(The Flash) Frozen Flashpoint: Chapter 8 - Warming to the Cold

Chapter 8 – Warming to the Cold

Summary: Caitlin and Frost having a converstion before reaching an understanding.

In the middle of the room was a bed, and on it lay Caitlin Snow, also known as Barry’s girlfriend. Barry stood right next to her, holding her hand, trying to project as much comfort as he could.

Behind him, Jessie stood on her tiptoes, leaning over Barry’s shoulder to look at Caitlin with a reassuring smile. It was a little awkward, but she managed.

Cisco was in the corner of the room, tinkering with the goggles in his hands.

Barry looked down at his girlfriend’s brown eyes, seeing the worry and fear within them. He couldn’t keep silent any longer. He crouched to be at eye level with her and spoke in a reassuring voice, “Cait, everything will be okay. We’re all here for you, no matter what.”

Caitlin’s fear seemed to ease slightly, but it was still very much present. She asked in a small voice, “I’m not sure what I’m going to do.”

Barry gave her his cheekiest smile and said, “You’re going to talk to her.”

Caitlin rolled her eyes at his response and shot back, her voice finally returning to normal, “Smartass. What am I supposed to talk to her about?”

Barry thought about cracking another joke to keep the light atmosphere going, but the look Caitlin gave him made it clear she was looking for a serious answer. So Barry took a moment to think before saying, “I think you know what you want to ask her and what you want to make clear. But it’s important to remember that, in most cases, the basis for harmony is compromise.”

Caitlin looked away and nodded once, but when she looked back at Barry, the fear had returned. She asked in that small tone again, “What if she takes over?”

Barry squeezed her hand and smiled widely at her. “She’s already proven she won’t hurt anyone here, so we’ll try to talk to her and find some common ground for all of us. But you don’t have to worry about that.”

Caitlin looked less scared and more worried now as she asked, “How can you know?”

Barry gave her his signature superhero smile and said firmly, “Because we’ll be watching. If anything starts to go wrong, Cisco’s equipment will let us know, and I’ll rip those goggles off you myself.”

Caitlin shot Barry another one of her radiant smiles, and just then, Cisco came closer to them with the goggles in hand, shouting in his usual energetic tone, “We’re ready to go. Are you still up for this, Caitlin?”

After a short glance toward him, Caitlin gave Cisco a determined look and said firmly, “Let’s do it.”

Barry watched as Cisco placed the goggles over her eyes, then went back to his computer and shouted, “Just tell me when you’re ready, and I’ll get these babies running. Once I do, it’ll take just a couple of seconds for you to fall asleep, and… well, I guess we’ll see what happens afterward.”

Caitlin shifted a little on the bed. Barry just now noticed she was still in one of her usual tight dresses, which didn’t look comfortable to lie in. He was about to offer to wait until she changed, but his girlfriend took a deep breath and declared, “I’m ready, Cisco.”

Cisco pushed a few buttons on his keyboard, shouting, “Here we go.”

The lenses of the goggles began to glow blue. Barry felt Caitlin squeeze his hand just before her grip went completely slack.

Jessie spoke from beside Barry now. “Do you really think everything will be okay?”

Barry gave her a wide, genuine smile. “Of course. She’s Caitlin Snow; I have no doubt she’ll set things straight. And if things do go wrong, the three of us can handle it.”

Jessie gave him a determined but happy nod before Barry returned his gaze back to his sleeping girlfriend.

Caitlin opened her eyes in a familiar space. This was the same space she had been thrown into when the other side took over.

“Call me Frost,” a familiar voice said from behind her.

Caitlin spun around, shocked to see what looked like her twin. But this Caitlin had silver-white hair, icy blue eyes, and lips that were a light shade of blue. She was smirking with so much confidence that Caitlin didn’t think she had ever felt so sure of herself.

The now-named Frost ignored Caitlin’s shocked state and kept talking. “I heard what your handsome boyfriend said about that other version of us. I like the ‘Frost’ part of the name, but I intend to leave out the ‘Killer.’”

Caitlin tried to reboot her mind, and even when she managed that small feat, all she could ask was, “What are you?”

The smirk didn’t leave Frost’s face, but she raised an eyebrow and said in a mock-offended tone, “Rude. I’m a ‘who,’ not a ‘what.’ I already told you; the name is Frost.”

