TIC TOC
By Basilea
Disclaimers: I don´t own Catherine. I don´t own Warrick... sad, isn´t it?
Spoilers: None... this is just some AU fic.
A/N: Cathryn beta-ed this for me... Thank you CATH!!! – This one is a bit angsty, I hope you won´t hate me for posting it!
One - ...tic...toc...tic...toc...
He was leaving. That was all she could think about. One more day and he´d be gone. And she had no idea of why that thought made her feel so bad.
She didn´t lie when he told her that he´d accepted the promotion in Washington D.C she didn´t accept and she said she felt happy for him. She didn´t lie then. She felt happy. But five days away from his departure, happiness had turn into some sort of painful sadness. She was going to miss him. She said to herself she´d get over it, it wasn´t the first time a friend said goodbye, but that feeling in her stomach just wouldn´t go away.
So she faced endless hours of working in the field, and doing interrogations and print dusting... and very few minutes with him, talking to him. And when they did talk, every little word they crossed stung like a bee and left a bitter taste in her mouth. And all those long hours he wasn´t in sight, she could hear a little rhytmic sound she had first mistaken with her heartbeat. A soft little sound that kept echoing in her head every time she thought of him, every time she hid from him, and every time she closed her eyes and tried to sleep: Tic..toc...tic...toc... a reminder of how seconds flew away bringing Tuesday nearer. She knew Tuesday meant goodbye... and that was killing her.
He was sure leaving was the best for him. She couldn't accept that promotion, she couldn't leave, her daughter wouldn't like it, so he accepted it when he was asked to. He had no reason for staying in Vegas. At least none that he could confess.
She was the first one to know the good news, and her warm reaction to it convinced him that leaving was the best.
But days went by, and something felt different. He didn´t want to leave. Something kept telling him that he shouldn't. But each time they met, she acted like nothing was going on, and even though he could have sweared that sometimes her blue eyes were a bit too sad, she never mentioned it. So he kept repeating to himself that leaving was a good idea, and missing good friends, a common thing to happen. But there was this little tickling noise that bothered his sleep and his waiting hours... tic...toc...tic...toc... A little tickling sound that brought him closer to Tuesday... and further from her.
It was Sara´s idea to offer him a goodbye lunch. And everyone agreed it should take place at Catherine´s. All she was able to do was nod. The thought of a goodbye lunch tied a not in her throat. So, Monday it was, and there she was, in her kitchen, fixing some stupid dish she no longer cared about and trying hard not to think about it. She jumped when she heard the doorbell ring, and as she walked towards it, she kept repeating to herself "anyone but him...please let it be anyone but him".
She opened the door to Nick, and she greeted him with one of her best smiles. He handed her a bottle of wine and offered to help, and she was pleased of the distraction of having a good friend chatting around and cooking. Her kitchen was soon filled with helping hands and smiling faces.
He was the last one to arrive, and it was Grissom who let him in. She heard his voice at the door, and she knew there was no way she could prevent herself from crying. She was finally able to give a name to that painful sadness and that need of crying. She suddenly knew. So she excused herself and practically ran down the hall to get to the bathroom before anyone could see her cry. She closed the door and leaned her back to it, sliding till she was sitting on the floor. She grabbed one blue towel and pressed it to her face in order not to claim attention to her sobbing sounds and finally let her tears flow.
No one paid much attention to her redish eyes when she finally showed up at the table, they were too busy joking and greeting him for his promising future, but Catherine couldn´t laugh with them, for all she was able to hear, was that awful little sound that was driving her crazy... tic...toc...tic...toc...
He was exiting the lab when Sara came up with that goodbye meal. He didn´t want to go, he just couldn´t, but they were his friends and they wanted to say goodbye and wish him well. There was no way out.
So Monday it was, and he was waiting inside her car, in front of her house, trying hard to gather enough strength to get into her house and say goodbye to her. He saw Nick arrive, and then Greg, Grissom, and finally Sara. He was going to be the last one to arrive, and he hated being late. He sighed, and got out of the car. He prepared himself for Catherine at the door, but she didn´t open it. He found Grissom instead.
He got into the house straight to the kitchen to see if he was too late to help with anything, but Catherine wasn´t there either. So he helped setting the table, and joked about how he was going to miss the casinos and the hookers. But they all agreed crimes look as worse in Vegas as in any other place. They were ready to start eating when she finally showed up. No one paid much attention to her, but when she got close to him to say "hi", he could have sweared she had been crying... but he said nothing but "hi" and they both sat at the table. Everyone started eating and everything felt right, everything, but that awful little noise he could hear again... tic...toc...tic...toc...
TBC
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