Disclaimer: Chapter 1

Lordy these guys have a mind of their own. Not beta'd. This one's a little shorter. Wanted to get it out to you all. Thanks for the reviews you guys are great.

Nothing bad here so the rating is the same.

Chapter 7

Sara sniffed her soup and wrinkled her nose. Hormones sure as hell messed with the senses, she determined, as dropped her spoon back onto the lip of the bowl, and pushed it to the side.

They were seated at Maggie's, a diner style restaurant located a block from the lab. Decorated with red and white pleather couches circa 1960, and worn linoleum type tables that cleverly matched the black and white checkered floors, the place looked every bit like the greasy spoon it was. But the single thing that attracted the twosome sitting at the table indulging in a 3am lunch, wasn't the kitsch neon signs, or the colorful knickknacks that decorated the place, but rather that fact that the food was homemade, fresh and delicious even to the most discriminating of taste buds.

Normally…

"I know she did it." Nick sat across from her; a grimace on his face. "We need something to tie her to the murder." He took a liberal gulp of his coffee, and then chased it down with a bite of his steak.

"There's still the shoe print. If we can match it to her we can place her at the scene. " The slim brunette picked up the spoon and this time stirred the fowl smelling concoction.

"That's circumstantial. She may have been there but there's no proof that she killed him. She could just be afraid, or protecting someone." Texan reached across the small table and stilled her hand with a pat. "Stop playing with your food and eat it."

"I'm not hungry." She moaned and dropped the spoon yet again. "I think the soup was a bad idea."

"I coulda told you that. It's split pea, Sunshine, the color of it alone makes me ill, and I'm not the one sporting a nine month long case of the stomach flu." He stared at her momentarily and then slid the small plate with his dinner roll on it towards her. "Have this it will fill you up without making matters worse."

Sara glared at him almost mournfully and then broke off a piece. Thankfully, she'd managed to get through the interview with little fanfare. It had been short, concise and ended almost before it began, when the suspect had asked for counsel. The "Thanks…" She threw his way was muttered and truth be told didn't sound very thankful.

"You feeling a little better?" Nick scrubbed a hand across his chin, his fingers raking over slight stubble that had grown there over the previous 24 hours. He'd slept in, run short on time, and had rushed to pick her up. Shaving had not been a priority. "You seem to be a little perkier."

The young woman cast a glance at him. Her eyes said it all… she was unimpressed with his powers of observation. "Truth?"

"Yeah."

"I feel like shit." She liberated another piece of bread for the bun and popped it into her mouth.

His eyes darkened at the admission. "Maybe you should go see someone. An OB or something. I'm sure there are medications that can help."

She shook her head, trembling fingers moving through her hair to shift it behind one ear. "I don't want to take anything, Nick. It might hurt the baby."

The Texan couldn't help but smile at this. "That's good." There was a hint of triumph in his voice.

Sara glowered. "Don't."

"So you've made up your mind." He continued and leaned in. "Buttercup, I was way ahead of you." His voice dropped. "I knew you could no more kill that baby you're carrying, than you could one of the team."

She looked at him darkly and groaned. "Where you're concerned that might not be a theory you want to test right now. My hormones are touchy and they're shifting towards pissed off."

Nick ignored her threat, and reached across the table and squeezed her hand. "We'll all be here to help, Sara."

The slim brunette bit her lip. "That's just it Nick, after this baby is born…" She couldn't believe she was talking about it as a reality, as it had seemed like a strange dream from the moment she found out. "I won't be able to stay in Vegas." She shook her head. "Not with Grissom here…"

He seemed shocked at this. It was the last thing he thought she should do. "You can't leave. We're you're family." She was going to need the help and even thought they'd never really discussed it, he had a feeling Sara Sidle was on her own and had been for a long time.

Sara grinned shyly, and nodded her head. "I know." It had been hard to accept the intimacy of her lab family for a very long time because she was so used to being on her own, but the comfort that came from knowing that there was someone there to watch your back and care if something happened, had sunk into her bones over the years; that's why leaving would be so incredibly painful. "But there will be no way around it. Gil's occasionally oblivious, but he's not stupid. He'll figure it out." Her voice hitched so she looked away and popped another piece of the roll in her mouth.

"That's the first time I've ever heard you refer to him as Gil." Nick took a swig of his coffee and thunked the cup back on the table, looking a little like he'd bitten into an onion.

