Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them; however, if I was a member of the Academy, I'd nominate George for an Emmy for his performance in "Grave Danger". The invitation for coffee is always open to George and Jorja.
Author's Note: This is written in response to my own challenge that I gave the Nick/Sara group on Yahoo. I am fully aware that the end of this is a bit out of character, but as a plot device, I think it's funny. I hope you enjoy.
"You know I could swear that there was an episode of MacGyver like this." There was a slight waver in Sara's voice as she realized that not only had the door latched shut, the doorknob on the inside had fallen off when Nick had tried to reopen it.
"Yeah, and all we need is duct tape, chewing gum, and a paper clip and we could get out of here and save the world while we're at it." Nick quipped trying to keep himself calm. Ever since he'd been buried alive, he wasn't particularly fond of small, dark spaces, especially when he wasn't in control of how to get out; which is precisely the reason why Sara had gone into the closet with him as he'd muscled a rather heavy box down from the shelf in the back of it.
"I'm sorry, Nick." Sara wanted to remain calm but she wasn't exactly fond of small spaces herself and she could feel her throat constricting and her voice waver.
"It's not your fault, Sara." Nick knew she wasn't enjoying this; she'd confessed to him once that she'd been stuck in an elevator in a high rise in San Francisco for four hours once and she'd been a bit claustrophobic since.
"Yes it is. I'm the one who asked you to pull that down." Her voice seemed to be winding up a few notches as she continued to talk. "I mean, we don't know if anything in the box is even relevant to the case."
"And we don't know that it isn't either." Nick replied trying to figure out how to keep her calm when he wasn't feeling very calm himself.
"For all we know it could be just a case of, of, of…lip balm." Sara was definitely panicking.
"Lip balm?" Nick snorted out a laugh. For some reason the absurdity that someone would keep an entire case of lip balm on the top shelf of their hall closet just sounded ridiculous.
"Well it's more likely than a case of that Fruit Striped Gum." Oh, she was definitely not thinking clearly.
"The gum with the Zebra on the package?" Nick shone the flashlight on Sara's face to see if she was serious.
"Yes, the gum with the Zebra…why do you think they call it Fruit Striped Gum? It's got Zebra stripes." Sara felt her throat constricting even tighter as she pushed the light out of her face.
"Do they even make that stuff anymore?" Nick sounded doubtful. He was trying to concentrate on Sara so that he wouldn't focus on the small space they were stuck in.
"I don't know." Sara's voice sounded small and scared.
"Sara." Nick's voice sounded like a command, the last thing he needed was for Sara to have a melt down when he felt dangerously close to having one himself.
"Yeah." The control in his voice gave her a hint of security.
"Polar bears or pandas?" It was the first thing that came to mind to try and distract her. He'd watched a documentary on bears on the Discovery Channel before coming to work that night and it was fresh in his mind.
"Huh?" She had no idea what he was talking about.
"Do you like polar bears or pandas better?" Nick insisted trying not to concentrate on the fact that the closet was feeling smaller by the moment.
"Uh, pandas I guess…why?" There was suspicion in her voice.
"Well I personally prefer the polar bears." Nick decided that the best way to distract her was to engage in a debate. "They're bigger and stronger and their hair is actually clear, not white."
"Well pandas aren't carnivorous, they eat bamboo plants." Sara countered proud that her choice were herbivores.
"Ah, so the vegetarian prefers the vegetarian bear." Nick sounded amused. "That would explain why the polar bear is so appealing to me."
"Nick?" Sara was curious why Nick had brought this up in the first place.
"Yeah?" He was doing his best to keep the constricting feeling in his throat at bay.
"Why are we talking about this anyway?" The thought occurred to her that if they'd brought one of their kits into the closet they would have a myriad of tools that might help them out of their predicament.
"Because we're stuck in a closet and the rotozip saw is in the Denali and the last time I checked, Officer What's-His-Name went on another call." Nick was irritated that PD couldn't get it through their heads that they were supposed to provide back up for CSIs at crime scenes, even after they were cleared.
For the first time since they'd gotten stuck in the closet, Sara stopped thinking about her own claustrophobia and realized how hard this must be for Nick. "Are you scared?"
Nick tried to keep his voice even. "Trying not to be." He was trying to hold it together but not doing a very good job.
As if sensing that it might help, Sara slid her arms around his waist and pulled him into a hug. "Maybe if we hold onto each other it won't be as scary."
