Title: Remedy
Author: DarkDreamer56
Archive: If you want it, ask please!
Rating: T
Pairing: N/S
Disclaimer: If I owned them, oh, the possibilities….
Spoilers: maybe some mild spoilers for the sixth season premiere, but nothing specific.

A/N: This is just a little piece of fluff that's been floating around in my head for awhile. I know we probably won't get to see a moment between the team like this, but I'd like to think it happens off screen anyways. Yea for TPTB realizing that their stunt last year was a disaster….and I've found Snickers fluff is a remedy for whatever ails you…enjoy! Dedicated to I Want George and Kristen999, because their reviews always make me smile, and Claire, just b/c she rocks.

"Hey Sar, you finally got Grissom's…wow, you look hot," Greg exclaimed, pausing speechless for a moment in Nick's doorway. Sara was flustered for a second, but quickly recovered and pushed past him into the entrance way.

"So what's going on?" she asked Greg, rolling her eyes when she caught him still staring. "What, it's like you've never seen me dressed up before…"

"Not like this Sar…who's the lucky guy?" Greg asked, grinning as he finally shut the door.

"None of your business…now why exactly am I here?"

"Important meeting…Grissom and Catherine wouldn't say anything until everyone got here…but you're the last one."

"I had to get ready for my date," she protested mildly, heading towards Nick's living room, where she could hear everyone else was gathered.

"Was that Sara, Greg?" Grissom called, directing the group's attention to the doorway that Sara and Greg had just entered through. Nick and Warrick stopped mid conversation, mouths agape, and even Grissom seemed incapable of looking away. She glanced at Catherine for help, but her blond coworker only chuckled in amusement. Sara withstood everyone's scrutinizing gaze for a few seconds before clearing her throat.

"Yes, I have a date, and yes, I am capable of cleaning up…can we just get on with it?"

Warrick was the first one to recover. "Damn girl, that's a little more than cleaning up…that guy's some kind of lucky tonight."

"But he better not be too lucky…" Greg hastily added, pushing Sara gently into the room as she blushed.

Looking over at Grissom, she saw a pained expression cross his face; maybe it was regret, but as soon as it had come, it disappeared, and a small smile graced his lips.

She glanced over at Nick as she sank down onto the couch next to him, blushing further as she took in the enraptured look on his face.

"Who is Mr. Lucky tonight?" Catherine asked, quirking an eyebrow in Sara's direction as she settled further into the arm chair. Sara only smiled lightly and shook her head.

"You look amazing," Nick whispered, flashing her a quick smile as everyone turned their attention back to Grissom.

Inside, Sara was pleased at the reaction she had garnered, though she was still slightly uncomfortable by all of the attention that had been on her. She had bought the dress special for the occasion, a deep plum strapless dress with a slightly flared skirt that hit just below her knee. It showed off her legs and accentuated the few curves she did have, as well as gave the appearance of several that she didn't. She'd worn her hair down and curly, even splurged on a pair of heels to match the dress, and as she left her apartment, she'd caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and she'd thought she looked pretty damn good. She was happy to see that the men she worked with agreed.

"So now can you tell us why you dragged all of us over to Nick's on our dinner? What's the big announcement?" Warrick finally asked the question on everyone's mind.

Grissom cleared his throat. "Catherine and I had a meeting with Ecklie this morning, and we discussed several staffing changes that are going to affect everyone here."

Warrick, Nick, Sara, and Greg exchanged worried glances; the last time Grissom had informed them of staffing changes, they'd all been split up. Sara began to nervously play with the buttons of the black sweater she held in her lap as she looked from supervisor to supervisor. Catherine didn't appear too upset, but she wasn't exactly exuding joy either, and Grissom was as hard to read as ever.

Nick was the next one to speak. "And these changes would be?"

