Author: Joyce

Title: Choices

Disclaimer: Nope, they are still not mine and if they really were...I would never make them this sad.

Note: Thank you all for the huge response to the first chapter. This story is flowing so easily, this is the first time that a story won't leave me alone until I write it. There is one more chapter to come that is almost finished so this story should be done by the end of the week. I don't want to torture you guys with angst for to long so one more chapter to go and that's it! Then I'll happily go back to my fluff. I hope you guys tell me what you think.

To little, to late

3 years later…

"Can you believe this?" Greg asked Hodges in the locker room and the lab tech shook his head in a bored manner, not really all that interested in the latest thing that Greg couldn't believe.

"Nope," he answered his co-worker with a yawn, "I always thought that Grissom would be the one to turn out the lights in this place..."

"I can't believe he just left," Greg mumbled, still shaking his head in amazement. "I wonder if Sara had anything to do with it," he pondered. "Grissom seemed to take their break up hard."

"Pfff," Hodges declared with a frown and a wave of his hand, "He should be over that by now, it was over a year ago. If you ask me, the man was just tired of us all. This lab, the people and his ex-girlfriend still working here."

"Maybe," the younger CSI mused, "I wonder who will be the new chief in town. Especially since Cath took over the swing shift. You think Nicky is up for it?"

"Who knows," Hodges said with a look in his eyes that indicated that he didn't care all that much. "It's just a new boss, I'm sure it will work out."

Greg grinned.

"You mean you'll suck up to our new boss no matter who it is?" he asked him and Hodges smiled with a nod. "Damn straight."

Behind them Nick cleared his throat and both men were startled, causing the senior CSI to smile a bit.

"You can rest assured, gossip queens," he told the pair, "Nicky is not going to be your new boss."

Greg raised his eyebrows and looked at the other two in the room.

"Do you think that maybe Sara..."

"Nope," a female voice entered the conversation and Sara stepped out from behind a row of lockers, "Not me either, I highly doubt that Grissom recommended me."

They all just nodded at that, none of them to keen to enter a conversation that involved Sara's relationship with her ex-boss.

"So," Hodges drawled, "That means there's a new player in town."

"Not really," a familiar voice answered and the door of the room opened to reveal Warrick Brown standing behind it. "Just an old player coming back. I guess Conrad got tired of me telling him what to do all the time and so he send me here to order you guys around. Ain't life grand sometimes?" he finished with a smile on his face, purposely avoiding the eyes of the only female in the room.

"You?" Nick asked with a laugh, "You will take over the night shift as supervisor?"

Warrick shrugged. "Why not?" he said with a grin. "Griss always said I was his favorite and apparently he recommended me."

"Congrats, man," Nick answered, generally happy about the turn of events. "I'm sure you'll do great." He gestured to the other men in the room. "C'mon, drama queens, we still have a case to crack."

Both Greg and Hodges followed him out of the room, talking excitedly about their new boss and how they couldn't wait to tell everybody while Warrick watched them go with a smile on his face. Knowing that he had missed them.

Meanwhile Sara hadn't moved from her spot since he had entered the room, to shocked to say or do anything. She hadn't talked to him for over three years now, she sometimes saw him coming of shift and disappearing into his car but those brief glimpses were all that she had now. She lived for those moments because sometimes he would look at her and even though it would only be a small glance she still felt vibrant and happy. In those brief moments she was finally able to forget about those long years in which she felt heartbroken and stupid.

"I never expected you to come back," she eventually said and his green eyes turned to her, looking at her in a relaxed matter.

"Yeah, life is full of surprises," he said casually and he turned around and wanted to walk away when she stopped him, placing her hand on his arm. He shivered and brushed her hand off him, turning back to her slowly.

"Don't" Warrick told her, his cool charade fading, "Just, don't."

"I missed you," she said, taking a chance and she saw a flicker of pain and anger in his eyes.

"I'm sure you have," was his response, "When did you miss me exactly, during or after your two year fling with Grissom?" He hated the fact that he sounded as frustrated as he did three years ago and she shuffled her feet to hide her guilt and looked to the ground.

"I made a mistake," she mumbled, not knowing what else to say. "I know that it's way to late and that it won't fix anything but I made a mistake. I could never love him like I loved you, no matter how hard I tried."

"Don't you dare tell me that you loved me," he hissed and she looked up at him, shocked to see the same rage in his eyes that she had seen three years ago, like the pain was still fresh.

She shook her head, "I'm sorry," she said, "I can't do that, I can't pretend, Rick. I love you, I never stopped loving you."

He turned away from her and she saw the tension in his shoulders, the barely constrained anger. "You stopped loving me the day you walked out on me," he whispered.

"I'm going to fight for you," she told him, hoping that he would allow her to do just that. "I should have done that years ago but I was stupid and afraid. Not anymore though, I love you and I know that some small part of you still loves me."

He turned around, his eyes closed and taking short, quick breaths.

"It's to late," he told her while showing her his hand. "I got married a year ago."

He watched her blink in shock and blinked himself, not getting why she was so surprised. "You didn't know?" he asked her and she just shook her head and sank down on the bench behind her, blinking back her tears. In that moment Warrick remembered that Sara Sidle never listened to gossip, a fact that hadn't changed over the years.

"What's her name?" she finally asked him and he had a loving smile on his face when he answered her. "Maddie, she's a doctor and she's...she's wonderful."

"Do you love her like you loved me?" he heard her whisper and his anger returned.

"You have no right to ask me that," he told her forcefully. "We're...you and me, we're nothing now, we have been nothing for a long time. I'm your boss and you work for me, that's it. Don't ask me that again."

She shook her head and stood up, standing in front of him and making no move to stop her tears from falling.

"Do you love her like you loved me?" Sara said stubbornly and Warrick took a step in her direction, hovering above her in a way that was almost threatening.

"Stop it, Sara," he told her with a voice that she hardly recognized and she flinched because she had been the one to inflict all this pain on him. That didn't stop her from wanting to know the truth however.

"Answer the question!" she almost screamed, really crying now. "Just tell me, Rick. Do you love her like you loved me?"

"No!" he desperately shouted back at her. "Are you happy now? I don't love her like I loved you. I could never love anybody like I loved you. Not even when I hate you as much as I do."

His outburst shocked her and she took a step away from him, wanting nothing more then to reach out and comfort him but she knew that she had no right to do that, he would never let her.

"But you know what," he said more calmly, "I do love her, she's smart and kind and she never betrayed me. I trust her."

"Unlike me," she mumbled and he just nodded, to tired to say anything. "I'm sorry," she continued. "I...never mind...just be happy with her."

"I will," Warrick assured her and he hesitated. "She's pregnant," he blurted out and a large part of him hated himself for the way she closed her eyes in pain while the other part shouted in joy for giving her some of the pain that she had given him when she had walked out of his life.

"Congratulations," she eventually said with a shaky smile. "On both your new job and becoming a father."

"Thank you," she heard him reply and he had already opened the door when she gave it one last shot. "She will never be me," Sara told him in a whisper and Warrick stopped and closed his eyes, wishing that he could stop loving her, wishing that he didn't care that she was hurting because of him.

He looked back at her and allowed himself to see the woman he would always love without his usual feelings of hate disturbing his vision of her and for a small amount of time it suddenly didn't hurt as much and she was just his Sara. Like she would always be.

"That's her curse," he admitted, giving her a small smile, the first one that he had given her in three long years and for a brief moment she was alive again, even if it was just for a couple of seconds. "It's also her blessing," he finished and he walked out of the room, walked away from her. Sara remained on her spot, motionless and utterly alone.

Tbc...