Disclaimer: Don't own them.
A/N: To all that have given reviews, thanks so much! You guys are great.
Hope everyone had a greath 4th! Sorry this update is a little later than my usual, but on the positive side, we will probably be through with this story by this time next week. Like I said, it keeps drawing out on me.
Sara didn't sleep long after Nick left. Her tears dried eventually and she wondered why she had cried at all. There had been a time, in her very first serious relationship when she would cry after almost every sexual encounter. It had lasted a couple of months, but it had been frustrating for her and her boyfriend. She later figured that it was release of emotion and hormones. She knew she held on to a lot of emotion, and at that time, it was probably the first chance it had to come out. She had been lucky that her first boyfriend had been as inexperienced as her, and didn't know what to think about it.
She guessed she felt more used today than she had at any time with Nick. Now she needed to get out of his shirt, his bed, and his house. She needed to go to her own space. She didn't even shower at his place. She got her stuff and left, relieved when she got home. She showered, enjoying the feel of being in her own, glass door enclosed shower with the products she didn't have to pack back up and carry around.
She got out and looked in her empty refrigerator. There was some soymilk that had been sitting there about a month and a diet Pepsi. It would have migrated here with Nick, and that gave her pause. She was very worried about him. He had obviously had a horrible day, but they hadn't talked about it at all. She thought that she might need to get a couple of pizzas in the morning and get him to talk it out.
She had several hours before her shift began, but she didn't feel like trying to sleep. She didn't have a backlog at work. Any other time that would be a luxury, but today, she would have done a lot to keep her mind off Nick. This morning had broken something magical about their relationship. It had proved that they couldn't always be the answer for the other. She had known that in the back of her mind, but coming away from Nick's touch feeling cold made it reality. What if this ended their "friends with benefits"? What if she and Nick could no longer be the friends they had become, even without the sex? She was stronger now than she had been, but she could feel that not having Nick would leave her emptier than anything, even Gil's rejection and Hank's duplicity.
Sara wondered if it was too early to call Ozzie and check on the status of their accomplice. The one thing that had come out of the last day was a good break in their case. She and Ozzie made a good team, and she appreciated his ability to let her work the interrogation room. They had complimented each other well, and she was looking forward to working with him again. The fact that he was nice to look at didn't hurt either. The thought made Sara blush a bit, and made her feel a little uneasy, even guilty. It felt disloyal to Nick. Now she was agitated and confused emotionally.
"It's time to go to the range," she thought. It was one thing that always made her feel in control and powerful. As a plus, it looked liked she was working on a job requirement. A smile on her face, Sara emptied her thoughts of men and friendships and focused on getting ready to go shoot.
Most of the CSI's tended to treat the gun range as an anathema. They hated going, hated packing, and hated having to qualify each year. Sara had been like that at first when she started as a CSI in San Francisco, but when she started shooting, she discovered she had a natural talent for it. She never mentioned her secret love of shooting to anyone, not even Nick. This was time for Sara and Sara alone. This was a time when she could empty her head of work and Nick and concentrate on the comfortable weight of the pistol in her hand, and the satisfaction she got from knowing her shot hit it's mark.
The range was usually pretty empty this time of evening. The guy at the desk knew her by name, though she hadn't been by in a while. She could already feel the weights of the past few days lifting off her shoulders.
Ozzie had left her a message when she got to the lab. They had gotten their accomplice, and samples of his DNA and fingerprints should be on their way to the lab. The pep in Sara's step got a little bit bouncier. She checked on the results and let Mia know to page her when she got something. She went by Grissom's office and was surprised to see he wasn't there. She was early, but not too early, she thought. She collected the results from the fingerprint analysis of their accomplice and was not surprised to see it matched the unknown fingerprint from Anna Gilead's attack and from the serial rapist in Reno. Sara's face had an uncontrollable smile. She loved it when the evidence came together. The smile faltered when she saw Nick walking into the locker room. She wasn't sure how it would feel to talk to him. She hated that she wanted to avoid him. Even though she had called and invited him to breakfast and went to his house that morning, she had still been pissed at the way he had acted to Ozzie. She had rationalized it as him having a tough shift, and she knew, deep down, that Nick was still fragile in some ways. He would never show it to anyone else, but she had seen him after the nightmares and during some of his darkest times.
