"The Underdog"
Couples: Sara/Warrick and a little bit of Grissom/Catherine
Rating: It depends on your part. But now KSummary: Sara and Warrick discover Catherine and Grissom are together but, in trying to make them jealous, they slowly fall in love. Set after Season 5 with the team back together again.
Little note: Thanks to all the reviewers, for the Sara/Warrick fans ( Jenuine, lemonjelly, Joyce3, Kelly and WSShippeR ) and to all the others...
Chapter two
This Chapter was made by Joyce3 , the author of Better Memories , The Consequences of Flirting and short WS ficlets, the last one Crawling, Drinking and Promises .
Sara and Warrick walked out of the CSI building, heading towards their car.
They were silent, both lost in their own little worlds. Warrick couldn't shake the bitterness he felt whenever he thought of Catherine and Grissom together. But he didn't quite understand why he felt this way. He didn't love Cath, he was certain of that. He was attracted to her, yes. He just...he had always thought that someday they would become more then friends. That maybe she was the one he could finally love. He had just lost a chance to love someone and a little voice inside his head told him that
maybe he would never find real love. Turning to look at Sara he noticed that she had a distant look in her eyes, a look he knew as the Grissom look and he felt sorry for her. He may have been attracted to Catherine but Sara really loved Grissom. He just hoped that she would come out of this ok. He tried to get her attention.
"You know, I missed working with you, Sidle."
That got her attention, she turned to him. A genuine smile on her face.
"Why, did you have trouble solving your cases without me?"
He smirked, having missed their playful banter.
"No, It's just...I think there's a little teacher in me. I love explaining things to you."
She nudged him in the ribs before she got into the car. He laughed before he
joined her and the trip to their crime scene was spend talking about their holidays. A pleasant atmosphere in the car. Working together again was easy.
They had always been able to work together well, except for their bad start. They challenged each other, had different methods of working but they made the perfect team together and Warrick found that he really had missed working with her.
At the end of his shift he found her in the locker room, looking somewhat disappointed when she saw him coming in.
"I'm sorry, am I not the hunk you expected?" he asked. A lopsided grin on his face.
She shook her head. "Nope, sorry. I'm sure you're somebody's hunk but I was waiting for Grissom."
Warrick flinched, he just came from Grissom's office and he knew that he had
already left. With Catherine. He tried to hide his reaction from her, not wanting to hurt her. Not wanting to be the one to tell her.
"That hurts, being passed over for my older boss. Thanks Sidle."
She grinned. "Don't take it personally. So, have you seen him?"
He told her a little white lie. "You just missed him, he left a half an hour ago. But hey, I'm free. Wanna grab some breakfast?"
He saw the disappointment in her eyes and then she nodded. "Thanks Warrick, breakfast would be nice."
They were sitting in their favorite spot in the diner, a place were all CSI's would often come to have breakfast and relax after a rough shift. Sara mused that she almost never came here alone with Warrick though. She liked him, he was a good man and a good friend. But usually he wasn't the kind of man who took you to breakfast. Warrick would take you to lunch during a shift, happily. But the man loved his free time and most of the times he was gone after shift ended. Happy to live in his own world before work occupied all of his thoughts again. Today there was something different about him though. He was looking at her strangely, like he wanted to protect her from something and she had no idea what.
"Warrick," she asked. "Are you ok?"
He looked up from his food, surprised that she had picked up on his mood.
Maybe she knew him better then he had thought.
"I'm fine," he said and he knew that he really was. Right now he was just worried about her. He would get over the thought of Grissom and Catherine together but he wasn't sure that she would.
"Are you?" He asked.
She nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I've made some decisions and now I just have to find the courage to execute them."
He played with the food on his plate, not wanting to look at her. "Do your decisions have anything to do with Grissom?"
She smiled. "I don't wanna play this cat and mouse game anymore, Warrick. I'm tired of it. I've been chasing him for five years now. This time I'm going to corner him. See if he really wants me. If he does, great. But if he doesn't..."
She paused. "Well, then at least the chase is finally over."
He looked at her, a strange look in his eyes. A mixture between pain and concern.
"I don't know what to tell you, Sara. Be careful, ok?"
