Part Seven - Endearments

(Recipe for Murder)

Sara shone her flashlight around the closet, ostensibly looking for some form of evidence of foul play, in reality searching for an escape hatch of some kind. Absent the ground actually opening up and swallowing her - and what, she wondered, were the chances of a convenient earthquake in Las Vegas in the next few minutes? - it seemed as good a way as any of getting out of here.

She was only dimly aware of the sounds of the three men talking in the bedroom, standing around the body of Linda Damen, so preoccupied was she with her slip of the tongue. How, she wondered, had she let her guard down long enough to call Hank "baby" while on duty, and in front of others no less? It had surprised him as much as it had surprised her; she'd seen that much in his eyes, and from the corner of hers, she hadn't missed Detective Sulik's hard double take either. Warrick hadn't looked up from the blood-soaked covers, but she wasn't fooled by that, for she'd seen the corners of his mouth twitching, and knew that the absence of any teasing looks then only meant that he was saving them for later on, when they were alone and he could get away with saying anything. Most probably, he'd start with the fact that she'd called Hank baby at all, considering that she'd spent the last few months denying that Hank was her boyfriend, before moving on to the fact that she, for once, had brought her personal life into the office. If she was lucky, he'd start when the two of them were alone, but more likely, he'd wait until back at the lab, probably around Nick and Greg, and then it would be a case of the cat being let well and truly out of the bag.

She was chiding herself for what she'd said and when she said it when another thought occurred to her. This wasn't the first time that she'd called Hank baby. It had been said on odd occasions before this, at her place or his, in the heat of passion. She just wasn't sure that she'd ever used it so casually in conversation before, and not just with Hank, but with anyone. She'd spent the last few months telling people that she and Hank weren't dating, trying to tell herself that they weren't serious, that it was nothing heavy, even after her "I'm over Grissom" revelation in December.

But if it was all those things, then she wouldn't have called him baby in front of everyone.

If she ever got enough courage to step foot outside this closet again, she might be able to find the courage to tell him that, to do something about it.

Her inspection, and her brief introspection, was interrupted by Hank appearing at the closet door. He was smiling, and she felt herself blushing anew under his gaze, but he didn't look offended, and he didn't look upset. He did look happy however. "I'm going to hit the road," he told her, and she was about to say something, anything to him, when she caught the look in his eyes, and just about had herself prepared for his post script. "Baby." The word was said with a teasing grin, and she knew that he was thinking, the same thing she was. That she'd never called him that in that way before, and that it must be a good thing.

A good thing except for the timing she reminded herself, so she grinned self-consciously, saying "I'm sorry." Because she knew that this was going to go the rounds, she knew that they were both going to catch hell for that, and she knew it was all her fault.

But as he smiled at her, as she looked into his eyes, she was surprised to discover that she really didn't mind all that much.

***

After Hank left, Sara went about her work the same way that she always did, managing to put her mortification out of her mind for the time being. She was lucky in that she was working with Warrick, who made it easy on her, not saying anything as they processed the scene. He was all business, acting as if nothing had happened, and for that, Sara was grateful. She knew that if she'd slipped like that around Nick that he'd be plaguing her for details, and if it had happened around Catherine, she'd be doing the same. Had it happened around Grissom, she was pretty sure that she just would have passed away peacefully on the spot, and given Doc Robbins a really interesting autopsy to review for the medical journals - the first person to ever literally die of embarrassment.

They took the stained shirt that she found in the closet with them back to the lab, along with the bloody footprints, the razor blades, sheets and other assorted evidence that they thought might be useful, and Sara had almost forgotten to be on her guard when Warrick finally spoke. "So…" he said, and the way that he drew the word out instantly put her on notice. "You got something you want to tell me?"

Sara shook her head slightly, affecting amnesia. "No," she said, but the heat on her cheeks would have told him otherwise, and he hooted with laughter.

"Baby?" was all he said, and she tried to parry again.

"Yes sugar?"

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Just friends huh?" His voice was full of scepticism. "Uh-huh." When she didn't say anything, he continued. "You and I are just friends…Nick…Greg…Archie… you call any of them baby?"

Sara closed her eyes, tilting her head back against the seat, rubbing her hand across her forehead. "You're enjoying this," she accused him, and he chuckled again.

"No doubt." But he paused then, and when he spoke again, his voice was serious. "How long?"

"The last time I told you something like this, the entire lab knew I had a date within hours," she reminded him, her unspoken question obvious, and he just gave her a look.

"But this time I still remember the bruises," he said, and she laughed, because she hadn't punched him that hard. "How long?"

She shrugged, blowing out a deep breath. "Couple months," she told him honestly. "I mean, we started seeing one another casually in the summer-" She left out the bit about Hank seeing them in the hospital when they were waiting for news of Nick, because she knew that he still felt guilty about being outside when his friend and partner had needed him, the ghost of Holly Gribbs rearing its head. "-But it only got more serious after the Tom Haviland case."

Except that she was lying to him. Because that hadn't been when it had got more serious. Then, she'd still been more than a little hung up on Grissom. She hadn't truly made the choice to move on with her life, to forget about him altogether until the next week, when he'd called her in on her day off, given her attitude because she couldn't get to him on a moment's notice, had moved her away from the main case to a smaller solo with Cyrus Lockwood. It had been after that, when she'd talked to him in his office that she'd walked away from him, and literally run into Hank, going to breakfast with him instead of heading home alone and brooding.

That had been when everything had changed between them and she knew it, but there was no sense in telling Warrick that. As it was, he now knew significantly more than anyone else in the lab, because she'd made a conscious choice not to let anyone know about her personal life. From what Marjorie Wescott had said to her on the stand she knew that there must have been some talk going around about her and Grissom, and after the thinly veiled accusations that had masked as her cross-examination, Sara wouldn't have put it past some lab gossipmonger having two and two make ten, putting it around that she was only dating Hank to make Grissom jealous. It had seemed a safe thing to do, to keep things quiet until she knew for sure what was going on between them, and she'd worried about broaching it to Hank, worried about how he'd take it, but in fact, he'd told her that if she wanted not to tell people, that was fine with him, that he'd follow her lead. Hence his surprise at the crime scene tonight, because her calling him baby there would have been the last thing on his mind.

Warrick gave a low whistle as he worked out exactly how long ago she was talking about, and his voice was impressed when he glanced at her. "You hid it that long?"

She shrugged. "I didn't want everyone knowing, everyone talking about it…"

"Like they weren't doing that anyway," Warrick snickered, and she had to give him that.

"OK, point taken." She sighed, wondering how she could make him understand. "It just seemed easier that way."

"I can see that," Warrick murmured, slowing down to take a right turn, not speaking again until he'd completed the manoeuvre. "And if you want me to keep quiet about you seeing Hank, you got it."

His unexpected offer had her head whipping around, peering at him in suspicion. "Seriously?"

A slow nod, staring straight ahead. "Yup."

He might have only said one word, but his face spoke volumes. "You're still going to spread the baby thing around though, aren't you?" She was nodding as she spoke, not the slightest hint of a question in her voice, because it was as close to a sure thing as she'd ever come across, and she wasn't surprised in the least when he smiled.

"You bet. I mean…pet names? That's too good." She rolled her eyes as she looked out the window, waving a hand dismissively. Undeterred, he continued. "Just tell me one thing… what does he call you? Sweetheart? Darling? Sugar pie?"

Closing her eyes, she just laughed.