A/N: Thanks so much for your reviews. They really really mean a lot! Oh and thanks to those who reviewed my "Somebody Else" ficlet. I'm so glad people liked it. Because I had so much fun writing it. And I thought it was pretty good myself! =) If you haven't read it yet, go read it now! Or after you read this new chapter. Anyway, read on and hope you enjoy!
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Chapter 2 – The Human Vacuum
Back at the lab, Catherine was showing Kate how to scan the fingerprints into the computer.
"…so after you scan it in, hit search, and then all you have to do is wait," Catherine explained. Go get some coffee or something. It might take awhile. Doc Robbins is posting our vic right now, I'm gonna go check in with him."
"Okay," Kate said.
Catherine left. Kate stared at the screen, with the thousands of fingerprints whizzing by. She was exhausted. She hoped after a few days her body would get used to working the night shift. She started to zone out when suddenly a voiced called out from behind her.
"You look like you could use some coffee."
Startled, Kate jumped, and the cordless mouse she had her hand on went flying across the table and fell to the floor.
Nick laughed. "Sorry about that, didn't mean to scare you," he smiled as he picked up the mouse and put it back on the table. Kate smiled back, embarrassed. Their eyes met, and for a few seconds, they just stood there in an awkward silence, like two smiling idiots.
Nick finally broke their gaze. "So," he said quickly, gesturing towards the door. "Coffee?"
"Sure."
Sara was walking by and popped her head in the doorway when she saw Nick. "Hey Nick, Greg has the results back on the hairs you collected from the bed. I'm heading there right now," she informed him.
"How'd you find out before I did?"
"He paged me."
"Why'd he page you? I told him to page me!" Nick said, annoyed.
Sara shrugged and continued down the hall to the DNA lab, happy again for Greg's crush on her. She always got first dibs on lab results.
Nick sighed, exasperated, and headed to the DNA lab. "You coming?" he asked Kate.
Kate looked back at the screen with the fingerprints flying by. She knew it would be awhile. "Sure," she said, and followed him out the door.
By the time Nick and Kate got to the DNA lab, Greg was already discussing the results with Sara. "Hey, Greggo," Nick said as soon as he walked in. "I thought I asked you to page me when you got the results?" Nick glared at Greg.
"Umm, yeah, I thought –" Greg stammered, but stopped when he noticed a cute blonde standing behind Nick. "Hi, you must be Kate." Greg smiled and extended his hand. He realized he still had his gloves on, and quickly retracted his hand, ripped his glove off, embarrassed, and re-extended his hand.
Kate smiled and shook Greg's hand. "And you must be Greg. I've heard a lot about you already."
"Oh really," he said coyly. "What have you heard, exactly?"
Nick noisily cleared his throat. "Ahem, Greg, the hair samples?"
Greg snapped out of his trance. "Oh, right. Well the red hair was from your vic, so surprise there. On a side note, however, she was not a true redhead. The blonde hair came back unknown, also XX.
Nick looked a little surprised. "Another female?"
"Yep," Greg answered. "Looks like your case just got a little kinkier."
"Well that doesn't necessarily mean that the two women were both actually in the bed. Or in bed at the same time, for that matter," Kate stated logically.
"Well, um, of course. Right," Greg stammered, embarrassed that he jumped to conclusions and made himself look like a foolish lab geek in front of Kate, who he thought was a babe. Not more of a babe than Sara, though. But he still wanted to make a good first impression, considering he was getting nowhere with Sara.
"What about those jelly samples? Any DNA?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, tons," Greg answered. "Weren't from your vic, but they did match the DNA from the blonde hair."
"Did you ever find out what that jelly stuff actually was?" Kate asked.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did." Greg was excited to show off to Kate with his chemical knowledge. "Your assumption was correct, it was just your average petroleum jelly, but it also had traces of uric acid, choline and a bunch of inorganic salts – sodium, potassium, magnesium, etcetera."
"Sweat," Kate quickly deduced.
"Yep," Greg replied, a little disappointed that Kate wasn't impressed by his chemical knowledge but also excited that she was cute and smart.
"That's so weird, we didn't find any jars of it anywhere in that bedroom," Nick said, confused.
"Maybe the blonde took it with her when she left," Greg offered.
"Yeah, maybe," Nick replied distractedly, flipping through the pages of the results. "Well, thanks Greg," he said without looking up, as he turned to leave.
"No problemo." Greg turned to Kate. "I um, guess I'll see you later."
"Yeah," Kate smiled.
Sara rolled her eyes as she followed Nick out the door, a little tired of all the flirting that seemed to be going on whenever Kate was around.
Shift was finally over. Their case wasn't solved yet; they would have to continue working on it the next night. Kate was a little bummed that she didn't solve a case during her first shift, but she was so tired that it didn't bother her too much. She was alone in the locker room, grabbing her things and getting ready to head home and sleep. Nick and Warrick walked in, talking animatedly to each other. Kate wondered how they could act so happy and lively after the exhausting night they had.
"Hey Kate," Nick said as he walked to his locker. "Warrick owes me breakfast and I'm sure he'd splurge to welcome our new intern. You hungry?"
"Uh, sure." She was pretty tired but she didn't want to miss a chance to hang out with these guys.
