"Just a minute." Nick called out to the knock at his door. He had been far more tired than he'd anticipated and had only gotten out of the shower about three minutes before, having only rolled out of bed only ten minutes before that. At the moment he was tucking his shirt into his khakis and trying to get his pants zipped up before he answered the door.

Sara stood there with a smirk on her face a latte in each hand as the door open and she regarded Nick's wet hair. "I figured you might need one of these."

Nick took the latte she offered and opened the door wider to let her in, quirking an eyebrow as he took a sniff of the delicious aroma coming from the cup.

"Double tall, extra hot no foam, hazelnut mocha." Sara smiled before bringing her own latte up to her lips to take a sip.

A genuine smile broke over Nick's face as he set the cup on his coffee table and sat down on his couch. "I just need to put my shoes and socks on and I'm good to go."

Sara found it oddly fascinating the way he turned his socks inside out and shook them to ensure there was no lint inside before turning them right side out again and putting them on. He seemed to have a bit of a ritual with putting his shoes on as well and Sara seemed to remember a case they'd worked together where he'd mentioned how much he hated taking his shoes off. It seemed to make sense now and she let out a giggle before she had time to realize that she should probably stifle it.

Nick glanced up and looked at her quizzically. "What?"

"Oh, nothing." Sara feigned innocence and this time she did stifle a snicker.

Nick stopped and gave her a long stare.

"Ok, I'm just wondering if you have a ritual for every article of clothing; or is this just reserved for your shoes and socks." She couldn't help but tease him.

"Ritual." Nick quirked an eyebrow, wondering exactly what was wrong with the way he put his shoes and socks on. He had a very logical reason for what he did.

Sara smirked. "I'm just glad I didn't get here when you were putting your pants on, no telling how you do that."

Nick snorted out a laugh. "One leg at a time, just like you do." He waggled his brows. "Or do I need to give you a demonstration?" His tone was decidedly flirtatious.

"Uh, no." Sara smiled a bit mischievously. "Maybe some other time though, we need to get to work."

Nick felt his cheeks burn a little as he let out a low chuckle. "Sara Sidle." He just shook his head in amusement.

"What?" Sara feigned innocence as she took a sip of her coffee.

Nick picked up his coffee as he stood up and then walked over to where she stood, leaning in to whisper in her ear. "I think I'm beginning to look forward to this date more and more."

Sara's cheeks flushed a light shade of pink as she followed him to the door. As they walked out to her vehicle, she glanced over at Nick. "So what do you know about this Club Monaco?" She reasoned that Nick was more inclined to participate in the nightlife that Las Vegas had to offer and that he'd probably been to the club in question.

He shrugged. "Actually, I don't know much. I think it's a themed club, but I've never actually been there."

Sara looked a little worried. "A themed club?" She hoped that this didn't mean she'd have to wear a costume.

Nick chuckled. "You'll have to ask Greg. He said that Tiffany wanted to check it out."

As they climbed into Sara's vehicle, Nick turned towards her with an inquisitive look on his face. He'd had some time to think and he was very curious about the sudden change in her demeanor. "Sara, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"It's never stopped you before." She had a bit of a smirk flitting across her lips as she backed out of his driveway.

"Funny." Nick smirked back and then a more studied expression took over. "What's with the 'new' Sara Sidle." He raised a hand and shook his head as she glanced over at him ready to refute him. "No, hear me out. I'm not complaining. Just curious that's all. Whatever it is, I really like it." He smiled.

Sara wondered if she should tell him about the book, tell him about how it had given her clarity in regards to the Grissom situation and had given her quite a bit of insight into how she thought the man sitting next to her felt about her. A tiny smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. "Well, if you must know." She cleared her throat. "Sophia said something to me the other night, sort of pissed me off at first, but she was right."

Nick just quirked an eyebrow.

Sara continued. "I came to a realization that the reason that I was doing something wasn't because I actually wanted what I was after. It was more about winning at that point and proving something to myself instead of just letting go and moving on."

Nick looked slightly confused for a moment and then chuckled as something dawn on him. "You're talking about Grissom aren't you?" He grinned at her. "That's why you wanted to go out with me."

Sara wasn't sure why she felt embarrassed, she really hoped that he didn't think she wanted to go out with him just to prove that she was over Grissom. "It's not like that, Nick."

He regarded her curiously. "Then what is it like, Sara?" His tone was gentle, but he wanted to know if she was going out on a date with him as a rebound or if she was genuinely interested in him.

Sara let out a deep sigh and glanced over at him again. "I've been over him for a long time. I just needed someone, or something to make me realize why I was hanging onto something that was never going to happen."

Nick was confused. "Am I that someone?" He wanted a real chance at seeing Sara on a romantic level; he didn't want to do it if she was just looking for someone else to focus on, just for the sake of focusing on them.

"No." Sara replied quickly and probably a bit too forcefully. "No, Sophia just told me that she didn't think he was really that into me, and it pissed me off enough that somehow I ended up in a bookstore." She smirked. "Apparently there's an entire book on the topic." Her expression was a bit sheepish as she confessed all of this to Nick. "And after I read it, a lot of things became pretty clear."

"Uh, huh." Nick wasn't sure he was following her, but he was trying.

"I just kept thinking that if I could figure out what was wrong with me and change it that it would change how Grissom felt about me." She laughed and shook her head. "That sounds pretty stupid doesn't it?"

Nick offered her a sheepish expression. "It doesn't sound like the strong intelligent woman that I know you are."

Sara smiled at the compliment. "Anyway, I realized that it wasn't about me, it was about him, and that I didn't need to make him fall in love with me to be ok. I really didn't want him, I wanted to win."

Nick smiled inquisitively as she glanced over at him. "So where does that leave you and me?" He was beginning to realize that maybe, just maybe Sara might finally be seeing him the way he'd seen her for quite a while.

She quirked an eyebrow at him as a smug smile spread across her face. "Well let's see how that date goes on Saturday and I'll get back to you."