A/N I do not own any of these characters, I make no profit, yada yada yada.
Some stuff taken from Gilmore Girls, some taken from love actually, some I
actually came up with myself. (Impressed yet?). Uh, it'll get up to R
later. Also, WHY won't the screenwriters allow Nick and Sara to hook up? IT
NEEDS TO HAPPEN right?? I will make those screenwriters make it happen. --
anyway, enough of my rant. You want the good stuff.
P.S. N/S G/C Anyway, GOOD STUFF.
Chapter One: One Christmas
Sara Sidle never got into the Christmas spirit. While everyone else was out partying or spending the time with loved ones, Sara, without fail, sat cuddled in her Las Vegas apartment with a book or a forensics magazine with a glass of wine and a Swanson's frozen dinner on the table next to her.
Nick Stokes, on the other hand, always got into the Christmas spirit. He was from a big family in Texas and so he always spent Christmas with them. He went to parties and played board games with his family and drank eggnog, had the Christmas tree, opened the presents with his sisters, and was introduced to plenty of pretty, eligible girls.
Gil Grissom had no routine. Some years he stayed at the office since cases needed to be solved, Christmas or no. Some years he sat at home with his own book. Some years he joined Cath and Lindsey for dinner. But most years he would go to bed early and listen to classical music for a while until he drifted off to sleep.
Catherine Willows celebrated Christmas with her daughter, Lindsey. They ate pizza and ice cream and watched old movies. Sometimes Grissom came over and he entertained Lindsey with his knowledge and then they played Scrabble. Lindsey was always on Grissom's team, and Lindsey always won.
Warrick Brown spent Christmas with a different woman each year. Sometimes he served them dinner before he served them himself. He always found them at a party, drinking too much. He rarely saw them the next morning. Warrick always told himself this year would be different, and it never was.
But the CSIs Christmas habits were about to change.
"Where are you going for Christmas, Sara?" Nick Stokes hoped she didn't have any plans. His family had canceled their annual Christmas party because so many of the kids just couldn't make it out to Texas this year.
"Nowhere, same as usual." Sara Sidle shrugged. In truth, she wished that she would spend Christmas with Nick, talking and laughing and feeling comfortable with him.
"Me either. Family plans fell through." Nick copied Sara's shrug.
Catherine Willows breezed into the break room. "Well, both of you are welcome to spend Christmas with Lindsey and me. Grissom's coming over and it's going to be the usual movies and Scrabble."
"Maybe." Sara nodded.
"Cath, what time should I come over?" Gil Grissom strode into the break room.
"Around six thirty." Catherine decided.
"I'll be there at six thirty." Grissom said. "Now back to work, it isn't Christmas yet!"
"Sara." Nick finished pulling on his shirt and called out his co- workers name.
"Nick." Sara flashed Nick her toothy grin, a smile that very few people got to see. That grin made Nick's heart flip-flop. He'd known Sara was the girl for him from the start, but there was an unwritten understanding that Sara belonged to Grissom. Grissom had rejected her and suddenly the understanding didn't exist now. Nick didn't like to refer to Sara as a piece of meat, but she was pretty much fair game now. "What's up?"
"You wanna go grab some breakfast?" Having just gotten off the late shift, asking her out for a drink was probably a bad idea.
"Yeah." Sara nodded. "I could go for some pancakes."
"So, your family thing got canceled?" Sara took a huge, unladylike bite out of her pancakes.
"Yeah." Nick caught sight of Sara's fast eating. "Whoa, slow down Sidle. There are plenty of pancakes."
Sara smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I just, usually eat fast. You know, habit. Nothing really productive happens when you're eating."
"Well that's just plain untrue." Nick shook his head. "Why don't you come over for a nice Christmas dinner tomorrow and we'll enjoy dinner." He glanced at her half-finished pancakes. "Slowly."
The next day, Catherine and Lindsey were making chocolate chip cookies to go with the pizza and ice cream. "You know, we'll probably be really sick after eating all of this." Lindsey surveyed their stash of food.
"Nah. We're young. We'll bounce back." Catherine grinned at her daughter.
"I'm young." Lindsey folded her arms.
