Disclaimer: I do not own them, I do not profit from them, I did not create them, and I will return them once I am done playing with them… well, maybe not George…
Rating: PG/ PG-13 for this enstallment.
Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews! I always enjoy seeing that I have five new emails in my inbox and seeing that they are reviews!
Also, I think either this chapter or the next could possibly be the conclusion to 'Quarantine.' I think I might cry. But don't worry, I will write more stories and ficlets!
Chapter Fourteen: Someone Isn't Very Happy
There would be no harm in screwing Nick Stokes on top of the break room table where everyone sat around as Grissom handed out case files for everyone, Sara thought quietly to herself. No, no harm at all. Everyone would continue on with their work and discussions while they did the nasty right then and there.
"Sara?" said Grissom for the third time, looking at her intently as she stared at something on the other side of the room.
"Hmm?" she replied alert, whipping her head to meet Grissom's pale blue eyes. "I'm sorry. What were you saying?"
"Here's your case. You and Warrick are going to be working together tonight."
"Oh, all right," she answered, reaching forward to take the brown folder that he held out for her.
"Nick, Catherine: you two have a battery and assault case on the outskirts of town."
"What about you, Gris?" wondered Nick, leaning back casually in his chair.
"I have the night off," he responded matter-of-factly.
"You, taking the night off?" remarked Warrick. "That's unbelievable."
"Well, believe it, Warrick."
"Got a date?" inquired Catherine with a smug grin across her painted pink lips. There was no answer as she watched him organize a bunch of already organized papers before him, his eyes purposely avoiding hers. "You do, don't you?"
"What I do on my off time is my own personal business."
"Grissom's got a date," chatted Greg, his back to the CSIs as he filled his third cup of coffee for that night.
"Don't you think you've had enough?" asked Warrick, leaning back against the edge of the counter, trying to look the lab tech in the eye.
"I'm fine."
Warrick chuckled deeply and rolled his eyes.
"All right everybody lets go. These cases aren't going to solve themselves," Grissom ordered, standing up at the head of the table.
"Just tell us her name," implored Catherine, closing her folder as she stood out of her chair.
"Heather," he replied with an even, respectable voice.
"As in Lady Heather?" inquired Greg, whirling around on his heel, his lab jacket whipping behind him. "As in dominatrix Lady Heather?"
"She's more than a dominatrix, Gregory," Gil defended.
"Yeah, I'm sure she's submissive too," he muttered.
Warrick's quiet laughter joined Nick's soft chuckle until they were both shot down with an icy glare from their boss.
"What was that, Greg?"
"Nothing," he replied hastily, making a beeline for the door, sipping his coffee as he briskly exited.
"Are we done here?" wondered Grissom.
They all nodded and got out of their seats, trailing behind their boss as he left the room. Only Nick and Sara had remained. He gulped down his remaining coffee and she watched as the liquid was eagerly swallowed down his throat, his Adam's apple moving up and down. She yearned to take a healthy bite into his neck but let out a frustrated sigh instead.
"Something wrong, Sar?"
"No," she answered back, with a shake of her head and her voice light.
"Too bad you're stuck with Warrick, huh?"
"I think I'll manage without you for a night," she stated with a smirk on her lips.
She saw his ego deflate a little bit and the bruise that her words left behind. He turned his back to her as he cleaned his mug but she refused to be shut out by him, even if it was as a joke. She sneaked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, dipping her hands into the front of his jeans, kneading him through cotton.
"But of course I'll miss you," she purred into his ear before taking it in between her teeth and gently tugging.
"Sara," he warned, his hands resting flat on the cool surface of the counter for support.
"What?"
"Anyone could walk in."
"I think that's my job to say, Nicky," she mumbled against the flesh if his neck.
"Damn it, Sar," he groaned when her caresses turned into strokes that were lingering and firm.
"And in case you haven't noticed, Grissom could walk in right now and I wouldn't care," Sara added frankly, her bravado as well as her libido in full bloom at the moment.
"You wouldn't?" said a voice from behind them, in the general direction of the door. The person didn't sound too pleased.
Sara recognized the voice immediately and swallowed hard, easing her hands out of the front of Nick's pants. She cautiously looked over her shoulder and took in the sight of her boss leaning against the doorframe, his eyebrow raised in question.
"I don't think I have to tell you that this is completely inappropriate behavior CSI Three Sidle," Grissom chastised evenly, his voice a little more stern and abrasive than it had been a moment before.