Caitlin shook her head and corrected herself, understanding that her first question could be misinterpreted. “I meant to ask, are you a meta-ability? We’ve never seen one that caused a split personality.”

The smirk faded from Frost’s face, and even her pale skin managed to grow paler as she asked in a breathy tone, “You don’t know?”

Caitlin tilted her head in confusion and asked innocently, “Know what? Actually, shouldn’t you know, having access to my memories and all that?”

Still pale and looking more nervous by the minute, Frost shook her head slowly and answered, “I am a split personality. I don’t have access to your memories any more than you have access to mine.”

Caitlin nodded; it made a lot of sense and aligned with all the research she’d ever read about such conditions, which honestly wasn’t much. After all, she worked more with the biological aspects of things rather than the psychological. But she had a strong feeling this was going to be a major topic she would research in the coming weeks.

Then Caitlin decided to return to the main issue by pointing out, “You said I don’t know something that relates to this situation.”

Caitlin watched as the ice meta began shifting uncomfortably on her feet, which was very out of character. But before she could push further, the ice woman spoke in a firm tone, “The truth is ugly. Much uglier than you’ll want to know. Are you sure you want to hear it? We can leave it as it is now. I’m here—knowing the full story or not won’t change that. Maybe it’s best to accept it and move on.”

Caitlin considered that for a moment. She could see from her twin’s extreme behavior that the topic was really difficult for her and would probably be worse for Caitlin herself. But she had to know. To move forward, she needed to understand where this power came from. Caitlin took a deep breath and said determinedly, “I want to hear it.”

The silver-haired woman looked at her pitifully before murmuring, “You really don’t, Caity, but if that’s your choice…” She let out a heavy sigh before speaking aloud in a calm voice, “I’m not a meta. You actually had your powers since you were about eight years old. They, like me, were dormant until now. I was awakened a couple of months ago as a result of something really traumatic…”

“Barry’s death,” Caitlin breathed out the realization. Frost tilted her head in complete confusion, so Caitlin explained, “There was this villain, Zoom, who took over the city. He had a crush on me and took me as a hostage. One day, he came back with a piece of Barry’s suit and told me he died. I guess it was traumatic enough to trigger you.”

Frost nodded in agreement with that probability. But something else was eating at the back of Caitlin’s mind. “You said I had you and that power since I was eight, but the particle accelerator exploded only a couple of years ago. How is that possible?”

Frost gave a simple shrug and said, “Like I said, I’m not a meta-ability. I was born after you went through some experimental gene treatments.”

Caitlin felt her mind bluescreen, and all she could choke out was, “Who?”

Knowing what she meant, Frost looked away with a displeased expression and answered curtly, “Your dad.”

Caitlin tried to shake her head in denial but felt frozen in place. No, that couldn’t be. Why would her dad do something like that? He loved her; he wouldn’t experiment on her just to prove some point. Would he? Was the picture she had of her father a big lie she created after he died to cover the trauma of what he did?

Caitlin almost went into a hysterical mode, but then she heard Frost’s voice again. “He had ALS. He was dying and trying to find a way to stay alive, to be with you and your mom. He developed a gene treatment that he called cryogenic treatment. I have no clue about the science behind it. He was kind of successful, but it had some drawbacks, such as his own split personality. Your dad managed to fix the treatment into something safer, and that’s when he found out you had ALS too…”

Caitlin sucked in a breath. No. She didn’t have ALS—her mom would have known, she would have checked after what happened to her dad unless… Her eyes widened in horror.

Frost noticed it and nodded grimly. “Yeah. Your dad didn’t exactly hesitate when he learned that. Your mom protested, but eventually, your dad put you through the treatment. By the end of it, on one side, you were completely cured. On the other, I was born. Your mom and dad panicked and immediately used their combined knowledge to turn me dormant in the back of your mind.”

Caitlin had a lot to process already, but she also had a lot of questions. One of them was spoken aloud. “If they were already familiar with the possibility thanks to Dad’s split personality, why were they so panicked?”