"Catherine has voluntarily stepped down as Swing Shift Supervisor, and will be returning to Graveyard as Assistant Supervisor to me. And Sara and Greg already know, that Sofia has decided to leave the crime lab, and is joining PD as a homicide detective. As for Warrick and Nick…." Grissom paused for a moment as a smile played at his lips, "you two will be returning to graveyard too. Ecklie decided that perhaps he was too hasty in his decision to split up our shift last year."

Grins broke out across the room as it sunk in that they would all be working together again. No one had really enjoyed the split, except for maybe Catherine, and Sara couldn't help but cast a smile in her direction as she realized what Catherine had most likely given up so that they could all be back together.

"So tomorrow night," Catherine continued with a smile, "which coincidentally, is Nicky's first night back, we'll all report for graveyard. But for now, Warrick and I have to finish up our shift."

"And we should probably get into work Greg, Archie has the enhancement ready from the hotel security tapes," Grissom reminded him.

Everyone took one last moment to revel in the fact that they were all on the same shift again before they got up and moved towards the door.

"So Sara, have fun on your date, and Nick…have fun cleaning your garage?" Catherine added, eyeing Nick's worn tee shirt and jeans combination.

"I've got a fun filled night of Major League Baseball ahead of me, thank you very much," Nick protested with a grin.

"You're recording that, aren't you man?" Warrick asked, pushing Greg towards the door, before maneuvering around him and out the door right behind Grissom.

"Sure thing, you want to stop by tomorrow night before work?"

"We're going out to dinner, to celebrate your first day back, remember?" Sara reminded him, grabbing her purse and pulling on her sweater.

"Yeah, where were we meeting again?" Greg asked, turning around.

"El Rodeo, eight o'clock," Catherine answered, nearly colliding with his back. She rolled her eyes and pushed him through the door. "You coming Sara?"

"I've got to use the bathroom, you don't mind, do you?" Sara asked, directing the last part of her statement towards Nick.

"Want to check your lipstick one more time before your big date?" he teased, earning a shove in his shoulder.

Catherine chuckled and called, "Have fun!"

"But not too much fun!" Greg shouted as the door slammed behind him.

Sara crossed her arms in front of her chest and turned to face Nick. "You are in so much trouble right now…"

Nick held up his hands in front of him as the grin spread across his face. "Hey, I tried to call you at home, but you didn't answer, so I left a message. And then I tried your cell…"

Sara smiled sheepishly. "And I left it here…sorry, guess I was a little too distracted to remember to grab it this morning." Sara couldn't help but grin at the memory of exactly how well Nick had distracted her as they lay curled up on his couch watching television that morning after her shift.

From the grin that spread across his face, Sara could tell that Nick was thinking the same thing she was. "So I figured it would look a little less suspicious if we both weren't here looking like we were going out, so I changed."

"I never expected Greg to answer the door tonight…"

"You covered pretty well," Nick commented, slowly walking towards her, "I don't think they suspected a thing…though I do wonder how you missed two extra Denali's parked on the street."

"Hey, I was distracted…" she protested as Nick closed the space between them, wrapping his arms around her waist and placing a gentle kiss on her lips. It didn't take long for it to become a rather involved kiss, and Sara finally reluctantly pulled away several minutes later, lips swollen and cheeks flushed.

"This could have been avoided if you'd just picked me up…" she teased lightly, running a finger down his jaw and eliciting a melt inducing smile.

"Ah, but now I have a much better chance of luring you back here afterwards," he murmured, and Sara found his smile contagious.

"You better get changed if we're going to make our reservation…now will you tell me where we're going?"

Nick planted one more kiss on her lips before pulling away and heading towards his bedroom.

"There's this little restaurant out by the marina on Callville Bay. I thought we'd go there, and then walk the marina for awhile," he called through the door as he quickly changed. Sara settled on the couch, smoothing out a few of the wrinkles in her dress.

"Sounds perfect," she replied as he came up behind her, reaching over the back of the couch and resting his hands lightly on her shoulders, depositing a quick kiss on the crown of her head.

