Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them, but as always coffee is on me if George and Jorja have the time.
Author's Note: This is in response to a challenge.
Nick sauntered into the break room intent on finding some fresh coffee to keep him awake through his second shift and noticed Sara sitting at the table eating something. It was at that moment that his stomach decided to remind him that he hadn't eaten in a while. He glanced at Sara. "Whatcha eating?"
Sara slurped a spoonful of the substance before answering Nick's question. "Soup."
Nick quirked an eyebrow as he stepped a bit closer and glanced at her bowl. "What kind of soup?"
"Butternut squash." Sara slurped another spoonful. "I found this recipe on a website for one of those cooking shows. It's really good." She smiled at she swallowed another spoonful.
Nick looked doubtful. "I'll have to trust you on that. You do not want to know what that looks like."
Sara looked mildly put out as she quizzed him. "What does it look like?"
"Uh, are you sure you want me to tell you while you're eating?" Nick's brow was furrowed and he looked hesitant to share his observation with her.
Sara narrowed her eyes. "Nick." She sounded impatient.
Nick raised his hands in surrender. "Ok, ok." He let out a sigh and gave her a 'you asked for it' expression. "You remember that babysitting disaster you got yourself into?" There was a pregnant pause as Nick looked at her with raised eyebrows.
Sara looked mildly stricken as she recalled the event. She had volunteered to baby-sit for a friend thinking that a baby couldn't be that much trouble. She had ended up calling Nick for help after she discovered that the infant was having digestive issues. She had silently vowed to never change another diaper again. Sara glanced down at her soup and winced. She let out a resigned sigh and pushed the bowl back before looking up at Nick and glaring at him. "It was perfectly good soup before you reminded me of that."
"You asked." Nick wasn't going to take total responsibility for her sudden aversion to her Butternut squash soup.
Sara crossed her arms over her chest and harrumphed. "At least it's not sushi."
"Yeah, that's a smell I want in here again." Nick agreed sarcastically as he walked over to the coffee machine and sniffed to see how fresh it was.
"You know if fish smells fishy it's not fresh." Sara commented as she considered what else she might eat since Nick had effectively made her soup seem unappetizing.
"Someone should have told Hodges that before his sushi smelled up the whole lab." Nick pulled the coffeepot out of the dispenser to check the consistency to see how close it was to becoming sludge.
Sara remembered that she had some humus left over from her lunch the previous night and decided that she'd eat that; until she opened the container that is and found that the color was about the same as her Butternut squash soup. She unceremoniously shoved it back into the fridge.
"Hey, Sara, do you know how long this coffee's been sitting here?" Nick wasn't sure he wanted to trust the coffee enough to ingest it.
"Long enough that I don't think that it's Greg's." Sara replied as she wondered just where Greg was. They had been working on a case together and she had expected that he would be giving her an update on his progress with the identification of several insects as well as some stray feathers found at the crime scene.
Nick put the coffeepot back in the machine. "Maybe I'll see if I can find Sanders."
"He's working on a case." Sara commented without missing a beat. "At least he'd better be. I haven't seen him in a while." She sauntered over to the vending machine to peruse the options.
"Ah." Nick knew that meant Greg could be anywhere. He spoke to Sara in a conspiratorial tone. "Have any of us ever figured out where he hides his Blue Hawaiian?"
Sara let out a soft chuckle. "No, and I think he likes it that way; sort of his own personal 'stump the CSI' game." She continued studying the choices in the vending machine, disappointed because it seemed that all of the Snicker's bars were sold out. She finally settled on a Milky Way, though while not as satisfying as a Snicker's bar, was still tasty.
Nick eyed her candy bar predatorily.
Sara shot him a warning look. "Don't even think you're getting any of this. Especially after you ruined my lunch."
Nick decided to take a different tactic. "Doesn't that have fake chocolate in it?"
Sara rolled her eyes. "Nick, it's milk chocolate. Who ever heard of a chocolate free chocolate bar?"
"Carob." Nick looked smug. While he didn't usually frequent the health food section on his own accord, he had learned a thing or two about alternative candy when his mom went through a health food kick when he was a teenager.
Sara rolled her eyes again and reached into her pocket, pulling out a dollar bill. "Here, buy yourself one. I need this."
Nick snatched the dollar from her hand and quickly fed it into the machine before punching in the button for the Milky Way. "I owe you." He flashed her a grin.
"And you still owe me from last week too." Sara looked smug.
Nick felt a little color infuse his cheeks as he chuckled. "I thought we weren't going to bring that up at work." He took a bite out of his candy bar, effectively consuming a third of it.
Sara looked thoroughly amused and smirked at him. "Hey, I'm not the one that got stuck with Mr. Wiggles in the elevator."
Nick lowered his voice. "Hey, I was transporting him in the chair. I got tired of standing up because the damn elevator was stuck so long so I decided to sit down."
Sara was having a hard time keeping a straight face. "You didn't have to put him in your lap you know. You could have just sat on the floor of the elevator."
Nick shook his head and chuckled again. "You just don't want me to live this down do you?"
Sara crossed her arms over her chest and smiled. "I'm not the one who had a naked gel-man on my lap."
Nick rested his hands on his hips and just shook his head. "Let's just drop this, ok?" He was glad that Sara had been the only one to witness the somewhat compromising position he'd been in when the elevator had finally opened after being stuck for over an hour.
Sara giggled. "I could forget about it for a price." She looked as if she had something specific in mind.
"No." He shook his head adamantly. "I told you, I don't need a dog." Sara had been trying to get him to take the dog of a friend of hers that was moving overseas, and since she couldn't have pets in her apartment, she reasoned that Nick's house was perfect.
"Nick, he's really cute and I'd even come over and help take care of him." Sara looked so girly-girl when she whined.
