Sara looked down at Nick with an amused expression as she propped herself up on his chest. "You know, you could have saved yourself the money."

He raised a curious eyebrow. "You didn't like it?"

She smirked. "I didn't have it on long enough to know if I liked it."

He grinned. "You looked damned sexy."

She looked smug. "In the future, you could just throw the lingerie on the floor to see how it looks if you plan on pulling it off me at lightning speed."

Nick chuckled. "I'm sorry, but I've been wanting to get you naked since Warrick knocked on the door and interrupted us."

Sara giggled. "Well I suppose it did have it's desired effect."

Nick tried to restrain his grin. "Oh, really?"

She nodded with a smile on her face and angled her lips toward his.

As her lips touched his, Nick slid his hands down and gripped her butt, pulling her more fully on top of him as he opened his mouth to her. He was acutely aware of the softness of her inner thighs against the outside of his and as her breasts pressed against his chest he could feel himself becoming aroused.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"That was cutting it pretty close." Sara commented as she and Nick headed towards the conference room for the briefing on their case.

Nick glanced around and leaned toward her whispering. "Well at least I remembered to set the alarm this time."

She felt her cheeks turning a little pink and she tried to stifle a smile with a smirk. "It only works if you actually get out of bed when it goes off."

He grinned innocently. "I was only trying to say good morning."

She rolled her eyes. "We work the night shift."

"Same thing." He grinned conspiratorially. "Besides, you seemed to be enjoying yourself."

She tried not to smile as they came to the doorway of the conference room. "We can't talk about this right now."

Nick just chuckled as they entered the room where everyone else was assembled.

Grissom glanced up momentarily and turned his attention back to the file in front of him before he began the briefing.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Shift felt excruciating long, and perhaps that's because it was. The entire night shift crew ended up pulling a double shift trying to find something in the evidence that they had collected that would give them some clue as to who had brutally murdered the mayor's son and his prom date. Sheriff Atwater had made it clear that no other case was going to be handled by the nightshift crew until some sort of headway was made on this case. All other cases were being referred to Ecklie and his dayshift crew.

Sara was exhausted. She had been trying to formulate scenarios that the evidence would support, but had come to a dead end. Nick was trying to train Greg to help out with some of the trace evidence. Warrick had processed soil found on one of the victim's shoes, but there was nothing notable or remarkable about it. Catherine and Grissom had interviewed numerous acquaintances of both victims to see if they could come up with a viable suspect. Brass took the delicate task of interviewing the mayor and his wife.

The group reassembled in the conference room at the end of their second shift. They each offered up what they had learned and they realized that at least for the time being they had cumulatively come to a dead end.

Sara let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes. She craved sleep and at that moment she craved the comfort and security of Nick's arms while she slept. The group began to gather their things to leave the conference room when two things happened.

Nick rested his hands on Sara's shoulders and gave her an encouraging smile. That in and of itself wasn't that unusual, but what happened next raised a few eyebrows around the room. Sara slid her arms around his waist and leaned up and kissed him briefly.

Warrick and Catherine stood there trying to keep a straight face as they watch the faces of Grissom and Greg, who for their part stood there wide eyed.

As Sara pulled away she gave Nick a tired smile. "Baby, I'm so tired, I just want you to take me home so we can sleep."

Without even looking at the others, Nick just grinned at her and they headed out of the conference room and down the hallway towards the locker room to gather their things.

Grissom glanced at Catherine who had a knowing smirk on her face, realizing that she knew that something was going on. Greg looked completely shocked. He had never suspected that something was going on between Nick and Sara because he'd been so focused on flirting with Sara himself. As for Warrick, he finally let out a chuckle and glanced at Catherine. "I don't even think they know what they just did."

Catherine chortled and nodded in agreement.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It wasn't until they were snuggled together under the comforter on Nick's bed and she was just on the verge of sleep that Sara jolted herself awake. She glanced over at Nick and began to shake him. "Nick. Nick, wake up."

His eyes fluttered open and he looked at her curiously. "What is it?"

She had a hint of panic on her face. "They know."

"Who knows what?" Nick looked a little confused as he tried to get his bearings.

"Everyone. They know." Sara sounded insistent.

"Knows what, babe?" Nick needed a little clarification for his sleep fogged mind.

"About us." Sara had a hint of a whine in her voice. "I just realized what I did."

Nick let out a chuckle and smiled as he hugged her. "Yeah, I think you kissing me in the conference room in front of all of them was a dead giveaway."

~*~ THE END ~*~