Title: Alive Again

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

A/N: Thanks for all of the positive reviews folks! I can't say enough how much it inspires me to write more. Keep them coming and I will keep the chapters coming!

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 Six:

Warrick Brown couldn't decide if he was pissed off or simply worried. When Sara brushed him off earlier that morning after he returned to the lab he had been angry. That was until he saw the look on her face. She had seemed on the verge of tears. He let her pass him without another word completely unsure of what to do. Part of the mystery was solved once he ran into Nick and Catherine in the break room at the end of shift.

"Nick you really deserved it."

"Yeah but you should have seen the look on her face Catherine."

"Sara is a big girl Nick. She can handle it."

Warrick frowned. "What are you guys talking about?"

Catherine grinned. "I was just congratulating Nick on his promotion. He somehow forgot to mention it all day." She lightly punched Nick in the shoulder at which point he feigned injury. "Hey Warrick I was asking Nick earlier if he wanted to come over to my place and celebrate his promotion. I'm cooking." She winked. "Grissom will be there too," she added.

Warrick smiled warmly. "Yeah sure I'll come. Great job Nick. I know you have to be thrilled."

Nick chuckled. "Man that is simply an understatement."

Warrick slapped Nick on the shoulder before addressing them both. "Have either of you seen Sara around?"

Catherine and Nick glanced heavily at each other. "Yeah she left about ten minutes ago War," Nick answered.

"When I passed her in the hall earlier she was very upset. I tried to talk to her but she wouldn't even look at me. I guess this is why," Warrick said referring to the promotion.

Catherine let out an unladylike grunt. "I saw her storming out of Grissom's office a few hours ago. Not sure what happened but it wasn't good."

Nick nodded. "I'm going to call Sara in a few. See if she is ok. I think she is taking this pretty hard."

"No, give her a day or two Nick. She is probably just beating herself up right now. You know how Sara can be," Catherine commented.

"Yeah your probably right. I'll wait and see how she is tomorrow. Give her some time to cool off. What do you think Warrick?"

"Hey man you know her better than I do. Listen guys I gotta go. Catherine can I borrow you for a minute?"

"Sure thing. Nick show up at my place about seven tonight. We will have dinner before work," she said as she followed Warrick out of the break room.

Warrick didn't say anything until they had left the building and reached his car. Leaning his hands against the car he hung his head low.

Catherine looked at him with concern and put her hand on his shoulder. "Warrick honey what is wrong?"

"Am I wasting my time with this?" he muttered.

"With what? I don't understand."

"Sara."

"Oh." She sounded surprised. "Oh. I don't know Warrick."

"I think I like the girl but I don't know if she is even interested."

Catherine heard steps behind her and saw some people leaving the building. "Hey why don't we sit in your car for this conversation."

"Yeah sure." He opened the driver's door and unlocked the passenger's side.

Catherine settled herself in the passenger's seat and looked at him gravely. "I knew you two were talking more and that you were somewhat interested in her but I honestly didn't think it would go very far. Sara doesn't exactly have a winning personality."

Warrick shook his head. "Catherine I don't think you have ever taken the time to get to know her. She...she makes me laugh."

Catherine held up her hands in defense. "Whoa there buddy. I am not insulting her. I am simply stating a fact. Sara tends to put people off. She isn't exactly known for her social skills."

He knew he couldn't argue with her on that one.

"Your serious about her though aren't you?"

He chuckled. "Thats why I have you out here talking to me Cath. I need some friendly advice."

Catherine sighed deeply. "Ok Warrick there is something you should know. Grissom would probably kill me if I told you this." She paused. "Whew ok. You remember when the lab blew up?"

"Of course Cath. It wasn't that long ago."

"Well at the end of that shift Sara asked Grissom to go out with her."

"Holy shit. No way."

"Yes way. He said no."

Warrick laid his head against the steering wheel. "Damn Cath this explains a lot."

She furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

"When we were driving to that night club last night Sara said she wasn't sure she would go out with me again. She said something about how Grissom was being really hard on her lately and going out with me might cost her the promotion. She didn't mention that she had the hots for him," he muttered sarcastically.

"Warrick you had to of noticed how they have always acted around each other."

"Yeah when she first came here I figured they had something going on however lately they are hardly talking. This explains a lot."

"I'll tell you one thing Warrick. Sara is probably feeling pretty vulnerable right now. Between that ass Hank cheating on her, Grissom shooting her down, her killing that guy last month and losing this promotion she has taken quite a beating recently."

"Yeah."

Catherine grabbed his hand and held it in hers. "What I am trying to tell you is that she probably isn't sure she can trust you yet. If your serious about your interest in her then give her some time. Otherwise back off now and be glad you made a new friend."

Warrick smiled at his friend. "Catherine I'm glad I've got you to talk to sometimes."

