Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them, but I lift a latte in honor of George and Jorja who are my favorites in this series.

Author's Note: Ok, the inspiration from this came from several things. First of all, a roll of quarters that I'd put in a dish to use in the laundry room in my building until someone gave me a washer and dryer last weekend, had been sitting in a dish on my counter. When I came home yesterday, there was a gigantic spider sitting on top of the quarters in the bowl. A pair of oven mitts and a dash to the deck to overturn the bowl onto a mat later, my quarters were liberated from Mr. Creepy Crawly who allowed himself to get baked to death on said quarters. Secondly, I've had several notable run-ins with spiders which have involved the use of Dirt Devils, back scratchers, shoes and other heavy inanimate objects to give me a good night's sleep, but there was always the one the got away...from under the shoe and then collapsed a foot from my bed.

This is dedicated to all of my favorite Snicker writers who I hope have things up their sleeves because I'm having withdrawals.

The tone in Sara's voice had made it sound urgent and despite the fact that Nick had just pulled a double shift and was bone tired, he nearly ran a red light as he raced his Denali toward her apartment. He hadn't even waited to hear an explanation beyond the waver in her voice and her request for him to come over. He parked haphazardly as he pulled into the nearest parking spot he could find in her complex and took the stairs to her third floor apartment two at a time. He was a bit breathless and very worried by the time he knocked on her door.

A pajama clad Sara answered the door, and it was obvious that she'd been trying to sleep before she'd called him judging from her rumpled appearance. She had a very girlish expression on her face. "You have no idea how glad I am that you're here."

Nick couldn't hide his worry. "What's wrong, Sara?" He glanced around her apartment wondering if someone had tried to break in, and how in the world that would be possible given that she was on the top floor.

"It's really big and it's in my bedroom." There was that waver again.

Nick quirked an eyebrow at her, there wasn't much in this world that Sara was afraid of, but whatever it was happened to be in her bedroom. "What's in your bedroom?"

Sara wrinkled her nose. "A big spider; I need you to kill it."

Nick looked at her as if he hadn't heard her correctly.

She furrowed her brow. "Nicky, it's really big and I can't sleep with that thing staring at me...what if it falls on me?"

"You called me over here to kill a spider." He was just trying to verify exactly what she'd said and that he wasn't dreaming that she looked damn cute in her pajama pants, tank top, and mussed up hair.

"Yes." The whine in her voice was rather pronounced and it was obvious that she was very tired and on the verge of becoming very grumpy. "Who else was I going to call?"

"Well Grissom would probably try and talk you out of it." The thought of prominent entomologist Gil Grissom being called upon to whack a spider caused Nick to snort out a laugh.

"He did." Sara looked a little sheepish. "I hung up on him when he asked me what the spider did that was so bad I had to put a hit out on it."

Nick snorted again. "A hit man? He didn't." He looked at her in disbelief, but she was dead serious.

She crossed her arms over her chest and breathed out a harrumph. "He did, but in his defense I think he was on some sort of cold medicine at the time."

Nick rested his hands on his hips and tried to keep the image of a drug-hazed loopy Grissom making wisecracks out of his mind to keep from laughing. "Ok, where exactly is this spider you want me to kill?"

She pointed down the hallway. "In my bedroom." She didn't make any move in that direction as if indicating to Nick that he was going to have to take care of it himself.

He just shook his head and sauntered down the hall into her room, flicking on the light.

Sara just stood there, craning her neck as she tried to tell what was going on.

"Oh, my, that's a big one!" Nick was calling out from the bedroom.

"I told you!" Sara called back, anxious about his progress.

"He's a fast sucker too." It was evident from his voice that he was clamoring around Sara's room trying to catch the speedy arachnid.

"Did you get it yet?" Sara just wanted to go to sleep and at this rate, she reasoned that if Nick didn't kill the spider that it would come after her after she'd drifted off to sleep.

"No...Ouch! Damn it! That sucker bit me. Ouch!" Nick sounded pissed and there was a lot of bumping and crashing noises coming from Sara's bedroom.

"Nick?" Sara was concerned. She hadn't wanted Nick to get hurt she just thought he'd do a much better job at killing the spider than someone like Greg who would have probably been more excited to see her in her pajamas than he would at the prospect of killing a spider. She began to tentatively walk down the hall.

Just then, a smiling Nick emerged from her bedroom with a wadded up garment in hand, which he had apparently used to kill the spider. "I got him."

"That's my favorite shirt." Sara looked on the verge of tears as she backed away from Nick's extended hand. She had seen plenty of dead bodies in her line of work, but dead spiders were something else entirely.

"Oh." Nick looked chagrined, glancing down at the squished spider and realizing that it was still moving. Startled, he flung the shirt out of his hand and jumped back. "He's alive."

"What!" Sara sounded panicked as she jumped behind Nick and buried her head in his shoulder blade.

Nick took a couple of deep breaths and took a closer look, furrowing his brow as he tried to decide if it was nervously twitching, or if it was on it's way to that great web in the sky. The spider stopped moving. "He's dead."

"You're sure." Sara sounded doubtful and she tentatively peered over his shoulder at what she mentally noted used to be her favorite shirt. "I guess it's not moving anymore."

"You want me to dispose of the body?" Nick offered a bit lamely, suddenly aware of the nasty bite on his hand from wrestling the hairy beast.

"Um, can you get it when we wake up?" She really didn't want to be alone in case the spider wasn't really dead.

Nick looked at her quizzically. "You want me to stay?" He was tired, and he wasn't sure he should be driving, so he was seriously considering her offer.

"Yeah." Sara nibbled her lower lip as he turned around to look at her. "What if there are more?"

"Ok, I'll stay." He puffed his chest out a little bit more and didn't question when she led him back into her bedroom. He crawled onto the bed after her.

They lay there for a long few minutes just staring up at the ceiling looking for more spiders. Sara could have sworn she saw something skitter across the ceiling. "What's that?"

"A shadow from outside." Nick concluded not really seeing what she was looking at.

"Are you sure?" Sara was beyond tired and she was getting close to the point where she wasn't going to be sleeping at all.

"Yeah." This had happened several times before Nick said something and he let out a deep breath. "Look, Sar, you need to think about something else."

"Like what?" She turned to face him in the darkness.

"I don't know." He turned to face her. "What would distract you?" He was starting to get a few ideas of his own, but he wasn't sure now was a good time to make a move.

She was quiet for a minute and then what Sara did next surprised Nick. "Maybe this." She leaned in and tentatively kissed him.

Nick was only surprised for a fraction of a second before he fully responded to her kiss, returning it with gusto as he pulled her closer. In fact things very quickly became a rather delightful distraction for both of them, and by the time they fell asleep, they were tangled up in Sara's sheets, the spider completely forgotten.

Out in the hallway a rather bedraggled arachnid was limping its way down the hall towards Sara's bedroom.

The End