Just so no-one's confused, italics are flashbacks. I really hope you enjoy, I haven't particularly got too much to say apart from Thank you so much for reading, I apologise for my lack of updates and to please Read and Review. You should note there's a fancy new review button that's supposed to make you want to click it more so please, give in to temptation and press the pretty button! xx
Dedicated as always to CSIsnickers101, who in my eyes stands true as the Captain of this ship in these rough waters and times.
"Nick, this is-"
Sara.
Grissom's voice quickly vanished in his ears as he stared at the young woman with chocolate curls and black coffee eyes. He knew that face, he knew that body, he knew that smile.
He could recognise it anywhere.
"Hi," her voice broke through his foggy mind and sliced through his train of thoughts, forcing him back into the world he was standing in.
"Hi," he replied, her voice echoing like a song stuck in his head, it brought him back to being twenty-two, being sat next to a beautiful girl of twenty in the old lecture hall, the wobbly chairs and creaky floorboards.
He couldn't believe he hadn't recognised the name.
Sara Sidle. Who could possibly forget?
She looked the same six years on, even under the blazing Nevada sun her skin was porcelain, her figure slender and tall. Her sunglasses were perched upon the crown of her head like she'd worn that one summer.
"Nick I was wondering if you could take Sara back to the lab and help her find Catherine, I have to make a quick stop by at the Sherriff's office, you don't mind do you?" Grissom questioned, breaking his trance from staring at the new girl.
"Of course, uh I'll just get my kit then we'll head off," Nick said, suddenly unsure of how to craft even the simplest if sentences.
"I'll be here," she smirked, noting his obvious discomfort.
As he turned away memories came flooding back to him, like a slideshow of video's that had never been filmed on camera.
Her short brown hair was braided into two short plaits, the average college girl's hairstyle in Dallas. Her eyes were clouded with lack of sleep, he was convinced that she didn't sleep for studying because she always looked so fragile, exhausted but still managed to pass every single test with marks better than what the professor would have gotten. She was scribbling messily in her tiny scripture on the page of her notebook and as it came to the end of class he realised he didn't have a word written down himself for he had spent the whole time looking at her.
Coming out of his daze he looked down at her sheet of paper, she'd turned the page and written in large letters repetitively were six words, "Stop Staring at me, Pay Attention," reading the passage over he chuckled and looked in her eyes for the first time.
He'd never see chocolate the same way; he'd never see her in the same way.
"Can I borrow your notes?" he asked.
"Can you read them?" She chuckled, handing him her book of scribbled notes.
His silence said it all.
"Come over to my dorm tonight, we'll go over them," she smiled.
Picking up his case after reassuring everything was packed inside he made his way back to where Sara and Grissom were standing, chatting like the old friends that they were. Nick wondered if they could share a conversation like they did but after being shown snapshots of a time he would love more than anything to repeat he knew they could never possibly speak that easily with each other.
"You ready Sara?" he asked, standing before the two with his case in his hand.
"Sure, let's go then Nicky," she smiled, the beautiful smile that hadn't changed at all.
And she said Nicky.
"You ready?" he asked with a smile, standing at her doorstep.
"Sure, let's go then Nicky," she smiled, "come in."
"Nicky?" he questioned; he'd never been called Nicky before.
"I like it, suits you," she grinned.
"So what was this lecture about?" Nick asked, walking into her one person dorm with his study books in hand.
"Locards Theory of Transference," she answers with a polite smile, leading him through to a small main room covered messily in all sorts of heavy study books and surprisingly an array of plants.
"Okay, I got the basics, what else do I need?" Nick questioned throwing himself down on her couch in which she just responded with a chuckle, sitting down beside him with her legs folded beneath her.
"Depends," she asked with a smirk.
"On what?" he questioned confused.
"What you think the basics are?" she grinned.
"So how've you been Nicky?" she asked, strapping herself into the Denali.
Nicky, the word fell off her lips like honey and sugar and everything sweet h could ever think of.
"Good, I've been good, how did San Francisco treat you?" he questioned.