"Anytime. So what are you going to do?"

"First I am going to kick you out of my car. Second I am going after the girl."

Catherine laughed as she got out of the car. "Be careful Warrick," she said as she closed the door.

*****

"I'M COMING DAMNIT!" A female voice roared from the other side of the door.

Warrick suddenly had doubts about his decision to wake Sara up. 'Too late to turn back now.'

A moment later Sara's front door opened and he could tell she was surprised to see him.

"Warrick? What are you doing here?"

The first thing Warrick noticed was that Sara looked like shit. The second was her slightly slurred voice. He knew immediately she had been drinking.

"Sara can I come in?"

"Yeah sure." She opened the door for him to enter then locked it behind him.

Warrick walked over to the love seat opposite the couch and sat down. Looking around he was surprised that Sara's apartment was a bit cluttered. While she had been to his place several times this was the she let him see her apartment.

"What do you want Warrick?" Sara sighed as she sat down on the couch. She looked very tired. There was a pillow and a blanket beside her as well. Warrick knew she had fallen asleep out here.

Further observation revealed multiple beer bottles on the floor beside her. Warrick hoped that those had collected over several days and weren't all from this morning. When he looked up to talk her he chuckled. She had already fallen back asleep.

Warrick stood up and looked around. 'Right now. I decide right now if this is too much.' His gaze fell on the sleeping form of Sara Sidle and he knew that it wasn't a very difficult decision after all. Walking into her bedroom he quickly realized why she was sleeping on the couch. Her bed was covered over with dirty clothes. Warrick grabbed a handful of clothes and went in search of the washer and dryer. Once he found them in a closet near the kitchen he retrieved the rest of the clothing.

Finally he changed the sheets on Sara's bed. He spent another ten minutes cleaning up the room before going back to the couch where Sara rested. He gingerly picked her up and was amazed that she felt so light. He carefully walked back to her bedroom and laid her in the bed before covering her up. As he left he shut the bedroom door and finally contemplated the rest of the apartment.

First he threw a load of laundry in the washer and then started on the dishes. The worst part was picking up the beer bottles. Warrick couldn't decide if he wanted to shake Sara senseless for having them or hug her knowing that she had been in so much pain to have gone this far.

Three hours later the place was spotless. He had taken the garbage out and double bagged the ones that had beer bottles in them. He was probably being paranoid but he didn't want anyone knowing about them for Sara's sake.

Opening up the refrigerator he rolled his eyes. "Damn Sara." The contents of her fridge held a few pieces of cheese, a container of tofu and a six pack of beer. Warrick grabbed the beer and emptied it into the sink. Finally he picked up the keys to Sara's Tahoe and left the apartment.

Once he reached the nearest grocery store he put the car in park and went inside. He had never shopped for a vegetarian before but did his best to get only healthy things. He avoided the tofu. By the time he was back at her apartment Warrick was feeling exhausted. He decided not to stay however. He wrote a quick note explaining to Sara that it was he who cleaned her place. He wasn't sure she would remember him being there.

Finally he left and returned home.

*****

Warrick was putting his personal belongings in his locker that night when she approached him.

"Warrick I need to talk to you."

Warrick noted that her voice sounded hard. He didn't turn around but nodded his head so she would know that he heard her.

"Warrick I am not sure what you think you saw at my place this morning..."

Warrick whirled around exasperated. "Sara what I saw was you passed out on the couch with more beer bottles surrounding you than I could count on first glance," he hissed. "You need help."

"You don't decide what I need Warrick!"

"In this case I do. You obviously can't. I am intervening before it gets worse. So right now you decide if you want me to help you or if you want me to go to Grissom."

She sputtered and looked so pissed off that he was sure that if she had her gun she would have shot him. "You wouldn't!"

Warrick knew not to back down. "You want to place a bet on that?" his voice was hard.

Sara looked behind her to make sure they were still alone. "My life is not your concern."

Warrick closed the distance between them so that their faces were only inches apart. His heart started to beat faster as she stared defiantly up at him. He felt his anger diminishing. "Sara I am choosing to make your life my concern. You need a friend," he said softly.

"And is that all you want Warrick Brown? A friend?" she sounded surprised.

His lips curled into a smile as he reached his hand up to cup her face gently. "Thats all I want until you have more to give."

"Warrick I'm sorry for yelling at you..." Her shoulders slumped as she let her chagrin slip away.

He pulled her into a hug and held her tight. Sara returned the hug and for a moment felt safe in his strong arms.

He released her after a moment not wanting anyone to walk in on them. "So you want to have breakfast with me after shift?" He phrased it like a question but he didn't intend to give her a choice.

She chuckled as she left for the break room. "Yeah sure my place or yours?"

"Yours," he said following her. "After this morning your apartment is cleaner than mine."

To be continued...