Sleepless Nights
Pairing: Warrick/Sara
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None
Notes: For the LiveJournal warricksara “sleep” challenge.
If there is one thing that people always knew about Sara Sidle, it was that she could get by on little or no sleep.
They knew that, but they didn’t know why.
Didn’t know about the ghosts that haunted her dreams, making her toss and turn restlessly until she woke with a start, body trembling, throat raw from screams.
They didn’t know that she would give anything to sleep properly, to be able to lie down, close her eyes, and drift off into peaceful slumbers.
They didn’t know she couldn’t do that.
They didn’t know that she got by without sleep, not from any natural inclination, but because she’d trained herself to do so, forcing herself to push herself beyond the point of tiredness until she simply didn’t need sleep any more.
She never told anyone.
Not until Warrick found out for himself.
She was embarrassed at first, mortified at him seeing her weakness, but her shame was forgotten when he pulled her to him, wrapped her in his arms and told her that everything was going to be all right.
Much as she wanted to believe him, she didn’t.
Not at first anyway.
That came later, when his presence beside her became a regular occurrence, when the touch of his palm on her hip was enough to chase any demons away, when the feel of his body against hers was all that was needed to lull her to sleep.
Sara can still get by on little or no sleep, but she doesn’t mind that anymore.
Because now, instead of staring at the ceiling, or pacing the floor of the lab, looking for the next clue in her case, she can lie in bed, looking down at Warrick’s sleeping form. At the strong arms, the bare chest, the long eyelashes that flutter every so often, the tiny smile that plays around his lips. She can trace a path down his cheek with the tip of her finger, grin as he leans into her touch, and she can lie down, press her body against his, and he will wrap his arm around her, pull her close to him without ever waking up.
Sleepless nights have never been more welcome.