"Hey Warrick," Sara greeted her coworker in an almost too cheery voice as she walked into the break room, a smile gracing her face.
"Hey." Warrick looked up from the newspaper he was reading and watched Sara as she walked toward the coffee machine with what seemed to be an extra bounce in her step. Or rather simply a bounce, since, although Sara was a perfectly nice person, she was never one to be overtly chipper and bubbly.
Sara took a seat across from Warrick at the table. She sipped her coffee and let out a content sigh. "What?" She raised an eyebrow at Warrick when she noticed he was staring at her.
He looked at her with a bemused expression on his face. "You seem so…" He wasn't quite sure how to put it.
"So what?"
"So…happy." He couldn't think of a better word. "What's wrong?" he teased as he lowered his eyebrows in mock concern.
Sara smirked at him. "Am I not entitled to be happy?"
He threw his hands up in defense. "Hey, I'm just relieved it's possible. Now if we can just get that gorgeous smile of yours to make an appearance more often we'll be in business," he winked playfully at her.
Sara couldn't help but smile. Sometimes she hated her job, with all the crime and brutality she saw, but having guys like Warrick, Nick and Greg constantly flirting with her made it bearable. And while she did appreciate Warrick's comments, at the moment her mind was elsewhere. On the reason she was so uncharacteristically cheerful that night. On Nick. Specifically on the kiss they'd shared earlier that day. And what a kiss it was. She'd be lying to herself if she said she'd never wondered what it would be like to lock lips with her charming and incredibly good looking Texan coworker. But under the circumstances, the kiss that they'd shared was just that. A kiss. Nothing more was going to come of it, which she was convinced was a good thing. They already had a great friendship, and when you threw in the flirty banter, it was almost like they had a "relationship" without all the responsibility and complications of one. And who would want to mess with something like that?
Sara's thoughts were interrupted by a cheerful drawl. "Evening all," Nick smiled as he walked into the break room.
"Hey did you hear the rumors of this three team trade between the Raiders, Bucs, and Colts?" Warrick asked Nick, his nose buried in the sports page.
Nick grabbed a mug and proceeded to pour himself some coffee. "Yeah, but it's gonna fall through," he said to Warrick as he smiled at Sara, who smiled back. "The Colts are-"
"Have you guys seen Grissom?" Catherine interrupted as she walked in. "He's not in his office."
"I thought he had that meeting with Atwater," Warrick replied, folding the newspaper closed.
"That was over an hour ago. And I'm sure he doesn't want to spend any more time with the sheriff than he has to," Catherine said.
"Okay, I'm invoking the five minute rule. If he's not here by then, I'm outta here," Nick quipped.
"If you're going to leave, I suggest you go to the Venetian," Grissom said as he entered the break room.
Nick smirked as he grabbed the assignment slip Grissom held out.
"Bachelor party gone bad," Grissom elaborated. "Cath, you go with."
"Alrighty. Let's get a move on." Catherine pushed Nick in the direction of the door.
Catherine glanced over at Nick while keeping her attention on the road as she drove. "What's up?"
He stared out the window. "Nothing." He hoped she couldn't tell that he still hadn't come down from Cloud Nine after the kiss he'd shared with Sara. He also hoped he'd be able to concentrate on work, and for once he was actually glad he and Sara were working different cases.
"Really," she regarded him with a bit of suspicion.
"Yeah."
"You're kind of quiet tonight."
"I'm fine," Nick replied in an even tone.
"Okay." Catherine left it at that. Sure, he was unusually quiet, but not in a bad way, so she didn't see any cause for concern. He didn't really seem troubled, just a little distracted.
They arrived at the Venetian and found David crouching near a body on the floor of a penthouse suite, Detective Vartan standing next to him.
"What've we got?" Catherine asked.
"Alexandra Chapel, age 25." Vartan didn't expound any further, as it was obvious from the victim's dress, or lack there of, that she was a stripper hired for the bachelor party.
