DISCLAIMER:Don't own anything associated with the show… I just like playing with the characters in it.

RATING: T – Teen (language and adult issues)

PAIRINGS: GSR & Yo!Bling pre-established in previous fics of this timeline.

SPOILERS: Sequel to "Displacement" and "Transitions"

SUMMARY: Everything is changing around Nick Stokes. Can he deal with it, and how it will affect him in the end?

A/N: Okay, I am in the middle of a serious panic mode... I am about to attend a very large convention for my geeky alter-ego, so this will be the only post this week. However, with the volume of time I will be spending in airports, there is like to be a flood of chapters when I get back. So, hopefully this little piece of fluff will be enough to tide you over until then. Thanks!

REVIEWS: Reviews are the way I know if people are enjoying the work or not. So, if you leave one, THANKS! And if not, I hope you found at least a little something to brighten your day, and thanks for taking the time to read.

Chapter 20

23:30 – 2006.12.08

Willow/Brown Home

The soft music of the DVD menu had cycled through at least a dozen rotations by the time Catherine stirred from where she had snuggled under his arm as they got comfortable on the couch for a movie. When she lifted her head, she heard Warrick's sharp intake of breath as he too woke up from their obvious nap.

Laughing, Catherine laid her cheek back down on his chest. "What an exciting pair we make?"

Warrick stretched his arms up over his head and let out a huge yawn. "Arrrrrrhhhhhhh… Man." He blinked his eyes a few times, lowered his arms to rest around Catherine's shoulders and kissed the top of her head. "I think it had more to do with the movie… I know it was supposed to be a great film, babe, but it's a little slow."

She chuckled a little and looked up at his face. "Yeah, I guess I shouldn't take movie recommendations from Sara, huh?"

His laughter reverberated through his chest and tickled the side of her where it rest against him. "Outside of the occasional music recommendation, Sara is not the source for anything in the realm of pop culture."

Catherine slapped lightly at his chest as she got up from the couch. "Not nice… True, but not nice."

He grabbed for the remote and ejected the DVD as he sat up and tried to stretch out his back a little more. "So, do we chance another movie… Or did you ask Grissom to recommend something?"

"Ha! You only ask for Gil's advice on the four B's." Catherine walked around the couch with their glasses and went to the kitchen.

Warrick's face betrayed his confusion, and so he had to ask, "The four B's?"

She came back out of the kitchen with a bottle of beer in each hand. "Yeah… Bugs, bodies, baseball and Bach." They both broke out into a hearty round of laughter at the truth of her words.

As she sat back down on the couch, she did so by sitting with her knees butterflied and her ankles crossed. The two took long draws off of their respective bottles and settled down from their laughter. Warrick was the first to break the new silence. "So, what did you weasel out of Grissom about this party tomorrow?"

Catherine nearly choked as she tried to finish swallowing her drink, and Warrick knew he had struck a nerve, so he just waited for her to recover. "Ah, what do you mean?"

"Oh please… Like I don't know you went straight to his office and beat him down until he spilled the beans." Warrick shrugged off Catherine's attempt to play down her interaction with Grissom. "So, what's going on, and should I be worried about those rumors that've been flyin' around about Ecklie."

"Well, I don't know what would constitute worry for you, but…" She took another drink from the bottle and then turned around on the couch, dropping her feet to the carpet before she was able to finish the sentence. When she sensed his glare set firmly into her profile she finally broke. "Okay, okay… Yes, Ecklie's being made the head of ID."

"Damn!" Warrick shook his head at the notion that someone with no talent, no loyalty and no spine could succeed in the ranks of the police department, an organization that thrives on those qualities. "So… Grissom's gonna be the AD?" He watched as she stiffened with his question, and he had to wonder why.

He did not have long to wonder. "Well… Not exactly." She glanced over at him and saw the confusion and curiosity on his face. She took in a deep breath and made ready to drop a bomb of her own. "Gil sort of recommended me for the job."

His eyes went impossibly wide with her statement and it was his turn to nearly choke, just on his own tongue. "What?"

"And for some reason, he's pretty sure they're gonna take his recommendation."

"Wow…I mean… Ah…" Catherine was becoming unsettled by his shocked response to her news.

She turned to face him again, tucking her foot under the leg sitting along the outside of the couch. "What? I need to know what you think about this."

Warrick heaved a deep breath as he processed the information he had been given. "Well, if you think you're ready, I think you should take it… Sounds like Grissom's confident in you."

Catherine jumped at his positive remark and launched into her reasoning behind her interest in the job. "It's totally different from being a supervisor, and it would be doing the things I was actually good at when I ran my own shift, and I could give a new face to CSI, really step things up and help bring us out of the basement in the rankings, and-" His laughter stopped her roll and she regarded him with a hurt expression. "What?"

He worked to stifle his laughter and then reached out for her hand. "I'm sorry… It's just you were so excited, and it kind of reminded me of somebody else." She scrunched up her face trying to figure out what he was talking about when he laughed again and said, "Yeah, that one, too… Almost the same height, same bright blue eyes, blonde hair-" His description went unfinished when she slapped his arm and brought her lower lip out in a pout.

He reached over and took the bottle from her hands and placed it with his on the end table. He turned back to her and wrapped her up into his arms before he said, "Look, I'm sorry… This is serious, but it was kind of cute to see you so excited about something, and I was pretty sure I saw a side of you that hasn't peeked out in a long time." She calmed at his explanation and settled into his embrace as he continued, "I guess I'm just sad to see it all end, the team's gettin' busted up again."

Catherine shrugged, because while she knew he enjoyed working with their team, she was the only one leaving. "Come on, baby, it's just me… It's not like the rest of the-" She stopped when she felt him tense at her explanation. She sat up and looked him dead in the eye when she asked, "What? What's going on?"

He looked down, away from her penetrating glare, and tried to form the words. He knew there was more to the whole thing than even Catherine was aware of, and he was the one who was going to have to break it to her. "Well… Ah, I um, had some lunch with ah, Sara and Steph this week and ah." He looked up and when their eyes met, he knew he had to come clean. "Sara's gonna be movin' to Days come the first of the year."

Her reaction was instantaneous. "You're fucking kidding me?" When she saw her answer on his face she could not help but shake her head. "That little cockroach! Scurrying around in the dark, giving me half the story like that. I'm gonna kill him!"

Warrick smirked at her response and said, "Somehow, I don't think that would help."

"Yeah, well I'm still gonna give him a piece of my mind about this tomorrow." She reached over him to retrieve her beer and sat back on the couch to enjoy it as she took the last drink.

Warrick watched as she drained the bottle of the last drop, with her long neck exposed as she drank. It amazed him at the many different things that would catch his gaze. When he finally looked away, he found her staring at him with a dangerous smile. He blushed at being caught in the act, which only gave liberation to her laughter.

His blush deepened and she finally took pity on the man when she leaned in to drop the bottle back on the table with her hand planted in his chest. Lifting back to look at him once more, she found his emerald eyes sparkling with something she had become intimately familiar with in the last months. She smirked and asked, "Should I be worried that you orchestrated this little weekend trip of Lindsey's with an ulterior motive?"

"Worried? Nah…" His right hand began to trail up her thigh, slowly, when he practically growled the words, "Just a very nice side effect."