Disclaimer: If it's familiar to you, it doesn't belong to me (which I guess includes the title that I borrowed from the song by Sheryl Crow, which has nothing to do with the story, I just liked the title).
A/N: I have nine chapters of this already written, but the whole story's not done yet and since I don't like WIPs I was going to wait till I was finished to start posting. But I haven't worked on it in awhile and these chapters are just collecting dust sitting in my computer, so I decided to start posting now. Oh, and FYI, this story is kind of random (hence the vague summary), so bear with me. Or don't, I guess.
Chapter 1 – Loverboy
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"I'm so glad our case went so smoothly," Catherine said as she opened up her locker and gathered her things to go home. "It's Lindsey's birthday today and I wanted to be home before she left for school."
Nick smiled. "How old is she now? Ten?"
"Yep," Catherine sighed. "Already at double digits."
"Before you know it she'll be sixteen and all the boys will be knocking at your front door to take her out on a date," Nick joked.
"Oh God, I don't even wanna think about that," Catherine smiled.
Warrick and Sara strolled into the locker room with big smiles on their faces.
"Looks like we solved our case," Catherine deduced.
"Yeah, piece of cake. All we had to do was show the suspect the blood stained shirt we found, and he cracked like an egg. Confessed and everything," Sara replied animatedly.
"I heard you guys got a slam dunk too," Warrick said to Nick and Catherine.
"Couldn't have been easier," Nick said. "Guy turned himself in before we even had any suspects. We didn't even finish processing half the evidence."
"And the night shift rules," Warrick said as he stuck his fist out to Nick, who raised his own fist to meet Warrick's.
Catherine laughed. "Well I'll see you guys later, I gotta get going. Lindsey should be awake soon."
"Oh right, today's her birthday," Warrick remembered. "Give her a big birthday hug for me," he said.
"And a big birthday kiss for me," Nick quickly said, trying to one up Warrick.
"Okay, I will," Catherine smiled as she left.
Sara closed her locker and smiled at the fact that Warrick and Nick competed for attention with Lindsey. They always seemed to find a way to make everything a competition.
"I'll see you guys later," she said as she slammed her locker shut.
"Later," Nick said.
"Nice job last night," Warrick said.
"Thanks," Sara said as she walked out.
"Breakfast?" Warrick asked Nick as he closed his locker.
"Thanks man, but I think I'm just gonna go crash," Nick replied. "I'm still trying to recoup from the double we pulled two nights ago.
"Alright, no problem," Warrick said.
"See ya."
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Nick drove quickly home, whistling happily along with the radio. As he approached his house, he realized his driveway was empty. Weird, he thought to himself. She should be here by now. He shrugged it off as he pulled into the driveway, assuming she must have stopped off at her place first.
As soon as he closed the front door behind him, he headed straight for the kitchen. When he opened the fridge, staring back at him were two bottles of beer, a seriously moldy orange, a leftover takeout container, and an assortment of condiments. He grabbed the takeout container and cautiously opened it, taking a whiff. He quickly recoiled and tried to suppress his gag reflex as he realized that eating whatever it was in the container was definitely out of the question. Defeated, he slammed the fridge shut and tossed the container in the garbage. He scanned the rest of the kitchen, and was pathetically excited to see one lonely English muffin sitting in its bag on the counter. He put the slices in the toaster and stood staring impatiently at the shiny silver box until the slices popped up. As he was slathering a generous portion of strawberry jam on each slice, he heard the front door open.
"What took you so long?" he called out.
"Supermarket," she said as she came into the kitchen and placed the grocery bags on the counter. "I know that fridge is probably bare."
Nick, still attempting to fill every nook and cranny of his English muffin with jam, felt a slender pair of arms come from behind and wrap around his waist.
"But I can see somebody couldn't wait," Sara said when she saw what he was doing.
Nick turned to give her a quick kiss. "Did you get OJ?" he smiled.
She pulled out a carton from one of the bags and handed it to him.
"With pulp?" he practically whined.
"Hey, the last carton was boringly pulp free," she reminded him.
"I know, but it's not like you dislike no pulp. But see, I dislike pulp. So therefore, the only way to compromise is to have no pulp," he concluded logically.
"Nice try," Sara said as she took a bite of Nick's English muffin. "Besides, pulp is good for you," she smiled her gap-toothed smile.
He smirked back at her and wiped the jam she had on her lip. He stuck his finger out to her, and she playfully licked the jam from his finger before turning to put the rest of the groceries away.
Nick poured himself a glass of orange juice and stood eating and drinking at the counter as he watched Sara put away the food, paying particular attention when she opened the fridge and bent down to put some tomatoes in the vegetable bin.
