It had been a wonderful day for Catherine. After finding Lindsay asleep when she'd gotten home the previous night, just a few hours after her conversation with Warrick, Catherine had had to wait until this morning to share the good news with her daughter. The excitement on Lindsay's face that morning was a moment Catherine would hold in heart forever. After a talkative breakfast, much different than the sullen quiet ones they usually shared, Catherine let Lindsay play hookey from school and they'd made a day of it, shopping for outfits to wear to the concert, having lunch at one of the fancier hotels before topping the afternoon off with a movie.
Now, backstage, Catherine watched Lindsay's face, her mouth moving, singing along with the words. Her skin and blonde hair, bathed in the bright white lights reflecting from the stage, took on an angelic glow, reminding Catherine of the sweet dispositional daughter she used to have. The twelve year old had been slipping out of Catherine's grasp lately, normal for any girl her age, but Catherine couldn't help but feel that her work schedule made it worse that it should have been.
Even with the shift change, Catherine had only precious little more time to spend with Lindsay than she'd had working nights. Since the death of Lindsay's father Eddie a few years ago, Catherine had relied more and more on babysitters and kind hearted neighbors to stay with Lindsay, and the CSI felt that her daughter was closer to these other women than she was to her.
But not tonight she thought to herself, smiling. Tonight, she's my little girl again. She put a loving hand on the back of Lindsay's head, letting it rest there a brief second before she ran it down the length of her hair. Lindsay glanced up to her mother, pure joy in her face and Catherine's heart twisted a bittersweet tug. Lindsay's smile grew even wider, something Catherine wouldn't have thought possible and the girl turned her attention back toward the concert. Catherine's gaze drifted up, and she found Warrick eyes, he'd been watching the interaction between mother and daughter. Thank you Catherine mouthed. Warrick only nodded once as a reply, a small smile on his lips.
Carly's voice filled the packed theatre. Spotlights zigzagged over the audience, turning the screaming faces into a nightmarish caricature. Carly was amazed at the number of people who came to see her sing, while she was grateful, and knew she was lucky to be one of the chosen few, her only regret was the lack of privacy that had long since become routine. Add to that Tommy's odd behavior that eventually led her to suspect him of having an affair, and she'd been so topsy-turvy, that when the offer to play The Stardust came, she jumped at the chance to come back to the city she'd grown up in and hoped for some stability in the stay, maybe even save her marriage.
"What's a girl to do?" Carly sang the last lines of the closing number, the single that had risen to number five just that week. The lights blinked out, leaving the stage awash in blackness and the crowd grew even louder in the absence of the music. A moment later the spotlight blinked back on finding Carly standing in the middle of the stage, one hand clasped against her chest, near her heart. "Thank you everybody. Goodnight." She said, the microphone sending her words out over the crowd. Once again the lights blinked off, and Carly made her way off the stage, pulling the headband/microphone contraception off as she went.
One of the stage hands jogged up to her, and in one swift movement, took the microphone from her and grabbed hold of her hand, leading her off the stage. Just past the curtains, officially "backstage" the two of them stopped, the techie dropping her hand and heading off to finish his nights work. Carly paused a moment, letting her eyes adjust to the dimmer lighting, and letting her mind down shift out of performance mode. Her make up girl, Gypsy, whose real name she'd once confided to Carly, was Susan Renwald, came up and slipped a towel around Carly's neck, as if trying to sop up some of the sweat the hot lights had triggered. Carly grabbed a corner of the towel and patted her hairline and face, letting her eyes dart around, looking for Warrick amid the commotion.
It didn't take but a moment to find him, Warrick's height, and the fact that they were they only four people not rushing around, made the small group stand out. Carly broke into a wide grin at the sight of her old friend, and took off in a gallop, racing toward him.
"Warrick Brown!" She called out at the same time the blonde woman standing next to Warrick moved a young girl out of the way of the approaching singer. The other man in the group, a little shorter than Warrick, with a dark brown hair, also stepped back out of the way. Carly jumped, throwing her arms around Warrick's neck and her legs around his waist in a massive bear hug. Warrick, unprepared by the sudden load, took a small step backwards to regain his balance and pulled his arms around Carly's back, returning the hug, laughing. The towel around Carly's shoulders slipped to the floor at his feet.
