Chapter 4 – Moving On

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Sara woke up to the sensation of Nick's lips on her cheek.  "Hi," she smiled up at him as she opened her eyes.

"You know, the bed's a lot more comfortable than the couch," he teased.

"I guess I fell asleep."  She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she swung her legs onto the floor to let Nick sit down.  "How was breakfast with Olivia?"

"Good."

"That's good," she smiled.

"I'm a little confused though…" he looked at her.

"About my Jekyll and Hyde act?"

"Yeah," he smiled.

"I can explain."

"I'm all ears."

"Well first I guess I should apologize for acting like a bitchy-"

"Stubborn, immature," Nick interrupted with a grin.

"…jealous girlfriend," Sara finished with a smirk.

"Apology accepted," Nick gave her a peck on the cheek.

"I'll admit that at first I was a little upset," she confessed.

Nick raised an eyebrow.

"Okay a lot upset," she corrected herself.  "But once I figured out why I was so upset, I realized that it was actually a good thing."

"It was..." Nick looked at her, not following.

"Yeah.  See, it wasn't so much that I was angry, it was that I was scared."

"Of what?"

"Of the possibility that I could lose you," Sara stared down at her lap, twiddling her thumbs, feeling a bit nervous.  She was never good at talking about stuff like this.  Mostly because she'd never had the need to, not until now.  She took a breath before continuing.  "I've never cared so much about someone to the point where the thought of losing them scared me.  But with you it did.  And that made me realize how much I really want to be with you.  And that made me happy, because I've never felt this way about anyone before, and it's like my life is going in the right direction, like I'm actually accomplishing something, and the fact that you're the reason for this happiness makes me love you even more.  Does that even make sense?" she looked up at as she wrinkled her nose, realizing she was babbling.  She had it all worked out in her head before, but it didn't come out as clear as she'd planned.

Nick smiled.  He'd never seen this side of Sara before.  The sweet, sensitive, girlie side.  While he loved the tough and sassy front she always put up, he couldn't deny that seeing this new side of her made her all the more sexier.  "I got the gist of it," he flashed his mega-watt grin as he leaned in to kiss her.

"I don't hate Olivia," Sara said after they broke apart.

"You don't have to force yourself to like her, you know.  I won't hold it against you," he smiled.

"I know.  But honestly, I don't.  Actually I really like her.  She seems like a great detective.  Did you see how she grilled that suspect?  It was awesome," Sara admired.

"Yeah.  She's actually a lot like you.  Tough, no-nonsense kind of person, dedicated to her work, smart, beautiful…" he teased with a playful glint in his eyes.

"You're lucky you're cute," Sara feigned anger.

"I do try," he grinned.

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Things at work went back to normal and Sara's minor blowup was quickly forgotten.  Neither Nick nor Sara even saw Olivia over the next several days, as they had been working with the other detectives.  Although, it wouldn't have mattered to Sara if they had been working with Olivia, because like she told Nick, she really did like her.  From the one case she saw Olivia work, Sara could tell that Olivia was a lot like herself, just like Nick said.  She was hard working and had a sharp mind; she had sometimes drawn conclusions even faster than Sara had.

So, Sara was actually a little excited when she finally got to work with Olivia again.  That night she was also working with Nick, which of course she always loved.  And to top it off, their case was bizarre and full of complexities, Sara's favorite kind of case.  Their investigation was taking them in all sorts of directions, and she loved trying to piece everything together.

"Hey Nick, what does this look like to you?" Sara asked as she peered into the microscope in front of her.

"Well all I see is a big head with silky chestnut hair that smells like lavender," he said from behind her.

Sara turned around and gave him a look as she stepped aside so he could look into the microscope.  "Chestnut?  And how do you even know what lavender smells like?"

"I don't.  Your shampoo bottle has purple flowers on it.  I figured it out myself.  I am a CSI you know."

"Yeah, well sometimes I wonder," she quipped.

"Hey guys, you'll never guess what I found out about Gina Kennedy," Olivia said as she walked into the room.

"The sister-in-law?" Sara asked.

"No, that's Jeri.  Gina's the cousin, the nurse." Nick corrected her.

"She's the ex-wife, the yoga instructor," Olivia corrected both of them.

"Oh, right," Sara remembered.  How did Olivia keep track of them all?

"Anyway," Olivia continued, "I found out the yoga thing is just her day job.  Nights she works as a waitress at The White Note."

"What's The White Note?" Sara asked.

"It's this restaurant slash karaoke bar kind of place," Nick answered as he looked at Olivia and then smiled.

"Don't think I'd forget something like that," Olivia teased with a smile of her own.

"What?" Sara was clueless.

"Uh, it was kind of a special place," Nick replied.

"What, like your first date?" Sara asked.

"Uh, no, not exactly," Olivia smiled knowingly at Nick.

"So, what was important about Gina Kennedy?" Nick snapped back from his trip down memory lane when he noticed Sara looked a little uncomfortable.

"Guess who used to be bartender there?" Olivia asked.

