We headed back to Vegas, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about Sara. I knew that any interaction with Grissom was going to be less than pleasant for her. We stopped about every hour to stretch our legs and to stretch the drive, and well it was a good reason to sneak another kiss or two. Neither of us really wanted to go back. I think I would have been very happy just staying in Malibu with Sara indefinitely. But we needed to get back to the real world. I wanted to see if whatever was developing between us could make it in the real world. I wanted to know if she was truly over Grissom. I thought she was, but I guess some of my own insecurity feared that if he gave her the time of day and said the right thing, that she'd hang her hopes on him all over again. I guess only time would tell. For now, I was going to assume that what she said was true and that she really was falling for me.

I called Warrick on the drive to let him know that we were headed back. "Hey, man, Sara and I are on the road. We should be hitting Vegas in about three hours."

Warrick chuckled. "So, you gave up your career in surfing?"

I laughed. "Don't knock it. We had a great time. In fact we went again this morning before we headed out. It's amazing what a little practice will do for your skill level."

"So you didn't wipe out every time then?" Warrick chuckled.

"So, Sara told you about that." I replied.

"Yeah, she said she wished she had a video camera to catch all your wipe outs." Warrick sounded amused.

"Well, I did much better this time. All it takes is the right incentive to focus." I was intentionally vague. I thought I'd let Warrick wonder what I meant for a while.

"Oh, and what kind of incentive was that?" Warrick sounded curious.

"Just a little deal Sara and I worked out. You know how competitive we all are." I replied. I smiled. I wondered if Warrick was going to ask me if something had happened between me and Sara.

Warrick sounded skeptical. "Yeah." His tone changed. "Is she doing ok?"

I smiled and chuckled. "Yeah, but I'm a little worried still. I mean, you know that the second she sees Grissom, she's gonna be pissed."

"I talked to him." Warrick replied.

"What?" I responded. "What did he say?"

Warrick chuckled at my impatience. "I told him that I knew about his hearing, that all of us knew, and that we were disappointed that he didn't trust us. I also told him that he can't jerk Sara around and treat her like crap. He didn't say much. Not that I'd expect anything else from Grissom."

"She said she was done with it." I replied.

Warrick chuckled. "You've got a thing for her, man. Whether you want to admit it or not."

I laughed. "So maybe I do."

"Oh, so now you're willing to admit it. What happened between you and Sara?" Warrick sounded curious, but also willing to rip my head off if I even dared to hurt her.

I chuckled. "Don't worry, Warrick. I'm not about to intentionally hurt Sara. Let's just say that things between us are changing. I'm not really sure what that's going to look like when we get back to Vegas, but I really care about her."

Warrick was silent for a moment. "How does she feel?"

I smiled before I replied. "She said she feels the same way. We're just going to take it slow and see what happens."

"You didn't sleep with her did you?" Warrick sounded like a protective older brother.

"No. I said I don't want to rush anything with her. This is Sara we're talking about here." I replied seriously.

"Ok. You do know that if you hurt her, I'll kill you." Warrick chided.

I chuckled. "Yeah."

"Just so we have that clear." Warrick replied.

I laughed.

"So, are you guys going to be in for shift tonight?" Warrick queried.

"I'm not sure. I'll ask Sara the next time we stop if she's up for it." I replied. "Hey, Warrick, how's Catherine? She was really out of sorts when I left."

Warrick chuckled. "She's stressed out. You know, covering Grissom's ass with why both you and Sara are gone. He's lucky the Sheriff isn't all over him and that things have been a little slow."

"Sara seems to think that maybe something's going on between the two of them." I suggested.

Warrick laughed. "Well, that would explain a lot. I'm not sure if it's true, but it would explain a lot."

"Hey, man, I need to go, Sara's pulling over at this rest stop." I grinned as I thought about getting to kiss the lovely Sara Sidle again.

"Ok, see you guys later. Oh, and, Nick?" Warrick sounded like he was going to feed me a line of bull.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"You do realize that you and Sara aren't going to be able to make out at crime scenes." Warrick sounded amused with himself.

"I'll keep that in mind." I chuckled. "Later, man." I ended the call and pulled my Tahoe in beside Sara's. I smiled as I got out of the vehicle and met her by the door of hers. I raised my eyebrows at her as she snaked her arms around my neck and pulled me in for a sweet kiss. I smiled into the kiss and as we broke apart I raised a suspicious eyebrow at her. "You've been eating Red Vines."

She chuckled. "Why do you say that?"

I laughed. "Because I can taste them." I leaned in and kissed her again. I smiled as we broke apart. "Definitely Red Vines."

She raised an eyebrow at me. "I guess I could give you some."

I shook my head. "I think I like them better this way. They taste better." I kissed her again.

Sara giggled and we broke apart. She studied me as my face became more serious. "What's up, Nick?"

I let out a sigh. "I just talked to Warrick. He wanted to know if we were going to come in for shift tonight."

Sara rested her head against my chest and let out a sigh. "Well, we might as well. I've got to face the music sometime."

"Me too." I added. I chuckled. "Uh, Sara?"

She leaned back to look at me. "What?"

"Warrick knows." I looked a bit sheepish.

She smiled. "Good." She leaned up and kissed me again briefly. She smiled as she looked into my eyes. "Ok, let's hit the road, Stokes."

"Yes, ma'am." I kissed her once more and climbed back into my vehicle. We headed back out onto the highway and continued on toward Vegas.