Title: Jump

Summary: Sara overhears Grissom and Sofia talking, and takes it the wrong way. She turns to Nick, but when Grissom finds out what's wrong and apologises...what's a girl to do?

Rating: T for now

Author's Note: Yes, there will be some Griss/Sara angst in this. Ending not determined(though pretty predictable if you know me.) Fear not, Snickers, I have not abandoned you :P

Disclaimer: If I owned CSI, a disclaimer wouldn't be neccesary, nor would I be writing fanfic.

Jump

"Let's just go have dinner, then we'll see what happens." Those words stopped Sara dead in her tracks in the middle of the hall. Normally she wouldn't take any notice of what was being said in Grissom's office, especially when the focus of his comment seemed to be Sofia, but that one sentence really threw her for a loop. Grissom, the man who'd turned her down more times than she liked to remember, was now asking Sofia to go to dinner with him. Sara was over Grissom, as much as could be expected after six years of being in almost constant contact with him at work. There would always be that small part of her that felt something for him, though, that one tiny part that didn't want to let go- and it was mainly this part that hurt at Grissom's words. The rest of her was not so much hurt as angry that after six years, Grissom decided to get a life with a woman he'd met last year.

She stormed down the hallway, ignoring the fact that Greg called to her from the break room, and made her way to the locker room in record time. It was almost the end of shift anyway. Once she was there and had her locker open, however, her mind suddenly came to the conclusion that Grissom was going out to dinner with Sofia. She'd heard it but it hadn't quite registered; the full intensity of it hit her at that moment as she sat staring into her open locker. Not only had he asked Sofia out, but he'd used almost the exact words she had all those years ago.

She didn't know how long she's been sitting like that, staring into space, but the next thing she knew, there was a hand on her back and a deep Texan voice speaking to her. She glanced up at him and blinked, not really noticing what he said. He must have seen her vacant expression because he chuckled, and spoke again.

"As I was just saying, staring into an open locker isn't quite one of your normal quirks, Sar. Is something wrong?" Sara rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath. He only caught a few words, but they surprised him. 'Grissom...Sofia...dinner...six years...'

"Hey, now, bit louder, please?" He asked, wondering if he'd heard her right.

"Grissom. Asked Sofia to dinner. He's known her what, a year? And six years ago he wouldn't even give me a chance!" The ferocity in her voice astounded him. This wasn't the Sara he was used to. He'd known- hell, they'd all known- that she'd had a thing for Grissom when she came to Vegas, and nothing had ever happened. But whatever thing she'd had for him seemed to dissapate over the last two years or so. It had morphed into that she rarely mentioned him as anything other than her boss, if at all, whereas when she'd arrived it had been pretty much 'he called me to work here' and she'd obviously idolised him. Nick could tell that she wasn't so much upset at the fact that it wasn't her Grissom wanted, but more that he wanted anyone at all. He could understand that; Grissom chose the strangest times to do things other people did on a regular basis.

Or semi-regular basis. Nick himself hadn't actually been dating anyone since well before his abduction. In fact, he could trace back to the exact moment when he'd started comparing every girl he met to a certain brunette: the day he and said brunette had worked a case involving one of the chapels on the Strip, and the alien minister had told him "She's gonna getcha!" Those words had stuck in Nick's head and replayed themselves over and over without his consent. Not that it really mattered, he didn't really want to get thoughts of Sara out of his head. If it weren't for the fact that she was his best friend- well, best female friend anyway- and that he was sure she only saw him as a friend, or at the most in a brotherly way, he'd probably have made a move by now. As it was, since his abduction they'd been spending more time together, both on their own and with Greg and Catherine, since Warrick had been busy with Tina for the most part. Truth be told, while he enjoyed the company of Greg and Cath, he liked being on his own with Sara more. She'd come over and they'd watch a movie or cook something. Once she'd even brought over a guitar and taught him a few little things. Another image that stayed firmly imprinted in his brain: Sara Sidle, the workaholic, standing in his living room with bare feet, jeans, a tank top and a black guitar, looking sexy as hell and oblivious to everything but what she was playing. He'd been surprised she could play, but she'd explained that after her DUI, she'd needed something to escape, and guitar just seemed to be it.

Shaking those thoughts out of his head so he could focus on the matter at hand, he realised that she'd returned to staring moodily into her locker. He reached out his hand again and rubbed her back.

"You wanna go grab breakfast? It's on me. You can vent all you want," he said quietly. She turned to him with a small smile.

