And now, the fourth and final chapter, written almost as soon as I finished chapter 3. My muse returned from Christmas break long enough for me to edit Ch. 3 and write Ch. 4. But its too cold for her here, so she's gone back to Aruba. If anyone has a hardier muse to lend, I would be grateful. …
Hours later, Warrick had finally finished shepherding McHenry through police processing. It was near the end of shift, and he was ready to go home. But first, he had to talk to Sara.
Who, it seemed, was nowhere to be found. As Warrick headed down the hallway from the breakroom to the ballistics lab, he passed Grissom. The supervisor seemed his usual distracted self, head buried in a case folder. As they passed each other, Grissom paused, and without looking up, said "Warrick, good job with McHenry. That was a tough connection to make. Tell Sara good job too."
"I will, if I can find her. Have you seen her?" Warrick said, somewhat frustrated.
Grissom looked up, puzzled. A thought seemed to occur to him, and his face cleared as he said "I forgot, she went home early. Said she had a headache. Not like her." As he spoke, his head sunk back into the folder, but not before Warrick thought he saw the beginnings of a smirk.
Sometimes, he thought, Grissom wasn't as much of the absentminded professor as he played at being.
Another hour found Warrick in front of Sara's apartment, ready to knock on the door. The team members had exchanged addresses and phone numbers a few months ago, after a spate of bad car luck had left both Catherine and Nick stranded on different occasions. Warrick wasn't sure what was going to happen after he knocked on the door, but he knew he needed to. They needed to talk. Taking a deep breath, he raised his fist and rapped on the door.
Inside, Sara was sitting on her couch in much the same position she had been in since she arrived home, one arm crossed under her chest, the other on her lips. She was staring into space, trying not to think about that kiss, and at the same time thinking of nothing but. The knock on the door startled her, and only then did she realize how much time had passed since she got home. So much for starting her laundry early. She shook herself out of her reverie as she headed to the door, and got quite a shock when she saw the subject of her musings through the peephole.
"Warrick, what are you doing here?" Sara said, as she yanked the door open. She determinedly thought of work issues. No sense in letting herself read in things that weren't there. "Its not something with the McHenry case? I turned in all the paperwork to the right people. If they've lost-"
"Sara" he said, holding up a hand to stop her "Its not the case." Before she could ask "what?" he continued "We need to talk."
She looked down for a minute before she said "You're right" and stood aside to let him in. "Can I get you anything?" she always babbled when she was nervous "Tea, soda, water?"
"No, I'm fine. Look, Sara, I'm sorry about work. About what happened at work. I-"
Trying to hide her disappointment, Sara cut in "No, I completely understand. It was necessary for the case. That was quick thinking, to bait him like that."
"It was that newspaper picture that made me think of it. Nick said it looked like, um…"
"Probably the same thing Catherine told me it looked like." Sara cut in. "I guess photos can be more deceptive than we think. Strange, when we usually associate a photograph with being the true representation of what is going on at a scene. I-"
"Sara-" Warrick stepped closer, and she stopped talking "What if the photo wasn't deceptive? What if it was merely-"
"Prescient? " Sara said, hopefully.
"That could be." Warrick said, stepping closer still, a small smile beginning on his face. "What would you think of it being prescient? Would that be OK? It could be weird at CSI if things didn't work out."
"Its been weird at CSI since that picture. People keep watching us. I think we are both adult enough to handle it if 'things' didn't work out. I'm pretty sure I would be, and I certainly trust you to be. Besides which, you shouldn't go into a relationship assuming its end." Sara felt a little daring, using 'relationship' to describe their…whatever it was.
"You're right." Warrick said "I just…"
"Things will get weird, however, if you try to apologize for kissing me again." Sara said, a teasing smile starting on her face as she stepped up close to Warrick. Their bodies were all but touching, now.
"I wasn't apologizing for kissing you" he protested.
"Oh no?"
"I was apologizing for kissing you at work. I didn't want to embarrass you. And its not how I envisioned our first kiss might be."
"You've envisioned our first kiss?"
Warrick put his arms about Sara's waist "And many after that."
"Well, that will certainly make a good first kiss story. And, being the astute CSI that I am, I would like to point out that we are not work now."
"Astute?" Warrick said teasingly "I suppose I could give you astute" and he lowered his head, his lips meeting hers…
THE END. Use your imagination from here. No, not like that! My, you certainly have an active imagination.