Carly hopped down, putting her feet on the floor, but kept one arm around Warrick's waist. "So good to see you." She told him, a rush of something like relief washed over her, like arriving home after a harrowing trip away. "I'm so glad you came." She reached up and hugged him again.
"What, and miss the chance of seeing the 'hottest rising star'? Come on." Warrick answered her, his voice teasing, his smile huge.
On the sidelines of the group, Catherine and Nick exchanged glances; neither had seen Warrick smile that brightly before. They grinned at each other, caught up in the joy of the moment. Nick stepped in a little closer to Catherine, and the movement caught Carly's eye.
"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?" She asked giving Warrick's shoulder a playful slap.
"Oh, yeah, of course. Carly," he held out his hand indicating each of them as he spoke "these are my friends, Nick Stokes" Nick nodded and offered Carly a charming smile "Catherine Willows" Catherine nodded hello. "And this" he paused, giving Lindsay's introduction special weight "is Lindsay Willows, Catherine's daughter."
Lindsay was bouncing on her feet, filled with so much excitement. She rushed at Carly, grabbing the singers hands in her own. "I'm such a huge fan of ours that was an awesome show oh my God none of my friends are going to believe I met you." Her words came out rushed, falling on top of each other, in one long sentence.
Carly smiled at the girl, and cupped Lindsay's cheek in one hand. "Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the show."
"OhmyGod, it was SO good." Linds began to bounce again.
Tommy walked up joining the group. Warrick let his arm drop off of the other mans wife, and couldn't help but notice that Tommy didn't put his own arm around Carly.
"Hey." Carly greeted her husband "This is Warrick." She turned again toward her old friend.
"You're the man I've been hearing so much about." Tommy offered his hand, and Warrick shook it. Introductions were made all around, Nick and Catherine both shaking hands with the singers manager/husband.
After a few moments of small talk, Tommy looked at his wife "Carly, there's some things we need to discuss with the band before we let them go for the night." His voice took on his managerial tone.
Catherine looked at her watch. "Oh, God. I didn't realize how late it is." She put her hands on Lindsay's shoulders and looked down at her. "We should be getting home too."
"Mmmmooommmm." Lindsay began to protest. "It's not a school night!"
Catherine tilted her head, searching for the words that wouldn't end this perfect day with an argument. Carly watched the interaction for a moment and her face brightened with an idea. "Hey!" She turned toward Tommy and grabbed the crew pass that hung on a black cord around his neck. Lifting the plastic encased badge, she unclipped one end of the cord and slipped the whole thing off of him. She sent a questioning glance to Catherine, and got an imperceptible nod of ok in return. "Tell you what Lindsay, you take this" she placed the pass in the young girls hand, piling the cord on top like coiled snake, "and if it's ok with your mom, you can come back tomorrow night."
Lindsay closed her fist tightly around the badge, treasuring it and her wide-eyed gaze of amazement almost made Carly cry. Catherine leaned down close to Lindsay's ear. "Say thank you" she whispered.
"Thank y0u." Lindsay immediately parroted, the movement of her lips seemed to bring her out of her stunned state, and she squealed jumping up to wrap her arms around Carly's neck "Thank you thank you thank you!"
Nick and Warrick exchanged smiling glances, they each thought of Lindsay as a member of their family, and were both delighted to see her having such a good time.
"Ok." Catherine said as she pulled Lindsay off the singer. "We really do have to be going."
Tommy took an ownership hold of Carly's upper arm, Warrick guessed he was getting ready to pull her away if the little group didn't break up in the next moment or two. He narrowed his eyes, searching Carly's face for a reaction to Tommy's possessiveness, he didn't see one there and wondered if she'd gotten used to it, or if she was putting on a front for him.
"Yeah, it's about my bedtime too." Nick agreed with Catherine's statement, doing what he could to make the departure easier on mother and daughter alike.
Lindsay threw a glance up to Warrick, her last hope. He nodded apologetically, "Yeah, sorry kiddo, your mom is right."
