Okay, I know this one is really really short. But it sets up the conflict for the rest of the story. I'm sorry it took so long between updates. I'm working on the next chapter right now. Promise.

Love Hurts

Nick and I spent the majority of our two week leave in Texas. I hung out with Sam and his niece, Charlotte. It was nice to spend time with women instead of just Nick, Greg, and Warrick.

Of course, I spent plenty of time with Nick. He was all I thought about, all I dreamt about. The only thing that kept me sane is the fact then when I awoke in the middle of the night with him on my mind, I could just snuggle closer to him. Having Nick at my side was something I didn't know I needed until it was there. But, as our two weeks drew nearer to an end, I began to panic.

What was going to happen when Nick and I returned to Las Vegas? I'm relatively sure our coworkers wouldn't mind us being together. It might bother Grissom; he'd get over it, though. But we were violating every rule in the CSI handbook. There was no way we could have a relationship without there being consequences.

I was afraid, deathly afraid that when we returned to Las Vegas one of us would be moved to day shift. That would mean that we would never see each other. It would almost be worse than us not being together. Nick kept saying it wouldn't be a problem. I think he was trying to convince himself as much as he was attempting to reassure me.

It was going to be a problem. As I hugged Nick's family, saying goodbye, I knew. I just felt it. Maybe Nick and I just weren't meant to be. If we went back to Vegas trying to convince ourselves everything would work itself out, when reality hit, it was going to break our hearts. I couldn't let that happen. I knew what I had to do. I wasn't happy about it, but I knew.

We were a few hours into the drive when Nick reached across and grabbed my hand. He gave me a weird look when I pulled it away from him. He placed his hand back on the steering wheel , and clearly was not happy.

"What's going on, Sara?"

"Nothing," I reassured him. "It's just too hot for stuff like that." I lied.

"Honey, the air conditioning's cranked-It's like 60˚ in here. That's not the problem and you know it."

"Let it go, Nicky."

He did. We drove the whole day in silence. When we stopped at a motel for the night, we got separate rooms. There was no meeting up for breakfast the next morning. I stayed in the car, messing with the radio when Nick pumped gas. I picked out music I knew he couldn't stand. The Goo Goo Dolls definitely were not his cup of tea. He gave me a look when he hopped back into the car, but he just slammed it into drive and pulled out of the lot. Again, we just sat in silence all day. Finally when we were about an hour outside Vegas, Nick spoke.

"Sara, I don't know what's going on here, but you're driving me nuts. " He shifted his eyes from the road to look at me. "You're not talking to me, and last I checked I didn't do anything wrong. Is this because you're worried about what happens when we get back to Vegas? I told you, it'll work itself out. It'll be fine."

"It's not gonna be fine!" I was surprised to hear my own voice. "It's not. They're not going to let us work together. Someone will get moved to days. I can't take that. I can't take never seeing you. I can't take a quickie in between shifts. That won't work for me Nick. I would rather see you every single day, just as a coworker than next to never as a lover."

"Sara, do you really think they'd move one of us."

"Yes, Nick. I do. Did you know Grissom's under evaluation? His job's on the line. Because of what he had with me. I won't do that to you."

"Sara-" I cut him off again.

"Nick, I know what I'm doing. We both know this is ridiculous. It was just a vacation fling. It was fun while it lasted."

Nick was speechless. I couldn't look at him. I knew what I said had cut deep. Hell, I might have just shattered the guy's heart into a million pieces. I couldn't look at him and see the pain on his face. I knew exactly the look that would be in his eyes. I couldn't look at that. My heart was already breaking. And I knew if I looked at him, he would know I was lying. This wasn't something I'd wanted to do. But I had to. I guess the graveyard shift at the Las Vegas Crime Lab just wasn't the place for romance.

I didn't see Nick again until we both returned to work the following Monday. We showed up at the same time. Rather than look at each other, we both stomped into the lab determined not to let the other know that we were hurting. I pushed past him into the break room and headed straight for the coffee pot. Warrick looked up at me as I passed.

"Hey, Sar, how was…" His voice trailed off as he noticed my mood. "Texas?" He finished.

"Oh, it was just dandy." I snapped.

"Nick," Warrick turned to him. "Did you have as much fun in Texas as our darling Sara here?"

"Goddammit Warrick," Nick blurted harshly. "Let it go." And he stormed out of the room.

I took my coffee and left as well. I figured I should go say hi to Greg and the lab rats. As I left the room I heard Catherine's voice behind me.

"Told you they'd hook up in Texas. That was a lover's spat if I ever heard one. That's fifty big ones Warrick."

Why do they always feel the need to bet on everything?