okay, but it's nice to know that you care," she smiled, as Barry stood up, about to head off to the printer a few rooms away, heading out of the room. He felt slightly better now, however he was still naturally carrying his suspicions. As he collected his print-outs, he headed back over to the room, opening the door to see Caitlin looking incredibly nervous and somewhat panicked in general.

"Hey, what's up?" Barry asked, placing his papers on the desk to his side as he sat down next to her. 

"I... I said I'm fine," she replied, sounding obviously bothered by something. 

"I can tell that there is something on your mind. You don't need to tell me, but I want you to know that I care and that I am here for you if you need me," Barry assured her.

"No, it's okay, I will say. Honestly, I think I need the help," she stuttered, looking up towards Barry.

"Okay, in your own time," he smiled.

"Well, basically it's a problem I have at home. As of recent times, my father has been so indulged in work, so much that he is practically ignoring me. It was okay to start with, but yesterday evening it got to the point where he had a massive go at me for literally no reason, and now the only relationship I really have with him is as a colleague here at work. That part is really hard. The fact that I have to work alongside him but always knew that as soon as I get home he isn't the person I remember. I have to constantly think that he has changed. It got to the point yesterday that he even threatened to hurt me, and all that did was add an element of fear into this mix of emotions. I am just simply not entirely sure what I should do or how to fix it," she finished, Barry noticing a tear welling up in her eye.

"I'm so sorry, I really am. If there is anything I can do to help you know that I will do it. And I am sure everything will be okay. It isn't right that he threatened to hurt you, but it may simply be a combination of stress and just the big project going on here. I know this won't sound particularly helpful right now, but I am sure that it will all get better very soon," he said, reassuring her slightly.

"Thank you," she muttered, looking back to her laptop.

"The thing is, I am not quite sure if I want to go home today. It is just the constant thought and fear that he may do something much worse to me, but I have nowhere else to go so I guess I don't really have a choice," she continued, looking back in Barry's direction.

"Well, you don't have to but you could always come back to mine, I have a spare bedroom in my apartment that you could use."

"I would love to but I don't want to be invasive or anything like that," she replied.

"Trust me, you wouldn't be interrupting anything at all, in fact, the company would be quite nice actually," he continued, placing his hand on Caitlin's shoulder.

"As long as it is okay with you, then okay," she smiled.

"Of course it is. It isn't too far away from here either, so it won't be too long of a trip."

"Okay," she said, the change in the mood quite noticeable as she felt better.

After a few minutes of silent work, Caitlin looked back up from her computer and towards Barry, before speaking up.

"Thank you, Barry,"

"It's no problem,"