Chapter 1
"Hey I got your text, what's up?" Nick said while walking into Mandy's print lab.
"Sing it dude, this is huge" she replied.
"Ugh" Nick sighed before starting to sing half assed, "Oh Mandy you came and gave..."
She shook her head interrupting his half assed attempt. He smirked at her; she must have something really good. He continued to sing with much more gusto. She smiled with approval and then continued to explain the print matches that she had found. Nick shook his head while walking away; she always did that to him.
Mandy smiled to herself, she couldn't help herself when he came to her lab. She didn't speak to Nick outside of her lab, but when he's at her station he was in her domain. Why she couldn't be like that in the break room, or the locker room?
"You are cruel" Wendy said poking her head from the other door.
"I know, but I can't help myself" she replied smiling.
"You should ask him out, it has been what 10 years of you drooling over him"
"Yeah right. I'm not his… 'type'" Mandy replied with the air quotes, "I'm a lab rat"
"Don't sell yourself short!" Wendy scolded before moving back to her station due to a machine beeping.
A few hours later…
"You did it!" Nick said barging into Mandy's lab. She jumped so far she fell off her chair,
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Nick you scared the living crap out of me!" she exclaimed while he helped her back onto her feet.
"Sorry" he said sheepishly, "But you broke the case! Signed, sealed and delivered! When are you done with your shift?" he asked leaning on the lab table casually his palms resting on a pile of papers next to her computer.
"30 long minutes" she responded looking at the clock that hung up behind where Nick stood.
"Great! Warrick, Greg, Sara and I are off then too. We are going bowling! Want to join?" he asked her hopefully.
"Oh. Umm…" she trailed off. She never hung out with the crew outside of work and was a little scared to accept. She didn't want to do anything or say anything stupid, especially in front of Nick. But before she could find the end of her sentence, Wendy popped her head in, "She'd love to Nicky."
"Great!" Nick said smiling at Mandy before walking towards the door, "I'll meet you in the lobby with the rest of the crew" he told her before leaving.
"Wendy!" Mandy exclaimed, "What are you doing?" her face was bright red and her palms all sweaty from Wendy's interjection. She would have to face Nick outside of the lab, alone. Well without the likes of Wendy.
"Helping you out!" she responded, "Oh come on it is the perfect excuse to hang out with him!"
"You are out of control, he doesn't think about me that way!"
"He asked you to come out with him"
"Them…" Mandy corrected her quickly.
"Whatever" Wendy said waving her hand at her, "Go for it! At least have a few drinks and see how you feel. Maybe he is a total jerk outside the lab, and you can get over your little crush"
"I doubt it" Mandy replied but agreed that Wendy was right.
"Mandy!" Warrick said as she walked up to the group thirty-five minutes later. She wanted to be a fashionably late.
"Warrick!" she responded smiling at him and began smoothing her hair. She checked it in the locker room, but could feel all eyes on her at that moment. Nick, Sara and Greg waited till she reached them before heading towards the door. She felt a little awkward, as Nick hadn't said anything to her even though he was the one who asked her to come along. Maybe Wendy was right, maybe he is a jerk outside of the office.
"Great job on that print match today" Sara said to her while they walked out of the doors, "I can't believe that scum bag tried to get away with it. Lucky for us, your eagle eyes got him"
"Thanks Sara, just doing my job" she replied. It was the one thing she knew she was good at.
"Yeah nice job" Greg said opening the backdoor to Warrick's Denali.
She smiled at him, and was hoping to hear from Nick but he already got into the front seat with Warrick. She scooted to the middle making sure to sneak a few peaks at Nick in the front seat. A few minutes into the drive she knew she wasn't getting a comment from Nick, and so she began looking out the side window.
"Where are we headed to?" she asked Warrick, "I don't know of any bowling alleys open this early"
"There is one right off the strip, you know for tourists who don't like going to sleep in Vegas"
"I see" she said, "I never knew the tourists ever left the strip"
"Every once in awhile they venture out" Greg said to her. "And hopefully they don't end up seeing us" Sara added.
Still no response from Nick and Mandy began to worry. Did he regret asking her to come out? Was he pointedly ignoring her? Or was he just an ass like Wendy said? Nick watched her walk towards the lobby. He wasn't sure why he asked Mandy to join them, or maybe he wasn't sure why he hadn't asked her to come out with them before. She was funny, and cute. Not overtly sexy like Catherine or Kristy, not that he had any problems with that, but just plain cute. Maybe he just never really noticed until now, she seemed super shy outside of her lab. Heck, Wendy had to answer his question. He heard everyone else complement her work, and decided not to add to the conversation. He didn't want to beat a dead horse, plus he already told her she had broken the case earlier. He continued to just observe the conversation on the way to the bowling alley. He was surprised that she didn't know about the bowling alley off the strip, it seemed like everyone on the graveyard shift would knew about it. They had all frequented it during the years, and he knew she had been on the shift for almost 10 years on and off. Last year he knew that she switched to days, but then came back. He wondered why she switched, and why she switched back.