"Great," Nick said, just as Sara walked in. "Hey Sar, breakfast? Warrick's buying."
"Alright, count me in," Sara quickly replied.
"Hey, hey, hey," Warrick protested. He turned to Nick. "Don't be spreadin' the love when it's not yours to spread."
"Hey, I won the bet, fair and square," Nick reminded Warrick.
"Oh, c'mon Warrick," Sara said as she playfully put an arm around his shoulder." We all know you're just a big love spreader."
"Yeah, whatever," Warrick grumbled as he removed Sara's arm and slammed his locker shut. "Hurry up then. I'm hungry."
"Yay!" Sara rejoiced.
The four arrived at a small diner and were seated at a booth near a window. Kate slid in first and Warrick sat next to her. Sara slid in on the other side and Nick sat next to her. They waited for the waitress in silence. Kate browsed the menu; the other three already knew what they wanted since they had been to the diner several times before. Just as Nick was about to say something, the waitress arrived.
"Can I get you folks some coffee, OJ?"
"Coffee, please," Warrick said.
"Make that two," Nick said.
"Three," Kate said.
"Tea, please, with honey," Sara said.
"Okay, be right back."
Just as the waitress left, Sara poked Nick in the arm. "Scoot," she told him.
"What?"
"Scoot. I need to use the restroom."
Nick started to slide out, rolling his eyes. "You couldn't go before we sat down?"
"Well sure, but then I wouldn't get this chance to annoy you," Sara teased. "Order for me," she said to Nick as she headed for the restroom.
"Yeah, yeah," Nick grumbled.
Just then the waitress came back with their drinks. "You ready to order?"
The men gestured for Kate to start. "I'll have the French toast with eggs, scrambled please," she said.
"Double stack of pancakes, hash browns, and bacon," Warrick said.
"I'll have the waffles with extra bacon and sausage, wheat toast, and she'll have the veggie omelet, egg whites only, no onions, extra mushrooms," Nick said, ordering for himself and gesturing toward the empty seat next to him while ordering for Sara.
"What kind of toast did you want with that omelet?" the waitress asked.
"Wheat, no butter," Nick replied.
"Alrighty," the waitress said as she left.
Kate was impressed that Nick spit out Sara's order as if it were his own. She figured they must eat there a lot for him to remember all of Sara's breakfast idiosyncrasies.
Sara came back from the restroom and the waitress returned shortly after with their food.
"Enjoy," the waitress smiled as she handed them their plates and left.
"Oh, wait, could I get some extra-" Nick started to ask but realized that one, the waitress was already gone, and two, that Sara had negated his need to call the waitress back when she put her little cup of whipped butter on the edge of Nick's plate. Without another word, he dumped Sara's butter onto his waffles, using his own butter for his toast.
"So, you moved from the east coast all the way to Vegas to work with Catherine?" Warrick turned to Kate.
"Yep. I went to school in Boston. I thought that Las Vegas would be a nice change."
"Well it sure is a change, I don't know if it's a 'nice' change," Warrick said.
After several minutes of eating in silence, Nick spoke up. "So did you grow up in Boston?" he asked as he handed Sara an extra napkin from the dispenser for no apparent reason, without even glancing in her direction.
"No, I actually grew up in New York. Upstate," Kate answered as she noticed that Sara used the napkin to wipe the egg she had dropped in her lap.
A few more minutes passed until Nick broke the silence again. "So what did you think of your first night as a CSI intern?" He asked as he slathered a generous portion of jam on his toast.
"A little overwhelming. Well more like a lot," Kate admitted. "I don't know if I'll be able to handle this, night after night." She watched Nick drench his toast with jam. He used so much on his first slice that he didn't have any leftover for his second. Kate watched as Sara, without a word, placed her unused packet of jam on the edge of Nick's plate. Accordingly, Nick, without a word, picked it up and continued his assault on the second slice.
"Don't worry," Warrick assured Kate. "You'll get used to it. It'll take a few weeks. But after that it's a blast."
As the silence resumed, Kate started to wonder why Nick and Sara were acting so strange. It was like they had some weird connection. They were completely focused on their own meals, off in their own little worlds as they ate, but they seemed to know exactly what the other was thinking or doing without even so much as glancing at each other. First with the butter, and then with the napkin, and then the jam.
Warrick was the first to finish his meal. "Ah, that hit the spot," he exclaimed satisfactorily, pushing his empty plate away. "All I need is to catch a few Z's and I'll be good to go."
Kate smiled, but she really didn't hear what Warrick had said. She now watched as Sara, who was almost done with her breakfast, glanced over at Nick's plate and noticed a piece of waffle that he didn't seem to be touching. Without a word, she reached over and stabbed it with her fork. Nick then silently handed her the maple syrup bottle, without any protest for the waffle she confiscated.
"If you don't hurry up and finish she'll take your food too," Nick said to Kate jokingly when he realized she was staring.
"Now you know why I hate buying for the 'human vacuum'," Warrick said sarcastically, referring to Sara and her voracious appetite.
"What? Crime solving makes me hungry," Sara mumbled between mouthfuls.
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A/N: I know you may be thinking 1) this story has no point, and/or 2) is this a N/S fic or what? And all I'll say for now is 1) trust me, it does, and 2) patience!
