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 Four:
Three weeks later...
"Warrick!" Nick shouted gleefully. "Hey buddy nice to see you back to work! Its been a rough few weeks without you."
Catherine and Greg who sat in the break room got up to give Warrick gentle hugs and exclaim how happy they were to see him.
Greg grinned at Warrick while staring at his chest.
Warrick frowned. "Greg don't even think about it."
"Aw come on I want to see it!"
"Greg you can't tell me you have never seen one before." Warrick dead panned.
"I've seen plenty in pictures but never up close!" Greg whined.
Sitting at the table both Catherine and Nick were laughing lightly.
"Greg bud you are going to have to go without in this case."
Greg stepped closer to Warrick and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, "Warrick listen, if you are uncomfortable taking your clothes off here we can go somewhere more private."
"GREG!" Grissom's shout caused everyone to jump except Warrick who had watched the supervisor walk into the room.
If someone were to compare Greg's complexion to a vegetable after Grissom's censure he would be a bright red beet. Greg slowly turned around to face his boss while trying to stutter an explanation. Looking at Grissom's expression he found himself at a loss for words. Warrick on the other hand couldn't help but chuckle a bit.
"Heya Griss. Don't worry about our enthusiastic lab tech here. He just wanted to see my gunshot wound." Warrick smiled and slapped Greg on the back.
Grissom glared at Greg in a stare that plainly said he should get back work. Greg took the hint and scurried quickly from the room.
"Warrick how are you feeling?," Grissom inquired.
"Pretty good. Glad to be back. I swear I was going out of my mind sitting around all the time. I actually ended up reading several of Sara's Forensic Science Journals at the hospital. I asked her to bring me something to read without explaining what I meant by 'entertaining,'" he clarified.
"Sara was visiting you at the hospital?" Catherine asked curiously.
"Yeah we hung out some. Anyways you ok with me being back Griss?"
"You aren't cleared to be on the field for another two weeks." Grissom smirked when Warrick looked crestfallen. "This means you will be doing some lab work. Sara is already working on processing some evidence that was brought in so you can work with her or you can work with Greg. Your choice."
Warrick nodded. "I'll work with Sara. She won't be trying to get my shirt off. You know, the bullet wound," he qualified when Nick choked on his drink and Catherine's mouth fell open in obvious shock.
Grissom gave each of them an admonishing look. "Ok, Nick and Catherine. You two have a B&E. Its a calm night in Vegas folks."
*****
"Hey Sara I am working with you tonight."
Sara glanced up from some paperwork she was looking at and smiled widely. "Warrick. Nice to see you again." She smirked.
He chuckled and then blanched as he looked at the piles of trashbags. "So what are we working on here?"
"Well your just in time. We have to process the contents of these twenty or so bags. They were found in the house of a victim last night. I was the lucky one that Grissom nominated for the job," she commented dryly. "Why did you get stuck with this detail?"
Warrick chuckled. "Well since I can't go out on the field yet I was given the choice of working with you or Greg."
"I am thinking you should have picked door number one," Sara quipped.
"Yeah me too, except the guy behind door number one was trying to get my shirt off earlier tonight."
"Bullet wound?"
"Yep."
"Figures. You going to show it to him?"
Warrick grinned. "Yeah probably but I'll make him beg first," he said as he put on some gloves and made a grab for one of the bags.
"Oh you are ruthless. Now come on lets get dirty," she said suggestively.
"Sara your sense of humor has been blossoming in my presence," he bragged as he opened the first bag. "Holy crap! This is nasty! Sara what are we looking for here?"
"Honestly? I don't know. Grissom said to look for anything out of the ordinary. These bags were laying around the vic's house all tied up like this. You and I are the first to get a peek. Think of it as an early Christmas present."
They sat silently for the next few hours processing the garbage bags one by one. Warrick kept finding himself glancing up at Sara as if he wanted to say something but continuously chose to keep his mouth shut. 'Maybe I should try using some small talk to work up to what I really want to say.' He changed his mind though before speaking again deciding once again to just concentrate on the job.
Tossing aside rotten pork chops, half finished hamburgers and something that looked like it used to be raw steak Warrick finally understood why Sara had become a vegetarian. Seeing stuff like this on a daily basis could really ruin your taste for meat.
"Hey Warrick you want to grab lunch?"
He looked up at her then looked down at himself. "Sara I don't think we are fit to go out looking like this."
She grinned. "What? I thought that the 'covered in trash and smelling like swill' look was in."
"Actually I didn't realize that I would be covered in trash tonight. I didn't bring anything to eat."
"Well we could order something and have it delivered to the front desk or you can share my lunch with me. I brought plenty."
He looked at her suspiciously. "Tofu?"
She rolled her eyes as she stood up and pulled her gloves off. "Trust me. Your an initiate. I won't subject you to tofu just yet," she jested.
Warrick frowned. "I'm not so sure. But I'll give you this one chance. Just remember that payback is a bitch."
After they reached the break room and took turns washing as much of themselves as possible Sara motioned for him to sit down while she opened the refrigerator to retrieve the food she had brought to work. A few minutes later she presented him with a cucumber sandwich and a bowl of vegetable soup.
Warrick forced a smile on his face while he told her how much he appreciated her sharing her lunch with him. Sara's amusement finally escalated to the bursting point when he took a bite of the sandwich and swallowed it without chewing it.
"Warrick you don't have to eat if you don't like it. I won't be offended."
He winked at her. "Naw its not bad but if we are going to continue to hang out you need to understand something right now," he said seriously.
"What?" she said before taking a bite of her sandwich and chewing slowly.
"I. Am. Not. Going. To. Become. A. Vegetarian."
