Dawn broke in pink and orange thin streaks that stretched though the neon haloed night sky then spread, growing wider until they met, joining at the edges, chasing the darkness to the other side of the world. Catherine and Warrick had left an hour before, Catherine hurrying home to her daughter Lindsay, now an almost teenager who'd lately become angry and hostile. Catherine secretly longed for the days of pancake breakfasts and cartoon marathons.
On her way to the locker room, Sara passed the closed door of Grissom's office. Shaking off her urge to knock, she continued on, and after a moments thought, pulled out her cell phone, dialing as she passed through the locker room double doors. Rai answered on the third ring. "I woke you up." Sara said into the phone.
"No. Actually, I got up about ten minutes ago, you got me out of the shower."
"Wanna grab some breakfast?" Sara asked, holding her phone in her right hand, she shrugged her left arm out of her jacket.
"I wish I could, but Nicks coming over."
"Nick who?" Sara stopped, her jacket hanging half off.
Rai laughed. "Come on, he's cute, polite, and I like that Texas drawl thing he's got going on."
Sara was speechless, but she hadn't heard that tone in her friends voice for quite a while. After a moment, she realized the only thing she was jealous about was Rai's ability to open herself up. Rai had always been able to talk to anyone about anything, with Sara, it took a while, a long while for her to trust anyone new.
"Sar?" Rai's voice broke through her thoughts. "It's ok, isn't it? I mean you didn't have designs on him, did you?"
"No." Sara gasped, almost laughing. "No, it's fine. Now that I think about it, I think you two will get along really well." She nodded her head, agreeing with herself.
On her end of the phone, Rai smiled. "Nice to hear. Usual Sunday brunch tomorrow?"
"Sounds great." Sara answered "I'll call you later." Rai heard the click of Sara's phone and replaced her own handset back in its cradle. Unwinding the towel around her, Rai stepped into a pair of denim shorts and a pulled on a spaghetti strapped black tank top. She pulled her hair into a haphazard half ponytail, half bun and secured it with an elastic band. Barefoot, she padded into her kitchen to put on a pot of coffee.
An hour later, Nick, himself freshly showered, pulled the Tahoe up to the address Rai had given him. Climbing out of the truck, he pushed the button on the remote hanging from his key chain, clicking the car alarm on, and took two jogging steps to the sidewalk. He craned his neck, checking the apartment doors, looking for apartment F. Climbing the stairs, he found it, knocked, and heard a dog barking from inside.
"Hush up Monte." Rai hurried to the door and checked the peephole, smiling as she opened the door. "Come on in handsome." She stepped back and to the side, giving him room. Walking past her, he smiled, embarrassed, and looked down at the carpet. When he brought his eyes back up, they trailed her body. Her pink painted toes, bare legs, her breasts, unrestrained by a bra moved underneath the fabric of her top as she shifted from one foot to another under the weight of his glance. Nick cleared his throat, silently laughing at himself.
Rai chewed on her bottom lip and shut the door. Her back to him, Nick couldn't help but look at her ass. "I thought it'd be nice to eat here." She turned around, catching his line of sight before he could look up. "If that's ok with you."
"Yeah, yeah, that'd be fine." Nick tossed his jacket onto the purple couch next to the door.
Monte, jealous he was not the center of attention, let out a short bark. Nick looked down to find the yellow lab at his feet, tail wagging, and his right front leg in a cast. "That's why you didn't take him hiking with you."
Rai snorted. "You're just like Sara, answering your own questions even before asking them." She slapped her thigh "Come on Monte" she said as she made her way down the hall toward the bedroom. Monte looked to Nick, asking for reprieve. Nick cocked his head to one side as if to say, 'sorry buddy'. With a whine, Monte stood up, a bit wobbly and followed Rai to the bedroom. A minute later, Nick heard the door shut. She came back out into the living room. "He broke it two weeks ago, on our last trip out." She turned in her path, stopping at the kitchen door. "It'll just be another minute. Quiche ok?"
