Disclaimer: Just to remind you, I don't own CSI. Sorry.

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. I was out of town and then I never got a chance to typeup the chapter, even though it was done a while ago. Hope it's up to par. But you guys don't want excuses, you want the story, so here it is:

Chapter Four: Conversation

They somehow managed to avoid each other most of the day. He went back to the scene and with an officer on interviews. She processed the gathered evidence. All communications were through third-parties. There was a case to work and they were thankful for the distraction.

Distractions, though, are temporary.

Catherine entered the cabin that evening, dead-tired from throwing herself into work and wary of the conversation she knew was coming.

Warrick was already there, sitting on the couch, staring unseeingly at the tv. His gaze shifted to her the second she closed the door. "Hey," he said, sounding as tired as she felt.

"Hey." She didn't move from the doorway and a heavy silence fell over the room.

"We need to talk," they blurted simultaneously and let out uneasy laughs.

She crossed the room and took a seat across from him in a worn easy chair. Sensing the beginning of another uncomfortable silence, she spoke up, "Last night shouldn't have happened."

That hadn't come out the way she'd rehearsed in her head what felt like a million times, but it was out there now, and there was no turning back. Besides, it was true...wasn't it?

Something that could have been hurt passed over Warrick's face, but it as gone as quickly as it appeared and Catherine couldn't be sure.

He sighed. "Yeah," he gave a small nod of agreement. "I..." he cleared his throat. "I was way out of line and-"

She let out a humorless laugh. "It takes two to tango, Warrick. Don't try and put this all on you. I'm just as responsible as you are."

He studied her a moment and sighed, sitting back and running a hand over his face. "Yeah, I guess."

"You guess? Warrick, you didn't force yourself on me. There is no 'guessing' about it!"

He couldn't help but smile inwardly, she was just so...Catherine. Knowing this strain of conversation could go on forever if he tried to say otherwise, he agreed. "Ok. You're right."

She eyed him a little suspiciously and it was a few seconds before she spoke. "Good...So," she sighed, "What are we gonna do? About...this?"

Warrick leaned forward, resting his arm on his knees. He didn't want to think about what he was going to do. "I don't really know," he let out a breath. "I mean I have to tell Tina, don't I?" He shook his head absently, "But..."

"Oh, God," Catherine groaned under her breath as a whole new wave of guilt assaulted her.

Warrick looked at her. "What?" He knew her too well to not have an idea of what was running through her head and that she'd never say it if he didn't ask.

She hadn't meant to say anything aloud but she had. "Oh nothing," she said sarcastically. "I've only killed your marriage!" her voice cracked and she sat back in the chair, pressing her hand over her eyes.

"Hey, none of that, ok? You can think you're as much to blame as me but you're not."

Catherine shook her head, trying to ignore the stinging in her eyes.

"Cath, look at me," he reached out and moved her hand, tilting her chin so that she was looking at him. Her eyes were a little red, and his tone softened. "If my marriage is over, it's because of me."

She pulled back from his touch and closed her eyes. She began messaging her temples and let out a shaky breath. "Why are we fighting over this?" she asked frustrated and tired. "Either one of us could've stopped things before they went too far. It doesn't matter anyway. What happened, happened and that's that."

"But if I hadn't started it..." he trailed off and shook his head.

Catherine opened her eyes and stared at him, wanting badly to ask why he did start it. What had brought all this on, but she knew that was a conversation they shouldn't be having.

She sighed and dropped her gaze. There was a pause before she finally spoke, her voice quiet, "Warrick, if I'd wanted to stop you, I could've stopped you."

The meaning of those words was not lost on either of them, and the room was quiet again. Warrick studied her for a minute, but she wouldn't meet his gaze. He decided to leave it alone. For now.

He spoke up. "Now what?"

She sighed, grateful he hadn't pressed her. "Now, we finish this case. We go back. You tell Tina," she gave a little shrug. "Go from there."

Finishing the case was easy. By the end of day four the evidence was enough to lock up their main suspect; a thirteen year old boy, pissed off at his teacher for assigning to much homework. The kid had seen the end of his troubles in the form of a .38. Two shots, one to the gut, another to the head, and he'd walked away. Never blinked, never looked back.

When they'd confronted him with the evidence, the kid hadn't batted an eye and the cold vacancy in his gaze had sent a chill down Catherine's spine. Trial was not something she'd be looking forward to, but that was months away and she had other things on her mind.

The same could be said for Warrick, apparently, because the entire two and a half hour drive back to Vegas was spent almost entirely in silence, and neither of them really noticed.