They stared at each other seriously for a few moments before busting out in laughter.
Sara grinned slyly. "So you say now. Give me a few months and I'll convert you."
"Not a chance."
Sara took another bite of her sandwich and chewed it leisurely. She wanted to laugh out loud when she noticed that he had finished his sandwich and soup.
"I thought you didn't like it?" she asked trying not to smile.
"Hey it was better than eating cardboard. Barely. What can I say I have a large appetite," he said salaciously.
Sara raised her eyebrows. "Was I supposed to catch some innuendo there?"
"Hey guys mind if I join you for lunch?"
Sara looked up. "Hey Greg please do. Warrick was just about to show me his bullet wound." She smirked.
Greg's face lit up. "Warrick this is great. Come on show it to me baby!"
Warrick mock glared at Sara for a moment before sighing dramatically. "Ok Greg I'll show you." He stood up and inched his t-shirt up just above chest level. Turning so his side faced his expectant audience Warrick peeled back the bandage protecting the red puckered wound so that they both could see it.
"Oh my god Warrick." Greg sounded shocked. "That is just nasty looking. Has to hurt as well."
Sara simply stared at the injury without speaking. She seemed to be deep in thought.
Warrick stared at Greg without amusement. "You seen enough yet Curious George?"
Greg smiled sheepishly. "Yeah put that thing away."
Warrick replaced his bandage and lowered his shirt. Greg and Sara remained silent. Finally Sara stood up and tossed the rest of her lunch in the trash. Warrick couldn't help but notice that she had only eaten a few bites of the sandwich and hardly any of the soup.
"Warrick you ready to head back to garbage man duty?"
"You bet. I'll meet you there in just a minute."
She nodded and Warrick watched her leave the break room. He then turned back to Greg and sat back down at the table.
"Greg how has she been? You act all goofy but I know you pay attention."
Greg lowered his head. "Quiet."
"Huh? What does that mean?"
"She just hasn't been herself lately. You've been out about three weeks now so you haven't seen it but she doesn't even argue when Grissom gives her crap assignments. At least thats what I heard Nick telling Catherine."
Warrick frowned and thanked Greg before walking away. When he found Sara she was once again buried knee deep in trash. She looked up when he entered the room.
"Warrick I want to apologize for putting you on the spot there with Greg."
He nodded and opened another bag of trash. When he didn't say anything else Sara assumed that he was angry. She decided to leave him alone and continued to sort through the garbage.
"Oh this is so gross!" Sara exclaimed holding up a used condom in her gloved hand.
Warrick chuckled. "I've found several of those already. Sorted them into evidence bags in case we need them for DNA. You did say anything odd."
Warrick looked behind him to make sure no one was looking in on them. "Sara I wanted to talk to you about something."
"I wasn't hungry."
"What?"
"My lunch. I wasn't hungry. I saw you looking at it as I threw it away. I never eat much at work. You know considering the type of stuff we work with."
"I wasn't going to ask about that."
"What then?" She stopped what she was doing and looked up at him.
"Hey guys did you find anything?" Grissom's unmistakable voice filled the room.
Warrick and Sara both stood up to show them the possible evidence they had found.
"Well we can assume that our vic was sexually active," Grissom remarked looked at all of the condoms. "Why don't you guys run these over to Greg and call it a day. You can finish up tomorrow."
Fifteen minutes later they were heading for their respective cars. Warrick glanced at Sara and smiled. She had a piece of moldy banana in her hair.
"Sara I was going to ask you something before."
"Yeah I know. Grissom interrupted you before. Whats up?"
"Hey Warrick stop!" Catherine's voice could be heard behind them.
Warrick groaned before turning around. "Hey Cath."
Catherine caught up to them while panting for breath. "Hey Sara," she said nodding to the other woman. "Warrick I need to talk to you for a few minutes if possible."
Sara smiled. "Warrick I'll chat with you tomorrow. I'm going home to get this trash washed off of me."
Warrick nodded. "Sure thing Sara. See you later." He watched as she walked to her car. The banana was still in her hair.
Catherine smiled at her friend. "Warrick, you and Sara are friendly?"
He raised his eyebrows. "Yeah she is a nice person once you get to know her."
"When have the two of you ever talked? She always gave you way too much flak for the mistakes you made in the past." Catherine deftly referred to his past gambling habits.
Warrick grinned. "She visited me a lot at the hospital. I got to see a bit of her personality that she doesn't show us at work. She is a good person."
Catherine cocked her head quizzically and regarded him as if she had finally figured out a mystery that had been bothering her. "Are you...?"
He smiled. "Cath this couldn't be what you stopped me for?"
"No it isn't but that can wait. Now answer my question."
"Yeah I am."
"You know it could get complicated," she said seriously.
"Catherine everything is complicated. Now tell me what you needed me for."
Sensing he wouldn't speak on the topic anymore she began asking him about a case he had worked several months before. Thirty minutes later they parted ways but not before Catherine sincerely wished him luck. He knew what she was talking about and appreciated her support.
Brushing as much trash off of himself as possible he hopped in his vehicle and pulled out his cell phone. Pushing speed dial five he put the phone up to his ear and was pleased to note she answered on the first ring.
"Sidle."
"Hey Sara its Warrick."
"Heya Warrick."
"I still wanted to ask you..."
"Hold on call waiting."
"What?!" He nearly shouted.
"Hahahaha I am kidding." She continued laughing.
He grinned and waited for her to calm down. "Sara I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go out sometime."
"You mean out with you while not at work?"
"Yeah."
"You mean like on a date."
"Yeah."
"You want to go on a date with me?"
"Yeah."
A moment of silence passed and Warrick felt himself grow a little nervous.
"Yes."
To be continued...
