Little Ripples

It had been six months for Warrick. Six months since that case where his mentor's daughter Aimee was murdered and it ended up having larger repercussions. He had messed up and he wasn't the one paying for it. That's what sucked about life at times and the sad thing was this time it was right. He had messed up.

The shift had just ended and he was sitting in the locker room getting ready to bug out. It was another day, another dollar and more to process on a crime scene. That included paperwork and other things; the same old same old. It would be good to just get home and do whatever that wasn't related to work.

As he reached in his locker, a small envelope fell out. Warrick frowned since he didn't remember putting anything like that in there. Still he was curious as he picked it up and examined it as he would with a piece of evidence. He glanced around to see if anyone was trying to play a joke or something on him and went back to the envelope.

It was small and almost square like those invitation envelopes. It had his name on it in a handwriting that he wasn't familiar with but nothing else. Turning it over, he opened it to find a piece of cardstock tucked in the envelope.

"Hey whachya got there?" The Texan drawl of Nick Stokes came in as he walked up to his own locker to get ready to leave.

Warrick looked at it and said, "No idea. It was here in my locker. Did anyone get into it?"

"No," Nick replied as he grabbed his stuff.

Warrick made a slight sound and took out the cardstock. On the card, was a very familiar address and a time on it. He flipped it around to take a look for anything else. "That's strange."

By that time Nick came over to take a look. He saw the address and the time, "Secret admirer?"

"No," Warrick replied after shooting Nick a look. "Everyone knows me and Parker are tight."

"When you decide to gang up on me," Nick shot back in a teasing tone. "So you gonna go?"

"I don't know."

The truth was Warrick didn't know if he should or not. He was there the day they boarded it up. Why would he want to go back there? He hadn't heard anything about what was going to happen and the times he did drive by, the signs were still up. He repeated, "I don't know."

"You should. Someone went to a lot of trouble to make sure you got that man," Nick replied. He had recognized the scrawl on the envelope and recalled a certain scene he saw in passing in QD.

"But why?"

"Go and find out." Nick gave a motion that his best friend should go. "Maybe you might find out who sent it."

Warrick looked at Nick but he wasn't getting anything. So it wasn't a mean spirited joke or prank. He decided to take his friend's advice and go. At least he had time for a shower and a change of clothes according to the card. He still wasn't sure that it was a good idea. He continued to fret about it all the way home and actually got a late start.

He was roughly fifteen minutes late by the time he pulled up to the rec center and the sight had him baffled. Warrick frowned as he got out of his car and looked at the cars and people from the neighborhood gathered around dressed in their best. What was going on here? Just last week he drove by and the sign said that it was closed until further notice. There was little choice but to find out.

Being a bit cautious, Warrick walked up and was greeted by a couple of people that he knew and he returned the greeting. He heard snatched bits of conversation that it was a good thing that the rec center was opening again. This was a bit unusual to him and he wondered what had changed to get the center opened again. He hadn't heard of any fundraising or anything like that.

His attention was drawn to one of the many groups that had worked with the center in the past as they talked. He listened and turned to look at the grounds. He noticed some work had been done to repair the old equipment, new paint and a bunch of little things. It was the kind of thing that wasn't noticed and wouldn't have been noticed even if someone had been looking.

"I know that things happen to good folks and we can't help but ask why they do. It is a hard lesson to know and learn that the actions of one can affect many…"

Warrick frowned as he recognized the soft drawl that he knew so well in the lab. He turned and made his way closer and got a good view of the speaker. He was stunned to see her standing there and giving a speech. What was more baffling was that she seemed to find him in the crowd and gave him a slight smile as she continued. That alone was strange since he hadn't exactly been nice to her the past few months. They got along but the friendly banter they had wasn't there now.

"In the end it is not about how hard you can get hit but actually taking the hit and getting back up and keep on going which is why it is my great honor and pleasure to announce that this rec center, a pillar of this community will be opened once again and the Aimee Foundation has been agreeable to help run and maintain a permanent staff so that our young people have that chance. Thank you."

The clapping was deafening as the chains on the door of the center were cut off and opened again. Warrick watched as people wandered in and started looking around and were greeted by staff. Warrick lost sight of her and was shuffled in where he was treated to different rooms for different programs and the prospect of the basketball team going to the championships. Much of it was like he remembered it. The only things that were different were the things that had been repaired or brand new were put in.

It was like a spring had started to well up inside full of hope as Warrick wandered through. It looked like the staff was already at work organizing things for the kids. He walked back out and stood to look at the building. If only Matt could see it.

