Title: McDreamy
Author: DarkDreamer56
Archive: If you want it, ask please!
Rating: T
Pairing: N/S
Disclaimer: Suffice it to say, I don't own CSI, or Grey's Anatomy either. Though the chance to put George Eads, Gary Dourdan, Eric Szmanda, Isaiah Washington, Patrick Dempsey, and Justin Chambers onscreen at the same time isn't something I'd pass up…oh the hotness and the heart palpitations…
Spoilers: none that I can think of…

A/N: This is dedicated to Julie, who I hope is recovering from her accident. Here's some Snickers fluff, and a stuffeddeer,just for you chica. Unfortunately, real life has taken over for a bit, I really did mean to post this sooner, but getting ready for the weekend rush at work has been a month long process. Hope everyone enjoys!

Sara sighed as she heard the insistent knock at the door. She thought she would finally be left in peace after her phone stopped ringing, but no such luck. Her head was pounding, she was already sick of the crutches she was supposed to use, and she wasn't looking forward to hobbling around on them for the next few days.

Deciding she wasn't going to use the crutches if at all possible, Sara pushed herself up off of the couch and hopped her way to the door, using the wall and her hand to keep her upright. She checked the peephole and rolled her eyes, though she couldn't help but smile when she saw who was at her door. With a bit of maneuvering, she was able to open the door without putting any weight on her bad ankle.

"Hey, Sar, how are ya feelin'?" Nick asked, a concerned expression on his face as he assessed her from the hallway. Sara felt his gaze travel from the small cut on her forehead, down to the swollen, wrapped ankle partially hidden by the track pants unbuttoned from her calf down.

"I'm fine, which is the same thing I told you over the phone." She smirked as he walked past into her apartment.

Nick grinned at her, seemingly content that she was okay for the moment. "Hey, I'm a scientist…I like to observe things for myself."

"Hey Nick, why don't you come on in?" Sara rolled her eyes again as Nick dropped his jacket and bag onto the counter separating her kitchen from the rest of her apartment.

"Why aren't you using your crutches?" Nick asked. "And why exactly do you need crutches? You said you weren't hurt…"

"I don't need crutches," Sara grumbled, hopping back to the couch to prove her point. This just earned her a chuckle, and Nick a glare when Sara saw the amused expression on his face.

"So you plan on hopping from place to place then?" Nick quirked an eyebrow as he settled next to her on the couch.

"I don't like crutches," Sara replied darkly, squirming around to get comfortable. She finally decided that Nick could make himself useful, and carefully placed her injured leg across his lap. Nick smiled and grabbed a pillow from the end of the couch, placing it under her ankle. "And I do have an air cast…"

"So, humor me, exactly how did this happen?"

Sara sighed. "I was driving back from a bridal shower in Pahrump with Jessica, you remember her, right?" Nick nodded, having met Sara's old friend from college the last time she had come to visit. "This animal ran across the road, she swerved to miss it, but we kind of ran off the road."

"You didn't mention any of that before."

"Nick, I swear it was no big deal…"

"No big deal? Sar, you're on crutches." Nick couldn't hide the concern in his voice.

Sara grinned sheepishly, trying to break the tension. "That part was accidental. We got out to check the damage to the car, and I kinda lost my footing and slipped down the embankment. Sprained my ankle and got a nice bump on the head. Jessica made me go to the ER, thought I might have a concussion or something, which I don't."

"A few cuts too, huh?" Nick murmured, glancing over at her face as he rested his hand on the pillow, inches away from her injured ankle.

"Yeah," Sara replied, leaning her head back against the couch. The painkillers they had given her at the hospital were beginning to wear off, and though Jessica had stopped at the nearest all night pharmacy to fill her prescription, Sara hadn't had the chance to take any of the painkillers, and she wasn't looking forward to hopping into the kitchen to grab them.

Nick seemed to read her mind. "Does it hurt?"

"Just my head, and my ankle," Sara admitted, surprising herself with the whine in her voice. It had been awhile since she had allowed herself to sound that way in front of another person. But she realized that it was Nick, and that he didn't really mind. In fact, Sara swore that she saw an amused smile playing at his lips as he gently lifted her foot up before standing up and replacing it and the pillow gently on the couch.

"We'll see what we can do about that."

He returned a few minutes later with an armful of stuff, unceremoniously dumping most of it onto the coffee table in front of them. Nick knelt in front of the couch, confusing Sara until she felt him remove the clip from her ace bandage and unwind it. The next sensation she felt was cold, a bag of ice wrapped in a towel placed carefully on her ankle.

