Title: Naïve
Author: DarkDreamer56
Archive: If you want it, ask please!
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: N/S
Disclaimer: If I owned anything to do with CSI, Nick and Sara would share screen time in every episode…
Spoilers: Mild spoilers for King Baby and Ch-Ch-Changes

A/N: I got this idea after watching King Baby. Why they always choose to pick on Nick, I have no idea, (unless it's to give him screen time which they can sometimes be less than generous with…) but I don't think he should always take it as quietly as he does. Also, can't be nearly as naïve as they always make him out to be. Plus, it gave me a chance to work in some Nick/Sara interaction, which we've hardly had this season. We can only hope for a major payoff at the end of the season.

Sara hadn't realized how much she'd missed all hands on deck calls until they'd been assigned the Eiger case. Sure, the last time she'd worked with swing shift, she'd been suspended, but that didn't mean she didn't miss Warrick and Nick. She missed the friendly banter between her and her two attractive co-workers, and the way they worked in simpatico together. While she enjoyed working with Greg, and was slowly beginning to tolerate Sophia, neither of them could read her mind the way Nick or Warrick did. It had taken Sara several weeks to adjust to the newly split shifts, but little things still bugged her. With Nick or Warrick, she hardly ever had to ask for a bindle, or for more light in a particular spot. They seemed to know what she needed, sometimes before she even did. It had been scary at first, but now that it was gone, she missed it.

And it wasn't just working together; she missed just spending time with her two co-workers too. There were no more mornings spent lingering over coffee in their favorite diner, no more beer and rummy nights at Nick's place; they had been replaced by brief greetings in the hallway, and idle chit chat in the locker room.

Nick plowing his fist into the bay of lockers was also something that hadn't happened in quite awhile. That was exactly the sight that met her, however, as she entered the locker room to retrieve her things. He was standing in front of his locker, looking entirely pissed at the world. She quirked an eyebrow as she paused in front of the door.

"Damn lockers, always having to show them whose boss…"

The look on his face as he turned towards the door told Sara that humor wasn't going to diffuse this situation quite yet. As she leaned against the doorframe, she wracked her brain for anything that might explain his behavior. They had all worked the same case, and it hadn't hit any particular hot spots for any of the team members.

"You know," he started, shaking his hand out after impact with his metal locker, "I had the same training that everyone else did, I got good grades in college, I take the same damn proficiencies…I'm just as smart as everyone else here, yet everyone here seems to think I'm some naïve country bumpkin…"

Sara stared at him in surprise. "Hey hey, where is this coming from Nick? No one thinks that about you. You're damn good at your job; we all know that."

Nick collapsed onto the bench, rubbing the back of his neck in frustration. "Sometimes I just get so sick of this place."

Sara tentatively walked over and sat down beside him. She reached out to take his hand, examining it as she murmured, "This is gonna need some ice Nick." She paused, before tentatively adding, "What's going on with you?"

"I'm tired of being thought of as the dumb one, Sara. I'm tired of this split shift and Catherine's damn politics. I'm sick of all these freaky cases. I knew Vegas would be weird, but Jesus. You know, when I went to that store, the cashier thought Grissom was 'my daddy.'" Sara had to bite her lip to keep from laughing as Nick spit out those words. Laughing would not fix this situation. "I was hit on at that transgender bar too. And the past few cases…mail order brides, canned hunts…I just don't get it."

"There have been some fairly strange cases the past few weeks, and you guys did get most of them," Sara agreed, still examining his knuckles which were rapidly becoming red and swollen. He'd been lucky he hadn't broken anything with the impact that his hand made with the metal.

"They never used to bother me that much, at least in the beginning. Hell, I was begging to work them, but you don't know what I would give now just to have a good old B and E."

Sara regarded him for a moment, trying to figure out whether he was just venting, or if he wanted some kind of advice. Realizing that she and Nick had always been open with each other, she decided to speak.

"You know, everyone here has some sort of work persona that everyone expects to be true. For the most part, people see us in certain situations, and make assumptions based on what they see. Grissom's the antisocial one, more comfortable with bugs than people, Hodges is the sarcastic kiss ass, hell, I'm the loose canon…you know, I'm really not helping, am I?" Sara asked while Nick looked at her with a curious expression. Things were not coming out how she had planned. "Okay, so some of the assumptions are correct, but what I'm trying to say is that if people think that you are some country hick who lucked his way into becoming one of the best CSIs at this lab, then they're wrong. You just have old fashioned values that are sometimes hard to reconcile with what you see day in and day out."

"So you think I'm old fashioned," Nick asked, and Sara could tell he wasn't quite buying what she was trying to say.

"Yeah I do, but that's not a bad thing. You're a good guy Nick. That doesn't make you naïve. I think Grissom's the only one that can be entirely non-judgmental about some of these cases, and do you really want to end up like him?"

Sara looked up at Nick with an awkward smile, pleased to see a grin tugging at his lips as he shook his head. She may not have been able to say exactly what she wanted, but at least she had made him smile again.

"Besides, there's no way some naïve country bumpkin could have beat me out of that promotion," she teased lightly, nudging him in the side.

She allowed herself to lean into him for a moment, before rising and opening her own locker. She was pulling her bag out, when Nick called her name. Turning back towards him, she was surprised to see that he'd already retrieved his own bag and coat.

"Thanks Sara. And you're not a loose canon…at least I don't think so," he admitted with a furrowed brow. "I guess I haven't been around much to tell lately."

"It's okay," Sara replied, averting her eyes. Truthfully, she had been more than a little upset when her week long suspension had passed without a word from either Nick or Warrick. "Things are different now." She shrugged her shoulders and gave him a sad smile before turning back to her stuff.

"No, it's not okay," he insisted, grabbing her arm to turn her back around to face him. "I hate what this shift change has done to all of us. I hardly see you or Greg anymore…half the time I don't even know who it is I'm supposed to answer to. And I wasn't there for you when you needed me, and I hate that. I won't treat my friends like they're the enemy just because they're on another shift." Sara could see the pain in his eyes, and she wanted to throttle Catherine for making Nick think he had to choose between his friends and his career.

"It's something that we have to work on," Sara responded honestly, pulling her coat on and shutting her locker.

"You want to grab breakfast?" Nick asked quietly. A grin overtook Sara's face as she nodded. Nick smiled back at her and casually threw an arm around her shoulder, guiding her to the door. She tried to detour to the break room for some ice, but Nick assured her that his hand didn't hurt. As they made their way out to the parking lot, chatting about nothing in particular, Sara felt that things were finally getting back to normal.

Yeah, there was definitely a reason why she loved all hands on deck calls.

Fin.

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