Photograph [Snowbarry AU]

Coming Home

A/N: See? Told ya I'd be back soon! :D So I'm trying something new here so bear with me! First of all, I'm going to put a considerable amount of flashbacks in this story, so I hope I'll manage to do it in a way that won't completely confuse you. But if it's the case, just tell me and I'll work on it. Second, as music has a huge place in my heart, I'll try to fit each chapter with a song (and write a few lyrics that I think fit the chapter) and if I manage to make you discover some music than I'll be really happy :)

This story's name comes from "Photograph - Ed Sheeran" as that song, for some reasons, makes me think of Snowbarry every single time.

Okay, enough talking! Enjoy :D

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"I'm coming home
I'm coming home
Tell the world that I'm coming home
Let the rain
Wash away
All the pain of yesterday"

"Coming Home – Skylar Grey"

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The place was buzzing with people coming from every side of the room, from every side of the country, from every side of the globe. People alone, people with families or friends, people on the phone... This simple place welcomed so many people at the same time, yet everything that happen here was pretty brief. Nobody really stopped to see what was going on around them, everyone focused on their sole purpose.

Caitlin waited patiently, arms hugging herself as she watched the baggage carousel finally being activated. A slight chill travelled across her body and she closed her jacket tighter around her. It was almost summer, but the heat hadn't settled in yet. As if it wasn't enough, the airport was going way too heavy on the air conditioning. Caitlin watched as people scurried towards their luggage, afraid that if they missed them, the suitcases would be swallowed by the black hole behind the wall. Caitlin chuckled to herself. Didn't they know that they would come back a few moments later?

But it was the same thing every single time. People would gather around the machine, pushing neighbours to get to their bags first, not paying any attentions to their surroundings, their attention solely focused on their luggage. Everybody was so stressed and always in a hurry, jacket hanging on one arm, cell phone clutched in one hand... It was painful to watch.

Caitlin tore her attention away from a mother, shouting to her kids to quickly grab their stuff, once she caught sight of her own small luggage coming up. Slowly and gracefully, Caitlin grabbed the handle of her bag and stepped away from the baggage carousel, carefully avoiding any distressed passenger that didn't find their luggage.

The 28-year-old doctor rolled her eyes. That was one of the reasons she hated flying, aside from the tiny leg space on the plane and the awful air conditioning. She hated seeing all these people stressed out and nervous because of all the things that could go wrong (delayed plane, lost baggage, passport problems, noisy neighbours... just to name a few). Caitlin was already a worrier to begin with, but seeing all of this around her kind of overwhelmed her sometimes, making her more nervous than actually needed. So each time she travelled, she tried to avoid all the drama, swiftly going through every process with her walls around her, shutting everything else out.

And today wasn't in any way different. Her walls were strongly built, especially considering the current events in her life. Her face was fixed with the blank expression she was carrying around everywhere with her lately. She didn't think she had really genuinely smiled in the past few months. She almost didn't remember what it felt like to laugh.

Pushing the disturbing thought aside, she pulled her suitcase behind her. Readjusting her handbag on her shoulder, Caitlin made her way out of the airport, passing a shield saying "Welcome to Ryker Neve – North Carolina". She glanced at it before shaking her head bitterly. Ten years ago she would've never thought about coming back here with a one-way ticket, with no plans about going back to Central City. Her younger self would've looked disapprovingly at her, asking her: "What the hell did you do with my life?"