Disclaimer: Don't own them, didn't create them, don't profit from them,
etc.
This little ficlet is a result of a challenge posted by Brianna.
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Sara was completely mortified. She had fled the break room and had gone to the only place she could think of to be alone; the roof. However, now the thought occurred to her that she'd have to walk back through the lab before she went home and she was fairly certain that the embarrassment she currently felt, would be multiplied several hundred times. She chided herself, thinking that she should have just gone home and called in sick for the rest of her career.
What in the hell had she been thinking? Certainly she wasn't thinking, that much was apparent. Things had been getting to her lately to be sure. She wasn't getting enough sleep. She seemed to never say the right thing when she was around Grissom, which just compounded the fact that he'd avoided her like the plague for the last several months. Warrick had his own troubles lately and seemed to regard her with a bit of indifference. For whatever reason, Catherine had been almost hostile to her, maybe she was still pissed off about the fact that there wasn't enough evidence in the death of her ex-husband to file murder charges against anyone. Greg wouldn't give up his pursuit of her, although he'd seemed a bit more serious since the lab explosion and was begging to train as a CSI. Nick was just Nick; steady as always, even keel, loyal friend. Although after what had just transpired, she wasn't sure even that would hold true anymore. She wanted nothing more than to disappear. Maybe the FBI was still interested in her. Although winters in DC were not something for the faint of heart.
Her thoughts drifted to earlier that shift.
She'd already pulled two double shifts that week before she was even handed the case to work on with Nick. An elderly woman was found dead in her house after newspapers started to pile up on her front doorstep. The police were called and initially they thought she'd just passed away in her sleep, that is until they discovered the blood pooling under her body on the bed.
After an autopsy, they discovered that she'd suffered a gunshot wound, and even though they hadn't recovered a murder weapon, they did recover the bullet.
Sara was dead on her feet and just wanted to go home and get some sleep. She had worked on the evidence and had come to a dead end, which just left her frustrated. She made her way to the break room where Grissom, Warrick, and Catherine were seated at the table taking a break and discussing the case they were working on. She poured herself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter. Greg chose that moment to come in for a cup of coffee himself and he chatted amiably with Sara as she finished her coffee. A few moments later, Nick walked in with a satisfied grin on his face.
Sara looked at him curiously. "You have something in our case, don't you?"
The attention of the entire room was on Nick as he answered her. "Only the murder weapon and the name of our prime suspect. Brass is picking him up as we speak."
Sara's eyes went wide and she set her coffee down and stepped toward him. Whether it was her lack of sleep, or a lack of judgement, she couldn't be sure, but what she did next, surprised the entire room. The words were out of her mouth before they registered in her mind. "I could just kiss you right now." And before she realized what she was doing, she had thrown her arms around Nick's neck and had done just that.
As reality started to seep into her senses several seconds into the kiss, she pulled back in horror and glanced around the room, not wanting to look at Nick. The faces of the rest of her coworkers reflected shock, and that's when she'd fled, not wanting to face any of them, knowing that this indeed was the most embarrassing moment of her entire life.
She contemplated how she might get off the roof without actually having to go back downstairs. She immediately dismissed the idea of rappelling since she didn't have any rock climbing gear. Jumping would bring into question her sanity, which at the moment she was questioning anyway, not to mention the physical injury that she would sustain. Unlike the old west, here in the new west of modern Las Vegas, there were no horses hitched in front of the lab that she could jump onto and then ride off into the sunset, which had actually long since set and was getting ready to come back over the horizon in the form of a sunrise.
There was no way around it, she was going to have to come down from the roof. Besides, she knew that she was expected to at least watch the interrogation of their suspect. As if on cue, her cell phone rang. She pulled it off her belt and relief flooded through her as she realized it was Grissom calling her. "Sidle."
"Uh, Sara, you have an interrogation you're supposed to attend." Grissom had his 'I'm handling you with kid gloves' voice on.
"I realize that." She was trying to work her courage up to face Nick who would also be in the interrogation.
"Are you coming back?" Grissom sounded a little concerned.
"Yes, I'm just trying to figure out where I left my dignity." There was an edge to her voice as she responded to his question.
"Do you have a timeline on that? Because Brass is here with the suspect and Nick needs your help on this." Grissom continued.
"I'll be there in a minute, ok." She hung up the phone and took a deep breath as she put the phone back in it's holster and made her way downstairs back into the lab. She kept her head down, not meeting anyone's gaze as she headed toward the cluster of interrogation rooms.
She ran right into Warrick and finally decided that she'd better look up while she walked.
Warrick grinned at her. "Hey, girl, keep your head up, things aren't as bad as they seem."