Linds took a deep, resigned breath. "Ok."
To Carly, Warrick said: "Lunch tomorrow?"
"I'd love that!" As the two of them made the arrangements on where to meet, Gypsy walked up behind them and stooped to pick up the fallen towel she'd given to Carly. Her spaghetti strapped tank top gave Nick a birds eye view of her cleavage as she bent over, and he was still staring when she stood up and walked past him, giving him a wink as she did. He turned and watched her walk away.
"Nick!" Catherine's voice derailed his train of thought; he tore his eyes away from the retreating Gypsy and turned back toward the group only to find everyone staring at him with amused grins. He returned their smiles with an embarrassed one of his own, and gave a silent shrug.
"Can't take you anywhere." Catherine muttered as she tugged his sleeve and guided Lindsay away with her other hand.
"What can I do?" Nick asked good-humouredly, his dark brown eyes shinning.
"Yeah, I know, you're a chick magnet." Catherine teased. "Good to meet you, and thanks." She said to Carly as they walked toward the stage door and the parking lot.
Carly took a resigned breath and slipped her arm away from Tommy's grip. She hugged Warrick tightly. "I'll see you tomorrow. There's a lot we have to talk about."
Warrick only nodded as she pulled herself away from him. As she walked away, Tommy's hand back on her arm, Warrick couldn't help but wonder if she was happy with her life.
"It's raining" Carly said, the disappointment in her voice dripped like the drops of the offending rain dropped off the porch overhang above them.
"Yeah" Warrick answered her, and took a step, repositioning himself next to her, at her right elbow.
"We live in the freakin' desert! It's not supposed to rain here." After a moments pause, she added, "Especially not tonight." She looked down at her feet, and pulled her red dress up an inch or so, revealing the high-heeled shoes she'd bought special for the occasion.
He watched her face, seeing the movements of her arms in his peripheral vision, and realized it was her dress and shoes she was most worried about. What is it he thought to himself, about the prom that made girls so crazy? "Com'on" he told her and opened the giant umbrella her mother had handed him inside. Grabbing her hand, they made a dash for his grandmothers' Oldsmobile sitting in the driveway.
For the past few years, Warrick had been trying to understand why the powers that be had chosen to paint the lab walls this particular shade of blue, a bright neon blue that fairly bounded off each wall, and reflected up from the shiny polished floors, surrounding everyone in an azure aura, much like the city outside did. But the morning after the concert, as he strolled down the halls, enveloped in blue, he found himself humming.
He'd come in early, hours early even for his new start time, to check on some lab results, and maybe, if they came back as his gut told him they were going to, have an arrest before lunch with Carly.
He suppressed a frown at the thought of his friend; worry had filled his night, taking the place of any real sleep. He'd finally given up and climbed out of bed at seven, making in to the lab in just over an hour, playing her CD in the Tahoe on the way in. He glanced at his watch, at almost eight thirty; he expected to bump in to Grissom or Sara, logging in overtime. He grabbed the door jam and leaned his upper body in through the opening. Mia, the DNA lab technician, sat alone amid buzzing machines and half full test tubes. "Hey" he said quietly, trying not to startle her.
It didn't work. Mia's back flinched, and she turned to him with a sour look on her face. Confusion clouded her eyes for a moment, and she glanced at the clock on the wall. "You're quite early."
"Yeah, I wanted to check on the results on that saliva I found at my bank rob…" his words were cut off by Nick, jogging down the hall, calling his name.
Concern filled Nicks eyes. "Hey man, I came in as soon as I saw the news." He lifted his chin just a little, the concern turning to bewilderment on seeing Warrick's own confusion reflected back at him. "How ya doing?"
"What the hell you talking about?"
"Carly, man." Nick's hand came up, hovering above Warrick's shoulder for just a moment before he landed the touch. "It was on the news. . ." he paused, searching for the right words. "There was a car accident. Carly was killed."
"What?" Warrick's eyes grew wide, disbelieving. Nick opened his mouth, to repeat himself, but Warrick was no longer listening. The taller CSI turned and ran down the hall, headed to the morgue.