Warrick's case had been wrapped up and he was delighted to help us out with the shoe print. If there was a way to identify a suspect through their shoes, Warrick was the man for the job. I had gotten one of the officers working with O'Reilly to bring Chelsea Smith's calendar and address book to me at the lab. I began to pour over it and check the calendar entries for any clue as to friends or coworkers that might know a little bit more about the victim and who might be responsible for her death.

I'm not sure how long I'd been sitting there when I sensed someone standing in the doorway. I glanced up. Grissom stood there watching me. I really hoped this wasn't going to become a habit with him. "Can I do something for you, Grissom?"

A half smile spread across his face and his voice was soft. "Would you have dinner with me, Sara?"

If only he'd looked at me like that, talked to my like this six months ago, there would have been no hesitation on my part. But now I had a reason to hesitate, a reason to be abrupt. It had been too late for him for a while, but now I had another reason. Nick.

I shook my head. "No, Grissom, I don't."

He blinked. I don't think that he was expecting that kind of reaction from me. I think he must have thought if I'd been willing to throw myself at him for three years, what were a few more months? I'd had enough though, and I'd moved on. He steadied himself and looked at me over the rim of his glasses. "Can I ask why?"

I let out a deep breath and suddenly became acutely aware that I needed a pain pill for my hand and copious amounts of sleep. "It's too late, Gris."

"Oh." He took a step back and a bit of confusion clouded his face. He knitted his brows together and I could see a question forming on his face. "Sara?"

I studied him as I replied. "Yeah, Gris?"

"Is there someone else?" At that moment it occurred to me that Grissom was really just like the rest of us. Afraid of rejection. Somewhat insecure about relationships. Not worthy of being put on a pedestal. A pedestal I'd had him on for too long. He was just a man. A brilliant man who I had a great deal of respect for professionally, but no longer had an interest in romantically.

I smiled at him. "Maybe." I turned my attention back to the address book.

"Oh." With that Grissom turned and left.

I glanced up at the doorway as he walked down the hall and regarded the conversation curiously. It amazed me how a little time could shift things so significantly. As I was lost in thought, Nick's frame moved into the doorway. He had an amused expression on his face and crossed his arms over his chest. "Shift's over. Ready to go?"

I nodded at him, a smile forming on my face as I stood up and followed him to the locker room. I stowed my gear and glanced over at him. I had to laugh. He was leaning against the bay of lockers staring at me with a grin on his face. Noticing my expression he looked at me inquisitively. "What's so funny, Sidle?"

I raised an eyebrow at him and just shook my head. "You are."

"Glad you think so." There was a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

I tilted my head slightly and couldn't help but smile. "Do you think we could stop somewhere? I don't think I've got much food in my apartment and I really need to take one of those pain pills."

Concern flickered across his face and he reached out touched my elbow. "How's your hand?"

I smirked at him. "It hurts like hell, what do you think?"

He furrowed his brow and reached over and caressed my cheek with his fingers. My stomach fluttered at the sensation and I think my eyes widened in surprise. He dropped his hand from my face and he looked and sounded apologetic. "I'm sorry, Sara."

I reached over and took his hand as it dropped with my good one, looking into his eyes and smiling. "Hey, no reason to be sorry." I held up my injured hand. "This isn't your fault." I squeezed his hand as I held it and lifted it between us. "And this is just going to take a little getting used to." I squeezed his hand before I let go.

"What do you want to eat?" He grinned at me again.

"You guys grabbing a bite to eat?" Warrick sauntered in looking hungry. Come to think of it, Warrick is always hungry.

I nodded. "Yeah, I don't have any food in my apartment to speak of and I need to take a pain pill before I go to sleep."

Warrick looked at me with concern. "How's the hand?"

"To quote Ms. Sidle here 'it hurts like hell'." Nick answered for me. "You guys want to go to the diner?"

I glanced at Warrick and he nodded. I looked back at Nick. "Sounds good to me."

The three of us trailed out of the lab, running into Catherine and Greg on the way out. We all ended up meeting at the diner and for the first time in the last couple of days, I actually felt like I was starting to relax. I mean, I still had this case heavy on my mind, but my coworkers are like family to me and I really enjoy spending time with them outside of work.