"So you did decide to come."

Warrick turned to see Nick standing next to him. He narrowed his eyes and replied, "Yeah. You knew about this didn't you?"

"Only did what I was told to do and showed up," Nick replied trying to play it off.

"Come on. I know you had something to do with this."

"No. It was all Parker. She put the whole thing together from funding to getting the place open and all the repairs and everything."

Warrick was surprised, "Parker? Our Parker?" He looked around at everything. There had to be thousands of dollars invested in the whole thing. On a CSI salary that was next to impossible to do. "You can't be serious?"

Nick nodded in seriousness, "Yeah I am. Spare time thing and I sort of caught her at her research and offered to help."

"But funds, paperwork…" Warrick looked around and shrugged with a frown. "That's near impossible."

"This is Parker," Nick pointed out giving a slight smile at that. "She has her way of doing things. Well I gotta go but glad you came. I think she was worried you wouldn't. Later." He left his friend to think about it and wandered to where he parked his car. He wasn't surprised to see someone waiting for him and he said, "Nice move Parker."

"Well I was always a chess person," Sage Parker replied with a slight smile. "Glad you came."

"Hey ya know we're partners," Nick replied with a smile. "You did a good thing Parker. Warrick knows it."

"I know. So we still on for later?"

"You're asking for it big time," Nick replied grinning at the prospect of one of their challenges they tackled. He got in his car after pausing a moment and then drove off.

Sage watched Nick drive off and turned towards the rec center. She was proud of it and was surprised she was able to keep things a secret as long as she did. Even her prison visits she was surprised no one noticed but in the end it all pulled together. She smiled and took her leave of the event since she wasn't there to make waves.

~0~0~

Warrick looked at the address and gave a slight sigh. He wasn't sure this was a good idea and he did feel a bit bad for weaseling it out of Greg but… He started up the sidewalk half expecting a black and white to come up and arrest him because he was a suspicious black male loitering but nothing like that happened. He walked up to the door and rang the doorbell and hoped he wasn't being rude.

The door opened and Sage peered around it. She frowned in surprise, "Warrick, what are you doing here?"

"Um… I wanted to talk to you and I couldn't find you at the center and I didn't have your address," Warrick began, not sure how she was going to take this.

"I see Greggo must have had his arm twisted," Sage replied with a bemused expression. "Come on in. I was just making dinner." She turned to head towards her kitchen, leaving the door open to let Warrick let himself in.

Warrick stepped into the condo and followed her in, making sure the door was closed. He took notice of the type of furniture she had and felt like he was in one of those old museum libraries. "Parker, I need to talk with you."

"Fire away. Are you hungry? I always end up making enough for two," Sage replied as she put her towel on her shoulder and went back to what she was doing.

Warrick watched and noticed that she was in clothing that looked like sleepwear or maybe workout clothes. "I thought you were sleeping."

"Night off. Just finished that robbery and began prepping for court on another. Grissom said to go or I wouldn't be allowed in the field," Sage replied as she finished cutting her vegetables for the stir fry she decided on. She scooped them into the bowl and wiped her knife off before crossing over to the aisle counter. "But that's not why you're here at my place after weaseling it out of my Greggo."

"No," Warrick replied, knowing that being upfront was the best thing to do. "I wanted to talk to you about the center."

"Fire away, Warrick," Sage replied motioning that she was an open book. She waited while he debated on how to word it so he didn't sound like an ass. She had pity and asked, "What's the first question you are dying to ask?"

"How," Warrick replied.

"Research," Sage replied. She turned back to dump her vegetable mix into the frying pan and started stirring them with the marinated beef she had cooking in there. "I had the time to look up a few things, set ups, nonprofit organizations and their getup… not a hard thing to look up and organize. The fundraising was… interesting."

"Fundraising?"

"Yeah," Sage replied as she twisted to look at Warrick, "You don't think that center spruced itself up without money now did ya?"

That was a stupid question and Warrick knew it as he played with the fruit on the counter, "No but still that was a lot of time and effort and I've driven by several times the past six months. The signs were up and everything."

"Per my request or rather the Aimee Foundation requested that," Sage replied. She automatically went to pull two plates and a couple of wine glasses. "Funny thing about benefactors; they have their peculiar quirks and it was especially hard to convince them it was worthwhile."

