meridian_rose

Title: A Ray of Hope
Fandom: The Flash
Pairing/Characters: Caitlin, Barry, Cisco, Iris, Joe, Dante (mentioned), Caitlin & Cisco, subtextual potential Caitlin/Cisco
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 3265
Prompt: For the

hc_bingo wildcard square, prompt coma
Summary: A metahuman has been sending his victims to sleep but while they all recovered within minutes, Cisco remains unconscious days later. Caitlin will do anything in her power to save him, while Barry and the others look to her to pull off a miracle.
Content Notes: No standard warnings apply. Hurt/comfort, coma, team as family, hair kink, implied relationship, fairy tale elements, Sleeping Beauty, Iris is a good friend, angst with a happy ending
Also posted to AO3; promo post @Tumblr, Pinterest

...a ray of hope there still may be in this, the gift I give to thee. Not in death, but just in sleep – Merryweather, "Sleeping Beauty", (1959)

Day Two

When Barry caught Caitlin chewing at her lower lip, and softly called her name, she quickly pasted on a smile. She repeated all the things she'd said yesterday about the effects just needing time to wear off, though they sounded just as hollow today, if not more so.

"We've all been working so hard," Caitlin said, taking one of Cisco's hands in hers. "Maybe he just wants a rest."

Barry returned the smile in an attempt to reassure her but it was as fake and brittle as her own. It was almost a relief when Joe called in a robbery for the Flash to stop and Barry to gather evidence of afterwards. It felt normal. It gave Barry something to do, and Caitlin something else to worry about.

The lab was quiet without Cisco's chatter, without even Wells's presence to add the tapping of a keyboard or the hum from his electric wheelchair as he moved around the room. A few weeks ago everything was different, and now Wells/Thawne was on the loose somewhere, and Cisco was comatose, and Caitlin wished she could do something other than pore over blood work that was so goddamn normal as to be infuriating. She told Barry to please be careful. She didn't add because I'll be alone here if anything happens to you and I can't do all of this by myself but she hoped it was implied.

When Barry finally returned he made her eat something and insisted she take a shower and get some sleep. When she returned from a nap, hair still damp, there was music playing in the lab. Barry had woken from his coma to music Cisco had pulled from his Facebook feed, and while Caitlin maintained it had been a coincidence, it was understandable that Barry would want to at least try the same thing.

They were both disappointed that it didn't work.

Day Three

"I brought pizza," Iris said. She was pulled together, no-nonsense. Well Cisco isn't her friend the way he's mine and Barry's, Caitlin thought, and then felt guilty over how unfair the thought was. Iris was trying to be supportive and Caitlin appreciated it.

"Everyone loves pizza," Iris went on, sitting at Cisco's bedside and flipping open the box. "If you want some, Cisco, you have to wake up." She looked at Caitlin. "Grab a slice."

Caitlin couldn't remember when she last ate, though she suspected it was the half a pot of yoghurt that Barry had insisted on yesterday. So she pulled up a chair and took a slice. It was good. Cisco was missing out.

Iris gave her a sympathetic glance. "I remember going through this with Barry," she said. "I know it's difficult. Painful."

Caitlin shrugged helplessly. "When I was trying to save Barry," she said, "I didn't know him. It was…easier. He was my responsibility but not my friend. Not like he is now." She wondered if she had been sympathetic enough when Barry was comatose and a tearful Iris came to visit him.

Iris nodded. "I understand."

"Cisco is my responsibility and my friend." Caitlin closed her eyes against tears she didn't dare shed. She needed to stay strong and calm if she was to fix this. "And I don't know if I can help him."

Iris glanced away, giving Caitlin a moment to gather herself. She finished her slice of pizza before beginning a pep talk. "You're amazing, Caitlin. You're the smartest person I know, smarter even than Barry. You'll find a way."

Caitlin nodded and forced herself to take another bite of pizza. When she swallowed it, despite the lump in her throat, she said, "I'm not as smart as Harrison Wells or Eobard Thawne or whoever he really was. I wish he was still here. I wish the man I thought he was was here. He'd have more ideas."

Iris's face clouded over. "You are every bit as creative as that homicidal liar. Anyway you said there wasn't anything else to be done. That we just had to wait for it to wear off."

