Foyer
Warrick leaned on the counter, absently stirring the vegetables in the skillet every few moments. They had returned to the house to realize that the new addition to the household was ill-equipped for his first night in his new home, so Sara had run to the store to pick up some supplies. As soon as she had left, Warrick had hurried to cook dinner as one of way to extend the time he was able to spend with her. Now, it was almost ready and it had been over an hour since Sara had left, and just as Warrick was about to worry, the door burst open to reveal Sara, dragging in what had to be half the pet store in plastic bags.
Leaning against the doorway to the kitchen to watch his co-worker drop her load of bags, chuckling at her slightly disheveled appearance, but quickly quieting when she shot him an exasperated look. "Um, Sara, he's just a kitten, not a kid going off to college," he teased, unable to keep from pointing out her blatant over-the-top shopping.
Her eyes narrowed in a glare, and her breath came out noisily as she tried to blow a lock of hair out of her face. "Have you been in a pet store lately?" He shook his head no, his eyes sparkling in amusement as she strode toward him. "You would not believe the stuff, the selection… there's like fifteen different types of food exclusively for kittens. And don't get me started on litter boxes…" She stopped abruptly as she got over to where Warrick stood, trying to glance around him into the kitchen. "What is that smell?"
"Hungry? I made vegetable fajitas, Mexican rice, and homemade salsa."
"Oh… wow," she said, stunned as he let her see into the kitchen, where candles lit the table, already beautifully set. He caught her elbow and led her to the table, settling in her seat before tossing the final ingredients onto a superheated skillet for a final searing. Dishing out filling into a tortilla on Sara's plate, he downplayed his reaction to her appreciative smile for his cooking abilities, pretending that this was a normal dinner at his house and not an attempt to impress her. Dinner conversation revolved around the kitten, naturally, and how the joint custody arrangement would work.
"Oh, that reminds me," Warrick said as he got up to refill her water glass. He set down a keyring beside her plate, "you'll need these." Her raised eyebrow questioned him wordlessly. "You may want or need to come in when I'm not here," he explained, "and this way, you won't have to work out in advance when you want to stop by."
Sara didn't look convinced. "Are you sure? I…"
"Yes, I'm sure. This way, if I'm caught at work or something, Coltrane will always be taken care of."
"Um, then maybe we should, um, figure out a signal or something for times when I shouldn't stop by." This time, it was his blank look that prompted an explanation, which Sara gave with a slight blush heating her cheeks. "Um, you know, in case you have a visitor and you don't want to be disturbed."
"Oh, that's not a problem. I don't bring women home." Her eyes narrowed in confusion and disbelief, and he waved a hand to indicate the house. "This is gram's house. It's not someplace I bring casual acquaintances." He looked down at his plate as he said this, missing a flicker of surprise cross her face. "Oh, man, I have to take a shower and get ready for work." He sighed, not wanting to end the evening. "You're off tonight, aren't you?" At her nod, he smiled, a little abashed. "Um, do you think you could take care of getting some of that truckload of stuff you bought set up? I need to run a couple of errands before work tonight."
Laughing and nodding, Sara picked up her plate to set it in the sink. "I think this is where the 'joint custody' comes into play." Thinking of her own pre-work ritual, Sara asked, "Do you want me to make coffee for you to take into work?"
"Yeah, that would be great," he replied as he paused in the door to give her a wide smile that warmed his eyes and hit her right about the knees, and Sara was suddenly glad she was standing by the counter. Then he was gone, and she turned back to making coffee, silently cursing herself for her physical reaction to her handsome co-worker and trying to convince herself she couldn't fall for anyone at the lab, not ever again. Coffee made and ruminations complete, she found Coltrane napping on the couch and she curled up around his slight frame, eliciting a contented rumble from his chest as she wondered if getting him had been a huge mistake.
When Warrick came back downstairs, he found her in the same position, rubbing Coltrane's belly as he rolled around on his back, the bags still sitting in the foyer. Setting down a cup of coffee on coffee table, he grinned down at the silly and utterly happy smile on Sara's face as the kitten toyed with her long, graceful fingers, and he had a sudden flash of jealousy for the kitten.
"I see you got far in the unpacking."
"Oh, damn, Warrick, I'm sorry, I'll…" Sara moved to get up from the couch, but his hand held her down in her original position.
"This is why I gave you keys, remember? Unfortunately, I do have to go, but stay as long as you like." He indicated the purring bundle on the couch. "It's his first night in his new house; I think it's good if you are here to keep him company for a while." Shrugging into his jacket, he picked up his bag and travel mug. "Um, Sara, you're welcome to, I mean, you know where the guest bedroom is if you need."
xxx
His errands to the dry cleaners and the music store had taken more time than he had anticipated, and then unusual and unexpected heavy traffic tied up his usual route, so when he finally got into the lab, Warrick was over half an hour late for his shift. He had tried calling Grissom, but his call went straight to voice-mail, and he had had no luck reaching Catherine either. So by the time he was walking down the hallway to the break room, a sense of disquiet had settled around him.
That sense burst into full-fledged panic when he saw Nick and Catherine sitting on the couch in the break room, watching an emergency broadcast on TV. "Hey guys, what's going on?" he asked, his panic ratcheting up a few more notches when they turned to him and he noticed Catherine was crying and Nick looked like he wished he could.
"Warrick." Nick's tone was quiet, somber, as if he was trying to even get the single word out.
"Nick…. Catherine… what's wrong?"
Nick drew in a breath, his eyes closing briefly, before getting out the words. "Warrick, it's… Sara."
xxx
AN: Sorry for the short, and not terribly inspired, chapter. That's what happened to set-up chapters. Next chapter will be up soon.