Song: What Do You Want

Artist: Jarrod Niemann

Characters: Warrick Brown/Catherine Willows

Now tell me, what do you want? What do you want from me?

Are you tryin' to bring back the tears or just the memories?

You keep takin' me back, takin' me back where I've already been.

When we hang up it's almost like I'm losing you again

Of The Heart

She's pissed. He knows it, mainly because the glare she's been sending his way makes him suddenly shift in his seat and he grips the steering wheel a little tighter. It must be something he said because as he wracks his mind trying to remember dates he comes up with nothing. It's not her birthday, or anyone else's for that matter and soon the silence begins to drive him wild.

"Something wrong?" he asks carefully. The last thing he wants is to start a war in this car, mostly because he knows he won't be the one that wins. Catherine, for a moment, stares straight ahead as if she hadn't heard his question but as he opens his mouth to ask again she sniffs slightly and flicks her arctic gaze in his direction.

"No. Why would you think that?" despite the little voice in his head telling him not to answer he rolls his eyes and scoffs.

"Why? You've been pouting since we got in the car. You're acting like I kicked your dog or something!" his voice is loud, almost a shout and Warrick visibly cringes as her face scrunches up in obvious anger. She laughs dryly, false amusement hidden within.

"You just don't get it do you?" she shakes her head as if the answers right under his nose. "I'm tired of waiting around for you to make up your mind, it's exhausting. One minute it's me you're begging for and I feel like maybe I actually mean something to you and the next I show up and all I can see is that." She points to the gold band encircling his finger, glinting slightly in the mid afternoon sun. All at once the answers to his questions come flooding into his mind.

"If all you wanted was a way into my bed then maybe I'm the one to blame for being so naïve." She mutters under her breath. Warrick whips his head around so fast he's surprised he doesn't end up with whiplash. He brings the car to a stop, right on the edge of the dirt road and turns his body towards her.

"The last thing I wanted to do was hurt you," he says, and then a long pause interrupts his next words. He's not sure what to say, everything that's running through his mind sounds like something out of a movie, rehearsed and emotionless. He draws a deep breath and tries again.

"Look Cath, when I met Tina she was a distraction. Every day I had someone that was living and breathing that I could come home to. Her mind wasn't infected by what we see every day; it's still her that's in control of her dreams." He looked deep into her blue eyes just to see if she was following him. He's somewhat shocked that they're moist with tears. He reaches out and grasps her hand tightly in his own, her skin is ice cold.

"I am one of the most selfish men I know," he says, "I didn't let myself fall in love with you because I wasn't ready for the commitment of being with somebody who knows what's out there. The nightmares, they scare me... because I don't know what to do. And when you cry… I feel so useless. Sex is easy babe, but love is something foreign to me."

Cath sniffles and wipes her eyes with her free hand, glancing down at her lap. She feels dirty and used, and all her trust has been diminished. At the same time she still wants to hang on to the fact that nobody's ever looked at her the way Warrick does, nobody touches her like he does and that's what makes her mad. She'll never find someone else that can make pain go away like he can.

"We need to go," she says softly, "Grissom will be mad." She pulls her seatbelt back on and faces forward, ignoring the frustrated sigh coming from the man beside her.

"Cath come on, we're not done." He reaches out and puts a hand on her shoulder but she instantly shrugs it off and leans away.

"There's nothing to talk about, let's go." The hint of desperation in her voice is the only thing that keeps Warrick from trying to convince her to speak to him and he turns the ignition and the car gently begins moving forward.

He lets his eyes wash over her once more and suddenly he feels sick to his stomach. He's done it, he's driven away the one person he needs the most in his life and right now he has no way to get her back. He looks down at his hand, sighs and twists the ring off his finger. He doesn't want reminders of his mistakes.