Friends is what they were. That was it, nothing more. Complete and total bullshit in his opinion. When she first came to Vegas, all she had was Grissom. Everyone else seemed to jump onto the 'hate the new girl' bandwagon that Catherine had started. He became her friend, no questions asked.
When the team would go out after work, Nick would always do his best to impress her with his southern charm. He would open the door for her, and pull out a chair for her. He always made damn sure that it was he that sat next to her, night after night. Yes, that was how he was raised, but for Sara, he would do it anyway. Though, no matter how well mannered and sweet he was towards her, it didn't really seem to matter to her. He knew that if he could go out with her after work, as just the two of them, he could really impress her. He was always disappointed that it was never just the two of them.
One night after a certain case involving children, rape and spousal abuse, something personal in it for all of them, the team decided that going out that night was needed. Nick was excited because when the team did go out, whether it is to a bar or just out to eat, work was forgotten and they became themselves. This was great for Nick because he got to see more of Sara and who she was, away from the lab. Only problem was, that night Sara declined the offer to go out. Everyone saw that the case had a bigger effect on her than the rest of the team and were concerned about her. She told them that she was fine; she just wanted to go home and rest. Everyone else seemed to buy it, but not him, he knew her better than that. He went out to eat with the team, so as not to draw attention to how much he cared about Sara, but he didn't stick around the diner long though; he wanted to check on Sara.
When he got to her door, he stood and stared at it for what seemed like eternity. What was he going to say to her? What the hell was she going to say to him? Was she just going to turn him away? When he finally did knock and she answered, he was just as speechless as she was. He snapped out of their daze before she did, and when he finally got her attention, he figured then that he knew what to do. He knew that he had the same chance of getting her to volunteer to talk as a hooker did at getting into Heaven. He also knew that she needed to talk to someone, and that someone was going to be him. He walked in, shutting and locking the door behind him. Basically the beginning of every fantasy he had of her. That classic 'she has a bad day, he shows up to save the day and, of course, the end up doing it everywhere in her apartment' type of fantasy. He walked over to her couch and sat down. He told her that she might as well do the same, because he wasn't going to leave until she told him what was going on with her. When she did sit down, it wasn't at the other end of the couch; it was right next to him. He froze and his heart skipped a beat. He was relieved that she didn't start to talk right away, because he wouldn't have been paying attention to a damn thing that came out of her beautiful mouth.
He finally got her to break a couple of hours later. Nick couldn't believe some of the things that she was telling him. The reason the case was hard on her, her childhood, past relationships, her present relationship with Grissom and how it was going down the drain, all came out of her just as quickly as the tears did. He knew that she was embarrassed to have someone see her like that, but he didn't care. He held her for the rest of the night while she cried on him.
Over the next month, anytime either of them had a hard time dealing with a case or just needed to talk, they would call the other. Most cases didn't bother him, but he would still call Sara to come over just to spend time alone with her. In fact, out of all the times she did go over, there were probably only three that were actually warranted by a difficult case. Sure he felt bad for abusing the privilege of having Sara on call at all hours of the day, but all he wanted was to be near her. She wasn't interested in him like he was in her so when the opportunity of her company presented itself, Nick jumped on it.
The day that Grissom and Sara had decided to call off their relationship was pretty much a Godsend for Nick. He had heard about it from Catherine that night at work (what didn't Catherine know!) He was uneasy about it, though, when he realized that Sara hadn't shown up for work that shift. It took everything in him not to call her or rush over to her place right away. He knew that when she needed him, she would call. About half an hour later his phone rang. He knew exactly who it was and you couldn't have wiped the smile off his face if you had hit him upside that head with a brick. He didn't even give her time to talk before he was on his way to her.
He made it to her apartment in a time that was his personal best. When she answered the door, his smile disappeared. She looked like shit; worse than he thought she would, anyway. That night he held her, again, as she cried. This time was worse than all of the other times combined, though. He whispered the comforting words into her ear that had become so familiar to the both of them over the last couple of months. He was in absolute love with Sara and could always tell when there was something different with her. He knew that after that night together, she looked at him differently. Was different good?
All he could think about, at home and at work, was Sara and telling her how he felt. He knew that she cared for him and about him, but to what extent? He wanted to be with her so badly, and he knew that he wouldn't really be happy until that happened. Day after day and shift after shift, he watched her feign happiness for the others, just as he did.
He couldn't tell Sara just yet, but he needed to talk before he did something stupid. Something like professing his undying love for her in front of the entire night shift; a feat he had come too close to accomplishing oh so many times before. Sara was like a daughter to Brass, so he was out. Brass would tell Sara anything that involved her. Warrick was his best friend, after Sara of course, but there was no sense in telling him anything. Warrick would swear to secrecy and still tell Catherine. Catherine would either tell Sara directly, or tell someone else that would say something to her. Greg was a good friend as well, but seriously, its Greg. Around the lab, Greg's inability to keep his mouth from spilling forth secrets and rumors was a famous one. So…Brass, Warrick, Catherine and Greg are all out. That leaves Grissom to talk to. Yeah, like that was going to happen! Talking to Grissom about his love for, and desire to date, Sara…how fucking weird would that be?! Besides, Grissom would probably let it slip to Sara anyway. Nick wanted her to hear it from him, not someone else.
So, with no one to talk to, besides his mother over the phone (who had no clue as to what the hell was going on), he walked into the lab that night with one goal. When he and Sara were alone, he would muster up some sort of strength to tell her how he felt. Hopefully it would be near the end of the night when that happened. (fingers crossed on that one Nick!) The last thing he needed was to be walking around work all depressed when Sara turns him down. Wait, no, not when she turns him down, if she turns him down.
Much to Nick's dismay, there were no cases as of yet. This was fantastic in the fact that they weren't paired together. Yet it was disastrous in the fact that they would all be wondering around the lab. This created the possibility, and increased the probability, that he would be alone with her much sooner than he would like. Break room! Sara wouldn't just be sitting around there right? No, she would be doing something useful, somewhere else. The break room was the obvious choice for him. He went off and found Warrick. They decided to try out Warrick's new game and headed for the room. 'Aww shit!' Nick thought as they hit the doorway and he saw her sitting there.
She was sitting at the far end of the couch. Nick could sit at the other end, thus diminishing most of the self-control problems he seemed to develop when around her. On the other hand, he could sit right next to her and with Warrick on the couch, that meant less room, they would be closer together. 'Score!' One hell of a difficult decision, right? Wrong. He went with the latter, cutting in front of Warrick as they entered the room, and he moved to take his seat next to Sara on the couch. Just as he began to sit down, a bold idea popped itself into his horny little mind. When he sat, his entire right leg came to rest against her entire left leg. He couldn't help the smirk that crossed his face when he felt her freeze up and heard her breath catch. He now had a small idea as to how she felt about him. Nothing like a little confidence boost to get you through the day, or night, in this matter.
A/N: Last time on 'To figure it out' these questions were posed --
Will Sara grow a pair? – cant tell you everything right away!
How does Nick feel? – what the hell do you think you just read?
Am I going to have pop tarts for breakfast tomorrow? -Pop tarts are my favorite food…hell yes I had them for breakfast!
Oh sweet dilemma…what to do, what to do….
thegreatbluespoon loves you---still!
