Delicious Surprise

NS Set after S6 'Rashomama'. Sometimes a decision made in the blink of an eyelid makes changes which last a lifetime.

Chapter One: I Guess It's All There For The Takin'

Disclaimer: Let's see, I own my Muse, my imagination, my dreams, the fangirl in me and not a whole lot else. CBS I worship the ground you metaphorically walk on.

A/N:- It seems that our Nick and Sara always get themselves mixed up in weddings, eh? This fic will probably be a few chapters long by the time I decide in which direction I want to take it.

"Good news guys. We're all cleared." Greg said, dragging his feet into the break room.

Sara lifted her head from the desk as Nick swung his legs off the sofa. "So no disciplinary action? No suspension, no official warning?" Nick asked.

Greg shook his head. "Don't look so disappointed. Anyway, I'm off home now. You know if you want to swap rides then I'll be happy to. Do you know how much it costs to get that kind of body work done?"

"Don't even get me started on that." Nick said frowning.

"I'm just offering. I mean it takes a real man to be able to pull off driving around in a car like that and ……"

"Okay Greg. We get the idea." Nick said, interrupting him.

"Night. Morning. Whatever." Greg said with a yawn, stumbling down the corridor.

"What a day, eh." Sara said, stretching. "If I'd known it was going to pan out like this I wouldn't have bothered getting out of bed this morning."

"You went to bed?" Nick said, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Caught two hours on the couch." Sara said, giving him a guilty smile as they walked to the locker room together. "You do realise today would never have happened if the couple were getting married just because they were in love and not because they wanted a huge fancy wedding ….."

"That's very cynical Sara."

"I mean come on, did you see the wedding decorations?" Sara said with a yawn, opening her locker.

"What is it with you and weddings anyway?" Nick asked, pulling off his T-shirt.

"I've got nothing against them when they happen for the right reason." Sara said stubbornly, tugging a sweater out of her locker.

"So there is a hapless romantic living somewhere deep down inside of you." Nick grinned.

Sara turned to face him with a jab at his hopeless love life all prepared but she was caught off guard by the fact he was topless. She wasn't blind and she was well aware that she had been forced to work alongside the nicest hot guy in the whole of Vegas for the past six years but it must have been something in the confetti filled air tonight that made her ever so slightly uncomfortable at seeing him change in front of her. "What about your love life Stokes? Don't tell me it's not also pretty dead."

Nick lifted his foot up on the bench to untie the laces of his work boots, leaving Sara wishing he would just put on another shirt already. "I'm just waiting for the right woman." He said, looking up and flashing her a grin.

"Yeah, yeah, that's what all single men say." Sara said, flopping down on the bench to change her shoes as well.

"Well, come on then, why are you still single?" Nick asked, reaching out and nudging her, throwing Sara off balance.

She scowled at him. "Because I'm waiting for the right guy." She said with a smirk.

"Well, you see, when you do find the right guy, you're going to find out that you really do want that big fancy wedding after all." Nick said, getting up and taking a clean T-shirt out of his locker and pulling it on.

Sara shook her head. "Never going to happen."

"What? Finding the right guy or the big fancy wedding?" Nick asked, looking back at her over his shoulder.

"Erm, both." Sara said quietly, finishing tying her laces and walking back over to her locker to shove her work boots in her locker.

"Ah, don't be like that Sar. Any guy would be lucky to have you." Nick said honestly, shutting his locker and waiting for Sara to finish up.

"Oh come on, we all know that weddings are just there to remind us single folk of everything which don't have." She said huffily, pulling on her sweater. "I mean you know my life: work, work, work. It's not like I have time for anything else and every time I've tried to have a relationship it came back to bite me in the face. Maybe I'm just one of those people who are meant to be alone …"

"Sara." Nick said, trying to tell her that she was all wrong.

"I mean I know people see me as the loner but it's not like I want to be so emotionally deficient." Sara continued. "It's just it's easier this way, less hassle. Besides you know you're just going to get hurt in the long run, so not being in a relationship saves yourself the pain and-"

"Sara-"

"And isn't it like a third of all marriages end in divorce anyway? I mean any relationship, not to mention marriage, of mine would be doomed to fail from the beginning anyway ….."

Nick looked at her ranting away, putting herself down. He always knew Sara never even pretended to have much of a life outside of work but he had always figured that that was just the way she chose to lead her life and he had always respected that. He hated that she was meant to be his friend and he had never picked up on how secretly unhappy she had been all this time. She needed to go out on dates more - Hell, if he wasn't so sure she would reject him, he would have asked her out ages ago. Then maybe he would've been able to get a word in edgeways and convince her that she was this wonderful person he saw her as.

"Sara-" He tried again, waving a hand up and down in front of her but she blanked him, carrying on speaking and slamming her locker shut.

Letting his eyes run over her a moment, he then walked up to her determinedly and without giving her a chance to move he pinned her up against the locker and crushed his lips against hers.

For a good few heartbeats, Sara's brain refused to register what was happening. Then she vaguely started feeling aching pain from where the combination lock of the locker was pressed in deep against her back. She tried to move but she couldn't. Of course she couldn't, Nick was right up against her and there was the small matter that he was kissing her. God, he was still kissing her …. Why hadn't he stopped ….. then she realised that would be because she was kissing him back. She managed to shift a bit and Nick's hands immediately came to rest on her hips as if he wanted to hold her there to stop her from running.

She closed her eyes and let Nick slowly take control of their kiss. She would be lying if she said she had never imagined this, she would be lying even more is she said she wasn't enjoying it but one thing she didn't understand was why. Why after six years of nothing beyond playful flirting would he suddenly just walk up to her kiss her so forcefully, so passionately? And why her?

When he finally pulled away, Sara felt her whole body, which had felt so warm only moments before, suddenly feel incredibly numb. Nick still didn't remove his hands or step away and they just stood there, staring into each other's eyes, breathing deeply, waiting for each other to say something first.

"What?" Sara said finally.

Nick shrugged and stepped away, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. "I had to get you to shut up one way or another Sidle." He said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world before walking out.

Sara leant back against the locker, closing her eyes.

She had been flirted with by at least two guys at the wedding today but this just took the (wedding) cake.

A/N:- Yes there will be another chapter to this if you guys want.