Wedding, birthdays…
By Ria
A.N. Sorry if you get bored with this part, there's not a lot of action, just a bit of needed plot filler to get it out of the way. More action coming up, promise.
The layout room was bright with artificially light. Outside it would be dark, as it was four in the morning, but without windows in the room, it was almost possible to think it was day.
Sara was leaning with both hands against the bright, under-lit table, her posture tense. She didn't like puzzles, she didn't like not having answers. And this was causing her a headache.
Across from her, Warrick stood, in an identical pose, although the king of cool wasn't as tense. He liked puzzles, getting to figure out evidence. He looked up as Sara sighed, loudly.
'This is crazy.' She said aloud, her eyes darting from photo to photo spread out across the table.
Warrick watched her, fighting the laugh as best he could. But he had to agree with her, the case was crazy.
'Guy dies from a gunshot to the head. Before or after being in a car crash. Of which the car contains no evidence of anyone else being there, with the exception of a few dog hairs.'
'The vic didn't own a dog.' Warrick pointed out, trying to be helpful.
The look Sara shot him told him he was being anything but.
The case had been open for five days. In that time, they'd both worked other cases, but with a momentary lull in cases, they were back in the lab, trying to puzzle out this case.
'How did the gun end up being stuck in a bush?' Sara asked, picking up one photo they'd taken at the scene of the gun, concealed in the bushes, studying it briefly as if it held all the answers before carefully placing it back down.
'It came from the car.' Warrick said.
'Did someone chuck it?'
'That would be my thinking, except, the automatic locks were still on, and can only be turned on and off from inside the vehicle.'
'So the shooter…climbed out of the window?' Sara said doubtfully.
'There weren't any scuff marks or anything. And if the car's just gone hurtling off the road into a ditch because of a failed braking system, you'd think there'd be at least a little extra blood in the car.'
'All blood was the vics.' Sara murmured, although she knew Warrick knew this.
'The only evidence we've got of someone else being there is the dog hair.' Warrick said. 'Do we know what kind of dog?'
'Mongrel.' Sara said.
'What about witness statements from the shooting gallery?' Warrick asked. 'Anyone see the vic getting in the car with someone?'
'I haven't seen them- Brass was meant to be sending us a copy.'
'I'll page him.' Warrick said, reaching for the phone.
'You guys still in here?' Asked a familiar voice from the doorway.
'Hey Cath.' Sara greeted the older CSI. 'How's your case going?'
'Closed, guy copped to it. Didn't like the interrogation suite.' Catherine said with a smile. 'Is this that gunshot during a car accident case?'
'Yeah.' Warrick said. 'It's a bit of a mystery.'
'Guy shot in the head sometime whilst crashing his car. Sounds it.'
'We've got brake failure, dog hairs, and no evidence of another human being there.' Warrick explained.
'Was he shot before or after the car crash?' Catherine asked, stepping forward and taking in the photos spread out across the layout room.
'Probably before, blood spatters weird.' Sara said.
Catherine picked up one of the photos. 'Is that the murder weapon?' She asked, studying the gun in the bush.
Both Sara and Warrick smiled at her tone. 'Yeah.' Sara said.
'How did you find it? I would never have thought of looking there.'
'It was Sara's idea- the windows were open on the car, she thought it could have been dislodged by the accident.' Warrick said, noticing a slight blush creep up Sara's cheeks. He thought she was embarrassed at the praise, but really Sara was remembering the phone call. What happened afterwards didn't help, either.
'Cool.' Catherine commented. Her pager went off. She glanced at it before looking back up at them. 'Well, Grissom wants me, so I'll see you later, come find me if you want a hand.'
'Thanks Cath.' Sara said.
Warrick's pager went off as well. 'Brass- he's on his way over anyway, so he'll drop it off.' He told Sara. He went back to the table, but didn't bother to look at the photos again, instead he looked over at Sara. 'So, you told your mother yet?'
Sara looked up at him, already smiling at the memory. 'Oh yeah, I phoned her last night to make sure she had room.'
'I can stay in a hotel.' Warrick immediately dismissed.
'My mom wouldn't let you.' Sara said with a knowing smile. 'Plus, they own a B&B- would kind of be pointless for you to stay elsewhere.'
'There's room?'
'Yeah, they're using it for relatives, loads of space.' Sara said. 'My mom was almost speechless when I told her I was bringing someone. Which is a first.' What Sara didn't think it important to mention at the moment, as she thought back over that phonecall, was that her mom had promptly jumped to the conclusion that Warrick was a real date. As in someone she was actually seeing, and had apparently been too shy to mention before. That possibly wasn't the worst bit though. Cause, while her mom might have an excuse for jumping to excuses, Sara hadn't exactly been forthcoming in correcting her. And then the moment had passed. And somehow, her mom still thought Warrick was her date, date.
'You'll have to give me your flight details, so I can phone the airlines.' Warrick's voice came through her thoughts, and it took a moment to register.
'Oh…um, I already done it.' Sara said. Warrick stood with his arms crossed, one eyebrow up questioningly, only increasing the blush on her cheeks that had started creeping up. 'I was just trying to be helpful- I had to phone anyway to confirm my seat, so I asked if they had anymore space, and-'
Warrick started chuckling. 'It's ok, Sare, I was kidding. Did they have space?'
'Yeah. I've got the number for you, remind me at end of shift.' Sara told him. She was studying him now, wondering if she should perhaps warn him of what her mom had assumed. But then she'd have to tell him that she hadn't exactly corrected her, and she couldn't think of a valid excuse for that. Warrick raised an eyebrow at her, and she realised she'd probably been staring, and should probably say something. 'are you sure you want to come? I really don't mind if you change your mind.' She asked, not for the first time.
'Are you kidding? I'm looking forward to the break.' Warrick said, doing his best to offer a soothing smile. He didn't know what Sara's problem was, why she felt that he would back out on her, but he really was looking forward to it. Get a break by the sea, meet Sara's folks, hopefully get a load of embarrassing stories on Sara he could use as material to blackmail her.
He looked over the evidence again, as a thought occurred to him. Was Sara so against him coming because she didn't actually want him there? 'Do you want me to come?' He blurted out.
Sara looked up at him startled. 'Why would you think that?'
'Cause you keep asking if I wanna come.'
'Of course I want you to come.' She said quickly, realising too late it was probably a little too quickly. 'I mean…I just don't want you coming cause you feel sorry for me or something.' She said to try and cover up her enthusiasm.
'I'm not.' Warrick assured her. 'I haven't had a break in a while, and it sounded like a laugh, plus, I get to meet your family and hear all your embarrassing stories.'
Sara looked down, but Warrick could see the smile on her face. 'But there'll be no embarrassing stories. My mom's under a gag order.' Yeah, hopefully she wouldn't ask Warrick when he was planning to propose. Sara almost groaned at that thought. That was exactly the kind of thing her mom was likely to ask. She almost missed Warrick's next comment.
'There's always the photographic evidence.'
'I'm locking that up as soon as we get there.' Sara told him with a grin.
'Oh, I'll find them, Sidle. Believe me.' Warrick started gathering the photos back up, and they started putting the evidence back in the box it was stored in. 'So have you brought your outfit yet?' He asked as Sara filled out the chain of evidence slips.
Sara shot him a suspicious look. 'What do you care?'
'I want to know if I've still got time to convince you to wear a skirt.'
'You sound like my mother.' Sara complained before she could stop herself.
'I think I'm gonna get on very well with your mother.' Warrick commented. 'Ah, there's Brass, lets get those statements.'
