"Nicky," Catherine said as she took a seat at the bar. "I didn't expect to see you here."

He took another drink and shrugged his shoulders.

"I just really needed a drink."

"You okay?"

He shrugged again.

"Come on Nick," Catherine urged. "Talk to me."

He paused for a minute, drinking some more and struggling with his thoughts. Then he turned and looked at her, the pain in his eyes catching her off-guard.

"Did you know about Sara and Gris?"

She shook her head.

"No. None of us did. Is that what's bothering you?"

"It's just…I thought Sara and I were friends. Really good friends. But she never said a word."

"True…but Warrick is quite possibly your best friend, and he didn't tell you his plans before he got married."

"That was a spur of the moment thing, though. He didn't hide it from me after. Sara…she hid it from me for two years, Catherine. How do you do that to a friend? How do you lie to them for so long?"

"There's more, isn't there?" she asked gently, resting a hand on his back. "It's not just that she didn't tell you."

His eyes shone with unshed tears, and he took another drink as he tried to swallow back his emotion.

"I…God, Cath, I've been in love with her for years. I just never…I couldn't work up the courage to do anything about it. And then to find out that my chances died two years ago, to Grissom. I never saw that coming. Never."

Catherine nodded sympathetically as she ordered them both another drink.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I didn't handle Warrick getting married very well. In fact, I handled it pretty badly."

Nick looked over at her.

"Warrick, huh?"

"It's been Warrick for a long time now," she said quietly.

"And we didn't even know he was seeing Tina."

"Exactly."

"I'm sorry, Cath."

She mimicked his earlier reaction and shrugged, giving him a weak smile.

"Nothing we can do about it, is there?"

"We could get drunk."

Laughing, she wiped at her eyes.

"That sounds like a fabulous plan."

"Then why don't we do it at my place? The booze is cheaper."

"Even better. Then I can get these awful heels off."

Nick got down off his stool and reached out a hand for her, a smile on his face.

"Then let's go, pretty lady."

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Catherine snuggle against Nick's chest, her cheeks rosy from the alcohol she had consumed. He leaned back against the couch, one arm draped lazily across her shoulders and a beer bottle in his other hand.

"This was a good idea, Nicky."

"Yeah, 'cause getting drunk is going to solve all our problems."

Catherine lifted her head and looked at Nick seriously for a long moment.

"It makes it feel a little better though, doesn't it?"

Setting down his beer, he reached out and pushed her hair out of her eyes. His fingers lingered on her cheek as he kept his gaze locked on hers.

"Yeah," he whispered. "it does."

Moving slowly, Catherine closed the distance between them, gently brushing her lips against his. Nick's eyes widened as she pulled back, gauging his reaction.

"We're drunk," he reminded her.

"Sounds like a good enough excuse to me."

He nodded, moving toward her and kissing her more firmly this time. Catherine sighed against him, immediately nipping at his bottom lip until he opened up for her. His hands tangled in her long blonde hair as she pushed her body closer to his, suddenly anxious to feel every part of him. Their kisses became more desperate and hungry, Nick's hands moving down her body, his fingers dancing underneath her shirt. Catherine pushed herself up and straddled his waist, giving herself better leverage as she wrapped her arms around his neck and slowly squeezed her legs.

When they broke apart to breathe, both were dizzy with alcohol and hormones. Catherine moved her mouth down to Nick's ear, taking a minute to suck on his earlobe.

"Bedroom?" she whispered.

Nick nodded and stood up, taking a moment to balance himself as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Their lips crashing together again, he moved her down the hall and into his bedroom.

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"So, you and me today?" Sara asked as they got into their vehicle.

"Yeah, but we gotta make a stop first," Warrick told her.

"Where?"

"Apparently Nick and Cath aren't in yet. Grissom asked us to try and find them."

"Where do you think they are?"

"Not sure. I know Cath's mom had Lindsey last night, so maybe she went out. We'll start with Nick, though. His apartment's closest."

"Let's go wake his lazy ass up," Sara smiled, slipping on her sunglasses.

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"How much you wanna bet she's blonde?" Sara asked as they let themselves into Nick's apartment.

"I don't know. I've seen some brunettes catching his eye lately. That might be a fair bet."

"Then let's find out, shall we?" she asked, a mischievous glint in her eye as they moved toward Nick's bedroom.

When they opened the door, it was immediately obvious that Nick wasn't alone. His arm was wrapped around someone, only their hair visible. Sara looked over at Warrick and smirked.

"Told you she was blonde."

At the sound of voices, Nick slowly came awake. Blinking rapidly, he looked around, struggling to find his bearings. When his eyes came to rest on Sara and Warrick, he frowned in confusion.

"What the hell?"

"Wakey, wakey, Nicky," Sara said loudly. "It's time to get up and catch the bad guys."

