Aunt Sara

A/N: just a short and sweet little ficlet that I decided to write. Don't really know how it came to mind, winter weather blues maybe. Hope you enjoy!

~*~*~*~

"I can't believe you let Cath talk you into this, turning your backyard into a war zone," Warrick said. He sat at a festively decorated table under the covered patio as he watched the twenty or so fourth graders running amok around the expansive backyard. About half of them were in the pool, while the rest were congregated around some rosebushes near the fence in the back of the yard.

"Yeah, neither can I. But she owes me now. Big." Elizabeth gave her sister Catherine a look.

"Hey, I warned you that Lindsey wanted to invite her entire class. And I remember someone saying something like, 'Hey, I teach thirty-five kindergarteners, twenty fourth graders should be a breeze,'" Catherine teased.

"Me and my big mouth," Elizabeth sighed.

"I guess it must run in the family," Warrick smiled playfully at Catherine, to which Catherine responded with a slap on his arm.

"So did Lindsey invite you guys or did Catherine drag you here to chaperone?" Elizabeth asked Warrick, wondering why the entire CSI night shift was at a ten year old's birthday party.

"Of course she invited us, why wouldn't she? We're the coolest friends she has!" Warrick replied with a grin.

"If I had asked them to come as chaperones, there's no way he would be here," Catherine pointed toward a crouched figure near the roses, kids huddled around him.

"What is he doing to my rosebushes? I just planted those," Elizabeth complained.

"Bugs," was Catherine's simple reply.

"What?"

"Don't worry, Gris could care less about your roses. He's a bug man," Warrick said, which only increased Elizabeth's confusion.

"He likes bugs," Catherine explained.

"He's probably giving those kids some kind of lecture," Warrick quipped.

~~~

"And see these little pinchers?" a crouching Grissom pointed as he cupped the beetle in his hand.

"That's what they use to bite you!" a redheaded boy exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Actually, these guys don't bite. They're harmless. They actually use these pinchers to help them see."

"How do they do that?" a girl in braids stared at the beetle curiously.

"Well..."

~~~

"Are you sure all those kids in the pool are okay? Shouldn't we be sitting over there watching them?" Elizabeth gestured toward the pool, the shallow end filled with about ten fourth graders and one DNA lab tech.

"Relax, Greg is in there with them, they're in good hands," Warrick said.

Catherine raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well he is certified in CPR," Warrick defended Greg.

"I think somebody needs to be supervising Greg," Catherine said.

"Nick's got it covered," Warrick replied when he spotted his co-worker poolside.

Catherine gave Warrick a look. "Does it look like he's playing lifeguard to you?"

~~~

Nick closed his eyes and tried to imagine he was lounging on the Caribbean shoreline as he savored the warmth of the sun's rays as they hit his bare chest. He was stretched out on a lounge chair, hands behind his head, sunglasses on. His tropical fantasy would have been a lot easier to envision if the air weren't filled with shouts of 'Marco!' from Greg followed by several shrill cries of 'Polo!' from the kids, but Nick did the best he could.

~~~

"Damn, girl," Warrick eyed a bikini-clad Sara as she shut the screen door behind her and stepped out onto the patio.

"Down boy," Elizabeth teased. "You know it's never a good idea to flirt with a betrothed woman."

"Like that would ever stop Warrick," Catherine joked.

"You know that thing is see through," Warrick pointed to the sheer, flower- patterned sarong around Sara's waist.

"You would notice," Sara smirked as she walked out towards the pool. She passed three empty lounge chairs as she made her way to the only one that was occupied. She sat down between Nick's legs and leaned back, feeling his firm chest against her practically bare back as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Do you mind?" Nick eyed her through his dark lenses.

"Not at all," Sara replied as she flipped the sunglasses from atop her head down onto her nose.

"In that case..." Nick wrapped his arms around Sara's waist as he sat up.

"Nick..." Sara warned when he felt his lips on her neck.

"What..." he mumbled as he tugged at the string of her bikini top with his teeth.

"Nick! There are kids around!" she protested again, but to no avail.

~~~

Screams filled the yard as several girls ran from Grissom's huddle, leaving Grissom looking confused and the boys laughing and pointing at the flock of squeamish girl running away. The girls ran toward Warrick, Catherine and Elizabeth seated in the patio.

What's going on Linds?" Catherine asked her daughter when she approached.

"Uncle Grissom dug up this really slimy worm, and then Brandon stepped on it and squished it, and its guts went everywhere!" Lindsey explained, flushed and out of breath from the screaming and running.

"Don't tell me you were scared of a harmless worm," Warrick smiled at the young girl.

"It was all squished up! It was gross!" Lindsey made a face.

"You think it's time for cake and ice cream?" Catherine asked the girls.

"Yeah!" they all shouted.

"Well you better go inside and wash up first," Catherine advised, noticing they had evidence of their bug adventures on their hands and unfortunately their clothes too. Kids attracted dirt like a magnet.

The girls obediently ran inside as Warrick stood up. "Well I better work up my appetite for that cake," he said. He pulled his shirt over his head as Catherine openly ogled his perfectly sculpted chest. "I'll be in the pool," he winked flirtatiously at her as he walked off.

"Damn you two, can't you give it a rest for once? There are kids around, for Christ's sake," Warrick playfully scolded Nick and Sara, who apparently didn't hear him. They broke apart only after being splashed by Warrick, right after he yelled, "Cannonball!" and leaped into the pool.

~~~

"Why is it so quiet?" Nick asked as he opened his eyes and adjusted to the sunlight. He had dozed off and now noticed that the screams and splashes from the pool had vanished along with the kids that had occupied it earlier.

"Cake," Sara replied, idly twirling Nick's sunglasses by the earpiece.

"Cake?" Nick asked like an eager little boy as he quickly sat up, nearly throwing Sara forward.

As if on cue, Lindsey approached them with a plate of cake in each hand. "Here Uncle Nick, this piece is for you," Lindsey handed Nick one of the plates.

"Well thank you, darlin', you read my mind," he smiled.

"And this one's for you Sara." Lindsey handed Sara a piece that was twice as big as Nick's. "Aunt Liz said you should get a big piece because you're too skinny."

"Thanks, I guess," Sara chuckled as she took the plate.

"Your welcome," the birthday girl smiled as she skipped back to the patio.

"How come it's Uncle Nick, Uncle Grissom, Uncle Warrick and Uncle Greg, but I'm just plain Sara?" Sara asked as she set the plate down in her lap and put Nick's sunglasses on him, nudging them up the bridge of his nose with her finger.

"I don't know," Nick mumbled, his mouth full of cake. "Maybe because we've known Lindsey since she was in diapers. By the time she met you I guess she was old enough that she didn't think to call you Aunt."

"Oh." Sara wiped some frosting off of Nick's lip and licked her finger clean as she pondered Nick's explanation.

"Don't worry, you'll have plenty of opportunities to be called Aunt Sara soon enough. I have sixteen nieces and nephews, you know."

"I know," Sara smiled as she glanced down at the ring on her left hand, the diamond sparkling in the sunlight. She was an only child and had no nieces and nephews by blood, but when she officially became part of the Stokes family in less than three months, she'd have all the nieces and nephews she could ever ask for.

~~The End~~