DISCLAIMER:Don't Own it. No Money Made... Just for fun and enjoyment.
A/N: The "Three Musketeers" are at it again But don't worry there is plenty of pain and angst to come. :D
REVIEWS: Thanks to all who have reviewed.
Chapter 26
The younger woman sitting opposite her in the booth was absently stirring her orange juice and staring off into space. Catherine smiled at the far away look on the face of the auburn haired beauty she was sharing a meal with today. She knew that Stephanie was thinking about what the future held for her, and that was a luxury Catherine had given up a very long time ago. Her cynicism simply did not allow her to think more than a few weeks out at a time.
Catherine Willows was a love child, ex-stripper, bitterly divorced, single mother in Las Vegas; for her the future did not exist in more than a few week increments. "Are you trying to get something to dissolve in that juice, or is there something else driving you to stir it up?"
Stephanie broke from her thoughts and looked up at Catherine, "Huh?... Oh yeah." She put the spoon down and returned her attention to her eating companion, "Sorry, just thinking about stuff."
"That 'stuff' wouldn't happen to be around six and a half feet tall, broad shoulders, with wavy brown hair and wearing a surgeon's cap?" Catherine winked over the top of the coffee cup she was holding up to her lips for a drink.
"Mostly." Stephanie's cheeks came forward with a light blush at Catherine's comment. "Also about a curly gray haired entomologist with the bluest eyes, who's going to have my hide when he figures out what I've been up to this week." After nearly spitting her coffee out at the comment, Catherine realized that beverages were likely to always be a problem around Stephanie when she was talking, and she was always talking.
"Yeah, well, hopefully he'll be a little too preoccupied to bust you for it until next week." There was a slight pause as both women contemplated that statement, and then they both burst out laughing at the same time.
"Why do I think that's the sound that should come just before an air-raid siren?" Warrick walked up to their booth and motioned for Catherine to slide over, so he could sit down, "You two laughin' like that can mean only one thing; you're up to somethin'." He reached over and took the remaining strip of bacon off of Catherine's discarded plate. "Do I need to be worried?"
The look on Catherine's face was priceless, because it was not often that she was speechless, but before she could swing back with a comment of her own the waitress walked up, "What can I get you, sweetie?"
Warrick scratched his chin a moment and then had an answer, "How about three eggs over easy, whole grain toast, bacon and hashbrowns? Oh, also some coffee and a glass of milk please." The woman turned over a coffee cup and filled it up for him before walking away to put in his order. "So, what is the Terrible Duo up to tonight?"
Stephanie was the first to answer him, "Same thing we do every night, Pinky?" That time Catherine did spit out her coffee, but at least this time it was back into her cup as she started laughing.
Warrick gave them both a puzzled look, but decided to shrug it off, since he knew that some jokes were just not worth explaining. "Well, I checked in for a few before hittin' this place… Looks like it's gonna be a slow night."
"Won't that be nice for a change?" Catherine took a quick drink of her coffee when something strange hit her, "What are you doing here so early?"
Warrick tilted his head to the side, "That… Yeah, Tina ended up workin' a double, and I didn't want to wake her, so I just left for the lab when I got up, but the stomach was talkin' trash to me."
"Thomas said the hospital was a madhouse last night." Stephanie wiped up the last of her syrup with her last bite of pancake, "His twenty four hour shift turned into almost twenty eight, and the poor guy was just not up to dealing with three women in his living room this morning." She and Catherine both chuckled at her recap.
"Three?" Warrick raised his eyebrow at the count.
"Yeah, my Mom surprised us by flying in this morning, after we told her about the wedding." She plopped the bite into her mouth, as Warrick nodded at her explanation. As she finished chewing, she looked as though a light bulb had just gone off, "Oh! Hey, can you give me a lift home after shift? I left my car for Mom (Cath picked me up today), and Thomas wanted to talk to you."
Warrick worked to recover from the request and process the information. He realized that Stephanie was obviously a "morning" person, or that she was just always going full bore, twenty four/seven. "Ah, yeah, I guess I could, since I gotta swing by the hospital and pick up Tina on my way home." Catherine gave him a questioning look, so he explained further, "She's dropping her car off at the shop on her way in, and it won't be ready until the next afternoon."
Catherine still was not buying it, "Something you couldn't handle?"
"Nothin' she wants me to handle… She has this weird thing 'bout me workin' on cars." Warrick did his best to play it off as if it was nothing, but he could tell both women were just humoring him.
"Sounds like fun… Well, I would love to stay here and chat with you two a while longer, but if I don't get over there and check the supervisor's board, who knows what Gil has conveniently forgotten about." Warrick slid out of the booth and offered Catherine a hand to get to her feet. "Have fun, kids."
