"Can I get you two anything else?" the waitress asked after she placed the two plates of food on the table.
Nick and Sara looked at each other for a second before Nick turned to the waitress. "I think we're good, thanks," he smiled politely.
"Okay. Enjoy," the waitress smiled and left.
Nick rubbed his hands together and looked at his plate eagerly. "Ah, food."
Sara rolled her eyes. She could never remember a time when Nick wasn't hungry. And as she looked at his full plate of French toast, eggs, and bacon, she didn't doubt that it would be all gone in about twenty minutes. How could he eat so much and still have a body that looked that good? She watched as Nick grabbed the ketchup bottle and practically drowned his eggs in a sea of red. She scrunched up her nose in disgust.
Nick noticed her repulsed look. "What?"
She communicated by glancing at his eggs and then at him.
He pretended not to catch her silent comment. He held up the ketchup bottle to her. "Ketchup?" he offered with a grin.
Sara only rolled her eyes again and turned her attention to her own food.
"Well tomatoes are good for you," Nick muttered as he scooped a forkful of eggs into his mouth.
They ate in companionable silence and no one spoke until they were almost finished with their meals.
"So, I was thinking," Nick said as he stared down at the remnants of his soggy, red-tinted scrambled eggs and idly picked at them.
Sara used her fork to reach over and steal a piece of French toast off of Nick's plate, eating it without protest from him. "Were you." She looked at him with intrigue.
He finished off the last of his bacon. "Yeah."
"Are you going to elaborate on that or am I just supposed to be happy for you that you're capable of processing your thoughts all by yourself?" she quipped.
Nick smirked at her but his expression turned serious again before he spoke. "I was thinking that maybe it's time we went out on a date." He'd been thinking about it since their kiss, and he knew he wouldn't have been able to get it off his mind until he went ahead and asked her. He needed to find his courage and just ask her and get it out of the way; otherwise the anticipation of her acceptance or rejection would have eaten him alive.
"It's time?" Sara thought Nick's choice of words was a little odd.
"Well since we already kissed, I figured the next logical step would be a date," he explained, the calmness of his voice belying the shakiness of his nerves.
"Doesn't the date usually come first?" There was a hint of teasing in Sara's voice.
"Okay so we're doing things a little backwards."
"Are you sure you're okay with that? I mean I know how you like order." She continued with her teasing tone, prolonging Nick's agony. She already knew she wanted to say yes, but she liked watching him squirm. He was cute when he was nervous.
Nick raised an eyebrow. "What? You're the neat freak."
"I've seen how you get when your DVDs get out of alphabetical order," she countered.
"Look, do you want to go on the date or not?" he asked in a tone verging on irritated as he realized nervousness and frustration were not a good combination.
Sara giggled. "Yeah," she finally said, putting him out of his misery.
Nick's jaw dropped slightly as he looked at her for a second before saying anything. "Yeah?" He wanted to make sure he'd heard correctly.
"Yeah," Sara repeated with a smile.
Simultaneous feelings of relief and joy washed over Nick. He smiled back at her. "Okay."
"Okay," Sara mimicked.
Nick looked at her. "Now what?"
"Well I think we should pick a day. That might be helpful," she suggested with a sarcastic smirk.
"Oh, right." His elation over Sara's acceptance had temporarily inhibited his ability to think clearly. "Okay, when's your next night off?"
Sara thought for a moment. "In about three weeks I think."
"Three weeks?" That was definitely longer than Nick wanted to wait. "What about tomorrow? We can have an early dinner before shift."
"Tomorrow?" Sara wasn't expecting him to pick a day so soon.
"No good? Well what about-"
"No, tomorrow's good," she smiled. Even though she wasn't expecting the short notice, it didn't mean she minded.
"Okay. Great. Then it's a date," Nick grinned.
"I guess it is," Sara smiled back.
That night, Nick strolled into the break room with a big smile on his face, bigger than the one he usually wore when he greeted everyone at the start of shift.
"You get lucky this morning or something?" Warrick quipped when he noticed Nick's extra cheerful demeanor.
"I hate to disappoint you, since I know how you need to live your sexual fantasies through me, but no."
Warrick scoffed as let out a chuckle. "I think you got it backwards, bro. When was the last time you had a date?"
Nick didn't answer, instead coming back with a line of his own. "Hey, what was the name of that dayshift tech from ballistics you had drinks with last week, the one who came crawling to you after I turned her down?"
Sara and Catherine exchanged a glance before shaking their heads. Boys will be boys.
Grissom walked in and interrupted their conversation. "Alright boys and girls, full plate tonight. Warrick, you're with me, a fire broke out at a tattoo parlor on the Strip, suspicious circs. Nick, you're on your own. Hit and run."
"Solo? Alright!" Nick sounded like a child who had just received a new bike for his birthday.
"Wow, your night just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?" Warrick deadpanned.
Nick smirked at him. He wasn't going to let Warrick ruin the great day he'd had, first making a date with Sara and now getting to work solo.
"Ladies, 419 at the YMCA pool," Grissom concluded as he handed out the last assignment slip.
They went their separate ways, and Nick's thoughts of his upcoming date with Sara were temporarily put on hold as he immersed himself in his case. By the end of shift he was both mentally and physically tired, and he was looking forward to a good morning's sleep, hoping to catch enough shuteye so he'd be refreshed for his date.
He was awakened in the late afternoon, an hour before he'd set his alarm clock to go off, by the ringing of his cell phone. "Stokes," he answered a bit groggily.
"Sorry, were you sleeping?" Sara asked on the other end of the line.
"No. I mean yeah, but. What's up?"
"I'm sorry for the short notice, but I didn't want to call until I was absolutely sure."
As Sara paused, Nick immediately realized what she was about to tell him. "You're still at the lab, aren't you."
"Yeah." Her tone was apologetic. "The case is hotter than we expected. We have the sheriff breathing down our necks, some big political thing," Sara explained.
Nick felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as the disappointment set in. "Okay, no worries." Of course he'd had dinner with Sara numerous times before, but this time, because they were calling it a "date," Nick had placed more significance on this particular dinner and had been more eager than usual. The fact that it was a date meant there was the possibility of more dates, the possibility of changes in their relationship, possibilities he definitely wanted to explore.
"Sorry." Sara felt genuinely bad as she heard how disappointed Nick sounded.
"No problem, don't apologize. When duty calls, you have to answer, right?" Nick tried to lighten the mood.
"Yeah." Sara couldn't help but smile to herself. Nick could find the good in any situation.
"Well good luck on your case. I'll talk to you later."
"Thanks," Sara replied as she hung up and sighed. She almost scolded herself for wishing she could just leave and go out with Nick instead. She never imagined that she'd rather go on a date than work. The strange part was that she didn't understand why it was bothering her so much that they had to postpone; it wasn't like she'd never had dinner with Nick before. They'd shared many meals, just the two of them, over the years. Although this time they were calling their meal a date, which meant it wasn't really the same, right? They couldn't really act like they were just old friends, could they? There were certain expectations, no matter what their pre-existing relationship was like, that came with the term "date," weren't there?
Sara sighed again. Regardless, she didn't have time to worry about that now. She finished up her coffee and walked out of the break room to check in with Greg.