IIIIIDISCLAIMER : I don't own CSI nor it's characters. Everything belongs to the brains behind this wonderful show. Props go out to them. :D
AUTHOR'S NOTE : A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! ;D
Thanks for the great reviews!
---------------------------
CHAPTER XIII
Catherine and Warrick were in the break room. They had agreed to come earlier than they usually did to have a few minutes with Nick.
"What is taking Nicky so long?" Catherine complained. She had been impatiently tapping her fingers on the table. Warrick wanted to comment on it, but thought better of it, not risking Catherine's temper on him.
"Relax," Warrick soothed, "He's going to get here soon enough."
"I'm aging here..." Catherine said, eyeing the hallways leading to the break room for any sign of Nick.
A couple of minutes flew by and just as Catherine was about to once again complain about Nick's tardiness, she caught sight of him walking briskly towards the break room.
"About time you got here!" Catherine huffed as soon as Nick stepped inside the room. "Where were you?"
"Hey guys, sorry for being so late." Nick apologized.
"Save it!" Catherine cut in, Warrick simply shook his head at Catherine's impatience. "Okay, c'mon, spill. What happened?"
"Calm down, woman," Nick said, trying to evade Catherine's glare.
"So," Catherine ignored him and continued on, "aren't you going to tell us what happened?"
"Yes, I am!" Nick laughed, completely amused at Catherine's behavior. "If you'll give me a chance..." Nick paused and gave Catherine a knowing look. When Catherine did not say anything, Nick continued saying, "Well, Sara did a duet tonight."
"Really?" Catherine expressed, leaning her elbows on the table. "Who? Who'd she sing with?"
"Some guy named Bobby?" it was more like a question than a statement.
"Oh yeah," Warrick spoke for the first time since Nick came in, "Another guy who performs there, saw him first time I went. Funny thing, he brought his friends last time, but he did have a good voice."
"Yeah, I thought so too." Nick agreed, while Catherine stared from one man to the other.
"Aaaannddd?..." Catherine snapped her fingers.
"Geez, I never imagined you'd be hooked on Sara singing like this!" Nick joked.
"Yeah well, I've always liked her voice," Catherine defended, "it's the songs she sings I'm interested in. Shows the emotional Sidle from time to time."
"Amen to that." Warrick nodded. After some thought, Nick nodded to this too.
"Anyway," Nick broke the short silence that followed. Nick didn't want to spend another minute with the impatient Catherine oggling him with details, Nick told them what happened at the bar.
He told them how Sara blew his mind away with her voice and how amazed he was when she sang every single high note. He told them how proud he was of Sara and how he wanted to tell her exactly that.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Greg had been working on Ecklie's case for a while now. Tiredness was starting to seep into his body and he felt the whispers of sleep beckoning him. He was pulling a double himself as the other DNA technician was off for some personal time today.
He straightened up his form to loosen the knots that have formed on his back. Moving his neck this way and that helped him relax a bit.
"One more blood sample to process and hello Blue Hawaiian!" Greg thought to himself.
It took another 10 minutes before he could finally get away from the lab to go grab his coffee. On the way to the break room, he noticed Sara walking into the lab. He gave Sara a small wave of his hand as she caught sight of him as well. He didn't need to ask where she was headed as he knew she always stopped by the locker rooms.
He saw what looked like an intense conversation going on between Warrick, Nick and Catherine in the break room. He didn't want to intrude upon their conversation but curiosity got the better of him. He quickened his step and caught a bit of their conversation without them realizing that he was within hearing range.
"I gotta tell you, I wasn't sure what to expect from Sara," Nick was telling Catherine and Warrick, "But hearing her sing those songs, she was just... she was fantastic!"
"What's this about Sara singing?" Greg interrupted. All heads turned to him, surprise registering on their faces.
"Greg, how long have you been standing there?" Catherine asked, her eyes narrowing.
"Long enough to hear you guys talking about Sara..." Greg grinned, "and secretly, I might add."
Nick lowered his head and sighed. Greg took the silence as an opportunity to settle on one of the available chairs and inquired more about the topic at hand.
"So, tell me about Sara singing." Greg looked at Nick, who in turn looked at Warrick and Catherine. "Aw c'mon! I can keep a secret ... or would you rather I ask Sara instead?"
He had meant the threat as a joke, but he could clearly see it was working. Catherine sighed audibly and nodded for Nick to relate the story.
"Okay, we're telling," Nick sighed back and looked intently at Greg. "But you better be sure you keep your mouth shut or else!"
"Yeah, c'mon, tell me!" Greg said excitedly, "And be quick about it, I just saw Sara come in a while ago."
Nick was only able to tell Greg, "Well, we've found out that she's been singing at this bar," when they heard Sara's footsteps emerge from around the corner.
"What's wrong Greg?" Sara asked as she joined them in the break room. "You look frustratedor something."
"Oh, more frustrated than you can imagine." Greg croaked, making Catherine laugh.
"Okkaaaay, I'm just going to write that down as another unfulfilled sex dream." Sara gave Greg a sarcastic smile.
"I'd prefer that actually," Greg smiled, while Sara and Nick grimaced, "But as it is, the reason for my ahh, frustration as you say is ... my body needs sleep, but I can't. I'm on double shift tonight."
