Undercover Cop
Summary: "It's like Cath all over again," Warrick said, avoiding looking at Sara. "One minute she was here, the next, six-feet under. I can't lose you too." / "You won't, but I have to do this," Sara replied, before kissing Warrick firmly. "I love you." WarrickSara.
A.N.: Before you read this, yes, Cath is dead, yes, you will find out how and why, and yes, I have fallen asleep at the computer again.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to say farewell to our friend, Catherine Ann Willows."
Warrick shivered as he remembered Cath's funeral exactly a year before. It had been a tough time, an emotional and revealing time, and Warrick was still mentally exhausted from it.
He could remember Grissom sobbing his heart out over his lost-love. He could remember Lindsey, clutching her seven-month old daughter close to her chest. He could remember Greg laying his head on Nick's shoulder, Nick no longer caring who knew about their relationship. Life was too short; Nick and Grissom had taught him that, and that lesson had stuck with him over the year.
And now, just as he'd finally gotten the courage to tell Sara how he felt, she'd made the announcement too. The FBI in Chicago had contacted her, wanted her to participate in an undercover case. Apparently they'd heard her name from Cath when she was asked to assist eighteen-months previously and it had stayed on record, just in case.
"They want me to pick up where Cath left off. The suspect has advertised for another PA, so they want me to be interviewed and get in. I'll be gone eight months tops, they said," Sara explained to the gang of people sitting the break room table, gawking at her as if she'd grown a third eye.
Warrick refused to look at her, refused to accept the inevitable fate that he was going to lose Sara too. He looked at Grissom who'd gone white and had tears falling down his face. He knew it wasn't because of Sara, but because he was remembering.
"Mr. Grissom we have some news about Special Agent Willows."
"Oh, right," he replied, "How is she?"
"I'm sorry Mr. Grissom. Ms. Willows died an hour ago. I have sent a representative of the agency to speak with you and your colleagues and bring back any of Ms. Willows' valuables."
Grissom sat there in shock. He'd brought the phone from his ear and was just staring at it, which is where Warrick had found him an hour later, still staring at the phone, unblinking.
Nick and Greg didn't move an inch, just stared at Sara.
"And you're going to do it," Nick said more than asked through the lump in his throat.
Sara reluctantly nodded, "I have to. They were so close the last time. Cath was deep in. Then someone slipped up and she was killed in the gun fight that proceeded. They're being extra-cautious now. Want me to be watched all the time."
"It's a little late for Cath though!" Grissom said voice cold and dripping with venom, "It's too late to be cautious now. I'm sorry Sara, if you want to do this, do it. But I won't be backing you up."
She sighed unsteadily as Grissom left the room, "Guys?" she said to Nick and Greg.
Nick shook his head, "I'm with Grissom on this one Sara. It hurt too much to lose Cath. At least when she was in Chicago, she was alive; she wasn't Cath anymore, but she was alive." He too left the room, Greg following not long after.
Sara sat next to Warrick on the couch. She started picking at the skin by her nails nervously, "Warrick?" she asked, glancing briefly at him before returning her attention back to the newsletter on the table.
It had a picture of Cath on the front, talking about the anniversary on her death. It had been in the same spot for two weeks; no one had the guts to move it, or even read it. A small picture of her and Lindsey was on the corner and Sara's eyes watered.
Cath had barely even known her granddaughter when she'd been sent to Chicago. Lindsey had given birth a month before, at the tender age of seventeen and Cath had been thrilled, wary and a little disappointed that Lindsey was so young, but thrilled. And she'd had that roughly snatched from her.
"It's like Cath all over again," Warrick said, avoiding looking at Sara, "One minute she was here, the next, six-feet under. I can't lose you too," he pulled Sara to him and held her tightly.
"You won't, but I have to do this," Sara replied, before kissing Warrick firmly, "I love you."
"I love you too," he said, kissing her back passionately, bringing tears to both sets of eyes at the force of emotion.
"I won't be gone long," she said when she pulled back to rest her forehead against Warrick's, "But things could still go wrong."
"I know," he said, "I know, and you have to grab opportunities with both hands."
And if Cath's death had taught him anything, it was that life was too short and had to be lived in the moment. So three hours later, Warrick and Sara found themselves laying on his bed, wrapped around each other, staring at theirmatching wedding bands.
END - Ta da!