The ambulence with screaming sirens tears through the darkness of the night, leaving four pinched faced people behind. None of them moves for some long moments - that actually feels like hours; they are just staring after the vehicle in silence till it gets out of sight.
Captain Jim Brass lets out a deep sigh and looks at his companions. "I must get back to the Lab," he says tentatively and quietly, making efforts to keep his voice emotionless. "Paperwork is waiting for me."
"I'm going too." Ecklie notes after a short, uncomfortable silence, shooting a glance at the detective. "I have a lot to do."
Brass raises his brow slightly, exchanging a glance with him, then nods and heads to their car.
Ecklie follows him, leaving the three young CSIs alone.
Warrick sighs and turns to Sara, who's still gazing the darkness where the ambulance has just disappeared. Her face is pale and weary, reddish brown hair is dishevelled by the desperate rush to help freeing their friend out of the prison of the glasscoffin, actually the prison of slow and dreadful death.
He gently puts his hand on her shoulder and softly says, "We should go too..."
But she doesn't seem to hear him, just stands there motionlessly, still staring in the distance. Her thoughts are definitely elsewhere.
"Sara...?" Warrick leans closer to her, worriedly searching her face for any reaction.
Blinking, she reluctantly moves her head to face him - those tired brown eyes of hers are full of pain and worry."Sorry..?"
"Come on, Sar, I take you home," Warrick patronizingly wraps an arm around her and guides her toward the black Tahoe. "You need some rest."
"I can't," she argues in a determined, yet weak voice. "I must go back to the Lab and write my report..." --- about that damn bastard who did that to Nick, she almost bursts out.
"No." the afro guy stops her by grabbing her arms gently and making her look into his eyes."What you must do is go home, take a warm bath and go to sleep." His voice allows no contradiction.
Sara studies him for a long moment, her eyes locking her coworkers'. His look is pleading --- she can tell he is worried about her. Suddenly she feels ashamed for making him be anxious about her when they rather should worry about Nick.
With lips pressed together, she bows her head conceding, which makes Warrick let out a releived sigh.
"Good girl," he gives her a slight smile, then turns to Greg, who has been witnessing these minutes in silence, thinking he'd better say nothing. You can't say anything that wouldn't sound silly now after all, he told himself in mind.
"We take Sara home, then I drop you at your door, okay?" Warrick rather states then asks.
"You don't need to bother about me," the kid answers, gratefully for Warrick's care, but not wanting to be a burden for anyone, most for someone that he considers not only a colleague, but also a friend. "I manage to get home..."
"Greggo, don't you start to argue with me as well," Warrick snaps, casting a threatening look at him. "I'm not in form for another round of 'let's-convince-coworkers' game."
The lab-guy casts down his eyes with a blush. Ashamed, he surmises he'd rather obey his colleague - they are both exhausted and weary, both emotionally and physically, so this moment is not suitable for begin childish dispute about such a petty thing.
"Sorry, Rick," he murmurs with guilt, staring at the ground. "I just..." his voice trails off.
Warrick sighs with regret of having been a bit harsh on the kid.
"Sorry, Greg," he apologizes softly. "I didn't intent to..." he swallows a desperate tear. "It's just that..." he tries to explain, but can't put his feelings in words. He shifts and quickly turns his head away so that his companions couldn't see the tears welling up in his eyes.
This time it's Sara who puts a hand on his arm. "Hey, it's okay," she searches his face. "I'm sure Greg agrees with me," she shots a glance at the kid, expecting his approval.
Greg immediately nods and smiles slightly, "No harm was done."
"We're all are shocked and tired," Sara looks up at Warrick reassuringly. "Anxiety draws energy out of one's body - most if you're worried about someone you deeply care for."
Sara's heart skips a beat at her own words. She freezes for a moment realizing what she has just said exactly. She always knew that she had cared for Nick, but the feelings she had for him, however the flirting between them during the years, were barely friendly ones - most that she had had that crush about Grissom for a while, then had been dating with that Hank guy. But now, she has just claimed something that shocks her a bit. Since the team split things have changed. The two teams hardly did see each other, and however they promised to have a drink somewhere and chat a bit sometimes, work and tiredness hindered them to make it happen.
Sara missed the other part of the team. She missed even Catherine despite the fact that they didn't get on well at times. Working with Grissom and Greg was okay but different. The mood of the investigations has changed, work had slowly become monotonous and just plain routine. Not as if it used to have been pure fun, but the interactions between the coworkers, the friendly banters and teasings, little jokes now and then had given an extra strength to go on with duties. The CSI team was a whole together. Like a big family. And Sara missed the other family-members. Actually she had started to miss Nick a lot. He was the one from the other part of the original team she used to work together the most. She missed his presence, the way they did their job together, his flirtatious attitude and everything that was Nick. She missed him more than she expected, and it surprised her. She tried to push these wondering thoughts aside, pretending to have to focus on work, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't completely forget about this new way she had begun to think of him. And now she has claimed aloud what she feels, shocking herself. She deeply cares for him.
"That's true," Warrick averts his gaze at her, then glances at Greg, "We're exasperated because we almost lost someone who is not only our colleague, but also our friend."
The lab technician nods with honest agreeing. "He is," he notes quietly.
Friend, Sara sighs in mind. Yeah, but what if I can't think of him only as a friend anymore?
She bites her lip and gazes the ground for a moment.
"So let's leave," Warrick suggests and heads toward their car.
"Sara?" Greg looks at her expectantly, raising his brow.
Getting back to reality from her thoughts she exhales and takes some steps forward, "Yeah, let's go."
He nods acknowledging and follows her.
TBC