"Sorry…"

"No you don't have to apologize…" He cut off a thin slice of his steak, scooped some mashed potatoes on top and popped it into his mouth. "It's just odd. You know, to picture you two together. And now him, with…" He caught himself before he fully put the thought out there, and then chewed a moment while his head redirected the conversation. "He doesn't have to know Sara. We can play it the way we did with Cath."

"Nick, honestly, I can't ask you to do something like that." One slim finger began drawing anxious circles on the table, and she watched her own movements absently. "I mean, it's one thing to pull that with Catherine for a short time, but to give it up to the rest of the group would really cramp your style." She smiled sadly at him. "You know that long list of girls you have tagging behind you all the time – Monique, the stewardess, Charisse, the bartender, Anna, the dancer - they would go into mourning. And the team would…" She sighed. "I dunno… they would look at both of us differently."

"First off, the rest of the guys will look at us no differently than they look at the Gris… and Alicia… Though, I don't think we would seem as odd as that pairing." A flush painted the handsome Texan's face. "And the girls… well they're fun, but you know as well as I do this job is a lot like police work, women think it's exciting until they see the hours we keep, and smell us when we walk through the door. I haven't had a serious relationship in years. One of the perks of the job I suppose, but you wouldn't be stepping on anyone's toes." He leaned in shoving the remainder of his dinner to the side. "We could do this – not forever but for a while. Play it out. Pretend we're involved, and then maybe let it fall apart a little later. Gris would never suspect and you could stay here. Take a little time off, and then come back to work. Being a single mom with friends around to help is a lot easier, Sar."

She clasped her hands to her face and gave her head a shake. She was torn, between accepting his offer which she knew outright was a bad idea, and putting a stop to the snowball before it started rolling. "I don't like lying to our friends."

The waitress came by then and with a smile and a wink in the Texan's direction, dropped the check on the table. He snatched it from Sara's hand before she had a chance to look at it and waved it at her. "We don't have to lie to our friends. You and Gris didn't. You just didn't say anything. We can take a page from your book and let them draw their own conclusions. We just have to be a little more overt. You know they won't be able to resist."

"I don't think Gris, would buy - us." She eyed the man across from her with a momentary scowl.

Pulling his wallet out of his pocket Nick grabbed two twenties and dropped them on the table. "You're wrong Sar. You didn't see his face today in DNA. I'm still not sure what the deal is, but he wasn't too happy with me even touching you, Sweetpea. I take it that has something to do with the - his part of the story – that you tell me I'm missing out on?"

Sara rolled her eyes, and reached for the check as made to shove it in his wallet. "You were imagining things." She informed him, stood up and seized the piece of paper. "I get this." She announced grabbing her purse and heading for the cash.

Capturing the two twenties off the table, Nick Stokes was hot on her heels. He pulled up behind her as she passed the cashier her own pair of twenties.

"Let me." He reached over and passed his money to the woman.

Confused, the girl, whose name tag read Talia, stared at the two strangers in front of her.

Nick smiled broadly, shoved the money at her and laid on the Texas charm. "She won't let me be a gentleman, Sunshine but you will, right?"

With that Talia took the money from his hand and smiled bashfully at him.

Turning his head to grin in victory at the woman beside him Nick caught a flash of red behind them – a second later he leaned in and whispered in Sara's ear. "Do you trust me?"

Still trying to stare down the young woman behind the cash, the slim brunette nodded in confusion and was immediately blown away when her dinner companion leaned in and taking her into his arms, he captured her mouth with his.

It was far from a friendly kiss, instead bordering heavily on pornographic. She was about to punch him when she heard a voice from behind her that made her blood freeze.

"Well, well. Aren't you two cute?" Alicia stood behind them a happy grin extending across her face. She turned her head to the man she'd literally dragged into the restaurant, and leaned into him, clutching his arm. "Right Gilbert?"

Pulling away, Nick plastered and embarrassed look on his face to match the genuine one Sara was sporting. "Uh Hi…" He smiled and turned to the cashier. "Keep the change." With that he threaded his fingers through the tall brunette's and led her out of the restaurant. "We'll catch you back at the lab." He yelled over his shoulder.

Speechless, Sara followed close behind him, trying to forget the look of hurt her former lover was sporting. The minute she was outside the restaurant she turned on her coworker and punched him in the chest. "What the hell happened to a little more overt? Nick that was outright ADVERTISING!"

TBC