Now was the time to be a friend. What was that old corny saying, "A friend in need is a friend indeed"? Sara had spent a lot of time isolating herself from others. She wasn't going to do it now. She walked to the locker room.
Nick was taking off his vest and hanging it up. His movements and slumped shoulders told her all she needed to know. He had still not come out of the funk he had been in for the last day or so.
"Hey, Cowboy," she said softly. Nick's head jerked up as if he had been slapped. For a moment, she thought she saw the familiar light in his eyes that accompanied their meeting, but then thebrown irises seemed to cloud over. Nick gave her a wan smile.
"Hey yourself. You in here early digging into your case?" he asked. The awkwardness was there, but Sara decided to ignore it.
"Yeah, we got the second guy. I'm going to call Ozzie and tell him the fingerprint confirmed it," she said. The smile was back. She thought Nick stiffened slightly at her mention of the detective, but it was almost imperceptible.
"I never asked you about the case this morning. I should have," Nick said. He took a deep breath and looked down at his shoes. "I also should have apologized for what an ass I was being yesterday," he said.
"Yeah, you should have, but I forgave you anyway," Sara said. She had hoped to make him smile, but his shoulders only seemed to slump a little lower. "So ask me now," she said, trying to give him a chance to forgive himself.
"So, how is your case going?" he asked. He did have a slight smile on his face, but Sara didn't like how tired he looked. He hadn't looked this defeated since, well, since he had come back from Texas.
"Good. We confronted the boyfriend with the fact that his DNA matched the semen stain on the vic's clothes and a series of rapes in Reno. He totally collapsed right then – told us to find this guy, Tom Saul, and he would match the fingerprint on the house and in the other cases. He said that this guy was responsible for the attacks. He said once we found him, everything would be clear." Sara was grinning now. "So they brought him in and we've matched his fingerprint to both cases. Now we've tied them both to both crime scenes, and it will be a matter of playing one against the other."
Nick loved it when she was on a roll with a case. Thesparkle in her eyes was back. He only wished that he had done more to put it there.
"How's the vic?" he asked. Sara's smile twisted into a small frown.
"She's still not talking. She had to be sedated last time the detective tried to take a statement. I think I'm going back with him today," she said. Nick felt a small pang of jealousy, and Sara felt a small pang of guilt at being so happy to be going with Ozzie again. "You look like you could use 24 hours of sleep," Sara said.
"I could," he admitted. He closed his locker and stepped closer to her. She was surprised when he took her hand into his own. "Will you come by after shift?" he asked softly.
"You know I will. Why don't you just meet me at my apartment?" she offered. There was something in his eyes that didn't sit well with her. "We can drink a few beers and you can get whatever's eating at you off your chest," she said. It wouldn't be the first time one or the other of them had to get things off their chest and vent.
"OK. We really do need to talk," he said. Sara's stomach gave a little lurch at that, but she looked down as her pager went off.
"That's Mia," she said. Nick wore a guarded look now.
"Go," he said. "I'll be at your apartment after shift. Go."
She reluctantly left him and went straight to Mia's table. The evidence she received made her jaw drop. She immediately dialed Ozzie's cell.
"My favorite CSI," he answered. He must have known it was she from caller ID. "Of course, you're the main one I've met and worked with, but I'll go ahead and give you the benefit of the doubt. The title's yours, if you want it." She could picture the goofy grin on his handsome face.
"That's great, Oz, but I've got some evidence you really need to see. Are you at your desk or on the road?" she asked.
"All business. This must be a show stopper," he said. His voice was serious. "I'll meet you at LVPD in 10," he said.
"I'll see you there." She started to hang up, but heard him shout her name. "What?" she asked, a little snippier than she intended.
"You want anything? I was stopping to get a soda," he asked. She wondered how the man stayed so slim. He seemed to eat all the time. Sara stomach rumbled, and she realized she hadn't eaten anything since last seeing Ozzie at the diner.
"Yeah. Bring me a Snickers and a Cherry Coke," she said.
