Chapter 6 – The Morning After?

Sara opened her eyes.  She was lying in bed, tucked in snugly under a cozy, dark green comforter and light green sheets.  Green? Aren't my sheets blue?  She looked around and realized she wasn't in her own bedroom.

"Well good afternoon, sleepyhead," a voice said behind her.  She turned around to see Nick standing in the bedroom doorway, buttoning the last few buttons on his shirt.  She could tell he had just gotten out of the shower; his hair was still wet.

"Hi," she smiled and quickly sat up, a little embarrassed.  How did I end up in Nick's bed?  The last thing I remember was watching birds on TV… and Nick's chest…

"Did you sleep okay?" Nick asked.

"Yeah," Sara replied, her mind racing, trying to remember how she ended up in Nick's bed.

"You zonked out pretty fast.  In between the swallowtails and the New Zealand pelicans.  I guess I was the only one who thought the show was interesting," Nick grinned.

"Really?  God, I don't even remember," she said distractedly, still confused.

Nick noticed her perplexed expression.  "When I realized you were asleep I picked you up and carried you in here.  I didn't want to wake you," he explained.

"Oh," was all she could manage to say.  She knew Nick used his spare bedroom as an office.  So where did you sleep?

"I crashed on the sofa," Nick smiled, as if reading her mind.  "C'mon, get up," he said to her as he headed for the kitchen.  "Coffee should be ready."

Sara just sat in bed for a moment, groggy and still trying to process what Nick had just told her.  She remembered when she first came to Vegas over three years ago, how she had wondered what it would be like to wake up in Nick's bed.  But that was before she got to know him and became one of his good friends.  Now she just thought it was awkward.

She sighed and pulled off the blankets, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.  She looked down and noticed her shoes lined up neatly on the floor.  She smiled at the thought of Nick's tidiness, wishing she were the same way.  As she walked through the living room to the kitchen she glanced at the sofa and noticed a pillow and a neatly folded blanket, confirming Nick had indeed slept there.  Was there something inside her that wished he hadn't?

She looked out the window, noticing the sun shining brightly.  "What time is it?" she asked as she sat down in front of the cup of coffee Nick had poured for her.

"A little after four."

"Four?  Wow, I haven't gotten that much sleep in ages."

"Well let me just say that sleep agrees with you.  You look very refreshed," Nick smiled.

Sara blushed, she wasn't sure why.

After a few seconds, Nick's expression turned serious.  "So are you okay?"

Sara thought for a moment.  She actually did feel a lot better.  She seemed to have slept off the horrors of the case from the night before.  "I am," she replied resolutely.

"Good.  I don't want to have to go through this again any time soon.  That sofa isn't the most comfortable thing to sleep on, you know," Nick joked.

"Sorry," Sara laughed.

They sat in silence, drinking their coffee.  Nick browsed the sports section of the paper, while Sara mindlessly stared at the front page.  Why did Sara feel so awkward?  It felt like the morning after.  Not that she'd had many of those.  She figured Nick probably had.  Maybe that's why he seemed so calm.  Like everything that happened was normal.  But to Sara it wasn't.  She had just spent the night at Nick's.  Granted, nothing had happened, and he was one of her closest friends, but she felt as if something changed between them because of it.

"Well I think I better get home and shower and everything before shift starts," Sara said after a few minutes.

"Okay."

They both got up from the table.  Sara headed for the door and Nick followed to see her out.  Suddenly Sara stopped and turned around.

"My Dena-" she started to say.

"Is back at the lab," Nick realized.

"Yeah."

"No problem," Nick said, grabbing his keys from the counter.  "I'll take you home."

"Oh, um, okay."  Sara thought Nick would say he'd drop her off at the lab so she could pick up her truck.  "You know, you could just drop me off at the lab, then I can drive myself home."

"It's okay.  Besides, your place is closer than work.  And you'd be backtracking."

"Okay," she easily gave in.

A few minutes later they arrived at Sara's.  She unlocked her front door and turned to Nick.  "Thanks for everything."

"Sure," he smiled.  "Give me a call when you're ready and I'll come and pick you up," he said as he turned to walk back to his Denali.

"Hey Nick," Sara called out impulsively.  "Do you wanna wait here?  I mean, unless you have other plans, or something, or whatever," she stammered.

"Well actually," he smiled, "I have absolutely nothing else to do.  So I would love to wait here."

"Okay," she opened the door and motioned for him to come in.  A small wave of panic hit her when she realized she hadn't had time to clean up.  She hoped her place wasn't too messy and she didn't have anything embarrassing lying around.

"Uh, I need to shower and get out of these clothes, so, um, make yourself comfortable.  Help yourself to anything in the fridge.  I'm not sure if there's much in there though, I haven't had time to go shopping lately," Sara apologized as she headed for her bedroom.

"That's okay, I'm fine," Nick said as he sat down on her sofa.  He picked up one of the many forensic journals from her coffee table and started to flip through it.

Thirty minutes later, Sara emerged from her bedroom in clean clothes, her hair washed and blow-dried.

