Drunken Innocence (part four)
A.N. well, here it is. Part four. Can you tell what it is yet?
He caught up with her at the front door, where she was stopped. 'Um, I forgot.' She told him, turning to face him.
'Forgot what?' He asked.
'I have no keys. I can't actually get into the house.' She explained, turning back to study the door as if she could will it open.
'Oh. Oh.' He said, understanding. 'Oh well, has your neighbour got a spare?'
'no.' She said shortly, turning back to him. 'Turn around.'
'Sorry?'
'Turn around.'
'Well you never asked that when you were stripping yesterday.' Warrick joked.
She gave him a look, but didn't comment. She had no memory of any of it, what was she meant to say? 'Just turn around.'
'I don't know why you're suddenly shy, Sara.' Warrick said conversationally as he obediently turned around studying the street beyond. There was only silence behind him, and as he was just wondering what on earth she was doing, there was a soft click, and as he turned around, the door swung open. 'How? Uh? How? Where on earth did you learn to do that?' He finally got out.
All Sara did was stoop, and pick up a set of keys on the doormat. 'Found them!' She said triumphantly.
Warrick shook his head at the absurdity of all of it. Then got back to the real question. 'Come on, Sidle, I want answers. Where did you learn to pick a lock?'
'It's a useful skill to have.' Sara said mysteriously. 'Drink?'
'Water please.' Warrick answered. 'Where did you get that skill?'
'I taught it to myself. It came in very useful as a child.' She trailed off, and Warrick saw something change in her expression that he couldn't identify before she turned round and walked off into the direction of the kitchen. 'Make yourself comfortable.' She called over her shoulder.
He wandered into the living area, and realised that whatever he thought Sara would live like, it wouldn't have been like this. It wasn't messy, but it wasn't obsessively neat, either. It looked…lived in. Papers were piled on the floor by the sofa, books were scattered around, a large bookcase holding the majority of them. Photos of family members and friends were scattered around on all available surfaces. This was the Sara no one at the lab knew about, knew even existed, really. The Sara she didn't let out very often. At work she was all about the case, working unbelievable hours, desperate for results. Warrick had had more of an insight into her character in the last few days than he had had in almost three years at the lab. He would never have guessed that she was a football fan, but she had momentos of various games she had been to see. She had a large, and surprisingly varied CD collection, and a state of the art sound system. There was work stuff, of course, but it was mixed in with other elements of her life.
She actually had a life, Warrick realised with somewhat of a jolt. Then felt bad because if he hadn't been here, he wouldn't have believed it.
'You can sit down you know.' Sara said from behind him.
He turned to her, feeling a slight brush at having been caught snooping.
'You're surprised.' She stated, setting a glass of water and one of OJ on the glass and steel coffee table.
'yeah.' Warrick admitted.
'About the state of it? It's usually a little tidier. Not much, but a little.'
'I thought it would be neat.' Warrick admitted. 'I've never seen you as unorganised.'
'I'm not, really.'
'You didn't know where your car was.' Warrick pointed out.
'I don't normally go out and get wasted. I was having a bad night.' She said, for a moment her eyes straying to the bandage still on her hand. She shook herself, reaching forward for the glass of OJ.
Warrick nodded towards the football game flags and pictures. 'Never pictured you as a football fan, either.'
'Lived near San Francisco. Hard not to be.'
'You play?'
'Badly. My last place of work, we used to do an annual game of touch football, cops versus the lab. We lost every year, but it was a laugh.' She told him.
Warrick nodded to some pictures on top of the bookcase. 'That your old crew?' He asked. They were a few group shots set in a lab.
Sara glanced over at it. 'Yep.'
'So why did you leave so abruptly? Didn't they have something to say about it?' Warrick wondered.
Sara shrugged. 'Because Grissom asked me to.' She said simply.
'You really like him, don't you?' Warrick asked quietly. The acute disappointment he felt as he asked this question shocked him slightly.
He was surprised at the shake of the head, the small smile. 'I used to.' She corrected.
'What changed?'
'I stopped looking to him for approval in everything. I…got a life. Or tried to.'
'It didn't go so well?'
'Well, I was Hank's other girl. Which I wasn't exactly aware of.'
'The paramedic guy? He was cheating on you?'
'Yeah. Remember the woman that drove into that coffee shop that he was in?' Warrick nodded. 'Hank was there with his girlfriend. I went round to interview her, and she had all these pictures of the two of them together.'
'Harsh.'
'Yeah.' Sara agreed. For a moment she was silent, thinking, then seemed to shrug it away. 'It didn't do a lot for my so called life.' She said rather mirthlessly.
They were silent for a moment. 'Do you remember anything about the other night?' Warrick finally asked, thinking he knew the answer already.
'No. I'm quite a forgetful drunk.' Sara said with a smile.
'You asked me if I like you.' Warrick told her.
'I did?'
'Yeah. You didn't think I did because of our…history.'
'Oh. I get a little too talkative when I'm wasted.'
'Or you were just voicing your real fears.' Warrick corrected. 'I know we didn't get the best start, but I thought we were getting on all right.'
'We still disagree.'
'We're meant to.'
Sara raised an eyebrow at this.
'We've just got different styles. It makes working with you fun anyway.'
Warrick could have been imagining it but he thought he detected the slightest bit of red tinge to her cheeks.
'I think you doubt yourself too much. You're a great CSI, but that's not all you are to us.' He carried on. For some reason he felt he had to get this point across, had to make her understand this.
'I didn't mean to get all introspective.' Sara said. 'When I was drunk.' She added.
'Oh it wasn't the only thing we were talking about. I recall a rather eventful game of punch buggy.'
Sara joined him in laughter, and the moment, whatever it had been was broken. They sat in a comfortable silence, both surveying the flat. 'I think I've learned more about you in the last two days than I ever knew before.' Warrick finally said.
'How do you mean?' Sara asked carefully, afraid of more embarrassing tails.
'I never knew you drank. I never knew you smoked.'
'I don't, unless I'm drinking.' Sara corrected.
'I never knew you were a football fan, or once kissed Grissom, or lived near San Francisco, or…' he trailed off, catching himself when he realised what he was about to say.
'Or what?' Sara asked, knowing there was more.
Reluctantly, he carried on. 'I guess I never knew you outside of work. I never thought of your life outside of work.'
'I bet there's a lot I don't know about you, either.' Sara said to try and cover up her embarrassment.
Warrick shrugged, conceding the point. 'Maybe it's time we tried to rectify that.' He said softly.
For a moment Sara regarded him with that same serious look she had had when she was drunk. He almost squirmed under the gaze, till she looked away a weird little smile on her face. 'Maybe we should.'
A.N part two. I think that's it. the rest can be left to your imagination. I think you can guess where it goes…