Disclaimer: I don't own them, didn't create them, don't profit from them, etc.

Pairing: Nick and Sara

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"Can you explain to me again what the hell we're doing this for?" Sara was hot. She and Nick had been hiking through this canyon for what she determined was far too long.

Nick chuckled. He was hot too, and his shirt was soaked with sweat. "According to the computer simulation data, it's fairly likely that we'll find some evidence of a chute or glider up on that ridge, if that's in fact what happened."

"And, why are we doing this?" Sara blew a piece of stray hair that had worked it's way out of her pony tail out of her face.

"We volunteered. I seem to recall you saying that you were looking forward to getting back to nature." Nick glanced back at her and grinned.

"That was before I found out that it was supposed to be 90 degrees in November." Sara shifted her daypack. Her shirt was drenched with sweat and clung to her body.

The case had started simply enough. DB in the desert. As they began investigating, none of the pieces seemed to fit together. The vic was killed with a single gun shot wound, but seemed to have been dumped. However, there were no tracks of any kind anywhere, so they weren't sure how he got there. Not until they found a piece of a harness attached to the vic. Now the theory was that he was either gliding or parachuting, but until they located one or the other, they were just working on theories, and that wasn't going to hold up in court.

"Want to take a break?" Nick glanced back at Sara quizzically. He took in her appearance and tried to restrain a smile. She was just as sweaty as he was and her shirt clung to her in all the right places, which at the moment was really in all the wrong places. Nick certainly did not need to feel any hotter than he already was as a result of the heat.

She nodded and pulled out her bottle of water. As she took a sip she wrinkled her nose. "Yuck, it's warm."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "At least it's wet." He always seemed to make the best of a situation.

She smirked at him as she took another sip and then reached up and wiped the sweat off her brow with her forearm. Her hair fell back into her face.

Nick pulled a couple of Power Bars out of his pack and stepped over toward her. He offered one to her and as she took it, he reached over and tucked the stray lock of hair behind her ear. A smile was etched on his face.

Sara felt a little unsettled by Nick's gesture and concentrated on eating the Power Bar. The last thing she needed to do was to read anything into Nick's friendly gesture. The fact that it was hot and his sweaty shirt clung to every nuance of his muscular body didn't help. She wondered if he even had an ounce of fat on his body, well, maybe in his butt, everyone had at least a little fat in their butt. Sara glanced up as she finished the Power Bar.

Nick's ever present smile beckoned. "Ready to go?"

She nodded and they continued hiking at a steady pace, an easy silence between them. Sara had to avert her gaze from Nick's backside. She chided herself for two reasons; she had to think about Nick's butt in the first place and then she had to place herself behind him while they hiked where she had an incredibly good view of it, and with not much else in the way of scenery, she found herself staring.

The sun was sitting high in the sky as they crested the ridge. The view from the top was spectacular. They eased their packs off and sat down to rest for a few moments.

Nick's shirt was completely saturated with sweat. In one swift move, he pulled it off over his head and attached it to the back of his pack so it would have a chance to dry off in the hot desert sun.

Sara glanced over at Nick and tried not to stare at his now exposed chest. "Hey, think we'll find anything up here?"

He glanced back at her smiling. "If there's anything to find up here, you and I will find it."

She chuckled. "That's because we're damn fine CSIs." Sara decided that Nick had the right idea and pulled her shirt off over her head, revealing her sports bra that she often worked out in, and hung her T-shirt on the back of her pack.

Nick laughed. "Yeah, maybe next year they'll do a calendar." There was a mischievous twinkle in his eye, and he tried not to stare at the curves of Sara's body which was glistening with sweat in the sun.

It took her a minute to figure out what he was talking about and then she looked at him with her mouth slightly agape and blushed. She quickly recovered and raised an amused eyebrow at him. "Nice ego there, Stokes."

Nick laughed. "You know it's true. You're beautiful. You've got Greg, Archie, and David eating out of your hand."

"I meant you, Nick." She smirked at him and glanced away.

His laughter made her turn her eyes back toward him. "I always knew you wanted me." He dodged as she tried to slug him. He grinned at her. "Hey, we should get started."

She stood up and pulled her pack back on. Glancing down at him, she smirked. "What's taking you so long, Stokes?"

"Just taking in the scenery." His eyes didn't leave her as he stood up.

That was not lost on Sara, as she realized that he'd been looking at her. She glanced away, trying to hide the flush of color that infused her cheeks.