Her eyes were cast the floor and her words were stuck somewhere in her throat.
"In my office. Now."
Before she could say another word, Grissom briskly marched down the hallway towards his office, his anger slipping to the surface of his face.
"Someone isn't very happy," murmured Greg, sauntering into the break room with ease.
"Can it, Greg," muttered Nick, finally turning around once he had recovered himself.
The lab tech raised both hands in defense as well as his eyebrows, quickly spinning around on his heel and exiting the break room.
In the meantime Sara stood motionless in the middle of the quiet room, contemplating what exactly she was going to do. She had to face Grissom, there were no two ways about that but what was she going to tell him that would not compromise her job? He wouldn't tolerate any affectionate gestures between the two, especially the one she had been giving Nick when Grissom had walked in, and Sara knew that.
"Sara, you better see him," murmured Nick, resting his hand on her shoulder lightly and friendly.
"Do you think that you should come with me? Help me explain things?"
"There's not much to explain, Sar. We're in a relationship. There's nothing Grissom can do about that."
Nick saw something flash through her eyes for just a second, causing him to frown.
"We are still in a relationship, right?"
"Of course. I just don't want to lose my job over this."
"Neither do I," Nick paused and looked her in the eyes, gripping her upper arms. "But I care about you."
She didn't let him say another word. Her quick press of lips to his silenced him and before he knew it, she was already halfway down the hall to face Grissom.
When she knocked on the door, she heard her boss bark at her to come in. Silently, she closed the door behind her and stood there, her hands twined together and her eyes to the ground.
"Take a seat." The voice was distant and she could have sworn that there was an underlying pain in his tone.
Compliance.
"Sara…" he trailed off, shaking his head, not knowing precisely to say for the first time in a long time. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"Nick and I…we're together, in a relationship."
It hadn't really felt nor seemed like the two of them were until she said it now, until she said it to the person that she had preciously fancied but no longer did. Her mind hadn't been on Grissom and weeks, almost a month, and she couldn't be happier. In fact, she hadn't been happier.
"Is that what that was?"
"Do I have to explain coitus to you, Gil?"
"No, and there will be none of it in my lab."
"There wasn't going to be."
"What if some else were to have seen, Sara? If I didn't know that you are one of the best CSIs here and otherwise compliant to the rules, and I saw that in the break room? I would…"
"You would what?" she challenged, locking gazes with him at last.
"I would bring it to someone's attention in higher rank than me."
"Why?"
"There's no reason for that to be going on in a forensic laboratory or any other work place for that matter. Your behavior was lewd, irresponsible, and I am suspending the two of you for one week. When you come back, I hope you have your priorities straight, Sara."
"What? Why Nick?"
"Sara, don't argue with me."
"And I do have my priorities straight, Gil."
"Then your boyfriend is more important than a case that you should be on right now? You're supposed to be at a crime scene, not in the break room –"
Sara abruptly got out of her chair and stared down at him. "I'm not going to listen to you berate me, Grissom. I'll see you in a week."
The door slammed shut behind her and he let out an audible, exasperated sigh. Only a few months ago she had asked him to have dinner with her in hopes of pursuing something greater and now she was off with her Texan coworker. Had she gotten over him already? Gil wondered, leaning back considerably in his chair. He sighed once more and then slowly started to lose himself in his work like he often did, ignoring the events around him.
"Come on, Nick. We're leaving," announced Sara, finally finding him in the locker room.
His locker was already open and his bag was sitting on the bench as he packed some dirty clothes into it. He glanced up at her and then back down into the depths of the bag.
"I know. I ran into Greg. He overheard everything. One week, huh?" There was a tinge of sadness yet forced lightness in his voice and she immediately went to him, embracing him.
"Nick, I'm so sorry."
"Sar, it would have happened sooner or later. I'm just glad we get some time off together." His smile was genuine as he gazed down at her face, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes.
"It could be worse, I guess," she sighed, trying to see through his optimistic eyes, letting her anger be suppressed.
"Yeah. We could have been fired and if he'd walked in a few minutes later, we probably would have been," he grinned lewdly.
Her small smile was sheepish while she rested her head against his solid chest.
"We better get going," she murmured, a handful of his t-shirt in her grasp.
"Why? We've got the locker room all to ourselves," he remarked, a slow grin creeping across his face. "Now where were we before Grissom rudely interrupted us?"
Author's Note: Okay, so next chapter or possibly the one after that is the last chapter. Any suggestions for an ending?
