Author: Joyce
Title: The Consequences of Flirting
Disclaimer: I do not own Warrick and Sara, I'm just borrowing them for a while. It's fun playing with them : )
Note: I want to thank my lovely reviewers, as always you guys rock! I absolutely adore you all. And yes, I would do anything to get more reviews ; ) And another thing, I would make to announce, yet again, that in this story Warrick and Tina are NOT married. They moved in together but that's it. Everybody up to speed with that? Good! Now enjoy the chapter!
Making and breaking the rules
"I've got it," Sara announced, stepping into the lab where she found Warrick studying a shoe print.
He looked up, a hint of a smile on his face.
"You cracked the case?"
"No," she said, dismissing that option with a wave of her hand. "I've got the solution to our problem."
"Oh," he mumbled, his face turning serious in a split second. "What is it?"
Sara sat down on the other side of the table, taking out a note book.
"I made some rules," she told him proudly and he just raised his eyebrows in wordless confusion.
"You see," she carried on, ignoring his stare that told her he thought she was crazy. "We get into trouble when we get to close to each other so I made some rules to prevent that."
Warrick actually smiled by now, amused to no end.
"You made rules to prevent us from being to close to each other?"
She just nodded, a look on her face that spelled 'duh' and when he opened his mouth again she silenced him, opening up her notebook and reading her rules.
"Rule one," she said, sounding like she was listing some evidence she found in a case. "We make sure there is always a respectable distance between us."
Warrick raised his hand, feeling like he was in a classroom again.
"What do you define under 'respectable distance'?" he asked her, getting up and taking a step towards her.
"Is this respectable?" he questioned and she looked at her notes before she replied; "Yes, we can manage that."
"Ok," he nodded, taking another step closer. "How about this?"
She became uncomfortable, he could see that but he was having to much fun right now.
"That's respectable too, I guess.." she mumbled, getting confused and trying to find the answer in her notes, like they were going to save her.
"Good," Warrick smirked, taking another step closer and he was inches away from her, laughing green eyes in front of her.
"That's not respectable anymore," she whispered, trying to regain her composure and she was relieved when he walked back to his seat.
"I think I got it," he told her with a wink and she shook her head in annoyance, reading her second rule;
"Rule number two: We don't look each other directly in the eyes since that leads to trouble."
His eyes widened in shock and he deliberately stared into hers.
"So this is wrong then?" he asked her. "So, how are we going to have conversations if we're not allowed to look each other in the eyes?"
"Aha!" she said, raising her finger in a manner that suggested that she had the answer.
"Rule three: We don't talk unless it's work related."
He shook his head in a desperate manner.
"This is ridiculous, Sar," he whispered, forgetting rule number two when he looked at her.
Her voice lost some of the confidence he had heard in it before.
"We have to do this, Rick," she almost begged him. "Please, work with me here."
He slowly nodded before he averted his eyes from hers, looking at a spot in the corner of the room.
"Any other rules?" he then asked her.
"Yes," she confirmed, reading her last note. " The last rule: We are not allowed to touch each other."
"But.." Warrick began, still not looking at her. "What if you're in a threatening situation and I have to push you away or carry you in order to save you, is that allowed?"
"Yes," she said after thinking about it for a while. "I guess that's allowed. But we only touch each other in life threatening situations."
"Ok," he agreed with her, feeling like a big idiot sitting here like this, having a conversation with someone he was not allowed to look in the eyes. He sighed, not knowing what else to say and he heard her chair move which indicated that she was about to leave.
"Sar, wait," he pleaded and the emotion in his voice affected her more then she had thought possible. Why was it that Warrick Brown could affect her with only his voice now? What the hell was changing between them? His next statement brought her back to reality.
"How long are we going to have to follow these rules?" he asked her and she turned around despite her better judgement, forcing him to look at her.
"Until we fix this," she told him, reminding Warrick of what he told her in that interrogation room only hours before and he gave her a small smile.
"Bye, Sidle," he said to her, not looking at her anymore because there was something in her eyes that both confused and scared him.
"Bye," she replied, walking away from him before she forgot all about her self imposed rules.
Several days later Sara found herself in the break room, ready to go home after having just finished a case and a shift. When the door opened she didn't need to turn around to see who it was, she felt it. Whenever he was near her she would feel it before she saw him.
"Hey, Rick," she greeted him and he walked past her, opening up his own locker which was right next to hers.
"Hey," he said, avoiding her eyes and making sure that he kept a respectable distance.
"So, how's Tina?" she asked him and she saw him tense up.
"She fine, working the nightshift," he told her in a casual manner, one that sounded fake to the both of them.
"Good," she said while nodding, the same tone in her voice.
She was about to leave when his voice stopped her and she stayed where she was, her back to him.
"Sara, do you really think these rules are working?" he demanded to know from her and she took a deep breath before she replied in a serious tone.
"They must work, War. They have to," she told him, sounding desperate and it took all his self control to not walk over to her and turn her around so he could see her. At least see her, the absence of her had been driving him crazy. She was there, working with him, in the same room with him but she never really was. She was almost like a ghost, one that he couldn't see and never touch.
"I hate them," he announced with venom. "I hate these stupid rules and the fact that Tina has no idea what is going on. I hate the fact that I come home every single day and kiss her while I see you in my head. I hate the fact that I tell myself to stop thinking about you but nothing works. I hate this and these idiot rules are not doing anything to make it easier!"
His voice became louder with every word that came out of his mouth and during his speech she had turned around, unable to stop herself, needing to see him. She had missed them, those eyes that were looking at her now. Full of frustration and anger and something else, something that made her heart beat faster while her mind screamed at her to turn around and forget about him.
"I hate this too," she finally admitted, the words leaving her mouth despite of her own inner objections.
"I hate that I don't see my buddy Warrick anymore," she continued, a tired slump in her shoulders, one that told him that she had fought the same battle that he had fought the last couple of days and like him, she had lost. "I hate that you're the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and that I actually miss you while you're standing right next to me because of these retarted rules that I invented. But most of all I hate that we can't stop this."
Her voice became a whisper and she took one step towards him.
"Why can't we stop this, Rick?" she asked him and he matched her movement, standing so close to her now that he could feel the heat radiating from her body.
"I don't know," he told her honestly. "I do know that we're breaking rule one and two."
That got a little smile out of her but she kept his gaze, made no move to distance herself from him. "We're also breaking rule three," she pointed out. "This is in no way work related."
"Not really, huh?" he asked her, tucking some hair behind her ear and she leaned into his caress while shaking her head to answer his question.
"This is wrong," she told him, trying to convince the both of them.
"I know," he said, and she could tell by the look in his eyes that he really did know.
"Right," she confirmed and for a while neither of them moved.
"Right," he finally replied and he was about to step away when she stopped him.
"I'm about to break rule four," she told him and she could see that he understood what she was trying to say but he stayed where he was, did not move away from her and she gave in to her emotions. She let herself feel for once because this was stronger then her mind. Stronger then everything she ever felt before.
Warrick knew that he was in trouble, he knew that he had to get away but his feet didn't move. His eyes never left hers and when her face neared his he did nothing to stop her. He allowed her to kiss him.
Tbc...
