Pairing: Warrick/Sara
Notes: For the LiveJournal CSI100 Martina McBride challenge -- Mark Wills gets 6 drabbles in a series, she gets ten, because I've loved her longer!

She knows what the gossip around the CSI lab says, knows that there are people who smirk every time she and Warrick work a case together. Knows that people see how good he is with her daughter, and think it's because he wants to take the place of her father, rather than the fact that he's just naturally good with kids.

They all think that he's in love with her, but a woman knows when a man's in love with her, and Catherine knows, like she knows her own name, that she's not the CSI that Warrick is interested in.

>*<*>*<

He's not sure when he fell in love with her.

It was after the dive on Blue Diamond Road, after they almost literally came to blows over the Berlin brothers case, he knows that; probably somewhere between watching a pig burn all night, dipping chainsaws into paint and walking through storm drains in search of a shower curtain.

He didn't mind so much about the crush on Grissom, but it was when she began dating Hank that he realised he was in deep, but that she only thought of him as a friend.

It's a great disguise, but not enough.

>*<*>*<

She doesn't know what pushes her over the edge. It's not something he said, or something he did, like forgetting she's a vegetarian and ordering her to clean up a ground beef experiment. It's not him telling her to get a life, then giving her the cold shoulder when she does. It's not even him turning down her invitation to dinner.

All she knows is that she's tired of pining after Gil Grissom, tired of watching him hoping for some sign that he's interested in her as more than a co-worker. The time has come for her to move on.

>*<*>*<

They never used to have these girly conversations, but after Hank, it became a habit of theirs, one neither wants to break. One thing that amuses Catherine hugely is that Sara becomes quite loquacious after a few glasses of wine, holds forth about all manner of things.

Tonight she comes out with something surprising, that she's over Grissom. Catherine wants to ask when was she under him, but knows better than to, wondering instead if she can steer her in the direction of another CSI friend of theirs.

She's got two more bottles of wine to go, and she's hopeful.

>*<*>*<

He sees the wariness in her eyes when she sees him there, knows that Catherine didn't tell her who she was being set up with. He half-expects her to run, but she doesn't, sits down, lets him talk. Lets him tell her how Catherine talked him into this too, how he doesn't think it's a bad idea, how he thinks that they could work together. By the end of the meal, he feels like he could be getting somewhere, especially when she points out that he could be wasting his time.

He shrugs in reply. "It's my time."

She smiles.

>*<*>*<

They've been dating for months now, and she knows that he's in love with her. It's in the way he looks at her, in the little things he does for her. Everyone around the lab has accepted they're a couple; his grandmother adores her. Their friends are planning their wedding, and she's terrified. Because she can't see the future that everyone else can, though she can't see one without him either.

"Doesn't it bother you?" she asks him. "That I'm not as sure about us as you?"

He shrugs, just like that first date. "One day you will."

She smiles.

>*<*>*<

She never knew the drive from the CSI lab to Desert Palms was so long, but she feels like she's aged a thousand years by the time she gets there, and that's with Nick racing at eighty miles an hour.

She never knew that time could pass so slowly, but every minute in the waiting room feels like an hour, and she doesn't draw a decent breath until she sees him lying bruised and bandaged, but alive, in his hospital bed.

Tears come to her eyes, and she runs to him without speaking, just holding him, thankful that he's safe.

>*<*>*<

He has a hell of a headache, one leg encased in plaster, a couple of ribs are broken, and his bruises have bruises. But none of those injuries cause anything like the pain he feels when Sara walks into the hospital room. Tears come into her eyes and he wants to tell her that he's fine, but he doesn't get a chance - she's in his arms before he can speak.

She pulls back, caresses his cheek, and says something that makes everything all right.

"I love you."

It's the first time she's ever said the words, and he smiles.

>*<*>*<

There's a smile on Sara's face that Catherine's never seen the like of before, and she's pretty sure that there's something special behind it. Sara's been smiling plenty since she started dating Warrick; something Catherine takes full credit for, and she's been smiling even more since he came home from the hospital.

But this is different and Catherine can't help herself, she has to ask. "What has you such a happy girl?"

Sara looks around her and, seeing the break room empty, doesn't reply; not in words anyway.

She just holds out her left hand and smiles.

So does Catherine.

>*<*>*<

He never thought he'd be here, though for the longest time, it's the only place he's wanted to be. Here with her in her long white gown, in front of their families, their friends, promising to love one another always. He can see their future, their children, grandchildren, looks forward to sharing the rest of his life with her, and when he looks into her eyes, he knows she's seeing the same thing.

All eyes are on them as they dance their first dance to "When You Are Old" but he doesn’t notice.

All he can see is her smile.

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