"And I'm what, Father Time?"
"No, you're old." Lindsey grinned cheekily.
"Hey, watch it. I brought you into this world and I can take you out." Catherine tickled her daughter.
"Mommy stooooooooooop." Lindsey giggled uncontrollably.
"Okay." Catherine grinned. "But only if you admit I'm still young."
"You're still young." Lindsey replied obligingly. "Are you still young enough to get married?" Lindsey switched the subject abruptly.
"Married?" Catherine was caught off guard.
"Yeah. You know that Grissom loves you. And you love him." Lindsey folded her arms. "We ten-year-olds are a lot more perceptive than we look, you know."
"Maybe you should be a CSI, you just don't miss anything, do you?" Catherine was caught.
"Well?"
"Lindsey, I love Grissom very much. As a friend. And I don't want you to play Cupid at dinner tonight, okay?"
"Okay." Lindsey shook her mom's hand. The doorbell rang.
"You wanna answer it?" Catherine sent Lindsey running to the door. She opened the door.
"Grissom!" She shrieked happily.
"Hey Lindsey." Grissom picked Lindsey up and twirled her around. Though Grissom was not normally an affectionate person, he was always very affectionate towards Lindsey. "Hey Cath." He held out some flowers. "Since you're providing dinner, I thought I'd bring flowers."
"Thank you." Catherine smiled and filled a vase with water. She set the flowers in the vase and placed it on the hall table. "Shall we go find the Scrabble board?"
"So, you can cook?" Sara rolled her neck, trying to loosen it up.
"I'm a regular Martha Stewart."
"You mean, without the being in jail?" Sara grinned.
"Yeah. Minus the being in jail." Nick smiled wryly and served up the pasta with lemon pesto onto Sara's plate. He added carrots with rosemary then handed her a plate of salad. "Now, your first lesson on eating slowly." Nick smirked at Sara. "Place food on fork." He demonstrated with a carrot. "Open mouth and place food inside mouth. Now, here comes the important step. Take time to chew, and then swallow. Repeat this process as often as necessary to complete your meal. Occasionally," he held up a finger, "you can even drink." He took a sip of wine to prove his point.
"Very clever Stokes." Sara lifted an eyebrow.
"Now you try." Nick watched as Sara indelicately speared a carrot, popped it into her mouth, slid it off the fork, chewed two or three times, then swallowed. "Good?" She watched Nick's expression of horror. "Oh Lord are your manners terrible." Nick got up. "Okay." He took her hand. "Put the food on your fork." He held his hand over hers, causing an electric tingle to run up Sara's spine. "Next, lift your fork to your mouth." He stood right behind her, his chest creating a sense of warmth at her back. "And chew." Sara chewed obligingly before swallowing her food. "Good." Nick still had her hand in his as she set her fork down. "Uh, Nick, you're sorta close to me." Sara observed.
"Oh, sorry." Nick started to move away, but Sara grabbed his hand.
"I didn't say I didn't like it." She turned around and pulled Nick's mouth against hers.
"Okay Lindsey, which word should we use?" Grissom turned to the blonde at his left.
Lindsey stared at the board and bit her lip. She was plotting a strategy. "This one." She decided firmly.
"Criminal." Catherine read. "Very good, you got a seven letter word- bonus." Catherine dutifully recorded the score and allowed Lindsey to take more letters.
"Can we have the cookies now?" Lindsey whined.
"Okay, why don't you bring them in?" Catherine smiled at her daughter. Lindsey jumped up and ran into the kitchen. Moments later she returned with a big plate of chocolate chip cookies.
"Mommy and I made them." She handed one to Grissom proudly.
Grissom took a bite. "They're very good." He smiled in his fatherly way at Lindsey. "Shall we go back to creaming your mom at Scrabble?"
A few hours later, Lindsey rested on the couch, her pale blonde hair spread in a halo. "She's tired." Grissom observed.
"Now I know how you got to be the boss." Catherine quipped. Grissom sent her a withering look and then lifted Lindsey. He took Lindsey into her own bedroom and set her down gently on the cover. Catherine appeared at his side. "She really loves you." Catherine whispered.
