Title: The Vegas Experience
Author: DarkDreamer56
Archive: If you want it, ask please!
Rating: T
Pairings: NS
Disclaimer: All I have to my name is a nice little cactus from the Cactus Conservatory, a job that most people don't want, and way too many student loans…I don't own Fly Me To the Moon either...
Spoilers: nothing specific, but general references to the shot heard 'round the world, AKA "Way to Go." Set several years after the S6 finale.
A/N: Written in response to a challenge. Dedicated to Julie, as a belated birthday gift of sorts. Hope you had a good one chica!
Sara leaned her head briefly against the bay of lockers in front of her. It had been a long, tedious shift of lab work, and she couldn't wait to get home and crawl into bed. The cool metal of the lockers felt good against her skin, and she smiled briefly at the thought of curling up against a certain someone in her air conditioned bedroom and falling asleep.
As if on cue, she felt a pair of hands settle at her hips, and warm breath tickle her ear. "We still on for tonight?"
Sara smiled as he pressed a kiss to her temple. "I was hoping we were on for after shift."
"Sorry sweetheart, I've got that dentist appointment, remember?"
Sara sighed. She had forgotten, actually. The prospect of going home and crawling into bed was far less appealing when she knew that Nick wouldn't be crawling in next to her. "You could come over after?" she asked hopefully as she turned herself around so that she could kiss him properly.
When their kiss broke, he grinned at her. "I know better than to disturb a sleeping Sara…besides, I need you to be well rested for what I have planned tonight."
Sara quirked an eyebrow at Nick; he had been fairly secretive about what he had planned for them that night, ever since he had asked her to keep it open. They'd been working a lot of long shifts, leaving little time to spend with each other, let alone leaving time to actually go out and do something, and Sara thought it had been cute when he had asked her on an actual date. But despite her best efforts, she had been unable to get a single detail out of him, a fact that made her stomach flutter in excitement. "And what exactly do you have planned for tonight Mr. Stokes?"
Nick just chuckled and leaned in for another kiss. "I'm not telling, it would ruin the surprise."
"Come on, you've got to give me something, if you're not even coming over today…" Sara knew that there was a bit of whine to her voice, but she didn't care. Nick didn't seem to mind either, if the smirk on his face was any indication. He shook his head, but began to chuckle again when Sara started to toy with the buttons holding his shirt closed.
"Fine, all I'm gonna tell you is that you should wear a dress." There was a gleam in his eyes as he continued in a somewhat lower voice. "Maybe that sexy little black one that you wore to Archie's birthday party last month, but you might want to skip the stilettos."
"Why on earth would I wear stilettos?" Sara tried to recall the last time she even owned a pair. It had been in grad school, and even then they had only been a part of a Halloween costume.
Nick grinned and squeezed her hips. "Well, just in case you thought I might appreciate it."
"Yeah, I'm sure you certainly would." Sara rolled her eyes; she could imagine just how much Nick would appreciate her in stiletto heels, and she was sure he had several scenarios in mind. "Maybe for your birthday…" Nick's eyes widened, and Sara had to bite her lip to suppress the smirk that was threatening to overtake her face as she studied Nick's expression. He looked just like a teenager that had been told his parents were leaving town for a week, and leaving him the keys to their car.
"I was just teasing, but if you're willing…" he whispered conspiratorially, until Sara pressed her lips to his, effectively shutting him up. She let him take control of the kiss, reveling in his taste until he reluctantly pulled away. "I should get going so I'm not late."
They finally pulled apart and gathered their stuff before heading out towards the parking lot. After another quick kiss in the parking lot, along with a teasing comment from Greg and Warrick to get a room, Nick shut Sara's driver's side door and waved goodbye before heading over to his truck.
By the time Sara arrived back at her apartment and changed into a pair of sweats and one of Nick's tee-shirts, her phone had beeped twice, signaling two test messages. Throwing her hair up into a ponytail and making sure her alarm was set for a reasonable time, she crawled into the middle of her bed and flipped her phone open. As suspected, both of the messages were from Nick, the first a sweet reminder that he would call her when he got up, and promising to buy the Starbuck's chai lattes and Krispy Kremes before their next shift to make up for not coming over, and the second made her blush. Apparently, he encountered a bit of a wait once he got to the dentist's office, and with their earlier conversation still fresh in his mind, he decided to let Sara in on one of the scenarios he'd come up with involving her and a pair of stilettos.
