A week later, Sara's apartment was finally released as a crime scene. Understandably, she decided she didn't want to stay. After the nightmares that she'd been having while sleeping at Nick's she didn't want to be reminded of blood spatter every time she walked in the door. Her apartment manager was quite understanding and readily let her out of her lease. Sara and Nick talked and they decided that it probably wasn't the wisest idea for her to move in with him permanently, since they had both decided they didn't want to rush into having sex, and with her there all the time it was making it increasingly difficult for both of them.

Sara found a new apartment not too far from Nick's house. She made the move on a Sunday afternoon with Nick and Warrick's help.

Over the next few weeks, she had an occasional nightmare, but after a phone call to Nick, she could usually go back to sleep.

The pair was trying to take their relationship a bit slower than it had started out and had imposed some limitations on themselves. For starters, they didn't want to be caught making out in the locker room again after Warrick had walked in on them. They also decided that it wasn't a good idea to sleep at each others houses if they weren't ready to take the physical part of their relationship to the next level. They wanted to retain the confidence that Grissom and the rest of the team had in them on a professional level, so they worked at leaving their relationship at the door when it came to investigating crime scenes. There was the occasional slip of the tongue when Nick would call Sara gorgeous, or when Sara would give Nick a brief kiss on the lips in the locker room, but overall, they kept themselves under control.

Six months after Nick and Sara's first date, Nick stood in the locker room stowing his jacket and duffle bag into his locker. He was getting ready to head to the break room for his evening assignment when Warrick walked in. "Hey, man. How are things going?"

Nick looked over at Warrick and grinned, "Couldn't be better, Warrick."

Warrick raised an eyebrow at his friend, "You're a little too happy."

Nick leaned toward Warrick in a conspiratorial manner, "I got Sara something. Want to see?"

Both of Warrick's eyebrows shot up and a chuckle escaped his throat, "You didn't?!"

"He didn't what?" Catherine asked as she walked in.

Nick just grinned with an overly please expression on his face.

Catherine took in Nick's appearance and a sly grin crossed her face, "What did you do, Nicky?"

Nick continued grinning as he reached into his locker and pulled out a box. He handed it to Catherine, "I got this for Sara."

Catherine's eyes widened and her mouth gaped open slightly before she looked up a Nick and grinned. "Can I take a look?"

"Yeah, she's off tonight, so I think it's safe." Nick replied.

Catherine opened the box to reveal a velvet jeweler's box. She opened the smaller box to reveal a beautiful diamond engagement ring. "Nick, this is gorgeous. She's going to love it. When did you pick this out?" Catherine looked up at him inquisitively.

As Nick took the box back and stowed it back into his locker he replied, "Actually, Catherine, it belonged to my grandmother. When I went home to visit last month, I told her that I was thinking about asking Sara to marry me. She insisted I give it to her. She really loves Sara."

Warrick who was still trying to process that two of his best friends were going to get married finally asked, "When are you going to ask her, Nick?"

"Ask who what?" Grissom walked into the locker room with a curious expression, wondering why none of the team was assembled in the break room yet.

Nick turned to Grissom, "I'm going to ask Sara to marry me."

A grin spread across Grissom's face, "Congratulations, Nick."

Nick looked at the three other CSIs, "I was hoping you all would help me though. I want to do something special and I don't want her to get suspicious. It was all I could do to convince her to not come in on her night off so I could talk to you all. Fortunately, her college roommate is in town, so their going out for a while, but she'll probably show up later."

Warrick chuckled, "I'm in. Just let me know what you want me to do man."

"Hell, yeah," Catherine smiled.

Grissom nodded, "Whatever you need, Nick, just let me know. I'd be pleased to help."

A look of relief crossed Nick's face as he smiled at his friends.

Grissom brought them back to the moment, "I need to give out assignments. Greg's joining us tonight, so we need to head back to the break room."

With that the night shift began.

.