Nick stood in front of his bathroom mirror and adjusted his tie for the third time, making sure it was perfectly straight. Sara was his friend and she probably wouldn't even care if his tie was crooked, but it didn't hurt to look nice. Nevertheless, he just wanted to have a good time. Having already rescheduled twice, he was really looking forward to finally spending the evening with Sara.

His cell phone started ringing and he hurried to grab it off his dresser before his voice mail picked up. "Stokes," he answered, praying it wasn't the lab calling to say he had to come in to work.

"Hey, you want to grab some food before shift? Cath wants to try that new seafood place that just opened next to the golf course," Warrick asked.

"Thanks, but I already have plans. I'm actually on my way out right now," he lied, not wanting to get into the details of his "plans."

"Is it that new detective that just transferred from LA?" Warrick assumed Nick meant he had a date.

"No."

"That new A/V tech that Archie's been training?"

"No."

"Then who?" Warrick was puzzled.

"I gotta go man, I'm gonna be late," he lied again, wanting to get Warrick off his back.

Nick's elusiveness was starting to get Warrick suspicious. "Hey, if your 'date' is with takeout and the Discovery Channel-"

"Good-bye, Rick," Nick cut him off by hanging up, shaking his head and smiling to himself. He wasn't ready to tell Warrick or anyone else in the lab about his date with Sara, at least not yet, since there wasn't really anything to tell yet.

Warrick pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it curiously for a second, wondering why Nick was being so secretive. He shrugged it off, saving his thoughts for table gossip. Maybe Catherine or Sara would know something.

When Warrick arrived at the restaurant, twenty minutes after the time they'd agreed to meet, he was surprised to see that Catherine was the only one there. "Where is everyone?" he asked.

"Grissom, lab. Sara-"

"Lab," Warrick finished her sentence, certain that it was what Catherine was going to say.

Catherine shook her head. "Nope. Said she'd already made other plans."

Warrick raised an eyebrow.

Catherine just shrugged. "Did you call Nick?"

"Yeah, he said he had a date." There was a hint of skepticism in Warrick's tone, suggesting he still didn't believe that Nick was telling the truth.

"With who?"

"Don't know. Couldn't get it out of him. All I know is it's not that new detective from LA and it's not that hottie Archie's been training."

Catherine smiled, hoping his date was with who she thought it was with.

"You know something I don't?" Warrick eyed her as he sat down next to her.

Catherine glanced at the empty chairs around the table, as if to remind him of who else besides Nick had declined their invitation because they'd already had plans.

"You're kidding." He was more shocked than his tone implied. Although he shouldn't have been surprised, he'd seen it coming. It had been obvious for years; it was only a matter of time.

Catherine only arched her eyebrows up at him.

"Man, who'd have thought," he shook his head. "Nick and Griss," he kidded.

Catherine slapped him playfully on the arm.

"Well I guess it's just you and me," Warrick grinned.

"My luck day," Catherine deadpanned.

Sara's doorbell rang at precisely five-thirty. "Hi," she greeted Nick with a toothy smile when she opened the door.

He took in the sight of Sara in her low cut, knee length red dress and was momentarily speechless. "Hi," he managed after a few seconds.

"I'm almost ready, I just need to get my shoes," Sara said as she let Nick inside.

"Okay." He was still having trouble finding any words.

Sara retreated to her bedroom and reemerged wearing her heels. "Okay, I'm ready." She noticed Nick was carrying a bouquet of white trumpet lilies. "Were you planning on carrying those around all night or did you want to give them to me now?" she teased.

Nick had completely forgotten about the flowers in his hands. "Oh, right. These are for you." He handed her the bouquet with a sheepish grin.

"Thanks," she smiled. "Lilies are my favorite."

"I know," he gave her a small smile.

Sara was a little surprised by this, considering she never remembered having ever mentioned it. "Let me just put these in water real quick."

Nick watched Sara as she retrieved a vase from a kitchen cupboard and filled it with water. He was still amazed at how beautiful she looked. Of course she'd look beautiful in anything (or nothing, but he wanted to keep his mind from wandering into that territory, at least for now), but with the dress she had on, she was breathtaking.

"What?" Sara gave him a look when she noticed he was staring.

"Nothing. I mean, you look great. Amazing," he smiled.

"Thanks," she blushed. "You don't look too bad yourself," she returned the compliment as she took a good look at him in his charcoal gray suit for the first time, realizing just how much of an understatement her comment was. She'd seen him in a suit a few times before when he'd had court appearances, but she hoped he'd never worn this one before; it made him almost too handsome, and she was sure it would have been too distracting for the females (and probably some males too) in court.

Nick cleared his throat to break the tension. "So you ready?"

"Yeah."

Nick reached for the doorknob, but Sara was quicker and grabbed it first, so he ended up grabbing her hand.

"Sorry," Nick muttered nervously as he quickly retracted his hand.

"That's okay." Sara too let go of the doorknob as she let out a nervous chuckle and smiled at him.

Nick again reached for the doorknob and this time opened the door. He gestured for Sara to go ahead. "Ladies first," he smiled.

Sara smiled back, and Nick wasn't sure what it was, that smile, or the way she looked in that dress, or both, but suddenly he found his mind wandering into the territory that he told himself to steer clear of. And he wasn't even sure if he made the first move, but before he knew what hit him, they were kissing like they were the other day at the movie theater. But this time, under these circumstances, this kiss definitely meant something. It meant a whole lot to Nick and he realized it also meant a lot to Sara when he felt her reaching for his belt buckle while simultaneously pulling him with her as she backpedaled toward her bedroom.

"Wait," Nick pulled away.

"What?" Sara looked at him, confused and little out of breath.

He reached out and pushed the front door closed. "Okay," he grinned at her.

Sara rolled her eyes and grabbed Nick's tie to pull him towards her, her lips reconnecting with his as they picked up where they left off, somehow managing to stagger all the way to the bedroom without taking their hands or lips off each other.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure we're doing things out of order again," Nick said as he absentmindedly twirled a lock of Sara's hair around his finger. They were lying in each other's arms, on the bedroom floor because they'd fallen off the bed, under Sara's new silk sheets that they'd stripped off the bed.

Sara craned her neck to look at him. "What, are you complaining?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No ma'am," Nick grinned.

"I didn't think so." She leaned in to kiss him. She felt Nick start to smile and she pulled away. "What?"

Nick had a big grin on his face. "So when do you want to go out on that date?"

- The End -

A/N: As always, thanks to those of you who took the time to review. Your comments are greatly appreciated.