"Ooh, all sugar. We must be pulling out the big guns," Ozzie said.
"Bye, Ozzie," she said and hung up on him. But she was smiling.
Her Coke and candy bar were waiting on her at Ozzie's desk. He looked a little tired and more rumpled than usual, but still fetching in a grey suit with a dark blue shirt. He wouldn't listen to her evidence until she had opened the candy bar and taken a bite. He then grinned at her as she chewed self-consciously.
"At least now I know you've eaten something," he said. "I bet you haven't eaten anything since breakfast this morning." Sara hated when he was right about her like that.
"Thanks, Dad, though candy bars are not exactly nutrition," she sassed back at him.
"Ooh, that was not nice. I'm more like your older sister's sexy boyfriend to whom you will compare all others. Not really Dad," he said. She rolled her eyes at him.
Brass walked by and heard the tail end of the conversation.
"Too bad they are all ending up better for the comparison," he shot. He gave Sara a wink and kept walking. She grinned and Ozzie feigned a wound to the heart. He gave up the drama and got a little more serious.
"So, what is this crazy new evidence you've got?" he asked. She could see the crow's feet around his eyes when he narrowed them. Why was it that men seemed to just look better and more distinguished while women fought it tooth and nail? She doubted that Ozzie had La Mer eye cream on his bathroom vanity top. Then again, he was from LA, so who knew.
"Tom Saul's fingerprints match our unknown from the scene and from the unknown rapes in Reno," she began.
"Great, but why was that such a big deal?" Ozzie questioned. Sara glared at him.
"If you'd let me finish, I could tell you. His DNA is the same as Todd McCall's. So it also matches the perp from the rapes and from Anna Gilead's clothes," Sara said, and produced a copy of the DNA profile with a flourish.
"What the hell?" Ozzie said. "He and Todd are brothers? Twin brothers? Is that what you're telling me?" he asked. Sara nodded.
"That's what the evidence is telling me," she said.
"I think we need to have another little talk with Todd McCall," Ozzie said. Then he gave a low whistle. "This was a doozy. I'll never doubt you again."
"I'm still your favorite CSI, then," Sara teased.
"You'll always be my favorite," Ozzie teased back. At least, Sara hoped he was teasing. Otherwise the look he was giving her, and the blush she could feel creeping up on her face would make this a serious flirtation.
"So, uh. Do we want to get Todd McCall back in the box?" Sara asked. She was mortified that she could still feel herself blushing. Ozzie gave her a resigned smile.
"Yep. I guess it's back to work."
At the end of the morning, Sara sat back in the chair across from Grissom and detailed the case. He was in his observant mode, but Sara was fully animated.
"So, the brothers hadn't seen each other in 15 years, since their parents had died. According to Todd McCall, he has an alibi for the Reno crimes. We'll leave that up to Reno, but the only thing linking him to that crime scene was DNA, which is explained by the twin brother.
"Todd knew his twin had started using an alias after getting mixed up in some trouble before. He had never been arrested, but was wanted as a "person of interest". That's why we had no hits on the fingerprint."
"Why did he attack his twin's girlfriend?" Grissom asked, his lips pursed. At one time, this would have driven Sara mad. She had spent countless nights dreaming about his sensuous mouth. Now, she realized, it didn't bother her. She appreciated their sexy quality, but it was an observation that she could have made as equally about Warrick. An observation that led to nothing more. She realized in that moment, she was over wanting Grissom.
"Tom Saul, or Thomas Saul McCall, lawyered up as soon as we got him in the box. Todd McCall, however, did say that they had always been competitive over girls and that once when they were young teenagers, his twin went out with his girlfriend pretending to be him. Todd decided to get a lawyer to protect his interest in this case, but the DNA proves nothing when you count that twins are involved," Sara finished. Her realization had given her a new confidence, and she knew she could take whatever Griss said as a professional.
She thought about the time Nick had asked her what she would do if Gil ever got the nerve to ask her out. Now she knew. She would say no.
"What about the victim?" Grissom asked.
