What Old Friends Are For
Rating: PG
Pairing: Sara/Warrick
Spoilers: None
Feedback: Makes my day
Disclaimer: If it was in the show, it's not mine.
Archive: At my site Checkmate , Fanfiction.net; anywhere else, please ask.
Summary: Warrick receives a call for help from an old friend.
Notes: For the LiveJournal Writer’s Choice “Old Friends” challenge.
Pulse
pounding, slick-palmed, Warrick burst into the Desert Palm ER, having made the
trip from his place in half the normal journey time; all because of the voice
on the other end of the phone line, the voice he hadn’t heard in almost four
years.
He’d been
asleep, but two words had had him wide awake. “It’s me.”
The voice
had been unsure, shaky, just as it had been the last time he’d heard it, when
she’d told him that she had to leave Vegas, because there was him, and there
was Grissom, and she didn’t know how she felt and it was just too hard. He’d
been too proud to beg her to stay; had been disappointed, but not surprised,
when she didn’t keep in touch.
Until
today.
“Where are
you?” he’d demanded, too surprised for manners, and her reply had him jumping
to his feet.
“I’m at
Desert Palm… There was an accident…”
He’d told
her he’d be right there, had been good as his word, was wondering where to look
when he heard his name. He turned, and there she was, looking nothing like he
remembered.
Her hair
was longer, curling halfway down her back, and to his experienced eye, it
looked like she’d put on some much-needed weight. She wore a pale green t-shirt
and blue jeans, her face pale and drawn, her gait stiff. He was so happy to see
her though, walking and talking and in one piece, that he was halfway to
hugging her before all that registered.
It was only
when she gasped in his arms, and not in a good way, that he let her go, looking
down at her curiously. One hand on her ribs, she smiled ruefully, perhaps even
a touch embarrassed. “Sore ribs,” she explained. “Air bag.”
He
chuckled, relieved that that was all it was. “See, this is why I never used to
let you drive,” he quipped, and she smiled too, even managing a small laugh.
Shaking his head, he reached out a hand, pushing back a lock of hair from her
face, letting his fingers linger on her cheek.
It was then
that he noticed the dark shadows under her eyes, the fading bruise on her
temple, one that couldn’t have been caused by the crash. He frowned, looked
harder, and her gaze fell as she swallowed hard. There were more marks on her
neck, and lurid red fingermarks on her arm, and
suddenly he wondered how much of her rib damage was from an air bag. “Sara…” he
began, but she cut him off, still not looking at him.
“The car
went off the road… I think I must have fallen asleep… I was driving all night,
from
“You drove
from
“I didn’t
want him to find us,” she said quietly.
He tilted
his head, wondering had he heard her wrong. “Us?”
She met his
eyes for a second, then turned around. “Carrie?” she called. “Come over here baby…”
She knelt down as she spoke, and Warrick watched in amazement as a small girl
toddled over to them, a small girl who was a miniature Sara. For an instant,
Warrick entertained an impossible thought, Sara’s next words putting paid to
that notion. “She’s two,” she said quietly, but the little girl took exception
to that.
“I nearly
three,” she said, holding out a pudgy hand with five fingers extended, looking
so serious that Warrick could only smile. “Who you?”
“I’m
Warrick,” he said, squatting down to the little girl’s level. “I’m an old
friend of your mommy’s.” Glancing at Sara briefly, he continued addressing
Carrie. “Why don’t you go back over to those toys?” he suggested. “Let me talk
to your mommy.” Carrie looked at Sara for permission, and Sara nodded, looking
after her as Warrick helped her up, gently touching the marks on her arm. “Her
father?”
Sara
nodded, tears in her eyes. “I had to get away,” she whispered. “I know it’s an
imposition… but I had nowhere else to go.”
Shaking his
head, Warrick squeezed her shoulder, running his hand down so that their
fingers intertwined. “You’re right where you belong,” he countered, and she met
his gaze then, more tears threatening.
“Maybe I
never should have left in the first place.”
“And maybe
I shouldn’t have let you go,” he said, taking another step towards her,
slipping his free arm around her waist, closing his eyes when she stepped into
him, her head resting on his shoulder. It may have been five years since she’d
been there, but it still felt like it had then; like she was meant to be there,
like she just fit.
When she
lifted her head, her eyes, as they had then, showed doubt, but this time, there
was hope there too. “What if we can’t do this?” she whispered. “I mean… where
do we even begin?”
“I don’t
know,” he admitted. “But we’re old friends Sara… that’s not a bad place to
start.”
His words
made her smile and, her arm still around his waist, she called to her daughter.
“Come on baby,” she said, extending a hand. “Let’s go home.”
The little
girl froze, grabbing Sara’s leg, her eyes showing real fear. “To Daddy?”
Sara
stiffened, and Warrick’s heart broke for them. “No,” he said, squatting down,
smiling at Carrie. “You’re gonna stay with me a while. That ok with you?”
Carrie’s
eyes were still wide. “No Daddy?”
“Your daddy can’t hurt you any more.” Warrick tightened his grip on
Sara’s hand, making the same promise to her as to Carrie, smiled when he felt
her return the pressure. “OK?” When Carrie nodded, he stood up, inclining his
head towards the door. “Let’s go.”
To his
surprise, Carrie gripped his hand, held it tight as the three of them walked
outside, into their new life. Together.