Technical Difficulties

As she was looking away, she felt something move against her hand, looking over at it to see Barry's hand now clasped her hand, his fingers having interlocked with hers. 

"Barry?" she whispered, the sobs making it too hard to properly talk. Once she lacked a reply, she repeated herself.

"Barry?"

She felt his fingers again, this time tightening their grasp on her hand. She looked up towards his head, seeing it slowly move to be facing the ceiling as a pose to the side.

"Please, come on Barry," she said, tears continuing to build up in her eyes, so much so that there was a newly formed visible sparkle in them, light reflecting off from the tears.

She heard someone take a deep breath, looking over at Barry. His eyes still closed, but he was breathing. It was only a few breaths later that his eyes slowly flickered open, revealing the ceiling above him.

"Barry? Can you hear me?"

"Hey," he said, his voice croaky and clearly somewhat painful, looking over at Caitlin, and unable to resist the urge, she threw herself down and embraced him in a hug, Barry doing the same, finding the energy to wrap his arms around her back. 

As they pulled away from one another, they simply looked and smiled at one another, Barry sitting up properly in his bed, continuing to look over at Caitlin in the process. 

"How are you feeling?" she asked, squeezing his hand with hers.

"I'm okay, it's all a bit painful but I'm okay."

"Good," she smiled back, before continuing.

"Why did you do it? Almost sacrifice yourself to save me?" Caitlin asked after a few minutes of the pair just sat together in silence. Not awkward, however, but nice, calming silence. 

"I don't know. It just felt, right, you know? And I care about you, Cait. I mean, Caitlin, sorry. I really do care about you, I always have. And I want to know that you are safe, and in that situation, it was the only way that that will have been, otherwise we would have both been injured," he croaked, still hurting him slightly as he spoke. 

"Thank you so much, you know that you really didn't have to though," she replied, squeezing his hand yet again, smiling as she looked over into the eyes.

"It's good to know you're okay though," he said, re-interlocking his fingers with Caitlins as he had temporarily removed them from her grip. 

"You too. Speaking of that, are you okay? All of those burns really don't look very nice," she stated, Barry looking down at his currently bare chest to see the burns that had remained there. 

"Well now I notice it, it is quite an inconvenience, however, I should be okay. I was quite lucky, it is nothing that will not heal," he smiled back, seeing Caitlin clearly happy by this statement.

The pair stayed in each other's company for the next few hours, simply enticing each other in conversation, a few doctors came in in the meantime, doing small check ups on Barry, Caitlin sticking by his side the entire time. After these few hours passed, Barry was eventually given the message that he was free to leave, with a few casts and bandages but overall he was doing well, and most importantly he could walk practically perfectly, so that also was not a problem. 

The pair soon checked out at the reception and headed out of the hospital together, beginning to walk down the streets of Central City. 

"Hey, do you want me to walk you back?" Caitlin asked, seeming a lot happier than she was previously in the hospital, presumably because she was happy to see him back on his feet.

"As long as it is okay, sure," he smiled, as the pair continued to walk towards his apartment building.

"Of course it is," she replied, before continuing.

"If anything I owe you my life,  so nothing is a problem, trust me," she said, the pair continuing to walk down the roadside.

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It didn't take long for the duo to reach his apartment, Barry fumbling with his keys, unlocking the door and swinging it open.

"Do you want to come in? It would be nice to have the company," Barry suggested whilst standing in the doorway. After accepting, they both walked into his house, Barry leading Caitlin over to the living room where she took a seat on the sofa, before walking over to the kitchen, not long after returning with a couple of drinks for the two.

"I hope it's okay," he said as he took his seat, to the complimentary reply of 'it's great'. 

"So, I know I have already said it but thank you so much, Barry. I owe you so much," Caitlin said, sounding much happier than she had in the past. 

"Of course, you know I would've done it no matter what. I care about you, you know that, and I don't want you to feel bad in any way, not at all. If anything all I really cared about at the moment was whether or not you would be okay."

"Thank you, that really does mean a lot. I also have something else to say. I am so sorry about everything. The way I used to treat you, the way I acted before the fire broke out. It is something I feel awful about and would have regretted so much if you... if you never woke up. I want to be there for you just as much as you are for me, I really do and am going to try my honest best to do to you, I promise, I really do. I hope you can forgive me for everything, everything I did," she said, cutting herself off with a quick look up from her lap and towards Barry's face. 

"It's okay, honestly. To be perfectly honest, it never really upset me in any way, if anything just caused me to be worried about you. I just want was is best for you, I hope you know that" Barry stated, letting a few thoughts run through his mind in the process. He knew for a fact that he didn't mind what had happened to him. It was an inconvenience to be sure but in the long run, it will have been worth it. The best part was, he had finally seen Caitlin truly happy. Over the past time he had known her, something had always seemed up, something had always seemed wrong, or as if it was bothering her. However, for the first time in his experience, he had seen a proper smile on her face, a genuine feeling of happiness coming from her. It was really a good sight to see, a real, non-forced smile on her face. 

And they were now both sat together, despite the circumstances, very happy with one another.