Chapter 13

Caitlin was walking along Central City's coast on a windy evening. 

"Caitlin?" She heard someone call from behind her. 

She turned around to the voice, only to find nothing but branches of the towering trees rustling in the dark. She then noticed that there was no one, not even cars or birds around her which was eerily uncommon in a place like Central City.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she walked into the crowd of trees. 

"Hello?" She whispered. 

"Caity!" The voice was now louder and much more distinct. 

Though she hadn't heard him in years, Caitlin knew exactly who it was. 

"Dad?" Her voice cracked and she felt shivers go up her spine.

"Caity!" He repeated. 

"Dad? Dad!" She started to run toward where she thought the voice was. Her legs started to burn and the trees were never-ending, she was out of breath but the forest kept going on and on.

"Caitlin, help me. Please, come find me..." 

"Of course I will," she cried out, still running. 

She tripped over a pile of twigs and fell to the ground, hair in her face. She cried in her hands when suddenly she heard something move. She looked up to find her dad's body on the floor, next to her. 

"Oh my God," she whispered as she saw his immensely pale face. 

Caitlin, being the doctor she was, tried to help him up, but her blurry vision made it difficult.

"Dad! Please, stay with me. I'll fix you, just hold on, please," she begged, as she did chest compressions, but there was no use. No matter how much she tried, her dad didn't have a broken bone or a tumour that could be removed from surgery, he was dead, something she just couldn't fix. 

"Cait. Caitlin, wake up!"

Caitlin woke up with a gasp, sweat dripping down her forehead. She was in the arms of Savitar who looked down at her, eyes filled with worry. 

He held onto her shoulders and pushed her hair back.

"Savitar?" Caitlin questioned and looked around her.

"I'm right here, what happened?"

"I-I thought I was walking - the woods - my dad - I - I don't," she stuttered. Savitar moved closer to her on the bed, he had never seen her so troubled before. 

"Hey, Cait, look. We're in your house, not in the woods. It was all just a nightmare," he tried to sooth her by patting her head. Caitlin moved closer to Savitar's chest and let out a deep breath. He wrapped his arms around her small, fragile body.

While in his arms, Caitlin whispered, "I think my father's alive." 

********

"So you're saying Thomas needs your help; that he's in danger all because of a dream?" Cisco asked. 

After Caitlin's nightmare, she wanted to explain it all to the team as a whole, so everyone found themselves at Star Labs after a distress signal was sent out.

"Not just because of the dream, but also because of The Hybrid's visions," Caitlin explained, "I never really got these dreams of my dad until recently."

"We decided to go talk to Carla and see if she knows anything," Savitar added. 

"Where're Future Frost and Nora?" Iris asked, "they'd have to know something." 

"First of all, our future buddies are still on their very important mission, God only knows where their secret lair is," Cisco said, "and secondly, why would we need to ask them when you have a man who can see the future anyway?"

Caitlin scrunched her eyebrows in deep thought, "Joe? I never knew you got powers?"

"I didn't either," Joe replied, a small smile on his face.

"Guys, what the hell?" Cisco said, "I was talking about me!"

Caitlin smiled, "I know." 

"Yeah, but your powers," Savitar shrugged his shoulders, "they're not the most reliable." 

"Okay, yeah, but-"

"But we can still try," Caitlin interrupted. 

Cisco lit up like a small child on Christmas morning, "I won't disappoint you, I promise." 

"You better not," Savitar mumbled. 

"Savitar," Caitlin warned and he put his hands up in surrender. 

Cisco stood in front of Caitlin, "put your hands out please." Caitlin did as told. "Now, I need you to focus on an image of your dad, a memory, something distinct." 

Caitlin nodded and let out a steady breath. She glanced over at Savitar who was behind Cisco, giving her a small yet encouraging smile. 

Cisco held her hands and she closed her eyes, trying to follow his instructions. 

Seconds later, everyone else in Star Labs disappeared and there was the familiar blueish fog that surrounded Cisco and Caitlin. 

"Where are we?" Caitlin asked.

"I was gonna ask you the same thing." 

They looked around only to find a tall man writing on a college board. He turned around to reveal himself as Thomas Snow.

"Dad?" Caitlin let out an astonished breath. She was young when he died, too young to remember definite memories, but young enough to remember the feeling of joy she had whenever she was with him, the same feeling she had now.

