Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them; I am, however, more than ready for it to stop snowing here.

Author's Note: Just a random thought that came to me when I'd read that Las Vegas got a little snow in the last week.

Abandoned – adj. 1. Forsaken. 2. Recklessly unrestrained.

Four weeks.

He'd spoken the words as if it were nothing.

To Sara it was everything.

It was the snow that had fallen in Vegas less than a week after he'd left that had crystallized it for her. She felt abandoned the same way she had when her mother went to prison and she'd been put in foster care and suddenly realized that she essentially no longer had a family. She'd felt it when she'd found out that Hank had used her to cheat on his girlfriend. And she'd begun to feel it keenly when Grissom had announced to her a mere two days before his departure that he was going on a sabbatical on the other side of the country for four weeks. It wasn't even that she begrudged the fact that he seemed to need a break from the lab; it was that the way he'd gone about it made her feel like he wanted a break from her. His execution of the whole affair made her feel like when he'd turned and left to catch his cab that she was watching the execution of their relationship with each step he'd taken away from her.

She was left with no shoulder to cry on and no one to offer her sympathy because no one even knew about their relationship in the first place. Grissom might have left for four weeks, but Sara felt more alone now than she had when he rebuffed her advances over the last several years. Somehow she'd convinced herself that being in a relationship with him was enough; what did it matter that no one knew about it? She was beginning to see that it did matter, because although the people around her could see that she wasn't quite herself they might have written it off as another chapter in her unrequited obsession with Grissom rather than offer her genuine support, or better yet ask Grissom what the hell he was thinking leaving her for that length of time.

She let out a sigh as she crossed her arms over her chest and just watched the flakes of snow fall and slowly accumulate on the ground; an artic blast had sent snow much further south than normal and it was decorating Las Vegas in much more style than any amount of neon and sequins ever could.

"You know it's a shame to just stand here and waste a perfectly good snowfall." The subtle twang in Nick's voice broke in gently as he came to stand beside her; he wasn't blind, he'd seen how her entire demeanor had changed since Grissom had left. He had been waiting for some sort of opportunity to do something to cheer her up and get her mind off the man that he thought would never get his act together and ask her out. Well, that was Grissom's loss and just maybe if he played things just right, it might end up being his gain.

Sara felt the corners of her mouth turn up slightly as she continued to watch the snow. "Well what do you suggest?" It was just like Nick to see right through her grump.

"Oh, I think this calls for a full-fledged snow ball fight maybe even building a snowman." There was a glint of mischief in his eyes and she didn't doubt for a moment that he intended to make good on his suggestion.

Sara felt a giggle escape and she glanced over at him. "You're on." Surely they could rope in a few others to join them; with all the mayhem and death they saw on a daily basis, the idea of playing in the snow sounded perfect.

"Good." Nick grinned back at her. "Shifts over in a half hour, everyone's heading over to the park a few blocks over." He reasoned that the park had at least the amount of snow that had collected in the parking lot of the crime lab minus tire treads.

It seemed that Nick's definition of everyone included Greg, Wendy, and Archie; Warrick had begged out because Tina was expecting him for breakfast and with the way Catherine had been getting a little too cozy with Keppler, he hadn't even bothered to invite her. Sara was glad that he'd asked her to come; her only other plans were to sit at home and catch up a few forensic journals that she'd bookmarked to read later in hopes that maybe Grissom might remember to call her. Something that he'd done when he'd arrived, but hadn't done since. All thoughts of Grissom were forgotten as snowballs began to fly and the pure delight of doing something ridiculously childish took over.

A snowball smacked Sara squarely in the back of the head and as she turned around, immediately suspecting Greg, she found a widely grinning Nick instead. Her eyes narrowed into a glare, while her lips twitched into a smile. "You are so dead, Nick Stokes."

Nick let out a laugh that was essentially a dare; so what if Sara hit him with snow; they were all pretty much soaked as it was. "Bring it on." And he took off running in a zigzag around the park with Sara right on his heels pelting him with snow as she went.

Meanwhile, Archie, Greg and Wendy were laughing so hard they had tears running down their cheeks as they continued throwing snowballs at each other.

Sara finally caught up with Nick on the downside of a small hill and lunged at him, tackling him from behind and tumbling with him into the snow. She grabbed fistfuls of snow as quickly as she could in an attempt to hit him with as much of it as she could, but he was giving just as good as he was getting and before Sara could gain the upper hand, Nick had her pinned down and had a handful of snow hovering just above her face and a mischievous grin on his face. Sara's eyes widened at him, "Don't you dare."

Nick was never one to pass up a dare and as he whitewashed Sara's face with the snow, he knew he was going to pay for it. She was squealing out his name along with threats that she was going to get him back and as she was trying to flip him over, it occurred to him that he might just let her. Who was he to pass up the opportunity to be pinned down by Sara Sidle?

In less time than she thought possible, she'd gotten the advantage; perched on top of Nick with a handful of snow. It was only then that she realized that she was in deep trouble. There was something about the way he was looking at her just then that seemed so familiar as if he could see right through her and in the next instant she had no idea what possessed her as she leaned in and kissed him. If Nick was surprised at the turn of events he didn't show it; instead he eagerly kissed her back; finding the idea of making out with Sara in the middle of an unusual Las Vegas snowfall the most perfectly usual thing in the world.

As they broke off the kiss, Sara's eyebrows shot up as she considered that she had quite possibly just ruined a very good friendship; not to mention the fact that things were all but clear as to where her relationship with Grissom stood. "I'm sorry," She sounded apologetic even as she eyed his lips and wondered if he'd mind too much if she leaned in again and stole another kiss.

"I'm not." Nick arched a brow at her and smiled; he'd wanted to do something just like this for a very long time and he wanted to make sure that she knew that he was more than ok with how things had unfolded, "I'm not sorry at all." To emphasize his point, he slid his fingers into her hair and pulled her in for another kiss, rolling her over in the snow in the process until he was resting on his elbows and Sara had her arms wrapped around his neck.

If Sara thought she felt abandoned before, she felt it doubly now. Only this was a completely different kind of feeling abandoned. This was a wild and reckless kind that gave no thought to consequences only to the need of the moment. And in the back of her mind as she continued to trade slow deep kisses with Nick, she realized that while Grissom might have thought that being gone for four weeks wasn't long at all, it was long enough to change everything for her.

The End