"Magnificent Lasagne and Artificial Worms"

by Kristafied

Canon, what canon? Set post Grave Danger; mostly diverges from canon at that point.

Sara/Nick Friendship, becomes Snickers

Rating: M (for language and eventual smut)

A/N: Not sure if the timeline of Nick coming back to work and Warrick getting married matches up with how I have it here, but let's just roll with it for now. Also, I've never been to Vegas, so all locations are completely made up.

Disclaimer: If I owned them, I wouldn't have all this debt from grad school.

Chapter Four

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Wednesday Morning

The two "car-becues," as Greg called them, kept Nick and Warrick busy until it was time to go home, and Sara and Catherine were still out in Henderson when he left. Nick debated calling Sara as he was pulling out of the parking lot, but ruled that out as too heavy-handed, deciding to follow his usual routine and hit the gym. He had a lot to think about, anyway.

Although working nightshift was admittedly a pain in the ass most of the time, and would have been unbearable in any other city, one enormous advantage was that by the time he arrived at his gym, the morning rush was over and the lunch rush was still a few hours away. Nick changed and stretched out before hopping onto a treadmill to warm up. He kept his earphones in mostly to discourage conversation, let his body find a steady rhythm, and thought back over the last two days.

Nick had surprised himself by approaching Sara – first to go fishing, and then to go to dinner. After his initial assessment of Sara as a buddy, his awareness of her as a woman was something he had kept far below the surface for years. Sure, she was pretty, even beautiful in an earthy, understated way, but very much not his usual type – although, Nick admitted to himself grudgingly, his usual type didn't seem to bring him anything but trouble.

As much as he enjoyed women, he'd never been able to link sex and trust in his mind, and Nick knew he tended to go into relationships with few expectations other than a good time. He was an anomaly in his family; his folks were high school sweethearts whose fiftieth anniversary was coming up, and he was the only single one left among his brother and sisters. Most of them had kids – shoot, even his brother Chuck, who Nick privately thought of as kind of a dipshit, was married. His father was perplexed that "a good-natured, good-lookin' boy like you" in his middle thirties hadn't found himself a nice girl and settled down, but then again, his father didn't know about him being molested as a kid. Nick had been too ashamed to tell him when he was little, and now he didn't have the heart to hurt him.

And now this thing with Sara... Nick could barely assimilate what had transpired between them in that canoe. Granted, he'd always been a bit quick to mist over – something the guys in his frat had teased him about, and for which Nick cheerfully blamed his many sisters – but that kind of breakdown was unbelievable. Plus, she'd been so great about the whole thing that when he was able to look beyond the utter humiliation of having cried like a baby in front of a woman, he had to admit it had felt... good.

Physically good – the rocking of the canoe, her gentle touch, her scent, her voice in that soothing singsong that had connected with some primal center in his brain – and emotionally good. He felt better than he had in weeks, albeit still worn out, and he was floored that she'd told him about her childhood. Hell, he was floored she'd survived her childhood.

Warrick's assumption that he had big plans for Sara and Sara for him had surprised Nick. Yesterday had been totally improvised; he'd wanted to show her... what, exactly? He'd originally wanted to make up for hurting her feelings, to thank her for being a good friend, but now he found he'd stumbled into an intimacy that he hadn't expected. Although 'Rick had been incredibly insightful about most of what he'd talked about, he'd gotten one part wrong: Nick had no plan, no specific goal, and no idea what he was doing with Sara.

Finishing his warm-up jog, Nick stretched again before making his way to the free weights and deliberately emptying his mind of everything except physical exertion.

It wasn't until he was home and standing under a warm shower that Nick decided to go ahead and call Sara. She checked up on him all the time; he'd give her a quick buzz to tease her about getting some sleep. Touch base but keep it light.

He used the phone in the living room, because the idea of talking to Sara while laying in bed made him uneasy. Sure, he'd done it before, but now, with this new awareness of her, he was slightly nervous. Nick settled sideways on the couch in loose shorts and an old tee shirt and listened to her cell ringing. There was a rustle, then a sleepy voice mumbled, "Sidle."

Oops. "Uh, sorry, Sara, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"Nick? Is everything okay?" He could hear more rustling in the background.

"Oh, yeah, everything's great." He was being ridiculous. No matter what was going on in his head, it was just Sara. Nick started to laugh, at himself mostly. "Ironically, I was calling to make sure you got some sleep before shift tonight."

Her laughter joined his and she sounded more awake. "Actually, I'm glad you called. I punked out on the couch in my work clothes watching some dumb-ass reality show about home remodeling. You just saved me from waking up late for shift covered in couch marks with my pager embedded in my hipbone – which, I might add, is exactly what happened last night. If I show up late twice in one week, Grissom's going to schedule me for counseling."

Nick couldn't resist, even though he knew he was asking for trouble. "Yeah, he seemed pretty concerned... honey."

"Shut up, Nicky." She sounded more amused than pissed off, so he kept going.

"So, what's your pet name for him? Sugar-pie? Mushy-face? Love bug? Oh, that's a visual that would give Greg a stroke – you petting Grissom's tarantula and calling him your 'Love Bug.'"

"So Greg doesn't want me petting Grissom's tarantula, eh? Is that what kids are calling it these days?"

Nick sat bolt upright and hooted. "Damn, girl! You know I'll never be able to sit in Griss's office with a straight face again, right?"

"Well, then, my work here is done. That's what you get for waking me up."

"Yeah, I am sorry about that," Nick said sincerely, then paused before deciding to just speak his mind. "I guess I just wanted to check we were okay. Yesterday was pretty intense. I'm not quite sure what to make of it."

"Me either, but about halfway through shift I realized I was driving myself crazy overanalzying the whole thing and figured we've known each other long enough that I'd just roll with it." Her voice seemed softer when she continued hesitantly, "I enjoyed spending the day with you. You're, uh, you're good company, too, you know."

"Thanks." He decided to stick with his plan to keep things light. "That's what all the ladies tell me."

"Pig."

"That's what all the ladies..."

She cut him off. "All right, Studmuffin, enough. I'm going to bed. I'll see you tonight."

"Bye, Schmoopy."

He heard her growl, "Bite me, Stokes," as she hung up on him. Nick fell asleep still chuckling, waking only once from a nightmare before drifting back off until his alarm clock beeped.