He stood up, after making sure that he left enough money to cover both of their meals. She stopped him, grabbing his hand.
"What do you mean, Warrick?"
He shook his head, indicating that he wasn't going to tell her and then he squeezed her hand in a friendly gesture that touched her.
"If it doesn't work out...Would you just promise that you'll make an effort to find yourself again?"
She blinked. "Find myself?"
He smiled at her. It was a sad laugh but it was also strangely comforting.
"Yes," he said. "You've been lost in him for far too long now."
Then he was gone, leaving her to ponder his words.
The next day
Sara walked into the break room, ready for a new day. Hoping to finally talk to Grissom. The words that Warrick had spoken to her still haunted her. She wasn't lost in Grissom she told herself. She was her own person who just happened to love someone. But a small part of her was starting to doubt that. Was this really love? Or was it the chase she was in love with? Wanting the unattainable. She was interrupted by Nick and Warrick coming in. The last one looking at her warmly, smiling at her. He sat down next to her.
"I'm sorry for leaving you like that yesterday. Are you mad?"
She wasn't mad, she was just worried. His words had caused a feeling of dread inside her. She had a feeling that her whole world would fall apart pretty soon and she had no idea what to do about it.
"I'm not mad," she whispered. "I do think you're a little weird though."
Nick grinned, having heard the last part of their conversation.
"Join the club, Sara."
Before Warrick could defend himself Grissom and Catherine walked in. Both of them looking nervous once they spotted the three people in the room. Grissom cleared his throat, looking at Catherine for support.
"Guys, before we start working today..we...I mean...Catherine and I wanna tell you something. We've been hiding this for some time now since we wanted to give this a chance. See were it was going..."
He paused, not sure how to continue. Warrick just looked at Sara, knowing what she was about to hear. Wishing that he could somehow erase some of the pain she was about to feel. Meanwhile, Nick was clueless.
"Griss, what are you talking about?"
Catherine took over.
"Me and Grissom, we're an item. We have been for some time now. We didn't wanna tell you guys because we didn't know were it was headed but now...It's serious and we figured that you guys deserved to know."
Warrick watched Sara, saw all the colour leaving her face and then she was running out of the break room. Him right behind her, only pausing to look at Grissom who was watching her leave with a painful expression on his face.
"I never meant to hurt her Warrick, I really didn't."
The younger man nodded. "I know," he said before he followed Sara. He found her in the locker room, staring blankly ahead. He approached her carefully and when he sat down in front of her he saw that there were tears in her eyes.
"You knew, didn't you? You tried to warn me yesterday but I wouldn't listen..."She blinked. "Why wouldn't I listen, Warrick?"
He reached up to hold her and felt her clinging to him, felt her crying.
"Because love makes you ignore things sweetie. It's gonna be ok, I promise.
We're going to be fine."
"We?" she said.
He nodded. "Yes, we. I'll be here for you. For as long as you need me."
She hugged him again. "Thank you Warrick. Thank you so much."
The next weeks were spent in a haze for Sara. She came to work, did her job, went trough the day. And then there was Warrick, always there was Warrick.
He was there when she wanted to cry, when she wanted to scream, he made her laugh. He quickly became this drug she couldn't live without. She needed a doss of him to get trough the day. But still she couldn't get Grissom and Catherine out of her mind. Couldn't believe that she had lost the man who she believed to be her true and only love. And over the last week an idea had slowly formed in her mind. She just needed Warrick to be ok with it.
Warrick came home surprised to find Sara at his doorstep. She had been to his house often in the last couple of weeks but he never found her waiting on his doorstep.
"Sidle, what are you doing here?"
She stood up, a strange look of determination in her eyes.
"I need your help."
He went inside his house, her following him.
"What are you talking about?"
Sara sat down on his couch, hoping he would listen to her.
"Listen to me, ok? Hear me out. I want to see if we can make them jealous. So I was thinking that maybe we could pretend to be a couple. See how they would react."
He blinked.
"Sara, have you gone mad now? Let it go, sweetie. Why would you do that?"
She was almost crying.
"I just wanna know if he ever cared about me, Warrick."
He was silent, just looking at her.
"Please, Warrick. Help me."
He stood there. Not knowing what to do.
TO BE CONTINUE...