About Time

Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

A/N: This idea sort of just came to me a while ago. I'm hoping this year will be the year I get back to my best and get writing again. Keep hoping for Snickers! Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Nick had arrived at the lab slightly earlier than he'd planned or expected. But he'd woken up early and chose to just head into work, assuming some people would be around. And a few people were already preparing themselves for work, but not the one person he suspected he'd see. There was no sign of Sara, which he found odd. And to his surprise he was rather disappointed she wasn't there. He always looked forward to seeing her.

Nick soon shook that thought from his head, and was grateful when Warrick arrived and provided him with a credible distraction. Soon Catherine arrived too, followed by Grissom who popped his head round the break room door to say he was running a bit late after attending a meeting before he dashed off to his office. Yet, there was still no sign of Sara, or Greg for that matter.

Eventually Grissom entered the break room looking flustered but after letting out a puff of air he quickly regained his usual composure. He looked over the rim of his glasses and scanned the room, noticing that two of his team were absent but chose to announce the case regardless.

Nick zoned out, his eyes following Sara as she and Greg strolled down the hallway towards the break room, a smile slightly tugging at his lips. He was relieved to see her. It was something about how Sara looked that day that prevented him from looking away. Who was he kidding, it wasn't just that day, it was everyday. Recently Sara was looking even more beautiful than usual. And Nick was unwittingly finding her all the more attractive as the days went by. He couldn't help himself. He couldn't seem to tear his eyes away.

"Close your mouth, Nicky," Catherine teased, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Nick closed his mouth and gulped, embarrassed that he'd been caught gawping at the lovely Sara Sidle.

"Yeah, man," Warrick chuckled. "You'll catch flies."

"M-my mouth wasn't open," Nick defended himself, though he knew there wasn't much point.

Warrick just shook his head, giving up on his friend who was pathetically in denial, as Greg and Sara entered the room.

"Hey, guys," Sara smiled. "What have we got?"

"Quadruple homicide," Catherine informed the pair.

"Of course we do," Greg sighed.

Grissom gave Nick a rather stern look for blatantly ignoring him as he relayed the information of the case. He left the room first, followed by everyone else as they braced themselves for the crime scene they were about to examine.

On the way to the crime scene Greg had explained how he'd been Sara's knight in shining armour in her desperate hour of need. She slept for longer than she'd anticipated to and then to make matters worse her car broke down a few miles from the lab. She would have laughed had she not been so angry. But out of nowhere Greg had appeared and given her a lift into work. It seemed as though as he told the story that he was boasting, at least that was how it seemed to Nick. He seemed to be beaming with pride. Nick couldn't help but be jealous. He would have done exactly the same thing for her. He could feel himself getting wound up until he took a deep breath and remembered it really wasn't that big a deal, it was only a lift into work. They weren't competing for her affections.

They soon arrived at their destination. The crime scene was a mess. The team briefly discussed their individual rolls and set about collecting and processing the evidence. It was slow going at first, but with so many people there the work load gradually lessened.

Nick had finished in his part of the house, one of the bedrooms, and judging by the soft toys and dolls it belonged the youngest daughter of the household. It wasn't an easy scene but he stayed professional, as they all did. They had to; now was not the time for emotions to get in the way. He wandered down the stairs, his eyes surveying as he went. He stepped outside and saw Warrick working the perimeter of the house, searching with a fine-toothed comb. He turned the corner and watched as Sara dusted for fingerprints around the smashed garage window, concluding it must have been the point of entry. She sighed, rubbing her arm across her forehead.

"Hard work, huh?" Nick smiled, leaning against the brick wall near her.

Sara nodded, slowly turning to face him.

"Hey, uh, you've got a bit of something on your face," Nick pointed out, trying to be discrete.

"I do? Where?" Sara asked, hopelessly wiping at her face.

Nick smiled at her. He found it kind of cute the way she was acting, but he decided to put her out of her misery and help her out.

"Here, let me," he insisted, moving towards her. He reached out and gently wiped at her forehead to remove the mark, probably printing dust, with very little effort.

In that moment they locked eyes and neither of them seemed to be able to move, with Nick's hand still lingering on her skin. It sent shivers down Sara's spine, and something very odd to happen inside her. The only way she knew to describe it was like butterflies, despite the cliché. Yet still, they didn't move apart. It was as though they were being drawn together like magnets. She knew they shouldn't have been doing that kind of thing at a crime scene but all she could do was focus on the man in front of her. The way he looked at her made her assume he was thinking the same thing. She soon took a deep breath and forced herself to take a step back from him after what felt like an eternity but was probably only a few seconds.

Nick cleared his throat. "I, uh, I got it."

