Mr. Right: Chapter Three
Disclaimer: Don't own them. Never have, never will.
Author's Note: I'm really sorry that it took me this long to get it out. I had the time, believe me. I just had a lack of inspiration. I wasn't sure how I wanted to write this chapter, so I kept procrastinating until I could procrastinate no more. So here you go. I hope you enjoy it. And I wanted to thank everyone who reviewed: Mikey, robin2409, A Bloom, Jacqueline, Jen, Tak, asd, iluvcsi4ever, loco, pdhtgal, BlackStorm, MissyJane, mj, Jessica, psyched13, Lauren, Aline Aguiar, Emmy, me, Dolly, and drvvh. You guys are the best! Keep the reviews comin'!
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"Stokes, reservation for two?"
"Ah, yes, Mr. Stokes, right this way please. May I take your coat, miss?" The maitre d' smiled at Sara and helped her with her jacket.
"Thank you," she said.
"If you will follow me?" He led the way to a small table illuminated in candlelight, secluded in the far corner of the restaurant.
Nick helped Sara into her chair and sat down in his own. The maitre d' took their drink orders and left the couple alone.
"So what do you think? Does this meet the approval of Miss Sara Sidle?" Nick teased.
She leaned in across the table. "Nick, this place is fabulous. How'd you manage to make reservations so quickly? I've been trying to get a reservation for months!"
"Well, I kinda made the reservation a while ago."
"How long ago?"
He coughed when he gave his answer. "sixmonthsago."
"Whoa, wait a minute. Was that a 'six months ago' I heard you cough under your breath?"
He gave her a lopsided grin. "Well, yeah."
"How did you know I would say yes?"
"Wishful thinking?" He smiled at her again and took her hand. "Thank you for coming tonight, Sara. I know you didn't want to, but--"
"Stop right there, Stokes. Who says I didn't want to come?"
"I guess I just assumed that--"
"We're CSI's, Nick. We don't assume anything. We study the evidence and piece together the pieces." She leaned in closer to him. "What does the evidence say?"
"It says to do this," he whispered, and leaned in to kiss her softly and tenderly. She returned the kiss and then pulled away, smiling.
"There now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Nick laughed and Sara looked at him, perplexed. "What's so funny?"
"I'm just thinking about what Grissom would say if he saw us here, together. He'd probably give us a lecture about dating your co-workers."
"Please. If he did he'd be the biggest hypocrite in the world," she said, and took a sip of her wine.
"What do you mean?" Nick asked.
"Grissom and Catherine?" She gaped at his shocked expression. "You didn't know?"
"How could I know?"
"How could you not know?" She countered. "Am I the only one who picks up on things? Just look how they act around each other. They're just like teenagers in love."
"Really? That's… sweet." Nick said.
"Sweet? It's revolting. I walked in on them in Grissom's office once." She shuddered. "Talk about being scarred for life. Did you ever…you know…walk in on your parents?" He nodded, grimacing. "It was like that…totally gross."
"Now that you've completely ruined my meal with very bad mental images, do you know what you want to order?" he asked.
"Yeah, I think so." Nick motioned the waiter over, and he took their orders. Shortly afterward their food arrived and the two conversed about work. When that got old, the conversation turned to their heavily guarded pasts.
"Your family had a foster child? I never knew that. I thought you were an only child," Nick said, in response to something Sara had said about Jessica, the little girl that had graced her life when she was sixteen and left Sara with a gaping hole in her heart.
"Yeah, my parents took her in about a year after Bobby--" She stopped in mid-sentence, and Nick eyed her curiously.
"Bobby?" he prodded.
"My brother. He died." She didn't elaborate, and Nick didn't push her. If she wanted to tell him, she would, in her own time.
"So uh, we took in Jessica, and we really loved her. But my parent's B&B wasn't doing too well, and we started having money problems. The state took her away from us. She wanted us to adopt her, but we couldn't. We could barely afford our own needs, and without the money from the state, there was no way we would be able to keep Jess. So they took her away, and I never saw her again." She looked down at the table and swirled the wine in her glass. "So, what about you?" she asked, looking up at Nick, "What doesn't everybody know about our favorite Texan?"
He wanted to tell her about the last-minute babysitter, about how much she had hurt him, about how at the age of nine he was changed forever. But he couldn't tell her. Not yet. "I don't know. I'm a pretty predictable guy. But I can tell you something everybody knows about me that isn't true," he offered.
"And what's that?"
"Miss Texas? It never happened."
"You never dated her? Then why did you tell everybody you did?" she asked.
"It's kind of a long story. Actually, I do know her. She was a friend of a friend, and I met her once at a barbecue in high school. But that was it. Then when she won the title, I told my buddies in college that I knew her, and they told people that I dated her, and…well, you can probably guess the rest."
She laughed. "Yeah, I think I can." She took a sip of her wine. "I had a good time tonight, Nick. Thank you. Even if you did trick me into coming with you, I'm glad you did."
"So am I." He motioned for the check, and they left the restaurant.
~*~*~
Sara entered the crime lab feeling like she was on cloud nine. After they left the restaurant the night before, they had walked along the Strip, talking and laughing and learning more about the other than they ever thought possible. It had been the best night of her life.
Now, walking into the break room, she smiled when she saw him. She had been smiling a lot lately. Whenever she saw him, or even thought about him, her heart fluttered and she smiled. Oh my God. You love him. "I do," she thought. "I do love him."
Nick walked up to her, and checking to make sure that no one was around, he kissed her. She turned around in his arms and kissed him back. "Hello to you, too."
"Hey," Nick said, his arms around her waist and her arms around his neck. "So."
"So," she countered.
"Do you want to tell them yet?" he asked.
"Not yet. I think we should wait, at least until Griss and Cath tell us about their relationship."
"Yeah, I guess so. Oh, and speaking of Grissom and Catherine, they're coming down the hall now," he said, releasing Sara and walking in the other direction of the room so that no one would be suspicious.
Catherine and Grissom entered the break room and Catherine walked over to the coffee pot, where Sara was pouring herself a cup. "So Sara," the older CSI began, "I hear Nicky boy set you up on a blind date last night. I can't believe you agreed to it." She took a sip of her coffee and sat down on the plush sofa. "Blind dates always backfire. You always end up with Mr. Wrong. So how horrible was this guy?"
"Actually, Catherine," Sara began, looking over at Nick, who smiled at her, "I think this one was Mr. Right."
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A/N~ Remember to review! I mentioned Jessica again in this story (I first briefly introduced her in Life and Death.) I think once Life and Death is completely finished I'll write that story, or maybe if I get writer's block with L&D I'll work on it, I don't know yet. Thanks again for all the awesome reviews. Keep 'em coming!
~Emily