Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them, but as always, I'd love to buy coffee for George and Jorja.
Author's Note: This is dedicated to Mel, who I'm sure sat through all 18 innings of Atlanta/Houston game only to have her heart broken. I wish I could have pulled out a different ending, but this ficlet is my attempt to put a positive spin on it. Oh, and how can I be unhappy when the Yankees were eliminated?
"I thought baseball only had nine innings." Sara looked at Nick oddly as he hurried back over to watch the TV almost as soon as he'd opened the front door of his house to let her in.
"Extra innings, have a seat." Nick was completely enraptured with the game and he really didn't want to miss a second of it. Ever since Houston had tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, his playoff hopes had rallied.
"But we were going to go over the case." Sara was a little frustrated; they had agreed that even though they both had the night off that they'd meet in the afternoon to go over their current case and then just hang out and watch a movie; watching baseball wasn't really what Sara had in mind. Nick had called her at the beginning of the ninth inning to let her know the game would probably be done soon and she could head on over. She'd never really been a sports fan and baseball was one sport she really didn't understand.
"As soon as the game's over, we'll get to it." Nick didn't even glance at Sara as he studied the pitch. "Slider."
"Huh?" Sara didn't understand what he was talking about.
Nick glanced over and then gestured towards the TV. "The pitch he just threw was a slider."
"Oh." Sara furrowed her brow and for the first time glanced at the TV. "Who's playing anyway?"
Nick chortled out a laugh in disbelief. "Houston and Atlanta." His tone clearly implied that Sara must have been on another planet if she didn't know who was playing in the National League Division Series.
"Oh, so I guess that means you want the team from Texas to win then." Sara reasoned that was fairly logical given that Nick's home décor seemed to be a tribute to the best sports teams Texas had to offer.
"Yeah, they win this game and they go on to the National League Championship Series against St. Louis." He noticed a telltale smile playing at Sara's lips as if she was actually interested in knowing a little bit more about the game of baseball.
"So when is the World Series...it's baseball that has the World Series, right?" Sara's expression was very girly at that moment.
Nick chuckled softly and nudged her in the ribs with his elbow. "The winner of each of the league championship series plays each other in the World Series."
"Oh." She glanced at the TV again. "What inning is it? You said something about extra innings?"
"The eleventh." Nick pointed at the TV again. "I'm sure it'll be over soon...the longest playoff game ever was 15 innings and that was back in 1995 between Seattle and New York."
"Fifteen?" Sara's eyes widened. "They don't have a maximum number of innings you can play before they call the game?"
"No." Nick sounded amused. "Someone has to score a run, hopefully that'll be Houston, and then once the inning is over, whoever is ahead wins."
"So you really don't like Atlanta then?" Sara had an impish smile on her face.
"They're alright...but they're playing my team so they don't stand a chance." Nick retorted with a smirk.
"You seem pretty confident." Sara reasoned she might as well have a little fun as long as she was going to have to sit there with Nick and watch a baseball game.
"Well, they're up two games, Sar; they only need to win one more to clinch it." Nick puffed out his chest a little.
"Hmm, I don't know..." She glanced at the TV to see who was up to bat. "Chipper Jones looks pretty cute...I bet he can hit too."
Nick snorted out a laugh. "Cute? C'mon, Sar, you have better taste than that."
"Well I bet he makes it to first base." She smirked at him enjoying the chance to tease him about his sports obsession.
"What do you want to bet?" Nick figured that the game might be more interesting if he got Sara involved, even if she seemed intent on rooting for Atlanta.
"Oh, I don't know...I get to pick the movie later." She knew that he was going to let her pick it anyway, but that was all she could come up with at that moment.
"Ok." Nick grinned at her sure that Chipper Jones wasn't going to get past Houston's pitcher.
They turned their attention back to the TV to see just how Mr. Jones was doing just in time to see the pitcher throw the ball just outside to walk the batter. Sara snickered. "I told you he'd make it to first base."
"Well he won't score." Nick sounded a little worried as Andrew Jones came up to bat.
"I don't know, he just might." Sara was finding that the game was getting pretty interesting; maybe she'd never liked baseball before because she'd never watched it with Nick before.
"Ah, look at that." Nick sounded smug. "He struck out swinging."
The banter continued through the end of the eleventh inning, and well into the fifteenth and sixteenth innings too; Sara pointing out how well Atlanta seemed to be doing and Nick retorting that Houston was going to be on top in the end. As the game stretched into the seventeenth inning, Sara looked over at Nick with disbelief. "This game is going to last all night."
"It can't...Roger Clemens is the last pitcher the Astros have...the last player actually." Nick looked a little worried. Atlanta had gotten players on base more often than Houston had, but neither team had managed to score. The game couldn't go on forever, and Nick just hoped that Houston had enough steam left to pull out a win.
"But what if they need another pitcher?" Sara hadn't realized that there were professional baseball players as old as Roger Clemens, and how he'd gotten the nickname "The Rocket" perplexed her.
"He'll have to stay in the game until it's over." Nick let out a frustrated sigh as once again Atlanta got a man on base. He was worried that his team might just not win the game and he wasn't sure he wanted to see if they could beat the Braves in Atlanta.
"Hmm...well, if they let Atlanta score, the game would be over and they'd still get another chance to win, right?" Sara could see how important this game was to Nick.
"Yeah, but it would be a whole lot better if they'd win this one." He was frustrated and he let out a sort of growl as the seventeenth inning ended with the score still tied.
"Hey." Sara put her hand on his arm. "It's only a game." She smirked at him as he looked as if he was going to protest. "Don't let it ruin the whole evening; we still have a movie to watch." She reasoned that after a game this long, Nick wasn't going to be in the mood to discuss their case, especially if his team lost.
Nick let out a deep sigh. "I suppose you're right...but it's still a pretty damn important game." It occurred to him just then that he'd spent the last several hours sitting next to Sara; something he'd been looking forward to doing while they watched their movie later and he'd been too engrossed in the game to realize that he was blowing a great opportunity to see if she might be open to being more than just friends.
"You're cute when you're frustrated." Sara couldn't help but giggle and impulsively, she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
Nick grinned at her boldness. "Well, you're just cute." He reached over and tucked a curl behind her ear and then before his courage could falter, he leaned over and kissed her cheek.
A pink hue colored Sara's cheeks, her voice taking on a slightly husky tone as she found herself looking into Nick's eyes. "In fact, I think you're even cuter than Chipper Jones."
"You do, huh?" Nick felt pretty damn smug that she found him more attractive than the Atlanta slugger.
"Yeah." Sara leaned in and kissed him softly. She didn't really know what had come over her; but she sure as hell didn't want to wait any more innings before she let Nick know that she wanted to be more than just friends. In fact her whole plan in coming over to discuss the case and watch a movie afterwards was just an excuse to spend time with him until she got enough courage to act on her feelings.
Nick didn't even hesitate. He returned her kiss with gusto and by the time they pulled apart quite a few minutes later, it appeared that all of Minute Maid Stadium was standing on their feet cheering; apparently, the Astros had pulled off a win after all in the bottom of the eighteenth inning.
It seemed it was a good day for Texans everywhere afterall.
The End