Over the course of their eight month relationship, they'd tried to keep things PG when it came to sending each other texts or leaving voicemails on their department issued cell phones, but occasionally one or the other slipped up, usually after a long stretch of double shifts or when one of them was out of town. As long as they were deleted right away, neither saw the harm, though Sara had found out first hand how hard it was to concentrate on what Grissom or Greg was telling her in the middle of checking a voicemail from Nick, detailing exactly what he wanted to do to her when she finally got out of work in his sexy Southern drawl.
With a smirk, Sara added a few of her own details to Nick's scenario and sent it to him, hoping that he wouldn't check his phone until he got home. She briefly considered going through her closet to find something to wear that night, but decided she would have more than enough time when she got up, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
It was probably about an hour later when she registered the ringing of her phone and sleepily reached for it, praying that she wasn't being called in to work.
"'Lo?" she answered, trying to suppress a yawn.
"It's a good thing I just checked my messages, don't think my dentist would have appreciated my reaction to your text."
Sara was still half asleep, as her voice reflected, and didn't really know what Nick was talking about. "Mmm, what was that baby?"
It seemed that Nick took her question a bit of a different way, and he began to laugh. "Sara Sidle, are you trying to initiate phone sex? I'm all for it, but…"
That jolted her awake. "Hey, I was just trying to sleep…for someone that didn't want to come over because he didn't want to wake me up, you're not doing a very good job…besides, if you were here, we wouldn't need phone sex, would we?" Nick had been right; Sara was definitely grumpy when she was woken up, and even though she was happy to hear his voice, she was frustrated that he wasn't in bed next to her. Sara sighed and rolled to her other side. "This wouldn't be so hard if we didn't have separate places…"
The sentence was barely out of Sara's mouth before her eyes widened and she cringed, momentarily abandoning the phone so that she could bury her head in a pillow and groan. She hadn't meant for that to slip out, but she was tired and grumpy, a bad combination at any time. The past several weeks had left her wondering how things would work if she and Nick decided to move in together. With so many double shifts, it seemed like the only time they saw each other outside of working a case together was when one stayed over at the other's place. Most of their stuff was spread between two places, and Sara had become accustomed early on to the delight of waking up with Nick's body curled around hers, his head buried in her shoulder and his arm slung over her abdomen. She wanted to share her life, and her space with Nick, she just hadn't been able to figure out a way to broach the subject with him, at least until her mouth decided to bring it up for her.
When she picked the phone back up, she heard Nick sigh on the other line, and she couldn't tell if he was upset, or if he was just thinking of a way to respond.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap…"
"No sweetheart, it's my fault, I shouldn't have woken you up." Nick took a deep breath. "And if having two separate places bothers you, there is a way to fix that…"
Nick let his statement hang in the air. Sara paused for a moment, trying to form a coherent thought. She really wanted this issue to be resolved between them, but she also hadn't expected to have this serious conversation under these circumstances.
"Maybe we should discuss this when we've both had some sleep…"
"Sara, if you want to move in together, we'll do it. The wheres and the hows will work themselves out later."
"Nick, this is something that we need to discuss, together. This is a big step." Sara couldn't fathom how Nick didn't think they should talk about this seriously. She sighed in frustration; she really wished that Nick would take this as seriously as she was.
"Sweetheart, I know it's a big step, but it's a step I've been comfortable with for a lot longer than you have. You don't have to try and convince me, if you're ready, then I'm ready. Yeah, we'll have to discuss the details, but I'll call a moving van tomorrow if you want me to."
Sara was amazed at how easy the decision had ended up being. She had expected several long conversations about why it was or wasn't a good idea, and if it was a good idea, then the best way to go about combining their households. It had taken her several months to get to the point where she was ready to take that next step with Nick, and sometimes it had scared her how ready Nick was to move on in their relationship; she trusted him with her life, and her heart, but she had been burned so many times in the past that it had taken awhile to adjust to the fact that she was in a relationship that wouldn't self destruct. It was only in the past two months that she could think about taking that step without getting nervous that it was too soon.
