The Worst Part
Fandom: CSI
Pairing: Warrick/Sara
Spoilers: Season 5 (if you don’t know who Mia is)
Rating: PG
Notes: For the LiveJournal warricksara jealousy challenge
As the party goes on around her, Mia watches Warrick. Not that she’s the only person to be doing that, certainly not the only female. After all, he’s standing there, deep in conversation with Nick and Greg, and while all three are good-looking men, there’s something extra special and eye-delicious about Warrick.
Not that this is the first time she’s noticed it. She noticed it the very first day she met him, her first day at work at the crime lab. That was also the first day that he flirted with her, and the first time that she rebuffed him.
Little did she know so many would follow.
Which, she thinks now, is part of the problem, and why she’s standing here, staring at him.
He used to flirt with her all the time when she first started work at the crime lab, but he doesn’t anymore, and, much to her surprise, she misses it.
The almost-worst part is that she only has herself to blame, because she did everything but tell him outright that she wasn’t interested in him. And it wasn’t because just she didn’t want to start dating someone from work (although she really didn’t, because that could get messy) or because she was afraid what people would say (even though she was, just a little bit.) And it certainly wasn’t because she didn’t think he was good looking, because the man was damn fine.
Her problem with Warrick had always been that he knew how hot he was, knew the effect he had on women. She’d pegged him as a player the second she’d laid eyes on him – even before that, if the truth be known – and there was no way she was going to get caught in a player’s game.
No matter how amazing his body was, no matter how arresting his eyes, no matter how many times he hit on her.
She wasn’t that girl.
Then he’d stopped turning his charm on her, and she’d suddenly realised that she was.
But of course, by then, as in all the best fairytales, it was too late.
Because by the time she realised that, he’d already found someone else, and the most unlikely replacement of all.
That’s the worst part of this whole story, and Mia knows she only has herself to blame.
She’s reminded of that now when Sara comes up to the three men, greeting them all warmly, but standing beside Warrick. Nick and Greg nod and smile at her, as does Warrick, but Warrick’s smile is just a little bit warmer than Nick’s or Greg’s, and his whole body language seems to change. He focuses on her completely as she talks, and Mia’s struck with the sure and certain realisation that, for him, Nick and Greg could have just disappeared into thin air.
He only has eyes for Sara.
What tale she’s recounting makes the three men laugh, makes Warrick say something that has her rolling her eyes at him. It’s a fond gesture though, nothing impatient about it, and the grin that she flashes at him makes something strange twist in Mia’s gut. It twists again she looks at them as they listen to Greg telling some sort of story, his hands waving crazily to illustrate his point.
Because as they listen, Sara takes a step closer to Warrick, and slides her hand into his.
Warrick doesn’t even look down at her, but he grins, and Mia sees him adjusting their hands, so that their fingers are intertwined, and that’s how they stand together, in the middle of the party, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.
And the thing is, Mia realises, for them, it is the most natural thing in the world.
Just like for her, the most natural thought in the world is, “I wish that were me.”