Frost flinched, and Caitlin gave her the moment she needed before the ice meta answered, “It’s because Icicle, which was the name of your dad’s other half and the man who called me his daughter, was dangerous. He wanted control. Full control over Thomas’s body, and he didn’t care who he had to hurt in the process. When I was born, the last time I saw your dad, he was fighting with Icicle because the control freak wanted to erase you so I would be the only one in control of this body.”

Caitlin had a fleeting thought that she needed to step back from the silver-haired twin, but the rest of her brain immediately shot the idea down. She had no reason to doubt Frost. Quite the opposite—so far, her other half had been very nice, cooperative, and showed many different emotions, none of them sinister.

Caitlin gave the woman a smile and said with confidence, “I know you wouldn’t do it now. I’m sorry I was so afraid until now.”

Frost gave her a small smile. “I can understand that. That’s why I chose not to push until the genius speedster was in danger from that explosive asshole.”

Caitlin nodded. “Thank you for that. If it wasn’t for you, I would have had to watch helplessly.” Then an odd thought occurred to the biochemist. “How is it that you knew about Jessie being in danger but didn’t know about when I believed Barry was dead? You said we don’t share memories, and still, all the stuff with Bran happened when I was in control.”

The smirk returned to the confident woman across from her, and she answered, “I think you know how. After all, when I was in control, you were the one in here, looking out through my eyes.” Caitlin gave a hesitant nod at that and opened her mouth to ask something, but Frost beat her to the punch. “And remember, I was dormant, so I couldn’t see you all those years.”

That was reasonable, Caitlin thought. She then asked aloud, “So when did you start watching from here?”

Frost shrugged. “Like I said, I woke up during the whole ‘Barry died’ trauma, apparently, but after being dormant for so long, it took me a while to find enough strength to see anything. The first time I caught some glimpses was a few days ago during the shower, but when you got to your room, the panic attack caused me to lose control over it again. I wanted to help calm you down but didn’t have enough power left for anything.”

Caitlin remembered that day and winced slightly. Frost decided to dispel the tension. Her smirk grew sharper, and she threw out a comment that almost caused Caitlin to faint—if that was possible here. “The last time I saw anything, you were just eight. We grew up to be a real hottie. I can definitely understand what Handsome sees there.”

Caitlin spluttered for a long moment before managing to choke out, “Barry doesn’t…”

“Oh, but he does,” Frost said in a sing-song voice. “He respects you and is going at your pace, but he is a man, and he likes what he sees. You might miss his looks, but I didn’t.”

Caitlin could feel the heat from her face spreading down her neck. She quickly changed the subject. “You said you were in control when I was a kid. Is that how you knew all that information about Dad and Icicle?”

Frost nodded and frowned. “You remember your one-week coma? Well, it wasn’t a coma. I was the one in control that week and overheard everything they said during those days until they put me to sleep.”

Caitlin gave her a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry they did that to you. They didn’t have the right. You were born because of them; they didn’t have the right to put you into a coma out of pure fear. I wish I’d known—I would have woken you up a long time ago.”

Frost gave her the first soft, genuine smile Caitlin had seen from her before answering calmly, “Thanks, Caity, it means a lot. But I’m kind of glad there was no situation that forced me to wake up—it means you were safe most of the time.”

Caitlin let out a fake chuckle and rubbed her arm awkwardly. Frost gave her a piercing look, so Caitlin commented, “It’s been a hectic couple of years.”

Frost raised an eyebrow and said, “We need to catch up eventually. But right now, we need to figure out what you want to do about this situation. Do you want me to stay here without commenting unless it’s an emergency?”

Caitlin was shocked that the ice meta would offer that after being locked away for so long. Caitlin had expected her to demand time in control of their body as payment for all the time she spent forcibly asleep.

Caitlin shook her head with a small reassuring smile and asked softly, “What do you want to do?”

Frost was taken aback by the question but quickly recovered and gave it a few moments of thought. Then she gave a small smile and said hesitantly, “It felt good saving that cute speedster. I think I’d like to give this hero business a shot.”

Caitlin was surprised—that was definitely a 180 from the Killer Frost she knew. But then again, Barry had said it: their circumstances were different. And Caitlin wanted to make sure it would stay that way. So with a huge smile, she said, “Barry will love it. We could start by letting you take over for training and field missions and go from there.”

Frost gave a huge smile of her own and responded simply but with genuine excitement, “Sounds like a plan.”