Little Moments

A/N: This is what was going to be a short ficlet in response to a challenge but it came out a bit longer than I planned (but that's ok. lol) This is my first response to a challenge so please let me know what you think. Oh, by the way, forgive me if there are no ponds in Las Vegas. I thought about it afterwards, and I don't know if there are ponds in the dessert but let's just pretend there are.

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI or its characters. Oh, the title is from the song "Little Moments" by Brad Paisley although the story really doesn't have much to do with the song. I just borrowed the title and I will return it to Brad when I am done.

As Nick approached the crime scene he spotted Sara crouched down, analyzing something on the ground. He set his kit on the ground and bent down next to her.

"Looks like it might be blood." He said, and she jumped.

"Jeez! What are you trying to do, give me a heart attack?" She said, nearly taking his head off.

"Sorry." He apologized. "You're awfully jumpy today."

She ignored his comment. "The colour is a little off, so I wasn't positive. The lab will tell us for sure." She said, while swabbing it.

"So, what do we have?" Nick asked, as he looked around the crime scene.

Sara stood up and grabbed her camera. "Witness heard shots while out for a late night stroll, and called 911 on his cell phone. Our vic is over there." She said, pointing to her left.

"Her name is Morgan Hayward, age 19." Detective Vega said, coming up next to Nick.

"Looks like two shots, through and through. The medical examiner will be here momentarily." Sara said, as she snapped a couple of pictures of the body.

"Speaking of the medical examiner, I'm going to go check on that. He should have been here by now." Detective Vega said before heading back up the path.

"What's that?" Nick asked more to himself than anyone else.

"What's what?" Sara asked.

"That." He said gesturing to something on the bottom of the pond.

"Looks like it could be a shell casing." Sara mused. "But, why is it in the water?"

"The better question is, how are we going to get it out?" Nick said. "It's at least 2 feet out."

"Why don't you just take off your shoes and wade into the water?" Sara suggested.

"And what makes you think I'm the one going to do it?" Nick asked.

"Well, I'm certainly not going to do it."

"Ok, rock, paper, scissors." Nick suggested.

"Fine."

After she lost two out of three games, it was decided that Sara would be the one to go after the casing.

"Ok, but I'm not going in the water." She said, stubbornly.

"You can't reach it from shore."

"Grab onto that tree branch and hold onto my hand while I try and reach it."

Nick just shook his head in amusement and did like she suggested. As Sara reached for the shell casing, the branch began to crack.

"Sara, the branch can't hold us!" Nick said, trying to shift his weight so there was less pressure on the branch.

"Hold on, I almost got it." She replied.

"Sara!" Nick shouted and Sara screamed as they heard the deafening crack and the branch split in two. With a loud splash, they both ended up in the pond, Nick landing on top of Sara.

After the initial shock, they both started laughing. "Um... Nick?" Sara asked.

"Yeah." He replied between bursts of laughter.

"Would you mind getting off me, I can't breathe." As much as she loved the thought of Nick on top of her, she didn't want to drown.

"Oh... uh... sorry." He replied, flustered, as he got up.

With some difficulty, because their waterlogged clothes were quite heavy, they made it back to shore.

Nick had to suppress a gasp when Sara began to wring out her hair. 'God, she's gorgeous.' He thought to himself, not realizing that Sara was thinking the same thing about him.

Just then Detective Vega returned with the medical examiner. He took one look at the soak-n-wet Nick and Sara and burst out laughing. "I can't leave you two alone for five minutes."

Nick and Sara just rolled their eyes.

"You know what?" Nick said. "After all that, we still didn't get the casing.

......................................................................................................................................

Back at the lab, Nick and Sara began the much dreaded walk through the hall, to the locker room. As was expected, they got a lot of stares, but what they didn't expect was to see Hodges coming in the opposite direction.

"Don't look now, but twerp at 12 o'clock." Nick whispered.

"What happened to you guys?" Hodges asked. "Out playing while the rest of us are back here working our butts off." He said emphasizing his distaste.

"Shut up Hodges." Sara said, glaring at him.

