Warrick killed the engine and turned to face his mute passenger.
"Are you okay?"
She exhaled, her gaze remaining fixed on her hands folded in her lap.
"No."
He reached over and patted her knee gently.
"Lindsey will get over it." He assured her. "And Sara ... she knows that you would never do anything to hurt her. She's just rattled by all of this."
"I never wanted to see her hurt." She sniffled tearfully. "I never wanted any of this."
Warrick stared at her for a long moment, studying her. It was far from the first time that he had seen her vulnerable side; but for some reason she seemed more despondent than ever before. Far from the picture Grissom and Ecklie had painted of a neglectful supervisor, it was clear that this whole situation had been tortuous for Catherine. Belinda was safely in custody and she was still beating herself up over it.
"What do you want?" He asked at last.
She laughed softly, tipping her head back against the seat.
"Isn't it obvious by now?" She flicked her eyes briefly towards him with a small shrug. "I want her."
x X x
He tapped lightly on the door, peering around the edge into the private room.
"Hey," he smiled bashfully. "Not interrupting am I?"
Greg shuffled further upright and smiled, nodding for him to enter.
"Hey," he croaked sleepily in greeting.
"How're you feeling, buddy?" Nick asked, placing a hand on Greg's shoulder, though his eyes had already latched onto the other party in the room.
Sara, sat on the edge of the bed, had dropped her gaze at the Texan's presence and was avidly fidgeting with her bracelet.
"I'm okay." Greg shrugged. "Head still hurts, but they tell me that'll stop soon."
Nick hummed in agreement, pursing his lips. For a moment, nobody spoke. Finally, he cleared his throat and turned to drag a chair over to the bed, before sinking gracefully into it.
"So," he declared calmly, darting his gaze between the two of them. "What's the deal with all this secret-keeping?"
x X x
If he was surprised by her declaration, he covered it well with only the briefest of twitches.
"Nancy called it." Catherine sniffed. "She tried to warn me that I was getting in too deep, but I couldn't see it."
"So, Nancy knew about this – Belinda and Sara?"
Cath shot him a look, quirking an eyebrow at him.
"Why do you think she was reported to the hospital and not the lab?"
Warrick took a few seconds to think about this, before it struck him.
"Nancy was the one reported her." He realised aloud. "But Sara thinks it was you?"
"Nancy claims that she was trying to protect me, because my own behaviour towards Sara was inappropriate. She thought that by reporting it to the hospital, she could protect my job and any conflict of interest between me and Sara." She sighed sadly. "Best laid plans, hey?"
Warrick smiled at her little joke.
"It'll be okay." He attempted to reassure her, although it sounded weak even to his own ears. She closed her eyes, resting her head against the cool glass of the window.
"You know, I don't even care about the demotion right now." She mused. "I just want to fix things with Sara and Lindsey. And I have no idea where to start with either of them."
Warrick reached over to take her hand and squeezed it gently. She opened her eyes, blinking sadly at him in the hope that he was going to have some magic cure for all her troubles.
"Start with an apology," he nodded towards the house. "And take it from there."
She followed his line of sight towards her home and released a heavy breath.
"Yeah." She agreed quietly. It wasn't magic, but it was probably the best suggestion she was going to get.
Turning to face him, she offered a meek smile and leant into his proffered embrace.
"You got this." He mumbled to her, pressing a light kiss to her cheek.
Pulling back, she wiped at her eyes and nodded assertively.
"Wish me luck."
x X x
"I just ... I don't get it." Nick shook his head with a scowl. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"I was handling it." Sara mumbled. She had moved to the chair on the opposite side of the bed so they were facing each other over Greg, although she still had yet to meet his eye. Greg, for his part, was keeping very quiet.
"You told him though." Nick nodded towards the patient. "And Catherine."
"Catherine found out on her own." She corrected.
"And then what?" The Texan pressed. "She just let it carry on, looked the other way?"
"No." Sara finally lifted her gaze. "She was helping me."
"Sara," Nick sat forward, fixing his friend with the most compassionate look he could muster in his current state of frustration. "Honey, what this woman did to you was wrong. And Catherine should have stopped it."
Despite his best efforts not to elicit a dramatic reaction, he failed, as Sara's head shot up and her eyes narrowed.
"You have no idea what's been going on for the last few months."
"No, because nobody told me!"
"Because that's the way I wanted it." Sara snapped sternly. "And last time I checked, that was still my decision."
"Sara, come on," he tried to placate her, but it was too late. Sara stood up, placing a hand briefly on Greg's shoulder.
"I'll talk to you later." She softened her voice towards the younger man, who nodded sadly at her abrupt departure.
Nick stood up too, but the brunette was already sweeping past him towards the door before he could stop her and he was forced to watch her disappear without a second glance over her shoulder.
As Nick sank morosely back into his seat, Greg sat forward in the bed and cleared his throat.
"I guess it's probably too late to warn you not to go there?"