He sat back down as they watched her walk through the diner to the exit, Stephanie noticed that Warrick's glance was a little more focused than hers, and wondered what had gone on there. She decided to store that little nugget of truth away for future mischief making purposes.
When Warrick turned back to her in the booth, he had a little sideways smile on his face, "So, Miss Thing, what're you up to tonight?"
Before she could answer, the waitress arrived with his food, so she waited for the woman to set the food down and clear the extra dishware prior to responding. As the waitress walked away, she spoke, "Well, unless something happens, I've got nothing going on… David called and told me to take my time, because we were clear tonight, and he'd page me if, or when there was a call."
Warrick chuckled as he shoved the first bite of food into his mouth. Stephanie turned and stretched her legs out on the booth to get more comfortable. "So, what does Thomas want?"
"Oh, I have no idea… He just wanted me to make sure I told you to swing by and talk to him in the morning." She chuckled as she thought of something, "We've been together for like seven years, but I still have no idea what's going on in that brain of his sometimes."
"You don't sound too unhappy 'bout that." Warrick asked between bites.
"Are you kidding? It keeps things interesting!" They both had to laugh at that thought. "Besides, my folks were married a long time, and even though Mom had an inkling of an idea about how Pop worked, he still managed to surprise her every day."
Warrick had a contented smirk on his face, "Sounds like they had it down."
"Oh yeah, but not without sacrifice… I mean, Pop was a fairly confirmed bachelor when he met my mother. He was pushing fifty or so and Mom was in her early thirties. Neither one thought they'd ever meet someone that could put up with them." She chuckled again, "I've always wondered what would make them think that, since they were always the coolest parents to me. Of course, as I've gotten older, I can now see how they may have been a little odd for their time."
Warrick looked confused, "When did they have you then?"
"Oh, well, Pop was fifty three and Mom was-… She was thirty five. I was something of a surprise for both of them." Stephanie had a good laugh from her revelation.
"Oh yeah? You were one of those pranks the stork likes to play?" Warrick chuckled as he kept eating.
"You have no idea! Mom wasn't supposed to be able to, which was one of the reasons she hadn't married younger, and Pop had a vasectomy some time in the seventies. They used to refer to me as their little needle in the haystack." That was too much for Warrick, and he nearly choked on his breakfast as he attempted to laugh.
"I guess that's one way to put it." Warrick shook his head and tried to dislodge the food from his larynx and continue breathing.
"They're mostly responsible for my sense of humor… Gil just helped me refine it." She winked at him and he chuckled again.
Stephanie was quiet for a little while, and Warrick took it as an opportunity to finish his meal without spewing it across the diner. When he was nearly done, she spoke again, "So, what should I do about Sara? I mean, I thought we had cleared the air last weekend, but I haven't really seen her this week so far. In fact, if Gil hadn't called me to look at that cut on her neck, I wouldn't have seen her at all."
Warrick could actually sense the pain those words caused Stephanie, and he knew that she truly felt hurt by Sara's lack of social graces. "Look, all I can tell you is Sara is a tough nut to crack… She doesn't warm up to people right away, and sometimes, her shyness, comes off as kind of, well-…"
"Bitchy?"
He chuckled and nodded his head, "Exactly! How'd you get to be so good at reading people?"
"That would be Pop… He made his career on being able to read people." She turned around in the seat to face him again, "He found me reading a book about understanding body language one time, and he told me that I would never truly learn that skill if I didn't observe people in every conceivable situation. He said that it wasn't about whether they looked left or right, but what was in their hearts and behind those eyes that mattered. And he also said that it wasn't something you could learn; it was an instinct. Told me to study hard, learn as much as was possible and to use that knowledge to know when to trust my instincts. If all the books in the world say that the guy is lying, but your gut says to look deeper, then you owe it to yourself and that guy to do just that." She sat back a little and a huge grin spread across her face, "I figure the man with the highest closure rate in the history of the SFPD might just have a point."
Warrick shook his head, "Can't argue with that." Warrick thought a little about her original question and added, "And with Sara, you gotta remember that she has some issues with Autopsy ever since she became a vegetarian, so don't take it personal."
Stephanie thought about what he had said for a few moments, before something struck her as odd, "Then how does she do her job at the scene?"
"Sorry, her issue with Autopsy is that it reminds her of the meat packing places she's seen. And with you in there carvin' 'em up, you can't really blame the girl." It was Warrick's turn to make the joke and Stephanie's turn to nearly lose the drink of coffee she had just taken before joining him in laughter.
"Well, that's just another reason to get them together Friday night; so I can get to know her out of the lab. From everything I've heard, she sounds like someone I'd have a lot in common with, and that's not so common for me." Stephanie winked at Warrick with her jab at herself.
However, Warrick was ready to have the last word this time around, "You ain't got to tell me. And I thank God for that fact every day."