Their late afternoon arrival back at the lab found the graveyard shift still on duty due to a triple homicide. Sara and Nick were leaving Trace as Catherine and Warrick entered.

"Oh, hey, you're back. You get lucky?" Nick asked when he saw them.

Catherine froze, her mouth slightly open and Warrick's eyebrows shot up, but they recovered quickly.

Catherine turned her slack jaw into a smirk and raised a brow. "A lady never tells, Nick."

Sara chuckled and Nick gave sheepish grin.

"You knew what I meant. How'd the case go?"

Warrick answered. "This kid killed his teacher. Too much homework."

Nick shook his head. "What do people be thinking?"

"They don't," Sara supplied, her voice tinged with a slight sadness. Nick glanced at her.

"Yeah," Catherine agreed, too preoccupied to notice the little exchange. "Hey, you know where we can find Grissom? We need to give him our report so we can get out of here."

"Don't rub it in," Sara joked. "He's in DNA. Hodges just paged him."

"Thanks," she said and headed down the hall.

"Good luck on your case," Warrick added, following after Catherine.

Hodges was informing Grissom that some of the blood found at the scene belonged to someone other than the victims when they walked in.

Grissom turned to them. "You're back. Good. How'd it go?"

"You're welcome," Hodges intoned snidely.

Grissom glanced at him. "So, how'd the case go?" he asked again, turning back to them and heading for the door.

Warrick and Catherine couldn't help but grin and Hodges sent them both a sneer as they followed Grissom from the room.

"Thirteen year old kid shot his teacher. We found the gun in his room, his prints all over it. And he took the guys wedding ring as a trophy," Catherine explained.

"Yeah. There's no doubt it was him," Warrick confirmed. "All sorts of evidence. Dirt and other trace from the area on his shoes. He washed the clothes but there was still splatter present. We got him."

"Good job. Have your final report on my desk," he said as he turned into the layout room, where Sara and Nick were documenting evidence.

"Will do," Catherine said, although he probably didn't hear her. "God, I hate it when he does that."

Warrick chuckled. "Yeah."

Catherine looked up at him. "So... I guess I'll talk to you later?"

He nodded. "Yeah, sure."

She gave him a small smile. "Ok." She hesitated, then reached out and gave his arm a supportive squeeze. "Warrick, I...I hope everything works out okay."

Warrick stared at her for a second and said, "Yeah. Me too."

She smiled again and let go of his arm. "See you," she said and walked off down the hall.

He watched her until she rounded the corner then pulled out his cell. Pushing a button, he held the phone to his ear and waited.

"Hey Tina. I'm back," he paused, listening. "Yeah. You think you can come get me? Cath had to go see about Lindsey," he explained. The original plan had been for Catherine to just drop him off but there had been an unspoken agreement that wouldn't be the best plan. "Thanks," he listened again and closed his eyes, letting out a silent sigh. "Yeah, I missed you too...Love you too...Bye."

He closed the phone and shook his head. This was going to be hard.

Fifteen minutes later Warrick was climbing into Tina's car.

"Hey," she greeted him, leaning across the console and planting a quick kiss on his mouth.

"Hey."

"How was it."

"Uh, it was...eventful."

She glanced at him and grinned. "Really?"

"Yeah."

It grew quiet and it was apparent that he wasn't going to elaborate on the topic.

"We need to talk," they said simultaneously. She laughed and it occurred to him that this was the second time in three days that had happened.

"Me first," she said still chuckling.

He eyed her, not sure where this was going. "Ok."

She grinned. "I was gonna do this whole big thing, dinner, candles, the works, but..." she giggled and shrugged, her grin growing.

He stared at her expectantly. "Ok...What's up?"

She giggled again and pulled to a halt at a stop sign. She turned to face him, her eyes bright and shining.

"Warrick, I'm pregnant."

A/N: First off, I hope you didn't see that coming, cuz if you did then I suck! LOL. And thank you all so much for reviewing. I love hearing what you guys think, so keep 'em coming! They make me write faster (honest, this one was done a while ago and I've plotted out up til chapter nine). And as always here's your teaser (sorry, can't be chapter length, and I hope that you can sleep afterward):

"Pregnant?"

She gave him a look as she pulled from the sign. "Yeah. Pregnant. Ya know, expecting. With child. Preggers. You're gonna be a daddy," she laughed.

"So what did you want to tell me?" she asked.

"Oh...uh..."

Now be nice and review. Please.