She simply rolled her eyes and moved past him toward the interrogation room. Nick waited outside with Brass getting briefed about the arrest and what they might expect from their suspect. Sara looked directly at Brass as she caught the tail end of it and wouldn't meet Nick's gaze.
The interrogation went fairly well, and due to Nick identifying the murder weapon, they had enough evidence to hold the suspect until a trial date could be set. After Brass left with the suspect, Sara quickly got up and moved to leave the room.
Nick caught her arm and stopped her. "Hey, I think we need to talk."
Sara wanted to shrivel up and die, or at least crawl under the table. "Uh, I really need to go."
"Sara." Nick's voice was insistent.
Sara would not look him in the eye. "Can we just let this drop. I'm already completely embarrassed."
Nick wouldn't let go of Sara's arm. "What if I don't want to drop it?"
"What if I do? I've already put on a spectacle for the entire lab. I've ruined the one decent friendship I had left around here. I mean could the day get any worse? I'd really like to drop it and get out of here right now, Nick." There was an edge of pleading, panic, and embarrassment in her voice.
"You talk too much, Sara." Nick sounded amused.
Sara didn't seem to pick up on his tone. "Excuse me?" She finally met his gaze and found that he was smiling at her.
"I said, you talk too much, Sara." Nick grinned at her.
Sara looked confused. "Aren't you mad at me?"
Nick shook his head. "No."
Sara swallowed hard. "Why?"
"Because you beat me to something I've wanted to do to you for a long time." Nick leaned down and kissed Sara softly.
When he pulled away, she had a bewildered expression on her face and only one word could manage to make it's way out of her mouth. "Oh." She just stood there for a moment, trying to process what had just happened. When it finally hit her that Nick had just kissed her, she leaned up and kissed him again, wrapping her arms around his neck as he kissed her back.
They stood there like that for a while, oblivious to the fact that Grissom, Catherine, Warrick, and Greg stood behind the two way mirror in the observation area.
Warrick chuckled, knowing that Nick had wanted to ask Sara out for about as long as he'd known her, and Greg looked slightly crestfallen that he wasn't the one in the other room sharing what could be described as a very intense kiss with Sara.
Catherine glanced over at Grissom, who watched the two young CSIs with interest. "Gil, I take it Sara doesn't have a thing for you anymore."
He glanced at her over the rim of his glasses, with an amused smile spreading across his face. "Apparently."
This little ficlet is a result of a challenge posted by Brianna.
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Sara was completely mortified. She had fled the break room and had gone to the only place she could think of to be alone; the roof. However, now the thought occurred to her that she'd have to walk back through the lab before she went home and she was fairly certain that the embarrassment she currently felt, would be multiplied several hundred times. She chided herself, thinking that she should have just gone home and called in sick for the rest of her career.
What in the hell had she been thinking? Certainly she wasn't thinking, that much was apparent. Things had been getting to her lately to be sure. She wasn't getting enough sleep. She seemed to never say the right thing when she was around Grissom, which just compounded the fact that he'd avoided her like the plague for the last several months. Warrick had his own troubles lately and seemed to regard her with a bit of indifference. For whatever reason, Catherine had been almost hostile to her, maybe she was still pissed off about the fact that there wasn't enough evidence in the death of her ex-husband to file murder charges against anyone. Greg wouldn't give up his pursuit of her, although he'd seemed a bit more serious since the lab explosion and was begging to train as a CSI. Nick was just Nick; steady as always, even keel, loyal friend. Although after what had just transpired, she wasn't sure even that would hold true anymore. She wanted nothing more than to disappear. Maybe the FBI was still interested in her. Although winters in DC were not something for the faint of heart.
Her thoughts drifted to earlier that shift.
She'd already pulled two double shifts that week before she was even handed the case to work on with Nick. An elderly woman was found dead in her house after newspapers started to pile up on her front doorstep. The police were called and initially they thought she'd just passed away in her sleep, that is until they discovered the blood pooling under her body on the bed.
After an autopsy, they discovered that she'd suffered a gunshot wound, and even though they hadn't recovered a murder weapon, they did recover the bullet.
Sara was dead on her feet and just wanted to go home and get some sleep. She had worked on the evidence and had come to a dead end, which just left her frustrated. She made her way to the break room where Grissom, Warrick, and Catherine were seated at the table taking a break and discussing the case they were working on. She poured herself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter. Greg chose that moment to come in for a cup of coffee himself and he chatted amiably with Sara as she finished her coffee. A few moments later, Nick walked in with a satisfied grin on his face.
Sara looked at him curiously. "You have something in our case, don't you?"
The attention of the entire room was on Nick as he answered her. "Only the murder weapon and the name of our prime suspect. Brass is picking him up as we speak."