"Is that too cold?" he asked, handing her one of the painkillers along with a bottle of water. Sara shook her head and dutifully swallowed the pill.

"You're still gonna have to stay off of that ankle when you can, and wear the air cast. Is it around here somewhere?"

Sara nodded and gestured towards the corner, where she had thrown her stuff when Jessica had helped her to settle in. She then watched curiously as Nick began pulling things out of the bag he had brought with him. There was a bag of Dove chocolate, the latest issue of Cosmo, a handful of Sara's DVDs that had been left at Nick's, and a deck of cards. The last item that Nick pulled out of the bag puzzled Sara a bit though; it was a small brown plush deer.

"Hey Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"I appreciate what you're doing, it's really sweet, but what's with Bambi?" Sara quirked her eyebrow curiously.

"It's a get well present," Nick explained, as if it was ridiculous to ask for an explanation in the first place. "I figured you were more injured than you let on, it takes more than just running off the road to keep you out of the lab."

Sara appreciated the gesture, but she was still confused. "But Bambi?"

Nick chuckled, repositioning the ice pack on her ankle. "Hey, it was that or a stuffed pig. My options were limited, and I figured this would be a little more appreciated."

Sara wrinkled her nose involuntarily at the thought of seeing a pig, plush or not. But she smiled when Nick stood up, reaching over her to grab a fleece blanket from the back of her couch and cover her with it, careful to avoid the icepack on her ankle. It was nice, for once, to have someone taking care of her, and the neediness came out again as Sara realized that she didn't want Nick to go.

"Thank you," she whispered, leaning her had back against the arm of the couch as Nick grinned and threw her the stuffed deer. She studied it for a moment, and she couldn't help the sad smile cross her face as she stroked one side of the stuffed animal with a fingertip; the last time anyone had given her a stuffed animal, she had been sitting in the playroom of the Marin County Social Services building.

"Hey, you okay?" Nick asked, concerned and unaware of the thoughts going through her head.

"Yeah, just a little tired, long day…" She trailed off awkwardly, wanting Nick to stay with her for awhile, but not knowing how to ask him to without bringing up questions she wasn't quite ready to answer, even for herself. "And I guess Grissom called you in, since I can't work?" She tried to keep the sadness out of her voice, but she wasn't quite sure if it worked or not.

Nick smiled. "He tried to, but I convinced him my time would be better spent making sure you don't hurt yourself anymore than you already have. I was pretty persuasive, if I say so myself. Unless you don't want me to stay, in which case, I'll let you sleep, but I'm taking the chocolate back," he teased, rambling a bit and causing Sara to smile.

"I'd like you to stay," she answered quietly, and if she was honest with herself, a bit shyly.

"So you want to watch a movie or something?" Nick was studying the movies he had brought back with him, and Sara was about to nod, when her eye caught the clock on her cable box.

"Oh, maybe after this," she replied, reaching towards the remote and flipping it to the correct channel. Sara clarified a little bit when she noticed the confused expression on Nick's face. "Grey's Anatomy is on. It's the only show I try to catch on a semi-regular basis." Nick chuckled, prompting Sara to blush. "What, it's actually pretty good."

"Oh, no I'm sure it is. Just the idea of you being excited about a show that isn't on the Discovery Channel…it's cute."

Sara rolled her eyes, but smiled as she felt Nick nudge her shoulder gently. She sat up, blushing ever so slightly as Nick pulled her back down, so that her head was resting in his lap.

"So what's this about?" Nick asked, idly stroking her hair and causing Sara's brain to short circuit momentarily.

"Huh?" Sara recovered from her lapse and explained the basic premise of the show. "Oh…well, that guy there, that's McDreamy. Well, Dr. Shepherd, but they call him McDreamy. He was seeing Meredith, the one that does the voiceovers, but now he's back with his wife, the one…" Nick seemed amused by the entire thing, but didn't seem to mind watching with her.

They watched for about a half hour in a comfortable silence, Sara trying desperately to keep her attention on the show. It was hard, what with Nick's close proximity, and the way he was resting his hand on the top of her head, stroking her hair with his thumb. Sara couldn't help but think how nice it would be for that to become a common occurrence, though she knew it was pointless to even think about. Nick was a friend, a good friend, if his showing up to take care of her was any indication, but there was no way he'd ever fall for her. Sara tried not to dwell on that thought too much, and tried to turn her attention back to the tv, and how nice it was to have Nick there to take care of her.

At the next commercial break, Nick reached over and removed the ice pack from her ankle, before rising and taking it back into the kitchen. Sara felt the loss of contact keenly, but knew it would have to end sooner or later.

