Do not own CSI or any of the characters.
This chapter takes place at Warrick's funeral.
Familiar Place
They held each other's hand as they walked into that church that day; to say farewell to Warrick Brown. The church was filled with people already, on that hot Nevada day as Sara and Grissom made there way down the ail, towards the front.
The whole Las Vegas Criminal Lab and Police Deportment seemed to be there to pay respects to the beloved CSI; one of their own.
On their way up to where the rest of the team sat, Sara noticed a young pretty woman holding a baby in her arms. It was Tina, Warrick's ex wife she recognized immediately and the baby she could only assume was Warrick's son, Eli. Tina looked up at that very moment and met Sara's eye. The two women seemed to have deep connection with each other at that very moment, even know they had not been formally introduced before. They both knew of each other. The eye contact only remained for a second but it was that brief second that compassion and sympathy and understanding were passed to one another.
At the front of the church stood the nightshift. Some where already seated in their seats, silently crying. Others where hugging each other in comfort and staring out to where the cassette lay. It was a closed one but they still could image his lifeless body lying within it. As Sara and Grissom approached the group, all turned towards them and swarmed them with hugs. This was some of their first time seeing Sara since she left.
No matter their differences, people had gathered on that day to celebrate the life of Warrick Brown and to say goodbye to a dear friend. The service was filled with tears, grief but also laughter, as they remember the good times.
After the service was over, the body was buried in a sunny spot beside his Grandmother. As the cassette was lowered into the ground inch by inch, Grissom reached out and took Sara's hand and gave it a squeeze. Sara quickly looked up and met his ear before letting her glace fall back down Warrick. It was in this moment that the nightshift team came together once again in grief. Still holding onto Grissom's hand, Sara with her free arm, hugged Nick who was standing beside her, tears falling down his cheeks. Nick wrapped his arms around Sara's waist and buried his face into her neck.
On the other side, Grissom had his arm wrapped around Catherine's shoulder, who eyes where shining with tears as the cassette reached it final resting place, six feet under. Catherine's hand was holding Greg who was standing on her other side of her. Brass was standing beside Greg who had an arm around him, a hand resting on the officer's shoulder, comforting him. They stood like this in a line, linked together, saying goodbye to their friend.
After the funeral was over, there was a small get together being held at Catherine's house. Food and drinks where being served there. The conversations going around where all fond memories of Warrick. "Remember the time when…." "Warrick did this…." "The look on Warrick's face was a classic when….." Warrick might have made his mistakes every now and then but that didn't matter. His kindness, his attitude towards life, his easy going matter was what was remembered by his beloved friends and family.
"Hey there you are," spoke Sara as she stepped outside, onto the back porch of Catherine's house. She smiled at Grissom who was swinging back and forth on the porch swing. He met her eye as she came towards him, sitting down beside him on the wooden swing.
"I thought you could use this," she explained to him, handing him over a small shot glass of whiskey, his favourite.
"Thank you," he spoke softly taking the glass from Sara's hand and meeting her glace. They smiled at one another for a brief second, as their fingers brush slightly against each other. Even know there was a saddest in the air, there was also a sense of peace. Warrick was finally in a happy place somewhere they concluded. He was no longer among them but he was overall in a better place, where he wasn't being accused of something or another.
Grissom closed his eyes, raising the edge of the glass to his lips. In one fluid motion he titled his head back and drank the ruby liquor. It burned the back of his throat but it was a satisfying feeling. Placing the now empty shot glass on the railing of the porch, he turned to Sara and pulled her into his arms, back into that familiar place.
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