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into, Nick," she said with a hint of laughter in her voice. Grabbing her purse and slamming her locker, she stood up, as did Nick. They made their way out toward the parking lot, and Nick tried to supress the grin that spread over his face when she didn't move away from his arm, which had moved to around her waist.

As they passed the break room, its occupants- namely Catherine and Warrick- exchanged smug looks. Some people just couldn't see what was right in front of them.

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They ended up deciding to head over to Sara's instead of going to the diner when Nick noticed Grissom's SUV in the parking lot. He had pointed out that it was unlikely for Griss and Sofia to be having dinner now, since it was about ten AM, but Sara just shook her head and said she didn't want to see Grissom anyway. Nick just shrugged; chances were, they'd be spending more time together if they went to her house. Deep down, he knew it was sort of pathetic, that he was this eager to spend time with her, but he couldn't help himself. He wondered how she could be this addictive and not know it, and how Grissom could have denied her.

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"I just don't know anymore," Sara said, her head in her hands. She and Nick had migrated from the kitchen to the living room, where she was sitting cross-legged on one end of the couch with Nick next to her, torn between wanting to hug her and giving in to temptation and kissing her.

"I mean, there's always going to be a part of that won't give up on him. It's completely insane. But it's a very, very, very tiny part. It's the only part of me that actually hurts, really...the rest is just completely pissed off." She sighed and looked up at him. "It's not even so much that it's Sofia, not me. I mean, that's what it would've been a few years ago. But it's more like...why now? Why now instead of a few years ago? He's the hardest person to figure out I've ever met, and that's including Catherine." Nick laughed, both at the fact that he'd been right and the comment about Catherine. Sara and Catherine's on-again off-again friendship was practically the stuff of legend around the lab. Almost nobody understood how they could be friendly one moment and at each other's throats practically the next.

"Yeah, he's a mystery all right. It's just the way he is, though, he wouldn't be Grissom if he wasn't the mysterious bugman. I swear, though, if I see one more chocolate covered grasshopper I'm gonna hurl..." Sara burst out laughing. The expression on his face was one of someone who'd probably been made to eat at least one of those grasshoppers without knowing beforehand what they were. He grinned at her, glad that she was laughing, and joined in. This ended up in a tickle fight, and five minutes later they both ran out of steam and sat back, Sara resting her head on Nick's shoulder, both reveling in their closeness. Sara would never admit it to anyone, least of all Nick, but he'd been one of the reasons she'd been over Grissom for so long instead of still pining for him like she had been. Somewhere between the jokes and the playful flirting, she'd fallen hard for her best friend. She'd never told anyone, never written it anywhere, never whispered it to the darkness like she had when she was a kid, believing that maybe he'd hear the wish that was in her heart. It had always seemed one of those things that seemed like it would disappear if she focused on it too long, and much as she knew how much wanting someone you couldn't have hurt, she also knew that she needed something to hold on to so she didn't slip straight back to Grissom. Nick had always been her strength, in a way, even if it was just being there with his smile and his accent and his heart, big enough to try and solve everyone's problems. She looked up at him.

"Thanks for coming. You mean a lot to me, Nick," she said, leaning up toward him to kiss him on the cheek. She wasn't expecting him to turn his head, so their lips met. Both froze for a moment in shock, before Nick came to his senses and realised that she was kissing him. Mistake or no, he wanted to keep it up as long as possible, and the prevailing thought in his mind was that he was doing what he'd wanted to do for a year.

Sara's thoughts were close to the same. She hadn't meant to actually kiss him, but as long as she had the chance, she'd take it. She was well aware that what they were doing now could change their friendship forever, but from Nick's reaction, it just might be for the better. They clung together, there on Sara's couch, each somehow afraid that if they let go the other would hate them forever.

When the need for oxygen became too great, they slowly drew apart. Sara bit her lip nervously and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Should I be apologising?" She asked quietly after a moment. Nick shook his head.

"No...no, definetely not." There was a brief pause, surprisingly unawkward. "Should I be?" He added.

"No." The locked eyes for a moment, both suddenly aware how much and yet how little had changed. Their feelings were the same as ever; but now they were both aware of the others'. They shared small smiles and Nick pulled her a little closer to him. She curled closer to him, suddenly realising something.

"Good old Grissom," she said with a laugh. "Remind me to thank him for pissing me off earlier!" They both started laughing again, imagining the look on Grissom's face if Sara actually followed through on that.