"And you really do look amazing," he whispered in her ear, nearly sending a shiver down her spine, before moving away from the couch to grab his shoes. Sara took in his appearance, black slacks and a deep gray turtleneck.

"I could say the same for you," she murmured as he settled next to her and pulled on his shoes. He grinned and quickly tied them before searching the room for his jacket.

"So when are we going to tell them?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant, swinging her crossed leg back and forth.

Nick shrugged on his black leather jacket. "What? That we're dating?" Sara bit her lip and nodded. "We could always start making out in the locker room after shift and let them figure out for themselves." Sara rolled her eyes as a semi hopeful look flashed across his face. "Or we could tell them tomorrow at dinner?" he suggested, offering her his hand. She accepted and allowed him to pull her up off the couch and towards the door, still holding onto her hand.

"Do you want to?" she asked quietly. Despite the wonderful month they had enjoyed as a couple, after discovering quite accidentally how they felt about each other one morning over ruined chocolate chip pancakes, Sara couldn't quite shake the nagging doubts that Nick would ever really want to end up with her. He'd never given her any reason to doubt him, but Sara couldn't wrap her mind around the concept of a relationship where she wasn't the expendable piece. Nick removed his hand from the open door and turned to face her with a tender look on his face.

"Sar, I want everyone to know that I've been dating the most wonderful woman in the world for the last month. We'll tell them tomorrow, okay?" He reached over to brush a stray curl from her eyes as she beamed back at him. He placed one more gentle kiss on her lips before propelling them both through the door and out towards his Denali.

Nick walked her around the car, ever the gentlemen, to unlock her side of the car first. He reached to open the door, and then thought better of it, reaching instead to rest his hand on her hip. "I didn't mean to make it seem like I was trying to hide my relationship with you Sara…I just thought it would be better to see what was happening, without all the pressure and scrutiny…"

Sara knew what he was saying was true, but it still meant worlds to her that he had said it out loud. She brushed her fingers lightly over the hand on her hip and sighed. "I know, we both agreed to it. They would have all had an opinion…"

"Sweetheart, they are all still going to have an opinion when they find out tomorrow…I just think now, we're a little more prepared to ignore them." Nick gave her a lopsided smile before he continued. "They'll think it's too soon…that it's just a reaction to all the bad stuff that has happened in the past few months…but we know how we really feel." He reached up to brush another lock of hair from her eyes, and let his hand trail lightly down her face and neck.

"We're happy," Sara murmured, closing her eyes and leaning in towards his touch without even realizing it. Nick echoed her sentiments right before she felt his lips descend on hers again. When they finally came up for air again, Sara grinned and ran her fingers through the side of his hair. "We better get going, I didn't spend what I did on this dress to not make it past your driveway." Nick chuckled and released her, opening her door before making his way to the driver's side.

As Nick pulled out of the driveway, his right hand entwined with hers, he turned to Sara with a nervous smile. "When Greg finds out, he's going to try and kill me, you know that, right? Better make sure Grissom doesn't have me working with him for a couple weeks…or months. He has liked you for quite awhile…"

Sara giggled. "I wasn't aware that you were afraid of Greg. I may have to rethink this, I don't know if I can date a guy who is afraid of Greg Sanders," she teased.

Nick's chest puffed out, causing her to giggle further as he squeezed her hand.

"Hey, don't underestimate the power of a man infatuated with the lovely Sara Sidle. And I did say try, I never said he would be successful. It's a good thing I happen to think that you're worth it…"

Nick grinned at her one more time before returning his attention back to the early evening traffic. Sara felt her cheeks flush as she turned her head towards the window, watching the passing scenery as they left Vegas and headed towards Callville Bay. She knew they'd both catch hell for keeping this secret for nearly a month, but she was looking forward to it if it meant they were all working together again.

And Nick was definitely worth it.

FIN.

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read/review. I appreciate it more than you'll ever know!