His eyes widened as he realized who was in his room and who was in his bed. At the same time, the person next to him started to come awake, groaning and sitting up slightly.

"What's with all the noise?" Catherine asked, her eyes adjusting to the light.

Everyone froze as the full weight of the situation came crashing down on them. Sara and Warrick's mouths dropped open and their eyes widened, suddenly unable to come up with a single thing to say. Nick and Catherine froze as well, their minds racing as they tried to come up with something that could explain what had happened between them.

Sara finally just shook her head and left the room, unable to deal with what she had just seen. Warrick continued staring at his two friends, disbelief and anger warring on his face. Finally, he bent down and picked up Nick's jeans from the floor, flinging them at him.

"Get dressed," he bit out. "You two should get to the lab and get your assignments from Gris. You're late."

He turned to leave the room, but Nick's voice stopped him.

"Warrick –"

He turned back, pointing his finger at Nick.

"Don't," he growled. "Just…don't."

Then he stalked out of the room.

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"We need to talk about it," Nick said quietly as they drove toward their crime scene.

"I know." She sighed, turning to face him. "It wasn't anything more than comfort, was it Nicky?"

"No," he said gently.

"I don't want to lose you because of this."

He reached out and took her hand in his.

"You're not going to. You're still one of my best friends, Cath. Nothing can change that. What happened between us…we didn't want to be alone. There was no reason we needed to be."

"So we're okay?" she asked, tightening her hold on his hand.

He looked over and gave her a sad smile.

"Yeah, Cath. We're okay."

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"Sara?"

She didn't even look up from her locker when she heard Nick call her name. Instead, she just kept her eyes focused on her bag as she rifled through it.

"I don't want to talk to you," she said simply.

"Sara –"

"I really don't want to talk to you."

"You have no right to be mad at me."

That caused her eyes to snap up at his. She was surprised to see anger on his face, mingled with hurt and something that looked a lot like guilt.

"Excuse me?"

"You have no right to be mad at me."

"I beg to differ."

"What Catherine and I did has no effect on you, Sara. It's between me and Cath."

"What you did –"

"Is none of your business," he finished. "We weren't hurting anybody."

"Well you hurt Warrick," she spat out. "And you hurt me."

"You're not mine to hurt," he said quietly, before turning around and walking out.

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Catherine and Warrick worked in the lab silently. Every few minutes, one of them would look up at the other, mouth open as though they were about to say something. But then they would think twice about it and look down again, trying to focus on the work at hand.

But Catherine could only take so much. Sighing, she set down the shirt she was looking at and raised her eyes to Warrick.

"So are you just going to not talk to me at all?"

"I don't really know what to say, Cath."

"You can't seriously be mad at me."

He put down what he was working on, finally looking her in the eye.

"Can't I?"
"No," she said firmly. "What I did with Nick has nothing to do with you. Who I sleep with is none of your business."

"I thought we were friends."

"We are. But that still doesn't make my sex life any of your business."

"Why Nick?"

"Why not?"

"Are you two…together now?"

"Again, none of your business."

"So…what? I just have to accept this and get over it?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Well, I can't."

"What the hell is this, Warrick?" she asked, her voice rising. "You're allowed to go and marry someone you didn't even tell us you were dating, but I'm not allowed to fuck someone!?"

"Not my best friend!" he yelled, slamming his fist down on the table.

Catherine took a step back, watching him closely.

"I don't get it, Warrick," she said quietly. "Why is this such a big deal?"

He opened his mouth several times to say something, but each time the words got stuck in his throat. Finally, he pushed himself off of the table and left the room, leaving Catherine in his wake, struggling to figure out his anger.

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It wasn't until a week later that Warrick and Nick found themselves alone in the locker room together. Warrick had been deliberate in avoiding his friend, and Nick had decided that maybe he shouldn't push the issue – he was hoping that eventually the other man would come around. But it had been seven days, and he couldn't take the silence anymore.

"I need you to talk to me, Warrick," he said quietly.

"I've got nothing to say to you."

"Come on, man. I didn't do it to hurt you."

"You shouldn't have done it at all."

Nick closed his locker and turned to face him.

"You know what, Warrick? I understand that you're upset. I understand that you don't want to see Cath with any other guy. But you know what? You lost the right to be a jealous asshole the minute you married Tina!"

Slamming his locker shut, Warrick strode across the room and punched his friend in the face. Nick stumbled backwards slightly, but then he was swinging his fist in retaliation, slamming it into Warrick's cheek. Then they crashed into each other in a tangle of arms and legs, lashing out viciously. After a few minutes of fighting, they pushed off of each other, both breathing heavily and bleeding from cuts on their faces.

"Do you know why?" Nick asked, leaning against the lockers for support. "Do you know why Cath did it? Because you broke her heart, Warrick. She's loved you for so long, and you just went and married somebody else. Someone you never even introduced us to. She's been carrying that with her since she found out, and the one time she finally breaks, you hold it against her? You have no right! None!"