I had to laugh at Greg. He insisted on sitting next to me in the booth, much to the amusement of Nick and Warrick. All through the meal he kept flirting with me. You know, I do have to hand it to Greg, when he sees something he wants, he doesn't give up easily. He's going to be so disappointed when he finds out that there is something going on between Nick and I, and I think Catherine, Warrick, and Grissom are going to be a little surprised.

After breakfast, Nick drove me home. The drive was remarkably silent. I felt as nervous as a teenage girl on her first date, and I silently wondered if Nick felt the same way. Crap, this was Nick, and he was just bringing me home, it wasn't like we were going to be jumping into bed anytime soon. Of course we hadn't talked about that, we hadn't talked about much of anything besides admitting in a roundabout way that kissing each other wasn't a mistake and we'd like to go out on a date sometime.

Nick pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex and turned off the engine. He glanced over at me with an expression I'd expect from a parent, just not my parents. "Did you call the doctor and make a follow up appointment for your hand?"

I realized that with everything going on, I had completely forgotten. I'm sure I had a sheepish expression on my face as I bit my lower lip and shook my head.

He chuckled at me and unfastened his seatbelt. "I'll walk you up and you can call and make the appointment while I watch you take your pain medication."

I pursed my lips trying to restrain a smirk unsuccessfully and unfastened my seatbelt and opened the door of the Denali. I glanced over at Nick as we walked up the stairs to the door of my apartment. "I already have a dad. I don't need two."

He grinned at me and put his hand on my shoulder as we stopped in front of my door and I pulled out my keys. "Don't worry, Sara, I have absolutely no interest in having a fatherly relationship with you."

I think my cheeks turned a little pink at that comment, because as I said, we hadn't really talked about much besides that kiss. "Uh, that's good." I fumbled with the lock for a moment and Nick followed me inside and pulled out the business card the doctor had given him at the hospital and dialed the number for me on his cell phone.

After I made the appointment and hung up the phone, I noticed that Nick had gotten me a glass of water and held one of the pills in his hand. I tried not to laugh as I took the pill from his hand and washed it down with the water. I set the glass down and raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm pretty sure that I can remember to brush my teeth before I go to sleep."

An embarrassed smile spread across his face. "I'm sorry." I think he realized that he was going a little overboard with the caretaker role.

"Nick, this is just weird." I needed to get the tension out of the room. This was Nick for goodness sake.

"Uh, what's weird." He looked a little confused.

I gestured toward him. "We hardly talked on the way here. I mean, you're one of my best friends and I feel awkward because I kissed you. I mean, I'm glad I kissed you, but if we're not going to be able to talk to each other without feeling weird, then maybe it wasn't such a good idea."

Nick's expression was unreadable. He cleared his throat, his hands rested on his hips. "Sara, I care about you. I meant it when I said I've wanted to kiss you almost since I met you. If that makes things between us weird, I'm sorry. But I'd really like to see where things might go between us; I want to give it a shot." He looked at me in anticipation.

"Uh, what does that mean exactly, because I'm a little scared." I bit my lip as I looked at the floor, glancing up at him.

Nick studied me for a moment and then walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me, resting his chin on top of my head. "Sara, we'll take this really slow. You mean too much to me as a friend to lose that, but I also care about you too much to not try and see what dating each other is like, what it might become."

"Ok." I think my voice was barely a whisper. "Slow is good." I felt the nervousness in my stomach begin to dissipate a little. I pulled away from him smiling and yawned. "I'm tired."

He nodded, smiling at me. "Ok, I'll go so you can get some sleep." He kissed the top of my head and walked to the door.

"Nick?" I tilted my head as I looked at him. "You don't have to move quite that slow. You can kiss me." I'm sure my amusement showed on my face.

He turned to face me and a wide grin worthy of the state of Texas spread across his face as I walked over to him at the door. He leaned down and kissed me softly, cupping the side of my face with the palm of his hand. As he pulled away he rested his forehead against mine and caressed my cheek with his thumb. "I'll see you tonight." He placed one more quick kiss on my lips before he turned and walked out the door.

I just stood there grinning as I watched him walk to his Denali.