"They had to put her back on the respirator, but prognosis is good. Ozzie, I mean, Detective Perrin and I will go back to the hospital when they wean her off it again." Sara noticed Grissom's eyebrow had twitched slightly when she called the detective Ozzie. She hoped he wouldn't bring it up.
"It sounds like you had no problems working this solo," Grissom said. Then he gave her a small smile. "It's good to have you back, Sara. I want you to know that I am putting a notation in your file that we have talked the case over. I know I've been remiss in that kind of thing in the past. I won't let it happen again," he said. Sara gave a nod, but she couldn't hide how pleased she was.
"Thanks, Gil. Thanks for having faith in me," she said, softly. She did owe him that, considering he had watched her back before. She tried not to rationalize that his actions had helped put in the downward spiral she had been in at that time. Everyone is responsible for their own actions, and no one else's. Her PEAP counselor had tried to drill that into Sara's mind.
She left Gil in his office and had to try not to skip to the locker room. Well, maybe not literally, but mentally she was on an incredible high. Her case had gone well, and she had dealt well with it. She was getting her things out of the locker room when her cell rang.
"My favorite CSI. Do you have plans for breakfast, supper or whatever the hell it is we would be eating at 8 o'clock in the morning?" Ozzie practically sang into the phone. Sara smiled and almost said no. Then she thought about Nick and the last time she had seen him in the same locker room.
"Oh, man, Ozzie, I've got plans this morning. I guess I'll have to take a rain check," she said, with genuine regret, which made her feel a little remorseful, considering Nick was probably already at her house waiting for her.
"When's your night off? I heard about this great Indian place. Maybe we could have dinner?" he asked. Sara didn't say anything for a moment.
"Are you asking me out?" she asked, a little dubious.
"Actually, I am. I really like you Sara, and I thought it might be nice to have dinner together," he said, sincerely. There was a pause while Sara digested the information.
"Ozzie, I like you, and I think we work together very well, but …"
"Look Sara, Nick said you might not want to date anyone from work," Ozzie said, interrupting her.
"You asked Nick about this?" Sara said in a strangled voice. "Why would you discuss this with Nick?" she cried. She was furious with Ozzie and with Nick. What gave them any right to be discussing her, and when had this discussion happened? When they had all been together the day before, it was all Nick had been able to do not to whip it out and have a measuring contest right there.
"Don't be upset, please. It was casual. I just asked if you had a boyfriend, and he told me you didn't. And then he told me he didn't know how you would feel about dating someone from work. It was innocent really," Ozzie explained. She could hear the worry in his voice, which brought her back to the fact that Ozzie had asked her out. Did this explain Nick's behavior earlier in the evening? Could Ozzie asking her out have put him in a funk like that?
"Ozzie, you know, Nick's right in that I'm not sure about dating someone I work with. It hasn't worked out great in the past," she admitted. She hadn't really worked with Hank, but she did see him at work.
"Sara, I'm going to lay it on the line. You don't have to answer today. Think it over, and I'll talk to you tomorrow," Ozzie said. Then he added, "I'm 53 years old. Most guys have gotten off the force by then, and I'm still hanging on. I'm starting over in a new city after 15 years. I've learned that when you see a chance in life, you take it. If you get burned, you heal. If not, it might be the best chance you have ever taken. It's dinner, that's all."
"I'll think about it," Sara promised. It had been a long time since anyone had wooed her. She thought about what might have happened if Gil Grissom had this attitude. Then again, she was over that now.
"That's all I'm asking. And you know, if you decide you want to hook up, I'm always available for that too," he said, and she knew he had a mischievous grin on his face. She huffed into the phone. "I'll call you tomorrow sometime," he said.
"Bye," Sara said into phone, but she was already thinking of the tongue-lashing she was going to give Nick, and it wasn't the kind he liked.
A/N: Like it or don't, please review. The next chapter is longer, and way more angsty, so be prepared.
Anushka: Hope exams went well. Be ready for real torture in the next couple of chapters.
FoxRox - Glad I'm not making you yawn yet.
Dark Dreamer - Always a pleasure to see your comments!
Forensicsfan - I'm sure Ozzie gives a lot of girls a second look.
Mayme - Just how I wanted Ozzie to come off. Don't hate him because he's beautiful.