"And what about you?" he asked, slumping onto the bench. "What the hell is your excuse?"

"Mine? I just found out that the woman I'm in love with has been sleeping with our BOSS for two years! I've been in love with her for YEARS, Warrick! When I found out about Gris…I got drunk. So did Catherine. It was comfort – nothing more. After you and Sara took everything else away from us, what makes you think you have the right to take that away too? Do you hate us that much that you just want us to sit here and suffer in silence, playing the part of the good friend who just smiles and nods?"

Warrick leaned forward, his face in his hands.

"Are you sure?"

"About what?"

"That it was just comfort. You're not…together?"

"Yes, I'm sure. We already talked about it. Cath and I are friends. Nothing more."

"I miss her," he said quietly.

"Then talk to her. Fix this."

"Can I?" Warrick asked, lifting his head. "Is this fixable?"

"If you're honest with her. If you can forgive her. You can't stay friends with her if you're just going to hold this against her for the rest of her life."

Warrick nodded, sighing.

"What about us?" he finally asked.

Nick looked at him for a long minute before answering.

"We beat the crap out of each other. If you're good, I'm good."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I'm just lucky you hit like a girl."

Warrick shook his head and got up, walking over to Nick and offering him his hand.

"Truce?"

Nick nodded, shaking his hand.

"Truce."

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Sara stopped breathing as she heard Nick's words to Warrick. She was holding the door to the locker room open just a hair – she was planning on grabbing her stuff and heading home – but she froze as she listened to his outburst.

Unable to go in and face him, she let the door close and practically ran down the hall and out of the lab.

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For three days, Sara sat in her apartment. Her mind mulled over Nick's words, half of her denying that they were true, the other half marveling at they meant. She lay curled up in her bed, the covers wrapped tightly around her body as she struggled to work her way through the tide of emotions that had washed over her since catching Catherine and Nick in bed together.

At first, she hadn't known what to do. But the anger was fast in coming, and she let it consume her without argument. She felt more betrayed than she thought humanly possible, and it was difficult for her to even breathe when Nick or Cath were around. So she avoided them as much as she could, telling herself that it was the only way to deal.

The hurt hadn't come until she finally spoke with Nick. She could still hear the small break in his voice when he said that she wasn't his to hurt. Not once had she suspected that Nick's feelings for her went any deeper than friendship. If she had…

She drifted off to sleep, her brain shutting down from overload.

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It was the pounding on her door that finally woke her up. Rubbing at her eyes, she moved down the hall of her apartment and opened the door to see who was bothering her. She froze when she saw Gil standing in front of her.

"Hi Sara," he said softly.

"Hi."

"Can I come in?"

"Yeah."

Standing aside, she let him into her apartment. Realizing how dark it was, she reached over and turned on a light before joining him on her couch. She sat on one end, her feet tucked under her as he sat in the middle, turned slightly so that he could face her.

"I came to check on you," he admitted. "I haven't heard from you in three days."

"I'm sorry," she said honestly. "I've…I had a lot of a thinking to do."

"About?"

"Us. And some other stuff."

"Does this having anything to do with all the tension that's been going around the lab the past week or so?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"I think we need to talk about us first."

He took a deep breath, and Sara realized that he was nervous, that he probably knew what was coming.

"Okay."

"I can't be with you anymore, Gil."

He closed his eyes.

"You know, knowing it's coming really doesn't make it any easier to hear," he said quietly.

"I'm sorry."

"Can I at least know why?"

"I don't know if I can tell you…"

"Is it Nick?"

She stopped short, tears escaping from her eyes and sliding down her cheeks as she stared at him in shock.

"How did you…?"

"Sara," he said gently. "I knew how you felt about Nick when I asked you out. I guess I just thought you'd get over it…but something changed, didn't it?"

She nodded.

"I'm so sorry, Gil. But all this time, I've been with you, telling myself that I'm over him, and I'm not. I'm with you for all the wrong reasons, and that's not fair to either of us." She paused, taking a long breath. "I found out a few days ago that he feels the same way about me."

"And now you want to be with him?"

More tears slid down her cheeks, and every time she opened her mouth to reply, she found that the words got stuck in her throat. Finally, she just rested her head on her knees, unable to look at him any longer.

"You can't change the way you feel," he told her, his voice thick with emotion. "And I wouldn't ask you to stay with me when you love someone else. He'll have to go to days, because I couldn't possibly continue as his supervisor, but I won't stand in your way, Sara. You deserve to be happy."

She raised her head to look at him again, her heart almost bursting with guilt for the hurt she was causing this man. But his face wasn't angry – it was simply sad and resigned.

"I don't know if I can fix it though."

"You and Nick?"