They began searching the ridge based on the computer calculations and the GPS unit they had with them. After several hours, they stopped to take a break.

"Sara, I think we should head back before it gets dark." Nick suggested. The sun was sitting very low in the sky and they still hadn't found anything.

Sara shook her head. "No, I think we need to keep looking, it's already going to be well past dark by the time we can hike out of here anyway, what's a couple more hours?"

Nick rested his hands on his hips and looked at the ground for a minute. He glanced up at her. "Sara, we've been all over this ridge and we haven't found anything. I don't think we're going to. We should head back."

Sara tilted her head to the side and crossed her arms in front of her body. "Nick, we took four hours to hike up to this damn ridge, and I sure as hell don't want to do it again, so if you don't mind, I'd like to look a little longer. If you want to head back, be my guest."

Nick shook his head slightly and muttered under his breath. "Stubborn."

Sara's eyebrows shot up. "What was that?"

Nick met her gaze. "I said you're stubborn as hell."

Sara wrinkled her brow. "No I'm not."

Nick laughed. "Oh, yes you are. I know you well enough to know that you would stay up here by yourself and I'm not going to be the one to explain to Grissom why I left you here. Besides, it's not safe for you to be out here alone."

Nick's last comment didn't set too well with Sara. "Oh, so now you have to be my protector." She huffed at him and shrugged her pack off, pulling her now dry T-shirt back on.

"You said it, I didn't." Nick had an amused smile on his lips, he lowered his pack to the ground, and put his T-shirt back on as well.

Sara grunted in disgust at him.

Nick started to laugh.

Sara glared at him.

Nick tried to stifle his laughter, but was having a difficult time doing so.

"Would you knock it off?" Sara suddenly felt self conscious.

"If you could just see yourself, Sidle, you look cute when you're mad." Nick finally bit his lip to stop laughing.

Sara tried to blow her hair out of her face again. When she had pulled her T-shirt over her head, more hair had come lose from her ponytail.

Nick walked over and stood behind her. "Let me help you with that." Before she could protest, he had pulled the pony tail holder out of her hair and was trying to regather her hair to put it back in.

She reached behind her head to still his hands and turned around, instantly regretting it as Nick's arms ended up resting on her shoulders, one of her hands still held one of his and the entire length of her forearm rested against his arm. Sara seemed to stop breathing as she locked eyes with Nick. Seeing him without his shirt on for the last several hours had taken it's toll.

Nick studied her for a moment. He had been having a hard time not staring at her for the last few hours as she'd had her midriff exposed. He dipped his head slightly and whispered. "You're beautiful, Sara." Then he softly brushed his lips against hers.

Sara swallowed a whimper, her eyes fluttered shut, and she parted her lips, suddenly wanting to get lost in this kiss. Her tongue slid past Nick's as she allowed him to explore her mouth as thoroughly as she explored his. Somehow her arm snaked around his neck and his fingers tangled in her hair.

They finally broke apart and stepped away from each other, chests heaving as they stared at each other, unsure of what to say.

Then it started to rain.

They broke out of their reverie and glanced up. The sky seemed to have opened up as a storm rolled over the ridge. Within seconds, they were both soaked to the skin. They grabbed their packs and made a mad dash toward an outcropping of rocks, hoping to find some shelter from the storm. As they neared it, they noticed an opening in the rocks. It wasn't a cave really, but provided enough shelter that they could get out of the rain.

They set their packs down and Nick pulled out a flashlight and searched the area.

"What are you doing?" Sara queried him as she tried to wring out the hem of her shirt which had finally dried out before it started to rain. Rivulets of water dripped out of her hair, causing it to cling to her face.

"Making sure there aren't any scorpions or tarantulas in here. Grissom may like bugs, but I hate them." He smiled in spite of the fact that he was soaking wet. His shirt too had finally dried out before the downpour and he hadn't thought to bring another.

Sara laughed. "Never would have thought hard body Nick Stokes would be afraid of bugs."

He raised an amused eyebrow. "I didn't say I was afraid of them. I just don't like them and don't want to get bit or stung." He chuckled as he set the flashlight on the ground shining upward. "So, you like my body, huh?"

Sara bit her lip and glanced away. "This is dangerous, Nick."

He stepped a little closer to her. "Why, because I'm seriously attracted to you?" He took another step closer. "And we're stuck up here alone." He touched the side of her face with his hand, wiping the moisture away with his fingers, before cupping her cheek in his palm.

