Don't Be A Bad Boy

Chapter Seven

7 – WHOSE CUTE?

Sara stopped dead in her tracks and craned her head toward the breakroom. A sound she'd never heard before had come gushing from the breakroom, Nick laughing so hard it sounded like he might crack a rib at any moment. She rounded the corner and stopped.
Nick was bent over, arms around his waist, his face twisted into a grin that showed his teeth in all their white glory. As she watched, he struck out an arm and braced himself on the table as another wave of humour overtook him and he let it out in a loud guffaw. The tears streaming down his face and falling to the ground only lent a pathetically humourous slant to the entire situation.
Standing off to the side was Greg, looking the complete opposite from Nick with a scowl on his face that would rival some sour-puss granny's upon seeing footprints on her pristine floors. He stood with his hands on his hips, sulking, his lips scrunched up in a tight knot on his face. Gone was the perpetually grinning face.
Sara stood in the doorway and waited for Nick to regain some composure, herself fighting the automatic urge to join in but restraining in deference to Greg's reaction.
"Oh god!" Nick was saying. "That is too funny!" He was whimpering now, trying his best to hold back on any more outbursts.
"No, Nick. It's not funny at all," Greg said, still pouting and now turning away from the spectacle to pour himself some coffee. He'd visited his "friend" before coming into work and now had a fresh batch brewing.
"Is that your special blend?" Sara asked, making her way toward the coffee machine.
"Yes, but you're not getting any!" Greg said and he placed his body in front of the machine, blocking Sara's path.
"Greg!" she said, sticking out her bottom lip and drooping her eyes at him.
"Yeah! That's the way he likes it, Sara!" Nick said, giving in to yet another spasm of laughter.
"Greg, what is wrong with Nick?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing at all." Greg turned his back on both of them and took a sip of his coffee.
Sniffling and holding his gut, Nick finally stood up and turned to face Sara and Greg. He sighed and breathed deep a few times, wiping the tears from his eyes.
"Nick?"
And his face almost cracked again, but he got control of it. He spoke, but it was in clipped tones as he still couldn't quite control his body. "It seems, that Greg here is found attractive by the same sex!"
Sara turned to Greg. "Greg?"
"So what?"
Sara turned to Nick.
"He wanted to cook him breakfast."
Sara turned to Greg. "You wanted to cook him breakfast?"
"No!" Greg said, spinning around to glare at both of them. "He wanted to cook me breakfast!"
"Oh," Sara said, drawing the words as though it were some great and deep discovery. "And did he?"
"Of course not! Hey, I like my women, okay? That's women. Plural. Lots of them. At the same time. No dick involved except my own. Got it?"
"Sure Greg."
He glared at them once more before trotting off to the safety of his lab. In a short moment, his music was blaring louder than before, and Sara and Nick could hear it from the breakroom. Sara turned to Nick who had taken a chair and was leaning back in it with a self-satisfied grin on his face.
"Proud of yourself?"
"Yup!"
Sara sat down beside him. "Greg does sometimes make things go faster for us, when he likes us."
"And?"
"And do you think he just might, oh I don't know, forget some samples later on? Cause one particular Texan decided to make fun of Greg's attractiveness?"
Nick turned to Sara. "You think he's attractive?"
"I don't know. He has a certain, je ne sais quoi, about him, I suppose. He's cute, in a little brother sorta way."
"Sara! I didn't know!" Nick said, a grin growing on his face, making his dark eyes crinkle mischievously.
The hand came so quickly, Nick didn't have time to duck. It hit him square in the chest. His breath came out in a loud whoosh and he grabbed the table before he could hit it with his face. "Sara!" he wheezed.
Sara stood over Nick's shuddering body. "For the record, I am not attracted to Greg. Never was. Am not. Never will be."
Nick wheezed, "Okay!"
"Never will be what?"
Both Sara and Nick jumped up. Sara scowled at Grissom leaning against the doorway, arms over his chest. "Why do you do that?" Sara said.
"Do what?" Grissom pushed himself from the doorway and sauntered into the room, keeping his eyes on Sara, his face devoid of all expression. He glanced down once at Nick.
"Sneak up on people like that? This could have been a private conversation, you know!"
"If it were private, don't have it in a public place."
Sara scowled even more. Nick sat back, hand on his chest, glancing from Sara to Grissom and then decided being in the room with those two probably wasn't such a good idea. He got upt to leave but not before giving Sara a look that said he knew a little more.
"So, never will be' what?" Grissom said.
"What?"
"You were saying, never will be'. What was it about?"
"Oh that. Nick was just being cute, that's all. He was thinking I had a thing for Greg, because I said he was cute." Sara said with a shrug of her shoulders. She was keenly aware that they were the only ones in the room and it made her feel curiously barren, no place to hide. Didn't help that she'd have to actually walk around Grissom in order to leave. So she took a seat and waited.
"Do you?" Grissom asked.
"Do I what?"
"Think he's cute."
Sara stared at Grissom, as he took a chair beside her. "Grissom." And then she smiled. "There are lots of guys around here I find cute and attractive. Doesn't mean I'd jump into bed with them."
Grissom raised an eyebrow. "Like who?"
"Grissom! As if you ask that!"
"Why not?"
"It's rather personal, don't ya think?"
"Really?"
"Really. Do I ask you who you think is attractive?"
"There are few women around here I find attractive, doesn't mean I'd go to bed with them," he said, consciously mimicking Sara's previous statement.
"This has got to be the weirdest conversation I've had with you, yet!" Sara rose and went to the counter for some more coffee.
"Hey! We working?" Warrick's baritone voice broke the thin spell that had come over Sara and Grissom. He sauntered into the room, the coolness of his being drawing Sara's eyes to him as he took a chair opposite them.
Grissom turned toward him as well. "Of course. But we're not all here. Nick took off somewhere, and Catherine is late."
"As usual," Sara said under her breath.
"I'm here," Nick said.
"Sorry guys," said Catherine, barely missing the edge of the doorframe as she came running down the hall and took her seat beside Warrick. He glanced at her and smile. Nick took his seat.
"So, it's Friday," Grissom began. "No body yet. But we do have other cases that've come up. Nick, Warrick, you have a robbery. Catherine, Sara, a b&e." He handed them their respective cards.
"I'm driving," Nick said as he jumped up and practically ran out the door.
Warrick stared after him, a pained look on his face. "Kids," he said and followed behind, a little slower.
"And what about you?" Sara asked.
"Paperwork," Grissom grinned, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"Pity you," Catherine commented, standing.
Sara smiled softly and followed Catherine out the door, leaving Grissom alone with his paperwork.

~*~

Copyright © 2003 Anansay