The man in the vision was walking toward a woman, Carla Tannhauser. They embraced in a hug and he gave a small peck to her lips.

"Wait, Caitlin," Cisco interrupted her thoughts, "if your dad's actually alive, then that must mean ..." 

"My mom ... all these years, she probably knew!" 

Suddenly, they were back in Star Labs and Caitlin felt a yearning sensation to go back to the vision; to see her family whole again. 

They had explained what they saw in the vision to the other members. 

"You can't possible think your mother hid the fact that Thomas' alive, do you?" Iris asked. 

"You've never met my mom." 

"I think you're thinking of her as Dr. Tannhauser, the scientist and not as Carla, a mother and a wife," Barry tried to argue. 

"The mother never knew the difference between the two," Caitlin said, "it all adds up! Savitar," she turned to face her boyfriend, "what do you think?"

Savitar took a deep breath, "I think we should go and visit your mom." 

Barry, Savitar, and Caitlin arrived at Tannhauser Industries toward the receptionist desk and looked at each other in shock.

The desk was wrapped in a layer of ice and the receptionist was no where to be found. 

"I'm guessing this wasn't Frost?" Savitar asked. 

Caitlin shook her head in disbelief. Her mind started to wonder off, "dad's dreams and now this?"

She froze for a second and quickly started to run up the stairs, the speedsters following behind her.

They made it to what was Carla's office but the room was not the office Caitlin was familiar with. It was messy and disorganized like a robbery had been taken place; the windows were blocked with ice and so was the keyboard of the desktop. 

Caitlin looked around and put her hands on her head in distress while Savitar patted her back, "Barry?"

"Yeah?" 

"Can we check the CCTV cameras and see what happened before the cameras got frosted?"

"It's a touchscreen, so the damaged keyboard shouldn't be a problem," Caitlin said softly.

"Let me try," Barry walked over to Carla's desk.

Savitar cupped Caitlin's cheek, "I need you to relax, we'll find her." 

"I am relaxed." 

Savitar smiled, "sure you are. I know how important it is to have your family together again ..."

"No, you don't understand, I've accepted the fact that my dad's gone, I swear."

"That doesn't have to stop you from believing. Trust me, both my parents died and I still believed that there was a chance."

"Yeah, but you're a speedster." 

"And you're a freakin' ice queen!" 

Caitlin put on a gentle yet pained smile. 

"Uh, guys?" Barry called out, "it's locked."

"The passcode's my birthday," Caitlin said, barely audible, as she and Savitar joined Barry. 

He opened the camera footage from twenty minutes ago. A tall, pale man with white hair walked into the room, looking around. 

"Dad?" Caitlin whispered from the side. 

"That's Mr. Snow?" Barry asked.

"I-" Caitlin squinted her eyes and tilted her head, "that's him, but-"

Through the screen, they saw Carla quickly stand up from her chair and talk to the mysterious man, but without any sound, the three had no clue on what they were saying. 

Caitlin's father then sprayed some sort of chemical that made Carla fall unconscious and carried her out.

********

After tracking down Carla's phone, the Caitlin, Savitar, and Barry found themselves at an old abandoned warehouse. 

"I guess I'm taking over," Caitlin quickly transformed to Frost. 

Walking in, it wasn't hard to miss Carla's muffled screams. They hid behind a machine and watched as Caitlin's assumed father stood in front of Carla. 

"What the fuck?" Savitar whispered. Barry and Frost turned their head to where Savitar was looking.

"Is that Matthew?" Frost asked. 

"What does he want with Caitlin's parents?" Barry asked. 

"Cait's or Crystal's?" Savitar thought out loud and a silence fell over them.

Matthew removed the gag off of Carla and smiled, "so what's it going to be?"

"I'd never help you!" Carla spat. 

"Very well, Thomas, do the honours." 

Thomas created an icicle from his hand and held it to Carla's throat, but before he could do anything, Savitar ran toward him and knocked him down. 

Frost walked over and Matthew smirked, astonished and amused.

Frost created an icicle and brought her arm up to stab him but Matthew stopped her.

"What beautiful eyes you have, darling," he smiled.

Frost frowned in disgust and kicked Matthew in the gut, "if you're so interested in me," she brought her fist up in ice, "show me," she punched him across the face.