"Quiche?"
"Yeah. I mean I didn't know if you'd want breakfast or dinner, since it's the end of your day, so I thought quiche would be a good compromise." She shrugged. "Real men don't eat quiche, do they?" She quoted a commercial from childhood.
"No, no, it's fine. As a matter of fact, anything that isn't from a paper bag sounds good." The kitchen timer went off.
Using her thumb to point into the kitchen behind her, Rai said, "I'll just be a few minutes. Make yourself at home." She disappeared through the kitchen door.
Nick looked around. The purple couch he'd tossed his jacket onto sat next to the front door, facing the television on the opposite wall. An overstuffed red armchair, the kind big enough for two sat in another corner, a hanging lamp over it, and a stack of books on the floor near its legs.
A large easel sat near the window, sketchbooks, colored pencils, pastels and other paraphernalia littered the coffee table. "You're an artist." He called out, half question, half statement. From down the hall, Monte barked.
"Yeah, I illustrate kids books. Just push anything that's in your way to the side." Her voice muffled by the kitchen door.
He walked to the bookshelf on the wall next to the television. Hardbacks and paperbacks lined each of the five shelves, periodically broken up by a knickknack or framed photo. Nick picked up a five by seven picture of a younger Rai and Sara, he guessed they were about seventeen; their arms wrapped around each others shoulders, the Golden Gate behind them. They were both smiling broadly to the camera, eyes squinted in the bright California sun and Nick had to smile himself, caught up in the long ago gaiety.
"That was right before Sara left for Harvard." Rai spoke from the kitchen doorway, he turned to find her placing the quiche and a pot of coffee on to the café sized dining table.
"Let me help you with that." He set the frame back down where he'd found it and walked over to her.
An hour later, quiche reduced by half, the coffee pot drained, Nick tossed his napkin on to his empty plate and finished telling her about a drunk he'd pulled over when he was on the Dallas police force.
"So, I'm in the squad car, calling in his tags, when I see him walk over to the shoulder, unzip and..."
"Oh no!" Rai laughed, astonished.
He nodded emphatically, "Yes! He's taking a leak right there during rush hour." He watched her as she threw her head back and laughed. Seeing her do that, his mind flashed on other things he could do to get her to throw her head back. Rai, still giggling, brought her head back down and caught the look in his eyes. She pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth for just a moment before she took a deep breath.
"I'd better clean this up." She stood and reached for his plate, stacking in atop her own and carried them into the kitchen.
A moment later he heard the water in the sink running. Clearing his throat, he willed away the thoughts that were taking over his head, grabbed the coffee pot and cups and walked in to the kitchen.
She was rubbing a soapy sponge over the stovetop and he slid the coffee pot back into its place in the maker. Setting the cups down on the countertop next to the sink, he noticed the sink was nearly full, so he shut off the water. "Something wrong with your dishwasher?"
"Yeah, landlord hasn't fixed it yet."
"Want me to take a look at it?"
She turned and raised an eyebrow. "You know anything about dishwashers?"
An embarrassed grin spread over his face, he looked at his feet and shook his head. "Not a thing."
Her shoulders shook in a silent laugh, she plunged her hands into the sink. "I think I'll wait for my landlord," she laughed.
Nick found himself only inches away, her perfume mixed with the coconut sent of her shampoo. His stomach tightened and before he even realized what he was doing, he reached up, and pulled the elastic band from her hair. Suddenly unbound, auburn corkscrew curls tumbled down her back. She half turned, astonished, he took her face in his hands and pulled her mouth to his. It took only seconds for her brain to catch up, and she parted her lips, deepening the kiss, allowing his tongue to slip in to her mouth. She pulled her hands out of the sink, and threw them around his neck, water dripping from her fingertips down his back. He moved his hands from her face to her shoulders then around to her back, pulling her tighter against him.