Despite the fact that the case Sara worked that night was a gristly homicide, she couldn't quite keep the smile off of her face at the conversation that she and Nick had shared before shift began and at the anticipation of spending some time with him later.
Her exceptionally sunny disposition did not go unnoticed by Catherine who was on the other side of room in which their victim had been killed. She was in the process of dusting a coffee table for prints and glanced up at Sara, catching a smile spreading across the younger CSI's face as she took pictures of blood spatter. Catherine furrowed her brow. "Did you find something?"
Sara looked over and shook her head, her smile still in place. "Nothing remarkable. You?"
Catherine looked at Sara quite oddly. "Nothing." She turned her attention back to the table she was dusting and watched Sara out of the corner of her eye. At the end of last shift, Sara had seemed pretty out of it, distracted by something, and now, she was, well to put it bluntly, a little too happy. Catherine was immediately suspicious.
Sara continued photographing the blood spatter in a methodical fashion, her thoughts continuing to drift to Nick. In spite of herself she let out a soft chuckle as she remembered the look on his face after she'd kissed him; there was no doubt about it, he had been dumbfounded.
At the sound of Sara's laugh, Catherine looked up and raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her. "Since when is blood spatter funny?" Sara's behavior was completely out of character and Catherine's suspicions were heightened considerably.
Sara wasn't sure what Catherine was talking about. "I'm sorry, what was that?" She looked a little confused since she wasn't aware that she'd laughed out loud.
Catherine had a bit of a sly smile on her face as she regarded Sara. "You were laughing." Catherine smirked. "Actually, it was pretty damn close to a giggle."
Sara's eyes widened ever so slightly and she tried to play it off. "I guess I was thinking about something else." Sara turned her attention back to what she was doing hoping that Catherine would just drop the subject.
Catherine let out a throaty laugh. "Spill it Sara." Sara's demeanor spoke volumes.
Sara looked at Catherine with a blank expression. "Spill what?" She had been so lost in thought about Nick and their breakfast date after shift that she hadn't realized that Catherine had been watching her.
Catherine deadpanned. "What's his name?" If there was one thing that Catherine recognized it was the look of a woman who had been enamored by some guy, and while she'd seldom seen it on Sara, well, actually she wasn't sure she'd ever seen it on Sara, even with the crush she'd nursed on Grissom because Gil Grissom was constantly doing things that sent Sara into a funk never being the wiser for his actions, this was definitely not a Gil Grissom induced funk.
Sara did her best to try and keep her smile at bay, but the color infusing her cheeks was a dead giveaway that Catherine had hit the nail on the head. "What makes you think it's some guy?"
Catherine looked at her in disbelief. "Give me a little credit." Catherine hadn't been a CSI for over fifteen years without learning a thing or two about human behavior.
Sara knew that Catherine wouldn't be satisfied until she'd gotten enough information for a plausible explanation. She tried to swallow her smile again without much success. "Ok, so maybe there is someone."
Catherine wasn't budging until she got more. "Uh, huh." She crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head slightly.
Sara turned to face Catherine and knew that there was no way she was going to be able to be vague about this, but she was going to give it her best shot. "Ok, so I have a date after shift."
Catherine looked at her expectantly.
Sara smirked. "It's not like I've never gone on a date, Catherine." She hoped she could turn the conversation.
Catherine had a smug expression. "Must be some guy." She could tell that whoever this was that Sara had a date with must be pretty special.
Sara looked at Catherine curiously. "What makes you say that?" Catherine seemed so sure of herself, something that Sara wasn't even sure of at this point.
Catherine tried to restrain a smile. "Sara, I've never seen you this distracted at a crime scene, and nobody giggles when they're photographing blood spatter.
A soft smile spread across Sara's face. There was no way that Catherine was going to let this drop and Sara was apparently not fooling her so she cut to the chase. "I have a date with Nick."
Catherine didn't really process what Sara had just said. "Who?"
"Nick." Sara looked a bit flustered and turned back to photographing the scene.
"Nick Stokes." Catherine's tone clearly implied that she was surprised and was trying to clarify that she'd heard Sara correctly.
"That's what I said." There was an ever so slight waver in Sara's voice. She wouldn't say it, but Catherine's reaction had felt like a sucker punch in her gut. It hurt that Catherine would be shocked that Nick would want to go out with her.
"Sara." Catherine knew immediately that she'd struck a nerve with her younger coworker and she softened her tone, a smile spreading across her face.
Sara glanced up and felt her nerves ebb a little as she noted Catherine's friendly expression.
"I didn't mean that like it sounded." Catherine hoped that Sara knew she was being sincere.
Sara wasn't sure what to say and she swallowed hard as she looked at Catherine a bit blankly.
"I just didn't realize that you two were more than just friends." Catherine hoped that Sara didn't think she was against the idea, she wasn't, she was just taken a bit by surprise.
Sara felt incredibly uncomfortable and cleared her throat. "Ok, so I'm thinking that with this pattern of spatter that the vic was standing up when he was hit."
Catherine couldn't help but smile as she took Sara's hint and turned her attention to where she was pointing at the castoff pattern on the wall. She made a mental note to ask Nick about this new development later.