They had been together officially for about three months, but it seemed like so much longer. Once they quit dancing around the obvious and started dating, their relationship progressed quickly since they had already been friends for so long. They were already at the point in their relationship where they spent so much time at each other's homes that it was pointless to be living in two separate places. They still did though, mostly due to fear felt by both of them that moving in together after three months was a little too fast. So, they were content on clearing out a couple drawers in their dressers to make room for the other's things.
Sara finished putting away the groceries and noticed Nick was staring at her.
"What?"
"Nothin'," he grinned. He walked over to her and placed his hands on her waist, guiding her backwards and pinning her against the fridge.
"So," he said, placing gentle kisses along her neck. "Since our cases last night were such a breeze…"
"Yeah…"
"You must still have a lot of energy…" he said in between kisses.
"Well, I did have to swab twelve beer bottles…and then there was that bloody shirt…oh and those shoe prints in the mud, casting those were tricky," she rambled. She loved teasing him when he was like this.
His lips had made it to the other side of her neck, and his hands had found their way up the back of her shirt.
"Oh, and after…"
"Sara!" he looked up.
"Well you wanted to know," she smiled at him. His lips met hers, which marked the point of no return as far as Nick was concerned.
"Um, Nick," Sara said in between breaths.
"Mmm."
"Need I remind you what happened the last time we tried this in here? The maple syrup disaster?"
"Hey, I helped clean you up," he smiled mischievously, remembering the sugar high that had given him.
Without another word he pulled her toward the bedroom, never taking his lips off her, Sara already reaching for the zipper on Nick's pants.
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Sara sat on the unmade bed and laced up her boots. "You're gonna be late," she said to Nick, who was in the bathroom shaving. While she was completely dressed, Nick was clad in only his boxers.
"I'm going as fast as I can. What do you want me to do, slice an artery?" he joked.
She joined him at the bathroom mirror to check her hair once more before leaving. "And mess up that handsome face? Never," she said as she gingerly kissed him, being careful not to get any shaving cream on her.
"And I hope you're not wearing that shirt you laid out on the bed," she playfully chided as she walked out of the bedroom.
"What's wrong with it? It's my favorite one," he whimpered to himself.
Sara hurried out the door and headed for work. Since their relationship was still a secret, they made it a habit to always leave at separate times if they spent the day or night together. They always arrived in separate cars at separate times to avoid any suspicions.
They both thought it would be best to keep their relationship a secret, at least in the beginning, in case things didn't work out. They did a good job of it; despite being one of the top crime labs in the nation, nobody suspected anything. Even more surprising was that they didn't find it very difficult to hide their relationship. They were both so dedicated to their work that they always gave their full attention to their cases, leaving little time to think about each other.
Fortunately, their relationship had progressed enough that they both knew they were well past the point where they had to worry if things were going to work out between them. But just like the issue of moving in together, they hadn't really discussed when they were going to go public about their relationship. They knew they definitely wanted to let everyone know; they didn't think it was fair to sneak around on some of their closest friends. Still, their relationship had moved so quickly that they hadn't really had time to think about these kinds of things, let alone decide what they wanted to do.
Once Sara arrived at the lab she headed straight for the break room and the coffee machine. She realized her morning "activities" with Nick had left her extremely tired.
Catherine and Warrick were already there, and noticed Sara make a beeline for the coffee machine.
"Uh, morning Sara," Catherine said when Sara ignored them.
"Oh, hey, morning."
"Don't tell me you were up all day listening to the scanner again," Warrick joked.
Sara gave him one of her looks.
"Hot date then?" Catherine smiled.
"Can't I just be tired?" Sara quipped.
Catherine and Warrick exchanged glances. Before Catherine could respond, Grissom came bumbling in, looking disheveled as usual.
"Cath, Sara, dead showgirl. DFO'd in the middle of a performance," Grissom said, getting right down to business. "Warrick, you and I have to review the Jefferson murder-suicide case. The DA wants to meet with us first thing tomorrow morning." He paused when he realized he had one assignment slip left and nobody else to give it to. "Where's Nick?"
"Right here boss," Nick said entering the break room and grabbing the assignment slip from Grissom's hand. "What'd I pull?" he asked as he looked over the slip.
"Trick roll, Shady Palms Motel, just off the Strip," Grissom informed him.
"Aw, man," Nick groaned, disappointed that he didn't get a more exciting case.
"That's what you get for being late, man," Warrick teased as he headed out the door.
Nick smirked. "Any moron who goes to a motel called 'Shady' deserves to be robbed."
Catherine smiled and gave Nick a playful pat on the shoulder. "Did you cut yourself shaving?" she asked.
Embarrassed, Nick quickly removed the tiny wad of toilet paper he remembered he still had under his jaw. He looked at Sara, who just smiled at him as she followed Catherine out.
