Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them, but as always, I'd love to have coffee with George and Jorja.

Author's Note: This is in response to a challenge I posted to my fellow Snickers a week or so ago, and since my mojo has been wandering, it has taken forever to get this to sing to me, and I'm not sure it isn't still off key. I hope you enjoy anyway.


"What are you doing?" Sara looked at Nick with an amused smirk on her face as she watched him connect a paperclip, a rubber band and a twisty tie together as he sat at the break room table.

"Making your cat a toy." His tone clearly implied that what he was doing should be self evident. Shift had been exceptionally slow and they'd been reduced to catching up on paperwork.

"A toy." Sara arched a single brow at him and crossed her arms over her chest.

"After what he's been through today, the little man needs a toy that fits his name." Nick glanced around to see if there was any duct tape or twine lying around the break room with no luck.

"I knew I shouldn't have let you talk me into naming him MacGyver." Sara rolled her eyes at him. "And he just went to the vet, Nick. It's not like he's been traumatized." She clearly thought Nick was overreacting.

"Not traumatized! No offense, Sar, but having your manly parts groped by a perfect stranger so he can see if they're ready to be lopped off doesn't exactly sound like a walk in the park." He winced at the thought as he recalled just how the vet had examined MacGyver when Sara had asked if he was old enough to be neutered. Since her car had been in the shop Nick had offered to drive her to the vet appointment and then to work.

Sara snorted out a laugh. "He's a kitten, Nick."

Nick arched his brow at her skeptically. "Hey, trust me, it's a guy thing."

"Well, I'm pretty sure that he doesn't feel the same way about his manly parts that you do." Sara couldn't help but tease his over sensitivity to her kitten needing to be neutered.

Nick seemed to puff out his chest a little and spoke before he really thought about how his words might sound. "Hey, what's wrong with me liking my manly parts?"

"Whatever works for you, Nick." Warrick looked at Nick with amusement as he sauntered into the break room. "Personally, I like my woman a lot better." He wasn't sure what Nick and Sara were talking about exactly, but he couldn't resist tossing a barb Nick's way.

"Hey, now, we were talking about Sara's cat." Nick protested with a chuckle.

"Her cat?" Warrick sounded doubtful. "And exactly how does that relate to your 'manly parts'?"

"You had to be there, but trust me, you would have felt for the little guy the way the vet was feeling him up." Nick gestured with his hand in mid-air as if to demonstrate exactly what the vet had done to MacGyver.

Warrick winced involuntarily.

"He needs to be neutered." Sara had to stifle a giggle.

"Give the guy a break, Sara." Warrick gestured at Nick and was pleased to see Sara's face turn a bright shade of surprised pink. He'd been picking up a vibe that things were a little more than friendly between them for a while and he thought they could use a good shove in the right direction.

Nick furrowed his brow even as he tried to keep the grin off of his face. "Hey, when did this become about me? We were talking about poor MacGyver."

"Is that show still on TV?" Catherine queried as she waltzed into the break room with Grissom right behind her.

"Show?" Grissom looked perplexed.

"It was an eighties thing." Nick smirked in amusement. "But we were actually talking about Sara's cat."

"You have a cat?" Grissom looked at her a bit surprised; with her devotion to work, he wasn't sure why she had a pet.

"I just got him a few weeks ago actually." Sara tried to contain her smile. "He was a gift." She didn't want to say exactly who the gift was from; she was having a hard enough time with the fact that she was feeling more than a little bit friendly toward the gift giver.

"I thought maybe she'd work a little less overtime if she had someone to go home to." Nick looked pretty pleased with himself that he'd gotten the kitten for Sara. At the time it had seemed like the perfect birthday gift and judging from her reaction when she'd seen the gray and white kitty, he was pretty sure that maybe someday in the distant future, he might just be another someone for her to go home to.

"Nick bought you a cat?" Grissom looked as if he'd had the rug pulled out from underneath him, but quickly recovered. It had never occurred to him that someone else might develop feelings for Sara.

"Yeah." Sara felt her cheeks getting a bit warm as she tried to deflect the attention from herself. "MacGyver was a birthday present." She cleared her throat nervously; Nick had been the only one besides Greg who had remembered her birthday.

"We missed your birthday." Warrick's tone was clearly chastising himself for completely missing it; but then again, he'd been more than a little preoccupied with Tina lately.

"Sara, I'm really sorry, I guess I didn't realize..." Catherine's words trailed off as an idea formed. "Well, we might have missed the day, but it's not too late to celebrate." She smiled at the younger woman; they hadn't always gotten along, but that really was because they were both strong willed, opinionated women. It didn't mean she didn't like Sara.

"Shifts almost over." Nick grinned and then glanced over at Grissom. "Think we can knock off a little early and take her out to breakfast?"

Grissom glanced up at the clock and a boyish half smile flitted across his face; there were only three minutes until shift ended. "Get Greg and we'll meet at the diner."

"I'm on it." Warrick sauntered out the door in search of Greg who was pulling double duty in the lab until another DNA tech could be hired. Mia had hit a big jackpot playing slots on her night off a few weeks back and she'd decided to take six months off and do some traveling.

The group dispersed to gather their things and head out to the diner and when Sara finally emerged from the building, Nick was standing next to his Denali. She had a relieved smile on her face as she approached him. "I was afraid that everyone else had left."

"I wouldn't leave the guest of honor behind." He couldn't help but grin at her. "Besides, I still have to give you a ride home later."

"Oh, yeah." Sara felt a little flip in her stomach as she momentarily locked eyes with Nick. "I could have called a cab though..."

Nick looked amused and shook his head. "It's no trouble, besides I need to give MacGyver his toy."

Sara snorted out a laugh. "He's not going to play with it Nick."

"Says who?" Nick countered as he opened the door of his Denali for her.

"Trust me." She just smirked at him in return.

Their banter continued as they drove over to the diner to meet the others and after a leisurely breakfast enjoying the fact that the team was back together one by one people begged off to head home to get some sleep.

The ride was quiet on the way to Sara's apartment; a contented silence more than anything, and as Nick followed Sara up the stairs, she couldn't help but smile. Maybe this was a good time to let Nick know how she was feeling.

Nick felt a sudden nervousness as she closed the door; he realized that he wanted to tell Sara that his feelings for her were changing and just as he was going to say something, he felt her softly kiss him.

Sara pulled back to gauge his reaction, and even though he was smiling, she didn't expect him to burst out laughing. She felt a sinking feeling and stepped back. "I'm sorry...I didn't...I mean."

Nick realized that his reaction had not at all been what she'd been hoping for and he shook his head, pointing beyond her. "No, it's not that; I've been thinking about kissing you for a while now...look at MacGyver."

As Nick's words sank in, Sara turned around and almost snorted up a lung as she saw exactly what her cat was doing. A Miss Piggy doll that she'd bought to send her friends daughter had been found by one furry gray kitten and he was dragging her around long blond hair, seemingly oblivious to the evening gown and gloves the pig doll was wearing. Sara let out a soft groan. "This is so embarrassing; my cat is in love with a pig."

"It could be worse." Nick really wanted to turn her attention back to that kiss she'd given him and he reached out and touched her cheek. "At least he's not in love with a spider."

Sara giggled at the subtle reference to Grissom's tarantula Fluffy. "I guess it could be." She looked at him intently for a moment and then cleared her throat. "Did you say that you'd been thinking about doing that for a while?"

"Yeah." Nick felt encouraged and brushed his thumb over her cheek as he leaned in and softly kissed her, smiling against her lips as he felt her slide her arms around his neck. The kitten might be in love with a pig, but Nick was sure that he was falling in love with Sara.

The End