43. "We should go check on Sara"

            Nick looked at his watch. "Wow, shift's over and Grissom still hasn't shown up." He elbowed Warrick in the ribs. "Guess he wasn't just running late and meant to come in, huh?" He grinned when Warrick scowled, sensing the impending loss of his money.

            Nick's smile faded after a moment. "You know, I'm worried about Sara. She never gets sick, and even when she is she usually drags herself into work. Maybe someone should go check on her."

            Catherine's head shot up. "No! I mean, uh, no need. She didn't sound that bad on the phone. Maybe she just decided to go easy on herself for once. I don't think anyone needs to go see her." Disaster was looming, and damned if it wasn't up to her to fix things yet again.

            Warrick shook his head. "No, I think Nick's right. It's not like Sara to even admit that she's sick. She must be feeling like death to have called out of work." He poked Nick in the arm. "How 'bout we stop and get some soup or something. We'll check on her and, if she's been throwing up that much, we'll probably have to force-feed her the soup." Nick nodded and Warrick turned to Catherine. "You in, Cath?"

            Catherine was stuck. If she protested too vehemently, the guys were sure to suspect that she, and thus Sara, was hiding something. But if she let them go, god only knew what they were going to walk in on with Grissom still in Sara's apartment. She had only one choice, it seemed. "Yeah, ok." Maybe she could at least slow them down and get a warning to Grissom. "Let's just, um, call ahead and let her know we're coming. She might be asleep or something."

            Nick frowned. "No, I doubt she's asleep. And if we tell her we're coming she'll just put on a happy face and tell us she's fine and to not bother. Which defeats the purpose of going to check on her to begin with."

            She bit her lip. This was not good, the guys had her trapped. She could only hope that both of their resident geeks would be fully clothed when a car-full of CSIs pulled up at Sara's door. Or maybe, if she got lucky, Grissom or Sara would see them coming and hide him. Trying to speak lightly, she shrugged. "Ok, then. Let's head out. Do you know a place that has good chicken soup, War?"

            Warrick nodded. "Yeah, you two just follow me in your cars. We'll have Sara on her feet in no time."

            "No doubt," Catherine muttered as she climbed into her car.

Sara's apartment

            Grissom jumped and almost dropped his sandwich when there was a knock on Sara's door. Laughing, she threw her napkin at him. "If you're going to keep dropping your food like that, you'll need another napkin. And calm down, it's probably Mrs. Williams from across the hall – she knows my car shouldn't be here during the night."

            She stood up and moved to the door, shouting as she walked, "It's ok, Mrs. Williams. I've just got a little bit of the," she swung the door open, ". . . flu." Quickly, she pushed the door partway shut again and, behind her back, began motioning urgently to Grissom. "Oh, hi NICK. And WARRICK. And CATHERINE." She heard his chair topple over as he jumped out of it and headed for the bedroom.

            Nick eyed her curiously. "We, uh, brought you some soup. Can we come in?" Sara looked really jumpy – he was glad they'd decided to come by.

            Shooting a glance over her shoulder, she assured herself that Grissom was hidden. "Yeah, sure." She ushered the trio in. "Soup, huh? Well I can heat it in the . . ." She couldn't take them in the kitchen, she realized - there were two obviously used plates set across from each other on her table! "Oh, uh, my microwave is broken. Can't reheat anything."

            Warrick frowned. "Well it's probably still warm. You know Sara, you really don't look too good. You're paler than usual." He glanced over his shoulder when he heard Catherine make a choking sound, then turned back to Sara. "So why don't we get you a bowl and set you up in the kitchen."

            She tried again. "Oh, I, uh . . . I'm not really hungry right now, come to think of it. My stomach is still twisting and turning." Turning, she tried to lead them toward the living room.

            Nick grabbed her arm gently and said in his stern older-brother voice, "No can do, Sar. We figured you probably wouldn't be feeling too human if you'd been puking all day, and we came prepared to force-feed you the soup. So let's just sit you down, ok?"

            Sara's eyes fluttered shut for a moment as her friends propelled her toward the kitchen. She was screwed. Warrick entered the room in the lead and stopped short, causing the other three to pile into him.

            As they sorted themselves out, Warrick turned to Sara. "Got a guest we should know about?" She could almost see the wheels turning in his head.

            "Oh yeah, uh, my neighbor was over for lunch before."

            "And you didn't clean up after yourselves? Not like you, Sara," Nick pointed out.

            "I'm sick, ok? I'm allowed to act in ways I normally wouldn't. Is that okay with you?" He was taken aback by her tone and looked at his companions for backup. They weren't any help. Catherine was leaning against the wall with her head in her hands and Warrick was settled against the doorjamb with that "I know something you don't know" smirk on his face.

            Nick frowned. "Someone want to tell me what's going on here?" Catherine shook her head. Warrick just smiled wider. Sara fought the urge to hide under the table.

Nick wasn't stupid. Though his brain had been focused on Sara's being sick and he hadn't caught the clues as fast as Warrick, once his attention was drawn by the looks on their faces, he put the pieces together quickly. "Boyfriend, Sara? You got Hank stashed in your bedroom?"

            That was the wrong thing to say, apparently. Catherine issued another choking sound, and Sara's eyes shot daggers at him. "No, Nick, I do NOT have Hank in my bedroom. Nor do I have him anywhere else. For the last damn time, Hank is not now, nor has be ever BEEN my boyfriend!"

            He gulped. Oops. "Oh. Sorry. So why do you, uh, have two pl-" He stopped short as the realization hit him. "Oh my god, Sara, I'm an asshole." Sara nodded agreeably, but he could sense the verbal beating he was going to take when she got him alone. "We'll just, uh, leave you your soup. There's probably enough for you and Gri- ow!"

Warrick had his arm in an iron grip. "Let's go, bro. I'm sure Sara wants to go back to sleep . . . or something." He jerked his head meaningfully toward the bedroom door and Nick groaned.

Sara was coldly furious. "Yeah. I think you should leave. And stay gone." She shook her head angrily. "You have no idea how much I want to hit you right now, Nick. Just get out." She pointed a shaking arm toward the door.

Catherine sighed heavily as she passed Sara. "I tried to convince them not to come, Sara, I swear. I'm sorry about this."

Grirssom's voice issued from behind her as he slipped out of the bedroom. "It's alright, Cath. They would have found out eventually." He regarded the younger men calmly. "I expect you two to handle this maturely. There will be no gossip about this scene. In fact, there will be no gossip at all." Nick and Warrick nodded, looking abashed. The three left much more subdued than they had come.