"Our victim?" Nick guessed.

"Nope."

"Trent Grey?" Sara asked.

"Trent Grey," Olivia said.

"Even better," Nick said.

"I was thinking of heading over there right now to pay Mr. Grey a visit," Olivia told them.  "You coming?"

"Absolutely," Nick replied for both himself and Sara.

"I'm gonna check if we tracked down the victim's missing BMW first, I'll meet you guys there," Olivia said as she headed out.

Nick looked at Sara to see if she was upset.  She stared back at him for a second before a small smile crept to her lips, indicating she was okay.

"Maybe after shift we can go back to The White Note and re-christen it as our own special place," Nick teased suggestively.

Sara smiled and rolled her eyes.  "Is that all you ever think about?" she teased back.

"Only about every minute I'm with you," he grinned, causing Sara to roll her eyes again as she turned to leave.

Nick, Sara and Olivia went to the restaurant but it proved to be a bust.  There only lead turned into a dead end and now they were back at square one.  They sat in the CSI break room, trying to figure out what to do next.

"Well the nurse had access to the medical supplies," Nick reasoned.

"Samantha?  But it doesn't make sense, she has no motive," Olivia said.

"And her prints weren't on the syringe, Jeri's were," Sara added.

"Although, her alibi was Rich Emerson…" Olivia realized.

"Jeri's ex-boyfriend," Nick finished.  "Which could only mean-"

"That both Phil and Rich were at the club when Angie was killed," Olivia replied.

Nick's brain continued churning.  "So Jeri's prints were on the syringe-"

"Because she had already come and gone before Phil even got there," Olivia said.

"But what about Gina?  Security cameras show her arriving with Angie," Nick pointed out.

"Yeah, but then she left ten minutes later-"

"To pick up Rich."  A light bulb clicked on in Nick's head.  "So the only way for Phil to know that Angie was alone-"

"Was that phone call from Gina," Olivia smiled triumphantly.

"Alrighty, let's go pick Ms. Kennedy and Mr. Emerson up," Nick smiled, satisfied that they had finally figured it out.  He noticed Sara didn't look half as excited as she should have been.  "You okay?  You agree with all of this, right?"

"Yeah," she replied with a small smile.  She had been silently watching Nick and Olivia as they talked everything out.  They were going so fast, finishing each other's sentences, that Sara was unable to get a word in.  She wasn't sure which bothered her more, the fact that she couldn't get a word in edgewise, or that Nick and Olivia were so in tune with each other, kind of like how she and Nick were.

"I'll call some of our guys to bring them in.  I'll call you when they get to PD," Olivia said as she left.

"You sure you're okay?" Nick asked Sara as soon as Olivia left.  "You were kinda quiet.  Usually we have to beat you with a stick to get you to shut up," Nick teased.

"Well it was kind of hard to get a word in with you two going at it," Sara teased back.

"Sorry.  I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay.  I'm fine," Sara smiled.  "She's pretty quick.  For a cop," Sara joked.

"Not as quick as you," Nick smiled as he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before getting up to leave.

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Nick woke to the soft murmur of voices.  Realizing the other side of the bed was empty, he got up and sauntered out to the living room.

"Sorry, was it too loud?" Sara asked without diverting her gaze from the TV.  She was in her pajamas, which were actually Nick's boxers and an old t-shirt of his, stretched out on the couch.

"No."

Sara retracted her legs to let Nick sit down and then restretched them out across his lap.

"How long have you been up?" he asked, trying not to sound too accusatory.  He knew Sara hated when he lectured her on her poor sleeping habits.

"I don't know, awhile," she replied, her eyes still fixed to the screen.

"Sara-"

"Sshh, Jack is about to tell Abby that they can't be together because they're really twins that were separated at birth," Sara shushed him.

Nick smiled as he watched Sara watch the soap opera.  He learned from experience that she didn't like to be talked to whenever she was watching.  He never understood how Sara, of all people, could like soap operas, but he was glad she at least had interests outside of law enforcement.  He waited until Jack finished his confession before speaking.  "Move in with me."

Sara finally took her eyes off the TV and looked at him, not really sure if she had heard him correctly.  "What?"

"Move in with me," he repeated.

"Nick, I don't know…"

"C'mon, you practically live here anyway."

"Is this about Olivia?  Because you don't have to prove anything, I already told you I-"

"This has nothing to do with Olivia.  It has to do with you and me.  And the fact that I love you and you love me."

Sara looked into his eyes and saw he meant what he said.  "Can I think about?"  Moving in with him sounded great, but she needed a little time to think it over, just to make sure.  She didn't want to rush into anything.

"Of course."

"Okay, I'm going back to bed," she said as she started to get up.

"To sleep?" Nick asked, a little surprised.

Sara smiled and raised an eyebrow at him.  The fact that Nick was sometimes a little slow to catch on was endearing.  "And I thought you said it was all you ever think about?" she teased as she got up and headed for the bedroom, with Nick not far behind her.