Disclaimer: If it's familiar to you, it doesn't belong to me.

A/N: Response to the latest Snickers challenge.

Friendly Competition

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"I am so bored!" Nick exhaled loudly as he shot up from his seat on the break room couch. It was a painfully slow night; he and Sara were originally assigned to a home invasion, but it turned out to be a false alarm and unfortunately no other calls had come in.

He walked over to the page-a-day calendar sitting on the counter. He looked at his watch. 12:07 A.M. He ripped off the top sheet to reveal the new word of the day. "Do you know what 'akamai' means?"

"No, and I don't really care, but I'm sure you'll tell me anyway." Sara didn't look up from whatever she was reading as she sat at the table.

Nick ignored her negativity. She was always grumpy when she had nothing to do around the lab. "It's Hawaiian for 'smart, clever, or witty'," he read.

"So, something you're not," Sara replied without missing a beat, her eyes still glued to the article.

Nick made a face at her, even though she wasn't looking. He glanced at the day old calendar page in his hand. "Hey, we should have had a celebration for you yesterday. It was Workaholic's Day."

Sara looked up just long enough to grab a pretzel from the bag on the table and fling it at Nick. He caught it and ate it. "Thanks," he grinned.

Sara rolled her eyes and went back to reading.

Nick idly started opening all the drawers and cabinets, hoping to find something that could amuse him. He came across a box of sandwich size Ziploc bags. He pulled two bags out and blew into them, turning them into little air pillows. He shoved an inflated bag under each of his sleeves, giving his biceps an instant boost.

"Hey, check me out." Nick gave Sara his best imitation of a bodybuilder's muscle flexing moves.

"You're such a dork."

"No, I'm bored," he countered. He went back to searching the cabinets. "Oooh, Monopoly," Nick's spirits lifted as he pulled the game box off the shelf. "How 'bout it, Sar?"

"Pass," she replied.

"C'mon. It's gotta be more fun than whatever you're reading," Nick coaxed.

Sara took a sip of her Cherry Coke. "Doubtful."

Nick walked over to her and peered over her shoulder to see what she was reading. "You'd rather read 'My Baby Was Kidnapped By A Masked Stealth Ninja'?"

"Who knew Greg's tabloid magazines could be so entertaining," she replied. "Besides, I kind of outgrew Monopoly a long time ago."

"Nobody outgrows Monopoly."

"Maybe not you," she quipped.

"You just don't wanna play 'cause you know you'd lose," he responded in a childish tone.

Sara, afraid of losing? There was no way she was going to let him get away with that. She stood up and stepped toward him so she was practically in his face. She raised her trademark eyebrow. "You want some of this cowboy?"

Nick held his ground and stared back at her.

Sara narrowed her eyes at him. "It's on."

"Fine," Nick said, breaking eye contact. "But I get to be the racecar."

Sara scoffed. "You think that's gonna help you win?"

"I don't need anything to help me win," he smirked as he sat down across from her. "I just like the racecar." He opened the box and sifted through the colorful paper money in search of his favorite game piece. "It's not here."

"Just use another one then. Since you claim you don't need it to win."

Nick furrowed his brow. "None of the pieces are. All we have is a pink paperclip, a guitar pick, an American flag lapel pin, and two ear plugs."

"Ew, used?" Sara wrinkled her nose.

Nick gingerly picked up an ear plug. "Doesn't look like it."

"I'll take the guitar pick," Sara said, playing it safe. "So what are we playing for?"

"Huh?"

"I'm not playing this dumb game just for kicks. I need some incentive."

A smile slowly crept to Nick's lips. "I have the perfect incentive."

"Really?" Sara raised an eyebrow, hoping he was thinking what she thought he was thinking.

"If I win, I get to show this to everyone in the lab." He pulled out an old, slightly yellowed Polaroid photo from his back pocket. "If you win, you can have it back."

Definitely not what Sara was thinking. She glared at him. "You wouldn't."

"I guess you'll just have to win." Nick put the picture back in his pocket and started to set up the game.

------

"Ha! Pay up buddy!" Sara smiled triumphantly.

