Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them, but as always coffee with George and Jorja would be nice.

Author's Note: This is sort of a post ep to "What's Eating Gilbert Grissom". How was it that Nick knew where the signage was from? This is my spin on it.

They had just wrapped up the case involving the man that the media had dubbed 'The Blue Paint Killer' and Nick was standing in the locker room gathering his things to head home. He glanced up as Sara walked in. "Hey, Sar."

"Hey." Her tone was decidedly smug as she opened her locker and pulled out her jacket.

Nick looked at her suspiciously. "What?"

She tried to restrain a smile. "So I heard you have a new girlfriend." She didn't look at him; she had fixed her attention on something inside of her locker.

Nick scoffed. "Who told you that?" Not only did he not have a girlfriend, he hadn't had a date in longer than he cared to admit even to himself. His dry spell had turned into an outright desert. Of course the woman standing next to him was part of his problem; he compared every woman he met to Sara and none of them even came close to measuring up.

Sara closed her locker and smirked as she glanced over at him. "Greg told me." Well truth be told, Greg hadn't exactly told her that Nick had a girlfriend, he'd just told her that he suspected that since Nick had so easily recognized the signage for the Erotic Boutique that he probably was a frequent customer and he probably had a 'Betty Cheerleader' doll shoved in his bedroom closet for those times when his bed was a little too cold and lonely.

"Huh?" Nick wondered where in the hell Greg had gotten the idea that he was dating someone. If he had been it was a sure thing that it wouldn't be the best kept secret around the lab. As it was, he felt like a few folks were beginning to question his masculinity.

Sara was thoroughly amused by Nick's confused expression. "I believe he said her name was Betty." As much as she found the idea of a blow up sex doll disgusting just from the germ factor alone, there was something endearing about picturing Nick needing the comfort of a good woman, albeit a vinyl one.

Nick shook his head. "I'm not sure where Sanders is getting his information, but I don't even know anyone named Betty, and if I had a girlfriend, do you really think I'd keep it a secret?" Nick wondered why Sara was even asking him this, they talked a lot and he considered her a good friend; he usually would have told her if he was interested in someone. Except that he hadn't found the courage to tell her that it was she who he was interested in.

Sara continued, a mischievous smile spreading across her face. "Greg says she's into vinyl." She wanted to see how long she could torture Nick until he confessed. They had talked about almost every topic under the sun and he didn't seem especially shy about discussing his sex life, although lately he didn't seem to have much of one, which in her mind would explain the need for 'Betty'.

Nick snorted. "Sounds like Sanders' kind of girl. He's into all that kinky latex stuff." Nick rolled his eyes at the thought. The longer he lived in Vegas the more weirded out he got about what people had to do to spice up something he found pretty damn spicy all by itself.

Sara tried to restrain a chuckle as she raised an eyebrow. "And you're not?" She had her doubts that Nick was as straight laced as he was trying to make himself sound, after all she knew that he'd dated a lot of women and she also knew that he'd been involved in some pretty wild frat parties when he was in college.

Nick glanced around to make sure they were alone and he lowered his voice. "I like sex; I just like nice normal sex." He pulled his jacket out of his locker and closed the door.

Sara decided that she wanted to see him squirm a little bit more. "So you call a blow up doll normal sex then?"

Nick looked at her with a shocked expression on his face. "Excuse me?" He wasn't quite sure he had heard her correctly.

She smirked at him. "Greg says you picked up a 'Betty the Cheerleader' doll at the Erotic Boutique." She arched both brows at him as if to call his bluff.

Nick looked at her for a moment to try and process her words and then started laughing. "He told you that?"

She looked at him a bit quizzically. "Yeah, he did." She wasn't sure what he found so humorous about the whole situation. It wasn't like she was being judgmental; she was just curious why he felt the need to sate himself with a doll when if he would just open his eyes he could see that she wanted to go out with him.

Nick smirked. "I did buy one, for him. He was too embarrassed to buy it himself, especially after all of the liquid latex he'd bought in that place. Something about not wanting to sully his reputation."

Sara looked at him doubtfully.

Nick chuckled again. "Seriously, Sara. If you don't believe me come on over and take a look, but I'm pretty certain that 'Betty' has a prime spot in Greg's apartment if you know what I mean."

Sara studied him for a moment. It wasn't that she didn't want to believe him; his explanation certainly sounded more believable than Greg's, but the invitation to search his house was rather tempting.

Nick rolled his eyes and slung an arm over her shoulder as he began to propel them towards the doorway. "I'll even make you breakfast."

Sara didn't argue as they made their way out to the parking lot. As she followed Nick in her Denali a plan began to form in her mind and as they walked into his house, she put it into action.

He gestured around the living room and shrugged his shoulders. "Have at it, Sidle, I have nothing to hide."

She smirked at him and then cleared her throat, looking him in the eye. "Then why the hell haven't you asked me out?"

Nick's eyes widened in surprise and he fumbled with his words. "I, uh, I didn't know you'd say yes."

She smiled smugly as she took a step towards him. "Yes."

"Oh." Nick began to grin widely and he took a step towards her.

In the end, Sara was the one to make contact first, her lips crashing into his as she began to tug at his shirt. A clash of tongues and a flurry of hands and they were stumbling in a direction that Sara could only assume was his bedroom, which was confirmed as she felt something hit the back of her legs and she went tumbling, pulling Nick down on top of her.

It was much later in the blissfully sated aftermath of frenzied lovemaking that Nick glanced over at Sara who was snuggled against him with her eyes closed. "And all this time you would have said yes?"

She giggled still not opening her eyes. "Oh, hell yes."

The End