Hide 'n Seek

Chapter 3 or Warrick Needs Thumbtacks

A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the reviews! I'm so happy you guys like this story. Have fun with the new chapter :)

Ice cream to EllipsesBandit for being super-uber beta and helping me fix this chapter.

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Mid-October 2005

"Did I just see that? Was Sara Sidle yawning?"

"Don't tell anyone."

Warrick smirked as he continued to place photographs on the table. They stood in the layout room discussing their latest case when he noticed her trying to discreetly cover a yawn. Then she blinked her eyes as if she were trying to stay awake.

It surprised the hell out of Warrick to catch her like that; they had worked triple shifts in the past, and the sleep deprivation hadn't seemed to affect her at all.

Another yawn came from her direction. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you were tired," he commented

Sara blew out a frustrated breath. "I haven't been sleeping very well for the last two weeks."

"Insomnia?"

"No, nothing like that. Just haven't been sleeping as deeply lately. I've been waking up a couple times during the day."

Warrick understood that feeling; he slept differently after a tough case or the times when his wife wasn't next to him.

He examined a picture of the victim's body. "First you're yawning, then you admit you're tired, next thing you know, you'll be taking vacation." He didn't look up as he added, "But, you've already done that."

Shaking her head in irritation, she asked, "Why is it so hard for everyone to believe that I'm taking time off?"

"Because you've never used the fourteen weeks in your name." He scanned a file folder, reviewing some notes. "I saw you're taking off the week of Thanksgiving. You going anywhere?"

Her mouth opened, but she didn't speak. Some lines increased in her forehead as if she was concentrating on a piece of evidence, but her eyes appeared to be focused a spot on the table. She must have thought of an answer when she looked at him. "I'm going to a small town outside of Los Angeles; it's right along the coast."

"Planning to be a beach bum?"

She grinned. "The hou-," she stopped and corrected herself, "place I'm staying at is close to the beach, so yes. But there's an art gallery there that I'm looking forward to seeing."

"Sounds cool."

A loud beeping sound rang in the room. Warrick looked at his belt, but saw that it wasn't his pager going off.

"It's Wendy," Sara announced as she got up from her chair, "she's got our DNA results."

As she left Warrick remembered that Grissom was also taking time off at Thanksgiving. Come to think of it, he heard something about how Grissom wouldn't be available during that time as he would be out of town.

Nick poked his head in from the doorway. "Hey, man. Have you seen Grissom? I have some trace results for him."

"Nope," Warrick shook his head. "I didn't even know he was back."

"Yeah, his two week lecture set just finished. Just flew in this afternoon."

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"Hey, yo Sare-bear!"

Sara turned around in the hallway at Greg's booming voice. He walked to her from the A/V lab with an exceptionally wide smile. She frowned. "Sare-bear?"

"It's a nickname. You don't like it?" She didn't say a word. "Guess not. I was just wondering where you were headed to."

She looked at Greg as if he had just admitted he started listening to classical music. "I'm going to DNA."

"DNA, really. DNA lab that's located near the supply room." His expression brightened even more. "If you're heading in that direction, can you pick me up a box of gloves?"

"Why don't you get them yourself?"

"Because I'm going the opposite way; I have to head over to P.D. Please, pretty please go get some gloves for me." He gave her the big, glassy puppy-dog eyes.

Giving in to his request, she sighed, "Fine, I'll go get your stupid gloves."

"Great! Don't forget, they're right next to the swabs." With that he took off.

She shook her head at Greg's exceptionally bizarre behavior. After gathering the results from Wendy, Sara made her way to the supply room. She subtly glanced at the other labs hoping to see Grissom.

He had gone to do a two week lecture series at several universities throughout the country. While they spoke on the phone almost everyday, she hadn't known this small separation would affect her so much. She hadn't liked turning over in bed to not bump into his large, warm body. As much as she complained about his inability to walk to the hamper, her bathroom floor was too clean without his pile of dirty clothes. And as shallow as it sounded, she missed his homemade waffles.

His flight was supposed to come in the previous morning, but many delays kept him from coming home. Finally, he got a plane out of Charlotte only to be called in on case. They hadn't seen each other since he had gotten back.

As she got to the aisle with the gloves and the swabs, her heart hammered at the sight of the man standing there.

Grissom's eyes turned the unique shade of aqua they took on whenever he saw her. "Hey," he said softly.

She took a few small steps in his direction. "Hey, yourself. What are you doing back here?"

"Greg said we were almost out of swabs, and I needed to check the new catalogue number on them." He pursed his lips at her smirk. "What?"

She was now within inches of him, and the scent of his soap made it harder to think. "Greg asked me to get him a box of gloves."

"Really?" He leaned in close enough so she could feel his breath on her face.

She didn't get a chance to respond as his lips met her own. Though, Grissom interrupted the moment when he decided to speak. "Remind me to thank Sanders," he mumbled against her chin.

"Just shut up."

They spent the next several moments involved in slow, languorous kisses. She couldn't get enough of the flavor of his mouth; he tasted like freshly baked sugar cookies.

Sara kept one hand in his soft curls while the other traveled the length of his broad back. Grissom's arms were firmly wrapped around her waist, keeping her as close as possible. The pace slowed down to a few gentle pecks, and finally they just rested against each other.

Her head eventually cleared, and she remembered their firm agreement that they would never be affectionate at the lab. "We should probably get back to work," she murmured in his ear.

Then Grissom did something horrible; so completely vile and foul that she should have left the supply room right away. He rubbed their noses together, and spoke in a quiet voice, "I missed you."

He just had to be romantic and sweet. They could spare a minute or two more, right? She pulled his face back to her's for another kiss. Just as she trailed her fingers along his beard, someone shouted, "Jesus Christ!"

She and Grissom jerked apart to see a bright red Warrick Brown.

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If his grandmother were still alive, she would have smacked him upside the head; she didn't tolerate blasphemy. Most of the time he was good about not cursing, but when he got caught off guard, like now, the words just slipped.

Warrick had come to the supply room to get a box of thumbtacks. Nothing more. He didn't expect to find his two friends engaged in a fairly passionate kiss.

He could feel the burn of embarrassment from his hairline all the way to his neck. Sara's eyes stayed closed as if hoping the situation was some terrible dream, and her entire face had taken on a pomegranate shade. Grissom purposely avoided looking at both Warrick and Sara; he seemed more interested in a torn box that sat on the shelf next to him. But the supervisor's eyes couldn't hide the desire of a man wanting to disappear into thin air.

Warrick ignored the pounding in his ears as he hastily explained himself.

"I-I came back for…I didn't mean…N-Nick was looking…but you two were bus…and … thumbtacks." Then he swiftly bolted.

As soon as he got to the hallway, Warrick took a couple of deep breaths and put on his best poker face. He walked back to the layout trying to act as if he hadn't just seen Grissom and Sara making out.

His suspicions rose about the two when Nick said Grissom was gone for two weeks, and Sara's sleeping problems fell in the same time frame. He knew neither of them would tell anyone about their relationship unless it was necessary. Warrick was just content to see what other clues would slip out.

But did he need a blatantly obvious, permanently-engraved-in-your-brain kind of clue?

No. No, he didn't.

He was glad they were together; otherwise he would have had to call Brass to have Sara arrested for molesting the boss.

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He he he. I have to admit it; embarrassing Warrick was a blast. I think I'll do it again later… Catherine is up next and she makes an interesting discovery at the townhouse.