"Not as well as you," she whispered softly, placing a hand upon his forcing him to look at her.
Staring into her muddy puddles of eyes his mind turned to complete mush.
"When two objects come in contact with each other they leave trace behind on each other, am I good?" he asked.
She shrugged and pulled out her notes, "You're okay."
"Seriously? I'm okay?" he teased, surprised at how easy conversation was with her.
"Well you're not perfect otherwise we wouldn't be sitting here," she reasoned with a teasing tone.
"Do you know how hard it is to pay attention when you're sitting right there?" he asked, it was easier to come outright and say it considering she obviously already knew.
"Oh please it must have been really boring lecture if you were staring at me as a good way of spending the hour," she laughed.
"No, you're just beautiful. Darth Vader could have walked through those doors, slain Professor Ellion with a light-saber before Yoda arrived and carried him off and I still would have been staring at you," he smiled.
He meant every word.
"Darth Vader and Yoda?" she asked with a smirk.
"You're just that beautiful," he smiled, looking at her straight.
Brown eyes meet their perfect match.
He lent in to plant a soft kiss on her lips but she pulled away.
"So do you know how to apply it in the field?"she asked, completely changing the subject.
"I missed you," he replied, staring back at her.
"You did really great for someone who spent a whole year in college staring at me," she chuckled.
"I did nothing of the sort," he grinned, "well perhaps maybe a little."
"Perhaps maybe a lot," she smirked.
"Are you staying?" he asked, clasping his hand around hers.
"Can I?" she questioned.
"Are you staying?" she asked, switching off the small TV as the credits began to roll on the first star wars movie. Their study books were placed in individual piles on the small coffee table and they lay together on the squishy couch, her head on his shoulder and his head on hers.
"Can I?" he questioned, his voice heavy with exhaustion.
"You're almost asleep; it would be a shame to make you drive all the way back to your dorm," she said, sitting up and pulling a blanket off the back of the couch. His body on instinct fell sleepily so he was lying down and she placed the blanket over him.
"Sweet dreams Nicky," she smiled.
"Thank you Sara," he yawned.
"So are you liking Vegas?" she asked, remembering how when they talked of the future together in college he'd always vowed to become a CSI in Dallas, he had vowed never to leave his hometown to his family. To follow in his parents footsteps. She wondered what had changed.
"I really love it, the people here are amazing, the resources are the best in the country and I just think its brilliant," he replied, starting up the car and pulling out of the lot.
"What happened to Texas?" she questioned curiously, pulling out her notebook from her satchel.
"I wanted a change, I needed a change. I worked for about a year in Dallas before Grissom called me up and offered the job. I just took it without thinking and truthfully it's been the best decision of my life."
"You're happy," she observed, watching his smile grow.
"Yeah, I am," he stated nodding, bringing the car onto the main road. As he mindlessly began the commute to work his mind fluttered to the summer of '94.
"Nicky, where are you taking me?" she asked, smoothing out the skirt of her brown summer dress as she looked out of the window at the world spinning past.
"It's a secret Sunshine," he chuckled, tapping along to the beat of a Country song that streamed from the radio.
"Babe, the suns going down," she laughed, "it's getting dark."
"But our date is only just getting started;" he grinned, "besides it'll be sunset for the next few hours."
"You're planning on keeping me out for a few hours, why that's scandalous!" she joked, imitating a soft country accent.
"You should know what that voice does to me," he smirked, glancing over at her.
"Oh believe me I know Nicky," she giggled, high on the summer weather and the fact she hadn't left his side in the last month.
"We're here," Nick smiled, pulling into a dirt track parking lot that was completely empty. Surrounding it was a forest full of bright colours and not an empty piece of land in sight.
"Where is here?" she questioned, sitting up and looking out the window as he stopped the car.
"Ours, now come on," he chuckled, emerging from the truck.
"Ni-icky," she whined playfully, opening the door and jumping from the truck.
He arrived at her side clutching a large bag bulging with something. He closed the truck door and took her hand, whisking her off into the world of tall trees and dirt underfoot. She stopped at the edge of the forest and slipped off her white dolly shoes, placing her bare feet into the dusty dirt below.