Nick felt his resolve wavering. The idea of having an excuse for Sara to come over frequently was appealing, but he really didn't want to be responsible for a dog, even if it was a small dog.
Sara could tell by his expression that he was having second thoughts. "Please, Nick. He's little and he's cute. How could you say no to Swiffer the Wonder Dog?"
"He's named after a dust mop?" Nick looked at her oddly.
She smirked. "He looks like a dust mop."
Nick chortled. "It's a good think they didn't name him Comet."
Sara could tell he was having serious second thoughts and decided to just move in for the kill. "So you'll take him?"
Nick let out a resigned sigh and then smiled as Sara started to squeal. "I guess so."
Sara threw herself at him and hugged him, impulsively planting a kiss on Nick's cheek. "Thank you!"
Just then, Greg Sanders walked into the break room. A look of disappointment flashed across his face. "Am I interrupting something?" He tried to keep his tone light.
Sara and Nick sprung apart, but neither one of them could hold back their smiles; Nick from having Sara hug and kiss him, and Sara from the fact that Nick had finally caved about the dog.
"Nick's letting me have a dog." Sara was so excited that Nick was letting her keep the dog at his house that she forgot to fill in a few important details.
Greg's eyes widened slightly. "Uh, I didn't know you two were living together."
Nick considered that idea for a brief moment and the decided he'd better clear things up before he found himself getting into trouble. "We're not. Sara wants this dog but her apartment complex doesn't allow them."
Sara interjected, finally realizing how it all must sound to Greg's wild imagination. "So I asked Nick if I could keep him at his house and he said 'yes'."
Greg looked a bit skeptical. "You're getting a dog together, but you're not living together. How long have you been dating?" He wasn't about to let this go until he'd gotten the low down. Working out in the field, he didn't get the inside scoop on as many rumors as he used to.
"We're not dating." Nick was reluctant to admit that because he wished that they were.
"Uh, no, we're not." Sara agreed a bit too quickly and her face reflected a little bit of disappointment for a moment as she wondered if Nick would ever consider it.
"Uh, huh." Greg sounded doubtful.
Sara decided that a change in subject was in order. "What did you find out about the insects?" Her tone was all business.
Nick had to stifle a laugh at the speed in which Sara turned the tide of the conversation in the room.
Greg smirked and shifted gears. "Well, the insects are a type of beetle only found in the southern part of Africa. The Cederberg Mountains in South Africa to be specific. They feed on Aspalathus linearus, otherwise known as Rooibos, which makes a very tasty red tea."
Sara looked at him expectantly. "And the feathers?"
"Ah, also indigenous to South Africa. Hodges is trying to narrow it down between two types of swallows, but he's leaning towards the African Blue Tailed Swallow." Greg concluded with a smug smile. He arched his brows suggestively. "So, Sara, if you wanted a dog, you could have asked me." He smiled a bit too widely.
Sara rolled her eyes. "So what is a dead Elvis impersonator doing with a South African bird?"
"It's illegal to import birds without a permit." Nick observed.
Sara nodded. "Yeah. I wonder if the insects were just catching a ride."
"That's how many non-indigenous species ended up in North America." Grissom commented as he walked into the break room and looked at Nick with curiosity. "Are Catherine or Warrick still here?"
Nick furrowed his brow. "They should be. We all had a case that we were working on."
"I was afraid of that." Grissom replied. "I can't find either one of them and the elevator is stuck again."
Sara glanced over at Nick with an amused smiled.
He shot her a meaningful stare telling her that she'd better not say a word about Mr. Wiggles.
Greg wasn't really picking up on the silent communication between Nick and Sara. He was thinking about the elevator. "You know I read somewhere that if you use Bag Balm lotion and oatmeal on the cables once in a while that they don't stick as much."
All three of the others looked at Greg oddly.
"Hey, I'm just saying." Greg defended.
Grissom quirked an eyebrow.
Greg furrowed his brow as he wondered if he read it or saw it on TV. "Ok, I think it was actually an episode of one of those shows on the Discovery Channel." Greg looked over at Nick for some support. "I bet Nick knows what I'm talking about."
Nick snorted. "Not a clue."
Greg continued to try and explain. "It was all about elevators. I mean you'd think that the narrator was reporting on some big story or something by the tone of her voice." Greg couldn't help but smile. "She was pretty hot though." A thought occurred to Greg as more information regarding the alleged documentary filled his mind. He coughed and then smiled sheepishly. "Uh, or maybe it was a dream I had." He let his thoughts wander back to just what that dream was.
"TMI." Sara held up a hand and shook her head.
"If any of you see the elevator technician please let me know." Grissom informed them as he headed back towards his office.
She glanced at Nick. "I'm going to see if Hodges has confirmed that bird species."
Nick cleared his throat. "Uh, I'll go with you. I do know a little somethingabout birds you know."
Sara had a teasing expression on her face. "Our own little forensic ornithologist."
As they walked towards the trace lab, Nick nudged Sara's arm with his elbow. "So when do you want to go get this dog. What was his name?"
"Swiffer." Sara smiled widely. "How about after shift?"
Nick feigned a confused expression. "I'm not really sure when that is anymore."
Sara just chuckled. It was true with the hours they kept it was difficult to have a normal day.
They were just passing the elevator when the door unceremoniously opened revealing a very interesting sight. Catherine and Warrick were engaged in a very intense lip lock and seemed oblivious to the fact that they now had an audience. Nick and Sara just stood there in shocked amazement at the scene before them. In fact it wasn't until the elevator door started to close again that Catherine and Warrick finally broke apart to try and stop the door without success.
Sara turned towards Nick and smirked. "Now that was definitely a Kodak moment."
The End