"The Underdog"
Couples: Sara/Warrick and a little bit of Grissom/Catherine
Rating: It depends on your part. But now K
Summary: 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.
A/N: Thanks to all of you who have reviewed so far! Enjoy! Love LJ xXx
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Chapter Three ( lemonjelly )- o -
Warrick surveyed her pleading eyes and sighed heavily. He knew, better than most, that being in love – and futile, hopeless love – would make a person do ridiculous things, dream up insane situations and hang on to fruitless beliefs. He knew that. And he knew how much it hurt to have reality slapped into your face, shattering all those fragile ideals. But he also knew when to let go; he'd learnt that gambling, or rather, giving up gambling. Sara, it seemed, had not.
"I don't know what to say, Sara," he murmured quietly.
"Say yes." she urged immediately, grasping his arm with both hands – begging, silently, begging. He winced at the desperation etched into her face and shook his head slowly.
"You know this is a bad idea. I can't let you do it," he told her, as gently as possible. He wished he'd looked away and hadn't seen the way that bitter heartbreak showed itself upon her face. She closed her eyes briefly, took a breath and tensed her jaw to stop her lower lip from trembling.
"You're right," she said hollowly. "You're right, of course, you're right." She sank down into the sofa beside him, releasing her grip on his arm and hugging her knees close to her body. "He never did, did he? He never cared."
"No – Sara – I didn't mean that," he insisted. "He did care – he does care, but just not like you do."
Sara gave a short, sharp laugh. "You don't know that." she muttered bitterly. And then another thought occurred to her and she turned to him.
"Does Catherine care about you?" Sara asked him. "Like you do? Does she care?"
"No." he replied defensively and then, letting himself think about it, added: "I don't...I don't know."
Sara nodded slowly, pulling her arms tighter around herself, and repeated his words in a whisper, "I don't know...I don't know." Then she seemed to take in what he'd said and looked up, earnestly. "Don't you want to know?"
"Sara..."
"Just to find out? Come on, 'Rick! I thought you were a criminalist!"
"What's that got to do with anything?" he said with a grin at her apparently random argument.
"That you'll stop at nothing for the truth," she reasoned and paused before adding, "Even if you don't like what you find."
Warrick looked at her. She was staring ahead of her at the faceless wall, resigned and remote.
"Okay, Sara." he relented, heavily. She'd made her case and won him over. "Okay – just to find out. But don't let this get out of hand. If they don't react how we'd want them too, or if they don't react at all, don't take it too hard."
"I won't," she nodded eagerly and smiled broadly at him. "I promise. And the same to you."
"Okay," he grinned at her enthusiasm and wrapped her up in a hug. "Okay."
Night-time cast distorted shadows into his living room and he considered her with the kind of affection you can only get from knowing someone for years. They were in the same boat together, he knew just how she felt and how she hurt.
"Listen, stay the night." he offered. "We might as well go in together tomorrow morning and start out properly."
"I like the way you think, Brown." she said, yawning. He smiled at her.
"See?" he murmured. "We'll be alright." And covered her over with a blanket, falling asleep on the sofa with her.
-
Catherine inspected the hangnail on her right hand and tried to even it out as she stretched out across the couch in Grissom's office.
"You know, I think it's all settled down now," she spoke up absently and Gil looked up from his desk, putting down his pen.
"You think?" he asked, knowing exactly what she was talking about.
Catherine shrugged. "I mean – I expected Sara to be pissed at us, or upset, even if we never wanted that – it was unavoidable, really. But she seems cool about it now." Catherine paused before continuing, "I never thought Warrick would be as mad as he was though."
"Didn't you?" Grissom raised his eyebrows.
"Should I have done?" asked Catherine. "I didn't realise he and Sara were that close; I didn't think that her being upset would affect him that badly."
Grissom tipped his head to one side, narrowing his eyes slightly. "I don't think that's all that upset him, Cath."
"Huh?"
"You never realised he cared a lot about you?" Grissom asked her, getting up from his desk to perch on the sofa beside her. "Even I knew, and you know how terrible I am at reading these sorts of things."
Catherine smiled briefly. "I didn't know... He was always Warrick, and that's it." Catherine said, slowly and carefully. "With you it was..."
"It was?" he prompted when she trailed off. Catherine grinned.
"It was different. It always will be different," she said. Gil smiled and, in drawing her close to him to kiss, neither of them noticed the pair outside who got down from the same car in the parking lot, idly wondering if anybody would pick up on it.
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Warrick leant against the table in the break room and watched as Sara fixed herself some coffee.
"So how exactly are we going to do this?" he asked her quietly in the empty room. She shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know – improvise, I guess." she suggested and flashed a smile back at him. The smile quickly vanished, however, when she noticed Grissom wandering down the corridor from his office, intently reading some case notes as he walked.
"He's coming," she hissed and beckoned him over. Warrick obliged and stood in front of her, his back to the glass doors.
"Now what?" he prompted. Sara rolled her eyes exasperatedly at him and he impulsively slid his arms around her waist, holding her to him. Sara reciprocated and, hugging him tightly, carefully watched their supervisor over the top of Warrick's shoulder.
"He's still too busy reading his damn notes," she observed quietly.
"Did it ever occur to you just how ridiculous this is?" he muttered into her ear.
Sara arched an eyebrow at him. "Someone once told me that love made you ignore things so maybe you could just give that a shot," she replied sharply.
He laughed. "Okay, okay." He watched her watch Grissom over his shoulder and noticed the way her eyes narrowed slightly when she was concentrating, the way she bit down on her lip a little and the way her hair smelt.
"Perhaps if you got down on one knee right now he might just notice," she remarked dryly. Warrick stayed silent.
"Maybe we need something less subtle." she mused out loud.
"Fine." Warrick murmured. "If it's less subtle you want..." And he leant down and kissed her, long, deep and slow.
Taken completely by surprise, Sara found herself suddenly very lost standing there, eyes closed, off balance. Warrick drew back and grinned impishly at her.
"...Less subtle you're gonna get." he said softly. Sara didn't smile though. She only looked at him in shock and curiosity. The full extent of what she'd actually asked him to do by taking part in this whole insane charade with her hadn't actually hit home until that moment.
Warrick realised what was crossing her mind as she stood staring at him, dazed and confused, and he cringed slightly. "I'm sorry Sara." he apologised hurriedly. "Was that too far? Too fast? You said you wanted..."
"He's gone." she cut him off quietly.
"Huh?" Warrick frowned.
"He's gone." Sara repeated, nodding over his shoulder. Warrick turned around, not letting go of his arms around her waist. The corridor outside, where Grissom had previously been wandering, lost in his work as they'd been lost in each other, was now empty.
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TO BE CONTINUE...