Finding Warrick

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finding Warrick
by jhourdhaun

Stephen knocked on the hospital room door and waited for permission to enter. He frowned worriedly when none was offered and his concern had him pushing the door open. His frown grew as he witnessed his brother sitting in a chair just staring out the window. Closing the door, Stephen walked quickly to the other man's side and placed his hand on Warrick's shoulder, "Ricky?"

As if coming from a far away place, it took Warrick a while to focus on the present and his visitor. When he finally did register his brother's presence, it startled him so much that he instantly went into a coughing fit.

Having dealt with stuff like this before, Stephen quickly grasped his sibling under his arms, manoeuvred him over to the bed and placed the oxygen canula back where it belonged, cranking up the oxygen a bit more just to be on the safe side. "You okay?

Warrick opened his eyes and nodded at the older man, only managing to accompany it with a slight smile as he tried to get his breathing under control. After several long minutes, Warrick answered, "Sorry about that, Stevie. Thought I had better control."

"Better control of what?"

"Of this," Rick explained as he motioned to his body. "I should be better and not falling to pieces just because I got startled."

Stephen shook his head and placed his hand on the younger man's arm. "That's bullshit and you know it. You've been sick. Hell, if I'm honest, you came real close to..." Before he could finish the comment, Stephen had to stop and focus on the fact that his brother was alive and in front of him. "Let's just say you came really close. You can't expect to just bounce back and everything be okay. That's television; this is reality. If you like, I can give you a complete medical rundown of what you can expect and for how long."

"Uh, no. Thanks, but that's okay." Rick grinned up at the man. "As much as I appreciate your medical knowledge, I have to say that sometimes, it's a real drag having a brother who's a doctor."

Stephen laughed as he mock-punched his sibling. "Ass-wipe. And as a Doctor, I can tell you in great detail how bad an insult that really is." That set both of them off into shared laughter and it was several minutes before they regained control. Stephen figured that now would be a good time to question what was bothering Warrick. Even though there had been a lot of joking and playful banter the previous day between himself, Gil and Frank, Warrick had been strangely quiet. At first, he'd chalked it up to him still feeling a little ill, but after what he'd seen today, he wasn't so sure. "So, what's going on, Buddy? What's on your mind so much that it's keeping you away from the here and now?"

Warrick ducked his head and refused to look up at his brother. "It's nothing."

"Oh, okay. But just for clarification, is this 'it's nothing' the same as the 'it's nothing' you kept telling me concerning your illness?"

"Don't start. I really don't need this right now."

Stephen had never been one to let things go - it was one of the reasons he'd finally managed to get Frank back. So, there was no way he was going to let his brother off the hook. "The way I see it, talk to me now or I'll walk right out of here, contact your doctor and strongly suggest a release date contingent on your passing a psyche consult."

That got Warrick's head up and the heat into his eyes. "You wouldn't dare."

Stephen moved in closer to his brother's face. "We may not have been affiliating with each other for all that long, but you should know me better than to question my words. You're my brother and if it takes bringing in an outsider to get to what's eating you, you better damn well believe I will."

For several long minutes, ice-blue eyes warred with fire-green eyes, neither giving an inch. Finally, something passed beteeen the two and Warrick took a deep breath and tipped his head in acknowledgment. "Your point."

The older man took his due and pulled back just enough so that he could take a seat on the bed. "So, start from the beginning. I've got time - Frank and Gil are out enjoying the many rollercoasters that the Vegas area has to offer and I'm not expecting them back any time soon."

Warrick had to agree with that assessment - he was still amazed that the Universe had been able to find someone who was as into rollercoasters as Gil and that it just so happened to be his brother-in-law, so he sank back in his pillows and started from the beginning of what he now knew was a fever dream. Towards the part where he had to say his goodbyes to a dead Gil, he choked and Stephen quickly poured him a cup of water which he drank equally as quick. Ignoring Stephen's attempts to stop him from going on, he continued his story, coming to the end in such a flurry that for several minutes he did nothing except take long, deep breaths.

Stephen was stunned. He couldn't believe that his brother had experienced all of that in his mind. From Warrick's voice, he could tell that the dream had been very real to the younger man and that he had truly grieved for his lost lover. The abilities of the mind had always fascinated him, but in this instance, he just wanted to take away the pain this was causing his brother. "That sounded like it was ... quite the ordeal."

"It felt so real, Stephen. I honestly thought he was gone." Warrick tried to sit up, but his strength was non-existent. He had to wait patiently as Stephen raised the head of the bed. "But what really scared me was how I dealt with losing Gil."

"Why?"