"I know." She'd been saying it since it happened but as each hour passed she was finding it harder to believe.

Iris leaned over to Cisco. "Remind me, is Spock the one in the blue box or is it Captain Kirk who took the hobbits on a road trip?" She grinned at Caitlin. "I tried invoking nerd rage on Barry. I mean it didn't work then either, but it's always worth a try."

Caitlin laughed and, despite the edge of hysteria to it, it felt good.

Day Four

Joe stopped by with coffee and pastries. "If you need anything else," he said, and rolled his eyes at himself. "You're the scientist. I'm just a cop. But if you need anything I can help with, even if it's just fetching more coffee, let me know."

Caitlin nodded and Joe gave a long sigh. "I thought this was over with the first time, with Barry," he said softly. "I'm not good at doing nothing. Stakeouts are one thing; get a partner you like and some food and it's not so bad to wait out the perp. But waiting like this…"

Caitlin wished there was something Joe could do. She wished there was something any of them could do. "I didn't understand how hard it must have been for you and Iris," she said, almost choking on the words.

Joe put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Why don't we drink these before they get cold and you talk me through what you've been doing? I might not understand but sometimes it helps to have someone listen. I can't count the number of times Barry got a eureka moment explaining his science homework to me, though he lost me once he hit advanced algebra, let alone biochem."

Caitlin appreciated the offer. Joe looked horrified when she talked about electrostimulation. "Isn't that dangerous? What about side-effects? Couldn't there be memory loss?"

"It's a possibility," she admitted, taking a sip of coffee. "But it'd be a very mild shock. I wouldn't do anything to risk losing who Cisco is. I wouldn't risk brain damage! I'm - I'm just running out of other ideas." None of the drugs she'd tried had had any effect.

Joe studied her, his own drink growing cold in his hand. "Have you talked to his family?"

Caitlin shook her head.

"Because I think it's past time to." Joe leaned forward. "I could do that for you."

He was right, of course. Maybe just Dante though; Caitlin didn't want the rest of Cisco's family to worry yet.

Besides, Dante had been face to face with the weirder aspects of Cisco's work. It would be a little easier to try and explain what had happened..

Day One

Caitlin nixed Sleeping Beauty – Beauty was the victim, not the perpetrator - and Cisco complained that Sandman was already taken, and Barry had suggested they focus more on how to stop the metahuman than what to name him.

Their quarry had committed a string of small non-violent robberies over the past week and a half, mostly very expensive jewels. The metahuman seemed able to send their victims to sleep, the effect being immediate and short-lived. In fact the victims woke up anything from five to fifteen minutes later claiming to feel well rested and better than they had in weeks. One security guard had even been cured of his insomnia.

Given Barry's metabolism Caitlin hoped that even if the metahuman's ability worked on him it would wear off almost instantly. They'd baited a trap and Barry was waiting to try and grab the perp.

"Dream Master," Cisco mused. "What do you think?"

"I like it," a strange voice said behind them, and it turned out they'd underestimated the metahuman's abilities because instead of falling for their ruse he'd infiltrated Star Labs under their very noses. He was wearing a long dark coat, boots, gloves, and a ski-mask, which meant there was no way to identity him later. "So this is the Flash's lair. Tell him goodbye from me. Central City's been fun but I'm off to pastures new."

"He's here, Barry," Caitlin yelled over the comms and there was a strange sound of the wind soughing in the trees and something like a warm breeze caressed her.

The next thing she knew she was on the floor. She blinked a few times, pulling herself to her knees. She couldn't even muster up much anger given her level of relaxation. When people talked about unwinding, about having an hour long massage and then lying by the pool sipping margaritas, this feeling was what they were longing for. More Dr Feelgood than Dream Master, she thought; she didn't remember dreaming but she felt pretty amazing, especially given the circumstances.

"Cisco?" She crawled over to where he was sprawled unconscious. "Cisco?"

Barry came into the room, distraught. "I came as soon as I could, and he hit me with some sort of…wave of…sleep? And I was out for less than a minute and he couldn't have got far but I searched the perimeter and he's gone."

"He must have other powers to get in here without us noticing. Super speed, like yours? Maybe invisibility?" Caitlin took Cisco's wrist in her hand, reassured by a slow but steady pulse. "We'll find him."

