Okay, after all the super-angst and tension of the previous chapter, I figure we all need a brief time-out from the YoBling drama...I can't believe I just said that! So, here's a small Snickers break. Enjoy.

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Night turned into day and the inexorable heat raged on unabated. Nick entered the crime lab parking lot and pulled in to his usual spot. The lot was bustling as the night and day shifts crossed paths on the searing asphalt. One group was tired and looking forward to their beds, while the other was refreshed and full of enthusiasm for catching the bad guys. It was a cycle that repeated itself day in and day out - the steady heartbeat of the Las Vegas crime lab. Under normal circumstances, Nick would be on his way home, but today was a little different.

He passed Greg who looked at him strangely and said, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home, asleep?"

Nick nodded his head in agreement. "Yep, but I forgot something in my locker."

"It must be pretty damn important to give up sleeping in. I know I wouldn't waste my precious nap time for anything less than Mia, whipped cream and some DNA." Greg chuckled mischievously.

Nick laughed. "Easy Tiger, it's nothing as exciting as that. I'll see you tomorrow." He waved at Greg's retreating form and went in through the main entrance.

Last night, on the way home from Catherine's, he had noticed that his cell phone was missing. That was not good, especially because that phone was his lifeline to the lab. He had retraced his steps and had figured out that it was in his locker, where he had left it in his rush to meet Warrick. Too tired to make a detour, especially after his upsetting conversation with Catherine, he decided to swing by the lab in the morning to pick it up.

As Nick rushed towards the locker room, he couldn't help thinking about his co-workers. Catherine had really taken Rick's news badly and was raging against the whole world. Warrick didn't appear to be coping much better, because he had disappeared. Nick didn't really blame either one of them for their reactions, but he was still anxious. He guessed Warrick was off licking his wounds, but he wanted to be there for his friend whenever he was ready to talk about it. Nick feared that the melodrama was only beginning and could only hope that there wouldn't be too many casualties after all was said and done.

Nick made a beeline for his locker. As he opened the door, he noticed a lone figure huddled in the dark, far corner of the room.

"Hey, you okay over there?" he asked, not knowing who he was addressing.

"Oh, hi Nick," said a familiar voice.

"Sara? What are you doing in the dark?"

She cleared her throat. "Nothing, I was just thinking."

"Penny for them," Nick said, slowly approaching from behind.

"Really, it's nothing," she said as she got up and moved further away from him. Nick took her by the arm and asked, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"No, I mean, yes. Oh Hell, I don't know."

"Okay, now you're freaking me out. Talk to me Sara."

She turned around to face him and replied, "I can't," and then proceeded to sit down on the bench with a thud. Sara looked like she had lost her best friend. Nick figured that it was the burden of a new case. It wouldn't be the first or last time that Sara had gotten emotionally involved, so he asked gently, "Tough case?'

She sighed, "I wish."

"Is it your brother, has something happened?"

Again, Sara issued a denial. Nick thought about it for a moment and then it struck him – Grissom. It had to be the only other explanation. A run in with Ecklie wouldn't make her sad; it would just piss her off. He knew that Sara didn't know that he had guessed her secret, so he had to proceed cautiously.

"Look, Grissom can be a bit of a bear when he's working. Whatever he said, don't take it personally. Remember, he has tunnel vision sometimes."

His words must have struck a nerve, because silent tears began to stream down Sara's face. Through her tears she mumbled, "He let me go."

Her statement threw Nick a curveball. "What? He fired you? Why? What happened?"

"No, Nick that's not it. He let go of me. He left me."

Nick looked at Sara and didn't know what to do. She looked so torn up inside, so helpless. He put his hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture, just to let her know that he was there.

"Sara, I don't know what to say. I'm sorry things didn't work out."

She shook her head and looked at him curiously through her tears. "You don't seem surprised about the fact that Grissom and I were dating."

"No Sara, I'm not. I've known for at least a month, but I don't think anyone else on the team has guessed."

"Well, apparently you're not the only one that figured it out. You know that Grissom couldn't make it to Cath's yesterday because he had a whole slew of meetings?"

"Yeah," Nick said, pausing for her to elaborate.

"Well, one of those meetings was with Ecklie. And guess what?" Sara waited for Nick to fill in the blanks.

"Oh." Nick hesitated. "He busted Grissom's chops about seeing you, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he pointed out that the relationship was unprofessional and damaging to the lab's reputation. He threatened to split the team up again if Gil didn't toe the line and end things. Gil caved; he let Ecklie tell him what to do," she said with despair in her voice.

"I called him on it, you know?" Sara said. "And he had the nerve to tell me that Conrad had nothing to do with his decision. Apparently, their conversation had just crystallized what he'd known all along, that our relationship was wrong. And if that weren't bad enough, he went on to say that he valued my friendship and my work in the lab too much to pitch my career into the toilet."

Sara let out a shaky breath. "I can't believe he didn't fight for us. I would have stood up to Ecklie and told him to do his worst, but apparently Grissom doesn't care that much about me." Sara leaned over, elbows resting on her thighs, head between her hands.

"Do you want to know the most infuriating part? This isn't anything new. He's backed away from me once before. You would've thought I had learned something the first time, but I guess I was just too stupid to figure it out." She let the words tumble out, barely letting herself take a breath. "Relationship my ass - what a damn, pathetic joke," she cursed. And then, just like a sail that's lost its wind, Sara collapsed and began to sob.

Nick was furious. He was going to find Grissom and give him a beating. "Whoa," he thought, shocked by the violence of his own reaction. And then, slowly, he understood. He cared for Sara, not just as a friend, but as a lover. Nick didn't fight this discovery, but merely enfolded Sara in an embrace and held her until the sobbing stopped, and her breathing became regular.

"Shit," Sara mumbled against Nick's chest. "I hate to be this vulnerable and needy."

"Don't worry about it. I'm here for you. Just let it all out," Nick said. He stroked her hair and held her tight to reassure her that she wasn't alone. Sara was strong and would survive this blow, but he was worried that she would retreat into herself as a defense. He took a deep breath and resolved to be there to nurture her and make sure that didn't happen. Nick gently kissed her forehead, and she looked up at him with her endearing, gap-tooth smile.

"Thanks for listening and not judging," she sniffed. Sara sat up, shook herself and then stated with a renewed determination, "I'm not going to let him scare me off. I love this job and I love the team. I won't give him the satisfaction of seeing me break."

"That's the spirit," Nick encouraged.

"Hey, we're in Vegas," Sara said with a shrug. "The show must go on."

Nick smiled and thought to himself, "Yeah, the show must go on, and we'll see it through, together."