"So that's it?" Sara's voice sounded incredulous; five minutes ago, she had been stewing alone in her bed, angry for being woken up, and now she was officially moving in with Nick and mentally calculating how many boxes she would have to gather to pack up her apartment. It wouldn't make any sense for Nick to put his house up on the market and move into her much smaller apartment, and they could always decide later to sell his place and purchase one of their own.
"Not everything has to be hard Sara…and you better get some sleep, I don't want to come over and find half of your apartment packed up. We'll worry about working all of that out tomorrow, okay? Tonight, I want you well rested." There was a teasing quality to Nick's voice, but Sara knew he was serious. He obviously had something special planned for the night, and she would try her best to get some sleep before it.
"Looking forward to what you've got planned. I love you Nick."
"I love you too baby…I'll call you when I get up, and I'm sorry for waking you up."
Sara smiled. "I'm not. Night."
It took awhile for Sara to fall asleep after they hung up. Her mind was still trying to process the fact that she and Nick were going to be living together very soon, and her mind kept wandering back to one part of the conversation. Not everything has to be hard. Sara had been surprised at how easy things had been throughout their relationship. They'd had their issues of course, but for the most part they had avoided any major problems. Even the team had taken the announcement pretty well, including Grissom, which had surprised Sara, considering their own failed attempt at a relationship the year before. In fact, the hardest part about her relationship with Nick had been getting there. She had spent so many years buried under unresolved Grissom angst and trying to outrun her less than idyllic past, and then the stress of hiding a relationship with Grissom from everyone around them that eventually led to her breaking things off, that she had been extremely wary when she realized she had feelings for Nick.
It took several months before she would even acknowledge to herself that her feelings were anything more than a reaction to her breakup with Grissom; Nick had always been one of her best friends, there was a reason that he was one of the few that had gotten around all of the walls that she had mounted. He was sweet, and kind, and he had a way of getting her to open up to him without making her feel like she was being handled. Plus, she'd have to be blind not to see how attractive the man was. Still, she couldn't help but wonder if she was mistaking her feelings for the gratefulness she had for their friendship. And after everything that had happened, she was definitely not looking to get involved with a coworker again. But eventually she realized that her feelings were genuine and probably feelings that she'd had a lot longer than the past few months, and that they weren't going to go away just because she wasn't ready to deal with them. It helped that Nick seemed to have feelings for her too, but she knew that it would be hard for him to act on them, given everything that had happened with Grissom over the years, so it was up to her to make him see that her feelings were not the result of a rebound. It took time, but eventually Sara got up the courage to invite Nick over for dinner and admit her feelings for him. They agreed to try one date, and an amazing first kiss led to another date, and after several long conversations, they were officially dating. And though it was with a flurry of nerves that Sara entered Grissom's office alone, having insisted to Nick that she had to do this herself, she firmly admitted to Grissom that she was in a relationship with Nick. Things had just settled between the two of them, and Sara had worried that her revelation would cause an awkwardness that could only be solved by switching to another shift, but luckily Grissom had taken her admission with stoicism and in the past eight months, things had gotten relatively back to normal, at least as normal as could be expected for the Vegas night shift.
Sara was able to fall asleep eventually, waking up almost a half hour before her alarm went off. She fought the urge to call Nick, knowing he'd be asleep for at least another hour, and instead made a pot of coffee and curled up on the couch to watch an episode of What Not to Wear. Just as the episode was wrapping up, her phone rang.
"I didn't wake you up again, did I?" Nick's voice on the other line sounded tentative, causing a smile to break out over Sara's face.
"Nope, I was just waiting for you actually."
"Hmm, and watching TLC no doubt. I guess at some point I should start to worry about your obsession with that show. Well, I made reservations for seven, but I was thinking of picking you up around five?"
Sara's ears perked up at the word reservations. "And where might these reservations be?"
"You'll know at seven, won't you?" Nick chuckled. "Alright sweetheart, I'll be there in a couple hours."
Sara tossed the phone on the cushions and abandoned, What Not to Wear for a long steamy shower. Obviously, Nick had made dinner reservations of some kind, but Sara was fairly certain there was more to their night than that; he'd definitely been way too excited for just dinner reservations, and unless he'd planned a road trip, they shouldn't really need two hours to get to wherever these reservations were. A million different possibilities swarmed around in her head, and it wasn't until she realized that she was halfway through conditioning her hair for a second time, that her head cleared.
