Losing to a Plant
By Ria
A.N post ep to Burden of Proof. W/S.
Warrick knew whom the plant was from even without being able to read the note. He smiled at the receptionist. 'I'll see she gets them.' He told the friendly woman, tucking folders under his arm so he could pick up the plant. He dropped off the folders in their appropriate spaces, and with all work finished for shift, went to find Sara.
He found her, holed up at the table in the break room, looking suspiciously like she was reading a journal. It was only as Warrick got closer that he saw it wasn't exactly work related, unless the twenty ways to wear long hair up really was now a scientific experiment. He had never pictured Sara as someone who read woman's mags.
Shrugging off the weirdness, he plonked the plant in the middle of the table, causing Sara to look up at them, then at him, clearly waiting for an explanation.
'These came for you.' He supplied.
She looked over at the plant again, but otherwise didn't move to reach for them. 'Who are they from?' She asked.
Warrick shrugged. He might have a suspicion who they were from, but it wasn't his place to say. Instead he took a seat at the table, watching as she took the card peaking out from the foliage. Her face gave little away as she glanced at the card, putting it away in it's envelope, before reaching out to run her fingers over one of the leaves.
Finally, Warrick's curiosity beat his patience. 'Well?'
Sara looked over at him. 'Well, what?'
'Who are they from?' He asked.
Sara assessed him for a moment, before turning from him, closing up the still open magazine, squaring it slightly on the table. 'I think you know.' She said simply. Warrick was expecting her to get up, but she stayed where she was. 'Grissom.' He finally said, just to have it said out loud.
She barely nodded, didn't need to confirm it.
'Is this about the leave of absence?'
That got her attention, her surprised look jumping to Warrick. 'How did you know?' She asked, narrowing her eyes slightly, the look accusing.
Warrick held up his hands to ward off the accusations. 'I saw the form you were filling in.' He reminded her.
'Oh.' Sara said, but seemed to be at a loss for anything else to say.
'Can I ask why?' Warrick eventually said.
Sara shrugged. 'You can ask.'
'Is it Grissom?'
She went from calm to angry in less than a second. 'Why does it have to be about Grissom?'
Warrick knew he'd hit the nail on the head as it were. 'It's not hard to figure out.'
Sara looked at him, but didn't say anything, waiting for him to carry on.
'It's not exactly secret that you've got feelings for him.' Warrick said.
To his surprise, Sara's look went from surprise to amusement, and she even laughed slightly. 'I have feelings for him?' She asked, crossing her arms across her chest, looking directly at him now.
Warrick felt the heat at his face. It had been the assumption around the lab for so long, that Warrick had taken it for granted. 'Ok then, what is going on?' He asked defensively.
Sara took a beat to answer. 'I just need a…different environment.' At his look, she added defensively. 'It's not forever.'
'Why now?' Warrick asked, more curiously than anything.
A shrug. 'Feels right.' Came the answer.
'The lab won't be the same without you.' Warrick commented.
'I'm sure the lab will cope.' Sara said bitterly.
Warrick sat silently studying her for a moment. 'Want to come for breakfast?' He asked eventually, not knowing what else to say.
To anyone else, the question might have sounded innocent. And while it had started out as innocent breakfasts between them, they had progressed to much more than just a meal. Breakfast might as well be a euphemism for "shall we go to bed now?"
How it had started, Warrick didn't dwell on. Likewise, he didn't really think about where it was going. Thinking, in fact, of anything but how great it felt was banned. But that had been before the possibility that she wouldn't be around forever came up. He hadn't thought of the future till he'd read the headline of the leave of absence form. And for most of the shift, sitting in front of that computer screen, it had been plaguing him.
He could analyse it from every angle. That he was hurt that she hadn't told him. That he'd always assumed she'd had feelings for Grissom. That he'd assumed that she'd be around for a lot longer than this. But really, what surprised him the most was the pain he had felt when he'd realised what the form was. That she could elicit such a reaction in him with a few simple words. Their time spent in bed wasn't meant to be about feelings, certainly not about those sorts of feelings. And yet at the first sign of the arrangement coming to a stop instead of a slight disappointment that he had assumed he should feel, instead he'd felt a rip roaring pain he was finding it hard to ignore.