Barry helped her move Cisco to the bed in the medical bay because it didn't feel right to leave him sleeping on the floor. Caitlin drew a vial of her own blood and then began running tests on the atmosphere in Star Labs. She was hoping to discover traces of whatever caused the sudden sleep, which should help her develop an antidote in the hopes that next time Barry wouldn't literally fall asleep on the job. No traces of anything unusual had been found at the crime scenes, nor in the blood of any of the previous victims, but maybe it dissipated too quickly for them to have got samples.

Barry used the security system to try and discover where the metahuman had disappeared to; the cameras all blinked out as he entered and only came back on after he made his escape. Barry sat back in his chair, frustrated. "Caitlin?"

"Yes?" She didn't pause in her typing.

"How long ago did we get hit?"

She checked the computer clock and worked backwards. "Twenty minutes."

Barry frowned. "Fifteen minutes is the maximum unaccounted for time reported by the victims. They mostly woke up after five or six minutes."

Caitlin saw him glancing in Cisco's direction. She was standing even as she said, "I'm sure it's just an anomaly."

But Cisco remained sleeping as thirty minutes passed. Barry kept trying to wake him while Caitlin fought rising panic. She drew blood, analysed both their samples. Nothing to go on. She began running through the protocols for testing awareness. Withdraws from pain, no verbal response, no eye opening, Glasgow Coma Scale 7 which was bad, very not good.

They'd not had a victim to study before, though an assistant had given a detailed account of finding her employer asleep after a robbery. As far as they knew it was a short, harmless sleep, with no ill effects. Faced with a comatose Cisco, Caitlin could no longer trust in the "short" or "harmless".

"I'll do a CT scan," Caitlin said distantly. "It's probably nothing but, but if we understand this better…"

Barry agreed. It was better than doing nothing.

Every test came back within expected parameters, or inconclusive, with no obvious abnormalities or reason for concern. Cisco was breathing unaided and that was something, but Caitlin couldn't help but fall back on medical training that said the longer someone was unconscious the worse the prognosis.

"It'll probably wear off soon," Caitlin said, trying to convince herself as much as Barry.

Day Five

Caitlin and Barry, both feeling guilty though this wasn't their fault, left Dante sitting at his brother's bedside, giving him some privacy.

Caitlin had explained things as simply as she could to Dante; that all the tests had come back normal, that there was brain activity, that to all intents and purposes, Cisco was simply in a deep sleep. She promised she'd keep trying to wake him. She told Dante that if they could locate the missing metahuman she was certain she could develop an antidote. She reminded him that all the other victims had recovered without ill-effects.

None of it had made any of them feel any better.

Barry called Felicity again for an update from Starling City since so many rogues of the super-powered and non-suped villains seemed to enjoy visiting there. When she had nothing to report, he searched the 'net for news reports of crimes in any city that might be the work of the metahuman Cisco had wanted to name the Dream Master. There was nothing.

"We're doing everything we can," Caitlin said again as Dante prepared to leave. It was the truth but it tasted like a lie.

Day Six

Caitlin was brushing Cisco's hair when Barry returned to the lab, having run out of things to do other than be there. There'd been no recent metahuman activity and having stopped a potential kidnapping, foiled an almost bank robbery, and prevented a flood, Barry had been reduced to scolding jaywalkers and making litterers pick up their trash.

She knew he shared Joe's sense of helplessness as well as her guilt. She didn't blame him for not wanting to stand around wringing his hands.

"What are you doing?" Barry asked.

"What does it look like?" She lifted another lock of glossy black hair and pulled the brush along it, the strands silky against her fingers. Caitlin paused. "He's got lovely hair."

Barry nodded, gave a lopsided grin.

"He'll probably complain I didn't do a good job of combing it," she said. "When he wakes up."

Barry nodded. They were careful to always say "when" and not "if".

"He'll likely claim to be embarrassed that I've been taking care of him. That I've seen him naked now," she went on. "And then I'll remind him it's a little late to worry about that after skinny dipping incident at the company picnic."

Barry laughed. "You went skinny dipping?"

"I left my underwear on," she said, pretending offence. "But Cisco and Ronnie – well, you know how you men sometimes get carried away."