"You wanna go grab some lunch?  Or I guess it would be dinner now.  We have a couple hours till shift starts," Nick said.

"Sure."

"There's this new Greek place that just opened up by my house.  I mean if you like Greek food," Nick said.

"Yeah.  That's fine," Sara smiled.

They ate mostly in silence, just enjoying each other's company.  Sara could have sworn Nick was staring at her, but she didn't want to make eye contact with him to try and find out.  Maybe she had a piece of lettuce stuck between her teeth.  She took a sip of water to try and wash it away and then continued eating.  Nope, he was still staring at her.

"Do I have something stuck in my teeth?" she said all of a sudden.

"What? Uh, no," Nick said, realizing Sara may have caught him staring at her.  He couldn't help it.  He liked how her cheeks got puffy like a chipmunk's when she chewed.

"Oh."

"Relax, Sara, it's just me.  Besides, do you think I'd let you embarrass yourself by walking out of here with food between your teeth?" Nick teased.

"Hey- " she started to protest, already remembering countless times when Nick had embarrassed and teased her.

"On second thought, don't answer that," he interrupted with a sly smile.  He was sure someone as hardheaded as Sara would remember every single practical joke he'd played on her over the years.

They went back to eating, and this time it was Sara who was doing the staring.  She was battling with herself over whether or not she was starting to have feelings for Nick.  Over the three years they'd worked together they'd gotten to know each other really well, and now they were like best friends.  But ever since Kate showed up and all the flirting at work started, Sara noticed she was starting to feel jealous.  And she knew the only logical explanation for her jealousy was that she was starting to have feelings for Nick.  Still, she didn't really understand why she was having these feelings.  Nick was her friend, but as far as being boyfriend material, she didn't really think he was her type.  She definitely knew she wasn't his type.  Nick wasn't the playboy that most people thought he was, but he still had standards, and Sara was sure she fell far below them.  She also knew that Nick would never see her as anything more than a friend, which didn't make things any easier for her and her mixed up feelings.

She watched Nick's chiseled jaw move up and down as he chewed.  She smiled to herself as she remembered that Nick had once told her how as a kid he used to get teased about his strong jaw.  But Sara thought it was his best feature.

As Nick ate, he could have sworn Sara was staring at him, but he didn't want to make eye contact with her.  "What?" he said when he saw her smiling.

"Nothing."

He gave her a puzzled look; she merely smiled back at him.

"Now you really do have something stuck in your teeth," Nick said.

"I do?" Sara ran her tongue over her front teeth.

"Just kidding," Nick smiled.

Sara glared at him.

"Hey, would you look at the time, we should get going," Nick said as he looked down at his watch to avoid Sara's death glare.

Sara reached for her wallet as she looked over the bill that the waitress had already brought.

"I got this Sara, don't worry about it," Nick said as he grabbed the bill and headed to the front to pay the cashier before Sara could say anything.

"We beat Sara here?" Warrick asked Catherine as he entered the breakroom and saw she was the only one there.

Catherine shook her head as she sipped her coffee.  "She's around somewhere.  I think I saw her Denali out in the parking lot.  Probably been here all day."

"Doing what?" Warrick asked, sitting down across from her with his coffee.  "I thought all her cases were wrapped up?"

"Who knows.  It's Sara," Catherine shrugged.  "Now if it were Nick, that'd be a whole different story, right Nick?" Catherine smiled as she saw Nick enter the breakroom with Sara right behind him.

"Uh, right?" Nick smiled, unsure of what he was agreeing to.

"So Sara, how long you been working already?" Warrick asked.

"I just got here," Sara replied, a little confused.

"Oh.  Well your truck was out in the lot.  We thought you'd been here all day."

"Oh, well, I mean, I was here.  And then I left.  And now I'm back."

Sara couldn't think of a quick comeback, but Nick saved her.  "Sara and I were both here earlier to finish up some paperwork.  We just went out to grab some dinner," he said when he realized Sara wanted to avoid explaining the truth, knowing it would probably raise more questions.

"Yeah, that's it," Sara confirmed.  "We went out for dinner."  For some reason she was feeling paranoid that they thought something was going on between her and Nick.

"Relax, girl," Warrick said when he thought Sara looked a little edgy, like they were giving her the third degree.  "You sure you haven't been working all day?" he joked.

Sara smirked and turned to get some coffee.

"Hey guys," Kate greeted cheerfully as she entered.  "Hi Nick," she smiled.

"Hey," Nick smiled back.

Warrick and Catherine exchanged glances.  Sara, her back turned as she poured her coffee, rolled her eyes.

Suddenly Catherine's phone chirped.  She grabbed the phone from her belt and read the text message.  "It's Grissom.  Double homicide, Four Seasons.  He wants all of us there."

"I'll drive," Nick said as he turned to leave.

"Shotgun," Kate quickly called out.

"I'll drive too," Sara offered, to avoid riding with Nick and Kate.  She couldn't shake the jealous feeling she had, especially after she and Nick had spent the entire day together.