They ignored his look of disgust and continued to the locker room to change into dry clothes.

They met Catherine leaving the locker room. She shook her head and said, "I'm not going to ask," and walked off.

...............................................................................................................................................

"What a long night." Sara said, exhaustion clear in her voice. She grabbed her jacket and car keys, and she and Nick headed out to the parking lot.

"See ya tomorrow." Nick said.

"See you." Sara said, climbing into her car. She turned the key in the ignition but the engine wouldn't start. She tried it again, but no such luck. "Ugh!" She exclaimed, banging her head against the steering wheel. She got out and lifted the hood.

"Having troubles?" Nick asked, as he came up beside her.

"Yeah, I think my battery is dead. Do you have any booster cables?"

"No, I don't."

"Damn it!" She said in frustration.

"How about I give you a ride home and we'll call a tow truck for your car." Nick suggested.

"You don't have to do that." Sara replied. "I can call a cab."

"Nonsense." Nick said. "Get in."

"Thanks." Sara smiled.

"No problem."

.............................................................................................................................................

Not ten minutes later, there was a loud bang and the car started to turn to one side.

"What was that?" Sara asked.

"I'm not sure, but I have a hunch." He replied. He got out and walked around the car. A few minutes later he opened the door and got back in. "I hate to say it, but we have a flat tire."

Sara groaned and hit her head off the window a few times.

"This really isn't your day is it?" Nick asked, grinning.

Sara just glared at him and hit her head a few more times.

"If you keep that up you're going to give yourself a concussion." Nick joked.

Sara tried to hide the smile that was forcing its way onto her face but she failed miserably.

"I'm assuming you know how to change a tire." Sara said, giving him a look.

"Yes, but the only problem is when I replaced the spare last weekend, I forgot to put the lug wrench back in."

"Ok, it's only a 5 minute walk to my apartment. We can call a tow truck from there."

"Ooh, I finally get to see Sara Sidle's apartment." Nick said, grinning.

"Watch it, or I may just make you walk home." Sara replied, giving him a playful slap.

...........................................................................................................................................

"Not too shabby." Nick said as they entered her apartment. Sara threw her keys down on a table in the hall and continued to the kitchen.

"Do you want something to drink?" She called out.

"Sure." Nick replied, before taking a seat on the couch. "Ahhhh!" He exclaimed and jumped up again quickly.

"What's wrong?" Sara asked.

"I think something just bit me."

Sara tried her best to hold back the giggle that was threatening to come out if she opened her mouth but it was impossible, she burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Nick asked confused.

"You... you sat..." She started laughing again.

"I sat..."

Finally regaining her composure, she said "You sat on a push pin."

Nick groaned and reached around to grab the push pin. "That wasn't embarrassing." He said sarcastically.

Sara handed Nick his smoothie and they went to sit down on the couch. Nick double checked it before he sat down.

"Silly putty!" Nick practically shouted in excitement. "I haven't had this stuff since I was 10." He reached over and grabbed the silly putty off the end table and started playing with it.

"It's my next door neighbor's daughters. I was babysitting her lest weekend and she left it here." Sara explained, not wanting to admit that she owned silly putty.

"Man, my butt really hurts." Nick complained. "What if it's infected?" He asked worriedly. "That may not have been a clean pushpin."

"I'm sure it's fine." Sara assured him.

"You don't know that. I might need a tetanus shot."

"Let me look at it." Sara suggested.

"No way!" Nick replied.

"Come on, don't be a baby." Sara insisted. "You said yourself that it might be infected."

"Ok fine." Nick gave in.

He hauled down his pants for Sara to take a look.

"Oh man!" Sara exclaimed.

"What? What?" Nick asked, concerned.

"You have a really nice ass." Sara commented.

"Is that so?" Nick asked, grinning mischievously as he turned around, grabbed her and started tickling her.

They both ended up entangled in each other on the couch, breathing heavily. They leaned in and began a long passionate kiss. When they finally broke free, Nick said, "Now Miss Sidle, I think it's only fair that since you saw my butt I get to see yours."

Sara grinned, "All in good time."