Chapter 9

Greg approached the big man cautiously. It had been a rough shift, and Warrick was not in the best of moods. To start with, the DB was a seven year old girl. It had always been rough on Warrick to have a child victim, but now that he was a father, it seemed to affect him even more. The inability to disassociate ones home life from the victim was one of the reasons most CSI's were single and childless.

Grissom normally tried not to put his two CSI who were parents on cases involving children, but he couldn't help but assign Catherine and Warrick to this case. Nick was in court for the day. Sara was on a continuing case and Gil was in meetings the entire evening.

To start the case off, Warrick had had words with the responding officer at the scene. A physical altercation had been eminent if it had not been stopped by Catherine and Jim Brass. Things hadn't gotten much better as the case dragged on.

Now, the man was sitting on the break room couch, looking like a bundle of nerves. He was leaning forward, one leg nervously jumping up and down to a tone that had the whole couch vibrating. Greg paused beside the nervous man, leery about confronting him. Warrick was staring off in space, clearly in such deep thought that he was unaware of his surroundings.

"Warrick?"

"Huh?" Like a switch being flicked, the man's demeanor changed completely. He eyed the paper in Greg's hand but made no move to take it.

"You sure you want this Warrick?" Greg had never seen the older man look so uneasy. He had seen Warrick angry but never nervous. In all the time that he'd known him, Warrick was the guy who stayed cool. Greg had always admired the older man's ability to let things come as they go.

Occasionally, Warrick could let the anger take over, but he could usually reign himself in. Except for when it came to his wife and family, Warrick wasn't one to let things get to him. This bewildered Warrick was actually looking like he was afraid of the piece of paper. That was definitely not the Warrick Greg knew.

"Yeah." Warrick took the paper, but he still didn't look at it. Frowning, he stared into space as his fingers worried the edge of the paper.

"You need me to leave so you can be in privacy or would you like me to just tell you what it says?" Greg offered, unsure how to handle this. He needed someone to help him. He glanced around, hoping to see Nick or Catherine. Even Sara would know how to handle this Warrick better than he did. No one but the day shift was around. Warrick was stuck with him, whether either liked it or not.

"No." Warrick answered, sending Greg into a spiral of confusion.

"No what?" Greg questioned. "I gave you an either-or question. Which part was the no for?"

"I don't want you to leave….." Warrick was actually shaking as he clutched the paper. "Do you mind? Maybe you could sit here with me while I work up the courage?"

"I can do that." Greg felt himself standing taller. The big man was asking for his support! He was needed. He patted Warrick's shoulder in a clumsy attempt at comforting him and plopped down on the couch beside him. He reached over, reclaiming the paper that was slowly disintegrating in Warrick's clasp. "For as long as you want or need."

"I shouldn't be so nervous." Warrick admitted quietly "But, I keep thinking, no matter what it says my life is going to change."

"How is that?"

"Let's forget the whole thing about him being white. If this guy is my brother, then I have these people who are my family. All my life, I never had that. I'll have a history that I can learn about. I'll have actual connections to other people in the world other than Grams and my girls." Warrick explained. "I know it shouldn't be, but it's scary."

"And if he's not? What changes then?"

"All my life, I had this hope in the back of my head. A hope that my father, my family, was out there looking for me. This was my one and only chance of finding him. I've lost all hope of ever finding out who my father is or was." Warrick sighed, eyeing the paper in Greg's hand. "Can you tell me the results Greg? I think I'm ready."

"You sure you want me to do this with you? I can call Nick or Gil-"

"Greg, please." Warrick begged. "You're the guy I came to, why would I want someone else to be here?"

"For emotional support."

"You're doing fine." Warrick chuckled, realizing that the younger man was worried about straining the bounds of their friendship. "You're a good friend Greg. I know you're taking time out of your sleep schedule to do this with me."

"Anytime Warrick." Greg cleared his throat, watching the man as he finally answered. "I tested your blood against Mr. Arthur's. As far as I can tell, it's a really good possibility that you are related. It's really rare, next to impossible for complete strangers to match this closely"

Warrick swallowed roughly as he let the information to soak in. Several long silent moments stretched on before he was able to form the words. "Should I be happy I finally know? Or should I be disappointed in my mother for sleeping with a married man?"

"You can't think like that. She probably loved him very much. You wouldn't be alive if she hadn't." Greg argued. "You've got a brother now. Actually, you've always had one, just neither of you knew about it."

"That doesn't make me feel any better. The man waits until he's dead to let people know about me. He must have been ashamed of me."

"He didn't know you. How could he be ashamed of you?" Greg couldn't imagine someone ever being ashamed of a man like Warrick. He was one of the greatest guys he knew. When he was younger, first starting out in the lab, he'd idolized the big guy. Warrick had been smart, ambitious and a hit with the ladies. As time had passed, Greg had seen that the guy was human, making some major mistakes along the way that had caused Warrick to lose some of the ambitious drive.

What replaced that ambition was even more admirable in Greg's mind. Warrick had become selfless, putting others before himself. He had even appointed himself Greg's teacher, showing him what to do and not to do before Grissom had a chance to disapprove. Back when he first started out as a CSI, and had ran into some trouble, Warrick had offered support as soon as he heard. After the shift, he'd even taken him out for beers and talked it over with him.

It had happened countless times. Sometimes it was just little things like covering up for someone's mistakes, or taking the blame when things went wrong. Years ago, when Catherine had been taken off on a wild goose chasing case involving a severed finger, it had been Warrick who remembered that Lindsey needed to be picked up from school. He had been the one to watch the kid.

Then there had been the favor that Gil asked of Warrick a couple years back. Warrick had willingly given up his hard earned vacation and took off with Gils daughter, risking his life in the process. He'd ended up nearly dead, shot and bleeding, yet still protecting the female. Sure, he'd ended up with a wife and daughters from that, but he hadn't known that was a possibility when he'd went into the situation. He'd just done what was needed.

In Greg's book, Warrick was a true hero. A man above all others. He decided to tell the distraught man the truth. "This guy, who fathered you, would have been proud of you. If he'd known you, he'd have been bursting out the seems with pride, Warrick, man. You are…., the type of guy people aspire to be. For a long time, man, you've been my hero."

Warrick looked at the younger man, his eyes teary. He blushed and grinned sheepishly. "Thanks Greg. I needed that."

"Of course….," Greg couldn't let the tone stay so mushy, "You can never mention that I said this, or use this against me in any way. I do have some dirt on you that I can start slinging, should you ever mention this conversation again."

"I hear ya." Warrick guffawed, looking as if he felt better.

Tbc…..