"Because I didn't. I promised Nicky that I wouldn't do anything that he'd have to work or clean up and then I proceeded to do just that. I've always prided myself as being in control in any relatiionship I've been in, but this..." he shook his head, "this was so out of my depth. I felt like I was rolling down a hill and there was no way I could stop or slow down and I could see the bottom and I knew... I KNEW I wasn't going to survive hitting.

"Nothing meant anything to me. People, my job..." devastated eyes looked up at Stephen. "I couldn't feel my music, Stevie. I lost Gil and I lost my music too."

It was too much for the older man to watch and moving closer, he pulled his sibling into his arms, willing the tremors and fear away. "It's okay now, Scooby." He recognised how losing something that was so much a part of him would destroy Warrick - his brother was something of a prodigy when it came to music. He was an accomplished bassist, flautist, pianist, saxophonist, guitarist, drummer and probably several other things that Stephen had no clue about. The man created whole symphonies in his head and Gil had joked that Rick would often leave their bed when a score would come to him in the middle of the night. To lose something like that - well, it defintely proved how much Gil Grissom meant to Warrick.

As if hearing Stephen's thoughts, Warrick braved on, tears clogging his voice, "Do you know what that means to someone like me? I see and feel music everywhere. You see the flickering of a lightbulb and I see the pulse of an aria." He closed his eyes and started to sway in Stephen's arms. "A trash truck lifting a bin is the brass section of my symphony. A dog barking, the snare drum solo." Rick smiled as he seemed to get lost in the music. "It's always there, Stevie." The smile suddenly faded. "Except then ... and I wanted to die. I didn't want to live without both of them." He pulled back to look in his brother's eyes and Stephen could see tear tracks. "How do I deal with that? I don't know if I'm okay with having my life so wrapped up in someone else's that if something happened to him - I'd lose everything that makes me ... me."

"It's scary, isn't it? Having someone else be so much a part of your life that things you thought were important, don't matter." Stephen helped Warrick get settled back in the bed and he handed him a couple of tissues. "Do you remember when Frank was loaned out to that other team and he got tossed down the stairs? When I found out... I came really close to hanging it all up. Our job had put him there and my being a doctor couldn't help him." He paused. "I won't lie to you, I've thought about tossing the job lots of times, but I never thought about turning my back on being a doctor until that moment.

"It was probably the most profound moment of my life and I wanted to run... as fast and as far as I could. I'd always wanted to be a doctor - I can't remember a time when I didn't. Who was this man to me to make me want to give that up? But, at that moment, Frank's doctor came out and told me I could go in and see him and as I stood over him, I realised - he was Frank. He was the man I had loved for what felt like most of my adult life and I had to accept that when you feel that deeply, losing something that important would have to change you. You couldn't possibly be the way you were.

"It's probably the scariest moment in your life, but it's also one of the best. Especially when you know that person would feel the exact same way if anything were to happen to you."

Warrick seemed to take all of that in. Gil had joked that he'd lost twenty years when he thought Rick was dying, but something told him that Gil hadn't really been joking. Maybe it had been how tight his lover held him or the slight shakes Gil couldn't quite conceal. Whatever it was, he knew that Gil would have been equally as lost if the unthinkable had happened. Accepting his brother's words, he smiled and then nodded, seeking to break the somber mood. "Wisdom of the ages?"

Stephen shook his head and grinned, "Nope, just the wisdom of a great older brother."

That brought a laugh from the younger man that caused more coughing, but Warrick had a totally different attitude after this bout. "You are so full of shit, you know that don't ya?" His eyes narrowed as he suddenly remembered something. "And what have I told you about calling me Scooby in public. What if a nurse or someone had heard it? How would I live down my brother nicknaming me after a cartoon dog."

Chuckling, Stephen stood and moved a little away from the bed. "What? You should think of it as a compliment. Because of your job, you're always sniffing out clues. I think it's perfect." Really enjoying himself, he smirked. "Besides, I had to come up with something to combat the 'Stevie' that you now have Frank *and* Gil calling me when they want to be funny."

For just a second, Warrick seemed close to conceding, but then the most evil smile crossed his face. "Okay, I'll accept Scooby Doo, *Stephen*."

Stephen found himself rather nervous at that look. "You will? Why?"

"Because every Doo fan knows that his closest, male relative who is always there ready to help is Scooby Dum." Warrick's eyes flashed as he locked gazes with his brother. "Dum, Dum, Dum. Dum!"

 

Dr. Stephen Connor and Frank Powell

Relativity

. Meeting the Family by jhourdhaun

. Family Vacation by jhourdhaun

. Heart and Soul: What If... by jhourdhaun

. Finding Warrick by jhourdhaun

. Fixing the Mistakes by jhourdhaun

. To Hell and Back: Relativity Timeline by jhourdhaun

Out Of Sync, Prologue by jhourdhaun