Matthew got up, his face bloody. He laughed, "Crystal was never as feisty as you. I won't lie, I kind of like it." 

Savitar pulled him up by the collar, "for someone who wants to defeat us so badly, you really are all bark, no bite."

Matthew laughed manically, "don't you get it?" He pulled away from Savitar, "I don't want to 'defeat' you guys, I don't even wanna fight you! I just want Crystal, and honestly, you're the ones getting in my way." 

"You're in my city, hurting my people," Barry said though gritted teeth, "that sure as hell means you're picking a fight with me." 

Matthew rolled his eyes, "you, Ron, Caitlin," he put extra emphasis on the doctor's name, "aren't you so bored of always being so annoyingly righteous? Your people, your earth, blah, blah, blah. These people don't really care for you yet you save their lives, they should be worshiping you!" 

"Wouldn't you just love that?" Savitar gave out an exaggerated sigh. 

Matthew widened his eyes with a playful smirk, "I'll say, I'm impressed. Your team sure does know how to distract someone who's obsessed with themselves."  

"I would have said sociopath, but whatever works for you," Savitar played along.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Matthew looked at Frost who was trying to help Thomas up. 

"What did you do to him?" Frost yelled.

"His powers? I didn't do anything, darling."

Thomas suddenly punched Frost in the face and she fell with a grunt, quickly turning into Caitlin. 

"Dad, it's me, Caity. Whatever Matthew has done to you, you have to snap out of it!" 

Thomas grabbed Caitlin by the neck and lifted her up, but before he can do any damage, Savitar ran up to him and pushed him down. 

Caitlin fell forward, only for Savitar to catch her, "you okay?" He whispered. 

"I'll be okay." 

"Yeah, once I kill him," Frost emerged. 

They turned around to find three other people who appeared out of nowhere. These men were weirdly enormous and evidently strong. 

One of them had Barry in a choke hold while the other was with Carla. The last one was standing loyally behind Matthew. 

Savitar laughed, "so you can't fight your own battles?" 

"This is not my battle." 

Savitar ran toward the one behind Matthew with full strength and pushed against his stomach, only for him to move an inch back. The minion grabbed Savitar by the neck as the other one did Barry. 

Matthew walked past Frost and to Thomas, "if you do so much as move a muscle, I'll kill them," he warned her. 

"Like I care," Frost shrugged. 

"Frost, seriously?" Barry coughed out.

Frost didn't really have time to think, nor did she want to. She wasn't a speedster, she couldn't enter the speed force or make time stop. 

She glanced at Barry and looked to Carla and back at Barry who nodded, understanding the plan Frost created in her head. Frost took a deep breath in and created two icicles in both hands and threw them toward Barry and Savitar, missing them by an inch or two and hitting the giants in the abdomen. 

They grunted in pain and let go of the speedsters. Barry ran to Carla, untying her from her hostage chair while Savitar ran to Thomas, holding him back so that Matthew couldn't do anything. 

"Impressive," Matthew stated matter-of-factly, "but unlike your people, mine are loyal. Thomas?"

Before anyone could react, Thomas stabbed himself with an icicle. 

"No!" Frost turned to Matthew but he was gone in a smoke, along with his minions. 

Having enough of the drama, Frost turned back to Caitlin who looked at her mother, ashamed.

"Caitlin..." Carla started but was interrupted. 

"I-I'm so sorry." 

"For what? You saved my life!" 

"I-I thought he," she glanced at Thomas, "I thought he was dad." 

"... You thought I lied to you? About Thomas dying? Caitlin, I know I'm not the perfect mother, but I'm not a villain." 

"I know, I know. I shouldn't have-" she bit her lip, "I really am sorry." 

"Uh, guys, are we bringing him to Star Labs?" Savitar asked. 

"Of course we are," Barry picked Thomas - or someone who looked like him - up. 

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Kind of a long chapter! (Over 2000 words) Love writing fight scenes, how'd you guys like it?

I know these kind of filler chapters are a bit boring, but I'm setting it up for a good surprise. 

QOTC: Did you guys like Caitlin's dad's storyline on the show?My answer: Absolutely not. Caitlin has been through hell and back with Ronnie, Zoom, and even loosing Frost. Bringing back her dad was such a cool storyline and I loved seeing our girl happy, but literally an episode later, he dies! 

I just can't wait until Caitlin gets the life she deserves.