Warrick Brown stood at the bar, waiting patiently for the waitress to hand him the drinks he ordered. Three of them slid across the counter to him, and he paid her before picking them up and making his way through the crowded room back to his table. He set the drinks out in front pf Don, Detective Nick Stokes and his own seat before leaning back and putting both feet on a vacant chair.
"Don; Nick. Nick; Don." Warrick viewed introductions as simply names. The conversations would reveal plenty, besides all he knew about Don was that it was his girl's half-brother and his wife had cancer or… something.
"Yo, Nick." The New York accent was thick.
"Hey, Don." But the southern one was thicker.
Nick cocked his head to the side. "How do you know Warrick?"
Don took a swig of his beer and wiped the froth from his lips before answering. "I don't, actually. Cath introduced us and asked Warrick to get me out of the house. I'm her half-brother."
"Didn't know she had any siblings."
Don shrugged. "Well… I'd only known her until I was 15, but we kept in touch some through the years."
"I'm glad she's welcomed you like this. I thought she would have harbored something against her father's other offspring." Nick sipped at his mixed drink as he spoke.
"You're weird, Nicky." Warrick shot a glance at his friend.
"Just looking out for your girl." Nick smiled sheepishly as he reached over and placed his hand on Don's. "Hope it doesn't bother you that Cath did tell us what's going on. If you need anything, the whole lab is willing to help. Friend of a friend in need, by word of a friend… never mind. Yeah, if you need anything… you know where to find us."
Don half smiled at Nick. "Thanks, man… it means a lot to me and my wife."
Warrick gathered their empty glasses and headed back to the bar for another round as Don stared out the window at the bright Vegas strip. "It's so… flat. I thought nothing could get flatter than Manhattan… but I swear I was wrong by a lot."
Nick nodded. "Depressing after a while. And when you escape the city, the only unflatness is the sand dunes and cacti."
Don raised an eyebrow. "The improper unflatness and the vocabulary plural cacti in the same sentence?"
"I'm a crazy scientist." Nick grinned.
"I do declare." Warrick announced in an accent that would have easily passed for an elderly woman with a thick southern drawl. He sat back down and slid over as a small woman with dark hair and wearing a crime lab tee joined them. "Don, this is Sara. She works with us… there." He lazily indicated the insignia on the shirt and smiled.
Sara nodded. "Pleasure. You're Catharine's brother?"
"Yeah. Half-brother and I haven't seen her in forever, love her just the same."
"Cool." Sara whispered smoothly. "You all wanna get out of here and find something exciting to do?"
"…Like?" Warrick coaxed.
"I dunno. Go home and sleep?"
Nick stared at her in horror. "I'm off tomorrow and you want to sleep?"
Warrick shook his head. "Let's go to Cath's place and play some rounds of poker. Maybe Don's wife would like a distraction as well."
Nick jumped up eagerly. "Sounds better than sleep!"