"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 Twelve
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SATURDAY MORNING
Nick's nose woke first. Sandalwood and flowers, warm sleepy woman smell. Sara, his brain supplied, which woke his skin, which was curled comfortably around Sara's long, lean body with his face against her silky brown hair. He tightened the arm around her waist and felt her wriggle even closer and sigh.
Sara. Who would've guessed he'd end up loving Sara? A prickly, tomboyish scientist with a dark past and a soft heart hidden beneath layers of smartmouthed defensiveness. How had Grissom described her when they'd first met? Awake, that was it. She crackled with manic energy most of the time. Yet during these past few weeks of spending quiet time with her, and these past few days of real talking, Nick knew he had fallen, hard, for the woman behind the forcefield. He smiled and buried his face in her hair, mumbling, "I think I could develop an addiction to waking up like this."
"Hmmmm, yeah, me too." Sara yawned, turned in his embrace, and pushed him onto his back, laying her head on his chest and draping an arm and leg across his body. "I like listening to your heart beating."
Nick smiled. "Glad I'm a live one, and not a cold one, eh?"
Her head lifted and her eyes were unexpectedly serious. "I'm very glad you're alive. I don't know what I would have done if we hadn't found you." Nick reached up to try to kiss the sadness from her face. She let him, then pulled back a bit to look him in the eye. "You're very important to me, Nick." Her cheeks flushed. "I, uh, I love you, too."
The emotion in her eyes stole his breath at first, so Nick nodded and leaned his forehead against hers for a moment, before pulling back, returning her intense gaze, and whispering, "You caught that, eh? I thought I'd managed to sneak that one by you."
Her mouth brushed his gently and her eyes were shining. "I caught that." Nick's hands were starting to stray under the hem of her tee shirt when his stomach growled so loudly that Sara broke the kiss by laughing against his mouth. "You just can't get lucky, can you?"
Nick produced the biggest, cheesiest grin he could summon, and thickened his drawl. "Oh, but darlin', any time I'm with you, I'm the luckiest man alive."
He was rewarded with one of Sara's snorts and eye rolls as she disentangled from him and heaved herself up out of bed. "Okay, for the record, corny remarks like that will not get you laid." Nick rolled onto his stomach, gave her a pout and blinked his lashes fetchingly. She shook her head as she turned and headed for the bathroom. "Neither will puppy-dog eyes, but just so you know, the bed-head is working in your favor." Her laughter trailed behind her as she pulled the door shut. They traded places a few minutes later, before meeting in the hallway. Sara smiled hesitantly. "I hope you don't mind, but I started some coffee."
Nick grinned at her. "Awesome. I'm just going to brush my teeth before I start my morning checklist."
As he suspected, she took the bait. "You have a morning checklist? Good God, what have I gotten myself into? Nick? What morning checklist?" Nick ignored her and headed back to the bathroom, pleased with himself as Sara trailed after him, peppering him with questions. Nick pulled the Colgate from the shelf behind the mirror, then reached into the undersink cabinet, fished out an unopened toothbrush, and handed it to her. She eyed it suspiciously. "How many of those do you have?"
Nick rolled his eyes. "I do NOT keep a stash of toothbrushes to present to my many conquests as a souvenir, if that's what you're wondering. I like clean teeth, and I just restocked the house at the grocery store last week."
He pulled his own brush from the rack and they stood side by side, absently brushing. After a minute, he glanced at her in the mirror. Nick pulled the brush from his mouth and mumbled around his mouthful of foam. "I did not think it was possible, but you are actually managing to pout and brush your teeth simultaneously."
Sara stuck out her foamy tongue and swiped at his nose with her toothbrush, leaving a white spot. Nick narrowed his eyes, left the suds on his nose while he finished brushing, then stood by with his arms crossed, waiting to pounce. Sara's eyes glittered as she deliberately took her time, rinsed thoroughly, and placed the toothbrush in the rack by the sink. As soon as her hand was empty, Nick grabbed her, pinned her hands to her sides, and rubbed his toothpaste-tainted nose against her cheek. She shouted and wiggled partially from his grasp, so he lifted her and carried her from the bathroom. "Hey! Put me down, Nick! Nick! You caveman! Put me down!"
Nick started making grunting noises in response to the caveman comment. Sara was giggling like a fiend, and reaching around to tickle him into letting her go. She found a hot spot along his hip that caused him to yelp and drop her so that they ended up in a tangled heap on the floor of the living room. Sara got her knees on top of his hands and pinned him to the floor, waggling her fingers over as much of his body as she could reach until Nick started to hyperventilate from laughing.
Looking concerned, Sara let up her grip for a moment. "Nick, are you okay?"
"Hah!" Nick took advantage of her good nature and flipped them over to return the favor. Keeping her loosely restrained in a cage of his arms and legs, Nick put his face to Sara's neck and started blowing raspberries. She yelped before giving in to helpless laughter. "Awgh! Gross! Okay, uncle! Uncle!"
Nick stayed hovering over her, watching her mirthful face as they both calmed somewhat. Unable to resist her smile, he lowered his body until he could feel her from chest to hips, and grinned broadly when he felt her feet caress over the backs of his calves. He whispered, "I love watching you laugh, Sara," just before his lips met hers. They kissed leisurely, enjoying the feel of each other's mouths, and a few minutes later, Nick pulled back and looked down at her face. "So, my checklist."
She blinked. "Uh, yeah?"
"If I'm going to get any of that stuff done today, I need you to come with me into the other room."
Sara's brows knit in puzzlement. "Um, sure."
They levered themselves up off the living room rug and Nick pulled her by the hand into the bedroom before pushing her back down into the blankets. Sara smirked. "Nick, exactly what is on this list of yours, anyway?"
Nick put his face down close to hers and gave her his best wicked look and his deepest drawl. "I want to make you scream my name."
Wow. Note to self, try that approach again. Nick watched in amazement as her pupils dilated until her eyes went from brown to black, and she licked her lips and raised one eyebrow, challenging, "Not if I make you scream first."