"Well, I really love her mom." Grissom couldn't believe he'd just said that.
"You mean that?" Catherine asked.
"Do you even have to ask?" Grissom turned around.
"Well then come on, Lindsey's not the only one with a bed!"
Chapter One: One Christmas
Sara Sidle never got into the Christmas spirit. While everyone else was out partying or spending the time with loved ones, Sara, without fail, sat cuddled in her Las Vegas apartment with a book or a forensics magazine with a glass of wine and a Swanson's frozen dinner on the table next to her.
Nick Stokes, on the other hand, always got into the Christmas spirit. He was from a big family in Texas and so he always spent Christmas with them. He went to parties and played board games with his family and drank eggnog, had the Christmas tree, opened the presents with his sisters, and was introduced to plenty of pretty, eligible girls.
Gil Grissom had no routine. Some years he stayed at the office since cases needed to be solved, Christmas or no. Some years he sat at home with his own book. Some years he joined Cath and Lindsey for dinner. But most years he would go to bed early and listen to classical music for a while until he drifted off to sleep.
Catherine Willows celebrated Christmas with her daughter, Lindsey. They ate pizza and ice cream and watched old movies. Sometimes Grissom came over and he entertained Lindsey with his knowledge and then they played Scrabble. Lindsey was always on Grissom's team, and Lindsey always won.
Warrick Brown spent Christmas with a different woman each year. Sometimes he served them dinner before he served them himself. He always found them at a party, drinking too much. He rarely saw them the next morning. Warrick always told himself this year would be different, and it never was.
But the CSIs Christmas habits were about to change.
"Where are you going for Christmas, Sara?" Nick Stokes hoped she didn't have any plans. His family had canceled their annual Christmas party because so many of the kids just couldn't make it out to Texas this year.
"Nowhere, same as usual." Sara Sidle shrugged. In truth, she wished that she would spend Christmas with Nick, talking and laughing and feeling comfortable with him.
"Me either. Family plans fell through." Nick copied Sara's shrug.
Catherine Willows breezed into the break room. "Well, both of you are welcome to spend Christmas with Lindsey and me. Grissom's coming over and it's going to be the usual movies and Scrabble."
"Maybe." Sara nodded.
"Cath, what time should I come over?" Gil Grissom strode into the break room.
"Around six thirty." Catherine decided.
"I'll be there at six thirty." Grissom said. "Now back to work, it isn't Christmas yet!"
"Sara." Nick finished pulling on his shirt and called out his co- workers name.
"Nick." Sara flashed Nick her toothy grin, a smile that very few people got to see. That grin made Nick's heart flip-flop. He'd known Sara was the girl for him from the start, but there was an unwritten understanding that Sara belonged to Grissom. Grissom had rejected her and suddenly the understanding didn't exist now. Nick didn't like to refer to Sara as a piece of meat, but she was pretty much fair game now. "What's up?"
"You wanna go grab some breakfast?" Having just gotten off the late shift, asking her out for a drink was probably a bad idea.
"Yeah." Sara nodded. "I could go for some pancakes."
"So, your family thing got canceled?" Sara took a huge, unladylike bite out of her pancakes.
"Yeah." Nick caught sight of Sara's fast eating. "Whoa, slow down Sidle. There are plenty of pancakes."
Sara smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I just, usually eat fast. You know, habit. Nothing really productive happens when you're eating."
"Well that's just plain untrue." Nick shook his head. "Why don't you come over for a nice Christmas dinner tomorrow and we'll enjoy dinner." He glanced at her half-finished pancakes. "Slowly."
The next day, Catherine and Lindsey were making chocolate chip cookies to go with the pizza and ice cream. "You know, we'll probably be really sick after eating all of this." Lindsey surveyed their stash of food.
"Nah. We're young. We'll bounce back." Catherine grinned at her daughter.
"I'm young." Lindsey folded her arms.
"And I'm what, Father Time?"
"No, you're old." Lindsey grinned cheekily.
"Hey, watch it. I brought you into this world and I can take you out." Catherine tickled her daughter.
"Mommy stooooooooooop." Lindsey giggled uncontrollably.