"Thanks," Sara smiled sheepishly before continuing to collect the fingerprint she'd found.

Nick walked back towards Warrick, who was standing grinning from ear to ear like the cat that got the cream. He threw a glance over his shoulder, seemingly staring longingly after Sara, only adding fuel to the fire.

"So, Nicky," Warrick elbowed him in the ribs lightly once he'd stopped next to him. "You and Sara seemed very close…"

"Shut up," Nick didn't hesitate to answer.

"Hey," Warrick through his hands up in defence. "It was just an observation. It's what I'm paid to do."

"Well, observe the crime scene then," Nick insisted, rather childishly.

"I was," he smirked. "You weren't exactly being very discrete."

Nick scowled in disproval.

Warrick laughed and patted his friend on the back. "It's alright, your secret is safe with me."

He'd walked away before Nick had a chance to respond.

Soon, to the relief of everyone, they returned to the lab with bags upon bags of evidence. It was going to be a long night. The evidence was split up and examined, with any minute pieces of evidence being sent to their respective lab tech.

Warrick and Catherine were in the A/V lab with Archie, trying to enhance some video footage from the neighbours CCTV camera hoping to catch a glimpse of the killer and make their night a little easier. No such luck. Catherine eventually told Archie to take a break as his eyes had been glued to the computer screen for a good few hours. Warrick decided to use their time alone to his advantage.

"You'll never guess what I saw earlier," he stated, spinning in his chair and looking rather smug.

"Tell me," Catherine sighed. "I'm sure it's riveting."

"I saw Nick and Sara… looking very cosy," Warrick raised his eyebrows.

"Really?" Catherine sat up straighter and paid closer attention to what he was saying.

"Would I lie to you?"

"When was this? And what do you mean by 'cosy'?" she questioned.

"It was earlier, at the crime scene, you must have been inside at the time. They were standing much closer than usual, and their whole body language was different," he explained. "It was very interesting."

"Very interesting indeed," Catherine nodded, looking very thoughtful.

A few hours later Catherine entered the break room. "Right, finally I've found you two. We need to talk," she stated.

"Ooh, sounds serious," Greg smirked at Warrick, placing the piece of evidence he'd just had in his hands down on the table.

"It's about Nick and Sara," she continued.

"What about Nick and Sara? Are they okay?" Warrick asked.

"Oh, yeah, they're fine. See, that's what this is about; I just don't know how neither of them see it," Catherine rambled.

"See what?" Greg asked.

"The fact that they like each other," Catherine raised her eyebrows as if to say 'come on, keep up.'

"Well, duh. Of course they like each other, they're friends…," it took Greg a further moment to actually realise what she meant. "Oh! You mean they like each other, like each other."

"Yes, wasn't that obvious?" she questioned impatiently. "Anyway…"

"How can you be sure?" Greg interrupted.

"I just am. I see it in Sara, at least. I've been there once or twice before you know, you learn to recognise to signs," Catherine explained. "And as for Nick, well, he's been flirting with her more and more and from what Rick said about the way they acted today at the crime scene…"

Greg glanced briefly at Warrick to gage his thoughts before looking back at Catherine. "So maybe you're right, but what can we do?"

"I'm so glad you asked. Well, I think I'm pretty confident that I can get through to Sara. I just have to tell her that she isn't the first and she won't be the last woman to fall for a friend…," Catherine started, almost excitedly.

"You think she really likes him? I mean really likes him?" Greg interrupted again.

"It's not so crazy a thought, is it? It's not so out there in the realm of possibilities. And would you stop interrupting me?"

"Yeah, right, sorry," Greg shrugged sheepishly. "You, uh, you were saying…"

"Yes, I was saying that I'll handle Sara but that means you guys need to speak to Nick, man to man. You need to talk some sense into him," she stated.

"Uh, Cath, I don't know if you've noticed but it's not always that easy to talk to guys about their feelings," Warrick added.

"Yes, I am aware of that. But you won't be talking, you'll be telling. Tell him that it's alright that he likes Sara as more than a friend, tell him he should do something about it," Catherine reasoned.

Warrick found himself nodding along in agreement.

"Hmm, I'm still not sure," Greg confessed. "What if you're wrong? I don't even know if we should really be interfering. Shouldn't we just leave it for them to figure it out for themselves? You know what Grissom would say if he knew."

Catherine snapped, glaring at him. "Are you up for this or not? Are you going to help?"

Greg sighed exasperatedly. "Sure, anything for Sara."

"And you, Warrick? I'm counting on you."

"Wow, no pressure then," Warrick sighed, rubbing his forehead. "But I was with it from the start. He likes her, for sure."

