Sara and I ate lunch out on the deck overlooking the beach. When I had gotten out of the shower I had heard her talking to someone. When I emerged from the bathroom, I noticed that she was talking on the phone and crying. I hoped to God she wasn't talking to Grissom. Thankfully, she was talking to Warrick. I was glad. I didn't think that she was ready to talk to Grissom. He didn't seem to understand what he'd done to affect her. Well, really all of us. We were a team, a family of sorts, and he had kept something from us that I'm sure was difficult for him to face, but held implications for us all. We trusted each other every day in the course of our jobs and he had broken that trust. I know it hurt me, but I think it hurt Sara the deepest. She'd known Grissom a long time. She had fed romantic feelings for him for a while now, but according to what she said to Warrick on the phone, she had gotten past that. I pondered that for a moment. Not too long. I didn't want to fixate on how attractive I was finding Sara. Being alone with her for this long in an out of work context was eye opening. I'd better play it cool and keep things light. Sara noticed that we had both picked up a bit of sun when we were out surfing.

I laughed. "A direct result of working the night shift perpetually."

She grinned at me. "We probably should try and stay inside until the sun isn't so high."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "You talk like were a couple of vampires or something."

She laughed. "So what should we do after lunch?"

I laughed. "I'm not the one who used to live in California."

She raised an eyebrow. "Nick, I lived in San Francisco, not Southern California. We could drive to Hollywood and go to Universal Walk or something like that."

I wasn't exactly sure what she was talking about, but I nodded my head and agreed that it sounded like a good idea. We finished lunch and climbed into her Tahoe. We threaded our way through the traffic to Universal Studios and parked the SUV in the parking garage. I didn't realize that there were so many shops at Universal Walk. We went in and out of them, trying on stupid hats in one and making faces at each other. Sara and I sure can have fun together. We both seem to feel entirely at ease with each other and make no pretense about trying to act otherwise.

"Hey, look, Sar! It's the Harley Davidson store." I grinned, putting my arm around her shoulder and pointing.

She laughed as she looked up at me, wrapping her arm around my waist and with a teasing look, "Nick, I never would have taken you for a biker."

I glanced at her, "Let's go in."

I was disappointed that they didn't actually sell bikes there; just shirts, jackets, and other accessories. We had a great time trying on shirts and laughing at each other. Sara convinced me to buy a tie dyed shirt with the Harley logo on it. I told her that she'd have to have one too. She didn't want to buy it, but I bought it for her. Maybe it was my imagination, but she seemed to blush a little when I bought her the shirt. I'm sure it was just hot in the store. This is Southern California after all.

Once we'd walked around for a while, we realized that several hours had gone by. Sara laughed at me when I told her I was hungry.

"Nick, you're always hungry. It's a wonder you can keep that hard body the way you eat." She quipped.

I grinned at her. She noticed my body. Maybe I wasn't the only one that was distracted while we were surfing. I put my arm around her shoulder as we walked. "Let's go to the Hard Rock Café."

She smiled up at me and didn't step out of my embrace. I smiled back at her. We didn't have to wait long to get seated. We chatted about nothing in particular; we just enjoyed spending time together. When the waitress came to take our order, we were both a little embarrassed that we hadn't even glanced at the menus. She smiled at us and asked us if we'd been distracted by Samuel L. Jackson sitting just across from us. Sara and I looked at each other and busted out laughing. We hadn't even noticed that he was sitting there. The waitress left us with our menus and when she returned a few minutes later, we ordered. Of course, Sara ordered a vegetarian dish and me, well, let's just say that all of Texas would be proud of the cut of beef I ordered.

After we ate, we decided to hit the gift shop. Sara insisted on buying us both T-shirts. I smiled. Maybe she just didn't want to make a big deal out of the shirts I bought at the Harley store.

We walked slowly back toward the Tahoe. She glanced over at me and smiled. Before we got in the vehicle she gave me a hug. "I had a nice time, Nicky. I'm glad you're here."

I hugged her back. "I'm glad I'm here too, Sara."

We didn't talk much on the way back to the house in Malibu. The silence was comfortable and I think that we were each lost in our own thoughts. As we walked into the house, Sara turned to me with a curious expression her face, "Feel like a walk on the beach, Nick?"

I smiled at her. "Sounds great." I kicked my shoes and socks off and followed her out the back door.

We didn't talk much as we walked. Sara threaded her arm through mine and we walked like that for a while. She stopped me and cocked her head to one side. "Let's just sit a while."

I didn't say anything, I just plopped myself onto the sand. Sara sat next to me and rested her head on my shoulder. She let out a deep breath. "I know I need to go back to Vegas, but I'm not sure I'm ready yet. Will you stay a couple more days, Nick?"

I smiled and chuckled. I put my arm around her shoulder. "Yeah, Sar. I'll stay."

We sat that way for a while. Silently, she stood up and extended her hand to me. I took it and she helped me up. She didn't let go though. She held my hand all the way back to the beach house. I wondered about it, but I didn't say anything. I just smiled.

As we came back in the house, Sara turned to me and smiled. "I'm going to sleep, Nicky. I'll see you in the morning." She leaned up and kissed me on the cheek. "Thanks for everything."

I smiled at her. "Night, Sar." I didn't go to bed right away. I had too much to think about. I finally went to bed a couple of hours later. I drifted off to sleep dreaming about Sara. I wasn't sure what was going on between us, but something was changing.