Unknown to Sara, the other occupants of the room silently thanked Greg for keeping his word and not busting them out.
"I take it the original reason of your trip here was coffee then?" Warrick spoke, hinting that Greg should get his move on.
"Oh, right, coffee," Greg took the hint and grabbed his cup and filled it with coffee. "Nick here, sidetracked me into telling him all of my complaints."
Sara raised a suspicious brow and looked at Greg.
"Anyway, I gotta head back to the lab. I have results to hand over to Ecklie," Greg excused himself. "And Nick, come by later and I'll tell you more about what I don't like about the job."
Nick read the meaning behind Greg's words and nodded his agreement.
Sara occupied the seat that Greg vacated, noticing the silence of her friends and colleagues.
"What was that about?" Sara asked when Greg left. She focused her attention on Catherine, hoping that she'd get something from her.
"Oh, you know how that guy is," Catherine lied and said, "Complaining about Ecklie and all, said that he was being rude to Greg. Mr. Sensitive there just went on and told us all about his day."
Catherine, Warrick and Nick were saved from further questions from Sara when Grissom appeared from the corner, waving the assignment slips in his hand.
"Okay people," Grissom greeted. Putting on his glasses, he started handing assignments out saying, "Assignments are ready to be distributed. Warrick, Sara you have a 419 ..."
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Greg kept on pacing back and forth, back and forth. He had handed his results to Ecklie, who was seemed surprised at his detached demeanor. He was now anticipating Nick's arrival.
"Sara singing?" Greg talked to himself softly. "I know I've heard h er around here, but to see her perform? Wow, I gotta have Nick take me the next time."
Greg continued to ponder on this until Nick appeared by the door.
"Hey Greggo, I've come to report," Nick said, breaking into Greg's thoughts.
"Thank god you're here." Greg said, lifting his arms up in a gesture.
"I would have thought that working in a DNA lab, you'd have more patience than this Greggo." Nick joked.
"When it comes to the loves of my life, Sara being one of them, I'm not that patient." Greg replied.
"When are you going to accept the fact that you're not going to get together with Sara..." Nick laughed and added, "ever?"
"Not until I see her necking with Grissom." Greg smiled widely.
"Well, that's a long time," Nick smiled along with him.
"So... before you tell me the dirty details, we have to make sure that Sara's not around to interrupt us." Greg stepped quickly out of the lab and looked at the hallways leading to their location. Seeing nobody around, he went back in and said, "Okay, the coast is clear."
"Okay, Master Spy," Nick laughed and began. "Warrick went to a bar that's just a couple of blocks away from here last week. He was shocked out of his socks to find that Sara has actually been singing in that bar for a month now."
Having Greg's full attention, Nick went on to tell the whole 'dirty details' as Greg would put it, of the story.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Having assigned the members of his team to the different cases for the night, Grissom spent a couple of minutes talking with Catherine about her previous case.
He was dreading going back to his office and seeing the rising pile of papers he needed to do. The shift has just begun, yet simply thinking about those papers made him suddenly so tired.
As if it would make the pile on his desk disappear, he walked slowly towards his office. Watching people, lab techs and not go about their work in the different rooms.
He saw Nick and Greg in deep conversation at the DNA lab. Going over to ask how Nick was doing with his case from yesterday, Grissom was surprised that they didn't even notice him coming.
He stopped just before he reached the door to the DNA lab. It was because Greg and Nick had their backs turned from the door that they didn't notice Grissom hearing their conversation.
"So, what you're telling me is that Sara's been singing her heart out at Tikirocks for a month now and we didn't even catch on it?" Greg asked almost incredulously.
"Literally singing her heart out." Nick nodded. "And if you heard her, man ... it wouldn't take a genius to see she's got it bad for him."
"Sara? Singing? Him?" questions assaulted Grissom's brain. Half of him didn't want to hear anymore, but this conversation certainly piqued his interest.
"Really?" Greg's voice came out sad. "I like and I even look up to him and all, but I don't understand him. How can you stand by and watch somebody like Sara walk away?"
"I dunno Greg. I feel for Sara though. Hearing her sing," Nick gave a shrug, "it's just so heart-wrenching. I mean her pain really shows, you know?"
"Do you think Grissom will ever realize that Sara will never love another guy?" Greg said, again sadness in his voice.
"Me? Sara is in love?" Grissom staggered back from his position. He had always known that she felt something for him. The first few times he thought it was just mere flirting. The other times he thought it was a crush, but he never really thought it could be more than that.
Grissom's heartbeats started to go faster. Was it true? Is Sara really in love with me? Grissom shook his head. No, it couldn't be true. What would she see in me? He shook his head again.
"I hope so, Greggo. I sure hope so." Nick's voice came out softer than Greg's question. "For both their sakes anyway. I don't think we can stand how those two are going on at the moment any longer."
"Yeah, I agree." Greg nodded. "So, are we on for Friday night then? I'll meet you at the bar?"
Grissom didn't wait to find out more about Nick and Greg's conversation. He had silently moved away from the DNA lab and started for his office. His ears were ringing. Sara singing. Sara in love. Tikirocks. Friday.
The last thing he remembered thinking before entering his office was, "I have to go see her Friday."