Title: Alive Again

Summary: Sara and Warrick become closer after he saves her life.

A/N: Please forgive any spelling/grammatical errors. I try to reread these chapters multiple times but a few small mistakes always seem to slip by. This will be a Warrick/Sara romance with some G/S angst. I will be updating often. Sentences in in single quotation marks indicate private thoughts. Please R/R. This is my first fic and I could use some encouragement. :)

Spoilers: Possibly anything all the way up to Early Rollout.

Rating: PG13 for language and some adult situations.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it. If I did I wouldn't be living in this shoddy little apartment dreaming about winning the lottery. :)

Chapter Three:

"Catherine this is crazy! That man was trying to kill us" Sara shouted at her colleague.

"Sara calm down. Listen we all know that this is a load of crap. But," she empathized, "we need to go get this cleared up. Come on get in the car."

Sara swallowed hard and opened the car door to let herself inside. 'God could this day get any worse?'

"Catherine why in the hell were we called out there if Maggie Mortesen didn't want to press charges against her husband?"

"Well the neighbors heard the commotion and knew that George Mortesen was responsible for putting their son in the coma. I think they assumed they were helping."

"Catherine I uh," Sara choked on her words.

Catherine kept driving but reached her hand over to rest on the other woman's shoulder. "Sara listen. We know that you didn't do anything wrong. Seriously calm down. Don't worry about it. Grissom and Brass are grilling Maggie Mortesen now. I doubt she will be able to hold to her story."

Sara nodded. She remained silent on the way back to the crime lab.

*****

Despite having been in the lab a mere twelve hours ago Sara felt as if she hadn't walked through the halls in ages. Every muscle in her body was aching and for the first time in quite awhile she wished she could just lay down in her bed and sleep for a month.

"Your Tahoe is still here. I was going to have Nick help me get it over to the hospital but once I realized you would be coming back this morning I decided not to bother."

Sara smiled at Catherine's attempt at small talk. "No problem Cath."

Brass met them outside of the interrogation room. He took Sara by the arm and led her further down the hall. Smiling to reassure her he said, "Don't worry about this Sara. I think its obvious this was a good shooting. Grissom has already got Mrs. Mortesen to contradict herself a few times now. That guy is a master," he quipped. "Anyways we are going to need to take your official statement shortly. Do you want to talk to me or someone else?"

"I rather it be you Brass," Sara said wearily.

Suddenly the interrogation room door opened and Grissom led Mrs. Mortesen out. The woman spotted Sara and exploded with rage.

"You bitch! You whore! You killed him! I'll kill you I swear it! I'll leave nothing left!" She launched herself at Sara but Brass and Grissom each grabbed one of her arms to restrain the hysterical woman. Sara watched as they pulled the woman away, however she couldn't seem to unlock her gaze from the woman's eyes which reflected nothing but pure, raw hate.

Turning around so she wouldn't have to look at the screaming woman anymore Sara wrapped her arms around herself and involuntarily shuddered. Soon she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned around surprised to find that the hand belonged to Grissom.

"Sara are you ok?"

She nodded.

"Do you want to just get this over with?" He asked softly.

She exhaled slowly and nodded her head once again.

Grissom smiled slightly. "I know you are going to argue with me but I want you to take a few days off after this. Besides I checked the log and you are due. Bet you didn't think I would notice that you've worked two weeks straight huh?"

Sara honestly didn't feel like bickering with him but decided he might think something was wrong if she didn't. "Grissom, with Warrick out we will be a bit short handed."

"Don't worry about it. We are borrowing someone from the swing shift. Take a few days and come back refreshed. Ah, here is Brass now. Lets get this done with."

Grissom opened the interrogation room door and allowed Sara and Brass to walk in first before following them. Sara sat on the opposite side of the table from the two men but didn't appear nervous. Inside however she felt like her nerves were on fire. She gave them a weak smile.

Brass returned the smile. "Ok Sara we will be taking your official statement. I want you to start at the beginning and leave nothing out."

Sara once again told them everything starting with the beginning of her shift the previous evening and ending with Warrick being taken into the hospital. She honestly didn't remember how many times she shot George Mortesen. She could only remember being very frightened.

