Part Six - Revelry

Decorations were hung up all over Nick's living room, and if his neighbours found it confusing that their neighbour was having a Christmas party at ten o'clock in the morning, then no-one had so far commented on it. Nor had anyone called to the door, asking them to turn down the music, Greg having decided that he was manning the stereo, playing DJ to impress the chicks, his words, not Sara's. At present, he was leading several lab techs in a spirited chorus of "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer," much to Sara's amusement, and that of Warrick, who was standing beside her.

"How much has he had to drink?" she asked from her perch on the edge of Nick's couch. Greg certainly showed all the hallmarks of one who had significantly partaken of the Christmas spirit, but then again, this was Greg, so you never could tell.

Warrick's next words bore out her point. "Worryingly little," he observed, raising his own bottle of beer to his lips. It did little to wash a bad taste out of his mouth if the look on his face was anything to go by. "Is this the never ending version of this song?"

"I think he's just making verses up," Sara told him, biting back her own grin.

"Yeah." Warrick's attention was diverted when their gracious host walked by them. "Hey Stokes!"

"Yeah?" There was a broad smile on Nick's face, despite the fact that Greg was showing no signs of playing any decent music, and that the entire graveyard shift seemed to have descended on his house. Of course, that might have had something to do with the fact that tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and that Nick had that night's shift off so that he could catch a red-eye home to Dallas for the holidays. He hadn't stopped talking about it for weeks.

His good mood didn't do anything for Warrick though. "Man, what were you thinking letting Sanders near your stereo?"

Nick shrugged easily, throwing Greg a look over his shoulder. "I didn't let Greg do anything, he just showed up there and refused to leave." When he glanced back at Warrick, he seemed hard-pressed to keep back a smile of his own. "What, you want to go over there and give him lessons?"

Sara bit the inside of her cheek, the better to hide her smile. She knew, as did many of the shift, that Warrick sometimes DJ'ed at clubs owned by friends of his as a way to blow off steam. She'd never seen him, usually she was stuck working on his nights off, though she'd heard from other people who had that he wasn't half bad. She didn't think that he'd do anything about it now though, so she was surprised when Warrick took a step in that direction. "Not a bad idea," he said, and she and Nick watched him go for a second, then looked at one another, identical smiles appearing on both their faces.

"This should be pretty interesting," he said, and she laughed outright as the possibilities unfolded themselves in her brain.

"Hope your homeowner's insurance is paid up," she cracked, enjoying the look of mild panic that appeared on his face.

"Don't say that…" he moaned, looking over at Warrick and Greg, whose conversation was lively to say the least.

Sara might have tried to reassure him, but her attention was caught by someone coming towards them, and she smiled up at him. "Cyrus, hey," she said, her voice making Nick turn towards the detective with a smile.

"Hey man, you made it!"

Cyrus shrugged. "I figured I'd drop in for a few minutes," he said, looking around him. "Quite a crowd."

"Yeah." Nick didn't look quite as comfortable with it as he had mere minutes before; perhaps the homeowner's insurance joke had been a bridge too far. "Here, let me get you a beer…"

"Just one!" Cyrus called after him before he looked down at Sara. "Having a good time?"

Sara nodded up at him, surprised at how true it was. She wasn't usually one for mingling socially outside the office, had never been to one of the lab house parties before, though she'd always been told that she should. What had made her go this year she wasn't quite sure, but she knew that she'd changed a lot since this time last year. This time last year she was working all the hours God sent, pining after Gil Grissom and wishing for something she could never have. The Donna Marks case had started her along the road that had led her here, led her to phone Hank, to begin to get herself a life, and suddenly, she was very glad that she had.

"Sara?"

Cyrus's voice brought her back to reality, and she blushed slightly, hoping that he'd blame it on the heat of the room. "Sorry," she said. "Just spaced out for a sec there."

"I hope you're not driving." His words were slightly reproving, and she shook her head.

"Nick's got the cab company on speed dial," she assured him.

"Good." Then he paused, a confused, almost pained, expression appearing on his face. "What the hell is this music?"

Sara tilted her head to one side, listening intently, before cracking up. It was a techno version of what might at one time have been "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," and as she looked over at the stereo, she laughed even harder at the look on Warrick's face. Even as she listened, Greg upped the volume just a little bit more. "Turf war over the stereo system," she told Cyrus when she'd got her giggles under control. "Good job you're a homicide cop, we might need you later."

"Not a chance," he told her instantly. "I'm off the clock till after Christmas."

Sara narrowed her eyes at him, especially when Nick came over, the smile back on his face when he heard Cyrus's words. "Isn't it great?" he asked, and Sara shot him a look too.

"Shut up," she said, but the effects of her amusement over Greg's music choice rendered her glare pretty toothless.

