Wishing & Understanding

A/N: Very repetitive (annoying?) and short piece of fluff. Done after a made up case… done off the top of my head. It's in that weirdyfied style again… so hopefully it's not complete BS lol. It also doesn't have much of a story probably… I dunno I tend to always think my ones suck so it's up to you to decide I guess.

Disclaimer: Don't own any of it (unfortunately… owning Warrick could be fun!)

-

Catherine Willows sat alone in the lab, a cup of coffee that was once hot in one hand, her head resting on the other. Conversations from an hour or so before ran through her head, constantly playing through and then rewinding to the beginning all over again. She forgot. How could she forget? This had to be at least the third of Lindsey's school plays that she'd ruined, was it any wonder her daughter hated her? Was it any wonder she'd told her to go away? Catherine shouldn't have listened – the lab was the last place she needed to be right now.

Warrick Brown stood by the door, hands in his pockets, face practically blank. This wasn't the first time he'd seen her get worked up over letting Lindsey down, and he wished it would be the last. Words ran through his mind but he couldn't paste them together well enough to actually say anything. What the hell was he supposed to say? "I'm sorry" was hardly enough, was it? Would she actually listen to him anyway? Warrick wished he understood – she was the only person who'd ever made him wish of that.

Broken promises, broken memories, a broken home – was that all she'd ever given Lindsey? Cath hoped not. But she wished she could just understand what was going on in her head, hell she wished she could understand what was going on in her own head let alone her daughter's! What did that say about her? She could get into the head of most murderers but not the one person who was closest to her, the one person she loved most of all in the world.

He sat down, wrapping his arms around her. A simple movement was enough to let her know she wasn't alone, and never would be. He wished it was enough to make everything go away, but that was something even he couldn't do, and they both knew it. She wished she could stay there forever, but knew it wasn't going to happen. Tears spilled from eyes that had been stopping them for so long. She couldn't help but feel safe, and he couldn't help but be there.

Catherine looked up from his shoulder, mascara smeared down her cheeks. It had been one of those days, starting with a heart breaking case, ending with a heart breaking argument. A little girl had been brutally murdered by her parents because they believed she was possessed by the devil. Things like that, Cath would never understand. She'd just been so glad to get home to Lindsey, she hadn't even thought about the play. It was scribbled in on the calendar, but she really hadn't been in the house long enough to read it hanging by the fridge.

Warrick looked into her eyes, an understanding glance in his own. It had been one of those days, he knew. He wished he could fix it. Lindsey had screamed at her mom, saying she'd rather stay with her grandmother the rest of her life and never see her again. Things like that, Warrick would never understand. He'd just been glad to have someone when he was that age, he didn't care who it was, just someone.

"I don't know what to say," He murmured, finally speaking for the first time since Catherine had returned.

"Don't say anything then,"

THE END