"Great. Well, get going then," Catherine insisted.

"What, now?" Greg questioned.

"When else? You didn't think I wanted you to wait till next week or something, did you?" Catherine asked, giving the younger CSI a pointed stare.

Greg looked away. "No, of course not."

Catherine sighed, gradually running out of patience. "Just go and find Nicky."

Catherine left the room, leaving Warrick and Greg trying to gather their thoughts. It wasn't that hard, was it? All they had to do was talk to him, she knew Nick would listen to them, Warrick especially. She knew she could count on them; she knew they'd figure something out. But she had her half of the deal to stick to while she waited for the ballistics report. She set about finding Sara, perhaps the easiest of her upcoming tasks. Catherine found her in the garage, looking thoughtful as she stared at the victims' family car, seemingly waiting for the evidence to just jump out at her.

"Hey," Sara piped up, looking over her shoulder, upon hearing her colleague approach.

"Fancy some coffee?" Catherine asked, thinking on her feet. "The proper stuff from Starbucks? I nominate myself to do a coffee run. Do you wanna come?"

"Sure," Sara nodded, removing her latex gloves. "I could use a break."

They walked out together in silence and climbed into Catherine's car to head to the nearest coffee shop. Once they'd bought the coffees they stayed in the car drinking and thinking.

"So, how've you been?" Catherine spoke up, cradling her coffee cup.

Sara raised an eyebrow in suspicion and confusion. "I'm fine."

"That's good," Catherine nodded. "Do you wanna talk about anything?"

"What's this about?" Sara asked, not willing to answer her question.

Catherine sighed, mumbling into her coffee cup as she took a sip. "I just wanted to talk about Nick."

"What about Nick?" Sara questioned, giving her a 'get to the point' look.

"The pair of you seem to be getting on well," she pointed out.

"Well, yeah, of course we are, we always have. Seriously, Cath, what's going on? What's this about?"

"I think you like Nick, a lot," Catherine explained, being somewhat vague.

"What?" Sara scoffed. "I don't know what you think you know but…"

"You can't deny it, Sara," she insisted. "I know what I see."

"I really don't have a clue what you're talking about," she maintained half-heartedly, folding her arms over her chest.

Catherine gave her a sympathetic look. "Honestly, you can admit it you know. You can admit you have feelings for him, the world isn't going to end. You can tell me."

"And what would you say if I did have feelings for Nick, hypothetically?" Sara gulped down the lump rising in her throat.

"Well, I suppose I would say that there is nothing to be ashamed about. And I'd say I don't blame you for liking Nick. No one has any control over who they fall for. You could have done a lot worse. Would it be so bad to find out if he felt the same?" Catherine wondered.

"No, he wouldn't like me," Sara answered immediately. "He doesn't like me. I'm not Nick's type."

"How would you know if you've not asked him?"

"I just do," Sara stared through the window.

"I think you just might be surprised if you were to ask him how he felt," Catherine insisted. "I think he might just feel the same way about you. Or you never know, maybe he'll do all the hard work and ask you."

"What?" Sara sniggered. "You've got to be joking? It'll never happen."

"Why not?"

Sara quickly rationalised the situation. "Because this is a hypothetical scenario and none of this is going to happen. And it really isn't any of your concern."

"Come on, you must see the way you two are when you're together? You have great chemistry, and you work so well together. It's not too hard to see how you two would have perhaps developed feelings of another nature towards each other," she stated. "I really believe the feelings are mutual."

Sara sighed. She couldn't refute Catherine's statements forever. "Ok, maybe. Maybe I thought there was a bit of something there, a bit. But I wasn't sure. I don't want to ruin what we already have. We couldn't risk letting our personal lives interfere with our professional lives. There's too much at stake."

Catherine smiled at her, glad she was finally opening up.

"And if I'm being honest, I didn't want to believe it either, I guess. I mean, why would he like me?"

"Maybe for the same reasons you like him," Catherine offered.

"I just wish it were someone else other than Nick. Anyone but Nick," Sara sighed, shaking her head.

"You don't mean that," Catherine raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe not, but it'd be easier," Sara slumped down slightly in her chair.

"Life would be boring if we always took the easy option," Catherine stated wisely, giving Sara a knowing look as she continued. "Seriously though, Nick might just surprise you."

Sara rolled her eyes.

"You know what they say, opportunity knocks but once…," Catherine shrugged. "You don't want to let the opportunity go, you may only have one chance."

Sara gave her a look that said she was done talking and Catherine turned the engine on, hoping she'd managed to get through to her. They set off back to the lab, while the coffees were still moderately warm.

Thank you for reading. Review please.