"To be so young and so bitter," Nick said, mock-mournfully, and Sara just rolled her eyes, opening her mouth to give as good as she'd got. She was interrupted though when Archie bounded up, a smile on his face wider than she'd ever seen.

"OK guys," he said, pointing a camera at them. "Smile."

Her hand flew up instantly. "Oh you're kidding me."

Archie looked only slightly deflated. "It's the newest Olympus digital camera… 2.0 mega pixels, 2.5X optical zoom, 3X digital zoom… it does everything but talk to you, though just give me time for that... my parents gave it to me for Christmas."

Nick's expression was a cross between confounded and surprised. "Your parents sent you that?"

"You do know it's not Christmas yet?" Sara added, but Archie was irrepressible.

"Since I'm not getting home for Christmas-" he said, with a pointed glare at Nick, "They sent it to me. I'm impatient, they're generous, what can I say." A beat. "Except thank you." Another beat. "And smile."

Sara shook her head, preparing an objection, but Nick wouldn't have any of it, pulling her to her feet. "C'mon Sara," he said, propelling her into the middle of him and Cyrus. "Why wouldn't you want your photograph taken with two such handsome men as ourselves?"

With another shake of her head, Sara smiled dutifully, though it wasn't as much of a chore as she'd thought. His deed done, Archie was off to photograph someone else, and she sat back down again, looking at the two men. "I was wondering who had the camera," Nick observed. "I kept seeing flashes out of the corner of my eye."

"I'm surprised you even had to ask," Sara told him, because she hadn't known that the camera was there at all. "Archie's our resident A/V wizard," she explained to Cyrus, who was looking at little confused.

"And techno-geek," Nick supplied, but his good humour was short lived, chased away by the sound of breaking glass. "Oh no no no…that's so not good…"

That was all it took for him to be off in search of the culprit, leaving Sara and Cyrus alone, him standing before her, her arms braced on her knees. "He's freaking out," she told him, and he tilted his head in acknowledgement.

"Clean-up's gonna be something," he said. "Glad I'm not gonna have to help out."

"I think I'm gonna be very busy on a case," she agreed, before looking up at him curiously as his words registered. "You're not staying in town for Christmas?"

He shook his head quickly. "Oh no…that's a sure fire way to get called in for overtime. I'm heading back to Reno."

"Reno?" She lifted an eyebrow, and he nodded.

"Family Christmas," he told her, and for an instant, she thought she saw a shadow flicker across his face, but it was gone too quickly for her to be sure. "I'm heading over to my sister's later on this afternoon; we're flying back together."

"Your sister lives in Vegas?"

"Moved here two years ago, her husband got transferred. They've got a little girl too… not so sure I'm looking forward to spending time on a plane with her…" His thoughtful expression was crowned by dancing eyes, and she knew that he was looking forward to it, no matter what he might be projecting. "You're not going home?" he asked, and she shook her head. She couldn't remember the last time that she'd been in Tomales Bay for Christmas.

"My parents aren't too big on Christmas," she said, a mild version of the truth. "Besides, Cath's taking the day to be with her kid, and Nick wanted to head back to Texas - I think his mother threatened to disinherit him if he missed another Christmas-" She paused for a second, because it was there again, some little flicker of something indefinable on his face, gone in an instant. "So Warrick and Grissom and I are left on night shift," she added, recovering well.

"You're very calm for someone working on Christmas," he observed, and she shrugged.

" I can handle it," she told him. "I'm not big on Christmas either." His eyes narrowed, and he looked at her if she was speaking in tongues. "I take it you don't agree."

"It's what you grow up with, you know?" he asked. "Christmas was always a big thing for us… my mother, she'd start preparing right after Thanksgiving, and then she'd want to leave everything up until Easter." His face lit up in a soft smile. "Used to drive us crazy." It was his turn to space out then, staring at the floor for a moment, and she didn't call him on it, just waited for him to come to. When he did, his eyes narrowed, and she actually saw him shake himself. "What was I saying again?"

"I think you were about to rub it in some more that you were off-work for a few days," she told him, and the look in his eyes told her that he appreciated the lie.

"Would I?" he asked, all innocence, and while she had a smart retort all ready, it was swallowed up by a blast of music from the stereo, a tune that sounded familiar but that she just couldn't place. Her gaze swung around to the stereo, and to her surprise, she saw Greg pulling Catherine out to the centre of the floor, a circle forming around them, with more people joining them in a line.

"What?" she heard herself say in baffled amusement, just as Greg bellowed, "Who else can Time Warp?"

Closing her eyes for a moment, she began to laugh, then looked up at Cyrus. "Away you go," she told him, and he held up one hand in a "halt" gesture.

"I don't dance," he told her. "And certainly not like that."