By the time she emerged from the bathroom, her hair now dried and spilling around her shoulders in loose curls, Sara had already decided which dress she was going to pull from the back of her closet. She'd had the dress for awhile, buying in on a whim sometime during her forced vacation several years before, but she hadn't ever added it into her limited formal rotation; it just hadn't seemed right for any of the weddings or department functions she'd attended since buying the dress. It was a deep emerald and strapless, cinching in at her small waist, and then flaring out until it fell softly just below her knees. There was just enough lace detail to make it more feminine than most of what she wore, and she knew that Nick would appreciate the lace.
After picking out the appropriate undergarments and applying her makeup, Sara dug a pair of black heels out of her closet and got dressed. She had just finished putting on her heels and was debating which necklace to wear when her doorbell rang. Smiling, she opened the door to reveal her very handsome boyfriend, holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Her smile spread further as she watched Nick take in the silhouette of her dress. Yes, that reaction had been exactly what she had hoped for when she picked the dress.
"Baby, close your mouth."
"Uh…wow."
Sara felt her cheeks heat up under the scrutiny of Nick's appreciative gaze, but she couldn't resist teasing him a little. "I know it's not the black dress you requested, so I could go change…"
"Don't you dare." Nick finally stepped through Sara's threshold, placing the flowers on the table next to her door and pulling her towards him and into a mind numbing kiss. By the time they pulled away, both were grinning like fools, and it was only then that Sara realized her apartment door was still wide open.
Sara smirked. "I take it the dress is a hit?"
Nick nodded, still grinning as he finally shut the door behind him. "Oh yeah. You look amazing." He reached out for the flowers he'd set down and handed them to Sara. She smiled softly, inhaling the fragrance wafting up from the bouquet. She pressed a sweet kiss to his lips, much chaster than their previous one, but full of just as much meaning, careful not to squish the bouquet between them.
"Thank you, they're beautiful. Can you get a vase for these while I finish getting ready?"
Nick quirked his eyebrow as Sara handed him the flowers. "Sweetheart, you look perfect, what could you possibly have left to do?"
Sara was already heading into her bedroom, calling back to him, "Two minutes." Assessing the necklaces in her makeshift jewelry box, she quickly picked out a gold and sapphire necklace that Nick had given her for her birthday. After several tries, she finally got the clasp closed around her neck, spritzed on some perfume, and grabbed a black sweater from her closet.
Nick was sitting on her couch, the vase of flowers sitting on the coffee table in front of him, staring into space. Sara settled next to him on the couch, laying her head against his shoulder and sighing; this is what she had missed when he hadn't come over, being close to him, inhaling his scent as she felt his arm wrap around her. With a smile, she realized that she wouldn't have to miss it anymore, well accept for the times one of them pulled a double. "Are we really gonna do this?"
"Of course…I didn't tell you to get all dressed up, or pull this suit out for that matter, to stay in and order pizza."
Sara rolled her eyes and elbowed him; that wasn't what she meant. "I meant, are we really gonna move in together?"
"Sweetheart, I told you, I'm ready as soon as you are. Hell, I even did laundry before I came to pick you up so you'd have something clean to wear tomorrow. I mean, I figured you could come over tonight, my place is bigger, and I own, but we can talk about it…I didn't mean to presume earlier, when I said we'd pack up your place…"
"No, I agree. And I'm ready for this, I'm really ready." Sara looked up into his eyes and smiled, pleased when Nick grinned back at her. "So, what exactly did you get us all dressed up for?" Sara had to appreciate Nick in a suit; lately, the only occasion he'd had to get dressed up was for court, and there was something about seeing him in a crisp white shirt that always had Sara anticipating the moment she could get him out of the lab and into a more private location.
Nick chuckled, drawing his arm around her a little tighter. "How long would you say you've been in Vegas?"
Sara thought for a moment. "About eight years, why?"
"And in those eight years, have you ever gone to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay? Or gone to the top of The Stratosphere? Have you even gone to one of the hotels for anything other than a crime scene?"
