Summary: Nick's the ass this time around, but why?

Disclaimers: The only character in this story that is all mine is Monica.

Spoilers: Anything up through the season finale of the 3rd season is fair game.

A/N: Thanks to everyone for all the great reviews! You all really know how to make a girl want to write more! J

Nick walked through the halls of the CSI lab the next day. It had been two days since he had last been there. That was when everything started/ His destination was the break room, where he hoped to find the whole team because he needed to talk to all of them.

He walked into the room and his eyes fell on one person.

Sara.

She was sitting on the couch furthest from the door, her face covered by what Nick guessed was one of her case files.

Not surprising.

"Nick, man, what happened to you?" Warrick's voice broke his gaze from Sara.

"Huh?"

Warrick laughed "Looks like someone got a good piece of your jaw."

Sara looked up and winced at the sight of her own handy work. Before Nick could catch her staring at him, she brought the file back up to her face.

"Yeah, you could say that." Nick said in response to Warrick's question.

Just then Grissom, Catherine, and Greg walked in discussing their latest case. Greg was explaining something about a blood sample to the two CSIs that Nick didn't really pay attention to. The three of them stop talking when they saw him, though.

"Nick?" Catherine asked in a concerned voice.

Nick put up his hands to silence her. "Look, guys. I just wanted to tell you all that I'm sorry for the way I've been acting. It was really dumb of me to take my frustrations out on all of you, and I should have known better."

Greg sat down on the couch next to Sara while Grissom and Catherine each took a seat at the table with Warrick.

Nick looked towards Greg and Sara first. "I was really short with all of you, and had a bad attitude, and I guess you can say this is the proof of getting sense knocked into me." He pointed to the purple and brown bruise on his jaw.

Sara still didn't look up at him.

Warrick stood up. "It's all good. We all have those days."

"Yeah, Nicky, we all understand." Grissom said. "And if you need to take a few days off, just let me know."

"Thanks guys." Nick said.

Greg leaned over to Sara. "Hey, you ok?"

Sara glanced up from her file, to Greg's questioning face. "Yeah Greg. I'm fine, thanks."

Greg reached over, and put his hand on her knee. Giving it a squeeze he said, "Well if you ever need to talk or anything, you know where to find me."

Sara smiled, "Thanks, Greg. I appreciate it."

Nick looked over and noticed the interaction between Sara and Greg. He couldn't help but feel a little bit of jealousy. "Greg." He said, taking a few steps towards them. "I'm sorry about being such an ass to you, man."

Greg looks up at Nick, his hand still on Sara's knee. "Thanks Nick. But I'm fine really. No big deal."

Nick looks from Greg to Sara. "Sar-"

"I know." She says cutting him off.

"I've… uh… got to get back to my… uh… stuff." Greg says noticing the severe drop in temperature.

Sara grabs his hand. "You don't have to go, Greg. There's nothing that needs to be said." She glared at Nick, and squeezed Greg's hand.

Greg looked from Sara to Nick, and then back to Sara again. But before anything could be said Grissom announced that shift had started fifteen minutes ago, and everyone had work that needed to be done.

"Wait guys. I have one more thing to tell you," Nick said, not taking his eyes off Sara. "I'm getting married. And I want you all to be there." He emphasized the word 'all'.

No one said anything. There was dead silence. Grissom even thought that maybe his hearing was messing up again. But then Sara broke the silence. She stood up from the couch, Greg's hand falling from her leg, and walked towards the door. "Congratulations Nick. I'm happy for you." And with that she disappeared down the hallway. To everyone else in the room, she sounded sincere, but Nick new better and kept his mouth shut.

Warrick was the next to speak up. "Wow, man. Congrats!" He gave his friend a hug.

"Thanks Warrick."

While everyone was congratulating Nick, and asking him questions about the wedding, Greg slipped out of the room, and headed towards his lab. He passed by one of the layout rooms and saw Sara sitting at the table staring blankly at a few evidence bags. He stepped inside, and pulled up a chair next to her.

"So who's the lucky girl?" Catherine asked Nick desperate to break the silence in the Tahoe on the way to their latest crime scene.

"Monica."

"Do I know her?"

"No."

"You love her?"

Nick shot Catherine a warning glance, and she put her hands up in surrender. "Ok, ok. Forget I asked."

"Wanna talk about it?" Greg asked Sara.

"No."

"You love him don't you?"

"Who?"

"You know who."

Sara pulled her gaze away from the evidence bags, and focused on Greg. "As a friend? Yeah… Anything more? I… I don't really know."

"You never were a good liar, Sara."