It wasn't until Barry had his arms around her, taking away the brush and hugging her tightly, that she realised there were tears rolling down her cheeks.

"It'll be all right," Barry said.

"You don’t know that."

"I know you saved me."

The circumstances had been different, but she knew Barry wouldn't listen to reason. He was warm and strong, and being held was soothing, so she didn't argue. She let him remind her that she'd (sort of) got Ronnie back too, and how it proved they shouldn't give up hope. She pulled away and glared at Barry.

"I'm not giving up hope." The look on his face surprised her. He'd needed to hear that as much as she needed to say it. Barry was used to being the hero, and while he relied on his team to back him up, he was the one on the front line. Now Caitlin was on the front line, with Barry relying on her to find a cure, the both of them getting increasingly concerned that there might not be a way to save Cisco, or that there might be long-term damage from his prolonged sleep. She wiped at her face and went to check on the latest test results. No matter what, she was not going to stop trying.

When Barry fell asleep in a chair, Caitlin busied herself taking care of all of Cisco's essential needs. When she was done, she wiped his face with a damp cloth and smoothed back his hair once more.

"I'm going to get some sleep too," she said softly. "And tomorrow I want us all awake and raring to go, okay?" She bent down and pressed her lips to Cisco's forehead.

Day Seven

She'd finished analysing the latest results, the afternoon passing into evening, when it finally happened.

"Caitlin?"

She dashed over, half-afraid she'd imagined his voice. "Cisco? Oh my God, Cisco." She reached out caress his cheek as he sat up, disorientated.

"I guess Dream Master got me," he said.

"Inappropriate name," she said, without malice. "But yes. We've been so worried. I have to call Barry."

Cisco lifted his arm, wincing at the protest from his long unused muscles. "Worried?" He glanced down at the bed, at the IV line, and Caitlin could see him drawing conclusions. "How long was I out?"

She hesitated. "Longer than the other victims."

"How long?" When she didn't immediately respond, he said, voice hushed, "Months?"

"No! No," she said, and he relaxed a little. In contrast to his fears when she said, "A week," he took it well. It was much longer than any of the previous victims but aside from a little stiffness in his joints, Cisco assured her that he felt pretty damn good.

Caitlin went to call Barry, who promised he'd be there the moment he could get away from work. She soon joined Cisco in drinking juice and eating cookies; he wanted the sugar and she wasn't about to start scolding him now she had him back.

"A week," Cisco said, rubbing at a mark on his arm from the IV line. "Wow."

"We were worried," Caitlin said again. "All of us. Barry and Joe and Iris. Dante."

Cisco gave her a look of alarm. "You called my brother?"

Caitlin nodded. "It was Joe's idea," she said, passing the buck on that one. Then Barry swept into the room, wrapped his arms around Cisco, and after a run-on sentence about being worried/missing him/glad he was back, promised to fetch pizza if Cisco was hungry.

"Back in a flash," Barry quipped, dashing off on his important errand.

"We couldn't find the metahuman," Caitlin said, in case her earlier rambled explanation to bring Cisco up to speed hadn't made it clear. "Barry's been feeling pretty useless. To be honest, I have too. I tried everything to wake you up." She blinked hard.

"Hey," Cisco said, putting one hand on hers. "I'm sure you did." Then he gave a sly grin. "Everything?"

"You don't want to know-" Caitlin broke off. "What are you getting at?"

"Sleeping Beauty. You said Beauty was the victim, remember? Well you know what worked there."

"A kiss." In the safe for children version at least, and not the rather nasty older version. "I did. Like this." Caitlin leaned over and pressed her lips to his forehead once more.

He gave her an unreadable look before Barry zoomed back in with three large pizzas. "Am I interrupting?"

"No," Caitlin said, as Cisco made a similar denial.

"I called Joe and Iris," Barry went on, placing the boxes on the table. "They'll be here shortly. And you should call Dante. That first pizza is just for me by the way."

"I'll get plates," Caitlin said and a few minutes later with the team back together, eating and joking, everything seemed back to what passed for normal these days.

Later, Caitlin would remember that the kiss was the last thing she'd actively done to try to wake Cisco, and, while she tried to dismiss it as unscientific and fanciful, it gave her a warm feeling that her affection for him might have saved Cisco.