Precious Things by SLynn
Spoilers: Up to 'Nesting Dolls'
Rating: R for violence and disturbing content.
Disclaimer: Not mine – well, some are mine, just not the ones you recognize.
Thanks to Trip3235 for being my beta! I appreciate all your help with this one!
Chapter 22: Delays
As expected Sara and Greg had an awkward day together. They'd each agreed, unbeknownst to the other, not to bring up work but it didn't change much of anything. Greg's pride was still hurt and he spent most of the day in the living room on the couch while Sara opted to go straight to bed. They each felt that they were right and that was a dangerous place to be.
That night at work wasn't much better.
Greg worked mostly with Catherine and Sara with Warrick. Nick and Grissom both were off that night so they kept busy enough. Once more they'd ridden in separately and had gone the entire night without saying more then two or three sentences to each other. While their words were hardly tense, they weren't as warm as they usually were.
Thursday morning Greg had his standing appointment with Dr. Jennings to get to and by the time he'd gotten home Sara was already in bed asleep.
Deciding it would be stupid to spend another day on the couch and really hating the itchy thing, Greg joined her in bed.
As was always inevitable whenever they slept near each other, Greg woke up several hours later near the middle of the bed with Sara in his arms. He thought at first that the contact alone might have woken him but soon realized it wasn't that but her crying.
Wrapping his arms around her tighter, Greg rubbed her back and whispered in her ear his anger from earlier entirely undone.
After a few minutes of his gently rocking, Sara's eyes fluttered open. She looked at him and around the room momentarily lost.
"You okay?" he asked once, then once more as she pushed away from him still confused.
"Yeah," she answered after a pause, moving away and wiping her eyes.
"Do you want…"
Sara shook her head to his unfinished question. She didn't want to talk. She never did when she had nightmares.
"When did you get home?" she asked instead.
"After ten," he answered sitting up now.
Sara nodded and the abruptly got out of bed headed for the bathroom.
"Sara?" he asked a bit startled for the change, "Honey?"
Greg got up and followed her now deeply concerned. Sara was standing at the sink, head down and water running. He came up behind her and put a hand on her back.
"Sorry," she said looking up and briefly catching his eye in the mirror.
"For what?" Greg asked honestly. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she said easily enough for him to suspect it was a lie, "It's just left over."
"From the nightmare?"
Sara nodded and stood up straighter. She seemed to have regained her composure some and was already drying her eyes on the nearest towel. Greg continued to rub her back and was relieved when she didn't pull away as he half expected her too.
Sara gave him a half smile, her way of telling him she was really alright and that he shouldn't worry but part of him didn't fully buy it. Instead of saying this he just pulled her into his arms again. Sara went willingly, put her arms around his waist and let her head rest against his shoulder.
"Let's go back to bed," he said into her hair.
Later that day and nearly across town, Amy didn't want to leave but couldn't delay it any longer.
Nick was still sleeping and probably would sleep the rest of the day but Amy couldn't. Jennifer and Tasha would be arriving at McCarran in a few hours and she hadn't even been back to her apartment since yesterday afternoon.
It had been a very good night.
She'd been expecting maybe dinner and a movie, just a nice night with the two of them. Instead he had really surprised her by taking her ice skating. Amy hadn't even known that there was an ice rink in town and had mentioned to him several weeks before how much she missed going, not that she was good at it. Of course, Nick was horrible, Amy doubted he'd ever been on a pair of ice skates but he went regardless and they had a lot of fun. After that he took her to one of her favorite restaurants. Nothing fancy, Amy hated those types of places, just a casual Italian dinner that was pretty perfect. After that they drove out of town to a spot he knew where you could look out and see the whole city. They'd sat and talked and it was probably the best non-birthday birthday she'd ever had.
She slipped out of bed and into the bathroom without waking him. Taking as quick of a shower as possible she dressed and moved back into the bedroom. As she opened the door Nick stirred.
"Where are you going?" Nick asked as he sat up.
"Back to my place," Amy answered sitting down beside him, "I need to pick up Karen and then head to the airport."
Nick nodded as he ran his hand up her arm.
"But I didn't give you your gift yet," he said smiling.
"I thought last night was the gift," she questioned, leaning into him at his gentle persuasion.
"No," Nick said still smiling.