Sara's eyes went wide and she set her coffee down and stepped toward him. Whether it was her lack of sleep, or a lack of judgement, she couldn't be sure, but what she did next, surprised the entire room. The words were out of her mouth before they registered in her mind. "I could just kiss you right now." And before she realized what she was doing, she had thrown her arms around Nick's neck and had done just that.
As reality started to seep into her senses several seconds into the kiss, she pulled back in horror and glanced around the room, not wanting to look at Nick. The faces of the rest of her coworkers reflected shock, and that's when she'd fled, not wanting to face any of them, knowing that this indeed was the most embarrassing moment of her entire life.
She contemplated how she might get off the roof without actually having to go back downstairs. She immediately dismissed the idea of rappelling since she didn't have any rock climbing gear. Jumping would bring into question her sanity, which at the moment she was questioning anyway, not to mention the physical injury that she would sustain. Unlike the old west, here in the new west of modern Las Vegas, there were no horses hitched in front of the lab that she could jump onto and then ride off into the sunset, which had actually long since set and was getting ready to come back over the horizon in the form of a sunrise.
There was no way around it, she was going to have to come down from the roof. Besides, she knew that she was expected to at least watch the interrogation of their suspect. As if on cue, her cell phone rang. She pulled it off her belt and relief flooded through her as she realized it was Grissom calling her. "Sidle."
"Uh, Sara, you have an interrogation you're supposed to attend." Grissom had his 'I'm handling you with kid gloves' voice on.
"I realize that." She was trying to work her courage up to face Nick who would also be in the interrogation.
"Are you coming back?" Grissom sounded a little concerned.
"Yes, I'm just trying to figure out where I left my dignity." There was an edge to her voice as she responded to his question.
"Do you have a timeline on that? Because Brass is here with the suspect and Nick needs your help on this." Grissom continued.
"I'll be there in a minute, ok." She hung up the phone and took a deep breath as she put the phone back in it's holster and made her way downstairs back into the lab. She kept her head down, not meeting anyone's gaze as she headed toward the cluster of interrogation rooms.
She ran right into Warrick and finally decided that she'd better look up while she walked.
Warrick grinned at her. "Hey, girl, keep your head up, things aren't as bad as they seem."
She simply rolled her eyes and moved past him toward the interrogation room. Nick waited outside with Brass getting briefed about the arrest and what they might expect from their suspect. Sara looked directly at Brass as she caught the tail end of it and wouldn't meet Nick's gaze.
The interrogation went fairly well, and due to Nick identifying the murder weapon, they had enough evidence to hold the suspect until a trial date could be set. After Brass left with the suspect, Sara quickly got up and moved to leave the room.
Nick caught her arm and stopped her. "Hey, I think we need to talk."
Sara wanted to shrivel up and die, or at least crawl under the table. "Uh, I really need to go."
"Sara." Nick's voice was insistent.
Sara would not look him in the eye. "Can we just let this drop. I'm already completely embarrassed."
Nick wouldn't let go of Sara's arm. "What if I don't want to drop it?"
"What if I do? I've already put on a spectacle for the entire lab. I've ruined the one decent friendship I had left around here. I mean could the day get any worse? I'd really like to drop it and get out of here right now, Nick." There was an edge of pleading, panic, and embarrassment in her voice.
"You talk too much, Sara." Nick sounded amused.
Sara didn't seem to pick up on his tone. "Excuse me?" She finally met his gaze and found that he was smiling at her.
"I said, you talk too much, Sara." Nick grinned at her.
Sara looked confused. "Aren't you mad at me?"
Nick shook his head. "No."
Sara swallowed hard. "Why?"
"Because you beat me to something I've wanted to do to you for a long time." Nick leaned down and kissed Sara softly.
When he pulled away, she had a bewildered expression on her face and only one word could manage to make it's way out of her mouth. "Oh." She just stood there for a moment, trying to process what had just happened. When it finally hit her that Nick had just kissed her, she leaned up and kissed him again, wrapping her arms around his neck as he kissed her back.
They stood there like that for a while, oblivious to the fact that Grissom, Catherine, Warrick, and Greg stood behind the two way mirror in the observation area.
Warrick chuckled, knowing that Nick had wanted to ask Sara out for about as long as he'd known her, and Greg looked slightly crestfallen that he wasn't the one in the other room sharing what could be described as a very intense kiss with Sara.
Catherine glanced over at Grissom, who watched the two young CSIs with interest. "Gil, I take it Sara doesn't have a thing for you anymore."
He glanced at her over the rim of his glasses, with an amused smile spreading across his face. "Apparently."