From her seat on the edge of the couch, someone moved in front of her and she couldn't see properly, so she stood up, moving over to the circle, feeling him moving beside her. Greg and Catherine were by now each at the head of a line, everyone following them, Catherine following Greg, and Sara looked up at Cyrus before looking back at the hilarious sight in front of them. "I'm with you," she told him. "I'm staying well out of it."

True to their words, they did stay out of it, the most they did was clap along. It didn't end at the Time Warp though; when that was done, Greg had cued up the Macarena, and he was halfway through the Hokey-Pokey when Warrick finally had enough and pressed the stop button. Greg's face was a picture, his language less than parliamentary, and she and Cyrus were still grinning when they faced one another again.

"This is the crack DNA scientist we trust our evidence with?" Cyrus asked, and Sara nodded with a perfectly straight face.

"Scared yet?" she asked, and Cyrus looked across at Greg again, bemused.

"Just a little," he admitted, and all Sara could do was laugh. "Hey," she said, looking at something over his shoulder. "I think Nick wants you."

He turned, and sure enough, Nick was there, waving over to him. "Better see what he wants," he said, saluting Nick. "I'll catch you later?" he asked, and she nodded, heading over to the buffet table, grabbing herself a fresh beer and a handful of chips.

She barely had the first mouthful swallowed before a voice appeared at her elbow. "OK, Sara, I've got to ask…" The voice trailed off, and turning, Sara found herself looking at Lea, who was regarding her with open interest. Sara blinked, because she didn't know Lea all that well, though what she knew, she liked. "Who is he?"

Sara frowned, not understanding. "Who's who?"

"Don't play coy with me." Lea wagged her finger from side to side, and Sara wondered how many beers she'd had. Lea did have a reputation as being free-spirited, but this was more relaxed than even Sara had ever seen her. "That hunk of tall dark and handsome that you've been monopolising ever since he walked in the door."

It took a second for the penny to drop. "Cyrus?" Sara asked. "Cyrus Lockwood?" Her eyes flicked over to where Nick and Cyrus were talking, and Lea followed her gaze.

"The guy Nick's talking to," she confirmed, and Sara nodded.

"That's Detective Lockwood," she told her. "Cyrus."

"Cyrus…" Lea drew the name out, rolling it around her tongue, eyeing Cyrus up and down. "Detective Hot…" She snickered, raising her bottle of beer to her lips as she muttered, "He could question me any time." Sara laughed more in shock than amusement, Lea looking at her appraisingly. "Oh come on, don't tell me you've never thought it."

"Not once," Sara said, about to tell her that she was dating Hank, that Cyrus was just a friend, but stopping short. That would be the first official confirmation that she really was dating Hank, and in a situation like this, it would go around the room like wildfire, growing more exaggerated with every telling. She had no doubt that if she had said that, office gossip would have her engaged or pregnant, or perhaps both, by the time she started her shift later that night.

"Right." Lea's tone redefined scepticism, but she didn't take that line of thought any further. "So," she said instead. "What's his story?" At Sara's confused look, she elaborated. "Married? Taken? Gay?"

"No to all," Sara answered. "You interested?"

Lea looked at her as if she'd lost her mind. "You're kidding right? Have you looked at him?" To prove her point, she stared over at Cyrus, and Sara found her gaze drawn there too. "I mean…" This last was followed by a sound which Sara guessed was meant to indicate at least attraction, more likely arousal, and not for the first time that evening, Sara found her cheeks growing warm. "So, is he seeing anyone?" Lea demanded, her eyes boring lasers into Sara's.

"Not as far as I know," Sara told her honestly. "Though I wouldn't know for sure… Nick's a better ask."

"But you're not interested?" Lea asked, and Sara would have laughed were it not for the fact that Lea's eyes were serious, her expression concerned. "Because it looked as if the two of you were having a moment…."

Sara laughed out loud at her choice of words. "We weren't," she assured her, and Lea looked vaguely hopeful.

"Seriously? I mean, I don't want to step on any toes…" Her hands were spread as she talked, the picture of sincerity, and Sara hastened to reassure her.

"You're not stepping on any toes Lea," she told her. "Go for it."

A broad grin broke out on Lea's face. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Sara didn't have to think twice. "Cyrus is a great guy. Get over there."

Lea didn't have to be told twice, and Sara moved off herself, finding Greg and Warrick still arguing over the music, herself and Catherine ending up playing referee between the two. She stayed there for a long time, talking with them, and with other people who came and went, but every so often, her gaze would turn to the trio across the room, Lea Nick and Cyrus. By all appearances, Lea was turning on the charm pretty thickly, Cyrus looking bemused, Nick looking distinctly amused, but she couldn't tell from where she was if Lea was having any luck.

She got her answer later though, when Cyrus waved to her across the room as he left the party alone.