Title: Forever
Author: Joyce
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. Trust me, we'd still have Warrick if I did.
Note: Sara and Warrick finally talked to me again. It had been a while since life and the show got in the way. I'm gonna forget all about the first episode of season nine and how it killed me to watch that ep. Warrick is a fictional character but when I write him he feels very real to me so seeing 'For Warrick' was sad. Very sad.
Enough about that.....this short fic is not about sadness. It's about two lovely characters who I love to write. Even if I take very long breaks in between my writing. ;) This takes place halfway season five. Everyone is alive and kicking and there is no GSR or Tina to speak off. Oh, the good old days....Enjoy!
Forever
She was five when she got her first doll. Sara was never a girly girl and she preferred playing with cars. Taking them apart en finding it very interesting to figure out how she would fix them again. Sara wanted to know everything, she wanted to fix everything. Dolls where not a part of her little world. So she had tossed her gift away, picking it up afterwards...secretly enjoying her gift somewhat. She had played with it from time to time after that, always when she thought that no one was looking. She dressed her doll in white old curtains and imagined how her future wedding would be. Later she was told that all little girls did that and she would snort and say: "Not me, I never believed in true love. Forever is just not an option for me." The doll dressed in the white curtain was hidden in her mind, only popping up from time to time so she could smile about her silly childish dreams...
Little Warrick never thought about weddings. He too was crazy about cars but he was supposed to as a tough boy growing up in a fast city like Las Vegas. Dolls never entered his mind and thoughts of weddings only popped up after his first girlfriend had dreamed about their future together. She saw them get married and have lots and lots of children. Warrick was sixteen and ran. Children and weddings were not for him. After that running became the norm whenever a woman demanded anything that was considered a commitment. Forever was just not an option in a city where everything seemed to change by the minute...
"Rick!" she called and she hurried to catch up with him since he was already leaving the building. Warrick winced in the uncomfortable heat that clung to Vegas on a summer day. Even at dawn, after a long shift, it was unpleasantly hot. He turned and saw Sara speeding towards him, files in her hand and he shook his head.
"No! I'm sure you found some paperwork we need to fill out but I'm tired and sweaty and I want to shower and sleep." She wanted to speak and he knew that she could break him so he added a last defense. "Please, Sara."
She waggled her eyebrows, carefully taking in her surroundings before she decided it was safe. "Usually you only beg in the bedroom," she teased. "Sleep must really be important."
Her comment got a grin out of him and some of the tiredness in his eyes vanished to be replaced by a playful sparkle and something else that no one saw inside the lab. Love for her, trust in her. "You have had your pleading moments too, Sidle."
She just nodded, letting the comment slide and had to hide her smile when she saw the proud look on his face. "I can't persuade you for two hours of lovely paperwork, huh?"
"Nope," Warrick hastily replied, "but leave me half of what we have to do and I'll do it first thing tonight."
Sara rolled her eyes and he moved closer, lingering just above her but not touching her. It was to dangerous out here. "I promise," he whispered. "Yeah, yeah," she mumbled, enjoying him near her even if he was sweaty.
"See you in a little while?" he asked her and she nodded before she headed back inside. "See ye," Sara yelled back and Greg, who walked by, didn't think twice about Sara waving her partner goodbye. They all had no idea how important they had become to each other.
Several hours later Sara slid into bed and felt him stir. Two green eyes looked at her with a mixture of amusement and irritation. "You did all the paperwork, didn't you?" She tried to deny it but one look at the clock told Warrick the truth and she gave him a bright smile and shrugged. "I saved you some work?" she tried. He pulled her towards him, tickling without mercy because he knew she both loved and disliked that. "You are terrible," he finally decided. "Next time you'll leave the paperwork for me." She yawned and settled next to him, one arm on his chest and snuggled close. "Deal," she said and Warrick watched her while she drifted off to sleep.
She woke up some time later to find him in the same spot, still looking at her. "Hi," she greeted him, moving up to kiss him and he startled both of them with his next words. "Marry me..."
"What??" she screamed and he looked just as afraid. "That just popped out," he defended himself sheepishly. "I...I...that just popped out," he mumbled again. Both were silent for a while. "Can you see us getting married?" Sara then asked him. "Yeah," he said, his hesitation suddenly gone when he realised that with her commitment was easy. "I can. I can really see it."
Images of a doll dressed in a white old curtain flashed before her eyes. She never pictured a man next to her in her play sessions, little as she was. As she got older she almost never did either, thoughts of marriage had long left her. Sometimes she pictured her and Grissom getting married but that had made her laugh too, even when she was head over heels in love with him. The image never fitted.
She and Warrick... Even after two years together marriage had never entered her mind. But she saw the dress now, imagined a life where he would love her every day for everyone to see it. Forever.
"Am I crazy if I see it too?" she asked him and his smile erased her last doubts. "So, we're doing this? We're getting married?" Warrick wanted to clarify and she pulled him near her as she nodded. "It's you and me, Brown."
"Forever," he whispered against her skin and from that moment on Sara Sidle believed in true love.