Title: No Green Eyes

Fandom: CSI

Pairing: Sara/Warrick, mentions Warrick/Tina, Warrick/Catherine

Rating: PG

Word Count: 951

Spoilers: Up to 6x01

Prompt: 18 Green

Warrick never rushes anywhere, so to say that he skids to a stop as he passes the locker room would be exaggerating somewhat. Nonetheless, he does stop, not sure of why at first. Then his brain registers what the corner of his eye was quicker to discern – that the one he’s been looking for is in the locker room, and more than that, she is alone.

Looking left and right, he turns slowly, steps inside the room, almost closing the door behind him. “Sara,” he says slowly, and she turns to face him, a curious look on her face. “Can I have a word?”

“Sure,” she says, lips curving up into the Sara-smile that he knows so well. The sight of it brings back a hundred memories, knocking him off his stride, and he’s pondering how best to begin the conversation when it dawns on him that she’s said something else. “Congratulations.”

Sara is grinning at him, and it looks as sincere as any smile she ever flashed at him in the past. But Warrick knows Sara, and he knows how good an actress she is. Still, for a moment at least, he’s happy to take the pass. “You heard,” he says, relaxing a little, and she laughs, leaning her right shoulder against the bank of lockers.

“Good news travels fast,” she replies. “Though don’t think I’m not pissed that you didn’t invite me… kind of depreciates the value of the gift, you know?”

Warrick shifts on his feet: even though he knows she’s joking, even though he’s happy he did what he did, there’s a part of him that wishes some more of the people he cares about had been there. Sara must see something of that in his face, because she looks momentarily stricken. “I’m kidding,” she says, holding up a hand. “I know why I wasn’t there…”

“It was a spur of the moment thing,” he tells her. “We didn’t want any fuss…”

“I understand,” she says, cutting across him, and as he looks into her eyes, he knows that, this time at least, she’s not acting in the slightest.

“So… you’re ok with this?” he asks, holding up his left hand, the gold band glinting in the harsh overhead light. “Really?”

Sara’s looking at him, arms crossed over her chest, a distinctively devilish grin on her face. “Warrick, who do you think I am?” she asks, and he knows what’s coming before she even says it. Still, she allows a pause, the better to give the question the effect it deserves. “Catherine?”

Warrick half-chuckles, his face twisting in a rueful grimace. “Yeah… I’m not so sure she’s happy about it.”

Sara rolls her eyes. “I know she’s not… she’s had a face like thunder since she got back here. I couldn’t figure it out until Hodges told me about you and Tina.”

“You really think that’s what it is?” Because it’s not like Warrick has tickets on himself, but he’s always thought there’s been a certain amount of tension – never acted upon – between him and Catherine. But she’s dated in the past, and so has he, but it’s never caused a problem like this before.

“Of course it is.” Sara rolls her eyes again, and this time, an unmistakeably derisive laugh accompanies the gesture. “She’s always seen you as hers… why do you think she had such a problem with me?” Warrick begins shaking his head, because he’s sure Sara is exaggerating, opens his mouth to say something, but she stops him with a wave of her hand. “And don’t tell me that no-one knew about us… she knew. Women always know.”

She’s got that Sara look that tells him she’s not backing down from this, that she’s convinced she’s right and nothing’s going to change her mind. Familiar with that look, he doesn’t even try. Instead, he sighs, takes a step closer to her. “So… you’re really ok? Because me and you… we were more than me and Cath. If anyone’s got a right to be upset…”

“Are you happy?”

The question takes him by surprise, makes him blink, but the answer comes quickly. “Yeah,” he says, and he feels a smile spreading across his face as he speaks. “Yeah, I am.”

“Then I’m happy for you.” His smile is mirrored on her face, and to his surprise – and perhaps to hers – she closes the distance between them, gives him a quick, tight hug. “Congratulations Warrick,” she says again as she steps back. “I really mean that.”

“Thank you.” His voice is low, in a tone he used to use all the time with her in private and he doesn’t miss the flush of red that sweeps across her cheeks.

“I should get back,” she says, stepping away from him, gesturing towards the door, and he steps out of her way, lets her go.

At least until she gets to the door. “Sara?” he calls, and she stops, turns to him with a quizzical look. “Are you happy?” he asks, and unlike him, she needs a moment to think about the answer.

“I’m working on it,” she tells him, and he knows that that’s more than she’ll ever admit to anyone else. He also knows that it’s more than she would have been able to say a year ago, when his sleepless nights weren’t only because he was working.

“Good…” he says. “Good… you deserve it, you know?”

She doesn’t reply to that, not verbally at any rate. But he does get a flash of that blinding Sara-smile, that smile that he’d only ever seen on a handful of occasions, never here. Then she is gone, vanished back to the lab, and, sighing, he follows her.