Title: Recovered
Author: Ky (Venom_69)
Fandom: CSI
Category: Romance, thoughts.
Pairing: Sara/Warrick, Gil/Cath
Rating: Age Friendly
Summary: It doesn’t make her sad.
Archive: My site. Anywhere else, sure, just let me know where so I can come visit.
Disclaimer: Don’t own them, never will. Promise to put them back in the state I found them. Song’s not mine either. It’s by Southern Sons – "You were there."
Author’s notes: For Ctorres, who asked for S/W… but I couldn’t not throw Gil/Cath in there too!
Date: 16/04/06
Copyright © to Venom, 2006

***

But you were there
And you were everything I’d never seen
You woke me up from this long and empty sleep
I was alone
I opened my eyes and you were there

***



The fingerprint brush slips easily from her fingers. The dull ‘thud’ as it hits the floor echoes only slightly through the lab, but Sara doesn’t notice it.

She watches with silent fascination as Grissom walks down the long corridor, towards his office. His strides are confident, more so than she had ever expected from him. Sara has seen him grow into his role as their Supervisor over the last two years. She has seen his shy, introverted, personality fade away to be replaced by a man who is quietly confident within himself.

When he makes jokes, others laugh. When he has something to say, they listen. When he enters the room, though he wouldn’t admit it, heads turn.

He is noticed now. Noticed in perfect contrast to his own silent observations of the world.

Sara wishes, a little less now than before, that he could see her as more than a colleague, a recovering alcoholic, a child. She is not a child, but he could never see that in the way she needed. The twang of sadness that used to reverberate through her heart is gone now, replaced by the moot regret of another opportunity lost. Should she have tried harder? Perhaps.

Gil Grissom occupied her thoughts for far longer than she is prepared to admit, even when there were other men warming her bed.

Now, however, it’s not him that holds her interest so much, but more the blonde that holds his hand.

Catherine is glowing, Sara thinks, her hand held tightly. She radiates the aura of a woman loved and in love. They talk softly as they walk – far too softly to be heard by others – shoulders touching, strides in perfect synch with each other.

Sara doesn’t know how long this has been going on for – indeed, how long they have been coming to the office like this – but she can see within each that they are comfortable in their relationship and she knows that it can’t possibly be a new development.

It doesn’t make her sad, as it once would have, though she knew of their attraction long before her own developed, but it does make her wish that she had made different choices.

"Rough case?"

The voice doesn’t startle her. Warrick’s deep gravelly tones wash over her in soothing waves and Sara automatically smiles at the concern he shows. "Easy one, actually. Rough thoughts."

Warrick, ever-perceptive man that he is, follows her line of sight to see the couple enter Gil’s office and shut the door. "They look good together."

His words are soft and tactful, and Sara finds herself agreeing. "They do."

"But it still hurts?" Not so much a question, he is far from stupid.

"A little, yeah." She sighs, the sound coming from somewhere deep inside of her. "Do you ever get the feeling that all people ever see you as is a recovering addict?" The irony of their work place is not really lost on her, they’re all former-something’s. Introvert, rape victim, coke addict, alcoholic and gambling addict.

Greg is just an immature twit, but he’s probably got secrets too.

"Sometimes… but you know the saying."

"One day at a time?"

Warrick snorts at the familiar mantra and bends to retrieve her forgotten brush. When he hands it back to her, the spark that she feels through their hands is a surprise, but not entirely unwelcome. "What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger."

For a brief, startling moment, Sara is struck by the strong desire to get hammered. One drink after another – tequila, would be the quickest – and she would be able to forget all about Gil Grissom and his obviously happy relationship. "You ever just want to slide back into the abyss?" She might be recovered, but the temptation is always there.

"All the time. We do live in Vegas. But we do what we must. It’s not really worth it."

"No, not really." Mores the pity.

Neither of them speaks for a few moments. Sara continues to dust for prints along the bottle in front of her – soft drink, thank God – and she feels Warrick’s eyes on her as she works. If she looked into the brown pupil’s that study her, Sara knows that she would not see judgement, but she’s not too sure what she would see.

She wants to ask him what he’s thinking about, but she’s just a little too afraid of the answer.

"You want to grab a bite at the end of the shift?"

The question, much like the spark, is a surprise, but not entirely unwelcome. She smiles, a faint blush staining her cheeks, and forces herself to make eye contact with him. "Sure, I’d like that." They stare stupidly at each other for a while and Sara wonders why she never really saw this coming.

When he leaves, with the promise of meeting her in the break room in an hour, he kisses her cheek softly and the spark is there again.

Grissom and Catherine finally come out of his office – how long did her exchange with Warrick last? – and when she their smiles and tender looks, all she can feel is happiness for them.

***

Ta Da!