What Did You Do, Warrick?
It was Super Bowl Sunday, and Greg sat in a corner of Warrick's sofa, quietly entertaining Trina while the "manly men" in his life sat in their lazy boys, chugging beer and berating each others teams good naturedly. Greg liked football, but his team hadn't done well this year. He didn't really care which team won today, but it was fun watching the seasoned investigators acting the fools. While he also kept an eye on the Michael and Brandon playing with legos on the floor in front of the big screen TV, he studied Warrick's wife out of the corner of his eye. Greg hadn't been sure it was a good idea to drag the whole family over the Brown's for Super Bowl Sunday, and had suggested Nick go on without him. Nick had been adamant that Warrick had invited all of them…he had been trying to reach out and it would be bad form to reject it. Greg had sighed. He had never been very comfortable with Warrick's wife, Tina. Or maybe she had never been comfortable with the CSI crew, he didn't know. But as Greg sat on the sofa surreptitiously observing Tina, his discomfort grew. She was obviously unhappy to have people invading her home. She had one arm crossed over her chest as she picked absently at the nails of her other hand. Her crossed leg bounced and her lips were set in a thin line. Greg sighed a bit and stroked Trina's hair absently, and went for broke.
"Hey, Tina, you got any coffee?"
"Sure, Greg. I'll make some for you," she ground out.
"I'll help, OK?" Greg offered, to which Tina just shrugged. As Greg passed in front of Warrick, the green-eyed CSI muttered, "Sanders, you're my new favorite person."
As Greg and Trina followed Tina into the kitchen, a slightly worse for wear Warrick called out "Yeah, why don't you three ladies adjourn to the kitchen!" He smirked at Greg. Greg turned with narrowed eyes. "Mister Brown, you are aware I have a penis, right?"
Warrick stopped the beer bottle on the way to his mouth just an inch or so from his lips and cut his eyes to Greg, "Yeah I remember a rumor going around work to that effect." He smirked as he swigged his beer. "Maybe you can teach her to cook while you're in there."
From the kitchen Tina yelled "I heard that, Brown." Laughter answered her from the living room. Greg shook his head. That man was going to get it, when he was sober.
Greg pulled out a chair and sat at the table with Trina, watching Tina putter around with the coffee. Once it started brewing, she asked if she could get anything for Trina. Greg shrugged. "Sure, she'd probably love some juice. Jugo?" Greg asked Trina, and she nodded with her thumb in her mouth. Tina raised a questioning eyebrow. Greg smiled. "Hey daycare lady speaks more Spanish than English. When they started asking for stuff in Spanish, I figured I better pick up a little." Tina's expression softened a bit.
"Tina, can I ask you something?"
Tina looked at her hands resting on the table top, her left thumb absently circling her wedding rings around her finger. She shrugged.
"Look, I know we don't know each other real well, but if you need someone to talk to, you can you know. Talk to me, I mean. I can keep it quiet if you want me to."
Tina didn't look up at Greg, but reached out and grasped one of Trina's little hands, examining it, marveling at it almost.
"I'm pregnant," she said softly.
Greg smiled broadly, really happy for his friend and his wife. "That's awesome! Congrats, Tina!"
Tina looked him in the eye and the smile slipped off Greg's face. "I'm sorry. You're not happy about it?"
Tina wrapped her arms around herself, like she'd felt a sudden chill. "I…we've never even talked about it, about having kids. I've never seen him around kids. I'm scared to death he won't want it. And I'm scared to death to have a kid. I don't know anything about raising kids. What if I screw it up?"
Greg realized that if Warrick had known he was going to be a father, everyone at work would have, too. "You haven't told him yet? Oh my god, I know but he doesn't? Oh, honey, you have got to tell him." He wrapped a gentle hand around her wrist. "I'm just so scared of how he's going to take it," she responded glumly.
Greg rose from his chair and handed his little girl to Tina. He poured himself a cup of coffee and leaned his back against the counter as he watched Tina interact with her. She was clearly smitten in moments, though Trina had that effect on most people. "Are you guys doing anything next weekend?" Greg asked.
Tina looked at him and shook her head, "No, I don't think so, why?"
Greg smirked. "We need extra hands on deck for Michael's birthday party. You are so coming. You'll get to see Warrick in action with a bunch of kids." Tina cocked her head and muttered "that's a truly frightening concept," but she agreed. She rose and returned Trina to her Dad, giving them a brief hug. "Thanks, Greg." Greg hugged her back, "Anytime I can be of service. And I've got a secret about Rick. This is too awesome." He grinned evilly and Tina swatted him playfully on the arm. He smiled at her fondly. He turned to head into the living room and stopped in his tracks, Tina crashing into him with a "whuff." He backed up half a step and motioned quietly for Tina to peek into the living room. Warrick sat in his lazy boy with Brandon in his lap, instructing him on the finer points of football. Brandon looked up into his face like he was amazing and took in every word, nodding when his three year old brain deemed it appropriate. Warrick picked up a football off of the end table and helped Brandon wrap his little fingers around it. Tina put a hand to her mouth and looked up at Greg with bright eyes. Greg wrapped his free arm around her and gave her a squeeze. She leaned into him a bit and whispered "You're my new favorite person, too, Greg. Thanks." They smiled conspiratorially. "Tell him at the party next week." Tina nodded. "I'm video taping the whole thing, so if he has a melt down I'll have it for posterity." Tina pinched him in the arm and he laughed. "And we can black mail him with it later!" Tina broke out into the biggest smile Greg was sure she'd ever seen on her face took his hand and led him back into the living room.
Warrick raised an eyebrow at that, but Tina dropped Greg's hand and wrapped her arms around Warrick's neck. She kissed him softly on the cheek and told him in a quiet voice, "nothing to worry about, baby."