Disclaimer: Yes, mine, my own, my preciousss!!! (this is me being delusional).
Author's Note:
Some thoughts on the feedback.
I really appreciate all
your comments. And I really appreciate you agonizing over this thing that
I like to call "Wasting Time". Makes me feel, you know, kinda needed :)
Seriously, be patient. Most of you have tortured me with your own fics,
so deal with me. In case you haven't noticed, you know how I like my men.
Very drunk and very brokenhearted. Well not really, only in my fics :)
Now, to my fellow G/Sers.
BE PATIENT, people. I stated in the prologue that I was a Snicker, so you
have been warned. That doesn't mean Sara will end up with Nick (doesn't
mean she won't either). It means it's a lot easier for me to portrait things
this way. I am making an honest effort to understand Grissom and the logic
of his relationship with Sara, I swear I am. Gentle enlightenment is totally
welcomed.
Grissom is and will be involved
in this, I promise. It might take a couple of chapters to get to the point
where you're mildly satisfied. So don't flame, 'cause you've been warned.
And I don't mean to sound rude, but feel free to stop reading anytime you
want. IF anything, it won't be my loss.
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Chapter 6: Once Bitten
The ladies' room was quiet. Almost too quiet, she noticed. In her experience, too quiet meant she was not alone: there was somebody there that didn't want to be noticed.
Her sudden discomfort at the scenario was interrupted by a sound that proved her wrong. Somebody was there, and apparently didn't mind at all being noticed.
Sara flushed the toilet and came out. Catherine breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed. Maybe she was just being paranoid.
"Hey, Cath."
"Hey" She answered, shifting her attention from her make up back to her friend. Something was unusual. "Someone had a wild night."
The mischievous smile playing in her lips didn't go unnoticed, and the younger CSI hurried to dismiss any suspicions from her coworker.
"Nothing like that," She smiled "just a lot of work."
"After pulling a double?" The brunette nodded and kept washing her hands, not daring to look up. Everybody knew Sara Sidle was physiologically incapable of lying. It was amazing they had gotten that far.
Besides, Catherine seemed to possess a sixth sense when it came to her.
"Did you cut yourself shaving?"
The question made her look up almost immediately, at the risk of blowing her cover. Her bewildered expression was enough answer.
"Then I suppose that's a hickey." She explained, amused, while pointing a spot in her neck.
"Oh. My. God." She looked closer into the mirror. Part of her wished the Earth would just open and swallow them both, but she chose to laugh instead.
"I can't believe you didn't tell me you have a new boyfriend!" The blonde slapped her playfully in the arm. "When do we get to meet that mystery man of yours?"
For a second she thought she had heard a sound coming from one of the bathrooms, but it was just Sara choking.
Paranoid.
The knowing smile in her partner's lips was too mischievous to ignore though, and the realization dawned quickly. She gaped.
"Oh, Sara! Don't tell me you're not going to see him again!"
Where was a camera when you needed one?
"I don't know." She answered. "If it makes you feel any better, it wasn't the first time we went out."
Somehow she hoped the revelation would be enough for her, but she didn't mind much what she thought anyway.
Catherine glared at Sara and tossed her some make up.
"Do something about that before going into the break room, or you won't hear the end of it." She warned her before heading out.
Sara just locked the door behind her friend.
"So, hot date last night?"
"Wipe that smug smile off of your face, Stokes. That was a close call." She said, trying to focus on how to make the small bruise unnoticeable.
She wished she didn't have to face the other two fully trained CSIs.
"Hey, I didn't drag myself in here, remember?"
Their eyes met for a second and both smiled briefly. She turned back to the mirror, and he decided to let himself out before somebody else chose to put the facilities to good use.
After all, there was no reason to stay there.
"Nick?"
"Yeah?" He responded, expecting her to prevent him from leaving. The twinkle in her eyes gave him fake hope.
"Zip up."
**************
"Nice of you to join us."
The irony in her boss' voice made her doubt her skills, and for a moment she panicked thinking that maybe the make up wasn't as perfect as it had seemed a few second ago.
She looked into Catherine's eyes for reassurance. The older woman nodded.
32 years old and she still yearned for his approval, like he was her father. Like she owed him something. Like she owed him everything.
Nothing farther from the truth.
"Now that we are all here I have some announcements to make." He seemed to take some sort of twisted, empty pleasure in putting her down today. Like he was bitter because of her.
Like she had hurt him.
She wondered how much he knew about her being late.
"Sara," She looked expectantly, looking for a clue that could lead to an answer. "You're also working on Friday."
No clue. No emotion. No nothing.
"Nick, you and Catherine..."
