Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them, but as always a cup of coffee with George and Jorja would be nice, or perhaps I should set my sights a bit higher and ask them to join me for dinner.
Author's Note: After wandering the aisles of Home Depot over the weekend this idea came to me; and you never knew they had the remedy for writer's block.
Sara Sidle was close to developing a migraine. All she had wanted to do was take a quick trip to the local home improvement warehouse to buy a finial for a lamp she'd picked up at a yard sale. The problem was, the person who was attempting to help her really had no idea what a finial was, and at the moment she was clenching her jaw in an attempt to refrain from saying something nasty. It was her first night off in two weeks and she didn't need help from someone on their first day of work. She took a deep breath and interrupted the twenty-something man. "Look. I'll just come back."
"No, I'm sure we can find what it is you're looking for. I'll go get my manager or something." The poor guy looked seriously intimidated by Sara.
Sara let out an audible sigh and shrugged her shoulders. "Sure." She wasn't sure that she'd be there when the rookie employee returned, but at least she'd get a few seconds of peace while she looked through the lighting accessory section for a replacement finial.
She didn't really pay attention to the sound of approaching footsteps until she felt a hand on her waist, causing her to immediately stiffen and spin around, ready to confront whoever was invading her personal space, the sound of the drawl not quite registering until she was face to face with one of her coworkers.
"I scared you, didn't I?" Nick Stokes grinned at her.
Sara smirked and shook her head. "I thought you were the Home Depot Rookie coming back to offer me more misinformation."
Nick chuckled. "And you were gonna clock him, weren't you?"
She arched her brows quickly and couldn't help but laugh herself. "So what brings you here? I would have figured that you'd be out clubbing on your night off."
Nick feigned a hurt expression.
Sara smirked again, reaching out to pat his shoulder. "I just meant that I figured you'd be out doing something fun rather than working on some home improvement project."
He smiled at her. "Well, I kind of like home improvement projects. I've been replacing my light fixtures, and I just came to pick up a ceiling fan I ordered." He tilted his head in curiosity. "What brings you here, slow night on the police scanners?" His tone was full of teasing.
"For your information, I've picked up a hobby or two outside of law enforcement. I just needed to buy a new finial for a lamp I bought." She furrowed her brow and lowered her voice to a conspiratorial tone and gestured towards the front of the store. "Only the Home Depot Rookie doesn't know what one is."
Nick spoke in an equally conspiratorial tone, putting his arm around her shoulder as he began to propel them down the end of the lighting aisle. "As it so happens, I know where to find those."
She found herself giggling.
As the rounded the end of the aisle, Nick pointed to the finials. "There you go." He grinned at her.
She smiled at him genuinely. "Thanks Nick. I'm sure I'd have found them eventually, but maybe not before they closed."
Nick looked at her a little surprised. "A CSI like you?"
She pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest as she looked at him, trying to keep from smiling. "I may be the best CSI on the night shift, but it doesn't mean that I completely understand the logic of product placement in these stores."
"Oh, and she's humble too." Nick teased and then leaned forward and whispered loudly in her ear. "Don't let Warrick and Catherine know that you're the best CSI, they might get jealous."
She pushed him away playfully and giggled. "Oh, and you're not jealous."
He feigned shock. "Me? What have I to be jealous of?" He knew that she wasn't being serious, they all had strengths and weaknesses as CSIs and it was the combination of those that help to make them the number two lab in the country.
Sara just smirked. "I suppose I should pick out one of these finials that you so helpfully showed me where to find."
"I suppose that might be a good idea, seeing as how that's why you're here." He just grinned at her.
She quickly picked a finial off of the display and looked back at Nick, tilting her head ever so slightly. "So what does this ceiling fan of yours look like?"
Excitement began to dance in his eyes. "Well, I wanted the blades to match the wood of the beams on my ceiling so I had to special order them, but I figured as long as I was doing that, I might as well make sure the light matched all of my other fixtures." He noticed her amusement and chuckled. "Why don't I just show you?" He gestured towards the front of the lighting section.
They walked up the aisle only to be intercepted by the young man that had been attempting to help Sara. Before he could say anything, Sara held the finial up in her hand. "Found them."
"Great. Sorry about that." He noticed that not only had Sara picked up the finial, it appeared that she'd picked up a guy too. The young man furrowed his brow and fumbled over his words. "I'm glad you found what you came for." He turned and headed back to where he'd come from.
Nick couldn't help the chortle that escaped.
Sara looked over at him, her brows arching upwards. "What?"
Nick smirked. "I think the rookie kinda liked you."
Sara smirked back. "He was only doing his job."
Nick waggled his eyebrows. "Trust me, he was checking you out." He leaned over and whispered. "Not that I blame him, you look kinda hot."
Sara shook her head and giggled. "Please. I'm wearing jeans and a T-shirt." Her faded button fly Levi 501s were a pair that she'd had for as long as she could remember, but couldn't bear to throw away until they sprouted a hole that made them indecent to wear, and her Harvard T-shirt was just loose enough to be comfortable while still hugging her slight curves.
Nick smiled and whispered again, his voice a little husky. "And they make you look hot."
Sara felt her cheeks flush pink. "So where is your ceiling fan?" She wasn't sure she wanted to have this conversation with Nick in the middle of Home Depot.
Nick tried to retrain a full blown grin at the way she changed the subject. "Right over there." He pointed towards the Customer Service desk. "I just need to go pick it up."
"Are you going to install it yourself?" Sara queried him as they walked, wondering how in the world you could hold the fan up with one hand while attaching it to the ceiling with the other.
"Well I was gonna wait until I could get Warrick or Greg to help me out with it. It's kind of tricky to do with just two hands." Nick rested a hand on his hip as he handed the order receipt to the person behind the counter of the Customer Service desk.
"I could help you." Sara volunteered a little too quickly in her own mind.
"Really?" Nick's entire face crinkled into a smile. "That would be great."
"Here you go Mr. Stokes." The girl behind the customer service desk was smiling at Nick a bit too brightly, but he didn't seem to notice.
"Thanks." He smiled back and then loaded the box with the ceiling fan into a cart before turning towards Sara again. "Have you eaten yet?"
She shook her head, amused at his obliviousness to the girl behind the counter attempting to flirt with him. "No, I hadn't gotten to that yet. I thought this was only going to take ten minutes."
He began wheeling his cart to the checkout line. "Well, I'll stop and pick up some Thai food and then we can install this and just hang out for a while if you want."
"Excellent." Sara couldn't hide her smile at the idea of spending an evening with Nick outside of work.