"Okay." Catherine grinned. "But only if you admit I'm still young."
"You're still young." Lindsey replied obligingly. "Are you still young enough to get married?" Lindsey switched the subject abruptly.
"Married?" Catherine was caught off guard.
"Yeah. You know that Grissom loves you. And you love him." Lindsey folded her arms. "We ten-year-olds are a lot more perceptive than we look, you know."
"Maybe you should be a CSI, you just don't miss anything, do you?" Catherine was caught.
"Well?"
"Lindsey, I love Grissom very much. As a friend. And I don't want you to play Cupid at dinner tonight, okay?"
"Okay." Lindsey shook her mom's hand. The doorbell rang.
"You wanna answer it?" Catherine sent Lindsey running to the door. She opened the door.
"Grissom!" She shrieked happily.
"Hey Lindsey." Grissom picked Lindsey up and twirled her around. Though Grissom was not normally an affectionate person, he was always very affectionate towards Lindsey. "Hey Cath." He held out some flowers. "Since you're providing dinner, I thought I'd bring flowers."
"Thank you." Catherine smiled and filled a vase with water. She set the flowers in the vase and placed it on the hall table. "Shall we go find the Scrabble board?"
"So, you can cook?" Sara rolled her neck, trying to loosen it up.
"I'm a regular Martha Stewart."
"You mean, without the being in jail?" Sara grinned.
"Yeah. Minus the being in jail." Nick smiled wryly and served up the pasta with lemon pesto onto Sara's plate. He added carrots with rosemary then handed her a plate of salad. "Now, your first lesson on eating slowly." Nick smirked at Sara. "Place food on fork." He demonstrated with a carrot. "Open mouth and place food inside mouth. Now, here comes the important step. Take time to chew, and then swallow. Repeat this process as often as necessary to complete your meal. Occasionally," he held up a finger, "you can even drink." He took a sip of wine to prove his point.
"Very clever Stokes." Sara lifted an eyebrow.
"Now you try." Nick watched as Sara indelicately speared a carrot, popped it into her mouth, slid it off the fork, chewed two or three times, then swallowed. "Good?" She watched Nick's expression of horror. "Oh Lord are your manners terrible." Nick got up. "Okay." He took her hand. "Put the food on your fork." He held his hand over hers, causing an electric tingle to run up Sara's spine. "Next, lift your fork to your mouth." He stood right behind her, his chest creating a sense of warmth at her back. "And chew." Sara chewed obligingly before swallowing her food. "Good." Nick still had her hand in his as she set her fork down. "Uh, Nick, you're sorta close to me." Sara observed.
"Oh, sorry." Nick started to move away, but Sara grabbed his hand.
"I didn't say I didn't like it." She turned around and pulled Nick's mouth against hers.
"Okay Lindsey, which word should we use?" Grissom turned to the blonde at his left.
Lindsey stared at the board and bit her lip. She was plotting a strategy. "This one." She decided firmly.
"Criminal." Catherine read. "Very good, you got a seven letter word- bonus." Catherine dutifully recorded the score and allowed Lindsey to take more letters.
"Can we have the cookies now?" Lindsey whined.
"Okay, why don't you bring them in?" Catherine smiled at her daughter. Lindsey jumped up and ran into the kitchen. Moments later she returned with a big plate of chocolate chip cookies.
"Mommy and I made them." She handed one to Grissom proudly.
Grissom took a bite. "They're very good." He smiled in his fatherly way at Lindsey. "Shall we go back to creaming your mom at Scrabble?"
A few hours later, Lindsey rested on the couch, her pale blonde hair spread in a halo. "She's tired." Grissom observed.
"Now I know how you got to be the boss." Catherine quipped. Grissom sent her a withering look and then lifted Lindsey. He took Lindsey into her own bedroom and set her down gently on the cover. Catherine appeared at his side. "She really loves you." Catherine whispered.
"Well, I really love her mom." Grissom couldn't believe he'd just said that.
"You mean that?" Catherine asked.
"Do you even have to ask?" Grissom turned around.
"Well then come on, Lindsey's not the only one with a bed!"