Strange Bedfellows

CHAPTER ONE

Warrick POV

When I was gambling…I used to bet on everything. Sports book, poker, blackjack, roulette, I even remember once betting Nicky on which rain drop would roll down the windshield first. I took crazy risks, made crazy bets. But never in a million years would I have placed any green on me ending up in bed with Sara Sidle. After all... the woman recommended that I be fired…twice. Not the way two people would begin a passionate relationship. But eventually we got over all of that and became friends. And I had to give her dap for the girl's work ethic, and her smarts.

I never would have considered Sara the type I would be attracted to. Catherine, yes. Mia, definitely. Its not that I don't find Sara attractive. She is pretty like one of those fancy porcelain dolls you see Marie Osmond hawking on QVC. Don't look at me like that. I watch QVC when I'm with Grams. I just like my women…a little more padded.

However, I am no saint, so occasionally I might have wondered in passing if those legs, did indeed go on forever, or if she was as focused in bed as she was at a crime scene. But it ended there. Besides, she has that whole crazy thing going with Grissom. So Nicky and I became her friends, and she became like the little sister neither of us ever had. Were we a bit 'protective' of Sara? Sure, when we could get away with it. Although, I know that she would personally separate each of us from our balls, if she ever found out about the little 'talk' Nick and I had with Hank after Catherine told us how that fiasco went down.

As a gambler I would place odds on Sara and the others on our team; Grissom 2-1, Nick 4-1, Greg 6-1. Hell I would have placed money on her ending up in bed with Catherine before me. Never me…

But despite all of that, here I am with twilight settling in over Vegas, the last of the sunset streaming through my windows, and a naked Sara Sidle lying next to me in bed…hogging all of the covers.

I bet you're wondering how this happened. I take no offense; any person would wonder the same thing. I'll tell you about it. After the whole thing with Nicky, we all ended up at the hospital. Once we saw Nick cleaned up and realized that he was definitely going to live, all we could do was stand around and hold each other. Finally Catherine and Grissom took charge and sent all of us home. Since I rode to the ambulance, Sara offered Greg and me a ride back to the lab. I had rode in with Nick, yesterday, although that seemed to be about a million years ago, so Sara offered me a ride home.

When she finally got me back to my house, we just sat in the Denali, lost in our own thoughts of the previous night. Finally, I remembered my manners and invited her in for breakfast. We made scrambled eggs with veggies and small talk, while we ate, and I remembered how much I missed hanging out with her. After breakfast we sat on my couch and began to talk about the events of the previous night. While acknowledging how neither of us would have lasted as long as Nick, we both started to tear up. Clinging to each other we cried, big wet sobs, until we were cried out and had dampened the shoulders on each other's shirts. Finally Sara pulled away to look at me. I went to brush her hair off of her face, and not even thinking, I leaned over and kissed her. I was slightly surprised when she returned the kiss. After several moments of exploring each other's mouths we pulled away, and I braced myself for the slap I knew I deserved. Sara was my friend, and it was wrong of me to treat her like that.

Sara just stared at me. Finally she reached her hand to my face, and instead of slapping me, gently ran her hand over my cheeks and chin, stopping when her hand was cupped around the back of my neck. She pulled me to her and kissed me again, with passion and an almost blinding intensity. I pulled her up and suggested that maybe we should stop what we were doing before it got out of hand. Her response was to kiss me again, and this time, I decided not to try and stop anything. A girl like Sara is too special to screw on the couch for a first time, so I led her into my bedroom. I crossed over the threshold of the door and she stood on the other side, looking pensive. Then she crossed over and began tugging my shirt off. The rest of my clothes, and all of hers followed, as we fell onto to the bed, kissing and stroking each other. Sooner than I imagined, I put on a condom and entered Sara. I looked into her eyes and we kissed hungrily, as our bodies made contact over and over again.

The sex between us was good. It was comforting, and was probably more healing that a month with a therapist. And I was pleased in every way to learn that Sara applies the same laser like focus to lovemaking as she does to anything else. But just as suddenly it was over as I shuddered my climax into her, gratified as I felt a small release from her as well.

Afterwards, we lay quiet for a moment, and then the enormity of what we had done began to wash over us. Sara looked like she wanted to bolt. I took her by the hand and smiled.

"Sara, was it that bad?" Sara blushed (you don't see a lot of women blush anymore, its pretty cute). Knowing that I had her attention…I smiled at her. "Look Sara, this was unexpected, but it doesn't have to be awkward. Why don't we go to sleep and we can talk about this later."

Sara looked at me with uncertainty. "Sara, this will only be awkward if you run away. We have both been through a lot, so let's sleep on things before we get over analytical. Ok?"

Sara nodded, and rolled over. I traced circles on the small of her back with my hand and watched her fall into a deep sleep. I enjoyed watching her sleep as it was so rare to see an unguarded Sara Sidle. Shortly afterwards, I fell asleep too, and would not be at all surprised to find myself cuddled up next to Sara in my sleep.