She nodded.

"Yes you can, Sara. If you really love him, and he loves you back…you can fix almost anything."

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

His own tears getting the better of him, Grissom reached out and pulled her against him, holding her while she cried. If he couldn't be her lover anymore, he was at least going to end things as her friend.

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After looking through the peephole, Catherine almost didn't open the door. But as she stood there thinking, she realized that the only way things could get fixed was if they actually talked about what happened. Closing her eyes briefly and steadying herself, she opened the door.

"Hey," Warrick said quietly.

"Hey."

"Can we talk?"

"That depends. Are you going to yell at me again?"

"No."

"Okay then." She stepped aside. "Come on in."

He moved directly to the couch, taking a seat and waiting for her to join him. When she did, he leaned back and sighed, wondering how they had gotten to this point.

"I'm sorry," he finally said. "You didn't deserve any of that."

"I might have deserved some of it," Cath said quietly.

Warrick shook his head.

"No. I was way out of line. You were right. Your sex life is none of my business."

"Then why did you get so upset?"

"I…God, Cath," he murmured. Then he turned his head to look at her. "I love you. And it hurt so much to see you with Nick."

"That's not fair," she whispered, a tear sliding down her cheek. "You're married to another woman and that's not fair."

"I know," he said gently. "I know." He reached out and ran his thumb along her cheek, wiping her tears away.

"I won't be the other woman," she told him, her voice breaking. "I won't do it. I deserve better. Lindsey –"

"I know."

They stared at each other, Warrick still running his thumb over her skin. Then Catherine moved so that she was right next to him, curling into his side and resting her head on his chest.

"If you ever…if maybe you're not with Tina anymore…I'll still be here, Warrick." She lifted her head and met his gaze. "But I won't wait around forever. I can't."

Not trusting his voice, he nodded and pulled her closer, letting himself soak in the feel of her for just a little bit longer.

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It was nearly two o'clock in the morning when Sara showed up on Nick's doorstep. For a minute they just stood there, staring at each other, neither sure who should start first. But then Nick stepped aside to let her in, and then led her into the living room. She took a seat on the couch, while he perched on the coffee table in front of her.

"I broke up with Grissom," she finally said, her voice hoarse.

That had been the last thing Nick was expecting.

"What?"

"I shouldn't have been with him in the first place. I…you shouldn't be with someone just to get over someone else."

"Sara, what are you –"

"Do you want to know why I got so mad at you?"

He nodded silently.

"All this time, I thought that you would never look twice at me. That I wasn't your type of woman, that I didn't even show up on your radar screen as a datable person. So I went out with Gil. And I stayed with him, thinking that if I could just distance myself from you and keep you out of my mind, then maybe…maybe I could not love you anymore. But then I find you with Catherine, and she suddenly looked like all those other women you date. Beautiful, blonde…and I'm back to thinking that I'm just not good enough."

Nick couldn't think of a single thing to say. Her words just kept echoing in his head as he stared at her, tears falling unnoticed down his cheeks. Leaning forward, he took her face in his hands and kissed her, deepening it almost immediately. Sara sighed against him, her hands coming up to clutch at his forearms as their tongues moved against each other.

Suddenly, she pulled back, and Nick felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach.

"Stop," she whispered.

"Please, Sar," he begged, leaning forward until his head was resting against her chest. "Please tell me I can fix this."

Her own tears falling, Sara ran her fingers through his short hair and closed her eyes.

"I heard what you said to Warrick the other day. About me."

He lifted his head, his face barely an inch from hers.

"Then you know that I love you. That I –"

She silenced him with a finger to his lips.

"I know," she whispered. "But I need to go slow, Nick. I can't just rush into something else."

He nodded. "Okay."

"But I love you."

Nick gave her a small smile.

"I love you too."

They leaned their foreheads against each other, both relieved that their feelings were out in the open. Eventually, Sara moved her head down to his shoulder, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

"I'm tired," she whispered.

"We could go to sleep."

She picked her head back up and looked at him seriously.

"I don't know if I can sleep up there, Nick. Not yet. I still can't get that image out of my head."

"Then we'll sleep down here. Is that okay?"

"Yeah."

He nodded and stood up, walking over to the hall closet. Opening the door, he pulled out a couple spare pillows and a big blanket. When he got back to the couch, he helped Sara up and put the pillows down, before easing himself onto his back. Looking up at her, he reached out his hand.

"Is this okay?" he asked quietly.

Sara just nodded, giving him a small smile. Gently, she climbed on top of him, snuggling against his chest and wrapping one arm around his torso. Nick grabbed the blanket from the table and draped it over them, making sure that Sara was completely covered. Brushing aside her hair, he placed a lingering kiss on her forehead.

"Goodnight, Sara."

She kissed his chest through his shirt.

"Goodnight, Nick."