A good thirty minutes later she fell silent and waited for one of them men to speak.

Grissom looked at Brass. "Jim are we done here?"

Brass nodded. "Yeah I think we got what we needed. Sara you will be called before the board later this week. You don't need to worry it was a good shooting and I think if anyone were in your situation they would have done the same thing."

Sara furrowed her brow. "Um what about Maggie Mortesen? Catherine told me that she was accusing me of being the aggressor."

Grissom nodded slowly. "She retracted her accusation." He wouldn't qualify his explanation further. "Sara I think its time that you went home. I'll have Catherine call and check up on you later this evening."

She noticed that he said he would have Catherine call. A bit of bitterness swelled within her stomach as she once again realized that he was brushing her off. 'Damn you Grissom.' She wanted to yell at him, instead she nodded once again and walked down the hall towards the exit of the building.

Brass caught up with her a moment later. "Hey Sara are you going to be ok? I know what its like to have a gun pointed at you. Its not easy deal with."

"Don't worry about me Brass. Warrick lived and thats the most important thing. I will be ok." She smiled and hoped her voice sounded convincing.

He stared at her for a few moments before the corners of his mouth lifted into a grin. "Yeah Sara you will be fine. You are tough as nails. Go get some rest." He patted her on the shoulder and walked away.

Sara felt a strong sense of relief when she finally reached her Tahoe and sat inside. She let her head rest on the steering wheel for a moment but knew that if she sat like that too long someone would notice and want to talk. Reluctantly she started up the vehicle and pulled out of the lot. The trip home took fifteen minutes and before she knew it she was opening her apartment door.

She immediately stripped naked and threw her clothes into a pile in the corner of the room. 'Ugh I need to do some laundry.' She walked into the bathroom and turned the water in the shower on as hot as she could possibly stand and stepped in. She rested her hands on the wall of the shower and let the hot water beat down on her head and shoulders while the grime from the past fifteen hours washed away. When Sara felt her skin start to prune she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. Ignoring the puddle she made she quickly dried off and put on her favorite t-shirt and some panties.

Yawning loudly Sara stepped into the kitchen. Her refrigerator was as usual mostly empty but she didn't feel overly hungry anyways. She grabbed a beer and sauntered over to her DVD player and popped in a disk she bought recently on the history of forensics. An hour and a half and four beers later the video ended however Sara didn't notice as she had passed out on the couch.

*****

"Ugh shut up," Sara mumbled at the annoying noise trying to penetrate her sleep.

She groaned as she realized that the incessant ringing was coming from her cell phone. 'God my head hurts.'

Finally she got up and grabbed the phone. "Sidle."

"Hey Sara its Nick. I thought I would call and check up on you. How are you doing? I'm sorry we haven't had a chance to talk yet but Griss has me working on that multiple DB with Ecklie. Its torture." He proceeded to make some mock gagging sounds on the other end of the line.

Sara felt it safe to roll her eyes in dramatic fashion. "Nicky I wasn't the one shot yesterday. You guys should be worried more about Warrick." she replied with exasperation.

Nick snorted. "Yeah well from what I heard you had a gun pointed at your head, you shot and killed a man, watched a friend almost get killed and were accused of murder. Usually events like that call for a little concern from friends." He sounded hurt.

Sara ignored him and tried to change the subject. "Nicky have you been by to see Warrick yet?"

"Yep. For a guy who took two bullets he is doing surprisingly well. Warrick is one tough guy." He laughed. "He is already trying to bribe his way out of the hospital."

Sara smiled as she pictured Warrick trying to escape from the hospital in one of those buttless gowns they make you wear.

"Don't worry Nicky I am doing alright. Get back to work."

"Sure thing Sara. I'll call you tomorrow."

Click. Sara set her cell on the coffee table and walked into the bathroom with the intention of freshening up. 'Eek I look horrible.' After throwing some water on her hair and running a brush through it she splashed some water on her face and went to the bedroom to get dressed. 'Nothing to do around here but feel miserable, so I might as well go see if the hospital will let Warrick have any visitors.'