With a scowl on his face, Nick tossed a hundred dollar bill at her, the last of his money.

"Looks like I won. So hand it over." Sara stuck out her hand, waiting for the photo.

Nick stood up to throw out his now cold soy chai latte. "I changed my mind."

"You can't change your mind!" Sara followed him to sink.

"Yes I can," he responded calmly.

"No you can't." She tried to reach for the photo in Nick's pocket.

Nick spun around. "Hey! Stop trying to grab my ass!" he exclaimed, purposefully loud.

"Who's trying to grab whose ass?" Greg asked as he walked in.

"Sara. Mine," Nick glared at her.

Greg's eyebrows shot up as he looked at Sara, hopeful.

"Not a chance," she smirked.

"Hey Greg, check this out," Nick pulled out the photo from his pocket and showed it to Greg before Sara could react.

Greg immediately burst out laughing. "Is that you?" he turned to Sara. Her evil glare quickly silenced his laughter. "It's, uh, cute," he stammered.

Sara redirected her glare at Nick.

"What?" Nick feigned innocence.

Sara let out an exasperated sigh and stormed out.

Greg looked at Nick, who just shrugged as he proceeded to pour his latte down the sink and toss the empty cup in the trash.

"Do you know how to fix that piece of junk copying machine across from Grissom's office?" Greg asked.

"Yeah, call the repair guy," Nick quipped as he headed out to find Sara. He found her in the locker room, noisily rummaging through her locker for what he knew was no apparent reason. He snaked his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. "It's not that bad," he consoled.

She ignored him, continuing to shuffle things around on the top shelf of her locker.

"Oh c'mon, Greg was right. It is cute." He pulled the photo from his pocket and held it in front of her. "Look at that adorable smile."

Sara winced at the sight of herself as a five year old, her dad standing next to her as she sat in a tire swing, wearing bright yellow sneakers with red shoelaces, pigtails, and a big gap-toothed grin. "You just had to show it to the biggest blabbermouth in the lab. And what are you doing with that anyway?" Sara turned around and glared at him.

"What? It's no big deal. Everyone has embarrassing photos from their childhood." Nick flashed his best pretty boy smile, making it nearly impossible for Sara to stay angry.

"I hope you realize I'm not coming over after shift," her tone belied her already faded anger.

"Then I'll just come over to your place." He tightened his grip around her waist. "You can't get rid of me that easily, you know," he grinned as he leaned in to kiss her.

Sara responded fully, but had an ulterior motive. While her tongue kept Nick occupied, she discreetly ran her right hand from his shoulder down his arm, almost reaching his wrist until Nick pulled away.

"Nice try," he smiled as he jerked his arm away to prevent Sara from grabbing the photo he still held in his hand.

"Will you just give it to me already?" Sara practically whined, getting tired of Nick's childish play.

"Hey, you guys got any gum, or mints or something?" Warrick asked as he entered the locker room.

Sara reached into her locker and tossed a tin of breath mints to him.

"Thanks. I've had onion breath all night." He took one and tossed the tin back to her. "I just talked to Greg, he said something about Sara in pigtails."

Sara shot Nick a look, who only smiled at her.

------

"I read somewhere that Cary Grant had equinophobia."

"How could anyone be afraid of horses? They're such graceful creatures," Nick replied, his arm around Sara and her head resting on his shoulder as they sat in Nick's living room watching Cary Grant being attacked by a crop duster.

"I don't know, but this movie is boring." Sara reached for the remote in Nick's hand, but he pulled away.

"Boring? 'North By Northwest' is Hitchcock at his finest," Nick countered.

"But I've seen it a million times, so now it's boring." She unsuccessfully tried to snatch the remote again.

"Hey, nobody's forcing you to stay. If I remember correctly, you weren't even supposed to be here," Nick teased.

"Well just because I'm here, doesn't mean I plan on going anywhere near that bedroom."

"That's okay." Nick grinned mischievously as he grabbed her by the shoulders and gently guided her to lie down onto the cushions. "This couch is kind of a small, but I'm up for the challenge."

--The End--