A/N: Thank you for the reviews, guys. Glad y'all approve! ;)

Aww, Claire, hon, so that's what happened? I was wondering where you went! I saw you had a new story (which I did manage to read, luckily! And it was hawwt!), but then when they wouldn't let me review, I thought something weird was up. If I ever find out that someone reported you, I will hunt them down and kill them. Or make George do it. Ooh, that could be hot.

This chapter took a little longer than I had planned to write up… though at least it wasn't sixteen days. :P My apologies.

In a flurry of toothpaste, towel-drying, clothes and coffee cups, Nick and Sara were dressed and out his apartment door before either of them really realised it. Barely a word was exchanged as the two hurried to get themselves into work not suspiciously late. The idea of them arriving together for the second day in a row was an entirely different matter that neither of them had bothered to think about too hard yet; it would certainly be worse if they arrived together and late, and suspicion from the other CSIs was the last thing either of them needed at this point.

They bolted out of Nick's car the second they arrived in the lab parking lot, and strolled as quickly yet casually as either of them could manage, past Judy at the reception area, and sneaking down the hall into the break-room. They were barely five minutes late, but still wanted to attract as little attention as possible. A combination of good and bad news awaited them within the quiet break room; only one other CSI was waiting in the room as the entered. It was, however, Catherine, who wore raised eyebrows and a curious expression at the lightly flushed faces of the silent twosome as they retreated to face the wall and pour their coffee.

The older CSI turned a page in her magazine as she sat on the couch, looking up at the two with what she hoped was an innocent expression. "Uh, 'evening, guys." She smiled, hoping to let them know that she knew what she knew, while still managing to deny it if they asked her. They both mumbled in response, and Catherine decided to up the ante even further. "Tired?" Her question was casual, nothing more than what anyone in the lab would ask anyone else without a second thought, but her tone implied a whole different meaning to her question, which both Sara and Nick chose to ignore.

"Uh, yeah, a little." Sara hastily pulled her mug of coffee up to her lips, trying to avoid any elaboration. She managed to spill a little on her sleeve in the process, and it was only when she examined the fabric did it suddenly hit her that she was wearing the exact same items of clothing that Catherine had seen her in less than twenty-four hours ago. A surge of panic overwhelmed her as she tried to form a believable sentence without drawing any much-unwanted attention to herself. She cleared her throat.

"I'm, uh… gonna go change. I got coffee on my shirt… sleeve." She smiled awkwardly, scuttling out of the room to leave Nick alone with Catherine, whose victoriously-large smile told him he was headed for trouble, as she closed her magazine with exaggerated casualness, propping her feet up on the coffee table and folding her arms across her chest.

"So… Nicky," She paused for effect, cocking her head. "How ya been lately?" Nick matched her grin as he replied, silently praying that Grissom would come in with shift assignments quickly.

"I've, uh… I've been good. Yourself?" Catherine opened her mouth to respond, but their banter was interrupted as Grissom walked in, case file in hand, with Warrick trailing behind.

"'Evening, all. Nice, easy night tonight. Warrick and I are gonna be catching up on our paperwork, unless something gets called in, and in the meantime, you guys–" He gestured at Catherine with a nod of his head, "–Are gonna be finishing up your case. I was talking to Brass; everything seems pretty air-tight. You've got your warrant for the guy's house, so you can go over and check that out. O'Reilly's meeting you there. Any questions?" A sudden noise behind Grissom caused them all to turn to the just-opened door, where Sara now stood, exhaling loudly.

"Okay, back. Sorry, I had, uh, coffee. On my shirt. I had to change it." She avoided the curious faces of her co-workers and slid past Grissom to the bench top beside Nick where her coffee mug still sat. She took a sip before continuing. "So, what are we doing?" Grissom's attempt to begin explaining again was cut short with Catherine's interruption.

"We're meant to go interview our guy –Damien Murdock, a.k.a Mr. Green Suit–, but I figure, since we still have some stuff to process here, you can stick around in the lab, and Nick and I'll take the guy's house. Sound okay?" Her tone implied that negotiation wouldn't be possible, and despite her extra sleep, Sara felt too weary to argue.

"Yeah, okay." She took another gulp of her coffee as Grissom closed his case file to look at his colleagues.

"So we're set. I'll be in my office. Have a good night." He left the room as they all exchanged wishes of a good shift, Warrick leaving a few seconds later, after grabbing an apple from the bowl on the break room table, grinning at them as he closed the door behind him.

The awkward silence returned to the room once again. Nick and Sara both focused intently on their coffee, avoiding eye contact with either of the two other people in the room. Catherine realised she wasn't going to get any hot gossip out of either of them with the other standing inches away, and decided to get moving. She uncrossed her legs as she stood, bracing herself against the arm of the couch. "Okay, Nick, you ready to get goin'?"

He peeled his gaze off the floor to look across the room at Catherine. "Yup, sure thing." Catherine spoke again as he poured his leftover coffee down the sink and proceeded to wash out the mug.

"Okay, I'm gonna go pick up the warrant from Jim, and I'll meet you out front in a minute." She smiled politely at Sara, and contemplated hiding outside to hear the verbal exchanges between the two before Nick left, but realised that they actually did have to get to work.