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While Catherine stayed behind to finish processing their scene, Sara headed back to the lab to get to work. After dropping off DNA samples to Greg, she took a detour to the break room to grab a drink before going to see Dr. Robbins. She was searching the fridge for a bottle of water when she heard familiar footsteps behind her.
"Hey," Nick greeted her, coming only as close as a co-worker would.
"Hi," she said as she found a bottle and shut the fridge.
"How's the case going?" Nick asked, pouring himself some coffee.
"Good."
Nick quickly looked around to make sure nobody was within hearing distance. "Good as in 'I won't have to pull a double and I'll see you after shift'?" he said in a low voice.
"I think so," she smiled. Sara was a little surprised at Nick's flirtiness at work, even though they weren't actually working at the moment. They usually tried to steer clear of any kind of behavior that might tempt them, even when they were taking a break.
"Hey Nick," Warrick said as he entered the break room.
"What's up?"
"I think Eva is finally over you," Warrick said, grabbing the coffee pot from Nick and pouring himself a cup.
"Huh?" Nick replied, trying not to look embarrassed in front of Sara.
"I just ran into her. We're having dinner this weekend. I guess she finally gave up on you. You snooze, you lose, man." Warrick sounded triumphant.
"Who's Eva?" Sara asked, amused but not at all jealous. She trusted Nick and knew she had nothing to worry about.
"She started working nights in QD a couple months ago," Warrick explained. "She kept asking Nick out but this genius kept saying no for some reason. She finally asks me tonight, and reasonable man that I am, I accept."
"She's more your type anyway." Nick made up an excuse.
"Right. Just like Courtney was, huh? And that hot honey from days who used to work in ballistics, what was her name?" Warrick joked.
"Uh, don't you have work to do?" Nick tried to change the subject.
"Naw, me and Gris finished awhile ago."
"Then you're still here because…"
"I just told you. I ran into Eva. Man, weren't you listening?" Warrick said as his cell phone let out a little chirp. "It's Brass," he said, reading the page and re-clipping the phone to his belt. "I'm out. You might want to grab another cup of coffee," he said to Nick. "If you can't even remember Eva…" he sighed, shaking his head as he walked out.
Nick just smiled at Sara, unsure of what she was thinking.
Amused by the whole thing, Sara merely smiled back. "I'll see you later, loverboy," she said as she headed out the door.
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Nick's eyes blinked open. The big green numbers on the alarm clock said it was just past noon. He rolled over to see a peacefully sleeping Sara tangled up in the bed sheets. Realizing he was thirsty, he carefully got up and headed for the kitchen. He smiled to himself as he followed the trail of clothes from the bedroom floor and saw it started at the front door with boots and jackets.
He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and took several big gulps as he walked back to the bedroom, almost tripping on his twisted up pair of jeans lying in the middle of the floor. He put the bottle on the nightstand and climbed back into bed, propping himself on one elbow to face Sara. As he watched her body gently rise and fall with each rhythmic breath, he realized she looked even more beautiful – if that was even possible – when she was sleeping. He reached over to brush her hair away from her face, and her eyelids fluttered open.
"Hey," she smiled up at him.
"Hey gorgeous."
"What are you doing up?"
"Thinking."
"About what?"
"About how beautiful you are."
"And you're losing sleep over that?" she teased.
"Well I was also thinking about something else," he replied.
"What?"
"That I love you."
She looked at him, taking a second to process what he had just told her. It was the first time either of them had used the "L" word.
Nick looked backed at her, waiting for her response. From her expression, he couldn't tell if what he had just said was a good thing or a bad thing.
After a few seconds she smiled. "I love you too," she whispered.
He kissed her gently on the lips. "And I want everyone to know," he said.
"Are you sure?"
"Of course." He was tired of sneaking around the lab, like their relationship was something to be ashamed of.
"Even Greg?" she smiled.
"Even Greg." He kissed her again, realizing how disappointed their favorite lab tech would be.
As Sara lay in bed wrapped in Nick's arms, she couldn't stop smiling. She couldn't believe that she had just said 'I love you' to Nick. Well she could believe it – she meant it – but she never expected their relationship to progress so quickly and feel so perfect. She had dated (if you could call it that) Hank for almost a year and the thought of love had never entered her mind. Of course he turned out to be a total jerk, so she was glad it didn't. But she knew Nick was nothing like Hank. The past three months were the happiest months she'd had in a really long time. And it was all because of Nick.
As Nick held Sara in his arms, he couldn't stop smiling. He was so glad that he finally found the courage to tell Sara that he loved her. And the fact that the feeling was mutual made him even happier. He was falling in love with her after just their first date, but it took him three months to finally realize it. But better late than never, he thought. He pulled Sara closer and drifted off to sleep, dreaming about how wonderful it would be to tell the world he was in love with Sara Sidle.