"Well I have no doubt you managed that," Warrick pointed out as he watched her cook. He was getting some answers but not the one he wanted answered and he knew he was going to have to bring it up since she wasn't going to do it for him. "So you did all the legwork and got the money…"

"Amazing how much you can get done in your free time. The graffiti was a pain though and I did that all by my lonesome. It was a funny sight to the neighbors," Sage interrupted suddenly. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk about it. That part just didn't seem important. "Probably wondering why a white girl was working like a slave on that building."

"By yourself? You went there by yourself even after what happened?"

"Don't you be turning into Stokes now," Sage replied as she went back to her cooking. "I did have some help once word got out. People do care when you set them in the right direction."

Warrick put down the pear he had been playing with. He hadn't missed the slight comparison to Nick and it was amusing how it sounded like overprotective jealousy to him but his thoughts were on the whole reason for his visit. "You did all that and you still haven't explained everything."

"Then ask Warrick."

It had been a gentle and firm prompt and Warrick got the picture. "Why? Why did you do it?"

Sage turned off the pan and began spooning the food into equal portions on the two plates. She turned and put them on the mats that she had set up on the counter. She followed that with the pouring of some red wine in the glasses. As she did that, she replied, "Because I wanted to and it was like I said earlier, bad things do happen but you can run from it or learn from it. It's not about just getting hit but what you do afterwards." She handed a glass to Warrick.

Warrick accepted the glass, "So you did this…"

"It is a good place Warrick. Look at you," Sage replied. "You turned out all right and from what I heard, your friend Matt did the same to others. So the question was why stop because of what happened to little Aimee?" She took a sip of her wine and set the glass down. She handed a fork to Warrick and picked up her own and took a bite.

Warrick held the fork and thought about what she said. "I see your point and I'm sorry about what I said to you when we were working the case. You didn't deserve that especially from me."

"You were hurt and angry. The shooting affected someone close to you; made a difference in your life. How could I understand that?" Sage took another bite of her meal. She motioned with her fork to prompt Warrick to eat. "You better eat that since I slaved away at making that."

Warrick gave a wry look at Sage. He wasn't too hungry but he was astute enough to realize that this was part of the apology. He took a bite and had to admit that it did pique his appetite. "It's good Parker. But seriously, I shouldn't have blown up at you like that and I shouldn't have let Matt say those things to you."

"Grieving father," Sage replied as she took another sip of her wine. She leaned on the aisle counter and looked at the tall CSI. "Besides we talked about that when I paid a visit. Things are okay." She paused a moment and toyed a bit with a piece of bell pepper before continuing, "I may not know what it is like to lose a child and I hope to never have to but I have seen parents lose children. In D.C., I was always called out to those scenes. It's the kind of thing you don't forget so I try to make a difference when I can."

"Like the center," Warrick affirmed. "That's why you said you wanted that case," he said as he thought about it more.

"If I act like Grissom at times it's because it's when I feel the most and I know I have to pull back otherwise all the work done so far will be for nothing." Sage leaned against the counter and speared another bite. She studied Warrick as she played with her food and he played with his. "I know that it is off putting and I understand why which is why I just worked our cases."

"And I shouldn't have put it off for as long," Warrick countered. "I didn't mean you when I said that to Grissom. You're nothing like him except when the science fascinates you."

"That's kind of you to say that."

"Honest truth, Parker. I liked you the minute we met. You've been a good friend."

Sage gave a slight hum as she took a bite of her beef. "You're not so bad yourself," she replied with a smile. She looked down and gave a chuckle.

"What are you laughing at now?" Warrick grinned as he speared another bite. For not being hungry, he was really going at it.

"Nothing. Just thinking about what I said. I know you didn't hear all of my speech today," Sage replied still smiling, "But I was thinking about the part I said about how big things come from the smallest of things… like ripples in water. They start small and grow. That's how life works out."

Warrick studied Sage as she went to finishing her plate. She was something else and there were times when she seemed to understand things at a level that connected. She brought the center back because she thought and wanted to do some good and did it little by little. He had to admit seeing her in painter coveralls and wearing her signature dog collar sounded funny and no doubt it would have been to the neighborhood.

"So you planning on volunteering?"

It was an innocent question but it started a conversation that led the two friends back to an easy footing that Warrick thought had been gone. He talked as they ate and they shared a joke or two that led to laughs and plans for the next days off. When he left to go start his shift that night, he could understand better by what she had meant. Her little act of kindness started something that could grow larger. It was called hope.

A/N: Hi folks. Just some fluff between Warrick and Sage surrounding their friendship after Random Acts of Violence. Enjoy.