"I'll wrap that back up in a minute," he called, referring to her ankle. "Have the painkillers kicked in yet?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," she answered as he came back into the living room, settling on the couch by her ankle and grabbing the ace bandage from the table.

"That alright? Not too tight?" Nick asked, making sure that the pin was secure enough. Sara nodded, figuring that Nick would settle back onto the couch by her foot, since the icepack was gone. So she was surprised when he returned to the other end of the couch, nudging her shoulder once again.

"So what do you think so far?" Sara asked, trying to concentrate on anything other than Nick's fingertips resting in her hair.

"Well, it's sure an interesting work environment…maybe we should have gone to medical school instead."

"Really?"

Nick cracked a smile. "Then maybe one of us would get lucky once in awhile." Sara choked on a laugh, feeling her face flush. "I mean, someone in the lab. It appears that most of us have hit a dry spell, I mean, except for Warrick, but he's got the whole newlywed thing…" Nick was rambling again, and Sara was trying very hard not to laugh. She was also curious as to why Nick seemed so nervous, but refused to let herself read anything into it.

"I don't know, half of them are sleeping with their boss; that's obviously not a healthy thing…"

Nick chuckled at Sara's attempt to break the newly developed tension in the room. "Good thing that's something neither of us has ever done." Nick knew about her failed attempts with Grissom, and had spent the better part of the previous year before the shift split letting her vent every time their supervisor did something to piss her off.

Sara wasn't sure she should have brought up the subject, even jokingly, given the thoughts she had been having and the current position they found themselves in, but she knew that Nick understood she was past all of that. "Yeah, sorry Nick, but I don't think things would work out for you and Grissom, you're just not his type." Sara was thankful for their playful banter, and patted him mockingly on his knee.

"Now that just hurts Sar."

The easy tone of his voice belied his words. Nick shot Sara a knowing smile and brushed a curl out of her face, and then wisely let the subject drop.

Between the comforting sensation of Nick's fingers running over her head and the effect of the pain killers, Sara soon found herself drifting off to sleep. The next thing she knew, she felt a pillow under her head, instead of Nick's thigh, and someone was pulling her comforter across her. She slowly opened her eyes, revealing Nick leaning over her, pulling the comforter up over her shoulders.

Sara smiled sleepily. "What time is it?"

Nick smiled back, sitting on the edge of the bed down by her knees. "You slept for a couple hours…I figured you'd probably be more comfortable here than on the couch."

"What did I miss?" she asked, yawning.

"Sorry, I kinda stopped paying attention after you fell asleep…"

"I'm sorry." Sara replied sheepishly, wondering exactly why Nick had stayed so long if she had fallen asleep. "I didn't mean to fall asleep on you…you didn't have to spend your night off standing in for my pillow."

"I didn't mind." Nick hand tentatively rested on her knee, causing a sharp intake of breath on Sara's part.

Sara was quickly waking up, thanks to the butterflies currently swarming around in her stomach and Nick's hand on her knee. She pushed herself up so that she was resting against her headboard, letting the comforter pool at her waist.

"Thanks," she whispered softly, glancing up into Nick's eyes, surprised at the look she found there. "For stopping by to check on me, making sure I was okay…letting me fall asleep on you." Now she was the one rambling, and Nick had an amused smile playing at his lips.

"Thanks for letting me…and you're welcome. I should probably let you get some more sleep…"

Nick didn't seem to make any move to get up, not that Sara wanted him to. She found her eyes glued to his, and she couldn't resist biting the edge of her lip.

"Mmm- hmm," she mumbled, not tearing her gaze away from his for a second.

Later on, they would argue about who made the first move, but Sara would never admit that Nick was the one to bridge the distance between them first. Sara practically melted into him as their lips met for the first time. Sara's arms wound their way around Nick's neck as he reached one hand up to cup her cheek. The kiss was long and sweet, but mind-numbing all the same, and Sara wondered how she had gone so much of her life without it.

Sara was still in a haze as Nick finally pulled back, stroking her cheek as he searched her eyes. "Was that okay?" he asked, but by the smile on his face, Sara could tell that he already knew the answer.

"McDreamy couldn't have prescribed better," she murmured, leaning in for another kiss.

FIN.

Wow, that took me way longer than intended. I hope your feeling better Julie, and everyone have a safe and happy Thanksgiving! And if you brave the stores on the day after Thanksgiving, remember that the employees are dealing with frazzled, hurried customers all day, and are probably frazzled themselves. Moral of the story: be nice!