Nick woke up later to find that Sara was still asleep and still holding onto his hand. They'd talked for a while after he'd had his nightmare until both of them drifted off to sleep. Thankfully, that had been the only nightmare he'd had while he slept. He studied her face as he considered her confession about her family and he wondered how much pain she carried around with her that she never spoke of, how many personal scars. A smile tugged at his lips as he realized that they really weren't that different. He wondered how many people in life carried around burdens of what they considered deep dark secrets that if they just found someone to share them with would be so much lighter.
Why can't I just fall in love with someone like Sara?
He wasn't sure where the thought came from really, or why it startled him, but as he thought about it, he realized that he spent far too much time in his life dating people like Amy who after the fact were really only in it for a good time. She had tried, he'd give her that, but in the end, the serious nature of what Nick was going through had proved to be too much; that and perhaps the charms of John. Someone like Sara though, who had gone through their own personal hell and had come out the other side, not unscathed, but not bitter and angry at the world either, at least not anymore; perhaps that was the kind of woman he should be looking for.
He glanced up at the clock and realized that this was the longest he'd slept in one stretch in a long time. Shift was still a couple of hours away, but he decided to get up and take a shower and maybe try and eat something. If tonight was anything like last night, they were in for a doozey. As he gently extricated his hand from Sara's she began to stir and her eyes fluttered open.
Concern flickered across her face. "You ok?"
"Yeah...I slept pretty good...I just thought I should get up and get ready for work." He replied with a soft smile.
Sara bolted upright. "What time is it?" She had visions of skating into work late like Nick had been prone to do at times and they had a lot of work to do from the case they'd had the night before.
Nick chuckled softly. "We've still got a couple of hours. I just didn't want to push it."
Sara quirked an eyebrow at him as a smirk flitted across her face. "So you can get up early."
He was easily bated and smirked back. "I'll have you know that when we still had a swing shift, I would have already been at work for hours by now."
"Yeah, well I'm glad that Ecklie decided to do away with the swing shift and put us all back together." She smiled at him, glad to have her real family back together.
"Me too." Nick smiled back unashamed. One thing he'd learned from his hellish ordeal was that life is too short not to tell the people you care about that you care about them. "I missed working with you, Sar."
"Speaking of work...I'm gonna head home and get a shower and change my clothes." Her expression softened as she looked at him. "I'm glad you got some sleep." For some reason for the first time since she'd crawled into bed with him she noticed his attire and even though she'd seen him change his shirt on occasion, seeing him lying there in nothing but his boxer shorts sent a jolt through her that she quickly squashed down. The last thing she needed was to heap even more confusion and turmoil into Nick's life by suddenly finding that she had a secret attraction to him. She quickly pulled herself off of the bed. "Uh, I'll see you at work?"
"Yeah." Nick smiled, and if he picked up on Sara's slight change in demeanor, he didn't let on. "You want me to pick you up some coffee?...It's the least I can do..." He knew that she could have gone home rather than stay with him, and he was grateful.
Her smile was lopsided. "I won't ever refuse coffee...especially if it's really good coffee."
"Nothing but the best." He winked at her and then pulled himself out of bed.
"Ok, then I'll see you." For some reason, Sara seemed to be fixed to the spot, a delighted smirk on her face as she noted just how defined Nick's chest was.
Nick chortled out a laugh as he caught her staring and he turned her around and swatted at her butt as he shooed her out the door of his bedroom. "I can see that you see me...now get going."
The flirty banter that they'd shared for years seemed to flow easily and Sara glanced over her shoulder at him, arching a brow. "Not a word to Greg about me sleeping with you...he'd hear it all wrong."
Nick wouldn't dream to telling anyone how he'd needed Sara to hold his hand so he could sleep; most of them weren't aware that he still had nightmares most every night. His tone was decidedly playful though, even if his words were sincere. "It would be quite the coup to be the first man at CSI to sleep with the lovely Sara Sidle, but I won't say a word."
Sara giggled and then rolled her eyes at him as she headed for his front door. "Just make sure that coffee's a triple tall."
"Yes, ma'am." Nick called out as he tromped into his bathroom to take a shower.
An hour and a half later, Nick waltzed into the break room feeling far more rested than he had in a month, and probably far more rested than he should have been less than twelve hours after being dumped by a woman that he'd almost been convinced was going to be the future Mrs. Stokes.
Warrick was already sitting at the break room table sipping a cup of questionable dayshift coffee when Nick arrived, and taking in his too cheerful demeanor, he quirked an eyebrow at him. "Over Amy already?" It was probably a crass comment given that his friend had been pretty broken up over the whole thing, but he just wanted to make sure that Nick hadn't done something dumb like take her back after she'd gone for his friend John, although John wasn't the kind of friend Warrick thought anyone should have.
Nick gave Warrick a look that was a mixture of smugness and irritation. "I'm working on it, ok? I just actually got some sleep for a change." He pulled one of the two latte cups from the cup holder and took a sip.
"Two cups?" Warrick wondered just how long Sara had stuck around after he'd left Nick's house. The way she'd been camped out front, he wouldn't have been surprised if she waited until he got home and then some.
"Yeah, I picked one up for Sara." Nick admitted. "She stuck around and let me bad mouth Amy."
Warrick let out a deep chuckle; perhaps Nick was going to get beyond this girl. He'd seen her for what she was almost from the get go when she'd made a play for him shortly after she and Nick had started dating, but he'd turned her down flat. He only wished that he'd said something to Nick. "If I'd known you were gonna do that, I would have stuck around too."
Nick just shook his head and chuckled softly. "It just sort of worked out that way...I know you never like her much, man."
"No, I didn't." Warrick agreed as he eyed Sara's coffee. "Does Sara know you're bringing her that?" He made a move to reach for it when the lady in question walked in.
"Is that mine?" She shot an amused glance at Warrick.
Warrick sat back in his chair and just chuckled.
Nick grinned at her as she sat down, handing her the cup of coffee. "Triple tall no foam non-fat hazelnut latte, just the way you like it."