Title: After Everything – Chapter Two

Author: Marita Linde

Rating: T/M, for reasons that will become obvious.

Notes: I know the end of this chapter has a semi-C/G romance feel, but I promise this story is primarily W/C and will end that way.

Early the next morning, the sun shone in through Catherine's open blinds and woke her. She stirred, pulling down the blankets that were crowding around her and glancing at Warrick sleeping soundly beside her.

The mood that had been so prominent the night before – thick air, husky voices, the tingling of skin-on-skin – was completely gone now, leaving only discomfort, soreness, and satisfaction in its place. Catherine was very sore. She hadn't had sex in five months, and last night had been enough to make even a much younger version of herself sore for a very long time.

Warrick began to wake up, and she watched him as he blinked and rolled over to face her. "Hey," she said, and smiled.

"Morning," he said, his voice hoarse and coated with sleep.

All of the sudden she was nervous, waiting for him to say something like, 'What happened last night?' or the fear-inducing equivalent. Instead he smiled at her and leaned over to kiss her softly. "So," she said as soon as she had recovered, "what now?"

He stared at her, a different version of himself than the one she'd seen the night before. He was less mysterious now, dripping only with early morning sexiness from the fact that he was in her bed. Finally. "What's now?" he asked, and she sighed. That was so like him.

"Well, we do work together," she managed. "This could get weird."

He grinned. "It wasn't weird last night, and it doesn't feel weird now." He rolled out of bed and she was struck dumb with the sight of his naked body gleaming in the sun like something out of a romance novel.

She felt like a teenager as she stuttered, "Well, maybe we should just take it as it comes."

He kneeled on to the bed and took her hand. "Catherine, nothing has to get strange if we don't want it to." His eyes ran down the length of her body, covered in sheets, and then he said, "I'm going to shower. Wanna join me?"

Well, she only had one answer for that.

She climbed out of the shower twenty minutes later, pruned and exhausted, and went to make breakfast while Warrick finished and got dressed. She heard him humming while she buttered her muffin and smiled, anxiety for once not clouding her mind.

He slipped into the kitchen a little later, fully dressed in jeans and a black shirt, and looked like he was in a hurry. She didn't blame him – both of them knew Lindsey would be up any minute for school and that was one road that did not need to be traveled on just yet.

"I guess I'll see you in a few hours," he said softly, affection in his voice. She smiled and handed him a muffin, watching him walk out the door and into the sun.

Later that day she drove to work, her mind still focused on the image of Warrick above her, his dark skin glowing from the light of her bedside lamp. She tried not to catch Gil's eye as she sauntered into the break room and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

"You look great," he said absent-mindedly, leaning against the counter and reading the paper.

"Thanks," she replied, staring at the side of his head and the way his grey hair still curled a little around his ears. "You look tired."

He sighed and put down the paper. "I'm exhausted," he said, looking straight into her eyes and making her uncomfortable. "Do you want to do lunch today? I need an outlet."

She smiled. "You're tired of your job, and you think having lunch with me will fix that?"

"Not tired of it," he said, smiling back at her. "Just tired from it. And yes, I do think having lunch with you will fix that."

She slammed her bottle of water against his chest playfully. "Maybe you should try sleeping." Walking out the door, she swung her hair lightly and said, "I'll meet you at Henri's at 3."

"So,"Gil said, shoving his fork down into his salad, "Who'd you sleep with?"

"God," she breathed, completely shocked, "You'd think after knowing you for over a decade I'd be used to how forward you are."

"No one is," he said, taking a drink of water.

"I really would like to know how you can always tell, though," she told him lightly, poking at her fries.

"I'm a crime scene investigator," he said, shrugging. "It's what I do."

Catherine laughed out loud. "So am I, but that doesn't mean I can tell every time you've had sex."

"That's because I don't have sex," he said, not looking her in the eye.

"Yeah, right," she said under her breath. He heard and raised an eyebrow and the silence was unbearable for five minutes before Catherine finally broke in with, "It was Warrick."

He leaned back in his chair and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Okay." She could tell he wasn't pleased, but she loved him for not lecturing her. Normally he'd be all over her with how terrible of an idea it was, but sleeping with co-workers was something Gil couldn't preach about without being a hypocrite. "Just be careful, Catherine," he said slowly. "Don't get yourself in trouble at work, and, more importantly, please don't get me in trouble."

She laughed and went back to her meal, pretending not to see the way he stared at her as she ate.