"That's my girl," he chuckled, holding her waist and leading her through the golden forest, set on fire with the sparks between them and the setting sun.
"How do you know Grissom?" Nick asked, bringing his mind back into the year 2000, turning his eyes away from the road for a second to look over at her.
"Met him in my last year at University in San Francisco, he told me he'd like to see me working for him one day but until then I was to work up a reputation for myself so that he would have more than just a gut instinct to hire me," she shrugged, "I guess after four years there's a reason."
"Do you think he'll hire you?" Nick asked hopefully.
"I really hope he does, I want an excuse to see more of you," she chuckled, "I really did miss you."
"I thought you would have forgotten about me," Nick admitted.
"Forget you? Nick Stokes forgetting you would be as easy as forgetting how to breathe," she joked, "there was no way in hell I was forgetting you any time soon. You were my first for everything."
He knew there was only truth in her words, he had been her first for everything and he remembered hating himself for not waiting so she could be his first for everything too. Unfortunately he had done everything before he met her but not a single day went by where he didn't regret it.
"I thought you'd forget me," she announced in the air of silence.
"Never," he promised bluntly.
"So what should I know about Catherine?" she asked, changing the subject.
She was good at that.
"Why are you taking me through a forest?" she asked with a laugh, clasping his hand in hers.
"I want to show you something," he replied, turning her abruptly through some trees till they emerged at a sunny clearing.
"This?" she asked, looking around in awe.
"This," he nodded, watching her.
"It's beautiful," she smiled.
"So are you," he said, standing behind her and wrapping his arms around her.
"I love you Nicky," she whispered, tilting her head as he peppered her neck with kisses.
"I love you too Sara," he returned with equal meaning and silence.
"Please tell me when you leave, I want to know what to plan," he begged.
"I can't Nicky, and you don't have to plan anything," she told him.
"I have to, if you must leave then I have to do something to make it special," he explained, kissing her cheek.
"What are we going to do then here Country-boy," she said faking a playful tone.
Avoiding the subject.
He wished she didn't do that.
"We're here," Nick explained, pulling into his parking space and switching off the engine.
"Thanks Nicky, I need to go find this Catherine girl, promise me you won't leave until we have time to catch up?" she smiled, hopping out of the car.
"Promise," he nodded, sitting back in his seat as her door slammed shut.
Leaving him alone with his thoughts.
She lay in the crook of his arm as the sun well and truly disappeared, leaving them in the darkness with only the silvery light of the moon casting shadows around them. The radio he'd brought played soft country songs as they both grew tired.
She lifted her head and gave him a soft kiss on his lips, casting a spell and making him smile. It was a full moon but the reason he was crazy was the woman lying next to him. Her naked body hidden by the blanket like his.
His father had once told him no woman's first should be on the ground but he couldn't imagine anyway better and she hadn't complained.
The past moments fluttered through his mind like snapshots and he couldn't help but smile harder and close his eyes.
"Nicky," she smiled, standing at the doorway of the locker-room, he'd just come in from the parking lot after seeing Jerrod Cooper being taken away in the car to get his bag so he could go home but seeing her face reminded him of their deal.
'Promise me you won't leave until we have time to catch up?'
"Sar," he smiled in return, shutting his locker with a bang.
"You wanna go get breakfast?" she questioned looking at him with her signature grin.
He nodded and they laced arms, walking out of the Crime Lab.
"Don't leave me forever, kay?" he asked, holding back tears as he held her hand like a lost child.
"I won't, just promise you'll be there when I come around?" she smiled, fighting back the tears as she kissed him faintly on the lips.
"Always," he promised. "And Babe, don't think you'll just leave with a kiss like that."
He took her into his arms and she wrapped her arms around his, giving into his passionate kiss he demanded. They kissed like it would be their last.
For they didn't know if it would be.
"I love you," he nodded, tears clouding his eyes.
"I love you too," she laughed, thin tears rolling down her cheeks.