With Catherine gone, Nick cleared his throat, trying to break the silence. It was naïve of him, but he had hoped to himself that things would carry on as usual at work once and Sara arrived; evidentially, this was not going to be the case. He placed his hand gently on her forearm, speaking quietly to her. "I'd better get going." He felt immense relief flood over him as Sara finally looked him in the eye as she grinned in response, tilting her head as she spoke.

"Miss you already."

Nick tried to keep the conversation in the car as focused as possible on the case, but he knew that eventually, Catherine would ask him about what was going on with Sara. Now he thought about it, perhaps they should have discussed it on the way to work that afternoon; were they going to mention anything, or not? Having known Sara for a good three years, he felt he knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't want to go around publicising her relationships, and this was the approach he took when Catherine finally managed to slide in the question among the case discussion. Catherine had never been one to keep her feelings bottled up, and tonight, she took a direct approach in asking Nick exactly what was on her mind.

"What is going on with you and Sara?" Suddenly, Nick's pre-formulated answers in his mind sounded incredibly clichéd, but he didn't really have much else he could say except for taking the route of extreme denial. He turned to face her.

"What do you mean, Catherine?"

She squinted her eyes at him, mocking him. "Oh, gee, I don't know… maybe the fact that you've spent every day after shift together this week?"

Nick chucked. "Okay, a) It's only Wednesday, and b) we were just hanging out." Catherine chuckled back at him.

"That's still every day this week, technically."

"Why is it such a big deal that we're hanging out? We hang out all the time. We all do."

Catherine smiled disbelievingly. "Yeah, yeah, Nicky, but… come on. You've got this… twinkle in your eye." Nick laughed loudly as he turned his eyes back down to the case file on his lap.

"Oh, is that a fact?" The woman beside him smiled as she flicked the radio switch on.

"Yeah."

"So, Sara…"

Archie twirled around on his computer chair, moving to the printer where it was busily humming away. Sara raised an eyebrow at him, smirking, playing along. "Yes, Archie?"

Archie busied himself with a computer monitor as he spoke. "Whatcha been up to lately, huh? It feels like so long since I've seen you."

Sara's observation skills, and habit of reading between the lines had been finely tuned with her years of CSI work. Although she instantly knew what Archie was referring to –had he been talking to Catherine? She would have to be more careful– she decided to play dumb.

"Umm, not much, really. Catching up on some sleep, I've been contemplating taking up squash in my spare time…" Archie continued to play along with her.

"Really? Not… seeing anyone?" The large machine in the corner of the room clicked loudly. "Your printout's done."

Putting on her best blank expression, Sara walked over to snatch out the paper. "No, actually. I've gotta get back to Greg; check the SART DNA results. Thanks, Archie." She grinned widely at him, smiling more in silent victory than actual friendliness. Nope, she wasn't going to give them anything.

Nine hours later, as Sara sat in the Evidence Room, writing up the results of the DNA Greg had processed, she found herself surprisingly thrilled as she saw Nick trudging down the lab hallways, his bulging forensics kit in his arms, Catherine trotting along behind him. Sara left the room she was in and followed them as they rounded the corner and came to a halt at Greg's workstation, dumping some of their plastic evidence bags onto the trolley beside him. Catherine began to briskly explain the particulars of the processing required to the young DNA tech, and he rolled his eyes at Nick and Sara when he thought Catherine wasn't looking.

"Yeah, Cath, I think I got it, thanks…"

As the two continued talking, Sara silently reached for Nick's hand beside her. He turned to smile at her, and she pulled gently at his arm, leading him out of the room, Nick calling over his shoulder to Catherine something about needing a snack.

As the duo entered the break room, Sara still didn't let go of Nick's hand. They closed the door behind them, and she was forced gently back against it as he leaned into her and kissed her softly.

"So," He kissed her again. "How did they house-search-slash-interrogation go?"

Sara interlocked her fingers against the small of his back, looking up into his dark eyes. "Well, the talking was a total bust. The guy wouldn't say a word. We did manage to recover evidence from the house, though; blood and stuff. And, his tasteful green suit. If you ask me, anyone who wears something that hideous should automatically be arrested." Nick chuckled, and held her a little tighter as he leaned down to kiss her again. She squirmed beneath his grasp, and he moved his mouth to her neck, his hands fiddling with the hem of her shirt.

He mumbled against her skin. "So, what do you say we hang out after shift?"

Sara giggled. "For the third day in a row? Don't you think they'll be getting a little suspicious?" Nick giggled back at her, shaking his head playfully.

"Well I don't care what they think. Because I," He kissed her lightly on the lips. "Want," Kiss. "You." He let his lips linger a little longer this time, and it wasn't until Nick's pager went off that they broke apart with a jump. He sighed in contempt at the message. "Change of plan. Too much evidence needs to be logged in. Looks like we're gonna be pulling a double." He smiled apologetically at her. She smiled back, shrugging.

"There's always coffee."

Une Autre A/N: I have to say, this chapter wasn't as fun as the last one to write… but at least it was G-rated. ;) Oh, I mean, uh, K, I think?