Sara was following Nick's train of thought, but suddenly images of him wanting to go to one of the hotel nightclubs, or to try that insane mechanical arm that dangles you off the side of The Stratosphere, or possibly even worse than that, wanting to get a picture with one of those gaudy Elvis impersonators outside of the casinos, invaded her mind. She knew that Nick's social life had been blown way out of proportion in the past, but he still was a lot more adventurous when it came to exploring Vegas's offerings than she was, and she really hoped that he hadn't planned anything too extreme. He couldn't possibly think that she would enjoy something like that.
As if he were reading her mind, Nick laughed again. "Sar, don't look so scared. I promise that you'll have a good time, no clubs or fake Elvises involved. Don't you think it would be nice to see what Vegas has to offer, other than crime scenes? I thought we could start by checking out the Wildlife Habitat at the Flamingo, and then other than dinner reservations, I figured we could wander around The Strip and see what catches our interest. Still scared?"
Sara felt a little silly; of course Nick knew her better than to think she'd want to go out to a club; not that she hadn't gone to several with him, Greg, and Warrick in the past, but she certainly did not want to spend their first night off together in weeks paying twenty dollars for over priced drinks and shouting at each other over a sweaty crowd. And then she thought of how sweet it was that Nick had come up with this idea. "No, I think it's perfect…you're perfect." To emphasize her point, she leaned up and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.
Nick was grinning by the time she pulled back. "I'm gonna remind you of that the next time you get mad when I finish off the last pint of Ben and Jerry's. Now what do you say we head out?"
Several hours later, Sara and Nick were waiting in line for the elevator that would take them up to the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower replica at Paris. They'd spent about a half hour looking around the wildlife habitat in the middle of The Flamingo before walking over to Paris for dinner. Sara was shocked to find out that Nick had made reservations at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant, and after an amazing dinner, they'd decided to look around the Strip a little more before returning to Paris later that night. So they'd spent the rest of the night wandering through the Canal Shoppes at the Venetian and then the Botanical Garden in the Bellagio. Sara was content just holding Nick's hand and taking in the scenery around them. Nick had been right, Vegas was a much different experience when she wasn't looking at it through a crime scene camera lens. She'd investigated a robbery at one of the Canal Shoppes several years back, but she'd never noticed how pretty the ceiling was, painted and lit to look just like the night sky. Around eleven, Nick suggested they head back and try to catch the last Bellagio fountain show on the Eiffel Tower observation deck.
Once Nick purchased the tickets, they didn't have to wait too long before their group was shuttled onto the elevator. As people piled on to the elevator, Sara glanced at Nick with a worried expression. Ever since his abduction, he had not been fond of small or overly crowded spaces, and the elevator definitely counted as both. She could feel him tense up beside her, and reached out to grasp his hand, but other than him gripping her hand a little tighter, and closing his eyes and taking a few ragged breaths, they made it to the observation deck without much incident.
When they stepped off of the elevator, Sara gasped. She'd never had the opportunity to see Vegas from that perspective. Nick quickly ushered her away from the elevator and around the deck until they found a spot with a good view of the fountains.
"Wow." Sara stared out at all the lights, amazed at the scene in front of her. Even after nearly eight years in the city, Sara had never seen anything quite like the view she had at that moment. And the fact that she was sharing it with Nick made it just that much more special to her. "Thank you." For now, Sara expressed her gratitude for such a wonderful evening with a soft kiss and a wide smile.
She felt Nick's arms wrap around her waist from behind, as the music started below. The fountains came to life instantly, moving in time with Frank Sinatra's Fly Me to the Moon. Sara leaned back against Nick's chest, bringing her arms up to rest on his forearms as she covered his hands with hers. The fountains danced below them, and Sara couldn't tear her gaze away from them.
Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars
In other words hold my hand
In other words darling kiss me
Nick's breath whispered across Sara's ear several seconds before the words that he spoke registered. "Marry me?"
Those two words definitely tore her attention away from the view in front of them. She felt her stomach drop right into the middle of the crowds gathered on the ground below them, and she let out an audible gasp. "What did you just say?"
"Did you really not hear me, or do you need to hear it again?"
Sara turned around to face Nick, letting him take her hands into his as she stared back at him with wide eyes. "Again, please."