Warrick pulled up to the bowling alley and Nick hopped out the door, proceeding to open the door for Sara who had sat behind.
"Such a gentleman" Sara said smiling hoping out of the car followed by Mandy who gave Nick a small smile.
"I'm hurt you didn't open my door" Greg said cheekily to Warrick.
"Dudes don't open other dudes door, its like an unwritten rule" Warrick said rolling his eyes before opening the bowling alley door for everyone.
"Who wants what?" Nick said once they began putting on their sweet bowling shoes.
"Jack and coke" Warrick replied while he began to enter in names.
"Red Wine" Sara responded before Nick gave her a look, "OK, gin and tonic"
"Rum and coke" Greg piped up before going to search for the perfect ball. Nick looked over at Mandy, who was still tying her shoe.
"Umm vodka tonic?" she said responded quickly. She wanted something that would take the edge off quickly.
Nick nodded his head almost approving her drink choice before walking away. He knew the crews orders by heart from going out over the years.
"You any good?" Warrick asked Mandy. She shrugged, "Umm usually if I break 100 it's a great game"
"Gotcha, you are on par with me. So I have Sara, Greg and Me vs. Mandy and Nick. Nick and Greg are the freaking sharks, so I think it will be even. We can just take the best scores from each frame and add them up. "
"Drinks are here!" Nick said while carrying back a tray full of drinks, "the nice lady at the bar took pity on me and let me borrow this."
He set the drinks down and handed Mandy her vodka tonic, "here you go," he said as his hand brushed hers slightly and she blushed slightly, luckily the bowling alley was dark. Pull it together! She thought to herself.
"Thanks" she said quietly.
"No problem" he responded before grabbing his beer and taking a swig, "So we are on the same team" he commented pointing up at the score monitors.
"I guess" she responded quietly. She began drinking her cocktail as quickly as possible, the quicker she drank the more relaxed she would get.
He noticed her quiet voice and wondered if she was OK.
"Alright Nicky, are you ready to go down?" Warrick asked he stepped up to the lane. "I have been practicing on my days off you know."
"I'm not scared" Nick said as he put down his drink and picked up his favorite bowling ball, "I'm sure Mandy will carry our team" he said winking at her before stepping up to his respective lane. She nearly chocked on her drink. God, pull it together she said to herself for the second time that night.
It wasn't long before her drink was empty, and she was looking around to see if anyone else needed another round. She saw that she had beaten everyone by a lot, and was going to have to wait to get another one. She watched Nick bowl a perfect strike, while Warrick bowled a gutter ball.
"You better double up on your practice sessions!" Nick said smirking at Warrick who had to step again and proceeded to hit three pins.
Nick looked over at Mandy who was holding an empty drink. "Need another one?" he asked her.
"Um. I can get it," she said, "after my turn."
"No worries, I can get it for you, same thing?" he asked her walking towards the bar. She nodded smiling slightly.
She grabbed a ball that was light enough for her and stepped up to the lane next to Greg. "So you and me?" Greg said to her smiling, "I hope you can keep up" He rolled the ball and knocked them all down. She hit four pins, which was better than Warrick.
"Nice!" Warrick said to Greg who walked back to his seat. Mandy hit one more pin before she walked back to seats.
"At least you beat Warrick" Greg said to her.
"Hey!" Warrick said in defense, "I thought we were on the same team"
"Yeah and it's a good thing I am on your team" Greg retorted.
Mandy smiled, she loved the banter the CSI's all had with each other. It seemed like they all really got along well, like a family. She had witnessed their quarrels but she had also seen how they pull together when they needed each other. It was the same thing for the lab rats. She felt like she was going to dark side by being out with them. It wasn't too long before Nick came back with her drink.
"Here you go Mandy," he said handing her the drink.
"Thanks again" she said when she took her drink, "The next round is on me."
"Nah, you broke the case, you're drinking for free tonight"
The game continued with very little interaction between Mandy and Nick, but she began to loosen up around the rest of the group. She even began dishing out digs at Warrick for his poor bowling skills. She was beating him by 40 points. Greg and Nick were close, but Greg was beating him. After all he was the captain of his high school bowling team.
In the end Greg/Sara/Warrick won the round and decided to call it quits.