Nick negotiated his way around her and moved away from the bed towards the closet. Amy stayed seated, waiting until he came back over and sat down beside her.
"Happy birthday," he said handing her the nicely wrapped blue box.
Amy opened it with a blush and Nick was relieved to see that she liked it. Amy proved harder to shop for then he first thought. He'd wanted to get her something nice and decided on a necklace since she hardly ever wore earrings or bracelets. Nick had thought briefly about getting her a ring but there was only one type he wanted to buy for her and that would need to wait for another time. It was still too soon.
Keeping to what he thought she'd like, he'd picked a simple silver and gold daisy pendent on a silver chain. It was nice enough to wear out but casual enough to also wear daily if she chose.
Amy didn't just like it she loved it and asked him to put it on for her.
"Thank you," she said before kissing him.
"I should have given that to you last night," he said, his forehead pressed to hers.
"We had other things to do."
Nick smiled at her mischievously.
"When does that flight arrive?" he asked before kissing her again, longer then the last time.
"Aren't you tired?" she asked with a laugh.
"No," he said with a shake of his head kissing her once more.
"Well I'm sorry," she said, still laughing and blushing even, "but there's not enough time for that."
"Okay," he said running his hands up her arms and then around to her back. "When will I see you?"
"Tonight at work," Amy answered sounding a bit sad. It was too long of a wait. "The four of us are going out to dinner tonight before I go to work."
Nick nodded but didn't let go of her just yet.
"Get some sleep," Amy instructed reluctantly getting up after giving him one last kiss. "I'll lock up on the way out."
"Alright," Nick agreed, "Have fun and I'll see you tonight."
Amy smiled at him as she moved to the door.
"I love you."
"I love you," Amy returned before walking out of the room.
Nick waited till he heard the front door shut before he got up himself. He planned on going back to sleep but not just yet. As he always did after Amy left, he got up after her and rechecked the door. He never told her this of course, he didn't want her thinking he was paranoid but in reality he was. Nick always had to recheck the locks on the doors and windows after he knew they'd been opened, he just had too.
He didn't even make it back to his bed before the phone rang.
Groaning he walked back to the living room and picked up his cell phone where he'd left it on the coffee table.
"Stokes," he said into it rubbing his face.
"I've had an epiphany."
"Greg?" Nick asked wondering now if he was still sleeping.
"Who else?" Greg asked in return, "I've been thinking about the case…"
"Did you get any sleep?" Nick asked cutting him off and growing a little concerned at what sounded like a very hyper Greg on the other end.
"Yeah," he answered, "Some. It's after two so, some. But that's not…"
"That doesn't sound like enough."
"Stop mothering me," Greg said sounding a bit angry even, "Listen. Two of the victims had cat hair on them right?"
"Yeah," Nick said sitting down and yawning. Greg may feel like he got enough sleep but Nick knew he hadn't.
"Okay so our only suspect is like immaculately dressed. We've never seen her with a hair out of place."
"So what? Do you want to find out what gel she uses?"
"Nick," Greg said clearly irritated now.
"Sorry," Nick offered, "I just didn't get much sleep myself."
"Well you shouldn't stay out all night partying," Greg returned sounding more like himself.
"What was your point?" Nick asked as nicely as he could.
"We need to connect her to the crimes right? Well, if we knew she had a cat we could do that. We can match the DNA and prove it's her cat."
"But we don't know if she has a cat," Nick said. It was a good idea.
"That's where my epiphany comes in," Greg said sounding pleased, "We know she's a neat freak. Everything in her office was in pristine condition. A woman like that vacuums three times a day and probably has a lint brush in every room."
"Why does this epiphany sound like it ends with us going dumpster diving?"
"Because that's where I was headed."
"When?" Nick asked rubbing his head.
"Now," Greg answered. "We have to go before school lets out."
"Alright," Nick agreed, "I'll drive by your place and pick you up since you're closest."
"I'm ready when you are."
"Then I'll be there soon."
Nick hung up his phone and sighed making a mental note to try and sleep more. Two months of medical leave had thrown his schedule out of whack and he was still recovering. He was also reluctant to admit but his arm still ached.
Moving now to the back room for a quick shower and change he shrugged it off. He had to hurry and there wasn't time to worry about it.
Nick, if he remembered, would call his doctor about it later.