Before walking out the door she popped a few ibuprofen and as a second thought picked up her purse.

The trip to the hospital was quick and she had only made one stop to pick up a gift Warrick would surely appreciate. Luckily the same nurse who had let her see him the night before was on duty. The woman smiled and told Sara to go in.

"Hey girl I am glad to see you!" Warrick exclaimed.

Sara raised her eyebrows surprised.

Warrick chuckled. "Well lets see I have a t.v. that gets like two channels and I am going out of my mind. I would have been happy to see Ecklie at this point!"

Sara laughed. "I hope I am better than Ecklie."

"You certainly are more pleasing on the eyes."

"Yeah well that goes for just about anybody." She grinned. Reaching into her purse she pulled out a small bag and handed it to him. "Here I brought you some contraband."

"Sara girl I could kiss you! Cheeseburgers! I can't believe you actually bought meat for me. I know how much you hate it."

"You took two bullets for me. Lets just say we are even," she teased.

Warrick unwrapped one of the burgers and checked the contents. He looked at her in shock.

"Um double burger with cheese, mustard and mayo, no ketchup, no onions or lettuce right?"

"Yeah how did you know that?"

She smiled. "Warrick we have eaten HOW many lunches together over the past several years? Nicky has taken your burger order countless times. I couldn't help but have it memorized."

Warrick grinned at her as he polished off one of the burgers in four bites. Sara sat watching him with her jaw hanging slack.

Warrick looked at her and laughed before groaning and clutching his side. "Ouch. Laughing still hurts. Moving hurts. Ouch."

Sara stood up and helped him take a sip of water and lie back on his bed.

He stared at her for a moment. Sara could tell that the conversation was about to turn serious.

"Sara how are you doing? Don't give me your usual answer either."

Sara sat back down sighing deeply before slowly exhaling. 'Should I talk to him? He seems concerned. They all seem concerned. Except Grissom. He hardly recognizes that I am alive.'

"Warrick seriously I am ok. I am going to cause some damage to the next person who asks me that question!" The threat in her voice was offset by the smile on her face.

"Ok ok ok! I get it you don't want to talk about it. However, when you do want to speak of it Sara just remember I am here ok? I am a friend and I care about you."

They sat together in silence while he inhaled another burger. Sara found herself shocked at his ability to nearly swallow the things whole. When he caught her staring he gave her a sheepish smile.

"Hey after trying to eat the slop in this place I am starving. Your the only person to bring me any real food."

They sat and talked for a few hours and Warrick was pleasantly surprised to find out that Sara liked jazz.

"Hey now I realize that I am a science geek, but that doesn't mean that I have my head stuck in a forensic science journal all the time."

Warrick stared at her with his eyebrows raised.

"Seriously I have hobbies and do things outside of work."

Warrick continued to stare at her while his eyebrows raised further.

"Warrick please!" she laughed. "Do I need to prove it to you?"

He pretended to consider it for a moment before answering her. "You do realize that visiting the local tofu market doesn't count as a hobby?"

Sara busted out laughing. "Ok tell you what. When you get out of here I'll take you someplace and I promise you will enjoy yourself. My treat."

Warrick winked at her as he reached for another burger. "Now Sara I know I saved your life but you don't need to throw yourself at me."

Sara looked confused for a minute before gasping. "Warrick oh my god! I didn't mean THAT!."

He chuckled lightly as he took a bite of his burger chewing slowly on this one. "Tell you what. I'll take you up on your offer. When I get out of here that is."

Sara stared at him for a few moments before speaking. "You know Warrick you aren't what I expected. Outside of work that is."

"Neither are you Sara. You seem to have something I would describe as a sense of humor," he teased.

"We've never really spoken before have we? I think I just realized that while I am friendly with most of the people at the lab I don't have many friends there. Outside of Nicky that is."

"Well if in order to become your friend someone has to take a bullet for you I don't think you are going to get many takers," he quipped with a smile.

She regarded him and said, "And you..."

He cut her off. "Sara I told you yesterday. No regrets."

Sara smiled warmly and began asking him if he liked vegetarian restaurants. Outside the hospital room anyone walking by could hear him groaning loudly.

To be continued...