"No." Her voice faltered, but the level was loud enough for everyone to hear. "I can't work on Friday. It's my night off."
The room was suddenly dead silent, and Warrick felt as if some unspoken rule had finally been broken.
Grissom's eyes flickered twice before turning back to face her.
Maybe his surgery hadn't gone that well.
And yet the determined look in her eyes told him it wasn't a matter of hearing.
"I know that, but I need you to work on Friday." His tone was stubborn, but his expression had softened considerably.
He felt like a kid that had walked a few blocks away from home and didn't recognize his surroundings anymore.
But he had to put on his brave face, because he was the boss. So he just turned back and tried to focus in giving assignments.
"I have a date. I haven't had a day off in who knows how long. I'm not about to postpone it."
Nick had never heard a sound so deafening before.
Yes, Sara Sidle was all up for the dating scene.
Their arrangement was anything but specific regarding exclusiveness, and he had been eager to narrow the ties that bound them when she brought up the topic.
Jealousy wasn't strange to him, but he wasn't about to ask from her what he was neither ready nor disposed to surrender.
And he was taking it a lot better than Gil Grissom was.
His boss' face had become a mask of bewilderment. She wasn't asking for permission. She wasn't letting him know what she was doing so he would have a chance to stop her with some lame excuse.
His mix of emotions was now evident. That was new, and Sara felt like she had accomplished something big.
She wasn't about to back down though. That was evident too.
The spectators watched the silent argument back and forth, from her defiant eyes to his, now full with an odd sense of betrayal. And the anger that usually came along with it.
It started to become very obvious what would follow. He would play the professional card as a cover, something he had done quite a few times. He would tell her how much she was needed. How much *he* needed her.
And she would call him on it.
And all Hell would break loose.
"How 'bout I cover for Sara on Friday night?"
She turned to meet Nick's eyes, an eyebrow raised. Their relationship was lax, but she had never expected him to step up so she could go out with some guy.
Then again, that probably wasn't the reason why he had volunteered.
Her eyes looked back for Gil's, but he just wasn't there anymore. His gaze fixed on the papers he was holding, he nodded silently. Back to his measured, professional, extremely cool self.
Now she was infuriated.
**************
The anger still in the surface prevented her from seeing many things that night, especially the hand that yanked her into the broom closet as she was walking down the hallway.
"Nick Stokes what the *hell* do you think you're doing?!"
In other circumstances he would have laughed whole heartedly at her startled expression, but for the time being that wouldn't have been very wise.
"Sorry I scared you." He apologized quickly. "Are you OK?"
She was still panting.
"You almost gave me a heart attack, Nick. I'm OK."
"That's not what I was talking about."
Of course not. It wasn't humanly possible for him to leave it like that, was it?
"I know."
Not for the first time, she wondered why it was so hard for her to talk to him about Grissom, or situations that involved him.
Perhaps it was just the fact that the subject involved her heart, which was the one part of her body that wasn't included in their arrangement.
At least not that way.
"Thanks for covering for me on Friday." She added, softening.
"Yeah, about that..." He scoffed, and paused, unsure of what to say.
His pager started beeping. Just in time, if it hadn't been for the fact that it wasn't a conversation that could be postponed. He didn't even bother checking it.
He just threw it over his shoulder.
She stifled a laugh, and once again he wished they could be in a different situation. A less awkward one, where he could enjoy that fuzzy feeling that came from making her smile.
"Sara..." His face had just become dead serious. Which was totally unusual given the fact that it wasn't really hard for him to talk to people.
"Oh my God. You're jealous!" She squealed, really entertained.
He frowned.
"Am not!"
"Nick..." She smirked knowingly. Being overprotective was just his nature.
"Well maybe a little." He conceded. Admitting it was just a small step, both knew she wouldn't change her mind only because he told her so.
Not after refusing to do so for the man she loved.
"But that's not the reason I wanted to talk to you." He continued. "I'm more like, worried."
There was no way to put it nicely, and he had to be the one to bring it up. Everything had to have a limit.
"I don't mean to sound rude anything..."
Today was 'realizations day'.
She was starting to see what his discomfort was all about exactly when her pager started beeping.
And she did check it.
"That's Grissom." She plainly stated.
But the look in her eyes said it all.
"Wait, Sara," He unconsciously reached for her arm.
Her glare was suddenly cold and distant.
Note to self: never make Sara choose between Griss and me.
But that was OK, because he didn't intend to.
"I really need to know."
She softened, but it just wasn't the same.
"Don't worry. If I ever so much as think about sleeping with any of my dates, you will be the first to know."
He smiled, thankful for the reassurance.
"Because Nick, whenever that happens, *this* is over."
- END OF CHAPTER SIX.
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Written by Mary S.
