XII - ATTRACTION

"Are you sure you're okay to do this, Nick?" Sara and Nick were momentarily alone in the break-room. Nick was pouring himself a cup of coffee. Brass and Grissom had both been paged a couple of minutes ago, and Grissom had told everyone to take 5 minutes. Warrick had excused himself to go make a quick call, and Greg had said to no one in particular that he was going back to his lab.

"Yeah, Sara. I'll be fine." Nick looked at her smiled sadly, leaning back against the counter. His dark eyes were swimming with emotion, and Sara realized that regardless of what he said, he was still very much on edge - just hiding it better than he had yesterday. She walked over to him, placing a gentle hand on his chest.

"Listen, Nick. You don't have to put on a front for me. It's not necessary. I know how hard it's going to be to go into that room, and sit across from that woman and talk to her about Timmy and the tattoo. And the abuse."

Nick shrugged his shoulders. "It will be hard," he agreed. "I won't deny that. But, I know there's something else going on here. I'm pretty sure she's not the one who sexually abused him, and I need to know who did - for my own piece of mind." He looked at her hand, still resting on his chest, and covered it with a strong hand of his own. Putting his coffee down, he reached up with his other hand and slid Sara's hair behind her ear. Sara leaned her cheek lightly into his palm as he did so, and felt a little frisson of pleasure tingle along her cheek bone.

The strength of his hand covering hers had forced her fingers flat, and she could feel along the length of her palm the ribbed texture of the black knit shirt Nick was wearing. His heart was beating strong and steady, and the rhythm of it affected her all the way to her toes. She looked at him intently, watching as his eyes flickered through a myriad of emotions - sadness, pain and anger quickly giving way to need. Sara marveled at how easy he was to read, unlike Grissom, who never gave anything away. Nick laid himself bare to her with just one look, showing her everything in his heart with just a slight darkening of his eyes.

"Sara." Nick leaned forward without conscious thought, groaning her name softly. The hand at her cheek slid slowly back, more firmly cupping the base of her skull, and her silky hair tangled around his fingers like satin ribbons. His lips brushed against hers gently, once - twice - three times, before pulling away. He looked at her and smiled, his eyes smoldering, as he noticed the answering embers in hers.

"So," he murmured, "can I come for breakfast again today?"

"Only if you make me crepes again." She whispered back.

"Ahem." The sudden sound of a voice clearing made Sara and Nick jump apart, startled. Catherine Willows stood in the doorway of the lounge, a look of amused curiosity on her face. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"Catherine! What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be back until tomorrow. How was Disney World? Lindsey like it?" Sara chattered inanely, a dark blush staining her cheeks, as she stepped away from Nick. Nick simply picked up his coffee cup, leaned back against the counter and raised a sardonic eyebrow at Catherine.

"I decided to come in and see if you guys needed help with anything. Disney World was great, Lindsey loved it, and now she's with Eddie." Catherine responded. "Anything new around here?" she smirked.

"Uhm.yeah. Interesting case - little boy found in the desert. His mother killed him with anti-freeze. Past evidence of sexual abuse, but Nicky's doing okay.." Sara stopped her startled chatter in shock, realizing what she had just said. "Uhm - I mean -"

Nick stepped forward and gave Sara's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "It's okay Sara. Catherine knows."

Catherine watched the exchange with interest. It wasn't often that Sara became flustered, and it was mildly amusing. She also noted with surprise the gentle, protective way Nick defused the situation, just by touching Sara on the shoulder. It took a few moments for his words to register, and when they did, Catherine glanced at him in surprise. "You told Sara about the babysitter?"

Nick merely nodded. "Yeah. She needed to know." He glanced at Sara again, and smiled. She was looking at her feet miserably. He squeezed her shoulder gently again, before shepherding her to the door.

"We're just headed down to interview the suspect. Grissom is probably waiting for us by now - he's going to watch."

* * * * *

As Nick had stated, Grissom was standing at the doorway next to the interview room, talking to Brass. He looked up as Nick and Sara came down the hallway, frowning slightly when he noticed Nick's hand riding the base of Sara's spine. When he saw Catherine, he smiled.

"Catherine! You're back!"

"Hey Grissom. Sara sort of filled me in on this case - can I join you?"

"You know you can." Grissom's response was warm. He nodded at Nick and Sara. "Brass isn't staying - the sheriff from Timmy's home town called him, and told him the aunt and uncle are arriving here within the next 45 minutes. He's going to go to the airport and pick them up."

"Timmy? Who's he?" Catherine asked, confused.

"Timmy's our victim." Grissom responded.

"Oh." It took a moment for Catherine to process this information. "Since when do you start referring to victims by their first name, Grissom?"

Grissom had the grace to look embarrassed. "Since this case." He quickly changed the subject. "Greg is running some tests in the lab the day shift hadn't gotten around to yet, and Warrick is going to get the paperwork ready for us to release the body to the aunt and uncle. You guys ready?" At Nick's tight nod, Grissom sighed.

"Then, let us begin."

___________

Author's note: thanks for all the reviews! This piece has been really fun to write so far, and it's my first long work of fanfic ever, so I really appreciate the feedback. Jessica - thanks for pointing out the spelling of Warrick's name - I don't know why I did that, but I suppose writing at 3:00 am in the morning is as good a reason as any! I'm normally a big GS shipper, but there's just something about Nick in this story.