Now the question plaguing him, more than just his pain, was what was she thinking about him? Was this as easy as filling in a form; was this her version of goodbye?
Later, laying in a tangle of heavy limbs, breathing ebbing to a steady euphoric state, Warrick gently stroked soft skin and asked in a whisper. 'Can I try and convince you to stay?'
She stirred slightly, turning her head to look back at him out of the corner of her eye. 'Well, you're beating the plant so far.' She said in a soft voice.
Now the conversation had started, Warrick couldn't seem to stop. He kept a touch of her body, wanting to remember every part of her, to soothe his hurt.
He kept his tone of voice gentle, careful not to lose the atmosphere that had settled between them. 'Why now? And don't give me that "I need a new work environment" crap. You love your job, if Grissom respects you or not.'
'Now seems as good as time as any.'
'I thought you were just settling here.'
He felt more than saw the shrugged response to the question, and he had a moment of insight rare with Sara. 'It's because you're getting settled. Too settled.' Warrick said, rising to rest on one elbow, to see her, watch her reaction.
The protests were quick. 'No, no, that's not it.'
Warrick didn't believe her. 'Well then what?' He challenged, aware of his voice rising but for the moment helpless to stop it. 'I thought we had something.' He blurted out before he could get control of his tongue.
Her surprise was constrained to a raised eyebrow, although she moved so that she could see him. 'We have the occasional day when we do…this.' She said in a no nonsense voice he had heard plenty of in the past. 'That's it.' She added as if to drill home the message.
'That's it?' He echoed, hearing the hurt creeping into his voice.
'That's what we agreed.' Sara stated, eyes closing as if that was the end of the conversation. That them lying naked in each other's arms meant nothing more than having coffee together.
'What if something's changed?' Warrick asked into the silence, his voice quiet once again.
At least her eyes opened to focus on him. 'What do you mean something's-'
He didn't let her finish the obvious question. 'I think I'm falling in love with you. That's what's changed.'
He didn't know what he expected her reaction to be. But when she said 'I think you're losing the lead to the plant.' It wasn't what he was expecting. Especially not in the light tone she had used.
Her tone turned more serious as she turned slightly more to him, turning in his arms. 'Why now, Warrick?' she asked, her eyes searching his.
He wanted to say that it was her fault, that he wouldn't have been thinking so hard about it if she hadn't been signing that damn form. Instead he said mildly. 'You signed the leave of absence form.'
'So you tell me you love me, and expect me to stay? That's not fair, Warrick.' Her words were stinging, even if her tone was almost reasonable.
'What else will make you stay? A plant?'
Her lips turned up slightly, but her eyes remained serious, assessing him.
'Are you telling me you don't feel anything, that this,' he briefly lifted the hand in contact with her to gesture at the room in general, 'means nothing?'
'We're friends.' She stated.
'So are you and Nick, do you do this with him.' His come back was quick, but his lips quirked as he said it.
'No!' She blurted out shocked, then realised she'd just contradicted her own argument. 'Ok, so maybe we're more than friends.' She conceded. 'Maybe I have slightly more than friendly impulses towards you, but I don't know.'
'If that's enough for you to stay.' Warrick finished for her.
She shrugged. 'Yeah, that's about it.'
'Is it working more than the plant?' He asked with a smile, leaning down, leaving a line of faint kisses from her shoulder to her neck, coming to rest by the lips.
'It's working more than the plant.' She confirmed, turning, meeting his lips with hers.
It wasn't an "I love you". It wasn't even "I will stay", Warrick just hoped that maybe he could convince her with time. And at least he'd been honest.
And as the kiss deepened, and thoughts became hard to sustain, Sara began to believe that maybe there was a future in this.