Sara was about ready to ring Catherine's doorbell when Nick pulled her hand away. "Wait just a second." He had a mischievous grin on his face.
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Why?"
"Because I don't want to go in quite yet." He waggled his eyebrows at her and leaned over and kissed her.
Sara giggled against his lips for a moment and then slid her arms around his neck, allowing him to deepen the kiss as she felt him slide his arms around her waist and pull her against him. They stutter stepped towards the doorframe in the midst of their lip lock where Sara's rear end hit the doorbell.
The pair reluctantly pulled apart as they heard someone coming to the door, but they couldn't quite get rid of the dopey grins on their faces.
"Glad you decided to come." Catherine smiled at Nick and Sara as she opened the door. She took in their appearance for a moment and couldn't resist a barb. "Nice outfits."
Sara raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Nick. "I told you I should have changed my shirt when you showed up in that."
He smirked at her. "It's the Fourth of July. Flag T-shirts are in."
"Everyone's in the backyard." Catherine commented as she closed the door and chuckled at the banter between the pair.
"You look cute, Sara." Nick grinned at her as they followed Catherine through the house.
"We match." She responded dryly. "I should have known better when you bought me this shirt in the first place."
He leaned over and whispered in her ear. "I just wanted you to have something to remind you of our first Fourth of July together."
She smiled in spite of herself and glanced at him with an amused expression. "Are you always this sentimental?"
"Maybe." He smiled softly. "Just be glad I didn't wear my lucky shirt."
She rolled her eyes. "You mean your ugly shirt."
He snaked his arms around her waist from behind and whispered in her ear again. "I'm retiring it."
A satisfied smile spread across Sara's face as she glanced over her shoulder at him. "Retiring it, huh?"
He nodded. "Yeah, I decided that decomps or no decomps, if you don't like it, I'm retiring it."
She could keep the amused smirk off of her face. "Nice to know I have that kind of power."
"In fact, I was thinking of giving it to you." Nick teased. "I hear women love to sleep in men's shirts."
She rolled her eyes and pried his arms from around her waist. "You do that and it definitely won't be your lucky shirt."
He feigned a hurt expression and followed her out into the back yard where he noticed that Catherine was talking to a man that he recognized as her boyfriend Chris. Warrick was talking to a woman that Nick had a vague recollection was a lab tech from the dayshift. Grissom was crouched down next to a boy who appeared to be a little younger than Lindsey talking about some insect he had found and was holding by the wing. Greg had somehow been roped into manning the grill and was talking to a woman that was probably the mother of one of the kids playing in the pool with Lindsey. There were a few other people Nick didn't recognize, but he figured that by the time they left the barbecue for the fireworks display, they'd have gotten to know everyone.
"So did you guys plan this?" Greg was grinning as Nick and Sara approached. He pointed at their matching T-shirts. "You know it's serious when you start dressing alike."
Sara gave Nick a pointed stare and raised a single eyebrow.
Nick shook his head at Greg. "We did not plan this. It just happened." He noticed the vintage Dead Kennedys T-shirt Greg had on and quipped. "So where's your patriotic flare?"
"The Kennedys are part of modern Americana." Greg defended.
Nick glanced over at Sara who was trying not to laugh before he looked back at Greg. "Hey, none of the real Kennedys were actually in the band."
"I knew that." He retorted with a grin. "At least I'm not dressed like my girlfriend."
Nick grinned as he slung his arm over Sara's shoulder. "The key phrase there is 'my girlfriend'."
Sara patted Nick's stomach and tried to keep a straight face. "Down boy. Let's go get something to drink."
As they walked over to the cooler, Greg called after them. "Just remember if things don't work out there with Nicky-boy, I'm your man."
She grinned at Greg as they walked away shaking her head in amusement. "I'll keep that in mind."
Nick's eyebrows curved upward in protest. "Hey."
She laughed as she looked up at him and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "You're cute when you're jealous."
"I'm not jealous." He seemed to unconsciously puff his chest out a little.
She giggled. "Oh, yes you are, but don't worry, I'm not interested in Greg."
"Good." He grinned at her and leaned over and kissed her.
"Are you two going to talk to anyone else?" Warrick had walked up while they were talking and was amused at the public displays of affection.
Sara smiled at him a bit too widely as they stepped apart. "Hi, Warrick."
He slung an arm over her shoulder and gave her a quick hug. "Hey, girl." He noticed that Greg appeared to be having some difficulty with the gas barbecue as flames were shooting up a little too high. "I'm going to go help Sanders before he burns the house down."
As Warrick walked away, Lindsey pulled herself from the pool and made her way towards the pair with a smile on her face. "Uncle Nicky!"
"Hey, Linds." Nick grinned at her, handing her a towel that was hanging on the back of one of the chairs sitting around the poolside table. "Here you go kiddo." He wrapped the towel around her and tousled her hair.
"I made you a card." She reached for a stack of drawings on the table and handed one to Nick. "Happy Fourth of July." She gave him a toothy grin.
As Nick read the card, his smile widened and a realization hit him. "Thanks, Linds."
"I'm not done with yours yet, Sara." Lindsey explained.
Sara smiled at her. "That's ok. It's the thought that counts." She noticed the mischievous glint in Nick's eye as she glanced at him, raising an eyebrow.
"Linds, we need to talk to your mom for a minute." Nick took Sara's hand in his.
"Ok, I'm going to go swim some more. See ya." She hung the towel back up on the chair and headed back into the pool.
Sara regarded Nick with curiosity as they approached Catherine who was still talking with Chris.
Nick grinned. "Hey, Cath."
Catherine smiled as she turned, until she noticed that Nick's smile was a bit too wide. "What's up?"
Chris excused himself. "I'm going to go get us a couple of drinks, babe."
Catherine just nodded at him.
Nick raised an eyebrow. "You had Lindsey write that note with the tickets, didn't you?"
A surprised expression crossed Sara's face as she realized what he was talking about.
Catherine let out a deep throaty chuckle. "How did you figure it out?"
He held up the card Lindsey had given him. "I thought I sort of recognized the handwriting."
Catherine looked amused. "You two needed a good push."
Nick leaned over and kissed Catherine on the cheek. "Thanks, it was the best push I ever got." He looked over and grinned at Sara.
"How did you know he'd ask me out?" Sara looked a little perplexed.
"I didn't." Catherine chuckled. "But Nick's had a thing for you for almost as long as you've worked here."
"Everyone keeps saying that." Nick furrowed his brow wondering if he really had been that obvious.
"Because it's true." Sara smirked, sliding her arm around his waist getting a smile from him in return.
"And the way you've been looking at each other the last couple of months, I had to do something." Catherine looked a little smug. "I was prepared to take extra measures if necessary."
"Like what?" Nick regarded her suspiciously. "You don't have my sisters' phone numbers do you?"
"Never you mind, boy." Catherine grinned.
Sara smirked at Nick, raising her eyebrows. "Speaking of your sisters." Sara glanced over at Catherine and gave her a conspiratorial smile. "I should show you this picture Nick's sister Lisa emailed me."
The End
Author's Note: Oh, I know I'm probably cruel ending it there, but use your imagination, I'm sure you can imagine where things would go from here. Thanks to all my readers and reviewers, you are truly appreciated.