Nick crouched down next to the assistant coroner. "What do you think, Dave?"
"Preliminary cause of death, asphyxiation via strangulation. Lots of bruising around her neck. Cuts and bruises on her arms too. She put up a fight," David replied.
Nick sighed.
"Room is registered to a Brian Lambert. Officers found him and the rest of the party members downstairs at the bar," Detective Vartan told the CSIs.
"I'll go," Nick told Catherine.
"Okay, I'll get started up here," Catherine said.
David left with the body, Nick left with the detective, and Catherine was left to process the suite. They worked quickly yet efficiently and headed back to the lab.
Catherine noticed Nick was quiet as they drove back, which was again unusual because she knew Nick always liked to start talking out theories on the drive back, eager to dig in and start trying to solve the case. But unlike their drive to the hotel, this time Catherine realized why Nick was quiet, having been able to study his expressions and demeanor a little more.
"Nicky, Nicky, Nicky," she smiled as she shook here head.
"What?" Nick looked at her curiously.
She chuckled softly. "You know, I really am happy for you that you're in love, but you being distracted isn't really good for the case."
"Huh? I'm not in-"
"You and Sara finally go out on a real date?"
His face registered shock. "What? No." He wondered where she got an idea like that, about him and Sara on a date. Although he thought it was a little strange that Catherine had correctly guessed his behavior had to do with Sara. What would make her think that? Of course he'd been harboring feelings for Sara for a while, probably longer than he'd be willing to admit, but he never told anyone.
"You mean someone else besides her is making you like this? She must be some woman," Catherine teased.
"There is no someone else." Nick's tone was a bit snippy.
"So you did go out with Sara."
"No."
Catherine glanced in his direction.
"We just kissed," he finally revealed.
"You kissed," she repeated for clarification.
"It's not what you think," he quickly replied, for some reasoning feeling he had to defend himself.
"A kiss is a kiss, Nick."
"Well this was different."
"That good, huh?" Catherine smiled.
Nick didn't respond, but he didn't have to; the color in his cheeks and the smile he failed to suppress spoke for him. Even so, he wouldn't have been able to lie about it. It was that good, and he had to give a kiss like that the recognition it deserved.
"So you kissed, but you didn't go out on a date? What, did you just knock on her door and decide you wanted to make out?" Catherine quipped.
"No. We were at the movies," he retorted in a curt tone, shifting in his seat.
"Aw, how cute. Kissing in the dark," Catherine teased, amused by Nick's discomfort.
Nick smirked. "It wasn't like that. It was while we were standing in line. It's complicated," he said with a wave of his hand as he turned to look out the window.
"I'm starting to see that," Catherine replied, still unsure of what exactly had gone on between her two coworkers. She wasn't surprised; from the day Sara had arrived in Las Vegas she knew there was something between Nick and Sara. She was just glad that something finally did happen, after nearly four years of shameless flirting.
Once back at the lab, they started working on their case, and before Nick knew it, it was seven in the morning and shift was over.
"Hi," Nick said as he walked into the locker room.
Sara smiled before she even turned around. "Hey," she greeted him back. "How's your case coming?"
"Pretty cut and dry. Bachelor party got out of hand, stripper ended up dead. How about you?"
"Nothing special, just a 406 at a pawn shop. At least I got to work solo."
"You heading home?" Nick asked as he opened his locker to stow his gear.
"Yeah."
"You want to grab breakfast?" He hoped he didn't sound too eager.
"Sure," Sara smiled, amused and somewhat flattered by the fact that Nick seemed more excited than usual at the prospect of having breakfast with her.
Nick slammed his locker shut and turned to her with a smile. "Great."
The two left the locker room and walked down the hall, running into Catherine on their way.
"Bye Catherine," Sara smiled.
"Have a good morning," Nick chimed in with a smile of his own.
"Yeah, you too." Catherine couldn't help but smile herself as she watched her two cheerful coworkers walk out together.