A half hour later, Nick and Sara were sitting next to each other in a booth at the diner near the lab devouring omelets. Nick could not keep the grin off of his face at the thought that Sara Sidle actually wanted to be with him. He had liked her since the day he'd met her, but there seemed to be some unwritten rule that Grissom had some claim to her. She, however, had made it abundantly clear that she wanted to be with him, there was no mistaking that in her kiss.
"You know we never did spackle your ceiling where the sheetrock cracked." Sara commented as she took a sip from her cup of coffee, conscious of the fact that her thigh was pressed flush against Nick's.
Nick let out a chuckle. "Well it would probably be a good idea if I did that by myself." He winked at her, nudging her with his elbow.
Sara swallowed her coffee and set the cup down, doing a horrible job at trying to swallow her slightly embarrassed smile. "Good point."
"Besides, I need to repaint the ceiling anyway, so I'll probably just wait until I get around to doing that before I spackle it." He took a sip from his own cup of coffee, still incredulous that he and Sara were an item.
Neither one of them noticed the bell on the door jingling as another patron entered the diner. It wasn't until there was someone standing at the end of their table that either one of them glanced up.
"You two don't get enough of this place that you have to come here on your night off?" Warrick looked mildly amused at the fact that they were sitting side by side in the booth instead of opposite each other.
"Hey, Rick." Nick glanced at him quizzically "Aren't you still on shift?"
Warrick nodded, noting the relaxed and cozy demeanor of his two friends. "Yeah, I'm on a food run while I'm waiting for DNA results. What are you two up to?" His curiously raised eyebrow and the tone of his voice implied that he got the impression that something was going on between the pair.
Sara couldn't keep her smile from widening. "I helped Nick install a ceiling fan in his bedroom." In the back of her mind she reasoned that the thirty-five cents she had spent on the lamp with the missing finial was the best buy she'd ever made, because without it she might not have run into Nick at Home Depot.
"Well I hope you're done because I have a feeling that Grissom just might call at least one of you in. Got a pretty nasty case earlier and looks like we're all pulling doubles." Warrick's laid back tone belied the thoughtful intelligence that lay behind his green eyes.
Nick glanced over at Sara, a smile spreading across his face unbidden. "Maybe we should just swing by the lab when we're done eating and save him the trouble."
She nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a good idea." She felt the corners of her mouth tugging upwards as she focused in on Nick's lips for a moment.
Warrick cleared his throat. "Mind if I sit down until my order's ready or did you two want to be alone?" Amusement was evident in his tone and in his expression.
Nick let out a laugh and leaned back in the booth. "Have a seat." He glanced over at Sara and grinned again. "We've already been alone enough tonight."
Sara's cheeks tinged a little pink as she forked a bit of omelet and popped it into her mouth.
As Warrick sank his lanky frame into the seat across the booth from Nick and Sara, he put on his best investigative face and cut to the chase. "Is there something going on between you two that I should know about?" He just wanted to hear them voice what he found obvious based on the evidence.
Nick nudged Sara with his elbow and grinned at her.
She let out a soft chuckle and looked at Warrick with a smile. "Uh, Nick and I decided we should see each other."
Nick casually slung an arm over her shoulder as he regarded his friend on the other side of the booth. "Actually, I picked her up wandering the aisles of Home Depot and she couldn't resist my charm."
Sara elbowed him in the ribs and let out a giggle. "I wasn't wandering. I was looking for a finial."
Nick raised an eyebrow. "Which I helped you find."
She turned to look at him and smiled. "Yes, you did."
Warrick let out a deep chuckle. "It's about time one of you did something."
Both Nick and Sara looked over at him with surprised expressions.
Warrick quirked an eyebrow. "Don't even tell me that you two haven't been flirting for the last four years."
Neither one of them said a word because they both knew that they were guilty as charged. And before Warrick could say anything else, Nick's cell phone started to ring. He pulled it off his belt and glanced at the caller ID before he answered. "Hey, Gris, I'm just around the corner at the diner, Warrick told Sara and I that you might need us to come in." There was a lengthy pause as Nick listened to their supervisor. "Yeah, she's right here." Another shorter pause. "We'll be there as soon as I pay the bill." With that he ended the call.
While Nick was on the phone, the waitress had brought Warrick his order. He unfolded himself from the booth and gestured towards the door. "I'll see you two at the lab then."
Nick waved to Warrick and then turned to Sara and spoke in a conspiratorial tone, mischief dancing in his eyes. "It's a good thing we decided to go out to eat. I would have hated to get interrupted."
Sara leaned in to kiss him softly, smirking as she pulled away and looked into his eyes. "There will be plenty of time for that at a later date, and we'll make sure that we can't get interrupted."