A nervous smile played at Nick's lips while his hands squeezed hers. "I had this whole thing planned out, dinner, the fountains…there's a ring too, but I'm not sure that's a good idea right now." Sara's face fell; was he trying to take back what she was pretty sure had been a proposal? He quickly explained. "I didn't expect my hands to be shaking…I'd rather give it to you when there isn't a chance of me dropping it hundreds of feet, if you want the ring, that is…"
As Nick rambled, Sara did notice that his hands seemed less steady than usual, but then again that could be because her hands were shaking too. Oblivious to all of the people around them on the observation deck, Sara brought their hands up to rest against his chest. He untangled one of his hands from hers, rubbing it across the back of his neck, embarrassed.
"Can I try that again?" Nick brought his free hand up to Sara's face, stroking her cheek with his thumb as she nodded, biting down on her lip to keep her smile at bay. "Sara, I love you so much, and it took us so long to get here…I want to spend the rest of my life with you, I want to make that public declaration of love…will you marry me?" His voice was low, so as not to distract everyone around them taking in the view, but Sara heard every word loud and clear.
By the time Nick was finished with his declaration, Sara was still biting her lip, but now she was trying to keep from crying. She gave up all pretense when several tears escaped anyways, and opened her mouth to answer, though she couldn't quite get her voice to cooperate. Nick searched her eyes, still stroking her cheek, and Sara watched his face fall; between her tears, wide eyes, and inability to speak at the moment, he must have misinterpreted her answer.
"Hey, it's okay, you're not ready…I know marriage is a touchy subject, I just thought…but, you're moving in, we can see how things go…" He was trying to be brave, but Sara couldn't miss the way he seemed to be choking on his words, or the tears that seemed dangerously close to the surface.
"Yes," she whispered, placing a finger to his lips to silence him. "I want to marry you Nick, so yes."
Nick searched her eyes again, and let out a sigh of relief when her words sunk in. "I love you."
"I love you too."
Sara sniffled, leaning towards Nick and pressing her lips to his, not caring at that moment how many people were around them. They exchanged several long, deep kisses until they realized it might be a good idea to stop making out in public, engagement or not.
"So, is there anything else you want to do tonight? I'd say we could go for the complete Vegas experience, but I really don't want to get married by an Elvis impersonator." Nick was grinning as he quirked an eyebrow at Sara, not quite letting her go.
Sara smiled, and grabbed one of Nick's hands to pull him in the direction of the elevator. "Nope, you're not getting out of that public declaration with some cheesy ceremony on the Strip. It doesn't have to be a big public declaration, but…"
Nick looked back at her earnestly. "I want everyone to know…I'll shout it from the top of the Stratosphere."
Sara was blushing, and both of them were still grinning like fools while they boarded the elevator. Luckily, the elevator was a lot less crowded, and the attendant seemed a lot more interested in getting off shift than striking up a conversation, allowing Nick and Sara to stand together in the corner and grin like idiots. Sara could feel herself tear up again as she felt Nick slide something onto her left ring finger. Looking down, she gasped at the simple, yet elegant princess diamond cut gold band engagement ring. "It's beautiful."
Nick noticed the way she stared almost reverently at her hand, holding it out in front of her to examine the ring and chuckled. "I'm glad you like it, it took forever to find the right one…now what do you say we go home?"
Sara smiled. She'd had a good night, getting the Vegas experience with Nick, but right now, going home to celebrate their engagement sounded like the best idea Nick had had all night.
FIN.
A/N: This started off as a response to a challenge I posted about a month ago, and it just kind of took off from there. Part of the problem I've had writing the past month or so has been getting half way through a story, and then trying to figure out a way to get past the big GSR stumbling block. I like for my work to stay pretty close to how I think the characters would honestly act, well, at least as honestly as any fanfic can portray them as, so it's really hard for me to write a story where I ignore this awful canon that TPTB have launched at us. So I'm not sure if this got too bogged down in the middle with all of the explanations, but I really don't know what else to do. If it's too distracting, let me know, and I'll try to work on it in future stories. And I tried to keep the cheese to a minimum, but I think we could all use some Snickers fluff. Hope you enjoyed, and as always, let me know what you think in a review!