Nick walked down the hallway of the lab, or rather he swaggered. Confident and sure as always, head held high, handsome smirk on his handsome face. The case was done and the killer confessed, all he needed now where the prints to confirm what he already knew. He was off to see his favorite lab tech of late, Mandy Webster.

He strolled around the corner and into the dimly lit room where, wouldn't you know, Miss Mandy was sitting in front of her computer all alone.

"Knock knock," he said without actually knocking.

He figured she would jump and say "oh Nick you startled me" and then he would laugh and then they would begin their game that they played every time he came to get "results".

But she didn't.

Calmly Mandy tore her eyes away from the computer and looked at Nick with, was it, disappointment?

"Hey Nick, I, have your results."

He didn't like her tone, either he said something wrong or, he wasn't going to like what she had to tell him.

"Don't tell me they aren't a match." He said, all the lightheartedness had left his voice.

She nodded confirming his fear. God he was sick of this case and he wanted it over with! Why couldn't things just be what they seemed for once, was it so much to ask?

"I'm sorry Nick, they don't match his at all, the prints belong to an unknown female, please don't shoot the messenger." She said with a smile on her bright round face.

He couldn't be mad at her if he wanted to. She was like a beam of sunshine! At least she seemed to light up like one when he walked in a room. Of course he did too, but no one would ever really know because the moments when Nick didn't smile that big beautiful smile were rare.

"It's no problem; you know I still love you." He said, laying the charm on thick. She blushed. He was going to ask her a question anyway regardless of the fingerprint results, and he wanted her nice and compliant.

"Would you be opposed to sharing your company with me after shift?"

Her face dropped. Hodges had told her this was coming. He'd said that he could sense it for days now, and that Mandy should say no because it would only lead to trouble. But what did he know? He was probably only saying that to keep Nick away from her anyway.

"I mean, if it's not a problem, if it's ok with you, I wouldn't want to put you in a situation." Nick began to stammer. Mr. Smooth Talker was tripping over his words.

"No, no it's fine! I would, love to! I mean, not love to but, it would be nice, I'd, I'd really like that Nick." She smiled. Her smile was just as bright as his.

With that Nick grinned from ear to ear. He then swiftly turned away and ran smack into the side of the door frame. Mandy stifled a laugh. Looking back to see if Mandy had see his little blunder he turned rose red, but she pretended not to have been looking. He gained his composure, stepped to the side, and just as he rounded the corner she called after him.

"Nick you left your results!"

A moment later he was back in the room, blushing like a 12 year old boy. He gently took the folder from Mandy, smiled at her, then turned around to leave again. This time he was mindful off the door frame.

Mandy giggled openly now. How was it that she, a geeky lab rat had ruffled Nick Stokes' feathers? She didn't know, but she liked it.

All the while David Hodges was surveying the scene from across the hall, sporting an all but happy face, and cursing a little under his breath.