A/N: Spoilers for episode 2x4, Bully for You.

"Hey, Sara."

I chased down a brunette that was a lot, well, pleasing to the nose, than the one I worked with yesterday. It had taken me an entire bag full of lemons to wash the scent of Mr. Carson from my body, but I would bet Sara had used at least two. After all, she had a date.

"I don't want to hear it, Nick," she called back without looking behind her.

"Aw, come on," I said, jogging to catch up with her. "Please?"

We both stopped and looked at each other. I folded my hands under my chin and pulled my lip down in a frown.

"Pretty, pretty please?" I begged as a few lab rats passed us with strange looks on their faces.

Sara crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared me down, unyielding.

"You smell very nice today," I threw in.

Sara cracked her serious façade and gave me just a teeny, tiny smile.

"What do you want to know?" she asked.

"Where'd you go?" I jumped in. "What do you think of him? Did you talk about work the whole time? Are you going on a second date? Is—"

"Whoah, slow down, cowboy," Sara interrupted, holding her hand out to stop me. "Before I tell you a thing, I need your word."

"My word on what?"

"No teasing," Sara said. "Not even one little crack, or I never tell you anything about my social life ever again."

"Cross my heart and hope to die," I promised, crisscrossing in front of my heart for good measure. "So…"

"We went to brunch," Sara started as we resumed our walk down the lab hall. "I think he's kind, good at his job and… cute. We did not talk about work – not at all, in fact – although he did mention how impressed he was that I could handle Mr. Carson's stench. And the second date is tomorrow morning."

With that, she left me behind and waltzed into the break room. I stood at the entrance to the door, mouth slightly agape. I had a million comebacks that sprung to mind, but in keeping my promise to her, I swallowed them before I could blurt them out.

Teasing Sara had become my new favorite shift activity. We had fallen into a comfortable friendship right from the start, but now that Sara had several months in Vegas under her belt, I felt the civil nature that I had upheld when she was the new girl was no longer necessary. And besides, teasing her was too easy. What with nearly every male in the lab tripping over themselves and forgetting they were owners of master's degrees in her presence, an opportunity presented itself pretty much every shift. Dave, Greg and now Hank? I had a lifetime supply of ammo. Sara pretended it irritated her, but I knew she liked the easy, joking demeanor between us as much as I did.

And really, when you're the girl Greg Sanders can't stop talking about… can you really expect not to be teased?

I followed Sara into the break room and took the seat beside Warrick for our shift assignments. Grissom was out of the room in a flash – mumbling something about blowfly eggs – but the rest of us lingered. Sara and I had been paired for a case, as had Warrick and Catherine, but we hung back to sip our cups of steaming coffee before we took off. Sara seemed pleased that I had kept my mouth shut thus far, and even passed me the cream when I asked her to.

"Hey, why don't we all grab breakfast after shift?" Catherine suggested. "We can trade war stories. My treat."

"I'm in," Warrick said.

"Me too," I added. "But Sara can't."

Her head shot up, sending me a venomous warning through her eyes.

I couldn't help myself.

"She's got a hot second date with a hot paramedic."

Warrick and Catherine's eyes widened, and Sara's narrowed until they were just slits above her nose. She was shaking her head. The other two cleared out, knowing better than to pry, and Sara lunged for me.

"You… promised…" she said in a strangled cry as she punched me again and again in the shoulder.

"I couldn't… help… myself," I gasped through laughter and her punches.

She took one last swipe and then shoved me out of her way.

"You are so dead," she muttered as she left.

And I believed it. I'd incurred the wrath of Sara Sidle. It would probably be a long shift.

But it was so worth it.