Title: Changes

Rating: PG

Pairings: G/S

Category: Romance

Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't own 'em. Don't sue me.

Summary: It's been seven months since Nick was kidnapped and rescued. Everything had changed. GSR, I swear. Each chap is a different character's POV.

A/N: This particular chapter is a little out of character at the end, but I don't think it's too terrible, so please, no flames from the OOC police, you were warned.

BRASS

Jim Brass pulled up in front of the diner. The sun was coming up over the horizon and he knew it would be another hot ass day. Nothing new, September in Vegas always made you sweat. He glanced at the Denali parked a few spaces down and recognized the plates of the vehicle. Grissom and his team were probably already inside.

Entering the diner, Jim spotted Grissom, Catherine, Sara, Warrick, Nick and Greg.

"Jim, glad you could join us," Catherine said as he approached the table.

He gave her a smile and a wink, "And miss a meal with you? Never."
That drew a round of laughs from the ground and Catherine blushed. Taking a seat beside Sara at the head of the table, Brass glanced over at the young brunette seated beside him. He smiled at her, waiting for her to turn and glare at him for staring at her, but Sara wasn't paying much attention to the police captain. He notice that –not for the first time- her attention was focused on her supervisor, who sat directly to her left.

Brass grinned, leaning closer to her as he whispered, "See something you like?"

Sara jumped, startled at being caught in a trance, and quickly drew her eyes away from Grissom and glared at Brass, trying desperately not to smile.

"What? No," she said, smirking as a blush colored her usually fair skin.

Sara had done well for so long, hiding her feeling for her supervisor, but lately she'd been slipping. Jim had to give her credit though because she'd managed to hide from trained investigators, even he had been unsure of her behavior for a while.

Now, as he sat with this group, each of whom he'd known for a fair amount of time, he paid close attention to his best friend, the enigmatic entomologist that was Gil Grissom, and the lovely lithe brunette seated beside him. While he observed them without really watching, he caught the bits of conversation going on around him. The seemingly meaningless shop talk, the anecdotes courtesy of one Greg Sanders, but mostly, they were playing catch-up, making up for the time they'd lost while their team had been split up.

Brass studied each of the CSIs at the table, each of his friends, noticing how much they had all changed.

Catherine Willows, former stripper, Lead CSI for graveyard, Swing shift supervisor, and currently back to Lead CSI for graveyard. Catherine didn't seem to be taking her demotion to hard, apart from a bitter comment here and there, she seemed to be happy being back with their group. Beside her sat Warrick Brown, recovered gambler and newly reassigned CSI III on graveyard. Although they hadn't always gotten along, Brass was glad to have Warrick back on nights, as were Grissom, Sara and Greg. Greg Sanders, rookie CSI, but veteran member of the graveyard shift. At first, Brass had been a little hesitant when his friend had told him that Sanders was going to train to be a CSI, but if Grissom had faith in him, Brass would trust him to find his killer any day. Then there was Nick Stokes, whose life had been rudely interrupted less than eight months ago when some lunatic had kidnapped him, buried him alive, and proceeded to torture him until his family had rescued him. Family, Brass thought, shrugging to himself, they were the closest thing to family there was.

Through all of the observing he had done through the course of the meal, the one person who had changed the most sat just to his left and had been sneaking chunks of sausage off of her supervisor's plate.

As Sara discreetly lifted another piece of sausage to her mouth, Brass smirked, announcing rather loudly, "Are you eating meat, Sara?"

Sara jumped, dropping the offending object and watching as it left a lovely grease stain on her denim covered thigh. She frowned, turning to glare at Brass as everyone else at the table watched their exchange.

"Yes," Sara told him proudly, blindly picking another chunk of sausage from Grissom's plate and popping it into her mouth.

Brass raised an eyebrow at that, making a face that reminded her of the one she often received from Grissom when she did or said something he didn't understand.

"Don't tell me that whole vegetarian kick you were on was just a way to make Grissom feel guilty for making you watch a pig decompose," Brass said, chuckling when Sara crinkled her nose in disgust.

She rolled her eyes, "I had a craving, not a big deal, happens to all pre-"

Sara suddenly stopped speaking and snapped her jaw shut. Shit, shit, shit. She'd almost said the p word and Brass continued to watch her, grinning now at her little slip up.

Glancing at Grissom, Sara looked for a moment like she might cry. But then, his friend did something he never thought he'd see. Grissom reached over and took Sara's hand, kissed it gently, before turning to their group to announce, "Sara's pregnant, we're engaged and… we're having a baby."

A loud round of cheering erupted from their corner booth in the small diner and Brass immediately wrapped his arms around Sara, pulling her close and whispering, "Congratulations, Cookie, I'm so proud of you."