Nick had to admit that holding onto Sara sounded like a pretty good way to distract himself, in fact he wouldn't mind holding onto her when they finally got out of the closet. He inhaled the scent of her hair as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her a little closer, resting his cheek against her hair. "Maybe."
Sara wasn't sure why, but she was enjoying holding onto Nick like this entirely too much, and although her nerves about being stuck in the closet had subsided some, she was feeling a completely different type of nervousness standing this close to him. She started to babble. "So I was reading about this case in Australia…they found this man bludgeoned to death, but they couldn't find a murder weapon. They had a suspect with no alibi, but they couldn't prove that he'd committed the murder and without a weapon they couldn't tie him to the crime."
"So what happened?" Nick couldn't help himself as he began to gently rub her back.
"Uh…well, the case went unsolved for a long time actually." She was having difficulty concentrating on anything but Nick's hands and the thought crossed her mind that she wouldn't mind kissing him.
"What was the break in the case?" Nick queried her, using a great deal of self restraint to not tangle his fingers in her hair and just kiss her senseless.
Sara's voice wavered slightly as she unsuccessfully tried to keep herself from snuggling closer to Nick. "Well, the suspect put an advertisement in the local paper for frozen kangaroo tails. Apparently, he thought he could turn a profit by selling them as an alternative to beef. The officers investigating the case put two and two together and confronted him."
"So he beat the poor guy with a frozen kangaroo tail?" Nick sounded a bit incredulous.
"And then ate the evidence." Sara added, finding that she wasn't minding being stuck in the closet so much anymore.
Nick chuckled. "You've got to be kidding?"
Sara pulled back to look at him in the dim light filtering in under the door. "No, he confessed and was sentence to forty years in jail."
"Wow." Nick really wasn't commenting on the case as much as he realized that the look on Sara's face was pretty similar to his own and he was seriously contemplating kissing her.
Sara could see enough of the look in his eye to know that he was thinking what she was thinking. "Yeah." She couldn't keep her eyes off of his lips.
That was all the encouragement that Nick needed as he ducked his head and softly capture her lips with his own. Neither one of them was really paying much attention to their surroundings anymore as Sara deepened the kiss. They might have continued kissing like that for quite a while had the closet door not suddenly opened.
Nick and Sara were momentarily oblivious and when they finally realized that they were no longer stuck they pulled away a bit self consciously.
Greg Sanders stood there with a slightly shocked, slight amused expression on his face. "Well isn't this interesting? I wonder what Grissom would say about you two getting jiggy with it on company time…" The smirk on his face was priceless. "Apparently it was a good thing he sent me over to see if you needed any help."
"We were stuck in the closet." Sara defended, licking her lips and trying to keep the smile off of her face.
Greg quirked an eyebrow. "I didn't know you were in the closet." His tone clearly implied that he wasn't referring to them being stuck.
"Uh, we were just using a new technique to combat claustrophobia." Nick stammered wishing that he'd had longer to perfect the technique with Sara.
"Yes, that's right." Sara swallowed hard and glanced at Nick out of the corner of her eye. "In fact we probably need to practice some more just in case we ever get stuck again."
There was no way Nick could hide his smile. "That's a great idea."
Greg arched a single brow as he studied the pair. "So, if both of you are so claustrophobic and you found yourselves stuck in a closet…" He noticed the doorknob which was missing from the inside of the door on the floor of the closet. "Why didn't you use your cell phones to call for help?"
It was only then that Nick and Sara realized that they'd both had their cell phones with them the entire time.
"No signal." Sara replied a bit smugly. She didn't know this for sure, but she really didn't have any other reason.
"Uh, huh." Greg sounded entirely too suspicious.
"She's right, man." Nick agreed, knowing full well that they hadn't checked.
"Hmm." Greg wasn't buying the story.
"If you don't believe me, check it out yourself." Nick insisted, propelling Greg into the closet and shutting the door behind him.
"Not funny!" Greg yelled from inside the closet.
Nick stepped towards Sara and looked at her inquisitively. "Should we practice a little more?"
"You know what they say, practice makes perfect." Sara grinned as she stepped towards him and slid her arms around his neck, letting her eyes flutter shut as felt his lips connect with hers.
"There's a signal in here. I have four bars. In fact, I'll prove it to you." Greg called out from inside the closet.
Despite the fact that their cell phones kept ringing, Nick and Sara ignored him as they continued kissing, reasoning that it wasn't quite time yet for Greg to come out of the closet.
The End