"Bar?" Greg asked the crew.
"In" Warrick and Sara said at the same time before smiling at each other. That was the first time Mandy realized that they were… into each other or together? She had no idea, but the exchange that just happened it was a definite possibility. Greg looked at Mandy and Nick who found them standing next to each other a little awkwardly.
"Yeah I'm game" Nick said quickly.
"Sure" Mandy said not wanting the day to end.
They returned their shoes and walked to the bar attached to the bowling alley. Luckily the bar was open at 11 AM. It was Vegas; everything was open early/late.
"Another round?" Warrick asked when he stood at the bar, and everyone nodded. Two more rounds everyone became even more talkative and began asking Mandy about the lab rats.
"So what is really going on with Wendy and Hodges?" Sara asked as she stirred her drink.
"What are you talking about?" Warrick asked dumbfounded, "there is something going on between them?"
"Seriously you have no idea about these things," Sara said shaking her head and giving him a playful push.
"Yeah I'm not exactly sure" Mandy said, "I think Wendy likes him, god only knows why, but he doesn't seem to be making any moves. Trust me she is the hottest he will ever get, so I'm not sure what his deal is."
"Yeah. She is way too hot for him" Nick said. He was sitting across from Mandy while she sat next to Greg. Sara and Warrick were sitting on the other side of her. Mandy starting thinking maybe Nick likes Wendy. How humiliating is that? He liked her best friend. Ugh the story of her life.
It wasn't long before the crew began to leave. It was getting … late… later in the day and they were beat. Greg called a cab first.
"Hey I think I am beat" Warrick said as he looked at Sara who nodded. "Can I take you guys back to the lab?"
"I think… if Mandy is up for it, one more round" Nick said who was beginning to feel a slight buzz, he looked at her and she nodded.
"Yeah that sounds good to me" she responded.
"Alright, I trust you guys will call me if you need something" Warrick said before getting up. Sara followed him. "Bye guys!" she said brightly before exiting right behind Warrick.
"So… those two" Mandy said slowly
"Yeah. It's kind of hush hush, I don't think Grissom and Cath know about. " Nick said to her, he knew she wouldn't spill the beans.
"It's not against the rules. At least as far as I know," Mandy responded showing that she wasn't going to tell.
"True but it still is a little weird since they work together and could get into jams. They don't want the evidence to be compromised, or their integrity."
"Totally get it, but it would be hard to date someone in the office" she said looking at him, although I wouldn't mind it if it were you, she thought to herself.
"Yeah it could be, but we do spend a lot of time on the job that it seems inevitable."
"So what about you? Anyone special in your life" she asked before she could stop herself. What was she thinking? The alcohol was definitely affecting her.
"Nah, I haven't found the right girl yet." Nick said shrugging slightly.
"Wow, I though you had them eating out of your hands." STOP STOP STOP! she thought.
"Ha, yeah right" he said laughing. She cracked him up. She didn't say much so far tonight but her digs on the guys were funny and quirky. He knew she was quirky, but he found her really funny as well. He was also glad that she busted the other guy's balls as much as she did to his in her lab.
"Hey, I have question," Nick said
"Shoot"
"Do you make Warrick and Greg sing for their print results?"
"Never"
"Why not!" Nick asked, "You make me do it all the time." He whined at the last part.
"Yeah well his voice isn't as good" she said smiling, "plus I like torturing you. It's fun"
"Good to know" Nick said shaking his head and taking another drink. The conversation continued to flow smoothly and soon they found themselves with empty drinks.
"I'll call a cab," Nick said as he picked up his phone. A few minutes later, they were outside waiting for the cab. It was around 1 PM so it didn't take long for the cab to arrive. Nick told the cab driver to take them to the crime lab; he was fine to drive. It was a silent cab ride back to the lab. It wasn't necessarily awkward, but they both realized they were alone. Not like before in the bar. They were alone sitting next to each other. She had her hands in her lap very aware of how close he was to her. When they arrived Nick paid the cab driver before Mandy could even protest.
"Let me take you home" he said after he closed the taxi door behind her, she looked at him gratefully.
"Are you sure? I can just take a cat nap in my car before going home" she closed her eyes slightly realizing how lame that sounded.
"It's not a problem, I insist." He told her, and she relented pretty quickly, her bed sounded so much better than the front seat of her car. He started walking towards his Denali and opened the door for her,
"You really are a gentleman," Mandy observed.
"I was raised right" he said before closing the door. She told him where she lived; it was only 15 minutes away. She chose the place out of convenience and was relieved that she had cleaned her place. Not that he would see, but just in case.