In spite of her apprehension, she leaned her face into his palm and closed her eyes. "Nick." Her voice was barely a whisper.

Nick caressed her cheek with his thumb. "I know we joke about it all the time, but I know you're attracted to me too, Sara. I really like you a lot."

"Me too." Sara's eyes fluttered open and she looked into Nick's eyes in the dim light. In a single movement she stepped toward him and wrapped her arm around his neck, pressing her parted lips against his.

Nick gripped her waist and pulled her firmly against him as he returned the kiss. She tasted like rain. He slid a hand up and cupped the back of her head, his fingers tangling in her wet hair as his tongue danced with hers. They seemed to lose track of time.

A shiver ran through Sara.

Nick broke the kiss and pulled away slightly. "Cold?"

She nodded.

He stepped away and reached for his pack and began rummaging through it. He pulled out a couple of space blankets and tossed one to Sara. "Wrap it around yourself."

She nodded and pulled it out of it's wrapper, pulling it around herself and sitting on the ground.

Nick sat down next to her and they leaned against each other as they huddled under their small space blankets to get warm. They kept casting sideling glances at each other.

Sara continued shivering.

Nick glanced over at her again, concern was etched on his face. "Maybe you should take your wet shirt off."

Sara chuckled, an embarrassed smile on her face. "So you can ogle me, Stokes?"

Nick chuckled. "It's not like I haven't been doing it all day."

"Yeah, me too." She confessed, grinning at him.

Nick glanced at the ground and couldn't restrain the grin that spread across his face. "I knew you wanted me." He dodged expecting her to swat at him and looked up at her slightly surprised that she didn't.

The look on her face was smug. "Maybe I do."

Nick looked hopeful.

"But this isn't really the time or the place to cross that bridge." She raised her eyebrows at him and smirked.

Nick chuckled somewhat self consciously.

Sara continued. "I mean I can see it now. One of those creepy crawlies you were checking for earlier comes out of the rocks and stings you on your ass, while I'm getting a serious rash on mine while we're having sex on the ground here. Heaven knows my ass is going to be chaffed enough from these wet clothes. Or when we don't get back to the lab on time, Grissom sends a search party out for us and someone finds CSIs Stokes and Sidle in the middle of desert getting it on. I'm sure that would look good in an official report."

Nick chuckled. "It sounds like you've put quite a lot of thought into this, Sara."

She blushed as she glanced away from him. "I'm just practical, Nick. Having rug burn on my ass once in life is plenty."

Nick's eyebrow's shot up. "Sounds like there's a story in there somewhere."

Sara grinned. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

They were silent for a few minutes. Finally, Nick cleared his throat. "Where is the strangest place you've had sex?"

Her eyebrows shot up. "Excuse me?"

Nick chuckled. "You heard me."

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean I want to answer the question." Sara replied tugging the space blanket around her shoulders a little tighter.

"You're the one who brought up sex." Nick teased.

Sara tried to restrain her smile. "Ok." She turned toward him. "An airplane lavatory."

"Oh, mile high club. Not really all that unusual and I actually already knew that. I was kind of hoping to hear how you got rug burn on your ass." Nick smiled mischievously.

Sara turned red.

"Oh, now this is a story I've got to hear." Nick chuckled.

"I answered your question." Sara replied evasively.

"Something tells me the rug burn story is a whole lot more interesting." Nick just wouldn't give up.

Sara shook her head and blushed. "Fine." She turned toward him. "I went camping with some friends in college and it rained so hard the campground flooded. My boyfriend and I ended up in the back of his van, but he had one of those sea grass rugs on the floor. End of story." She looked clearly embarrassed.

Nick chuckled. "Ok, where else have you had sex, Sidle?"

She shook her head. "No, you're going to have to put out a little yourself, Stokes."

Nick waggled his eyebrows at her. "I'm not the one who didn't want to get it on out here, remember."

Sara blushed and swatted at him. "That is not what I meant and you know it."

Nick laughed. "Ok, the strangest place I've had sex was on the back of a horse."

Sara looked at him with a befuddle expression. "That sounds a little too kinky, Nick."

He laughed and pulled his space blanket around him a little tighter. "Not really much different than doing it sitting on a couch, just a little more challenging."

Sara shook her head. "Ok, can we change the subject and talk about something other than sex?"

Nick grinned. "Sure. How long have you wanted me?" He dodged as she swatted at him.