Disclaimer: Not mine, never has been, never will be.
A/N: This story started out as a Nick POV, then it turned to be a Sara POV, then a Greg POV and at the end it turned out to be a Sara and Nick POV. This one is nothing original, but I just needed to write N/S after watching "You've got Male" and seeing the N/S interaction in that episode I can't believe Nick wouldn't be worried about Sara in season 5.
Friendship N/S
Moving
Nick
I'm walking through the corridors of the lab when I notice Sara standing in the middle of the hallway. I'm not sure what she is doing there. Then again I'm not sure what she has been doing the last couple of weeks.
I haven't talked to her ever since she got suspended. I think I got caught up in Catherine's theory that the night shift would be swept up in Sara's self destructive spiral and we, the swing shift, would have to stay far away from them otherwise we would be going down as well. We can't let that happen, not now, now we are finally going up. We are going up alright and getting closer to Ecklie and his political ways, but Catherine failed to mention that.
Sara looks so lost, which makes part of me believe what Catherine has been saying. That part of me wants to turn around and avoid any interaction with her, but the pain radiating of off her is drawing me closer and so I find myself standing next to her. Standing this close to her I start to wonder if the week suspension did her any good. It's obvious that it wasn't enough for her to get herself together as I notice she has become even thinner. If she loses more weight she will probably disappear altogether. I guess the fact that no one seems to have noticed her before me proves my observation.
I turn to look at what has caught her attention there in the middle of the hallway.
Grissom and Sophia.
The rumors that Grissom and Sophia have been spending time together outside the lab have been circulating around the lab for a while now. Looking at the easy interaction between them I guess the rumors are really facts. The hurt in Sara's eyes makes me wish they weren't. I reach out to touch her, but before I do, she speaks up.
"It's okay, I'm okay."
Sara
I know he probably doesn't believe me, but I really am okay.
I cut the string Grissom had me on the moment I let him in on my secret. Now I am watching him letting go of his end of that same string.
But it hurts, it still hurts.
It hurts because it ends something I have nurtured for so long. It hurts because it is another addition to my lists of things I've lost in just a couple of months.
Nothing good has come out of the team split, although I'm sure the others will disagree with me on that. They are finally moving up, while I am moving down and the rest of my team is stuck in the same place, which isn't entirely true, because Grissom and Sophia are moving somewhere.
And then there is Greg. Greg is still moving, very slowly but he is still moving. I have promised myself I won't let Greg get stuck, I won't let him get caught in the middle of this strange rivalry going on between the different shifts. I will have him transferred the moment I notice working with me is harming his career in any way.
I turn away towards Nick. I can't remember the last time we talked to each other, talked to each other in another capacity than a professional one and I'm not sure he wants me talking to him anymore in anything other than a professional capacity.
I repeat my words.
"I'm okay"
And walk away.
Nick
I never realized how hard the split of the team must have been on Sara until now. No matter how hard she has worked to stay detached from us she somehow became linked to every one of us. That link has been cut so abruptly she never got the chance to adapt.
I don't think I want her to adapt.
I follow her and sit down opposite of her. My shift has ended well over an hour ago, but I feel I need to be here. I need to be here for her, but also for myself.
The damage has been done to us, but we are the ones who have to restore it.
After a while she shoves some of her paperwork to me and I notice a small smile gracing her face.
After an hour the silence between us stops being awkward and turns to being comfortable once again.
After five hours we take a break and get into our normal flirting mode.
After eight hours the night shift has ended and my shift will start in a couple of hours time.
It has been worth it every second of it. Not only is she okay, we are okay as well.
END