Five Times Catherine Willows and Warrick Brown Nearly Kissed (A One Time When They Actually Did)

Authors Note: This is for Vikki; Merry Christmas, bb! Also - this ficlet contains spoilers for the very beginning of season 5 (episode 2) but none other. Hope you like it! :) Please R She'd almost fallen on top of him. Her breath mingled with his all that was was her and him. "Warrick," she breathed, almost inaudibly. Their mouths were so,
so close to each other. Their eyes were on each others. His hands were around her waist, holding her. Her hands were around his neck. She could feel his rock-hard chest as she leant against him. She almost forgot to breathe, as she stared into his eyes.

It was just them.

Until it wasn't.

That damn construction worker.

ii; It had been a tough case - a kid, always the worst - and Warrick wasn't sure she was going to make it home without breaking down. "Cath," he said as she pulled on her jacket and took her purse out of her locker. "Are you okay?" He asked as she turned to face him. Her face was almost contorted the emotions that filled her up - pain, grief, horror - and she shook her head and leaned against the locker. "That was horrible," she said with a sad smile. He thought this case had hit him hard - but he didn't even have kids. "It was," he agreed, shutting his locker. "But at least we got the guy," he said as he sat down on the bench. She followed suit and sat down next to him (a little too close, if he was honest with himself) and rested her head against his shoulder. "Why do I do this Warrick? Everytime we get a horrible case like this one, when it hits me close to home with Lindsay and everything, I just wonder why-" She stops herself - she doesn't want to dwell to much - and took her head off his shoulder.

He turned his neck to face her, looked her in the eyes, and suddenly her face was close to his and it happened again - to him, there is no one but them - and he leaned in to kiss her (because he knows she needs it, and God, he needs it to) when Greg bounded into the room, "Guys," he interrupted them, and Catherine broke the eye contact to face the younger CSI, "You coming for a drink?" He finished, not realising that he had ruined their moment.

"No, I'm sorry man, I need to get home." Warrick said, as Catherine also shook her head. Greg left the room, and it was just them again, "Good night, Cath"
Warrick said, before standing up and leaving the room.

"Good night, Warrick," Catherine whispered to no one.

iii; "Hey Cath, we've got a case," he walked into her office and was shocked to see her head resting on her desk, apparently asleep. "Cath," he whispered as he shut the door to the rest of the lab, and moved around to her side of the desk. "Cath," he whispered again, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Wake up."

She was suddenly aware of a warm hand on her shoulder and a voice - Warricks? She wasn't sure - telling her to wake up. She lifted her head off the desk and had an immediate headrush. "Oh," she shut her eyes again until the spinning feeling went away. She turned around to face her friend, whose soft hand was still on her shoulder. "Are you okay, Cath?" He'd never seen her asleep at work before - she'd usually drug herself up on caffeine before going back to her work - and he'd never felt so close to her. She nodded and stood up, "I just didn't sleep too well last night," she replied with a yawn. He smiled - she was so beautiful when she was vulnerable. "I noticed," he said and smirked as she smiled along with him. It had been too long since they'd last had any sort of friendly banter and they had both sorely missed it. "I miss you, Cath," he said, his smile sad and lonely. She put her hand on his face and stroked his cheek,
"I miss you too, Warrick," she said and then took her hand off his cheek.

She knew that there was something between them and that they were more than "just friends" - but she wasn't sure if she was willing to change their entire relationship for one kiss.

iv; It had been a busy, tiring shift. Bar Grissom, they'd all ended up at a bar after work and as they took it in turn to buy round after round of alcohol, they already became steadily further drunk. "I...I think I'd better go home," Greg slurred as he made to stand up. He stumbled and was caught by Sara, as she too stood up, "I'm gonna go too. See you later," she said. Putting her arm around Greg, they made their way out of the bar. Catherine, Warrick and Nick all sat at the table. Without Greg and Sara, it seemed...empty. "You want another round?" Warrick offered as he moved to stand. Nick shook his and pulled his jacket on. "Na, I'm outta here." He said, before getting up from their table and walking towards the exit. "Catherine?" Warrick asked as he pointed towards the bar. She nodded and he walked to the bar. iThis could get dangerous/i, he realised, iit's just you and Catherine and a large amount of alcohol./i He had no time to think, however, as he was supplied with the drinks. He walked back to their seat and decided that sitting opposite Catherine, instead of next to her as he had been all evening, was probably the best idea. Even with more than a few drinks inside of him, he knew that he needed to put some distance between them. "Here you go," he said, putting her drink in front of her and taking a large gulp of his beer.

They chatted amicably for a while longer, by which time Warrick had somehow ended up sitting beside her again. He could smell her, touch her and almost feel her breathe. "Cath," he said, leaning towards her. He had lost all of his inhibitions from all of the alcohol he had drank and his lips were nearing hers. "Warrick," she said, pushing him away, "We can't do this. We're...drunk." Her explanation had been weak and she knew it.

Warrick - left stung by Catherine's rejection - downed the rest of his beer and stood. "I'm off, see you later Cath."

v; It had been the best Christmas party the lab had ever had - there was alcohol, good food, good music, lots of conversation and absolutely NO Ecklie. For Warrick - and many of the other men at the party - it had been the best party because of Catherine. She looked drop-dead gorgeous. Beyond "gorgeous" in fact - she was normally "gorgeous", but that night she was drop-dead stunning. "Wow, Cath you are smokin'," Greg had commented as the alcohol in his blood began to affect him. She smiled, and walked away from him. She hadn't come to this party for Greg or any other man in the lab. She had come to the party like this for Warrick. She had walked over to the man in question, and had smiled at him, "Hey, Warrick," she had said.

A while later, when the party was winding down and there were just a few people left - Catherine, Warrick, Nick and a couple of day shift workers - Catherine had walked over to Warrick and started up a conversation with him. But she couldn't concentrate; his face - and his eyes - were ablaze with emotion and it had been driving her crazy. "Hey, Warrick," she had interuppted him. She had leant in to him, their mouths milimetres apart, when the day shift workers had walked over to where Catherine and Warrick had been standing. As the oblivious pair had taken some more drinks, Catherine and Warrick had moved away from each other.

The moment was broken.

vi; "Cath," Warrick said as he jogged up behind her in the parking lot. "Cath, wait up," he said. She turned around to look at him. She stopped walking and waited for him to catch up with her. "Hey Warrick," she greeted the tall man. They walked towards her car, talking amicably. They reached her car and as she went to get into it, he caught her arm. "Look, Cath, I need to talk to you about something. I don't really-" Warrick stopped talking as his eyes met hers. Suddenly, he couldn't take it anymore. Before she could say anything, he leant in and pressed his lips against hers. She responded almost immediately, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back. She leant back against the side of her car and let him ravage her lips; it felt so good to finally know what it was like to kiss Warrick Brown. Eventually, though, she broke the kiss - her need for oxygen overcoming her - and took a few deep breaths. She smiled and leant in to kiss him again. They kissed for a while longer before Warrick took his lips off hers, "Would you like to go to dinner with me?" he asked, as his hands rested on her hips and he looked into her beautiful blue eyes.

She nodded, before leaning in to kiss him again. iFinally,/i she thought.